We have come all the way up the ladder of 2 Peter 1. Faith was the foundation, then virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, and brotherly kindness, and now Peter sets the last rung in place: Charity.
This is the top of the ladder, the highest thing the Holy Ghost commands us to add to our lives, and Peter puts it last on purpose because everything underneath it is supposed to lead here.
Charity is the rung where the Christian life finally looks like the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith brought us in the door, but charity is prepares us for what heaven will look like. We can be busy and prayed up and Bible read and still be a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal if charity is not practiced/
Webster defined charity in 1828 as love, benevolence, good will, that disposition of heart which inclines men to think favorably of their fellow man and to do them good. In a theological sense, it includes supreme love to God and universal good will to men.
That is exactly what Peter is reaching for at the top of this ladder. Love going up to God with everything we have, and love going out to men.
The opposite of charity is selfishness and hatred.
The Picture of Charity in the Bible
The picture of charity is the Lord Jesus Christ.
John 15:13, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
There is no higher form of charity than what He did at the cross. He laid down His life not for friends who deserved it, but for sinners who hated Him. Every other example of love in the Bible is a little candle held up next to the sun. When we want to know what charity looks like, we start with the Lord at Calvary with His arms stretched out paying for the sins of the very men who were spitting on Him.
We see the same picture of love in the family of Noah. Ham saw his father’s nakedness and ran out and told his brothers about it. But Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, walked into the tent backward, and covered their father without ever once looking on his shame. That is what charity does with the sins of the brethren. It does not run around publishing what it saw. It walks in backward with a covering and refuses to even look. Charity covers a multitude of sins because love would rather throw a coat over them than tell the world about them.
Without Charity I Am Nothing
The Bible is very clear on this subject.
1 Corinthians 13:1-2, “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.”
A Christian without charity is noise. He may be eloquent noise or theological noise or even mountain moving noise, but God calls it nothing. Tongues, prophecy, mysteries, knowledge, faith, and all of it ends up as zero on God’s ledger if charity is missing.
1 Corinthians 13:3, “And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.”
Even sacrifice without love profits nothing. A man can give away his last dollar and walk into a fire for the cause of Christ and still get nothing for it if his heart is not moved with charity.
What Charity Looks Like
The Bible gave us the most complete definition of love anywhere in human writing, and Paul put it in fifteen short phrases.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7, “Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.”
Run your own life across those fifteen lines and see what survives. Suffereth long, meaning it puts up with the brother who is slow to change. Kind, meaning warm and helpful without having to be asked. Envieth not, meaning it does not begrudge the brother who got blessed when you did not. Vaunteth not, puffed up not, meaning it does not parade itself or strut over others. Seeketh not her own, meaning it does not always need its own way. Not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, meaning it gives the brother the benefit of the doubt instead of building a case against him in your head. Rejoiceth in the truth, meaning it celebrates when sin is dealt with and God is praised. Beareth, believeth, hopeth, endureth all things. Charity does not quit on people.
The Greatest of These Is Charity
When Paul finished his definition, he ranked the three great Christian virtues and charity came out on top.
1 Corinthians 13:13, “And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.”
Faith will be replaced by sight one day in Heaven. Hope will be replaced by possession when we see God. But charity will never end in heaven. The greatest thing we will take with us into eternity is the love we grew while we were here.
Charity Covers a Multitude of Sins
This is one of the most important things charity does in the church.
1 Peter 4:8, “And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.”
Peter knew what would tear a church apart fast and it was the brethren publishing each other’s faults.
It does not approve, endorse or hide sin. It does not ignore sin either. Charity does not run to the phone about sin.
Proverbs 10:12, “Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins.”
There are only two options when a brother fails. Hatred stirs it up problems and love covers it.
Charity Is the Bond of Perfectness
Charity is the belt that ties the whole Christian outfit together.
Colossians 3:14, “And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.”
Above the meekness, longsuffering and kindness Paul just listed, put on charity. It is the thing that holds the rest of the wardrobe in place. Without it the other virtues hang on us like clothes on a scarecrow.
God Is Love
The reason charity sits at the top of the ladder is because charity is the very nature of God Himself.
1 John 4:7-8, “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.”
To grow in charity is to grow in God. To shrink in charity is to shrink away from the very nature of the One we say we serve. Every other rung on this ladder is a means to this end. Diligence and faith and virtue and knowledge and temperance and patience and godliness and brotherly kindness are all stepping stones to a Christian who looks like the God who saved him, and God is love.
Living This Out
Charity is not a feeling to wait around for, it is a coat we put on every morning. It’s a choice.
Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Love your neighbor as yourself. Love your enemies and pray for the ones who use you. Cover a brother’s sin instead of publishing it. Forgive quickly and completely the way God forgave you. Give to the needs of the poor. Speak the truth in love, never truth without love and never love without truth. Lay down your life for the brethren in the small things, day in and day out.
Peter laid the whole chain out and we walked it together. Diligence holds the whole thing together. Faith is the foundation. Virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity are added one on top of the other. The Christian who keeps adding never falls. The Christian who stops adding goes blind, forgets where he came from, and his life starts dying on the vine.
So do not put this series on a shelf and forget it. Take one step at a time, give all diligence to it, and watch what God does in a Christian who keeps climbing. The Lord who called us to glory and virtue gave us everything we need to make this climb, and He will see us all the way to the top
