Tag Archives: Ministries of Mercy

“Only if these measures are taken will we escape the middle-class captivity of most of our evangelical churches. A frightening proportion of our churches are trapped by what Frank Tillapaugh calls the ‘fortress church’ mentality. That mentality is made up of attitudes that may be conscious or unconscious: ‘Let them come to us! Our doors are open.’ ‘ We come to church to have our needs met, to escape the cold, cruel, world.’ But there are biblical truths that knock flat the walls of our fortresses” (Timothy Keller, Ministries of Mercy, p. 172).

“The adage ‘grace is free, but it is not cheap’ applies to the ministry of mercy. Grace comes to the undeserving, but its goal is to intercept self-destructive behavior. A truly evangelistic church will dispense diaconal aid to non-Christians with boldness, as freely as it spreads the gospel itself. But our love is not mere sentiment. It is active, and it longs to bring about healing and change in the lives of the recipient under the kingship of Jesus. Nohting less will satisfy it” (Timothy Keller, Ministries of Mercy, p. 102).

I’m currently working through Timothy Keller’s Ministries of Mercy. On p. 65, he attributes this extended quote to B. B. Warfield, who in turn is quoting a sermon by Robert Murray M’Cheyne:

Now, dear Christians, some of you pray night and day to be branches of the true Vine: you pray to be made all over in the image of Christ. If so, you must be like him in giving. A branch bears the same kind of fruit as the tree. If you be branches at all, you must bear the same fruit.

An old divine says well: “What would have become of us if Christ had been as saving of his blood as some men are of their money?”

Obj. I. My money is my own. Ans. Christ might have said, My blood is my own, my life is my own; no man forceth it from me: then where should we have been?

Obj. 2. The poor are undeserving. Ans. Christ might have said the same thing. They are wicked rebels against my Father’s law: shall I lay down my life for these? I will give to the good angels. But no, he left the ninety-nine, and came after the lost. He gave his blood for the undeserving.

Obj. 3. The poor may abuse it. Ans. Christ might have said the same; yea, with far greater truth. Christ knew that thousands would trample his blood under their feet; that most would despise it; that many would make it an excuse for sinning more; yet he gave his own blood.Oh, my dear Christians! if you would be like Christ, give much, give often, give freely, to the vile and the poor, the thankless and the undeserving. Christ is glorious and happy, and so will you be. It is not your money I want, but your happiness. Remember his own word: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

Challenging words!