Deception

C.S. Lewis wrote this after listening to a speech by Adolf Hitler over the radio on the Friday evening of July 19th, 1940, this would become the inspiration for Screwtape Letters:

“I don’t know if I’m weaker than other people, but it is a positive revelation to me how while the speech lasts it is impossible not to waiver just a little… Statements which I know to be untrue all but convince me, at any rate for the moment, if only the man says them unflinchingly.”

We are easily deceived. Do not think that you are above the many Germans enraptured by the speeches of Hitler? They were people just like us.We are people just like them.

And it happens, today, perhaps in more subtle mediums, but the lure of deception and evil is real. Like the foolish woman of proverbs it entices and it attracts with a false beauty. But in the end there is death and stench. It is alive and well in our own culture, promoting murder, hate, and a many other evils, bring destruction to lives and families. 

But the voice of evil is familiar, we barely notice . . .

Confession

I was thinking this morning, when I choose to sin, I choose the pleasures of sin over the pleasures of Christ, my Beloved. How devastating! Oh God! Bring me into the depths of your Gospel, so that my heart will hate sin.

God speaks

God speaks. He is not an idol who is mute. We are the ones who have ears, but cannot hear.

If you want to hear God's voice you must love and pursue true, sound, and deep doctrine. Hearing God's voice requires dying to ones self and trusting God's Word, the scriptures. Growing in love and growing in knowing another, requires pursuing who they are. If you say you want to hear God's voice, but do not pursue the scriptures diligently as a treasure and as a delight, you are wanting you own ends, not His voice. May we spur one another, sharing with one another the word of Christ.

His own, He loved. And He loved us first. And in this truth we can love Him. It is the Gospel that allows us to have peace with God. And it is the power of Christ's work that enables and performs righteousness.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

(Romans 12:1-2 ESV)

What will death destroy?

"Is there any meaning in my life that the inevitable death awaiting me does not destroy?" -- Leo Tolstoy

For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.

(Hebrews 12:18-29 ESV)

We cannot work righteousness

We cannot work righteousness in our lives. We cannot be holy through our own effort. Just as we were saved through grace by the power of the work of Christ, so we are sanctified by grace through the work of Christ. We must die, to live, trusting in the one who is Life. So we strive with a different kind of striving, not to accomplish a work, but in faith that the one who loves us will complete the work, he has begun in us.

     "O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?"
  
(Galatians 3:1-3 ESV)

Humility

Humility - the emptying of oneself, so that you can be filled with God.

To have any part with Christ we must deny ourselves and we must lose our lives. 

        Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?
  
(Matthew 16:24-26 ESV)

Ministry to the Poor

Ministry to the poor

1. God has ordained that there be the poor
2. The Gospel, The Kingdom breaking through
3. Commanded
4. In daily life
5. Engaging people
6. Motivation
7. Blessing
8. Practical

Part 8: Practical

Part 8: Practical

Practical

Questions:

Where do we learn how to minister to the poor and destitute in a practical way?

Reading:

                Now the question is, “How do I live this out in a practical way?” We discover the answer to this question together as a body of Christ. Christ said that the world will know that we are His by how we love one another. We live out the truths of scripture together. We question and we listen and we share what God has taught us. We encourage and challenge each other to keep pressing into the Gospel and God’s Word. And we seek God together.  And we have a God, who is walking along side us, helping us to be the church. More than helping, He leads the church. And He will lead us into practical ways to serve the poor and downtrodden.

Scripture reading:

2 Timothy 3:16,17

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

Questions:

What are some practical ways you can apply these lessons to your own life?

How can you encourage these lessons in others?

How does your life need to change to live these principles?

Who are some people in your daily life that you can minister too? In your everyday life is God providing opportunities to minister to the poor?

What is available in your neighborhood? What opportunities are there?

What actions can you take, now?

Resources:
Opportunities to serve

John Piper on World Poverty statistics

World Hunger and Us

Does anybody hear her – Casting Crowns

Broken Girl – Matthew West

Give me Your eyes – Brandon Heath

Part 7: Blessing

Part 7: Blessing

Blessing

Questions:

Have you found ministering to the poor in your life a hard thing and a burden or has it been a joy and a delight and made you feel free? Why or why not?

Reading:

            In Acts 20, Paul leaves this thought to those he has ministered among, “In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” God has promised a blessing to those who serve others in Christ. Those who get this are generous in their service and giving. They get that the things of this world are wearing away like an old cloth, but the things of the Kingdom and its treasures never fade away. God offers us life and life abundantly. He offers us joy to the full. He offers us the desires of our hearts. As we surrender our lives and our hearts and our minds into His loving care, we are blessed. Jesus doesn’t promise a fantasy world. He doesn’t promise homes or comfort. His commands may seem hard in our flesh, but His commands are always for our good and for our blessing and to increase our joy in Him. He offers something so much more valuable than worldly possessions. Do we trust Him, who feeds the ravens and clothes the lilies of the field? Do we trust His love? Are we willing to step out in the adventure that He has laid before us? Do we trust His embrace and His love for us? He is God and He is mighty. He will not let us down. He will not choose second best for us.

                Paul did not have easy. He suffered. He had the burden of loving the churches he had helped to start. But Paul had joy and he had it immensely. And he daily was ready to pour out his life for the Gospel. Paul before His death wrote, “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.” Paul didn’t just see this just as a future blessing, but it was a part of what God was doing in His life day to day. He knew he was loved by God.

We are caught up in the most romantic love story – the Gospel. It is a part of our day to day life. It is a joy and a blessing to be a part of it. It is a joy and a blessing to be able to pour our lives out daily as a drink offering as we follow Christ, our Beloved. . . .

Scripture reading:

Read these verses and discuss what they mean to you and in regards to ministering to the poor.

Acts 20:35

In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

Proverbs 14:21b

blessed is he who is generous to the poor.

Questions:

Jesus didn’t do anything without the Father, where is God going in your environment? What are the blessings of following Jesus?

Do you believe ministering to the poor is a blessing, or is it a burden?

How is the interaction between the poor and rich a blessing?

In what ways is ministering to the poor a blessing for us for you?

Resources:

Wrapped in Your Arms - Fireflight

Part 6: Motivation

Part 6: Motivation

Motivation

Questions:

What is the scriptural motivation for mercy and social justice?

What things prevent you from being merciful?

Reading:

We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints— and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us. Accordingly, we urged Titus that as he had started, so he should complete among you this act of grace. But as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you —see that you excel in this act of grace also.

 -- 2 Corinthians 8:1-7

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

                                                                                             -- 1 John 3:16,17

The Gospel is commanding. It takes dominion in our lives. It is a force that changes our hearts and our minds, conforming us into the image of Christ. We preach the Gospel, because God has ordained the preaching of the Gospel as a means of His grace. And he has established that His Gospel will be preached through those in the church. That is us. But even though God has ordained this, it is not mechanical. John doesn’t just say, we obey and do what is right. John says that we love. We love God and we love to preach the Gospel. So where does this love come from?

John lays out the heart of the believer and where our motivation comes from to minister to the poor – the work of Christ in our own lives . . . . He states,  “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.”  We know love, because He first loved us. When we get this, when we get the depths of Jesus’ love for us, our hearts will be moved to know and to love others. John demonstrates an integral connection between being loved by God and walking in the truth of the Gospel and the outward expression of the Gospel’s work in loving others.  Our motivation for ministry to the poor comes from the security of the redemption we have in work of Christ.

In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, Paul talks about the church in Macedonia. This church was going through “a severe test of affliction” and “extreme poverty”. They had very little and were in need themselves. But in the midst of this desperate state, they gave to the poor in Jerusalem. And they didn’t give out of legalism, but in “their abundance of joy” their giving “overflowed in a wealth of generosity”. Paul writes that they were so passionate about giving, that they were “begging [Paul and those with him] earnestly for the favor of taking part. . . .” Where did this church get their motivation? . . . Paul writes, “they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us.” Their motivation was from surrendering their lives to Jesus Christ.

In Deuteronomy 10, God points to His work as the motivation for the Israelites to love others:

12 “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good? 14 Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it. 15 Yet the Lord set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day. 16 Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn. 17 For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe. 18 He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. 19 Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. 20 You shall fear the Lord your God. You shall serve him and hold fast to him, and by his name you shall swear. 21 He is your praise. He is your God, who has done for you these great and terrifying things that your eyes have seen. 22 Your fathers went down to Egypt seventy persons, and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven.”

Also in Deuteronomy 17:

17 “You shall not pervert the justice due to the sojourner or to the fatherless, or take a widow's garment in pledge, 18 but you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this.

19 “When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. 20 When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over them again. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. 21 When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not strip it afterward. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. 22 You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this.”

God’s love for Israel was their motivation to love others, the fact that He loved them first, that He chose them, and He had been mighty with them. “He is your God, who has done for you these great and terrifying things that your eyes have seen.” The work of God in their own lives and understanding the depths of it, that he took them as sojourners and rescued them was their motivation to love the sojourner in their own land. The people of Israel were to love well with open hands, because they were loved well with open hands. And likewise we love those without the Gospel, because we were brought out of slavery to sin into this great salvation.

But God has done so much more in the Gospel, than He did for Israel. He is our God, who has done a mighty and powerful work in us. We have been brought into the true Kingdom of God. And His work in us is far greater and full of more glory than the work He did with the nation of Israel. For He has circumcised our hearts when we could not circumcised our own hearts, turning our stubborn hearts of stone into flesh. He has completed the demands of the Law in our lives. Jesus completed this at the cross and as we come close to the cross, we are changed. At the cross, we are “sweetly broken”.  I like the words of Jeremy Riddle’s song, Sweetly Broken -

At the cross you beckon me
You draw me gently to my knees
And I am
Lost for words so lost in love
I am sweetly broken holy surrender

Paul wrote of the Macedonians, “ they gave themselves first to the Lord . . . .” This is the beauty of the Gospel. As we are beckoned to Christ, we are “sweetly broken” and able to walk in “holy surrender”. It is no longer a work. It is trusting in the work of Christ, having faith in His work, laying all that we are down, and allowing His work to change us. In the Gospel, God boldly works in us through sanctification, with all certainty and determination to continue to grow in our hearts love for others. This is why John states that loving others must happen if we are in the Gospel. He says this because the Gospel is not weak, the work of Jesus is not weak, but certain to work love into our hearts. So this love that we have growing in our hearts for others is a work of God and not our own. And God is not thwarted  . . . .

This fact gives me much encouragement, when I don’t feel capable of evangelizing or loving others or even don’t feel like loving others. God is at work in me and He will accomplish it, because it is about His work, not mine. And even when I have those times I don’t want to love others, I know He is at work in me.

Here is the deal; we are motivated not through looking at ourselves and working to muster up a love in ourselves. We are motivated, because He first loved us. He loves us! Do you get that? Let me repeat that. He loves us! He loves us so much that He brings us into His love for others. God has chosen the Gospel as the means for this love to be made manifest. And as we come to trust the Gospel, not just that He saves us from God’s wrath, but that God also brings us into His Kingdom and conforms us into the image of Christ; we will discover that love is growing in our hearts. We don’t look to ourselves; we come and look to Christ, believing in His work.

What I mean is that He loves us so much, that we don’t have to muster up love for other people, all we have to do is come to Him. And when we come to God, He will take us up in His arms. We are His handiwork and as we lay our bodies as living sacrifices in His loving and intimate hands, he will carefully mold us into that love. And the work He does in us is faithful and sure.

Our motivation comes from understanding with more clarity the severity and intense sweetness of the gospel, the severity of the gospel for those who do not believe and are enemies of Christ, just as we were once enemies of God and the sweetness of being delivered from that state into this glorious Kingdom of love. Ministering to the others comes out of a deep seated understanding of the riches Christ lavished on us when we were undeserving and deserved His severity. And we step out in these truths knowing it is not about whether or not we fail, because God’s work does not fail and He has determined to do a good work in us, because He loves us. When we understand what Christ has done for us, we will have the freedom to give our lives to others and in “[our] abundance of joy and [our] extreme poverty have [an overflow] in a wealth of generosity.” As we give ourselves to Christ first, we too will, “[beg God] earnestly for the favor of taking part” in loving others.

Is this not grand! Oh, how vast the grace of God toward us, that He brings us in to participate in His great Cosmic story of Grace! That He allows us to love others and to be vessels for the proclamation of the Gospel. We get to participate in this awe inspiring story, because He loves us. . . because he loves us. God uses us as instruments to proclaim the Gospel to the world. And this is evangelism – being caught up in this grand story.

This is the power of the Gospel as it sanctifies our hearts and conforms us into the image of Christ. The more we see the magnificence and grandeur of what God has done for us and grow in our understanding of the Gospel in our own lives, the more passion we will have as God takes us into His story and uses us to reach out to others.

                And realize, yes, this is something we do as individuals in our everyday lives, but this is not something we do as individuals. We do this together as a church. The church is to work together in ministering to the poor, each person contributing their gifts and skills to the work of the Gospel in a very practical way.  And we motivate each other in this. We are motivated to speaking the Gospel to the world as we as a church speak the Gospel to one another. We speak the Gospel to each other, just as the cherubim cry out to each other “Holy, Holy, Holy is the LORD of hosts”

Scripture reading:

Read these verses and discuss what they mean to you and in regards to ministering to the poor.

Acts 20:42

But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

Ephesians 2:10

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Questions:

How do we know love?

How do we know love for others?

When God spoke to Israel about how to treat foreigners and sojourners in the land, as motivation He told them to remember that they were foreigners in Egypt. Also Jesus while preaching would say that because we are forgiven, we should forgive others. How does this apply to our motivation for helping the poor? How does motivating us to remember the Gospel , motivate us in ministering to the poor?

What is the scriptural motivation for ministering to the poor?

Do you believe God can use you? What does this say about your belief in the Gospel and His love for you?

God made a way across the sea for the Israelites, when there was no way? How does this apply for this?

How can you encourage each other as a church, community group, family to be caught up in the Cosmic Story and minister to the poor?

Resources:

Joy from Christ, not your Performance – Paul Washer

John Piper – 2 Corinthians 8:1-7

Sweetly Broken – Jeremy Riddle

Oh, How He Loves us – David Crowder

Part 5: Engaging people

Part 5: Engaging people

Engaging people

Questions:

The scriptures call us to engage in social justice, what does this look like?

Reading:

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

                                                                                                                     -- Philippians 2:4-8

The Gospel is very personal. Christ was not aloof, acting from a distance in order to bring about salvation for His people. He came near, was born as a babe, and walked and lived among us. He “made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.” God came into our world. This means that obeying God in ministering to the poor and catching His heart for the poor does not happen from a distance. There is no aloofness. This is at the heart of the command of Christ,

 “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

This command challenges us to engage people, because it can only be fully obeyed by coming near and being involved in people’s lives.

In Jesus’ ministry, he didn’t just preach, he was involved in the lives of those around Him. The Pharisees often used this fact as a means for accusing Jesus. “Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, ‘This man receives sinners and eats with them.’” The Pharisees were upset because Jesus engaged “sinners” in such a personal way.  This disturbed them. How could a righteous man associate with these “sinners”? This truth doesn’t just strike and disturb the heart of the Pharisees, it disturbs my heart as well. I prefer being aloof, distant, and safe.  I don’t want to touch someone who is dirty or smelly. I don’t want to bring someone who is needy and annoying into my life.  . . .

But God loves us, and He knows the richness of what it means to minister to the poor. And He knows that these riches cannot be gained from being far away from the poor. He knows the joy of what it will be like in our lives if we love as Christ loved. If we engage people as Christ engaged people. And this is why He commands it and why He has ordained that there will always be the poor in the land. There is richness as the poor and rich interact with each other. They both desperately need each other, neither one being better than the other, but both being richer for the other. James writes,

“Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits. . . . My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?”

Where do we find our riches in how we interact with people - are we seeking prestige and comfort or are we seeking something that far outweighs the riches of this world? We need the poor, the physically, emotionally, and mentally challenged, the orphan, the unwanted, and the downtrodden in our lives. These people are not people to be sat down at our feet, they are to sit with us and near us. Do we realize that what we have from this world is so fragile and fading, but it is in these interactions with others in the church both rich and poor that we gain something that is eternal? This happens as we in a very personal and engaging way preach the Gospel to one another and come together as the Body of Christ.

So we don’t see ministry to the poor as something we do for others to help them. We do pursue relationships because we desperately need them as a part of our lives, and we need them to speak the Gospel into our lives, reminding us of the love of Christ. Therefore aloofness or setting the poor at our feet or in the back of the room is not ok with us. We see them as a treasure and desperately want them to be a part of our lives, so that in their riches, they can serve us. And my hope is that those who are poor materially in this world, but rich in faith, will also not stand aloof and keep their distance from those of us who need the riches of faith that they have to offer.  Because when it comes down to it, we are all poor and in need of one another in the body of Christ, and we must engage each other and be involved in each other’s lives.

Paul writes, 

“So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

We have to remember, we are not equal with God, our kingdoms are not what we live for. We no longer live for ourselves. We live for something far better. We have laid our lives down for the Gospel. When it comes to the poor, the destitute, the broken, our purpose is not to just address a physical or social need or injustice (although this is important), but to address and engage the person and show them Jesus, because God in such a mighty and personal way engaged us with a powerful love.

Scripture reading:

Read these verses and discuss what they mean to you and in regards to ministering to the poor.

1 Corinthians 1:26-31

For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Luke 6:32-36

“If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.

Questions:

Jesus didn’t just preach he met physical needs as well, why?

When is giving a handout engaging the poor and when is it only making our consciences feel better, but in reality not engaging the person? When is it showing the Gospel?

Who do we value in this world? Are the poor and destitute, people that we desire as a treasure?

In ministering to the “undeserving poor” what does it mean to engage them?

Do you engage with people that are different from you, awkward, or make you feel uncomfortable? Why? What is your view of this attitude?

Johnathan Edwards wrote,

in many cases, we may, by the rules of the gospel, be obliged to give to others, when we cannot do it without suffering ourselves. As if our neighbor’s difficulties and necessities be much greater than our own, and we see that he is not like to be otherwise relieved, we should be willing to suffer with him, and to take part of his burden on ourselves. Else how is that rule of bearing one another’s burdens fulfilled? If we be never obliged to relieve others’ burdens, but when we can do it without burdening ourselves, then how do we bear our neighbor’s burdens, when we bear no burden at all? Though we may not have a superfluity, yet we may be obliged to afford relief to others who are in much greater necessity. As appears by that rule, Luke 3:11, “He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise.” — Yea, they who are very poor may be obliged to give for the relief of others in much greater distress than they. If there be no other way of relief, those who have the lightest burden are obliged still to take some part of their neighbor’s burden, to make it the more supportable. A brother may be obliged to help a brother in extremity, though they are both very much in want. The apostle commends the Macedonian Christians, that they were liberal to their brethren, though they themselves were in deep poverty. 2 Cor. 8:1, 2, “Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia: how in a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy, and their deep poverty, abounded unto the riches of their liberality.”

                What do you think about this statement?

Resources:

The Motions – Matthew West

Part 4: In the daily life

Part 4: In the daily life

Daily Life/The Challenge

Questions:

Do you see the Kingdom of God as physically or spiritually present, or both?

When do you minister to the poor? Under what settings?

Reading:

“Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. 3 Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, 4 and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. 6 Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled. 7 Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, 8 and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us. 9 Slaves are to be submissive to their own masters in everything; they are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, 10 not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.”

--Titus 2:2-10

You might be wondering what this verse has to do with poverty, well, quite a bit actually. Here Paul is describing daily behavior in the church – being sober minded, homemaking, good works, speech, and service – and he states “that the word of God may not be reviled.” It is the everyday life of the believer, his everyday actions, and his everyday interactions with others that “adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.” In the Law, ministering to the poor is described as something that is done in the everyday life of a righteous man. It is not this separate grand act committed, but a natural outgrowth of the life of the righteous. Ministering to the poor is an everyday life thing because, “the poor will never cease to be in the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You will freely open your hand to your brother, to your needy and poor in your land.’” This understanding is evident in Job, when he cries out,

“If I have withheld anything that the poor desired,
or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,
or have eaten my morsel alone,
and the fatherless has not eaten of it
(for from my youth the fatherless grew up with me as with a father,
and from my mother's womb I guided the widow),
 if I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing,
or the needy without covering,
 if his body has not blessed me, 
and if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep,
 if I have raised my hand against the fatherless,
because I saw my help in the gate,
 then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder,
and let my arm be broken from its socket.
For I was in terror of calamity from God,
and I could not have faced his majesty.

Job was not talking about grand ministries to the poor or social agendas, but an everyday caring for people that God placed in his life. The scripture states, “If there is a poor man with you, one of your brothers, in any of your towns in your land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand from your poor brother . . . .” The Christian is to be aware of the needs around him, and in the ability that God has given him, he is to reach out to meet those needs.  

                This brings a lot of comfort to me. Why? Ministry to the poor does not have to be this grand overwhelming all consuming ministry in my life. I can minister to the poor as I go about my every day, and sometimes boring life. All I have to do is keep my eyes open and take the opportunities that God places in my life to love on people. So this message is not for those who have given every aspect of their lives to the poor (and thank God for those people, we need them in the body of Christ). This message is for me and for all of us in the body of Christ, no matter what the circumstances may be.

                The Gospel is pervasive and engages the whole of who we are. In Christ, the Kingdom of God has broken through into this world and our everyday lives. And how we live our everyday lives demonstrates what type of Kingdom this is. When Christ came to earth, He not only preached the gospel, but demonstrated what the Kingdom of God was like by meeting fleshly physical needs. He healed the sick and fed the hungry. He even saved men from a storm.  Christians are not mystics, who see that the only things that matter are the spiritual. The Kingdom of God is not this mysterious mystical aspect of our lives.  The Kingdom of God is not a fantasy, but very real and very real in the way it is manifested in our lives. The Kingdom of God acts on this world. This Kingdom does not look on poverty and injustice and ignore it or walk away, but instead acts like a Kingdom that is meant to rule and engages injustice and brokenness. Early in the church, this aspect of the physical manifestation of Kingdom of God is evident in the fact that a Church office was dedicated to this fact – the deacon.

                How that plays out in mine and your life, is my asking God to keep me from hardening my heart or turning a blind eye to the needs of others and asking God to teach me to live with my hands opened wide to those God places in front of me in this world. I am still learning, but that too is the Gospel as God sanctifies me and helps me to grow.

God has ordained poverty, and He has ordained that we love the poor. And so we know there will be opportunities to minister to the poor in our lives. We can’t get away from that fact. And as we understand this truth, we will also understand that God enables what he commands in our lives. This is not an overwhelming burden God has placed on us, but an overwhelming joy that God delights to bring us into. God wants us to experience His heart and His excitement and delight as we minister to the poor. This is a blessing that God brings us into.

Scripture reading:

Read these verses and discuss what they mean to you and in regards to ministering to the poor.

Micah 6:6-8

“With what shall I come before the Lord,
and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”
He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness, 
and to walk humbly with your God?

Psalm 72:1 

Give the king your justice, O God,
and your righteousness to the royal son!
May he judge your people with righteousness,
and your poor with justice!
Let the mountains bear prosperity for the people,
and the hills, in righteousness!
May he defend the cause of the poor of the people,
give deliverance to the children of the needy,
and crush the oppressor!

Luke 3:11

And he answered them, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.”

Luke 10:9

Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’

Luke 9:11

When the crowds learned it, they followed him, and he welcomed them and spoke to them of the kingdom of God and cured those who had need of healing.

Questions:

Under what conditions in our lives are we to minister to the poor?

God starts off angry at Israel, even though they claim to seek Him daily.

1“Cry aloud; do not hold back;
lift up your voice like a trumpet;
declare to my people their transgression,
to the house of Jacob their sins.
2 Yet they seek me daily
and delight to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that did righteousness
and did not forsake the judgment of their God;
they ask of me righteous judgments;
they delight to draw near to God. . . .

And then God calls them to a true fast that is worked out in their daily life.

7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover him,
and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

What do these verses in Isaiah 48 mean to you?

What does the Kingdom of God look like in our world? Does it have physical ramifications?

Who has all authority and power and rule? How is this displayed?

Jesus didn’t just preach he met physical needs as well, why?

How might this concept look in your life?

Who are some people in your daily life that you can minister too?

Are there ministries that you can support?

What does the scripture mean when it says to not harden your heart and to have your hands open to the poor?

Jonathan Edwards wrote,

Your money and your goods are not your own. They are only committed to you as stewards, to be used for him who committed them to you. 1 Pet. 4:9, 10, “Use hospitality one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” A steward has no business with his master’s goods, to use them any otherwise than for the benefit of his master and his family, or according to his master’s direction. He hath no business to use them, as if he were the proprietor of them. He hath nothing to do with them, only as he is to use them for his master. He is to give everyone of his master’s family their portion of meat in due season.

But if instead of that, he hoards up his master’s goods for himself, and withholds them from those of the household, so that some of the family are pinched for want of food and clothing. He is therein guilty of robbing his master and embezzling his substance. And would any householder endure such a steward? If he discovered him in such a practice, would he not take his goods out of his hands, and commit them to the care of some other steward, who should give everyone of his family his portion of meat in due season? Remember that all of us must give account of our stewardship, and how we have disposed of those goods which our Master has put into our hands. And if when our Master comes to reckon with us, it be found that we have denied some of his family their proper provision, while we have hoarded up for ourselves, as if we had been the proprietors of our Master’s goods, what account shall we give of this?

What do you think about what he said?

Jonathan Edwards wrote,

Many persons are ready to look upon what is bestowed for charitable uses as lost. But we ought not to look upon it as lost, because it benefits those whom we ought to love as ourselves. And not only so, but it is not lost to us, if we give any credit to the Scriptures. See the advice that Solomon gives in Ecc. 11:1, “Cast thy bread upon the waters, for thou shalt find it after many days.” By casting our bread upon the waters, Solomon means giving it to the poor, as appears by the next words, “Give a portion to seven, and also to eight.” Waters are sometimes put for people and multitudes.

What strange advice would this seem to many, to cast their bread upon the waters, which would seem to them like throwing it away! What more direct method to lose our bread, than to go and throw it into the sea? But the wise man tells us, No, it is not lost; you shall find it again after many days. It is not sunk, but you commit it to Providence. You commit it to the winds and waves. However it will come about to you, and you shall find it again after many days. Though it should be many days first, yet you shall find it at last, at a time when you most need it. He that giveth to the poor lendeth to the Lord. And God is not one of those who will not pay again what is lent to him. If you lend anything to God, you commit it into faithful hands. Pro. 19:17, “He that hath pity on the poor lendeth to the Lord, and that which he hath given will he pay him again.” God will not only pay you again, but he will pay you with great increase. Luke 6:38, “Give, and it shall be given you,” that is, in “good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over.”

What do you think about what he said?

Resources:

The Poor of the Land and the Pride of Jacob

Part 3: Commanded

Part 3: Commanded

Commanded

Questions:

Do you believe God commands us to minister to the poor? Why or Why not?

What scriptures do you know, where God commands us to minister to the poor?

Why is God so passionate about the righteous caring for the poor?

Why does God get upset when the poor are not being ministered to?

What is at the heart of God commanding us to minister to the poor?

Reading:

Not only has God ordained that there be poor, but there is another side of that - He has also ordained that we minister to the poor.  Don’t go by this too quickly – God has ordained that we minister to the poor. The scripture is wrought with scriptures declaring that the righteous regard the poor. This is not just an afterthought. God over and over again speaks of His concern for the poor and downtrodden. One cannot read through the whole of scripture without finding this theme. James states, “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” Christianity is associated tightly with ministering to the poor and downtrodden. Why is God so passionate about this? God is even seen getting angry at those who ignore the poor. In Isaiah 58, God rebukes Israel, telling them they have not truly fasted nor found Sabbath rest:

1“Cry aloud; do not hold back;
lift up your voice like a trumpet;
declare to my people their transgression,
to the house of Jacob their sins.
2 Yet they seek me daily
and delight to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that did righteousness
and did not forsake the judgment of their God;
they ask of me righteous judgments;
they delight to draw near to God.
3 ‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not?
Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’
Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, 
and oppress all your workers.
4 Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight
and to hit with a wicked fist.
Fasting like yours this day
will not make your voice to be heard on high.
5 Is such the fast that I choose,
a day for a person to humble himself?
Is it to bow down his head like a reed,
and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?
Will you call this a fast,
and a day acceptable to the Lord?

6“Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of wickedness,
to undo the straps of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover him,
and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
8 Then shall your light break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up speedily;
your righteousness shall go before you;
the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’
If you take away the yoke from your midst,
the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
10 if you pour yourself out for the hungry
and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
then shall your light rise in the darkness
and your gloom be as the noonday.
11 And the Lord will guide you continually
and satisfy your desire in scorched places
and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water,
whose waters do not fail.
12 And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
the restorer of streets to dwell in.

13 “If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath,
from doing your pleasure on my holy day,
and call the Sabbath a delight
and the holy day of the Lord honorable;
if you honor it, not going your own ways,
or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly; 
14 then you shall take delight in the Lord,
and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; 
I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

God associates caring for the poor and downtrodden with worship, fasting and Sabbath rest.  James associates it with pure religion.  This is not a “maybe” part of a Christian walk, it will be part of the Christian walk. When we begin to understand what the depth of the Cosmic Story is about how God pursued and loved those who were poor, destitute, crazy, rebellious, and undeserving, how he loved us, we begin to get a glimpse of how important this is to God, and why God commands us to minister to the poor. God is so passionate about the righteous loving the poor, because He is so passionate about loving us, passionate enough to send His son to die. And God gets upset when we don’t love the poor, because as Christians this violates the image of the Gospel that God ordained when He stated the poor will never cease from the land. Portraying the Gospel in a very real way is at the very center of ministry to the poor, therefore God commands us to minister to the poor and destitute.

Scripture reading:

Read these verses and discuss what they mean to you and in regards to ministering to the poor.

Micah 6

He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness, 
and to walk humbly with your God?

1 Corinthians 6:19b,20a

 “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.”

Proverbs 21:13

Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor
will himself call out and not be answered.

Proverbs 28:27

Whoever gives to the poor will not want,
but he who hides his eyes will get many a curse.

Questions:

Why is God so passionate about the righteous caring for the poor?

W Proverbs 21:13 states, “Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor will himself call out and not be answered.” Proverbs 28:27 states, “Whoever gives to the poor will not want, but he who hides his eyes will get many a curse.” Why does God get upset when the poor are not being ministered to?

What is at the heart of God commanding us to minister to the poor?

Are you ministering to the poor? Is this occurring in our own church?

Jonathan Edwards wrote,

THE duty here enjoined, is giving to the poor. “If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother: — Thou shalt surely give him.” Here by thy poor brother is to be understood the same as in other places is meant by neighbor. It is explained in Lev. 25:35 to mean not only those of their own nation, but even strangers and sojourners. “And if thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with thee; then thou shalt relieve him: yea, though he be a stranger, or a sojourner.” The Pharisees indeed interpreted it to signify only one of their own nation. But Christ condemns this interpretation, Luke 10:29, etc. and teaches, in contradiction to their opinion, that the rules of charity, in the law of Moses, are to be extended to the Samaritans, who were not of their nation, and between whom and the Jews there was the most bitter enmity, and who were a people very troublesome to the Jews.

What do you think about what he said?

Jonathan Edwards wrote,

God gives us direction how we are to give in such a case, viz. bountifully, and willingly. We should give bountifully, and sufficiently for the supply of the poor’s need. Deu. 15:7, 8, “Thou shalt not shut up thine hand from thy poor brother; but thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth.” And again, in verse 11, “Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.” Again, we should give willingly and without grudging. Deu. 15:7, “Thou shalt not harden thine heart from thy poor brother,” And verse 10, “And thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest him.”

What do you think about what he said?

Jonathan Edwards wrote,

This is a duty to which God’s people are under very strict obligation. It is not merely a commendable thing for a man to be kind and bountiful to the poor, but our bounden duty, as much a duty as it is to pray, or to attend public worship, or anything else whatever. And the neglect of it brings great guilt upon any person.

What do you think about what he said?

Resources:

Tim Keller: The Gopel and the Poor Handout

Tim Keller: Gospel and Poor - Case for Compassion

If we are the body – Casting Crowns