Sunday Thoughts
by Al Sturgeon
(every Sunday in Desperate Houseflies)
REMEMBER THE POOR
For music fans, yesterday’s “Live 8” concerts may go down as the best concert ever. Organizer, Bob Geldof’s claim that 3 billion people tuned in may be a preacher’s count, but either way, the ten free international concerts were huge, featuring the biggest stars performing for a noble cause. The concert’s timing was intentional, just days before the Group of Eight summit. Concert organizers urged these most powerful politicians in the world to forgive debts, make trade concessions, and appropriate $25 billion in aid to Africa, where the child death rate is one every three seconds. The organizers further offered statistics that claim 50,000 people die every day from simple poverty.
I have not been invited to attend the Group of Eight summit. I would hope that the powerful politicians of the world would respond with compassion to world poverty, but more pertinent to me, what is a Christian’s role in this issue? How should the church respond to the poor?
God’s instructions to Israel in Deuteronomy 15 seem a bit odd in this matter. In verse 4, God declares that there should be no poor among His people as He lays down Jubilee instructions. Later on, in verse 7, the instructions deal with the possibility “if there is a poor man among you,” and how God’s people should open their pocketbooks to him. But finally, in verse 11, it says that there will always be poor people in the land. Is it possible that God established a standard that would not be followed?
Well…yes.
But that was the Old Testament, right? What about when Jesus came? Well, a case can be made that Jesus came to declare the year of Jubilee. With tons of preaching references to the poor, and prayers and parables regarding the forgiveness of debts, Jesus’s followers became natural advocates for the poor. In fact, in the only judgment scene offered by Jesus, those pleasing to God were those who spent themselves on behalf of the poor.
The early church followed through in this regard. Instead of restricting the benevolent spirit to Jewish Christians, Paul recounts in his letter to the Galatians that after the apostles blessed his ministry to the Gentiles, their only request was that he remembered the poor. Paul eagerly agreed.
So what is the role of the church?
I’ve seen apathy (“I didn’t cause their poverty”), excuses (“Jesus said there would always be poor people”), negativity (“Well, it doesn’t do any good.”), conditional so-called love (“We’ll help if you’ll come to church.”) and passing the buck (“Send them to the government offices and they’ll take care of them.”). Those are the normal culprits.
But what is our real role?
In a word, love. A word that a good friend (with the pseudonym, Juvenal) defined for me recently, “Recognize in each person you meet the image of God. Behave accordingly.”
(every Sunday in Desperate Houseflies)
REMEMBER THE POOR
For music fans, yesterday’s “Live 8” concerts may go down as the best concert ever. Organizer, Bob Geldof’s claim that 3 billion people tuned in may be a preacher’s count, but either way, the ten free international concerts were huge, featuring the biggest stars performing for a noble cause. The concert’s timing was intentional, just days before the Group of Eight summit. Concert organizers urged these most powerful politicians in the world to forgive debts, make trade concessions, and appropriate $25 billion in aid to Africa, where the child death rate is one every three seconds. The organizers further offered statistics that claim 50,000 people die every day from simple poverty.
I have not been invited to attend the Group of Eight summit. I would hope that the powerful politicians of the world would respond with compassion to world poverty, but more pertinent to me, what is a Christian’s role in this issue? How should the church respond to the poor?
God’s instructions to Israel in Deuteronomy 15 seem a bit odd in this matter. In verse 4, God declares that there should be no poor among His people as He lays down Jubilee instructions. Later on, in verse 7, the instructions deal with the possibility “if there is a poor man among you,” and how God’s people should open their pocketbooks to him. But finally, in verse 11, it says that there will always be poor people in the land. Is it possible that God established a standard that would not be followed?
Well…yes.
But that was the Old Testament, right? What about when Jesus came? Well, a case can be made that Jesus came to declare the year of Jubilee. With tons of preaching references to the poor, and prayers and parables regarding the forgiveness of debts, Jesus’s followers became natural advocates for the poor. In fact, in the only judgment scene offered by Jesus, those pleasing to God were those who spent themselves on behalf of the poor.
The early church followed through in this regard. Instead of restricting the benevolent spirit to Jewish Christians, Paul recounts in his letter to the Galatians that after the apostles blessed his ministry to the Gentiles, their only request was that he remembered the poor. Paul eagerly agreed.
So what is the role of the church?
I’ve seen apathy (“I didn’t cause their poverty”), excuses (“Jesus said there would always be poor people”), negativity (“Well, it doesn’t do any good.”), conditional so-called love (“We’ll help if you’ll come to church.”) and passing the buck (“Send them to the government offices and they’ll take care of them.”). Those are the normal culprits.
But what is our real role?
In a word, love. A word that a good friend (with the pseudonym, Juvenal) defined for me recently, “Recognize in each person you meet the image of God. Behave accordingly.”
posted by Al Sturgeon | 12:39 PM
3 Comments:
Thanks for highlighting the need for Christians to lend more than lipservice in the cause of the needy, Al. This topic has weighed on my mind a lot over the last few weeks. It's overwhelming to a guy like myself to see so much need and pain in a world and not know where to begin to make the biggest difference. Please keep up the good work, your voice needs to be heard.
Is it possible that God established a standard that would not be followed?
Well…yes.
But that was the Old Testament, right?
It's my opinion that, in Matt. 5, Jesus is teaching us this very lesson: A) just how high God's true standards are; B) that he knows we won't fully meet them; C) how we should think and act in light of A and B.
A popular radio talk show host "dissed" the actions of Bob Geldof and his ilk. Basically because it would do no good. Apparently the thought is that it actually does harm. I'm not so sure that I agree.
Let's work through a few examples and see if they fit what Al is talking about.
Our church maintains a food bank. We distribute hundreds of pounds of food to needy families within our purview. We don't make them feel less of a person or anything ... they can come get their food in secret if they wish, or have it brought to them, no questions asked. Mostly we are addressing the issue of temporary poverty, but there are a few, who for whatever reason, just cannot seem to make it. Are we helping the habitually poor people, or enabling them? It's a compelling question, but the attitude is: "if they need food, then give it to them". It's an attitude with which I happen to agree.
Another example: we have two "poverty" missions in the city next door (I live in the country). One's mission is to pull people off the street, give them a place to stay for up to a year, and while they are living in the mission, teach them a trade, get them a job, and get them back on their feet. The other ministers to street people. They preach to them, give them shelter when they need it, feed them when they need it, etc, etc. Is the second mission enabling the street people? I don't happen to think so, but some make that argument.
The last time that I fasted I read a book on the subject by Bill Bright. He recommended donating the money saved by fasting to the poor. I chose to donate it directly to the street people. I'd find a guy or girl on his or her street corner and just give 'em the 20 or 25 bucks I'd saved on food that day. I suspect that they took the money straight to the liquor store (they usually left their corner immediately). Was I enabling them, doing my Christian duty, or something in between?
A friend of mine found a group of street people, parked his car, joined their group and asked them why they were homeless. Answer: they chose to be. I wasn't really surprised. I know from study on the subject that many of the homeless are mentally ill, some are just down on their luck, but most choose the lifestyle. Quite a number are Christians, undoubtedly converted by a well-meaning mission along the way.
So, if I attempt to lift someone out of poverty who is not prepared to be lifted out of poverty, am I imposing my morality on him?
The question is not so much rhetorical, as it is a search for what to do about the problem.
Our church sponsors two missionaries in Zambia. We ship food, money, computers, crayolas for the kids (by the thousands), and sponsor physicians/dentists on an annual trek to get them medical care. Much of the stuff we send over there gets stolen by goverment corruption, but we consider that a cost of doing ministry. Are we enabling the thieves? Probably, in some way. But there are people over there dying by the tens of thousands of aids. They need help. The government there, despite its corruption, is very "Christian friendly". There are also tens of thousands of Christian converts.
The neighboring country of Zimbabwe is another story. The government is one of the most oppressive in the world. It murders and tortures its people, keeping them in poverty by the millions. They have the same problems with disease, but Christians are not allowed (legally) to enter the country to help.
What is the right thing to do? Should we enter the country anyway, to get food and medicine to these people? Or is that imposing our morality on them?
Seems to me like we had a similar situation in Iraq. We had a merciless dictator that tortured and murdered his people. We went in and the left had a fit! From everything I can read, the day to day Iraqi Street is happy to be liberated. But our left leaning folks scream foul: "you're imposing our form of government on them!". Perhaps to put it another way, we are imposing, or are attempting to impose our morality (ie, all people should be free) on them. I think it's right. Many don't.
By propping up a dictator and giving him aid, are we not enabling him to keep abusing his people? Or should we give the aid anyway, in hopes that some will trickle to the people we are trying to help? The questions seem the same no matter whether on a personal, church, or even national level.
The questions are the same if you consider them in terms of poverty alone. They get "colored" in a considerably different light if we consider the question of injustice. The people in Zimbabwe, Southern Sudan, Northern Korea, and a dozen other hell holes are not so much the victims of poverty, but oppression and injustice. In the case of injustice, imposing our morality on an evil tyrant in order to save the people he is oppressing, I believe, is the right thing to do.
In Micah 6:8 God gives us a short list on how to please him, namely to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with Him. This seems to be the list that fits.
Poupon the Grey
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