Caring for others is a popular topic of our times, with social media video reels overflowing with people surprising strangers in need with generous assistance. Many ministers draw from scripture to preach human kindness as a Christian duty. But if you consider that all religions value human kindness, and that even non-believers promote the same, it becomes apparent that God’s call to charity is something distinctly different.

Recently I had a believer ask me about this in the light of Matthew 25:34-40. The question was if providing physically for those in need carried eternal rewards with God. The answer is no. Much as it is good to be mindful of the needs of others, what the Lord wants to clarify for believers is that righteousness is not measured to these things, but to Christ. Jesus unlocked the deeper spiritual mysteries of His teachings to His apostles, and prepared them with a measure of grace to do likewise for believers.

Let’s look at those scriptures in Matthew chapter 25 to see how Jesus taught about the kingdom of heaven, using a number of analogies to bridge our understanding:

Matthew 25:34-40
³⁴ Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
³⁵ For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
³⁶ Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
³⁷ Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
³⁸ When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
³⁹ Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
⁴⁰ And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Reading these verses from a carnal perspective, we would think that Jesus was speaking of the physical needs of the body, as if God’s plan is to ignite deeds of good will and that He would call upon us to give a cup of water to quench the thirst of the needy, to give bread to satisfy the hunger of the needy, and to clothe the needy.

When Jesus expounded His parables for our understanding, we gain new insight as He transitions our thinking from the natural to the spiritual. This is what it means to bridge our understanding. Let’s look at two examples.

1 – Giving Jesus a drink of water. In John chapter 4 we read about a woman who met Jesus at a well and she is our first example. Jesus’ conversation with her is a learning experience for us. Jesus was weary and thirsty and asked the woman for a drink of water. The woman understood Jesus only in light of her everyday experience (her common sense thoughts), so Jesus asked for a drink of water to challenge her natural perspective.

John 4:10
If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.

The woman thought that Jesus was speaking of giving her water to quench her thirst, but she was not even close to what Jesus was actually teaching her. Jesus was speaking of quenching her spiritual thirst with the living waters of His grace. The woman, thinking naturally, spoke naturally and at first, she resisted the bridge Jesus was building for her understanding, as if to say, this is what I know and this is as far as I’ll go.

2 – Giving Jesus bread to eat. In Mark chapter 8 we read about another challenge that Jesus created to bridge the understanding of His disciples from their everyday experience to the spiritual application of His kingdom. Just as water equates to grace, bread equates to truth, but not everyone who teaches the word of God is giving the true bread of Christ.

So, Jesus teaches His disciples that they should not be as the Pharisees who feed the people the bread of false doctrine that leaves the soul empty, thirsty, and naked.

Mark 8:15-18
¹⁵ And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod.

¹⁶ And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have no bread.

¹⁷ And when Jesus knew it, he saith unto them, Why reason ye, because ye have no bread? perceive ye not yet, neither understand? have ye your heart yet hardened?

¹⁸ Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember?

Jesus charged His apostles with the spiritual application of His words. He trained them to be aware of how their mind reasoned with what they knew naturally. Thinking naturally, they spoke naturally and at first, they were puzzled at Jesus’ point, which was contrary to what they had observed.

Many believers today are as the woman at the well, thinking naturally, speaking naturally and at first, resisting the bridge Jesus is building for their understanding, as if to say, this is what I know and this is as far as I’ll go. But just as the woman at the well, many do accept the spiritual application of Jesus’ words. Let’s go on now to learn God’s spiritual application for giving.

When the Lord speaks about giving, He is not talking about making provision of physical food, clothing and shelter to those in need. What is He talking about then? He is talking about submitting to the will of God that we steward His grace.

The stewardship of grace is set apart from our nature and has eternal rewards and this is because the giving that God calls believers to is that which is equal to how He loved us first – the giving of Christ. His holy knowledge (truth) unveiled to the apostles to share with those who enter Jesus’ covenant, is what clothes the naked conscience, heals the iniquity scarred heart, and feeds the starving soul of man; truly having eternal bearing. Let us look at how Apostle Peter instructed the church about this:

1 Peter 4:8-11
⁸ And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.
⁹ Use hospitality one to another without grudging.
¹⁰ As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
¹¹ If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

In these verses we see two elements of the gospel of Christ highlighted: charity and grace. The call to charity (which covers a multitude of sins) has to do with stewarding the grace of God (not sharing the goods of man). When a believer transitions into the covenant of Jesus, a new foundation of His holy knowledge is laid within their heart for faith to rightly build upon. By this instruction in the apostles’ doctrine, each of the 12 elements of the gospel perfectly reflects Christ, equipping our faith to likewise reflect Him.

When apostles were no longer instructing the church in doctrine, the meaning of Christ in the twelve elements of the gospel was lost. But in these last days, the Lord has now restored His spiritual government through the stewardship of Apostle Eric vonAnderseck, and his defining of grace, charity and all the other elements has been restored so that believers can now see the face of Christ in these things. And as they share the Godly understanding gained, they are sharing Christ who truly covers the naked, feeds the hungry, and is shelter to the strangers.

I’d like to quote a few paragraphs from the EVA Terms Glossary definition of charity (accessible in our free online IDCCST Course):

TRUTH and CHARITY must work together in order for the product of faith to be called Christ. Truth is what we learn as the foundation is set, charity (Christ) is what we experience and then express. This also means that we’re not striving after the moral code to love one another. We are released from that burden. The love of the moral code carries the prejudice of our first history while the love of God (Jesus Christ) carries God’s history.

Paul observed a healthy church when saying, ‘The charity of every one of you increases’ (2 Thes. 1:3). He was not speaking of the love we know naturally, but was observing their labor with the knowledge of Christ in their priesthood to edify, exhort, and comfort one another as they reciprocate to God. Our charity is seen in the stewardship of grace.

As Apostle Paul further lays out the function of charity, he says, ‘Charity never fails’ (1 Cor. 13:8), meaning that charity will never fail to express Christ. Charity will never fall short of the glory of God because that is what the Spirit expresses in you and through you as you labor with truth.

When considering what Jesus laid out to bridge our understanding from the natural to the spiritual, we have another example of this in Revelation 3:17-18. Jesus again contradicts man’s assumptions, teaching that a person might have possession of physical things but still be naked, hungry, and without shelter in the eyes of the Lord.

Revelation 3:17-18
¹⁷ Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
¹⁸ I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.

Jesus again sets in order the natural from the spiritual to differentiate His kingdom and His call to us. Jesus uses the word “gold” in verse 18 to teach us about spiritual values. The gold of Christ speaks of having His truth set within the heart for our faith to bear value in heavenly places (being equal to Christ). This is distinctly different to the glitter that the world values: earthly riches in things that perish with time or use. White raiment symbolizes the righteousness of Christ which clothes the conscience as pure in the sight of God; that which the good deeds of man’s moral-code can never do. And the eyesalve points to the divine discernment we access by the anointing as we honor the Lord through our tethering to His elect stewardship.

There is no greater love than the pure love of God, which He gave in Jesus Christ. And this is the love (charity) we grow in through Jesus’ covenant, stewardship and priesthood, by which to care for one another in a manner that far exceeds human goodness and kindness.