Jonathan Edwards: Our generosity is dependent on the Trinity

“Man should not glory in himself, but alone in God; that no flesh should glory in His presence.

That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. 1 Corinthians 1:31

How this end is attained in the work of redemption is by that absolute and immediate dependence which men have upon God in that work, for all their good. Inasmuch as, first, all the good that they have is in and through Christ; He is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption…

It is by Christ that we have sanctification: we have in Him true excellency of heart as well as of understanding; and He is made unto us inherent as well as imputed righteousness. It is by Christ that we have redemption, or the actual deliverance from all misery, and the bestowment of all happiness and glory. Thus we have all our good by Christ, who is God.

Secondly, another instance wherein our dependence on God for all our good appears, is this, that it is God that has given us Christ, that we might have these benefits through Him; He of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, etc.

Thirdly, It is of Him that we are in Christ Jesus, and come to have an interest in Him, and so do receive those blessings which He is made unto us. It is God that gives us faith whereby we close with Christ.

So that in this verse is shown our dependence on each person in the Trinity for all our good. We are dependent on Christ the Son of God, as He is our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. We are dependent on the Father, who has given us Christ, and made Him to be these things to us. We are dependent on the Holy Ghost, for it is of Him that we are in Christ Jesus; it is the Spirit of God that gives faith in Him, whereby we receive Him, and close with Him.”

Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) excerpt from the opening of his “God Glorified In Man’s Dependence” sermon.

I am Dallas today at meetings with professors who have developed projects on teaching biblical stewardship in seminary settings. We will share resources with each other. Any that come from me share this perspective of Edwards: that our generosity is dependent on the Trinity, our only boast and glory!

“I have thought again, my brethren, since it is required of us that we give thanks to God for all these men, it follows that we do with quietness submit ourselves under what God shall do to us by them. For it seems a paradox to me to give thanks to God for them, that yet I am not willing should abide in that place that God has set them in for me. I will then love them, bless them, pray for them, and do them good.

I speak now of the men that hurt me, as I have hinted before. And I will do thus, because it is good so to do; because they do me good by hurting of me, because I am called to inherit a blessing, and because I would be like my heavenly Father. “Therefore if mine enemy hunger, let me feed him; if he thirst, let me give him drink.” (Matthew 5:43-48; 1 Peter 3:9; Romans 12:17—20.)

We must see good in that in which other men can see none. We must pass by those injuries that other men would revenge. We must show we have grace, and that we are made to bear what other men are not acquainted with. Many of our graces are kept alive by those very things that are the death of other men’s souls.”

John Bunyan (1628-1688)) author of Pilgrim’s Progress, excerpt from “Seasonal Counsel or Advice to Sufferers” in The Entire Works of John Bunyan (London: James S. Virtue, City Road, and Ivy Lane, 1860) 285.

When I located this collection by Bunyan early this morning my attention turned to his “advice for sufferers” because thanks to some malware that has adversely impacted my website and email system, my meditations are not going to all the recipients that have subscribed for years. Honestly, I am not sure what to do about it, and while I have not gotten angry, I have gotten frustrated!

Bunyan reminds us that “we must show that we have grace” to our enemies when in our flesh we’d like to wring their necks! This includes perpetrators whose “malicious software” messes up our ability to communicate. Jesus, Peter, and Paul (cf. in the Scriptures noted by Bunyan) all exhort us to do good to our enemies. God help us generously extend them grace and love each and every day.

“Receive the Lord Jesus in His comeliness and eminency. Let believers exercise their hearts abundantly unto this thing. This is choice communion with the Son, Jesus Christ. Let us receive Him in all His excellencies, as he bestows Himself upon us; be frequent in thoughts of faith, comparing Him with other beloveds, sin, world, legal righteousness; and preferring Him before them, counting them all loss and dung in comparison of Him. And let our souls be persuaded of His sincerity and willingness in giving Himself, in all that He is, as Mediator unto us, to be ours; and let our hearts give up themselves unto Him.”

John Owen (1616-1683) English theologian and administrator at Oxford, in Of Communion with God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, excerpt from chapter 3.

For Owen, any giving on our part represents our response to the realization that what we have in Christ Jesus is beyond all comparison.

I wonder if the lack of generosity in our day is rooted in the misguided notion that we have tried to make generosity a response to our efforts (preaching, letters, etc.) rather than a response to communion with Christ. Owen would likely say: exhort people to communion with Christ (alongside whom is no comparison), and they will give up themselves and the resources they possess.

The Apostle Paul said something along these lines…

Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. Philippians 3:7-9

“For herein peculiarly differ the sons of God from the reprobate, that the sons of God know both prosperity and adversity to be the gifts of God only, as Job witnesseth; and therefore in prosperity commonly they are not insolent nor proud, but even in the day of joy and rest they look for trouble and sorrow: neither yet, in the time of adversity, are they altogether left without comfort; but by one mean or other, God showeth to them that trouble shall have end. While contrariwise the reprobate, either taking all things of chance, or else, making an idol of their own wisdom, in prosperity are so puffed up that they forget God, without any care that trouble should follow; and in adversity they are so dejected, that they look for nothing but hell.”

John Knox (c. 1514-1572) in The Select Practical Writings of John Knox, excerpt from “A Fort for the Afflicted: An Exposition of the Sixth Psalm of David.”

Whether we read Luther in Germany, Calvin in Switzerland, or Knox in Scotland, the voices of the Reformation call people to adopt a biblical perspective on all aspects of life.

Here, one of the founders of the Presbyterian church calls “the sons of God” to realize that prosperity and adversity are both gifts from God. Why does this matter to us today?

We can never exhibit generosity until we have learned to relate rightly to that which comes to us. We must avoid idolatry and pride while treating everything that comes to us as a gift.

“Whatever be the kind of tribulation with which we are afflicted, we should always consider the end of it to be, that we may be trained to despise the present, and thereby stimulated to aspire to the future life. For since God well knows how strongly we are inclined by nature to a slavish love of this world, in order to prevent us from clinging too strongly to it, he employs the fittest reason for calling us back, and shaking off our lethargy.

Every one of us, indeed, would be thought to aspire and aim at heavenly immortality during the whole course of his life. For we would be ashamed in no respect to excel the lower animals; whose condition would not be at all inferior to ours, had we not a hope of immortality beyond the grave. But when you attend to the plans, wishes, and actions of each, you see nothing in them but the earth. Hence our stupidity; our minds being dazzled with the glare of wealth, power, and honours, that they can see no farther.

The heart also, engrossed with avarice, ambition, and lust, is weighed down and cannot rise above them. In short, the whole soul, ensnared by the allurements of the flesh, seeks its happiness on the earth. To meet this disease, the Lord makes his people sensible of the vanity of the present life, by a constant proof of its miseries…

That they may not long with too much eagerness after fleeting and fading riches, or rest in those which they already possess, he reduces them to want, or, at least, restricts them to a moderate allowance, at one time by exile, at another by sterility, at another by fire, or by other means. That they may not indulge too complacently in the advantages of married life, he either vexes them by the misconduct of their partners, or humbles them by the wickedness of their children, or afflicts them by bereavement…

We duly profit by the discipline of the cross, when we learn that this life, estimated in itself, is restless, troubled, in numberless ways wretched, and plainly in no respect happy; that what are estimated its blessings are uncertain, fleeting, vain, and vitiated by a great admixture of evil. From this we conclude, that all we have to seek or hope for here is contest; that when we think of the crown we must raise our eyes to heaven. For we must hold, that our mind never rises seriously to desire and aspire after the future, until it has learned to despise the present life.”

John Calvin (1509-1564) in Institutes of the Christian Religion, “On Meditating on the Future Life” 9.1.

The hard part about “the allurements of the flesh” is that God made them for our enjoyment and sharing. When they become the object of our desire, the focus of our striving, the love of our lives, they become idols to us. Don’t be fooled.

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. 1 John 2:15

The discipline of the cross will help you keep your eyes on the prize. Pray for your spouse to avoid misconduct and your children to steer clear of wickedness. Learn to focus on that which is eternal so that you (and your family members) may see clearly in the earthly here and now.

“We ought first to know that there are no good works except those which God has commanded, even as there is no sin except that which God has forbidden. Therefore whoever wishes to know and to do good works needs nothing else than to know God’s commandments. Thus Christ says, Matthew xix, “If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.” And when the young man asks Him, Matthew xix, “what he shall do that he may inherit eternal life,” Christ sets before him naught else but the Ten Commandments.

Accordingly, we must learn how to distinguish among good works from the Commandments of God, and not from the appearance, the magnitude, or the number of the works themselves, nor from the judgment of men or of human law or custom, as we see has been done and still is done, because we are blind and despise the divine Commandments. The first and highest, the most precious of all good works is faith in Christ, as He says, John vi. When the Jews asked Him: “What shall we do that we may work the works of God?” He answered: “This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him Whom He hath sent.”

Martin Luther (1483-1546) in “A Treatise on Good Works” in The Works of Martin Luther, trans. and ed., Spaeth, Reed, Jacobs, et al. (Philadelphia: A. J. Holman Company, 1915) 1: 173-285.

Lest we think our good works flow from ourselves, Luther rightly reminded people during the Reformation (and reminds us today) that “whoever wishes to know and to do good works needs nothing else than to know God’s commandments,” and “the first and highest, the most precious of all good works is faith in Christ!”

There is no such thing as generosity apart from the Christian faith. Man without Christ according to Luther (and Augustine before him) suffers from incurvatus in se, that is, humankind is curved inwardly toward self (cf. Romans 7:8-19). So anything that looks like generosity apart from Christ cannot help but be motivated by selfish reasons.

What does that mean for us today? Two things come to mind.

First, don’t ever use the terms “generosity” or “good works” apart from that which flows from the work of Christ. Even if an unbelieving person gives an enormous sum of money to a humanitarian effort, it is not generosity! No one can do “good works” in the flesh, so don’t call them as such!

Second, if you want to see “generosity” or “good works” in your life or among those you serve: obey Christ’s commands in community and the world will see what generosity looks like through your transformed lives. The fruit of the Spirit’s work in our lives is generosity.

Explore all this further in the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Galatians:

Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law. Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, competing against one another, envying one another. Galatians 5:16-26

“O Florence, recall what I have told you so many times: to renew yourself first. The first principle stands unchanged: that you fear God and observe His law so that you may gain from Him the light of grace, and blessed would you be should you do it, for then everything would go well. But avarice and the love of honors and high rank, which you hunt after, do not allow you to have this light, nor does it permit you to accord with the angels who inspire you and summon you to the good; but once you have this light that I am talking about, you will not care any longer about honors or possessions…

And next, I have exhorted you to love the common good, and not your own, and to be united in charity; and toward this goal…O Florence, God will provide for you if you want to do good…However, you would have to make provision, in the first place, that within your city religious practice is holy and good, and that superfluities and polyphonic songs which are full of lasciviousness are removed, and that everything is done with simplicity and devotion, and [that you] have saintly preachers and saintly religious and abandon those who do not follow in the ways of God…Let us pray to God that His will may be done in His Church.”

Girolamo Savonarola (1452-1498) excerpt from Aggeus, Sermon XXIII (Florence, God’s Chosen City) on 28 December 1494.

Savonarola was a Dominican friar (a.k.a. traveling preacher) who called God’s people (in Florence, Italy in this instance) to “renew” themselves first in the dark days of the Italian Renaissance. Sound familiar? Here was his message, which appears as relevant today as it was just before the Reformation: renewal starts with each of us, is empowered by God’s grace, and requires us to abandon avarice and honors. We are to love the common good, and live generous lives focused on charity toward others rooted in the belief that God is our Provider while resolving corporately in our churches to live with simplicity and devotion.

Father in Heaven, through us and by Your grace, renew Your Church today in our cities through our charity, simplicity, and devotion. Do this, I pray, along with numerous brothers and sisters, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Today’s meditation comes from The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis, a classic work that represents one of the most widely read books on Christian devotion in church history. Read this post if you desire to shine light in the corners of your heart and see the kinds of sins that hinder our lives from reflecting God’s goodness (generosity). Perhaps read it a couple times and sit with the Lord and ask the Holy Spirit to show you what sins beset you and resolve to lay them aside so that you may “advance in goodness” (cf. Hebrews 12:1-2).

“Lament and grieve because you are still so worldly, so carnal, so passionate and unmortified, so full of roving lust, so careless in guarding the external senses, so often occupied in many vain fancies, so inclined to exterior things and so heedless of what lies within, so prone to laughter and dissipation and so indisposed to sorrow and tears, so inclined to ease and the pleasures of the flesh and so cool to austerity and zeal, so curious to hear what is new and to see the beautiful and so slow to embrace humiliation and dejection, so covetous of abundance, so niggardly in giving and so tenacious in keeping, so inconsiderate in speech, so reluctant in silence, so undisciplined in character, so disordered in action, so greedy at meals, so deaf to the Word of God, so prompt to rest and so slow to labor, so awake to empty conversation, so sleepy in keeping sacred vigils and so eager to end them, so wandering in your attention, so careless in saying the office, so lukewarm in celebrating, so heartless in receiving, so quickly distracted, so seldom fully recollected, so quickly moved to anger, so apt to take offense at others, so prone to judge, so severe in condemning, so happy in prosperity and so weak in adversity, so often making good resolutions and carrying so few of them into action.

When you have confessed and deplored these and other faults with sorrow and great displeasure because of your weakness, be firmly determined to amend your life day by day and to advance in goodness. Then, with complete resignation and with your entire will offer yourself upon the altar of your heart as an everlasting sacrifice…”

Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471) in The Imitation of Christ, excerpt from chapter seven, “The Examination of Conscience and the Resolution to Amend.”

“Compassion makes a man look into himself, and recognize his faults, his feebleness in virtues and in the worship of God, his lukewarmness, his laziness, his many failings, the time he has wasted and his present imperfection in moral and other virtues; all this makes a man feel true pity and compassion for himself.

Further, compassion marks the errors and disorders of our fellow-creatures, how little they care for their God and their eternal blessedness, their ingratitude for all the good things which God has done for them, and the pains He suffered for their sake; how they are strangers to virtue, unskilled and unpractised in it, but skilful and cunning in every wickedness; how attentive they are to the loss and gain of earthly goods, how careless and reckless they are of God, of eternal things, and their eternal bliss. When he marks this, a good man is moved to compassion for the salvation of all men.

Such a man will also regard with pity the bodily needs of his neighbours, and the manifold sufferings of human nature; seeing men hungry, thirsty, cold, naked, sick, poor, and abject; the manifold oppressions of the poor, the grief caused by loss of kinsmen, friends, goods, honour, peace; all the countless sorrows which befall the nature of man. These things move the just to compassion, so that they share the sorrows of all…

From this compassion springs generosity; for none can be generous in a supernatural way, with faithfulness and goodwill towards all, save him who has a pitiful heart—though a man may often show generosity to a particular person without charity and without supernatural generosity.”

John Ruusbroec (1293-1381) in The Spiritual Espousals, a.k.a. The Adornment of the Spiritual Marriage, excerpt from Chapter XVIII On Compassion and Chapter XIX On Generosity.

Father in Heaven, thank you for your generosity toward me, despite my feebleness, my errors and disorders, and my ingratitude. Form in me a heart full of compassion and pity for the broken and hurting and for those whose only attention is on the loss and gain of earthly goods. By your Holy Spirit, keep my heart filled with compassion so that faithfulness, goodwill, kindness, and generosity may flow from you through me to those around me. Hear my prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.

As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. Colossians 3:12-14

“It belongs to liberality particularly, not to be held back by any inordinate affection for money from any right use of the same. Now there is a twofold use of money: one upon oneself—a matter of personal expenses; another upon others—a matter of gifts. It belongs therefore to liberality, not to be held back by immoderate love of money either from suitable expenses or from suitable gifts. Hence liberality is conversant with gifts and expenses.

It belongs to liberality to use money seasonably, and therefore seasonably to give it away, which is one use of money. Now every virtue is distressed at what is contrary to its act, and avoids hinderances thereto. But to seasonable giving two things are opposed: not giving where there is occasion for a seasonable gift, and giving unseasonably. Hence liberality is distressed at both the one proceeding and the other, but more at the former, because it is more opposed to its own proper act.”

Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) in Summa Theologica, Secunda Secundae, Question CXVII “Of Liberality” Articles 3-4.

Thomas Aquinas rightly notes that liberality (or generosity) should “not be held back by any inordinate affection for money” and that the right use of the same is “suitable” expenses and “seasonal” giving. Notice that “not giving” and “giving unseasonably” are not options for followers of Christ. The right use of money is not to be attached to it or stockpile it in season but to spend it on “suitable” expenses and “seasonable” gifts. That means spend it on what you need (cf. 1 Timothy 6:6-10) and as God provides more than what you need, give generously (cf. 1 Timothy 6:17-19).