Day 22 of my Spiritual Journey through Lent!
Reading Psalm 22, 52, 82, 112, 142 and Proverbs 22
Its amazing to me how many passages God directs the righteous people to care about the poor and weak. Its over and over again that he calls out those that fear Him to take care for the poor. How many sermons has your pastor preached on helping the poor in the last year? Most of you have to say, "NONE". Why?
I have had more than 8 years of formal training in serious study of the bible. I was trained by some of the best Bible Exposition experts, all authors and with PhDs in their fields of bible . . . . including Dwight Pentecost, Mark Bailey, Tom Constable, Dan Wallace and Dr. Toussaint. I have listed to some of the best preachers and teachers, read their books. But somehow I missed it. I missed the all call to care for the poor in the Scriptures.
Read the passages below, I didn’t go out and do a word search on the “poor”, that would have brought up many more passages. These are just the passages of today.
Its amazing to me how much the American church has been dominated by politics, political issues and avoidance of biblical truth. The evangelical church in America has camped around two political issues (gays and abortion) but ignored many more calls out for justice and righteousness. Church leaders, don’t be deceived by any political party. I heard one of great business men in America who gives millions and is friend with several presidents, “Don’t trust those bastards” (referring to politicians in general).
Church wake up! Our trust can not be in a politician, a party or a political movement. The tea party will not save the church or the country. The democrats and republicans will corrupt our nation. The answer is not in politics. Our answer is in the church being obedient. First and foremost, we must stand up for the poor, weak and fatherless. We must fight for the feeding and taking care of those that don’t have any resources. Yes, even the undocumented workers that many conservative Christians despise. The poor don’t need to be despised by Christians, they need our help.
READ FOR YOURSELF BELOW!
Proverbs 22 Future generations will be told about the Lord.
52: 31 They will proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn—
82:2 2 "How long will you defend the unjust and show partiality to the wicked?
3 Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. 4 Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.
Psalm 112 1Praise the LORD. Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who finds great delight in his commands.
2 His children will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed.
3 Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness endures forever.
4 Even in darkness light dawns for the upright, for the gracious and compassionate and righteous man.
5 Good will come to him who is generous and lends freely, who conducts his affairs with justice.
6 Surely he will never be shaken; a righteous man will be remembered forever.
7 He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD.
8 His heart is secure, he will have no fear; in the end he will look in triumph on his foes.
9 He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor, his righteousness endures forever; his horn will be lifted high in honor.
10 The wicked man will see and be vexed, he will gnash his teeth and waste away; the longings of the wicked will come to nothing.
Proverbs 22
4 Humility and the fear of the LORD bring wealth and honor and life.
9 A generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor.
16 He who oppresses the poor to increase his wealth and he who gives gifts to the rich—both come to poverty.
Lets get this message to our churches.
3 comments:
"Crazy Love", a recent book, hits on exactly this topic. Challenging.
Pastor,
Amen!
Rich
I don't think that Christians despise undocumented workers themselves. Rather, I think they despise the illegal activity that brought them here (Rom. 13). Does not the psalm you quoted say that God not only draws near to the free lender and the generous, but also to the one who conducts his affairs with justice? Is it just conduct of affairs to go against the government by having no documentation or entering a country illegally?
Additionally, as you say very clearly, God calls the church to practice such generosity for the poor. But we don't see that call from God to the Government. I would argue that the most generous thing Christians can do for such is work to convince governments to make immigration easier, stop giving out freebies (2 Cor. 3 - Idleness and not working), which give people an incentive to do illegal things. Rather, if we can convince our governments to give people incentives through legal behavior, and make the process easier with less red tape, more people will benefit and have the incentive to do the legal thing.
However, you are right. The church misses its call to help the poor regularly and do, often care more about politics than what God calls us to in Scripture.
For me, a bigger issue, is who is poor vs. who is a rip off artist? Who is poor vs. who is idle and should not eat(2 Cor. 3) because they're loafing off of other people's efforts?
You're right, God is not a Republican. But he's not a Democrat, Libertarian, etc. either!
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