Christian life's pinnacle

Colossians 3:14: [14] And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.

I Timothy 1:5: [5] Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:

"The end of the commandment is the epitome of what the Christian life is all about; it's the epitome of maturity," explains Richard Jordan. "The edification results in charity in a soul that is single-minded, going on sound doctrine with a conscience that reflects God's viewpoint. And so they're walking by faith.

"The Christian life reaches its pinnacle in the practice of charity, so charity is something very important. By the way, it's used in your Bible purposefully. In I Corinthians 13 it's used nine times. Nine is the number of fruitfulness in the Bible. It's very fruitful to have charity in your lives.

"William Tyndale translated the Bible into English in 1526. Over 80 percent of your King James Bible is his translation but he used the term love, not charity, in I Corinthians 13.

"When the KJV translators substituted in 27 places the word charity for the word love, which had been used for 80-some odd years previously, they did it because they saw a nuance in the word charity that fit these contexts.

"There's a nuance about love. When Paul says 'faith hope and charity,' I've always thought I Thessalonians 1:3 was a big help: [3] Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father;

"Paul uses the same trilogy, but he uses it in a little bit more descriptive kind of terminology. He doesn't just say 'faith, hope and charity.'

"Faith has a work associated with it. Hope has a patience associated with it, and charity has a labor of love. Charity is defined as the labor of love. In other words, love put into action results in charity and charity results in love being put into the form of labor.

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III John 1: [5] Beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren, and to strangers;

[6] Which have borne witness of thy charity before the church: whom if thou bring forward on their journey after a godly sort, thou shalt do well:

"Charity is not exclusively toward the brethren. Charity is a word that talks about the activities that come out of love and the motivation that comes when the love of Christ constrains us.

"Charity is love toward others that, to use I Corinthians 13 terminology, 'suffers long' with them. It's kind, doesn't behave it unseemly with other brethren, doesn't seek to get its own way, is not easily provoked, doesn't quickly assign evil to others, that rejoices not in the iniquity of others, that bears and believes and hopes and endures. It's the grace and the maturity that proves the Believer to be perfected, matured in his faith and its practice.

"It's a special word that's used on purpose and the emphasis is to demonstrate the working of Christian maturity among one another. Really, it's the thing that holds the work of the ministry together.

"Don't buy into this agape, phileo stuff so quickly; it doesn't work. And don't just flippantly say 'love' when you see the word charity in the Bible, because what you're doing is missing a real special nuance that the translators are trying to get you to see in special passages about the labor of love.

Philippians 2: [1] If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,

[2] Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
[3] Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.

"The word charity is far more the word esteem. The great definition of the word love is affection and esteem but the term in Philippians 2 is the mental attitude of value and esteem and that's really what you're after. Once you value and esteem someone you become affectionate toward them."

*****

“You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you,” said John Bunyan. "It is profitable for Christians to be often calling to mind the very beginnings of grace with their souls.”

“Charity is the motivation of the love of Christ and not all these other kinds of things constraining us in our Christian life.

“In Colossians 3, Paul says charity is the ‘bond of perfectness.’ It’s the thing that binds maturity together. When you have perfected saints, what binds them is the fact that they instinctively look out for the benefit of the other, not for themselves.

“To walk charitably with a saint means to put his needs, his concerns above your own. Now, where does the motivation for that come from? The motivation is an understanding of God’s charity to us. Charity has to do with the motivation behind your good works.

“Charity isn’t a braggard, it’s not proud, it’s not covetous, doth not behave itself unseemly. It’s patient and suffereth long.

“Boy, you read those things and you think, ‘Wow! That’s quite a mental attitude to have!’

“Paul says ‘charity never faileth.’ So what charity is is a complete lifestyle that puts the interests of the other ahead of your own.

“Paul says that 'the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart.' The heart is the mentality of your soul. It’s single-minded; it’s a heart that just goes on sound doctrine. It’s not living on emotions; it’s living on the application of the truth of God’s Word rightly divided.

“We’re to have a system of norms and standards that reflects God’s thinking. You’re able to walk by faith and not by sight. That verse is a beautiful description of a mature Christian walk. And not just an individual walking that way, but a group of people gathered together and working together in the work of the ministry.

“Paul told the Corinthians, ‘As unknown and yet well known.’ I love that verse because that’s exactly what you’re . . . your spiritual power and influence far outweighs your appearance.

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“When Paul talks about ‘in spirit,’ that’s the idea of your disposition; your attitude that you do something by.

“In Ephesians 1:17, for example, he writes, ‘That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him.’

“He’s not talking about the Holy Spirit. That’s not the initial giving; it’s not a later ‘re-giving.’

“He talks about the spirit in the sense of the ‘spirit of slumber,’ or the ‘spirit of bondage.’ When you have the spirit of slumber, you have this disposition of being asleep at the switch. Bondage is the disposition of being controlled.

“Paul’s saying, ‘I want you to have the spirit of wisdom and revelation God has given you right here in this text. You get it in the Book.’

“The attitude with which you do things affects an awful lot. He’s saying, ‘I want you to walk around with this attitude and disposition that’s produced by understanding this great cosmic plan God has in His Son.’ ”

(new article tomorrow)