The Difference Between Charity and Entitlement looks at Charity and government entitlement, noting what God says about charity, and how entitlement is an abomination.
In our perverted, things are upside down on many fronts. But we sort things out, and we need to hold a good balance. One of the areas I want to look at in this article is the difference between charity, somebody from the goodness of their heart giving something to somebody else, and government entitlement. Government entitlement is the devil’s copying and trying to destroy charity through forcing good people to enable bad people and their vices.
Table of Contents
What is Charity?
See fam01 Biblical Love: How Christians should Love
The first thing about charity is that it is actually an old English word for love. Love is my sacrifice for your benefit. It is very much a good part of every person’s life if that person wants to please god. In 1 John 4, the Bible states that God is love. The definition of God is that he is that essence of love. Love is greatly misunderstood by the world. Love of self is narcissism, and it is condemned by God. Self-love is the very heart of Satan’s being.
See pc50 Narcissism versus Love
So when we understand love correctly, we draw closer to God, please God, and are actually saved. When we abuse that concept of love, we grow more and more like Satan.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Salvation of man’s soul from the consequences and presence of sin is based in this love which is within God, and if you understand God’s love towards you, believe in it, respond to it by receiving this love of God (John 1:12), then you are saved from your sins. God even goes so far as to make a litmus test of yes, you are saved, or no, you are not saved, by observing how you relate to God’s love.
1 John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
1 John 4:8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
But we MUST UNDERSTAND that the kind of love we are talking about here is not “sex,” much less perverted sexual abominations. It is the sacrifice of one’s self, one’s resources, of one’s time, energy, etc. for the good of other people. This is what God did in sending Jesus to die on the cross for us. He did not “have to do it“, but He did send Jesus to make a salvation plan for whomever accepts this work of Jesus on the cross. In a sense, although there is nobody greater than God, God did follow through on the plan of salvation because God is love, and it motivates Him in what he does, so God loves us.
Unconditional Love is not Biblical
Many Christians talk of unconditional love. But let us be clear here also. Love is a conditional thing. In other words, God will not save everybody because God is love. That is a false conclusion and an illogical conclusion. Although God does love everybody, and the rain falls on the fields of the wicked as well as the righteous…
Matthew 5:45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
we must insist that this love is limited. Salvation is only given to those who respond correctly to God’s love. While this love “draws” everyone, because God does give benefits to everyone (like the rain) indistinctly, it is only identifying God as being who blesses you, and dealing with God as a person (not a universal principle or factor of benefit to whomever receives some good from God), and in this last case, the person simply MUST RECEIVE JESUS AS THEIR PERSONAL SAVIOR.
The concept may be difficult at first glance, but it is very easy to understand. God is a person, and to be saved by God (the only person or plan that can save a human), you must have a personal relationship with God key individual, Jesus Christ, fully God, and fully man. Jesus is the arbiter that restores our relationship with God after sin has ruined it.
So the principles are very important here. Love or charity is a must. It is essential in our lives. But getting blessings from God like a universal principle, that should indicate just the opposite, that a person is behind these blessings.
Abusing Charity
The real issue here is what happens when people get charity, and they demand more or abuse that charity. Here the point is that they use good people’s charity, their love working out of their hearts towards others, and they feed their own god of riches instead of thanking the person truly behind that work of charity they are enjoying.
This is the problem of our day. People have lost all thought of charity being something, that is not deserved because of their personal merit, but rather, charity is the working out of love within a person. People who have the god of riches in their heart and life take charity, and they abuse this by taking when they don’t need charity nor help, but they are lazy and money hungry, and they will steal or incorrectly abuse the charity of others.
In the New Testament, charity is given by Christian individuals, or churches guided by spiritual individuals, and charity is blocked when the individuals doing the giving see abuse on the receiver’s end of things. Satan wants Christians to give (fund) the wicked’s worship of their god of money.
Twists and Turns
There are some interesting things here. The first one we have mentioned, and that is the people receiving charity many times have money, possessions, and really have no need for charity from other people. They are heaping more and more possessions into their houses, and to them, that is extremely “good”, desired, and plays to their god, riches.
Luke 12:15 And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.
In other words, there are two kinds of people, and only two. One is a saved person who has entered into God’s salvation. That person looks beyond this life to eternity, and he or she understands that whatever a person accumulates in this life by any means (legitimate or not) will be lost at death. Even the most narcissist rich person many times comes to grips with this same fact. When they die, they will take nothing of this life with them beyond the grave.
1 Timothy 6:7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
Psalms 49:17 For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away: his glory shall not descend after him.
The rich make monuments to themselves and their memory, but these will fade with time. They give their money to people and “charities” that they hope that at least these people who receive benefits from their wealth will remember them, but none of that will endure the test of time. All will be forgotten. Only when a person embraces the salvation of God will they be remembered through all eternity. That is they will be in the family of God, under the eternal blessings of God.
1 Timothy 6:17 Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy;
Abusing Charity is Feeding the Covetous’ God of Riches
When I say “abusing charity” here, it is the individual that abuses charity that I am talking about. Those who control the giving of charity are the ones who should be responsible for not allowing this abuse of charity to happen. What is wrong here in abusing charity, becomes an abomination to God when it is institutionalized, and forced through taxpayers.
Proverbs 22:16 He that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches, and he that giveth to the rich, shall surely come to want.
God comments that forcing the poor to give more money to the rich, and that giving (charity) to those who are rich, are both conduct that forces poverty on the person giving. In other words, it does nothing good in this life and in the view of God, it is wrong and unwise.
Stopping Charity Abuse
The first thing we have to understand here is that governmental entitlement programs only destroy charity, it does not help anybody. Why? Because each person is supposed to support themselves.
2 Thessalonians 3:10 For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.
Paul’s warning or instructions to the Thessalonian church is clear. A person should support themselves. While in our day, there are many who simply no longer are able to work to support themselves, the principle remains though. In the case of people who cannot work, this is where Christian charity should come into play in a forceful way.
In the story of Ruth, Naomi and Ruth were desolate women, in the sense that they had lost their husbands, and in that day, the man was the principal source of income for a family. God instructed Israel to not harvest the corners of their fields, but rather allow the poor and desolate to come in after the harvest, and they through their own work could live from that.
Leviticus 23:22 And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the stranger: I am the LORD your God.
The principle of work stands even with charity. God condemns the lazy and slothful.
Hebrews 6:12 That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
Hebrews 6:13 For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself,
Hebrews 6:14 Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.
Hebrews 6:15 And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.Romans 12:11 Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord;
Proverbs 13:4 The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat.
In Proverbs 13:4, we see the desire of people, and their lack of being able to attain. This is slothfulness. Because he doesn’t work, he is suffering, and this is a wake-up call from God, his empty belly, that he needs to go to God and change himself. To get free government handouts is simply to circumvent the apparatus that God has installed.
Proverbs 15:19 The way of the slothful man is as an hedge of thorns: but the way of the righteous is made plain.
Again, the way of living by abusing charity is filled with “thorns.” It is complicated. But the way of the individual who listens to God and orders their life according to God’s principles is simple, it is plain. Work and live from the fruits of that work.
Proverbs 18:9 He also that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster.
When we understand the forces and principles at work in the problems of people, we begin to get clarity on what is going on. Truly, it is easy to see that those who abuse charity, those who are “first in line” for the government entitlement programs, that these people are great wasters. They glory in that they have gone through the line several times, they “game the system,” they work a regular job in the black market (so they don’t NEED charity) but they still are on the take, etc. All of this shows what they are. They are slothful and great wasters. They, in essence, “soak up” all the charity that they can, and people who are unable to work get nothing or very little.
The irony of all of this is that the slothful works twice as much or more than what an honest person does. They work very hard, but at getting unmerited charity. They destroy the poor in essence. They hurt both the poor person who needs help as well as the person who wants to show charity because of God in his heart. To the giver of charity, they give the impression to that person that charity is somehow wrong, because of the abuses of some. But absolutely, the conclusion is that the system, charity, is a failure, when in truth, it is not. The giver of charity simply allows Satan and wicked governmental people “to rig the system” for failure.
How Charity is supposed to Work
In charity, you look at each individual and make a decision yea or nay based on the individual. Doing so, you try to capture the person behind the need. When we see people who are healthy, young, well able to work standing in government entitlement program lines, we should be angry at that. Even if they are black, Latinos, or other ethnic groups, they are absorbing and abusing the goodness of the taxpayer, and by their being there instead of working, elderly and crippled people of their own group are not receiving what they should. Many times, these young healthy people ridicule and shame the elderly in the same line as they are in. This is just wrong.
I have to make the point one more time. When a religious group is giving the charity, or when a Christian individual is giving charity to somebody, they can very easily just say no by looking at the person, their situation, their home, how they live. They don’t need charity. As a pastor I have visited people which were referred to me for charity from our church, and what I saw was a woman supposedly not able to feed her many small children. We carried dry goods to them so they could eat. It is greatly galling to see this woman with gold hanging on her hands and neck, cable TV going on with a super large plasma TV, and several cars in her gargage. If her situation was as presented to us, then if I was this woman, a mother responsible for these children, I would sell the gold and buy bread. We had cash also to give her, but I returned it to the church treasury, because my conclusion was obvious, she was abusing our generosity.
In the 40+ years of being in the ministry and dealing with “charity cases“, I would say that probably 95% of these people are ungrateful. In one case, I visited a couple “down on their luck” (or experiencing God’s judgment?), and the church where I was at as assistant pastor had given them many times over the months that they were in our town to the tune of probably $2000+, and I bought them a thank you card to sign and give back to the church. They refused. I asked if I could sign it for them, and they got angry and told me under no circumstance was I to give that thank you card to the church.
Dr. Bob Jones Sr., the evangelist, wisely said, “when gratitude dies on the altar of a man’s soul, he is well neigh hopeless.” I can attest to the truth of that saying in my dealing with charity cases.
What is “Government Entitlement”?
Exactly what is this concept? In other words, these people are taught to believe that it is their right (entitlement is a right which you deserve) to receive something. Why is it their right? In other words, American citizens have an obligation to pay for people who cannot work or who do not want to work, or who simply refuse to work? Why? What is the logic behind that? Even if a group of politicians sign that into law, it has no support in the founding principles of our republic. There is no right for some to receive nor obligation in others to give. This is outright stealing from the taxpayer.
This charity has to be returned to what it should be, the goodness of the heart of someone who desires, willingly, gives to somebody else. Democrats want entitlement programs because this is how they keep blacks and others enslaved to their political group. I am all for that, just make the money given come from the Democrat political party and not taxpayers in general. No? Well, what do you know about that. When Democrats have their hands in the wallets of the taxpayer, everybody pays for their ideas. When it is just the Democrat national party, they have no charity at all!
The Difference Between Charity and Entitlement
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Burroughs Gospel Worship 14 chapters (263 pages) which are each a sermon on how to properly worship God. (format PDF)
“Jeremiah Burroughs’ Gospel Worship has greatly influenced my understanding of biblical worship. It is one of the most important books I have ever read.”
–R.C. Sproul
Download: Burroughs Gospel Worship.
