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?