Charity and its fruits - Edwards - XIII - Lecture XII

Required reading
Charity and its fruits by Jonathan Edwards (Available from Amazon or free here) - Read Lecture XII (Charity, or a Christian spirit, willing to undergo all sufferings in the way of duty).

My summary
Today Edwards expounds 1 Corinthians 13:7 'Charity..beareth all things'.  He takes it to mean that 'charity, or a truly Christian spirit, will make us willing, for Christ's sake, to undergo all sufferings to which we may be exposed in the way of duty.'

Firstly Edwards explains the doctrine by remarking that those who have the true spirit of Christian love:
(i) are willing not only to do, but also to suffer, for Christ;
(ii) undergo all the sufferings to which their duty to Christ may expose them.

Secondly Edwards gives some proofs of the doctrine
(i) if we have not such a spirit, it is an evidence that we have never given ourselves unreservedly to Christ;
(ii) they that are truly Christians, so fear God, that his displeasure is far more terrible than all earthly afflictions and sufferings;
(iii) they that are truly Christians have that faith whereby they see that which is more than sufficient to make up for the greatest sufferings they can endure in the cause of Christ;
(iv) if we are not willing to close with religion, notwithstanding all the difficulties attending it, we shall be overwhelmed with shame at last;
(v) without this spirit which the text implies, we cannot be said to forsake all for Christ;
(vi) without this spirit, we cannot be said to deny ourselves in the sense in which the Scriptures require us to do it;
(vii) it is the character of all the true followers of Christ, that they follow him in all things;
(viii) it is the character of true Christians that they overcome the world;
(ix) the sufferings in the way of duty are often, in the Bible, called temptations or trials, because by them God tries the sincerity of our character as Christians.

Then Edwards exhorts us to:
(i) lead those who think themselves Christians to examine themselves, whether or no they have the spirit to undergo all sufferings for Christ;
(ii) cherish a ready spirit, for Christ's sake, to undergo all sufferings that may be in the way of duty.

What grabbed me
Good chapter.  Great to be reminded to suffer for Christ: 'To give ourselves wholly to Christ, implies the sacrificing of our own temporal interest wholly to him. But he that wholly sacrifices his temporal interest to Christ, is ready to suffer all things in his worldly interests for him. If God be truly loved, he is loved as God ; and to love him as God, is to love him as the supreme good. But he that loves God as the supreme good, is ready to make all other good give place to that ; or, which is the same thing, he is wiling to suffer all for the sake of this good. '

My temporal interests are to be sacrificed for his interests.  No matter how much it hurts.

Next week's reading
Read Lecture XIII (All the graces of Christianity connected).

Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.