Caring for the poor

Proverbs 29:7 (NIV)

The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked has no such concern. 

The word “righteous” or “righteousness” appears more than 500 times in the Old Testament and over 200 times in the New Testament so it is a very important theological concept in Judaism and Christianity.  It describes a person who is “right with God”.  A righteous person is someone whose character and conduct is pleasing to God.  James 5:16 says that “the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective”.  Psalm 34:15 says that “the eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and His ears are open to their cry” and Psalm 34:17 says that “the righteous cry and the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles”.  There are hundreds of other verses that declare great promises to the righteous of the land.   

A righteous person is someone who is upright, just, innocent, and sincere.  His/her character and conduct are ethically and morally pure.  A righteous person truly has the character of Christ.  Can you become righteous on your own?  Well, some people believe this is so and they are the ones that deserve the characterization of being “self-righteous” which basically translates as being hypocritical.  Self-righteousness is exactly opposite of what the Bible defines as righteousness.  Spurgeon once wrote that “the greatest enemy to human souls is the self-righteous spirit which makes men look to themselves for salvation”.  Righteousness comes from God, not from within yourself.  People become righteous by giving over their hearts and lives to follow the righteousness of Christ who then gives us His righteousness (II Cor 5;21).  You are only righteous in the sight of God as long as you have the Holy Spirit of Christ in you and you allow His Spirit to lead you in all aspects of your life.  Then, and only then, is your character and conduct pleasing to God.  You should study Romans 10:3-10 to understand more deeply the biblical meaning of righteousness.

So, if you are a righteous person in the eyes of God because of your faith in Jesus as your Savior and Lord, it is a natural response that you will care for what Jesus cares for and one of the great things that Jesus cares for is to help the poor.  Read the following verses that verify Jesus’ concern for the poor: Matt 6:1-4, 19:21, 25:41-45: Mark 10:21: Luke 12:33, 14:13-14. 

Also, this verse in Proverbs about caring for the poor is only one of many Proverbial statements about the importance of caring for the poor or suffering grave consequences.  Read the following Proverbs and write down what the Lord is telling you to do in response to His Word:  14:31, 17:5, 19:17, 21:13, 22:9, 22:16, 22:22-23, 28:27, 31:8-9.

Tony Campolo is a very controversial American pastor, author and speaker.  He has been very outspoken about Christian attitudes toward the poor and here are two examples:

"I have three things I'd like to say today.  First, while you were sleeping last night, 30,000 kids died of starvation or diseases related to malnutrition.  Second, most of you don't give a s----.  What's worse is that you're more upset with the fact that I said s---- than the fact that 30,000 kids died last night.”

"There are 2,000 verses of Scripture that tell us we must be committed to protecting the poor and the oppressed... There is no concern of Scripture that is addressed so often and so powerfully as reaching out to the poor."

I’m certain that these will both shock you but also make you think (and hopefully act) harder about reaching out to the poor.  What are you going to do?

What is causing you to sin? Get rid of it.

Matthew 5:29 (NIV)

If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 

Several books have been published on the difficult statements of Christ.  In fact, much of what Jesus said as recorded in the gospels can be very difficult to interpret.  Victor Kuligin published a 2006 book entitled “Ten Things I Wish Jesus Never Said”.  You can do a Google search and find many books published on the subject of the difficult statements of Christ.  Examples include not bringing peace but a sword (Matt 10:34), moving mountains (Matt 17:20), camel through the eye of a needle (Matt 19:24), loving your enemies (Luke 6:27), hating your father and mother (Luke 14:26), giving up everything (Luke 14:33) and many, many others.  This verse from Matthew 5:29—Jesus also made a similar statement in Matthew 18:9 (repeated in Mark 9:43-47)—might be at the top of the list of Jesus’ most difficult statements to interpret.

Let’s assume that you are someone addicted to pornography or addicted to materialism where your eyes cause you to sin.  According to this passage, you should gouge out at least one of your eyes and throw it away so that you will be less likely to sin with your eyes and you will be more assured of being saved from being thrown into hell.  Is this what Jesus really wants you to do? 

I’ve been taught that you should take the Bible as literally as possible until you absolutely cannot.  There are parts of the Bible that use figurative language called hyperbole. Hyperbole is using exaggerated language to make a valid point, like “I’m so hungry I could eat a horse”, or “she sleeps like a log”, or “I’ve told you a million times not to do that”.  We use hyperboles to exaggerate  how tired we are, how old someone is, how busy life is, etc.  

Jesus is using hyperbole here (and elsewhere in His teaching) to contrast the importance of the kingdom of God and eternal life compared to physical or temporal actions.  Anything in your life, including how you use your body, keeping you from obeying Jesus, needs to be eliminated immediately. Rigid discipline is required.  You must do whatever you can to avoid sin at all costs (but hopefully short of gouging out your eye or cutting off your hand).

While most readers focus the part of this verse that speaks of gouging out your eye, the part that tends to get ignored is the part about being thrown into hell.  God hates sin and those who do not do all they can to stop the sin in their lives risk being thrown into hell after they die.  God does not want that (II Peter 3:9) and so uses strong hyperbolic language to help readers understand His main message.

Is there any part of your body that keeps committing sin?  You must deal with it.  The Lord says so.........

Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest

Matthew 11:28 (NIV)

Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

We work so hard and so long at times that we need to heed Jesus command here.  We all work so hard, so long, involved with so many activities—at work, home, church, school, personal interests, and so forth.  Weariness comes from an imbalance of activity and rest.  In fact, the word in the Greek means “who work to exhaustion”.  Burden comes from all the responsibilities we have and/or assume. 

What does it mean “Come to Me”?  I believe that it means “surrender”.  Oswald Chambers, in his September 13 devotion from his book My Utmost for His Highest states: “It is only after we have begun to experience what salvation really means that we surrender our will to Jesus for rest.  Whatever is causing us a sense of uncertainty is actually a call to our will— ‘Come to Me.’  And it is a voluntary coming.”

I like the thought that coming to Jesus is a voluntary coming.  He is not going to force us to come to Him, we must take that first step ourselves.  Often, people “at the end of their rope”, when they realize that they no longer can handle all their life’s challenges and problems, they voluntarily come to Jesus.

Yet, certain natural human barriers will try to keep you from coming to Jesus:

·  Pride that refuses to admit that you can no longer deal with your weariness and burdens.

·  Guilt that makes you ashamed of yourself where you are too embarrassed to come to Jesus for help.

·  Fear of having to give something up and give someone else control of your life.

·  Worry over how this decision to come to Christ might affect your life from now on. 

·  Doubt that Jesus really can deliver on His promise to give your rest and relief from your burdens.

It is very interesting that the root of all these barriers to come to Christ for rest involves human pride.  No wonder Proverbs 16:18 says that pride precedes destruction.  Indeed weariness and burdens will destroy you if you let them.  Pride is snobbery before the Lord and must be put aside forever to surrender to Him.

And when you come to Him what does He promise here?  Rest!  The Greek word for rest is “anapauŏ”, where we get our English word “pause”, and it means “to refresh”.  The rest that Jesus promises is like getting an excellent night’s sleep, how much better we feel that the night before.  No matter how weary and burdened we are, Jesus promises a spiritual good night’s rest. 

A priority in our lives should be to “come to Jesus”, to receive His “rest” so that we can refreshingly face the challenges and problems of our lives.  Spend time with Jesus every day, just sit somewhere where you can imagine Jesus sitting with you and pour out your heart to Him.  He promises to listen and to give us refreshment.  Indeed, don’t you feel refreshed every time you pause and talk to Jesus?  After sincere prayer, regardless of your life’s circumstances, don’t you feel better?  And, please note that Jesus promises rest from your weariness and burdens, but also in the next verse (Matt 11:29) promises rest for your soul.  Rest for your soul means to have God’s perfect peace in your mind and heart. 

“When you put your cares into His hands, He puts His peace into your heart” -- Unknown

Many remarkable and completely true promises from the Lord

Proverbs 3:1-6 (NLT)

My child, never forget the things I have taught you.  Store my commands in your heart.  If you do this, you will live many years, and your life will be satisfying.  Never let loyalty and kindness leave you!  Tie them around your neck as a reminder. Write them deep within your heart.  Then you will find favor with both God and people, and you will earn a good reputation.  Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.  Seek His will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take. 

These are God’s words to His children and God’s words are eternal, infinitely superior to any human words of wisdom and advice.  Proverbs 3 contains 17 promises of God that we all should realize.  Joshua 23:14 says that all promises (good words) of God will come true, none will fail.  Read over this chapter today and reflect on all these promises.  And share them with your children, grandchildren, and others you feel close to.  Proverbs 3 is one of the most remarkable and magnificent chapters of the entire Bible!

In these first six verses of Proverbs 3 there are three outstanding promises---a long life filled with peace, a life that is liked and respected by all others including God, and a life that is directly guided by the Lord.  I have always wished that I was made aware of Proverbs 3 and all its promises when I was a youth rather than learning them when I was well into my thirties.  My life would be different today.   

If there are two verses in the Bible that I have quoted to myself, to others and prayed about more than any other two verses, they are Proverbs 3:5-6.  There are four absolutely amazing truths in these two verses that I must remind myself about as much as possible for the rest of my life and you should too. 

Trust in the Lord with all of your heart.  Trust in the original Hebrew is the idea of throwing yourself down, casting all your hopes for the present and the future upon the Lord.  Heart is used throughout the Old Testament to refer to that part of you that constitutes the seat of your intellect, emotion, and will.  It’s your conscience, your personality, your soul.  Trusting the Lord with all your heart means that you confidently expect that He will do what He promises. You are not left to doubt, to hope, or to guess; you have a positive trust that brings positive results.

Do not lean on your own understanding.  The Hebrew word for “lean” means to support yourself.  However, you are NOT to support yourself, you are not to worry about attempting to explain what is happening in your life.  To follow this command means that you are to be humble and honest about your limitations. Have you ever had to walk with a crutch?  Leaning on a crutch for very long can be exhausting.  So is leaning on your own understanding.  Trying to understand life around you can become utterly exhausting.  Depression in life comes from trying to understand everything you can, but realizing you cannot.  But, you don’t need to!

In all your ways acknowledge Him,  Rather than leaning on the manmade crutch of your devices, you are exhorted to recognize God’s presence and His will in your plight.  Acknowledging Him enables you not to be alone.  Note the emphasis on the word “all” both here and trusting with all of your heart.  God does not accept half way attitudes and actions.  If your heart is “half-hearted” about serving God, about being faithful, about anything that is spiritual, in the view of God, you might as well consider yourself at ground zero.  There is no middle ground.  To agree to acknowledge Him in all your ways requires your obedience and your willingness to admit to others openly of your dependence on Him. 

And He will make your paths straight,  The Hebrew word means to make smooth, straight, right.  It includes the idea of removing obstacles that are in the way.  It means that when the Lord is fully relied upon to handle a given situation, He will remove all the obstacles and smooth out your path thoroughly.  The requirements here are being obedient to the first three segments. When you trust in the Lord with all of your heart, when you don’t worry about trying to explain what’s happening (or not happening), and when you acknowledge Him in every aspect of your life, He will not only make your paths straight but also give you assurance, joy, contentment and peace. 

Billy Graham has told the story of a man during the Depression who lost his job, his fortune, his wife, and his home.  Yet, he did not give up on God.  He tenaciously held on to his faith.  One day he was walking and saw some men doing stonework on a huge church.  One of them was chiseling a triangular stone and this man asked why.  The workman said, “See that little opening away up there near the spire?  Well, I’m shaping this down here so that it will fit in up there.”  This man walked away and began to cry.  He realized that God had spoken to him through the workman to explain the ordeal that he was going through.  “I’m shaping you down there so that you’ll fit in up here.”  This is exactly what God is doing with you and using your current life’s situations to accomplish His ultimate purpose in you. 

You must learn to trust Him as He is shaping you through the trials, sufferings, and storms in your life.  You won’t understand it all now, but someday you will plus by doing all you can to put Him first in your life, you have the promise that He will be in control of your life and make your paths straight.  Pray for faith to believe this.  As the father said in Mark 9:24, “I believe, help me in my unbelief”.  This could be one of your favorite verses of the Bible.  Ask Him to help you to believe and to trust Him.