Richard Foster, Our Appreciatee of the Month
Below is an excerpt from Richard J. Foster’s book Freedom of Simplicity, complete with quotes from the earliest Christian documents outside of the Bible. You’ll see that those who kept the Christian faith and the church going left us this legacy of putting faith into serious action in a world that was hostile to them.
You’ll see that even their enemies marveled at the behavior of those early Christians.
Again, this is from Richard J. Foster, and October, of course, is Richard J. Foster Appreciation month here at jitterbuggingforjesus.com, the blog that is saving the world with its wit, wisdom, provocations and stimulations while possibly (probably!) alienating whole towns, cities, nations and states:
“In the period following the Apostolic Age, there was an exuberant caring and sharing on the part of Christians that was unique in antiquity. Julian the apostate, an enemy of Christianity, admitted that “the godless Galileans fed not only their (poor) but ours also.” Tertullian wrote that the Christians’ deeds of love were so noble that the pagan world confessed in astonishment, ‘See how they love one another.’ Exactly what is it that these Christians did which elicited such a response from their enemies?
“There was, first of all, an exceptional freedom to care for the needs of one another in the believing community. The Didache admonished Christians: ‘Thou shalt not turn away from him that is in want, but thou shalt share all things with thy brother, and shalt not say that they are thine own.’
“By A.D. 250 Christians in Rome were caring for some fifteen hundred needy people. In fact, their generosity was so profuse that Ignatius could say that they were ‘leading in love,’ and Bishop Dionysus of Corinth could note that they were sending ‘supplies to many churches in every city. . . . ‘
“We gain a helpful glimpse into the caring Christian community from I Clement, ‘Let everyone be subject to his neighbor. . . Let the rich man provide for the wants of the poor; and let the poor man bless God, because He hath given him one by whom his needs may be supplied.’ Tertullian catalogued a long list of groups that were cared for by the Christian believers. . .
“Christians also provided for those who lost their jobs because of their faith in Christ. It was assumed, for example, that an actor who became a Christian, and had to give up his profession because of its involvement in pagan mythology, would be cared for by the church. . .
“But their joyful sharing was not confined to Christians. . . . Bishop John Chrysostom witnessed: ‘Every day the Church here feeds 3,000 people. Besides this, the church daily helps provide food and clothes for prisoners, the hospitalized, pilgrims, cripples, churchmen and others. When epidemics broke out in Carthage and Alexandria, Christians rushed to aid all in need. . . .
“These Christians genuinely believed that God was the owner and giver of all good gifts. Their generosity was an imitation of God’s generosity. They were free from anxiety because they knew that tomorrow was in God’s hands. They lived in simplicity.
“Perhaps no one has captured the exuberant spirit of simple caring and sharing better than the Christian philosopher Aristides, whose words (written in A.D. 125) are so moving that they are best quoted in full:
They walk in all humility and kindness, and falsehood is not found among them, and they love one another. They despise not the widow, and grieve not the orphan. He that hast distributeth liberally to him that hath not. If they see a stranger, they bring him under their roof, and rejoice over him as if he were their own brother: for they call themselves brethren, not after the flesh, but after the Spirit of God; but when one of their poor passes away from the world, and any of them see him, he provides for his burial according to his ability; and if they hear that any of their number is imprisoned or oppressed for the name of their Messiah, all of them provide for his needs. . . .
“And if there is among them a man that is needy and poor, and they have not an abundance of necessaries, they fast two or three days that they may supply the needy with their necessary food.”
“This model of simplicity speaks to our condition. How desperately we need today to discover new creative ways of caring and sharing with any in need.”
— Richard J. Foster
[…] apostate), said “the godless Galileans feed not only their own poor, but ours also.” See https://jitterbuggingforjesus.com/2009/10/28/see-how-they-love-one-another-a-look-at-the-caring-shari… , http://www.pastorfairchild.com/2006-04/21/tertullian-on-early-christian-generosity/ [12] You […]