The Poor: A Cornerstone of Christian Generosity, Part 2

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.

The following is an excerpt from The Secret of Generosity, an excellent book on what the Bible says about the power of generosity. The author has kindly allowed me to publish excerpts of his chapter on "the poor" in support of my Red Kettle Challenge to help the needy. Today's excerpt is a continuation of last week's part 1.

Our hearts

Now what?  If we are a little fearful that we have not done all that we are able to do to help those in need, then we have an evidence of God's Spirit at work within our hearts—burdened to live as His word commands and grieving our lack of wholehearted obedience.  In this place, rest in the grace of Jesus Christ which is able “to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy.” (Jude 24)  Then, move forward in obedience.  A desire to utilize our resources to give the helpless hope honors God and gives credibility to the renewal and restoration of our own hearts.

How do we use what we have to help the poor?  Give freely, generously, and intentionally to them.

“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; but you shall freely open your hand to him, and shall generously lend him sufficient for his need in whatever he lacks...You shall generously give to him, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him, because for this thing the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in all your undertakings.  For the poor will never cease to be in the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall freely open your hand to your brother, to your needy and poor in your land.” (Deu. 15:7-8,10-11)

The fast the Lord chooses:  “Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into the house; when you see the naked, to cover him; and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?” (Is. 58:6-7)

The practical application of this critical component is plain and simple:  Be generous to those in need.

Our nation

“Our individual beliefs not only shape our lives, they form a culture that shapes the direction of an entire nation.” - Chuck Bentley

As I read the Lord's commands to the nation of Israel, I can't help but think of our own nation—and our tendency to forget those in need.  Consider the judgment pronounced against Sodom:

“Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy.” (Ezek. 16:49)

The guilt of Sodom sounds dangerously close to what we have begun to see in modern America:  Abundant resources and careless ease that amount to virtually no investment in the poor and needy whatsoever.  The NIV translates Sodom's condition as “arrogant, overfed and unconcerned.”  We have to admit this sounds too familiar.

God's word tells us plainly:  “From everyone who has been given much, much will be required.” (Luke 12:48)  In America, we have been given unprecedented levels of prosperity, abundance, and ease.  But what are we doing with all these resources?  Are we using them to redeem the impoverished, restore the broken, and run to the deserted?  Or, are we more concerned with redeeming our rewards points, restoring antiques, and running to the dessert line?  Obviously there is nothing inherently wrong with any of these things, but there is something very wrong with the way that we Americans use nearly if not all of our prosperity to overspend, overeat, and oversleep—and all of this rather unashamedly.  Arrogant, overfed, and unconcerned.

At best, I think the average American Christian, myself included, only helps the poor halfheartedly.  We may write a few checks or serve a few weekends, but we do not live a life of investing in the poor for the sake of Christ and the glory of the Father.  We must begin to recognize that there is something deep in the character of God that we reflect when we care for those who cannot care for themselves.  After all, isn't this the essence of the gospel?  In order to claim this purpose for our lives, we are forced to abandon the worldly ideologies that have been woven into our cultural norms.

Changing teams

“The poor is hated even by his neighbor, but those who love the rich are many.” (Prov. 14:20)

Everyone loves a winner.  Whenever a team wins a championship, their merchandise sales rise sharply.  It's just human nature to associate with the winning team.  Success has many friends.  With equal fanaticism, we distance ourselves from the losers.  From the coach who just got canned to the team that can't seem to pull off a winning season, failures often find themselves at a loss for company.  This bandwagon leaning isn't just true in sports; it's the way we approach life.

Luckily for the tax collectors, prostitutes, thieves, and other sinners like us, Jesus didn't have this mentality.  Quite the opposite in fact.  He was criticized for how often he spent time with the lowly esteemed, the social outcasts, and the people whose sin was publicly known (Mark 2:15-17).  Jesus, contrary to the normal way of doing things, constantly found Himself spending time with the people whom society wasn't exactly lining up to be around.

There is a lot to be learned by this tendency in our Savior's company.  Since middle school, we have all been striving to sit at “the cool table”.  We do our best to surround ourselves with people who add value to us instead of investing in the betterment of others.  We desire to be associated with society's winners; consequently, we tend to surround ourselves with the successful, influential, and charismatic rather than follow our Savior to the homes of the broken, desolate, and deserted.

One reason many American Christians struggle to be generous to the poor is because we do anything we can to distance ourselves from them.  All too often as Christians craving comfort, we rarely expose ourselves to real need.  Getting out of the suburbs and putting ourselves in places where we will build relationships with people in need will do wonders for our desire to give generously.

There is something fundamental about the gospel—something about seeing the depths of our own depravity and our desperate need for Christ—that shapes the way we view those in need.  When we truly come to grips with our own sinfulness, we are no longer comfortable speaking of “those in need” without putting our own name on the top of the list.  The gospel exposes us to our poverty apart from Christ and empowers us to bring His riches to the poverty we find in our broken and needy world.  If we are willing to do this, the possibilities for redemption and restoration are as limitless as the God who takes us there.

Rebuilt, repaired, and restored

“If you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then your light will rise in darkness and your gloom will become like midday.  And the LORD will continually guide you, and satisfy your desire in scorched places, and give strength to your bones; and you will be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.  Those from among you will rebuild the ancient ruins; you will raise up the age-old foundations; and you will be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of the streets in which to dwell.” (Is. 58:10-11)

Rather than crushing us with guilt, the Bible seeks to inspire us to become invested in the lives of the impoverished.  When we focus on the hungry and the afflicted, God promises us blessing, guidance, strength, and resources to rebuild, raise up, repair, and restore.  Christ beckons us to take part in this glorious work.  Imagine the limitless possibilities when the body of Christ brings His restorative power to the broken!

When we bring the practicality of our physical resources, the supernatural power of the gospel, and genuine love, we create a recipe for redemption!  Biblical generosity towards the poor is most effective when it includes all of these components:  body, soul, and spirit.  For example, James insisted upon the necessity of physical resources to go along with our words (James 2:14-16), Jesus emphasized the connection between the spiritual realm and generosity to the poor (Luke 16:19-31), and Paul instructed his readers not to give to the poor without love (1 Cor. 13:3).  This type of wholehearted investment in the lives of the less fortunate brings glory to God and hope to the helpless (Job 5:16).

Before moving on, I feel one minor clarification must be mentioned.  The Bible does distinguish between voluntary and involuntary poverty (Prov. 10:4, 13:18, 14:23, 2 Thes. 3:10-12).  I don't think we should ignore those who are poor by their own choosing (because there are spiritual issues at the bottom of such choices), but I do believe we should focus more intently on those who want a hand up more than a hand out.

Comments

[Marks@ Car Insurance]

This is great article.

God is all powerful, all knowing, beyond moral infallibility, has infinite wisdom, and perfect judgment. The concept of God partially fulfills the human desire to be perfect. The faithful strive to follow the commandments of their perfect god and in so doing are being as perfect as their fallibilities allow.

[Jonathan]

“Our individual beliefs not only shape our lives, they form a culture that shapes the direction of an entire nation.” - This is a superb quote. I do agree that when you decide to make a stand for the beliefs and values you have then they can feed into generally society

[Steve]

I am curious as to how you advocate paying off debt vs. giving to charity, etc. I am in total agreement on putting one's beliefs into practice through actions like giving to charity or volunteering, but have a mountain of student loan debt. I struggle in coming to a conclusion as to whether I should pay more to charity or concentrate on paying off those student loans first.

[FMF]

Steve --

I think it's a balance. Personally, I'd work on both, allocating what you think is an appropriate amount to each.

That said, I would put a larger amount on the debts, then as they got paid off I'd add to the giving.

[Luis]

@ Steve You can give to charity through your work. The value of volunteering at a sleep shelter and/or a soup kitchen regularly is a good chunk of money and does not require you to withdraw funds from your "fixed" takehome pay. That way you are not stretching yourself thin on your other disbursements that require cash for payment.