Author : Keith Sharp
Once while I was in American Samoa I had a heated discussion with an American missionary over the benevolent work of the church. He was defending the practice of churches with which he worked, which sent $100,000 to meet the needs of tsunami victims in American Samoa and donated supplies to the government run hospital in Pago Pago. This general benevolence is, of course, the same kind of “social gospel” work done by denominations.
The brother defended this by confidently asserting, “Jesus fed the multitudes.” Yes He did. Does this justify congregational benevolence toward alien sinners?
All four gospel accounts record Jesus feeding of five thousand men besides women and children with a little boy’s lunch of “five barley loaves and two small fish” (Matthew 14:14-21; Mark 6:34-44; Luke 9:11-17; John 6:2-13). Not only this, He later fed four thousand men in addition to women and children with seven loaves and a few fish (Matthew 15:30-38; Mark 8:1-9).
Since Jesus had not yet died on the cross, this took place under the Old Covenant (Hebrews 9:15-17), when fleshly Israel was still the Lord’s covenant people (Deuteronomy 5:1-3). So, in reality, though the multitudes who were fed were not all disciples of Christ, they were all the covenant people of God rather than “aliens” (cf. Ephesians 2:11-12). Thus, these examples have no bearing on the issue of church benevolence to alien sinners.
Furthermore, Jesus never used food as an attraction to get people to come hear Him. In the case of the four thousand, the multitude had been with the Lord three days with nothing to eat (Matthew 15:32; Mark 8:2).
John’s record of the feeding of the five thousand makes this even clearer. The same multitude He had fed on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee came to Capernaum the next day seeking Him (John 6:22-24).
And when they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, “Rabbi, when did You come here?” Jesus answered them and said, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him’ (John 6:25-27).
Their motive for seeking the Lord was wrong. Not only did the Master rebuke their carnality, although they continued to badger Him, He would not feed them again (John 6:28-40).
No, the Lord didn’t make a mistake in feeding the multitudes. Jesus fed the multitudes through compassion (Matthew 15:32; Mark 8:2-3) and as a miracle to prove He is the bread of life (John 6:48). The multitudes made the mistake. They did indeed correctly conclude Christ was “the Prophet who is to come into the world” (John 6:14; cf. Deuteronomy 18:18-19), but they failed to follow Him because of their carnality.
Rather than authorizing the church to feed alien sinners, the passages demonstrate that the carnally minded are attracted by free food and that we should not use carnal attractions.
Soon after I began traveling to impoverished countries to preach the gospel, it became apparent many came hoping for handouts from rich American churches. When I informed them I had no money to give them, some left. They went to whatever missionaries were there at the time giving food, clothing, medicine, or other carnal enticements. They went from one to another, seeking, not the truth, but the things of this world.
Satan uses carnal attractions (Romans 8:5-8). The Lord appeals to those who are spiritually minded with the power of truth (Romans 8:1-4; John 8:32).
When I reminded the missionary that he was defending the social gospel, he became angry and denied believing such a message. I replied, “You do everything the liberal, social gospel denominations do. You just justify it in a different way.”
