What Are Our Obligations to the Poor? Part 18
August 9, 2010
Dear Friends,
9. Does our personal position on our obligations to the poor have implications on our own use of personal resources, attitudes, preaching, worship and relation with our Lord?
Jesus said, “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets.” (Mt 6:2 NIV) Notice, Jesus didn’t say “IF you give to the needy” but “WHEN you give to the needy.” Likewise he said plainly “Sell your possessions and give to the poor.” (Luke 12:33 NIV)
From these and other verses we can glean that taking care of the poor is a fundamental aspect of discipleship like prayer. We can divide discipleship activities into two general categories: essential behaviors and gifts. Essential behaviors are those things which, as the name indicates, are the essence of discipleship. They are things that every disciple should do such as prayer, the breaking of bread, praise, preaching, etc. Taking care of the poor is one of these core behaviors. Every disciple should engage in this activity unless they are they are the very poor themselves and even then, like the widow who have the mite, they can help where they can. Gifts are those optional things which we are either able to do or we are not able to do. For example, not everyone has the gift to teach. In fact, in James 3:l we are told that very few should be teachers.
There is often confusion between what are core behaviors and what are gifts. In this case, we might assume that taking care of the poor is somehow an optional activity. If we do, this will have significant implications on our own use of personal resources, attitudes, preaching, worship and relation with our Lord. If we don’t understand this obligation to the poor, it will surely impact on our discipleship. We won’t understand the need to exercise discretion in our purchases. We won’t appreciate our need to store up from our wealth a gift for the poor.
A brother at Bible school a couple of weeks ago calculated that when you add up all of the commanded tithes from the children of Israel, the percentage that the Israelite was commanded to give was 22 1/3% of their annual income. I had always heard 10% was the figure and, to be honest, found that lower figure a bit heavy to bear. The larger figure left me dumbfounded. It also left me wondering about my own attitude and, therefore, my relationship with Jesus. Why is it so hard to give of something that was a gift to us in the first place?
I was also struck by another comment about how we give away our unwanted items to the Salvation Army or other organizations when we no longer need them and then pat ourselves on the back for our generous giving. It was pointed out that this was not really giving at all, but selective disposal. Since we didn’t want it, we had the choice of how to get rid of it and chose a disposal method that benefits others. True giving is when we still want it, but gave it away anyway.
It seems to me we need a true and dramatic reformation in this area of discipleship.
10. If we had our choice to go to a Bible class or feed the poor, which would Jesus want us to choose?
Going to a Bible class is a great thing – especially if you are just learning the basic tenants of Biblical Christianity. However, discipleship is about learning and putting into practice. If we just learn and seldom if ever put into practice, we need to reform. Most ecclesias have weekly Bible classes, but far fewer have weekly activities which serve our communities and clearly demonstrate the love of Christ in our helping of the poor. I am reminded of the story of two crazy cities that had a war between them. One city always loaded their cannons, but never fired them. The other city constantly fired their cannons, but never loaded them. This is not unlike our present issue. If we constantly read our Bibles but never do anything, what good is it? Likewise, if we don’t even know what God is asking us to do because we never read our Bibles, how can we know we are doing what He asked? There has to be a balance. It seems to me that more times than not we have erred on the side of always loading our minds in study, but never firing. This needs to change.
I am bringing this series to a close now. There is much more to say, but we will have to leave that for another time. I pray that this study has been a help to everyone who wishes to fulfill our obligations to the poor. God bless you in those efforts.
Have a great week,
