The following is essential what I talked about last night. What you’ll see is what I took up with me last night at the prayer meeting, except it doesn’t have things highlighted and a few other notes.
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Introduction
A major contended issue everyone seems to have the answers for is poverty. I don’t think poverty is as easy to solve as the candidates website propose. The issue is more than starting new programs or raising the minimum wage. It’s not even an American issue, but a global one. Compared to the rest of the world the United States bottom class has far more help then those in third world countries, but regardless of that they are still needy. Before we think about how government should meet the needs of the poor, maybe we should think more about how we personally should get involved in the lives of those who need help.
Christian’s response to poverty
How do you respond to the needy? How do you respond when someone comes up to you on the street asking for money? How do you respond to those commercials on T.V. that show starving children? Seeing a family living in a home that is no bigger than our closets stirs up heart felt emotions and rightfully so! Seeing people in these types of situations and having heartfelt compassion on them is a right and biblical response.
But how do you respond after that? How do you react and then actively meet the need. With poverty being such an emotional area it is easy to think and act viscerally rather than biblically. What I mean by viscerally is that emotions can become the driving force for action with out thinking through it biblically. So in light of that, what is a biblical response to poverty? Now, this will not be an exhaustive study on poverty, we’ll just scratch the surface to help guide our thinking in this area.
A couple of truths
A couple of truths that we should say without hesitation and emphatically embrace are 1.) God cares immensely for the needy and 2.) God intends for His people to be involved in the lives of the needy. Let’s demonstrate that from the following passages.
Turn to Ex 22:21-27
21 “You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. 22 You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. 23 If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry, 24 and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless.
25 “If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be like a moneylender to him, and you shall not exact interest from him. 26 If ever you take your neighbor’s cloak in pledge, you shall return it to him before the sun goes down, 27 for that is his only covering, and it is his cloak for his body; in what else shall he sleep? And if he cries to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate.
Turn to Job 29:11-16
11 When the ear heard, it called me blessed,
and when the eye saw, it approved,
12 because I delivered the poor who cried for help,
and the fatherless who had none to help him.
13 The blessing of him who was about to perish came upon me,
and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.
14 I put on righteousness, and it clothed me;
my justice was like a robe and a turban.
15 I was eyes to the blind
and feet to the lame.
16 I was a father to the needy,
and I searched out the cause of him whom I did not know.
Turn to Matthew 25:31-46
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, [6] you did it to me.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ 45 Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
Turn to Galatians 2:7-10
7 On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised 8 (for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles), 9 and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. 10 Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.
It is clear from the word of God that God has a deep passion for the needy and expects us to get involved in their lives. With that being said the Bible doesn’t call us to act viscerally in meeting the needs, but God has also put parameters on meeting needs.
To look at some examples of parameters God has put on meeting needs, specifically related to church, turn to 1 Timothy chapter 5.
Parameters
Honor widows (1 Tim 5:3-8)
3 Honor widows who are truly widows. 4 But if a widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show godliness to their own household and to make some return to their parents, for this is pleasing in the sight of God. 5 She who is truly a widow, left all alone, has set her hope on God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day, 6 but she who is self-indulgent is dead even while she lives. 7 Command these things as well, so that they may be without reproach. 8 But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
In verse 3 we are told to honor widows who are truly widows. Then in verse 8 we see that the relatives are supposed to provide and if they don’t they have denied the faith and are worse than unbelievers.
Widows – enrolled (1 Ti 5:9-10)
9 Let a widow be enrolled if she is not less than sixty years of age, having been the wife of one husband, [1] 10 and having a reputation for good works: if she has brought up children, has shown hospitality, has washed the feet of the saints, has cared for the afflicted, and has devoted herself to every good work.
In verses 9-10 there are directions into what widows should be enrolled
Widows – refuse (1 Ti 5:11-15)
11 But refuse to enroll younger widows, for when their passions draw them away from Christ, they desire to marry 12 and so incur condemnation for having abandoned their former faith. 13 Besides that, they learn to be idlers, going about from house to house, and not only idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying what they should not. 14 So I would have younger widows marry, bear children, manage their households, and give the adversary no occasion for slander. 15 For some have already strayed after Satan.
Then in verses 11-15, we see directions for widows who should be refused.
Believing widow’s relatives (1 Ti 5:16)
16 If any believing woman has relatives who are widows, let her care for them. Let the church not be burdened, so that it may care for those who are truly widows.
Finally, in verse 16 they are parameters giving for a believing woman who has relatives that are widows.
Not willing worker (2 Thess 3:6-12)
6 Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us. 7 For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you, 8 nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you. 9 It was not because we do not have that right, but to give you in ourselves an example to imitate. 10 For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. 11 For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. 12 Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living.
Here we see God giving parameters for those not willing to work
Now these texts are not all encompassing by any means, but should help as we think biblically on poverty. I’m sure you’re having all different types of situations come to mind and asking yourself, how should I respond in a passionate/compassionate biblical way!
Guiding principles
Following are a couple of guiding principles to help us think through the issue of poverty.
We need to learn and teach how to exercise biblical benevolence in your sphere of responsibility and influence. First it starts with the family. After the family, the next sphere is the church. After the church we should look to our spheres of influence such as the neighborhood. After that we need to be thinking how can we meet the needs of the world. And if a need is too big, bring in other people, bring in the church.
We need to be thinking how we can meet the needs of the people God has put in our sphere of responsibility and influence.
Another guiding principal we need to be thinking about in regards to poverty is that the greatest need anyone has is the gospel. Jesus is the bread of life, and we can’t lose sight of this principal when we minister to the poor and needy. This doesn’t mean we have to give a gospel presentation or tract every time we meet a need, but our thinking and actions should be from gospel motivations, pointing to the cross.
So, as we get our hands dirty in the needs of those around us and the world, let the gospel be the central factor, but remember good works have great value in themselves.
Do Something
As I conclude we’ve seen from scripture that God has a deep passion for the poor and we’ve seen that God has put parameters in his word to help guide our thinking. Now, how can you and your family meet the needs of the poor? I’d encourage you all to wrestle, biblically, through the issue of poverty and then act! God expects us to be involved in the lives of the needy!
*Some of the information is based off a talk Voddie Baucham gave at Cederville in Summer of 2008
