This lesson looks at where various ministries of benevolence and charity fit into the work of the church.

Some people eke out a living by ringing up churches and asking for charity. That's what they think churches are there for. However Jesus did not build his church because he thought the world needed charity.

Having said that, I am sure it is a given that the church should have a reputation for helping the poor and needy. Nobody denies that fact. Jesus made it one of the marks of true Christianity. Take for example the following stories:

The church, however, does not have unlimited resources, so it has to prioritise its work of charity in at least five fruitful ways which we describe below.

Evangelism of First Importance

The church puts the ministry of preaching and spreading the gospel in the place of first importance.

The "great commission" (Mrk 16:15-16 Mtt 28:19-20) is the Lord's primary directive to the church. Preaching the gospel to the church and to the wider community is the main work of the church. It should never be pushed to the back burner.

Those of us who have been missionaries in poverty stricken countries however, know that you cannot preach the gospel and ignore the pressing material deprivations of the people. When people are without food, shelter, clothing, medicine, literacy, and such like, you have to try to help them. On the other hand, many people will come to the church, and even pretend to become Christians, just to get material gain. This is just like what happened after Jesus fed the five thousand (Jhn 6:26-27). So you have to be careful, otherwise you will be creating a charity disguised as a church instead of the true church itself.

THE BRIDGE NOT THE BAIT

Imagine a person on a bridge dangling a baited line into the water. The church's charitable ministry should not be a bait. That's no way to be "fishers of men" (Mrk 1:17).

Charity should be done for charity's sake, out of love for our neighbour. There should be no ulterior motive. Of course, converting people to Christ is also an act of love, but only if one is truly winning people to Christ their Saviour for their soul's sake. If one is wooing them into a denomination and using charity to recruit members, then that's an ulterior motive. Benevolence shouldn't be used as proselyte bait.

If benevolence is not a bait, to what shall we liken it? It's more like the bridge. The bridge is part of the road. Without the bridge you could not continue to walk the road. Benevolence is part of the way that is walked by the "beautiful feet" (Isa 52:7). We don't try to attract people with anything but the gospel.

On the other hand, we won't be able to interact with people if they have pressing deprivations that we ignore. Yet we must keep in mind our real purpose. When you walk to the Post Office, and you cross a bridge to get there, your purpose is not to cross the bridge but to post a letter. The church is taking the message of Christ to people. That's the church's purpose.

The church is "the pillar and ground of the truth" (1Tm 3:15) and "the gospel is the power of God for salvation" (Rom 1:16). The church is the custodian and propagator of the gospel. That's the church's primary purpose.

The important ministry in the first congregation of Christians was "to prayer and to the word of God" (Acts 6:1-7). The benevolent ministry (in this case helping widows) was secondary. It was not neglected, nevertheless it was not allowed to distract from, and cause neglect of, the ministry of the word.

Charity to Believers Especially

The church directs its works of charity primarily to fellow Christians.

The previously mentioned example in Acts 6:1-7 shows that the charitable work of the first church was among its own members. This does not mean that the church never helps an unbeliever, but it does "good to all men especially those who are of the household of faith" (Gal 6:10). This household of faith is God's household, which is the church (1Tm 3:15). The church family's benevolence is especially to its own. For many, the church is the only family they have, and it is to such people that the church's benevolent ministry is especially directed.

The first church gave to "all as anyone had need" (Acts 2:44-45), however the previous verse shows that the "all" was "all who believed" not the wider community.

The church looks after its own, and doesn't expect the wider community to carry that burden. On the other hand, people in the wider community should not expect the church to do the charity that generally they ought to be doing themselves. Of course all members of the church are also members of that wider community, and neither should they be expecting the church to do for them what they can do for themselves. Our next points cover that aspect.

Caring for One's Own

The church expects its own members to look after their own and not burden the church with what is their own duty.

In looking after widows in its number, the church restricted its assistance to those who were "widows indeed". Not only had they lost their husbands, but they were old and had no family to care for them. Where a widow had family, it was the family's responsibility to look after her "that the church be not charged" (1Tm 5:8-16).

Notice, by the way, that Christians who are able to look after their own family members, yet expect the church to provide instead, are "worse than infidels" (verse 3). The church should not be doing for people what they can do for themselves.

Providing for Oneself

The church expects individuals to look after themselves and provide their own needs if they can.

In the previously mentioned case (1Tm 5:8-16), you will observe that the younger widows who had an opportunity to marry and be homemakers, were expected to do that. People should "eat their own bread" (2Th 3:10-14) and "work with their own hands... so as not to be in any need" (1Th 4:11-12) and "have something to share with one who is in need" (Eph 4:28).

I know of people who have a wide open opportunity to gain an education and get into a career, and yet they prefer to be on the dole. They blow their dole on cigarettes, grog, and junk food, then go around to charities begging.

Note that the church, by the authority of Christ, takes a hard line on people whom we in Australia call bludgers. The rule is, "If a man will not work, neither let him eat" (2Th 3:10). The church should be careful not to encourage the welfare mentality, and if it does have welfare clients they should be one hundred percent genuine cases.

Urgent and Pressing Needs

The good works of the church are directed toward urgent and pressing needs, not to non-essentials.

The kind of circumstance that church benevolence addresses is "a brother or sister without clothing and in need of daily food" (Jas 2:15-16) or "the fatherless and the widows in their afflictions" (Jas 1:27).

We are taught to be rich in good works "in order to meet pressing needs" (Tit 3:14). A lot of welfare work is concerned with raising disadvantaged people to a basic standard of living quite a bit higher than the most basic and pressing needs. There are a lot of things welfare provides that people could comfortably do without. I'm not saying that this kind of welfare is a bad thing. It's just not where the church's benevolent thrust is pointed.

While the church is not to be niggardly and mean, its benevolent activity is really about meeting urgent and necessary requirements. There is a principle in Christianity that we might all suffer hardships at times, and it doesn't hurt us. "Having food and covering let us be therewith content" (Php 4:11, 1Tm 6:8). There might be other pressing needs such as medicine or electricity. There may even be a need for a toy or treat. However the church listens to Jesus who said, "Only a few things are necessary" (Lke 10:38-42) and it is those things the church's charitable ministries properly provide. In this way, the church is not"cumbered about with much serving" and can get on, as we said at the outset, with that one thing that is really needful, the preaching of the gospel.

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