My disclaimer is that I do not claim to be an expert in all things Biblical. What I do claim to know is that the Bible can give us a pretty good picture of how God feels about a variety of subjects. I also know what I have learned about the character of God and the conviction of the Holy Spirit in this area. If you want an expository sermon on the subject of poverty, look elsewhere.
In the interest of brevity, let's see some Scripture:
1 John 3:17-18 (NIV) If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
James 2:15-17 (NIV) Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
Ezekiel 16:49 (NIV) Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.
Proverbs 14:31 (NIV) He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God.
In all of the verses in Scripture that address poverty, as
well as the verses that speak about love, I do not see conditions. Its as if
God wishes us to love people unconditionally. Kind of like He loves us. No matter if we don't know how to manage their finances or live in a financially depressed area or have been on Government assistance their entire lives or lose everything to circumstances outside of our control or, or, or, or.
Now, before you get all high and mighty and say something
like, "Yes, but by just giving hand outs, we aren't really addressing what
causes poverty in the first place. We aren't really loving well if we just give
and give and don't help others learn and grow out of poverty." Okay, maybe
you can be high and mighty because you are so right! However, I'm not so sure
that precludes those who have excess from giving to those in need of things
that help them...well not die.
What I propose is a multifaceted approach to poverty. One
that includes unconditional love and loving well as well as addressing the root
causes of cyclical poverty while meeting the immediate needs of those in
poverty. Honestly, I don't know what this looks like. I don't have all the answers.
But this is what I know:
- Christians MUST drop our divisive and often hateful speech about poverty. It nullifies the Gospel we preach and live.
- We MUST ask God to convict our hearts and increase our desire to help the impoverished.
- We MUST to stop waging a culture war to promote the cause of Christianity and wage the war within ourselves that prevents the Kingdom of God from advancing. This prevention looks like rhetoric, political fervency, ignorance, hatred and a lack of empathy and understanding.
- We MUST find a way to set aside all of the things that stick in our craws as conservative Christians and work COLLECTIVELY WITH PEOPLE WE DISAGREE WITH to impact our communities.
- We MUST focus more on wholeness (whole families, whole minds, whole communities, whole people) and less on how to get people to sin less.
- We CANNOT really believe what we do about God's love and mercy and continue to stand in the way of those (including the US Government) who help the poor (even ineffectively.) Because if the Church was able to help the poor and end poverty (like in the ideal Kingdom of God we're supposed to be working toward) it would. In 2000 years, it still hasn't been able to. Yes, poverty is part of living in a fallen world. But part of preaching the Gospel is living the Gospel. And Jesus came to redeem and make new. We can be a part of the redemption of poverty.
- We CANNOT be responsible citizens who vote on election day and then do nothing to impact the policies and systems that support the cycle of poverty.
- We CANNOT impact poverty without impacting the culture of poverty. You know, kind of like Jesus impacted the Hellenistic and Jewish cultures in his day while speaking truth into the lives of the people he personally impacted.
- We MUST change how we address and interact with poverty or we will continue to lose young people. Young people in the Church DO NOT CARE ABOUT FANCY SERVICES OR PROGRAMS OR HAVING COFFEE DURING CHURCH. They want to make a difference in their community and if the Church isn't where they can do that, they will go elsewhere. Rachel Held Evans wrote an amazing article entitled, "15 Reasons I Left the Church." Number #13: " I left the church because I had learned more from Oprah about addressing poverty and injustice than I had learned from 25 years of Sunday school."
- We MUST take the risk of stepping out of the rhetoric and stagnant thinking and politically charged thinking and EVERYTHING WE HAVE ALWAYS KNOWN to think about things differently. Because people are dying and going broke and children aren't getting nutrition they need for healthy brain development and people are homeless and the biggest obstacle to me addressing these issues and being a part of the solution is to STOP BEING PART OF THE PROBLEM.
You can write me off. You can say I'm a Democrat. You can say I'm liberal. You can say something about my hermeneutics or something ridiculously pedantic. It won't matter.
Because this week, I'm going to do what I can to help kids in foster care not to fall into poverty. I'm going to go help a little old lady who lives in the "ghetto" by shoveling her driveway EVEN THOUGH I HATE IT. And because she loves my son genuinely and deeply. That means so much more to me than harsh criticism. On Judgement Day, I won't be worrying about you. I'll be satisfied knowing that I tried my best to be part of the solution and not the problem.
What about you? How can you be a part of the solution this week?
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