Reaching out to the Poor
Proverbs 14:31
Two events in recent months have turned the attention of our nation to the issue of poverty.
One was the conference of the Group of 8 nations in July, where world leaders decided to cancel the debts of the 38 poorest nations of the world to help them get out from under the heavy load of debt. In addition, the G8 nations promised to invest over $3 billion to eliminate hunger and to treat AIDS, which is running rampant in some parts of the world.
The second was the hurricane in New Orleans during which it became clear that no matter how well a city might execute its evacuation plan, if the plan does not include people who don’t have their own transportation it is not worth a hill of beans. Many people were shocked at images that looked like they came from a third-world country, but eventually the reality of poverty has sunk in and people are asking what we can do to eliminate it.
The Bible demonstrated concern about the poor long before the G8 conference or Hurricane Katrina. Lots of people know that Jesus said, “You will always have the poor with you.” Unfortunately, some of them use those words as an excuse to do nothing, as though poverty is not their responsibility. They couldn’t be more wrong. The Bible commands us to feed the hungry and look out for the poor.
Today we come to our second message of four from Proverbs on our way through the Bible. Last Sunday, Sue pointed out that the five books of wisdom in the Old Testament each have a different theme:
Job-- pain and suffering
Psalms-- the heart
Proverbs -- the will, or choices we make
Ecclesiastes-- the mind, on a search for meaning
Song of Solomon – love
She told us that Proverbs was written to help us apply God’s wisdom to the decisions and activities of our daily lives. But Proverbs is not dull or mechanical like my drawer full of instruction manualsthat tell me how to set up a VCR or DVD player. Rather, Proverbs is made of sayings that are well crafted, often using elegant language like you might find in poetry, language that engages the brain and the heart, using a kind of artistic style that stimulates the imagination.
We find the gateway to this book in 1:7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge…” And while there are many kinds of knowledge, much of Proverbs focuses on what we might call moral knowledge, the understanding of right and wrong, what is just and unjust, and the importance of carrying out the purposes of God. So, today, we look at the world through one of God’s windows, the window of justice for the under privileged.
Our text (14:31) comes from the second section of Proverbs. This is a large section that begins at 10:1 and goes to 22:16. It has 375 separate proverbs in it and they cover a whole bunch of topics aimed at building a fulfilled, wholesome, and satisfying life. God wants us to know how to honor our parents, raise our children, handle our money, work productively, treat friends kindly, cultivate attitudes toward others that make for peace, and reach out to the poor. Throughout Proverbs, we find that thinking of and responding to God is the most practical thing we do. Nothing is more important than obedience to God.
We obviously can’t deal with all these topics, but today we are going to focus briefly on how God wants us to treat those who experience poverty, a topic that comes up several times in Proverbs. Poverty is not just a political or an economic issue. Rather, as Jim Wallis says in his new book, it is a religious and a moral issue because the Scriptures say the poor are “regularly neglected, exploited, and oppressed by wealthy elites, political rulers, and indifferent affluent populations” Those Scriptures, he says, “don’t simply endorse the social programs of the liberals or the conservatives, but they make it clear that poverty is indeed a religious issue, and the failure of political leaders to help uplift the poor will be judged a moral failing.” Regardless of our political position on social programs, the scriptures are clear that God’s people have a responsibility to the poor. Wallis says there are about 3,000 references to helping the poor in the Bible, more than any other topic.
Just in this section of Proverbs, for example, we find these verses:
14:21 Happy are those who are kind to the poor (Deut 15)-
19:17 Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and will be repaid in full.
21:13 If you close your ear to the cry of the poor, you will cry out and not be heard.
22:2 The rich and the poor have this in common: the Lord is the maker of them all.
22:9 Those who are generous are blessed, for they share their bread with the poor.
22:22: Do not rob the poor because they are poor, or crush the afflicted at the gate; for the Lord pleads their cause and despoils of life those who despoil them.
And our text in 14:31: Those who oppress the poor insult their Maker, but those who are kind to the needy honor him.
Let’s begin by asking WHAT puts people in poverty.
1. Injustice. We find one answer in Proverbs 13:23: oppression and injustice. “The field of the poor yields abundant food, but without justice, it is swept away.” In other words, the immoral activity of others can cause poverty. How often have we heard about scams that take the resources that senior citizens have saved up? The strong prey on the weak; the rich take what belongs to the poor. The Bible talks a lot about people who take advantage of others. And through no fault of their own, some people end up in poverty. We are all distressed when we hear about company executives taking huge bonuses and stock dividends for themselves while providing only minimal wages and no benefits for their workers.
2. Wrong choices. But some people make wrong choices and end up in poverty. One such choice is mentioned in Proverbs 23:21 “... the drunkard & the glutton will come to poverty and drowsiness will clothe them with rags.” And we might add the gambler and people with other addictive behaviors. As a child, I remember a house we often passed that looked worse and worse and eventually became empty. The story was that because the man gambled, he lost his job, his wife, and his house. And how many people do we see stumbling down our streets sucking liquid out of a paper bag? Alcohol can put a person into poverty.
Another choice Proverbs mentions is laziness. The writer of Proverbs assumes that a wise person will work for a living. People have all kinds of excuses for not working. Proverbs 22:13 says, “The lazy person says, “There is a lion outside! I shall be killed in the streets!’ In other words, “It’s too dangerous for me to go out to work.” And listen to this proverb—“The lazy person buries a hand in the dish, and is too tired to bring it back to the mouth.” (26:15) Wrong choices can make people end up in poverty. Proverbs 13:18 says “Poverty & disgrace come to those who ignore instruction ...”
3. Voluntary poverty. Proverbs doesn’t list this one, but sometimes the call of
the Lord is so strong that some people give up their material possessions in order to follow Him. The disciples left their work to follow Jesus. It’s called voluntary poverty. Those who go somewhere as missionaries or who enter Brethren Voluntary Service give up the privilege of making a profitable salary as they give themselves to an appointment to help others. Kyle, our district BVSer, is one such person. In his application he said, “I believe that Jesus calls us into service in this world. He calls on us to serve others in his name and, through our service, to spread the news that there is a better way to live than the world offers.” Believe me, he won’t get rich this year. And he could use an offer of lunch now and then.
There are more reasons than these for poverty, but the important thing is to ask WHY reach out to the poor? Listen to 14:31 again: Those who oppress the poor insult their Maker, but those who are kind to the needy honor him.
1. God commands it. We are to help the poor because God says so. Proverbs 21:13 says, If you close your ear to the cry of the poor, you will cry out and not be heard. Again and again in the Old Testament, the Israelites were commanded to make provisions for the poor and even for the foreigner. We read God’s appeal through Isaiah in the call to worship this morning. In the book of Ruth, the land owners were commanded to let the grain that fell to the ground stay there. They were to provide for the widows. John Wesley claimed a church was not a New Testament church until it carried out the admonition of Jesus, “The poor have the Gospel preached to them.” There is a story of a young man riding on a flat car through Lima a few years ago. The sheriff spotted him and pulled him off and since Allen Acres was still open, sent him there until he could go on. The sheriff responsible for that act of kindness was our local sheriff. God commands us to look out for the poor.
2. God creates. To understand why we should not take advantage of the poor, we need to go back to creation. Everyone rich or poor or in between comes from the same place. God made every one. Every breath, every provision for each one to continue life, comes from God. To treat someone badly because he or she is poor is a slap in the face of God. But to show kindness to someone in need honors God. It shows that you recognize who God is and that we are all made in his image. Remember what Jesus said about the judgment day in Matthew 25. To those who fed the hungry and clothed the needy God will say, “Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” And when you ask how that could be, God will say, “just as you did it to one of the least of these, you did it to me.”
3. God redeems. Deuteronomy 15 expands on the reasons to help the poor and that is because the Israelites themselves were once poor. Deut. 15:15 says, “Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you.” They couldn’t help themselves and neither can we. And God looks after those in need, those who can’t look after themselves. And many of us in times of financial need have experienced God’s grace through an unexpected gift, or a need that was met in a way we didn’t expect. We have heard some of your testimonies and have given thanks with you for God’s special provisions in time of need. .And what God has done for you, you should do for others. Deut.15:11 says, “Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I command you, “Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land.”
HOW can we carry out this command?
1. Be kind to the poor. 19:17 Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and will be repaid in full. You and I are to be kind to the poor, regardless of how they got that way. We are not to despise them or make fun of people in need. We remember that apart from the grace of God, we could be in the same situation. And don’t forget that unless you are Native American, your ancestors came from somewhere else: Europe, Africa, even Mexico. We dare not engage in discrimination, prejudice, or racial profiling of people in our neighborhood no matter where they come from. Nor should our local authorities.
2. Pray for the poor. Sue takes most of the phone calls at our house and sometimes they are calls for food or financial help. Often I hear her say, “I’m sorry we can’t meet that need right now, but would it be all right if I pray for you?” And sometimes person will say later how much that prayer meant.
3. Contribute to our Love fund. Most of you know that our congregation maintains a love fund which the deacons administer as needs arise. Some of you have received from that fund and some of you have told other hurting people about the love fund and they have called and been helped. Some of you see it as a personal mission to give to that fund. You can designate a part of your regular offering for that fund. Another way to give is by regularly bringing your tithe. You may not know that at the end of the year this church puts a tithe of what is left in our general fund for into the love fund.
4. Walk for the poor. Our denomination joins in a walk of solidarity each October called CROP Walk, to identify with the poor of the world and to raise funds. This afternoon we expect nearly 150 people will be walking because they care about world hunger needs. Often this church has had the most participants from one congregation. If you can walk 2 miles, join us at 2:00. About 25% stays here in Lima.
5. Support denominational efforts to help with poverty.
• This past week Carl & Maralyn bundled up the 40+ health kits this congregation collected. They were sent to Church World Service in New Windsor.
• Watch for disaster relief appeals from our denomination. And sometimes we have hands-on projects such as Habitat for Humanity.
• Give to heifer project. (Story of Dan West, founder, from our denomination).
CONCLUSION One of our congregation’s purposes is to demonstrate God’s love through ministry beyond our church family, and that includes reaching out to the poor. We intend to show compassion to those with spiritual and material needs. Are we doing all we can?
