Lesson Six: The Fruit of Kindness

SUMMARY: We will look at the concept of kindness as expressed in the life of a Christian. We will look not only at individual acts of kindness, but also at how kindness can be expressed by the whole Christian community.

LEAD-IN QUESTIONS:

1. Who would you consider to be the kindest person that you have ever known – how did they express their kindness? 2. Are there ways that kindness can be abused?

Explain what you mean. 3. How can the Church, as a corporate body, demonstrate kindness?

4. What are the best ways that we can practice kindness at home, at work, and in public?

Defining Kindness

Several dictionaries that take the word “kindness,” and simply turn it in on itself. Some say, for example, that kindness is the act of being kind. That doesn’t give us a whole lot to work with, so let’s first look at the broader definition of the word, kind. Merriam-Webster defines kind, first, as: “a group united by common traits or interests.”1 So, in this case, kind refers to bunching things according to common traits. We might say that all people with blonde hair, or all left-handed people, are of the same “kind.” We can also classify abilities according to their kind. If we have a group of musicians, we can say that they are of the same kind, and so on. The Bible speaks of this act of classification as well. In the Genesis creation story we read, “Then God said, ‘Let the earth put forth vegetation: plants yielding seed, and fruit trees of every kind on earth that bear fruit with the seed in it’… And God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth living creatures of every kind: cattle and creeping things and wild animals of the earth of every kind.’” (Genesis 1:11,24) Here, “kind” defines the groupings of animals and vegetation according to their type or species. As the story continues, God does not find a suitable mate for Adam; none of the other creatures are of the same “kind” as Adam. So, God takes a rib from Adam and forms the woman, Eve. The two words for man and woman in Hebrew are Ish (man) and Ishah (woman), expressing the physical link between the two humans. When Adam sees Eve, he proclaims, “This now is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh.” (Genesis 2:23) In other words, they are of the same kind. Adam and Eve are both made in the Image of the God, and literally made from one another. The word kind is used again to define groupings later in Genesis when Noah is commanded by God to preserve animals from the flood. “Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and its mate; and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and its mate; and seven pairs of the birds of the air also, male and female, to keep their kind alive on the face of all the earth.” (Genesis 7:2) The word, as previously noted, differentiates species from one another according to their common characteristics The second definition of “kind” in Merriam-Webster is “of a sympathetic or helpful nature.”2 Several passages of Scripture fit with this concept. For example, in the familiar “love chapter” in his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul says that “love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude.” In his letter to the believers at Colossae, Paul indicates that Christfollowers should have numerous godly qualities such as “compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.” (Colossians 3:12) Likewise, in the latter part of his letter to the Ephesians, he instructs the believers to “be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:32) Clearly, kindness is a character trait that God expects to be visibly operating in His people. The Cambridge Dictionary defines kindness as: “the quality of being generous, helpful, and caring about other people, or an act showing this quality.”3 Vocabulary.com defines kindness as: “the quality of being warmhearted and considerate and humane and sympathetic; tendency to be kind and forgiving.”4 Thus, the words kind and kindness are centered around the qualities of being “humane and sympathetic, or generous, helpful, and caring.” This will be the direction we take as we try to figure out how kindness looks in the life of the Christ-follower.

Humane

With these definitions in mind, let’s look at some related synonyms to see how kindness is expressed in life experience. The word, humane, for example, is intriguing. The core of the word “humane” is the word,

1 https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/kind 2 https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/kind 3 https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/kindness 4 https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/kindness

2 | SUSTAIN “human.”5 When we say a person is humane, we are saying that they are being “human” when they are being kind. Being sympathetic and caring, to be kind, is what human beings should be like, at their very core. To act without sympathy or concern for the circumstances of others is to be ‘un-human’ or inhuman – something that is not normative in human community. If you wonder why it bothers you not to give money to that man or woman standing in the middle of the median or on the corner of an exit even though they are a stranger, you are simply experiencing how natural it is as human beings to feel an urge to be “kind to our own kind,” to care for the needs of others simply because they are human beings just like you. Don’t get me wrong, this is not to say that we are always expected to stop and give money to random people who beg. There are helpful and unhelpful ways to respond to the needs of others. I am saying, however, that human beings for thousands of years have felt that being considerate, sympathetic, and compassionate are qualities that we have inherited from “our kind,” and these actions are seen as natural to us, and perhaps even expected from us.

DISCUSS Sympathetic

As we think about the two definitions of the word “kind,” do you find that there is a certain “kind” of person whom you find it easier to be kind towards? To be sympathetic, another synonym in our definition of kindness, is to feel concern and identification with others who are in need. If I am sympathetic towards someone asking for help, then I am moved by their plea, and whether I act on it or not, I am concerned for them. Likewise, to be caring, is to be brought into involvement with the individual or group, beyond simply being aware of their condition. If I care about what happens to someone, then I have a more personal response to their situation. If I am simply aware that people are being mistreated by others, I take no responsibility for their condition. However, if I care about the situation, it quite often leads to some type of action or response from me. Consider a less emotional example. Let’s say that I really believe that global warming exists, and that one of the reasons is because of all the plastic that is just being thrown away after one use. Maybe you, like me, are a little bothered by the volume of single-use coffee pods that are simply thrown away after the cup of coffee is finished pouring. Simply being aware that there is a problem does not necessarily move me to action. However, let’s add to our hypothetical situation that I really care about my role as an individual consumer. Chances are my caring will result in me trying to find some way to recycle plastic, or to eliminate plastic products from my consumption as an individual or family. The point here is that caring about something makes that thing personal, and usually results in some type of action or activity that will address that concern. The other word used in our definition of kindness is “helpful.” Once again, the sense of being helpful is that of taking some type of action. To help someone is to take their situation onto ourselves— to attempt to resolve whatever is creating a problem for them. Thus, simply feeling bad for someone in need is not kindness if we do not take action to help. I can’t be kind merely as an observer. Kindness, by definition, is the response that I make to the circumstance or person towards which I am addressing my concern. Let’s return to that person that I see panhandling by the highway. If I really care for what happens to them, if I really feel the need to be kind to them, I must ultimately act on that concern in some form or fashion. If I choose to resist or ignore my concern, then I will pay an emotional price in one way or another. If I choose to give money, I may feel a sense of relief even if I truly believe that they will use that money in an unhelpful way in their life. I have acted on that concern, so I don’t feel “inhumane” anymore. If I choose to look the other way, or even to smile and nod, I will likely feel a twinge of guilt as I pull away from them to head on to my destination. That guilt may only last for a few moments, but my “humanity” will tug on me for a time. The most radical form of kindness would be for me to attempt to engage in that person’s life in such a way as to relieve the circumstances that brought them to that position in the first place. This is often the role of the institution more than the individual. Churches with benevolence programs often deal with individuals who are “down on their luck,” or “victims of the system.” Though no church has unlimited funds for this sort of thing, some have chosen to take on the work of helping individuals find their way back into the normal life experience of work and residential living. This choice to get involved can be quite daunting and can lead to financial commitments that are sometimes quite large. When I worked in a large downtown church in a major city, there were several large churches that had benevolence funds that they injected with new cash each month. In most cases, all their newly funded money was gone within two weeks of the beginning of each month because of the large volume of requests for help with utilities, prescription drugs, housing, gas, or any number of other needs. In these situations, it could easily feel like the little boy with the finger plugging the hole in the dam, while a thousand other holes need plugging all around him. On the other hand, we might also be reminded of the story of the little boy who found a beach full of starfish and began throwing them back into the water one at a time. When he was told that his actions didn’t matter because he couldn’t possibly throw them all back, he

5 The Oxford Dictionary confirms that the word humane was a late Middle English form of the word, human. https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/humane. The Online Etymology Dictionary says that in the 1500s the words humane and human were used interchangeably to mean “pertaining to a human being,” or “having qualities befitting a human being.” https://www.etymonline.com/word/humane

responded, “it matters to this one.” Though we can’t heal every broken life, we might just be able to be “helpful” enough to permanently heal the one. For that one, our kindness will have made an ultimate difference. Of course, kindness doesn’t always begin with life-changing gestures; it often begins in the manner that we treat people in our everyday lives. We can be kind to the waiter or waitress who works our table rather than treat them as an object. We can show kindness by visiting shut-ins or nursing home residents to show the people there that they still have importance in our lives. We can show up for Serve Days at our local church, or take on a volunteer role sponsored by our local Christian community. We can be kind by taking meals to a family that is bereaved, or who has experienced a natural disaster. We can even join groups that go out to help others in relief efforts both nationally and internationally. The critical point is that “kindness” is not a state of mind, it is an attitude put into practice. Remember, Jesus taught us in the Sermon on the Mount that actions originate in thoughts. Therefore, if I hate someone, or if I despise them, though I may not physically kill them, my heart would just as soon them be dead, and Jesus equates this with murder (see Matthew 5:21-22). In a similar sense, if I have kindness in my heart (to be humane, sympathetic, caring, and helpful), then from that heart will come actions that express those attitudes and emotions in tangible ways.

God is a God of Kindness

When we talk about the nature of God, we often think of the greater, more “impressive” traits such as omniscience (God knows all things), omnipresence (God is everywhere at once), or omnipotence (God is all-powerful), or even transcendence (God exists above and beyond the entire created universe). However, Scripture places a premium on the kindness of God. Indeed, our salvation is dependent upon our response to His kindness. Luke 6 contains Jesus’s so-called Sermon on the Plain. Like he does in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells his listeners that they must be willing to love their enemies and to do good deeds to others, because in doing so they are imitating the love of God. Jesus promises that those who behave in this way will be known as the “sons of the Most High God,” because they are acting like God the same way a son acts like his father. Jesus explains that God the Father is “kind to the ungrateful and the evil.” (Luke 6:35) In other words, to act like God we must show kindness towards others regardless of how they respond to our care and concern. Paul explains the end goal of God’s kindness in his letter to the Romans: it is meant to lead a person to repentance. (Romans 2:4) God can and does act with “severity” (stern justice) towards those who persist in evil. However, He intentionally shows kindness and mercy to those who deserve judgment, in hopes that it will generate gratefulness in their heart and lead them towards restoring relationship with Him through faith in Christ. (See Romans 11:22). God’s kind nature leads Him to focus great effort on reaching out to those who are lost and distant from Him. This kindness is further manifested in His willingness to continue loving the very ones who hate and reject His love. When, by God’s grace, a person realizes that God is being kind and loving to them despite their best efforts to reject Him, the result will be repentance, and from that, restoration of relationship with God. God has been demonstrating this kindness from the beginning of His relationship to humanity. In the story of humanity’s Fall, which we know so well from Genesis 3, Adam and Eve chose to follow the guidance of the Tempter who led them to doubt God’s good will for them. They disobey God’s direct command and choose self-interest over their relationship with their Creator. Spiritual death (and, eventually, physical death) were the result of this rebellion, just as God had warned them. Nevertheless, God showed mercy and concern for them. He covered their nakedness and remained in contact with them, as evidenced by His interactions with Cain and Abel, and the Patriarchs who followed. He did not give up on us but pursued His eternal plan to bring us back into relationship and restore us to Life through His Son, Jesus Christ.

The Poor and Righteousness

Because God is kind, He desires for us to become kind as well. Therefore, He is not satisfied with outward acts of religion if they are not accompanied by attitudes and actions of kindness towards others. Therefore, Scripture consistently teaches that kindness to others is a way to measure the quality of one’s righteousness. In the book of Proverbs, kindness and righteousness are inextricably linked: “Whoever pursues righteousness and kindness will find life, righteousness, and honor.” (Proverbs 21:21) Notice how kindness is linked to being righteous, and how both are required to experience honor and a fulfilling life. This kind of righteousness is contrasted with mere religiosity in writings of the Old Testament prophets. Take for example the Lord’s words spoken by the prophet Amos: “I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them … Instead, let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” (Amos 5:21-24, which incidentally appears on the Civil Rights Memorial in downtown Montgomery, Alabama). Later, the Lord introduces His prophecy of judgment with the following words: “Hear this, you that trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the land.” (Amos 8:4) He goes on to describe the Day of the Lord that will bring judgment down upon the land. For them, judgment day will find them lacking because they didn’t care for the less fortunate, and even destroyed the lives of those who were defenseless.

DISCUSS

What does Christ expect us to do about the needy in our cities and in our churches? How could our church take on the plight of the homeless, or those in generational poverty? What Scriptures would you appeal to support your position?

4 | SUSTAIN Likewise, the Prophet Micah wrote, “With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:6-8) The lesson here is that justice and kindness must be our model for living in the world, and a proper relationship with God begins in humility before Him. Most importantly, these character traits do not properly exist apart from one another. Justice begins in our treatment of those without power; kindness is revealed in our care for the poor and needy; and humility must be the defining character trait of the heart that loves the Lord. If these traits are not present then we can make infinite numbers of sacrifices, and the result will be the same – rejection by God. In the New Testament, the importance of showing kindness to the poor and less fortunate is shown in the letter of James. There the writer criticizes the church that favors the more refined members over the poor and DISCUSS disreputable who make us uncomfortable. (James 2:1-7)

Why do you think Jesus makes Perhaps the strongest teaching on this subject is Jesus’s parable of the Goats and Sheep, found Matthew 25:31-46. the point in the At the time when the Kingdom of God is fully revealed, parable of the Jesus tells his listeners, all the nations will be gathered

Sheep and the before the Lord for judgment, and “he will separate Goats that neither people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep nor the the sheep from the goats.” (32) Jesus describes the goats realized criteria that will be used for that judgment: “Then the they were being kind or unkind to Christ himself? King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’” When the sheep respond, they ask the King when it was that they had done all these things. His response: “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” (25:40, NIV) The goats will then be separated out because they are the ones who did not show kindness when they came across people who were in need.

Not Works-Based Salvation

It is critical that we understand that salvation is not earned through acts of kindness. John 3:16 still holds true: “whoever believes in me will not perish, but have eternal life.” Salvation is still by grace alone: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God — not the result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8) And the pattern of living as a Disciple of Christ has not changed: “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless, I live, yet not I, Christ lives in me. And the life I live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:19-20) Remember, we are studying the fruit of the Spirit, not the root of the Spirit. Spirit-led kindness is a result of what happens after we received the salvation which Christ secured for us and begun our walk as Christ’s disciples. For the Christ-follower, the evidence of Christ living in them is the way that they relate to the people around them and particularly those less fortunate than them. This pattern of living must become so ingrained in us that we are no longer even aware that we are doing it. Returning to the parable of the Goats and Sheep, Jesus tells us that both groups ask the King the same question: “When did we do (or not do) this?” In the case of the righteous, they cared for the needy as a matter of common practice (unconsciously), rather than from a planned pattern given to them by some organization. Let’s sum up what we have discovered to this point. God’s pattern of involvement in human affairs is to shower us with kindness that is meant to call us into relationship with Him. His kindness is then distributed through us to the world around us so that others will be brought into a saving relationship with Him as well. The next question is, what are some of the practical ways Scripture gives us to begin putting kindness into action?

Kindness in Old Testament Law

In the sections of the Torah (Law of Moses) dealing with relationships, God places a high value on righteous concern for the needy. Helping the poor is normative for the People of God. God is concerned with all human beings: those who seek relationship with him and those who reject Him; those who have resources to supply their own needs and those who don’t. God places the provisions for the needy right in the middle of his requirements for handling relationships with our neighbors. In the following Scripture passages, the term kindness may not be used, but the concept of being sympathetic and helpful is evident. The book of Leviticus is about how Israel could live in holiness so they could dwell with a holy God. Holiness included ritual purity and prescribed worship, but it also included commands like this: “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest. You shall not strip your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the alien: I am the Lord your God.” (Leviticus 19:9-10; 23:22) Not only is this rule stated more than once in the book of Leviticus, but the statement of authority, “I am the Lord,” is added to emphasize that providing for the poor and the needy is essential to God’s identity, so it must also be central to the identity of God’s People. Israel was not to limit this kindness to their own “kind”— that is, it was not only for other Israelites. It also included those living in the land as visitors and foreigners. God commanded them: “When an alien (non-Israelite) resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien.

The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; You shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.” (Leviticus 19:33-34) A foreigner could have been a slave from another nation, or a person living with the Israelites for a particular time. The point is that they are not members of one of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. In other words, this is

not an immigration policy issue; it is a human being

issue. The Israelites were being taught that everyone (even those not under the Covenant) deserved to know that God loves them and that the people of God were commissioned to prove it by the way they treated these other people groups. Elsewhere in the Torah, God provides creative methods to care for the poor and needy. He mandates that every third year the full tithe is to be brought to storehouses in every town in the land, and that the Levites (who have no land of their own), the resident aliens, the orphans, and widows can take as much of these stores as they need. (Deuteronomy 14:28-29) In the case of the working poor who are barely surviving on their wages, God gives employers the rule that they are to pay them their wages at the end of every day so that they will be able to take care of their daily needs. (Deuteronomy 24:14-15) God’s instructions are so detailed that even their method of harvesting the crop is tied to the way that the poor and needy are provided for. “When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be left for the alien, the orphan, and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all your undertakings.” (Deuteronomy 24:19-22). God does not leave any wiggle room with regards to Israel’s responsibilities to the poor – they have leverage in God’s eyes. “If there is among you anyone in need… do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted toward your needy neighbor. You should rather open your hand, willingly lending enough to meet the need, whatever it may be.” (Deuteronomy 15:7) God notes that if the poor cry out to Him due to injustice, then He will take up their cause against those who oppress or neglect them. The Lord makes it clear that we will always have ample opportunity to do good to the poor, and thus, we are expected to respond to their needs. “Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, ‘Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land.’” (Deuteronomy 15:8-11) Lest it seems that these policies are meant for Bible times only, let’s look at the writing of the Church Fathers in the early generations after the original Apostles were gone. Around 125AD6, the Christian philosopher Aristides wrote an Apology (an argument in defense of something) addressed to the Emperor Hadrian (76-138) to explain the Christian tradition, and to prove to him that Christianity was a religion should be supported rather than persecuted. In this work, he explains that Christians not only take care of the needs of their own people, but also help needy pagans as well. “When they see a stranger, they take him in to their homes and rejoice over him as a very brother ... And whenever one of their poor passes from the world, each one of them according to his ability gives heed to him and carefully sees to his burial … And if there is among them any that is poor and needy, and if they have no spare food, they fast two or three days in order to supply to the needy their lack of food.”7 As strange as it may seem to us, the kindness of burying the dead was often noted as one of best things that Christians did for the poor pagans in their communities. We see this same sentiment in a letter from one of the Roman Emperors as well. The Emperor Julian the Apostate (331-363 AD), an opponent of Christianity, wrote a letter to one of his High Priests in which he described the way that Christians were advancing their cause through their treatment of the poor. In it, he is lamenting the fact that the Greco-Roman religion is not doing as well as he would hope and notes the fact that it is the kindness of Christians that is attractive to non-believers. “Why then do we think that this is sufficient and do not observe how the kindness of Christians to strangers, their care for the burial of their dead, and the sobriety of their lifestyle has done the most to advance their cause?”8 In the Early Church document, The Didache (80-90 AD), the believers are cautioned to take care of those who call upon them for help. “You shall not turn away from him that is in want, but you shall share all things with your brother, and shall not say that they are your own.”9 Clement, known as the third Bishop of Rome, wrote a letter in 96 AD that made it very practical: “Let the rich man provide for the wants of the poor; and let the poor man bless God, because He has given him one by whom his need may be supplied. Let the wise man display his wisdom, not by [mere] words, but through good deeds.”10 Over 200 years later, Basil of Caesarea wrote several homilies (short sermons) that addressed the need for taking care of the poor. We can only touch on a few of his points, but he made a persuasive argument for why we cannot look the other way when someone is in need. “Let us listen to the apostle’s saying, “Let us not love in word nor in speech, but in deed and truth.” Let no one worry about his stewardship when he has obeyed God and supported his brother, for the Lord

DISCUSS

How could these ancient ways of caring for the poor be adapted and reintroduced today? Are we too big as a country and population? How could the spirit behind these rules shape the way Christians treat immigrants and foreigners within our nation, regardless of our views on the correct policies and procedures for becoming a citizen?

6 CE for modern scholars 7 Apology, XV. http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/aristides-kay.html 8 Julian the Apostate: Letter to Arsacius. http://www.thenagain.info/Classes/Sources/Julian.html 9 https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0714.htm; 4:7-8 10 http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/1clement-roberts.html; chapter 38

6 | SUSTAIN counts action done to brethren as done to Himself. If you have given to the Lord, how can you not have confidence that you will receive from him?”11 Basil challenges his listeners to be careful about holding on too tightly to their money. “The law contains many injunctions forbidding us to wrong our neighbor and many precepts directing us to be merciful and compassionate. If either of these admonitions be neglected, the other does not by itself justify a man ... God will have no part in avarice nor will the Lord be a comrade to thieves and robbers. He has not left us the poor to feed because He is unable to do this, but He asks from us, for our own good, the fruit of justice and mercy.12 Basil calls out Christians who lack of pity on those who beg for help in ways that may annoy us. “If, however, a poor man, scarcely able to speak from hunger, present DISCUSS himself to us, we turn away from him, a fellow man. We are revolted and we hasten to get away, as if we John Wesley feared that by walking more slowly we might become stressed that, involved in his misfortune. If he bow down to the ground even if you give in shame for his unfortunate condition, we say that he money to an institution or ministry to care is practicing hypocrisy. If, goaded by the last stages of hunger, he look us boldly in the face, we call him for the sick, you a shameless bully, and if, perchance, he be clothed should still make in garments that are not torn (someone having given time to person- them to him), we drive him away as a greedy fellow ally visit those in and swear he is feigning poverty. If he be covered with need. Why do rags that are falling to pieces, again we drive him away you think he saw as ill-smelling. Although he may invoke in his pleading that as important in our journey to become more like the Name of the Creator and, although he solemnly and unremittingly pray that a like misfortune may not Jesus? befall us, he is unable to change our pitiless decision.”13

Wesley on Kindness

Finally, moving from the Fathers of the Ancient Church to the Father of Methodism, we will do well to study how John Wesley viewed the subject of helping the poor. Wesley was totally committed to taking care of the needy inside his own ministries. He did this in several innovative ways. He provided medicines to those in need so that they weren’t unduly burdened by the costs. He learned to treat minor medical issues himself so that patients with less severe physical issues would not have to pay the costs of seeking a doctor. He provided a library of quality books to read so that his people wouldn’t have to purchase them for themselves. He created opportunities for the poor to earn wages such as employing poor widows to do sewing for the Methodist Societies. It is important to remember that Wesley was never a wealthy man and he began his practices of caring for the poor when he was a poor college student himself. For Wesley, holiness begins inside of us, but it is expressed in the work that we do for those less fortunate than ourselves. He maintained that the Gospel of Christ was good news of salvation that led to good works done in society, and he outlined changes Christians should bring about in society. Wesley wrote, “Directly opposite to [solitary or self-centered religion] is the gospel of Christ. Solitary religion is not to be found there... The gospel of Christ knows of no religion but social; no holiness but social holiness. ‘Faith working by love’ is the length and breadth and depth and height of Christian perfection.”14 The people in the early Methodist Societies and Classes who were responsible for taking care of the poor both within and outside the group were called the Stewards. Wesley required the Stewards to be pleasant to the poor even if they weren’t able to help them. “If you cannot relieve, do not grieve, the poor. Give them soft words, if nothing else. Abstain from either sour looks or harsh words. Let them be glad to come, even though they should go empty away. Put yourself in the place of every poor man and deal with him as you would God should deal with you.”15 His point, like that of Basil, is that you cannot ignore the needs of the poor and needy. You may not be able to fix the problem, but you can, at least, let them go home with their dignity. In Wesley’s sermon on “Visiting the Sick,” he explained that a person who is broke and unemployed is sick, just in a different way. Both need our help to get better. He notes that some rich people have actually said to him that they haven’t met any poor people. He responds that, “One reason that the rich, in general, have so little sympathy for the poor, is because they so seldom visit them.”16 If we get out of our insulated lives and meet those less fortunate than ourselves, we will find that our empathies for the poor will rise significantly. Wesley also argues that we should never be embarrassed to ask for money to help the less fortunate. “To beg I am ashamed; but never be ashamed to beg for the poor; yea, in this case, be an importunate (highly persistent); do not easily take a denial.”17 He expected Christian leaders to be so certain that kindness to the poor is essential to the gospel that they will never be embarrassed or reluctant to ask believers to contribute. Wesley closes out this sermon with some timely advice on our view of the poor: “Let our conveniences give way to our neighbor’s necessities; and our necessities give way to our neighbor’s extremities.”18

11 Basil of Caesarea, De Beneficentia: A Homily on Social Action attributed to Basil of Caesarea. https://www.jstor.org/ 12 Basil of Caesarea, On Mercy and Justice. https://sites.google.com/site/stbasilasceticalworks/on-mercy-and-justice 13 Basil of Caesarea, Homily 21. https://sites.google.com/site/stbasilasceticalworks/homily-21 14 John Wesley. Preface to Hymns and Sacred Poems, 1739 15 John Wesley, Journal selection for June 4, 1747. The Works of John Wesley, Abingdon, vol. 20, p. 176 16 John Wesley, “On Visiting the Sick.” The Sermons of John Wesley: A Collection for the Christian Journey, ed. Kenneth Collins and Jason Vickers. (Abingdon, 2013). 349. 17 Ibid. 351. 18 Ibid. 352.

Wesley insisted that every age group and gender should get involved, because all can contribute something, and all can benefit from the grace that is released into our lives when we follow the commands of Christ in this way. Thus, in the early days of the Church and of the Methodist movement, sincere Christians were known for finding practical ways to show kindness to the poor. They did this, not because of a social philosophy or political theory, but because they had experienced the kindness of God towards themselves, and they were motivated by the love of God and empowered by the Spirit of God to show that same kindness to others.

APPLICATION IDEA: Make it your goal not to become calloused with regards to those individuals standing on the side of the road, or whoever represents the face of poverty to you. If you don’t feel right in giving them money, then pray for them. Help the church craft policies that give us the opportunity to effect change in the lives of the poor, the needy, the widows, orphans, immigrants and foreigners. Get involved with local missions from time to time so that you will continue to see those less fortunate than yourself and not become isolated from them. Remember the promise that, whatever you do for them, you are doing for Jesus himself.