Love and Rebuke

And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity. 1 CORINTHIANS 13:13

At the centre of Godliness are four sermons on love, all preached on the same text. They are not what a reader might expect. Catherine Booth did not preach on love to make her hearers feel warm. She preached on it because she was convinced that the devil had produced a counterfeit of it so skilful that most people could no longer tell the difference, and that the counterfeit was doing enormous harm in the churches. The more precious a thing is, she reasoned, the more effort goes into forging it. Nobody counterfeits pebbles. People counterfeit banknotes.

A love that must be given

Her first point was that true love is divine in its origin. It is not natural affection, however generous. Everyone loves those who love them; even a tiger loves its cubs. Real Christian love is the love of God poured into the heart by the Holy Spirit, and it cannot be cultivated where it has not been planted. You may prune and water for ever, she said, and never grow what was never sown.

And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. ROMANS 5:5

This led her to a sharp distinction. A person may give away everything to feed the poor and still have no love, as Paul says, because the motive may be a cause, or a reputation, or simply a naturally generous temperament that enjoys giving. She once warned a generous friend not to credit all his giving to grace, since he plainly enjoyed it more than most people enjoy receiving. True love takes the trouble to ask where the gift will do the most good for God and for souls.

Body and soul

Her test of love was whether it cared for the whole person, and above all for the soul. She was scornful of a charity that relieved every bodily need and never mentioned eternity. She was equally clear that this did not license neglect of the body. “I know that real Christianity cares for body and soul,” she said. “Bless God, it does; but, always mind that it sets the soul first.” The Lord fed the multitude, she observed, but only after they had been with Him three days hearing the word.

But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? 1 JOHN 3:17

The movement she helped to found would become one of the largest providers of social care in the world, and some have seen a tension between that and her insistence on the soul first. She would not have seen one. She simply refused to let the relief of the body become a substitute for the salvation of the person.

Love that rebukes

Her second sermon made the point that gives this chapter its title. Divine love, she said, is not only consistent with rebuke; it often requires it. God Himself rebukes and chastens those He loves. Her great example was Paul at Antioch, withstanding Peter to his face because Peter had drawn back from eating with Gentile believers. Paul loved Peter. It must have cost him a great deal. He did it openly, before them all, because the truth of the gospel was at stake and because love is first pure.

As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. REVELATION 3:19

The counterfeit, she said, does the opposite. It flatters to the face and criticises behind the back. It praises a brother and then adds, but. It cries peace, peace, when there is no peace, and would rather cover evil up than have the discomfort of exposing it. She asked her congregation how many of them believed that their fellow members were living consistent Christian lives, and how many had ever gone privately, in love, to speak to one who was not. Almost everyone talks about a brother’s faults. Almost no one talks to him.

Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him. LEVITICUS 19:17

Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. PROVERBS 27:6

Conflict and loneliness

The third and fourth sermons followed the thread further. Love that will not compromise with evil will meet conflict, as Christ did. And love that follows new light will sometimes walk alone, as Peter did when God sent him to Cornelius and the church at Jerusalem called him to account. Much of this was plainly autobiographical. She had known the loneliness of walking ahead of her friends, and she urged those who felt God leading them into unfamiliar service to weigh their impressions carefully, and then, once sure, to go forward even if Christian friends objected. The counterfeit love, she said, always takes the side that looks like winning. True love stands with Christ when He is in the minority.

But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. JAMES 3:17

Weighing it

This is some of the most needed teaching in her books, and some of the most easily abused. It is right that love tells the truth. It is also true that a great deal of cruelty has been done by people who were sure they were rebuking in love. Catherine Booth herself could be severe, and not every soul she rebuked was helped by it. Scripture adds the caution she did not always voice: Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted (Galatians 6:1). The test of a loving rebuke is not only whether it is true, but whether it is given privately where possible, humbly, with tears rather than relish, and for the other person’s good rather than the rebuker’s satisfaction.

But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ. EPHESIANS 4:15

Held with that caution, her teaching is a searching mirror. Most of us are far more likely to fail in cowardice than in severity. We see the brother drifting, and say nothing to him and a great deal about him. She would call that the devil’s love. She was probably right.

FOR REFLECTION AND ACTION

1. Examine your generosity. Which of your gifts come from the love of God, and which from temperament, habit or the wish to be thought well of?

2. Is there someone whose faults you have discussed with others but never raised with them? Stop the first; pray about the second.

3. If you must speak to a brother or sister about a sin, go privately, go humbly, go praying, and go ready to hear what they may say to you.

4. Ask whether your church prefers peace to purity. Is there an evil being covered to avoid discomfort?

5. Consider where love is calling you to walk ahead of your friends. Test it before God; then, if it is His call, go.

A PRAYER

Lord, I have mistaken niceness for love. I have flattered to faces and criticised behind backs, and I have called my silence charity.

Pour Your own love into my heart by Your Spirit. Let it be first pure, then peaceable.

Give me the courage to speak the truth to those I love, and the meekness to do it as one who might fall myself.

And when love leads me where others will not come, give me grace to follow You alone. Amen.