with the words they've heard. I said, you see, "Don't give good luck presents,
74 SAINT A UG USTINE - SERMONS
Gentiles, you are segregated, set apart that is, from the Gentiles. And don't let your being physically mixed up with them alarm you, when there is such a wide separation of minds. What, after all, could be so widely separated as that they believe demons are gods, you on the other hand believe in him who is the one and only and true God? They hope for the vanities of this age, you hope for eternal life? They love the world, you love the world's architect?
So if you believe something else, hope for something else, love something else, you must prove it by your life, demonstrate it by your actions. Are you going to join in the celebrations of good luck presents5 like a pagan, going to play at dice—and get yourself drunk? How in that case can you really believe something else, hope for something else, love something else? How can you have the honest face to say Save us, Lord our God, and gather us from among the Gentiles? You're segregated from the Gentiles, you see, when you mix physically with the Gentiles, by a different style of life. And you can see how wide apart this segregation sets you, if only you act accordingly to prove it.
It's like this: our Lord Jesus Christ, who became man for us, has already paid the price for us. And so he's paid his price; the reason he paid it was to redeem us, to gather us from among the Gentiles. But if you get mixed up with the Gentiles, it means you don't want to follow the one who has redeemed you; instead you're mixing with the Gentiles in life-style, actions, mind, and heart, by believing such things, hoping for such things, loving such things; you are being ungrateful to your Redeemer, you are not acknowledging the price paid for you, the blood of the Lamb without blemish. So in order to follow your Redeemer, who redeemed you with his blood, don't mix with the Gentiles by the same kind of morals, habits, and actions. They give good luck presents; see to it you give alms. They are entertained by lascivious songs; see to it you are entertained by the words of the scriptures. They run off to the theater, you to church; they get drunk, see to it you fast. Or if you can't fast today, at least dine with sobriety. If you do this, you have well and truly and honestly sung Save us, Lord our God, and gather us from among the Gentiles.
Christians and Gentiles
3. And so it is that many people will be struggling in their consciences today with the words they've heard. I said, you see, "Don't give good luck presents, give to the poor." It's little enough that you should give that much; give even more.6 You don't want to give more? At least give that much. But you say to me, "When I give good luck presents, I too receive them for myself." So what then—when you give to the poor, don't you receive anything? Certainly, I trust, you wouldn't be believing what the Gentiles believe; you wouldn't be hoping, I trust, for what the Gentiles hope for. Look, if you say you get nothing when you give something to the poor, you've joined the Gentile party; you've had no reason to sing, Save us, Lord our God, and gather us from among the Gentiles.
Don't forget that rule, where it says, Whoever gives to the poor will never be in want (Prv 28:27). Have you already forgotten what the Lord is going to say