“Doing good” has its source in The Good God.
“Beneficence” – giving for the good of others.
The cultural mandate (Gen 1.28-29) can be defined as God’s intention for humanity was to manage and conserve, not use and abuse, the creation. Both production from and preservation of earth’s resources are possible. God’s beneficence shows God’s care toward His creation and His creatures (Psalm 104).
In a fallen world, the best hope for community compliance is commitment to a cogent code given from a personal, eternal, triune creator, the Hebrew-Christian God of the Bible. Social-economic ethics, from a Hebraic-Christian point of view, demands the following. (1) A righteous, revelatory standard founded in the Bible (Ps 119; 1 Thess 4:1-12), (2) a transformed spirit, affecting the being, the interiority of the believer (Ps 19:13-14; Rom 8:5-9), (3) Christian leaders who submit themselves to the standard in word, attitude, and deed (2 Kgs 23:24-25; 1 Tim 3; Titus 1), (4) Christian leaders who prompt the Christian church toward the practice of Christian ethics (Ps 15; Heb 10:24; 13:1-7, 17), (5) Christians who practice Christian ethics in the society where they live (Deut 4:5-8; Titus 2:1-10); and (6) the benefit for a whole society when the group is influenced by Hebraic-Christian social-economic ethics (Jer 29:1-7; 1 Tim 1:8-11).
The practice of beneficence includes:
- What it means to practice one’s Christian faith (Titus 3:1, 8, 14).
- The church cares for its own (Acts 4:32-37).
- There are no limitations on belief: all should be cared for (Gal 6:9-10).
- There is no limitation on time: doing good can seem to be an unending task and must be encouraged (Gal 6:9; 2 Thess 3:13).
- There is no limitation on effort: continued service is the expectation (John 9:4; 1 Cor 15.58; Gal 6:9; 2 Thess 3:13).
- There is no limitation on result: doing good was not in vain (1 Co 4:5; 15:58; 2 Jn 8).
- The Christian does not do good for their salvation but because of their salvation (Eph 2:8-10; 4:24; Col 1:10). Works of service to others originate first from God (John 15:5-6; Phil 1:11; Col 1:6).
Suggested Readings:
- Read Amy Sherman’s Kingdom Calling is an essential book to show hundreds of examples of The Church doing good across vocations. See my review http://warpandwoof.org/2012/05/08/kingdom-calling-amy-l-sherman/
- Reading. When Helping Hurts warn that material needs cannot be separated from immaterial beliefs. The Spiritual Danger of Doing Good petitions believers that their good works may be susceptible to imperceptible motivations and unintended consequences.
- Possibilities Stephen Mansfield’s In Search of God and Guinness demonstrate the personal commitment and communal impact a thoroughly Christian mindset can have on social ethics in business practices which immediately impact individuals and institutions.
- Stories Inspirational stories, as identified in books like William Bennett’s The Book of Virtues, can motivate toward goodness.
- Doing Good Rodney Stark’s The Rise of Christianity shows the historic impact of Christian social ethics on the Roman culture.
Dr. Mark Eckel loves spending time with Christian young people on the college campus each week. Mark is President of The Comenius Institute (website), spends time with Christian young people in public university (1 minute video), hosts a weekly radio program with diverse groups of guests (1 minute video), interprets culture from a Christian vantage point (1 minute video), and his video teaching on Old Testament Overview, Wisdom, and Suffering is also available (video).
Picture credit: snappygoat.com