The Lord’s Work – Part 45
I assume they did the job, and did it faithfully, but the Bible doesn’t record them doing it, as if that was the true work of a Christian. Instead, it records those men preaching the gospel, winning souls, and being persecuted for the word of God’s sake. Stephen the Martyr and Philip the Evangelist. Preaching is what they were focused on.
Luke 18:22 Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.
That kind of sounds like you can sow carnal things, and get spiritual rewards. This is where you can get in trouble: teaching carnal good works in exchange for eternal life.
“Thou shalt have treasure in heaven”. That sounds like salvation. Why then did he need to follow Jesus?
If the flesh can do any good thing, then we don’t need a Saviour.
But I believe, that that IS salvation… after the figure.
You, who believe you are rich, and have need of nothing, must give up everything: every work you are trusting in for salvation. Give good things to the poor, by believing they have salvation by faith alone, without those works you are trusting in. That is giving to the poor. That is loving your brother.
That is having good judgment. That is righteous judgment.
That is what Jesus has to be talking about. Why? Because He told his disciples that it was not about giving away carnal things. It was about what the man believed in.
Mark 10:22-24 And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions. 23 And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! 24 And the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!
You don’t have to physically sell everything you own in the flesh and distribute to the poor. They may not have known this, but we NOW know this from revealed salvation doctrine.
But you DO have to spiritually, mentally, in your mind, sell all things that you trust in. You have to get rid of them all. Count them all dung. You have to make yourself poor, put yourself in a WORSE position than the poor. You have to become poor. You have to humble yourself, such that you know you have nothing to trust in, and have no hope of salvation, other than faith in the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Those good things you desire – salvation eternal life, eternal riches, an eternal home, living water, everlasting bread – the true good things, you have to distribute to the poor. You have to give riches to the poor. How? By how you judge them. This is all about how you judge men.
Jesus came to give us good judgment. Not to judge. But to show true judgment to men.
True and just judgment is: If they have Jesus they have life, and if they don’t have Jesus, if they have any spiritual riches outside of Christ, that is, if they trust at all in their own riches (their works), they don’t have eternal life. Mentally, you must make yourself poor, and give to the poor (the sinners), eternal life by Jesus Christ.
Luke 16:11 If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?
The true things are spiritual things. There are true riches in heavenly places. Giving, distributing carnal things to the people of God is a good work. But truthfully, its just a figure of the true good work of distributing the true riches.
Matthew 10:7-8 And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. 8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.
After the figure, they were distributing eternal life.
We ought to give the things that we have received: eternal life. Give salvation.
The truth of giving, distributing and communicating, is that we ought to give to all men, but especially to the brethren.
The truth of giving, is that we ought to should carnal things, but the true good things are the spiritual things. To give spiritual things is a true good work.
The truth of giving for a Christian, is that giving to the necessities of the flesh of other Christians (which we SHOULD DO), is not the true.
Your flesh cannot do a true good thing. Nothing you do with the flesh will be rewarded with eternal life or eternal riches, or an eternal house in heaven. Only true good spiritual works are eternally rewarded with good things. Only the giving of, the distribution of true good spiritual things is eternally rewarded with good things. Only being faithful with God things will be repaid with an eternal possession of your own.
When we give the Lord’s things, the same things that were given to us, they give health and eternal life.
Distribution of the Lord’s things, to the Lord’s house, and to all men, is a true good work. How do we do this? We believe unto salvation. Get saved, save others, and grow the faith of yourself and the brethren.
The good work in truth is always the same: build and grow God’s house.
Communicating.
1 Timothy 6:18 That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate;
Scripturally, this one was a bit more difficult. Many of the instances of communicating, giving to other Christians, also closely discuss eternal rewards and spiritual fruit. But I don’t believe you can do carnal works to receive spiritual, eternal rewards. So, I struggled a little bit with how to approach these passaged. How do I interpret these things? How do I rightly divide them?
And that is the answer. To understand, you must keep that line between flesh and spirit. You have to divide the true spiritual things from the figurative carnal things.
If you don’t divide the flesh from the Spirit, you will not understand the word of God. You will teach a private interpretation; lies. As we go through these, don’t throw out what we’ve learned. Let the foundation that we have established, the rule that we have learned, let it interpret the Scriptures.
Philippians 4:10-18 But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again; wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity. 11 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. … 14 Notwithstanding ye have well done, that ye did communicate with my affliction. 15 Now ye Philippians know also, that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only. 16 For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity. [Communicating is giving to the necessity of saints] 17 Not because I desire a gift: but I desire fruit that may abound to your account. 18 But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, wellpleasing to God.
So maybe you can see what I’m saying here. It kind of sounds like giving carnal things can result in spiritual eternal fruit.
What things do you think they gave Paul? What carnal things should we should communicate to the brethren? I’d say the things that are needful to the body.
1 Timothy 6:8 And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.
Carnal things. So here it could get messy. Here is an opportunity for the false prophets to mix up the flesh and the spirit. But lets not break the spiritual foundation, or throw out the rule.
And lets not build again the foundation of carnal things, which we have destroyed.
Galatians 2:18 For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.
We have destroyed the carnal things. Lets not build them again. We cannot cross that LINE.
This passage is really good. And I have not taken this out of context; it teaches exactly this!
Galatians 2:16-18 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. 17 But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid. 18 For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.
We know that we are saved by grace through faith, without the deeds of the flesh. But, what about the “works are proof” doctrine? That is their doctrine: Christ lives in me, in my life, and He makes me do good things.
That doctrine builds again the things which a saved man has destroyed.
If we say that our flesh can do true good works now, that Christ works in our flesh, that Christ is to credit, and is responsible for the good works of my flesh… then when I sin, when I am found a sinner, Christ is responsible for that too. If we can do good in the flesh, if Christ profits the flesh, then we have built again those carnal things which we destroyed. We transgress. We preach false doctrine.
There is a relationship here. Let’s understand the relationship.
Galatians 6:6-8 Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things. 7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. 8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
… It seems there is a way in which giving carnal things to the brethren, or maybe more specifically, to teachers and preachers of the gospel, can result in spiritual things.
I maintain that communicating to Paul’s fleshly necessity is not sowing to the Spirit. BUT, clearly has some connection to sowing to the Spirit.
The question we need to answer is, can you give carnal things (like food and clothing and money) to the brethren and it be counted as a true good work? Some would certainly love to teach this, but I cannot let myself cross that line.
I don’t believe that giving carnal things is a true good work. You cannot do a true good work with your flesh. We have to draw that line between the flesh and Spirit.
BUT clearly, when giving is done to the brethren, the church, it is so closely connected with the spiritual things, that it may not be so easy to clearly see that line. We must be careful here, but we need an explanation.
I would not say sowing carnal, temporal things can bring forth spiritual, eternal fruit.
But I would say that instead, sowing carnal things to the flesh of Christians, especially our teachers, can foster/support the sowing of Spiritual things. And THIS is the true good work. This is where the true profit comes from. From the Spirit. We must sow to the Spirit to reap everlasting life, and everlasting things.
We have to maintain the division of spiritual things from carnal things:
1 Corinthians 9:11,14 If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things? … 14 Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel.
If your Pastors and teachers are sowing spiritual things to you, it does not produce carnal things. But, if they are sowing to you spiritual things, the Lord has ordained that they are worthy of you communicating to them your carnal things. You SHOULD do so.
“Not that I speak in respect of want.” And “Not because I desire a gift.” And “I seek not yours, but you”.
Preachers SHOULD live of the gospel. But those carnal things are not the true spiritual fruit. We have to divide flesh from spirit. Carnal fruit from spiritual fruit. Giving spiritual things does not produce carnal things, neither does carnal things (carnal good works) produce spiritual things (spiritual fruit).
If you sow to the flesh, it does not bring forth spiritual fruit. But, then, where is the connection between communicating carnal things, and reaping spiritual fruit?
If you sow to the flesh of Christians, especially your pastors and teachers, the Lord’s ministers are able to sow more spiritual things to you and to others, which, if they are received, those spiritual things will bring forth spiritual fruit.
But we have to draw the line there: sowing spiritual things is the only way to bring forth spiritual fruit.
If we will communicate the carnal things to the preachers who are sowing Spiritual things, then the Lord will give us 2 things: more Spiritual bread for us to eat, and more Spiritual seed (the word of God, Jesus Christ) sown on our behalf. That is, we take part in the spiritual sowing and in the spiritual fruit.
And if we look at Stephen and Philip as the first distributors among the church, did not he Lord increase them in faith and power to sow spiritual things?
Here is where we get that:
2 Corinthians 9:9-10 (As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever. 10 Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;)
What does giving carnal things to a sower of righteousness do? Two things.
- Increases the seed that he sows spiritually, which you take part in. You take part in his spiritual ministry, reaping the spiritual fruits of his sowing. Ministering to the sower carnally, feeding the sower, increases the spiritual seed sown on your behalf. If so be he is preaching the truth!
- It increases the spiritual bread for our food. If you are ministering to the saints, the disciples, the preachers and teachers, the apostles, the Lord will minister to you SPIRITUAL bread for your food. Ministering carnal things to the preachers and teachers, in turn ministers spiritual food to the whole church, if so be that the preachers and teachers are teaching the truth.
But you are not turning your carnal things into spiritual things. You are not sowing carnal things and reaping spiritual things. The carnal giving is not the true good work. But if you give carnally to the Lord’s spiritual ministers, the Lord will offer you in return spiritual things for your spiritual food. Spiritual bread – doctrine. If you support an apostle, a gospel preacher, a gospel ministry carnally, the Lord will supply an apostle, a preacher, a gospel ministry, to feed you spiritually. You feeding him carnally, supports him feeding you, and the lost, and the whole church spiritually. Giving to the ministry allows you to take part in the ministry. And that ministry (a true gospel ministry) is the true good work.
Giving is a true good work. Giving carnally is not a true good work. Giving spiritually is a true good work.
Winning souls (1), and growing children (2). If you give carnally, with a pure heart to a gospel ministry that is winning souls, for the sole purpose of profiting the Lord’s people spiritually, you will have an opportunity to take part in the ministering of the true good things: eternal things.
The true good work is to SPIRITUALLY feed men, cloth them, bind up their wounds.
But… given that this carnal communication contributes to the furtherance of the gospel (the body of Christ grows, the house is built in heaven) when care is provided to the brethren who are doing the true good work: growing the body of Christ, we take part in their ministry.
If we sow carnal things to the sowers of spiritual things, The Lord will give us spiritual things – a part in their ministry sowing seed, and bread (doctrine) for our spiritual growth. But those are the true good works. Not the ministering of carnal things. The ministering of spiritual things.
If you do the carnal faithfully with a pure heart, the Lord gives you an opportunity to receive the spiritual. That is the connection between communicating and spiritual fruit. But the connection does not cross the division. We have to divide the carnal things from the spiritual things.
2 Corinthians 9:9-10 (As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever. 10 Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;)
It is fruits of righteousness that the true sower distributes. Those that are sowing righteousness are doing the true good work. Spiritual fruit is the fruit of God’s righteousness. See Prov 11:18, Isa 61:11, James 3:18.
Apr 3 2022
The Lord’s Work – Part 45
Downloadable Word document:
The Lord’s Work – Part 45
The Lord’s Work – Part 45
I assume they did the job, and did it faithfully, but the Bible doesn’t record them doing it, as if that was the true work of a Christian. Instead, it records those men preaching the gospel, winning souls, and being persecuted for the word of God’s sake. Stephen the Martyr and Philip the Evangelist. Preaching is what they were focused on.
Luke 18:22 Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.
That kind of sounds like you can sow carnal things, and get spiritual rewards. This is where you can get in trouble: teaching carnal good works in exchange for eternal life.
“Thou shalt have treasure in heaven”. That sounds like salvation. Why then did he need to follow Jesus?
If the flesh can do any good thing, then we don’t need a Saviour.
But I believe, that that IS salvation… after the figure.
You, who believe you are rich, and have need of nothing, must give up everything: every work you are trusting in for salvation. Give good things to the poor, by believing they have salvation by faith alone, without those works you are trusting in. That is giving to the poor. That is loving your brother.
That is having good judgment. That is righteous judgment.
That is what Jesus has to be talking about. Why? Because He told his disciples that it was not about giving away carnal things. It was about what the man believed in.
Mark 10:22-24 And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions. 23 And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! 24 And the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!
You don’t have to physically sell everything you own in the flesh and distribute to the poor. They may not have known this, but we NOW know this from revealed salvation doctrine.
But you DO have to spiritually, mentally, in your mind, sell all things that you trust in. You have to get rid of them all. Count them all dung. You have to make yourself poor, put yourself in a WORSE position than the poor. You have to become poor. You have to humble yourself, such that you know you have nothing to trust in, and have no hope of salvation, other than faith in the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Those good things you desire – salvation eternal life, eternal riches, an eternal home, living water, everlasting bread – the true good things, you have to distribute to the poor. You have to give riches to the poor. How? By how you judge them. This is all about how you judge men.
Jesus came to give us good judgment. Not to judge. But to show true judgment to men.
True and just judgment is: If they have Jesus they have life, and if they don’t have Jesus, if they have any spiritual riches outside of Christ, that is, if they trust at all in their own riches (their works), they don’t have eternal life. Mentally, you must make yourself poor, and give to the poor (the sinners), eternal life by Jesus Christ.
Luke 16:11 If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?
The true things are spiritual things. There are true riches in heavenly places. Giving, distributing carnal things to the people of God is a good work. But truthfully, its just a figure of the true good work of distributing the true riches.
Matthew 10:7-8 And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. 8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.
After the figure, they were distributing eternal life.
We ought to give the things that we have received: eternal life. Give salvation.
The truth of giving, distributing and communicating, is that we ought to give to all men, but especially to the brethren.
The truth of giving, is that we ought to should carnal things, but the true good things are the spiritual things. To give spiritual things is a true good work.
The truth of giving for a Christian, is that giving to the necessities of the flesh of other Christians (which we SHOULD DO), is not the true.
Your flesh cannot do a true good thing. Nothing you do with the flesh will be rewarded with eternal life or eternal riches, or an eternal house in heaven. Only true good spiritual works are eternally rewarded with good things. Only the giving of, the distribution of true good spiritual things is eternally rewarded with good things. Only being faithful with God things will be repaid with an eternal possession of your own.
When we give the Lord’s things, the same things that were given to us, they give health and eternal life.
Distribution of the Lord’s things, to the Lord’s house, and to all men, is a true good work. How do we do this? We believe unto salvation. Get saved, save others, and grow the faith of yourself and the brethren.
The good work in truth is always the same: build and grow God’s house.
Communicating.
1 Timothy 6:18 That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate;
Scripturally, this one was a bit more difficult. Many of the instances of communicating, giving to other Christians, also closely discuss eternal rewards and spiritual fruit. But I don’t believe you can do carnal works to receive spiritual, eternal rewards. So, I struggled a little bit with how to approach these passaged. How do I interpret these things? How do I rightly divide them?
And that is the answer. To understand, you must keep that line between flesh and spirit. You have to divide the true spiritual things from the figurative carnal things.
If you don’t divide the flesh from the Spirit, you will not understand the word of God. You will teach a private interpretation; lies. As we go through these, don’t throw out what we’ve learned. Let the foundation that we have established, the rule that we have learned, let it interpret the Scriptures.
Philippians 4:10-18 But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again; wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity. 11 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. … 14 Notwithstanding ye have well done, that ye did communicate with my affliction. 15 Now ye Philippians know also, that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only. 16 For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity. [Communicating is giving to the necessity of saints] 17 Not because I desire a gift: but I desire fruit that may abound to your account. 18 But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, wellpleasing to God.
So maybe you can see what I’m saying here. It kind of sounds like giving carnal things can result in spiritual eternal fruit.
What things do you think they gave Paul? What carnal things should we should communicate to the brethren? I’d say the things that are needful to the body.
1 Timothy 6:8 And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.
Carnal things. So here it could get messy. Here is an opportunity for the false prophets to mix up the flesh and the spirit. But lets not break the spiritual foundation, or throw out the rule.
And lets not build again the foundation of carnal things, which we have destroyed.
Galatians 2:18 For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.
We have destroyed the carnal things. Lets not build them again. We cannot cross that LINE.
This passage is really good. And I have not taken this out of context; it teaches exactly this!
Galatians 2:16-18 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. 17 But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid. 18 For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.
We know that we are saved by grace through faith, without the deeds of the flesh. But, what about the “works are proof” doctrine? That is their doctrine: Christ lives in me, in my life, and He makes me do good things.
That doctrine builds again the things which a saved man has destroyed.
If we say that our flesh can do true good works now, that Christ works in our flesh, that Christ is to credit, and is responsible for the good works of my flesh… then when I sin, when I am found a sinner, Christ is responsible for that too. If we can do good in the flesh, if Christ profits the flesh, then we have built again those carnal things which we destroyed. We transgress. We preach false doctrine.
There is a relationship here. Let’s understand the relationship.
Galatians 6:6-8 Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things. 7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. 8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
… It seems there is a way in which giving carnal things to the brethren, or maybe more specifically, to teachers and preachers of the gospel, can result in spiritual things.
I maintain that communicating to Paul’s fleshly necessity is not sowing to the Spirit. BUT, clearly has some connection to sowing to the Spirit.
The question we need to answer is, can you give carnal things (like food and clothing and money) to the brethren and it be counted as a true good work? Some would certainly love to teach this, but I cannot let myself cross that line.
I don’t believe that giving carnal things is a true good work. You cannot do a true good work with your flesh. We have to draw that line between the flesh and Spirit.
BUT clearly, when giving is done to the brethren, the church, it is so closely connected with the spiritual things, that it may not be so easy to clearly see that line. We must be careful here, but we need an explanation.
I would not say sowing carnal, temporal things can bring forth spiritual, eternal fruit.
But I would say that instead, sowing carnal things to the flesh of Christians, especially our teachers, can foster/support the sowing of Spiritual things. And THIS is the true good work. This is where the true profit comes from. From the Spirit. We must sow to the Spirit to reap everlasting life, and everlasting things.
We have to maintain the division of spiritual things from carnal things:
1 Corinthians 9:11,14 If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things? … 14 Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel.
If your Pastors and teachers are sowing spiritual things to you, it does not produce carnal things. But, if they are sowing to you spiritual things, the Lord has ordained that they are worthy of you communicating to them your carnal things. You SHOULD do so.
“Not that I speak in respect of want.” And “Not because I desire a gift.” And “I seek not yours, but you”.
Preachers SHOULD live of the gospel. But those carnal things are not the true spiritual fruit. We have to divide flesh from spirit. Carnal fruit from spiritual fruit. Giving spiritual things does not produce carnal things, neither does carnal things (carnal good works) produce spiritual things (spiritual fruit).
If you sow to the flesh, it does not bring forth spiritual fruit. But, then, where is the connection between communicating carnal things, and reaping spiritual fruit?
If you sow to the flesh of Christians, especially your pastors and teachers, the Lord’s ministers are able to sow more spiritual things to you and to others, which, if they are received, those spiritual things will bring forth spiritual fruit.
But we have to draw the line there: sowing spiritual things is the only way to bring forth spiritual fruit.
If we will communicate the carnal things to the preachers who are sowing Spiritual things, then the Lord will give us 2 things: more Spiritual bread for us to eat, and more Spiritual seed (the word of God, Jesus Christ) sown on our behalf. That is, we take part in the spiritual sowing and in the spiritual fruit.
And if we look at Stephen and Philip as the first distributors among the church, did not he Lord increase them in faith and power to sow spiritual things?
Here is where we get that:
2 Corinthians 9:9-10 (As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever. 10 Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;)
What does giving carnal things to a sower of righteousness do? Two things.
But you are not turning your carnal things into spiritual things. You are not sowing carnal things and reaping spiritual things. The carnal giving is not the true good work. But if you give carnally to the Lord’s spiritual ministers, the Lord will offer you in return spiritual things for your spiritual food. Spiritual bread – doctrine. If you support an apostle, a gospel preacher, a gospel ministry carnally, the Lord will supply an apostle, a preacher, a gospel ministry, to feed you spiritually. You feeding him carnally, supports him feeding you, and the lost, and the whole church spiritually. Giving to the ministry allows you to take part in the ministry. And that ministry (a true gospel ministry) is the true good work.
Giving is a true good work. Giving carnally is not a true good work. Giving spiritually is a true good work.
Winning souls (1), and growing children (2). If you give carnally, with a pure heart to a gospel ministry that is winning souls, for the sole purpose of profiting the Lord’s people spiritually, you will have an opportunity to take part in the ministering of the true good things: eternal things.
The true good work is to SPIRITUALLY feed men, cloth them, bind up their wounds.
But… given that this carnal communication contributes to the furtherance of the gospel (the body of Christ grows, the house is built in heaven) when care is provided to the brethren who are doing the true good work: growing the body of Christ, we take part in their ministry.
If we sow carnal things to the sowers of spiritual things, The Lord will give us spiritual things – a part in their ministry sowing seed, and bread (doctrine) for our spiritual growth. But those are the true good works. Not the ministering of carnal things. The ministering of spiritual things.
If you do the carnal faithfully with a pure heart, the Lord gives you an opportunity to receive the spiritual. That is the connection between communicating and spiritual fruit. But the connection does not cross the division. We have to divide the carnal things from the spiritual things.
2 Corinthians 9:9-10 (As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever. 10 Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;)
It is fruits of righteousness that the true sower distributes. Those that are sowing righteousness are doing the true good work. Spiritual fruit is the fruit of God’s righteousness. See Prov 11:18, Isa 61:11, James 3:18.
By Pastor • Christian Doctrine, Good Works • 0