God’s Heart for the Poor
March 2005
I was about 27 years old,
Still in the Navy,
and I was driving across the country,
to some Navy base or other.
stopped in at this truck stop for dinner.
Business was slow,
only 3 or 4 other customers in there,
and I sat down and ordered a dinner.
The waitress brought it over,
and I’m eating my dinner, sitting by myself.
Then this guy came over to my table,
and said, Do you mind if I sit down.
I looked at him, he was about my size, and sort of raggedy looking,
with old clothes and several days beard.
He was probably in his late twenties,
but he looked about 45.
He’d obviously led a hard life.
Now its not too often that you’ll be sitting in a restaurant eating by yourself,
and a stranger asks if he can sit down with you.
So I didn’t know what to make of it,
but I said,
sure, if you want to you can sit here.
So he sat down across from me.
And I said a couple conversational things,
where you from, and how’s the weather,
and those kind of things.
But he wasn’t very talkative,
and I’m not either,
so it was mostly pretty quiet.
He just sat and watched me eat for about 5 minutes.
Then finally he said,
I don’t have any money,
would you mind buying me something to eat?
Now believe it or not,
up to that point,
I hadn’t figured out that that’s why he sat down with me.
He was hungry.
Looking at him, I should have figured it out,
but sometimes I’m pretty slow.
So I said,
sure, I’ll buy you something.
About that time the waitress came by,
and she asked me, is this guy bothering you.
It was obvious she was getting ready to boot him out of there.
And I said,
no, he’s OK, I’m going to buy him some dinner.
I told the guy to go ahead and order something,
and he did,
and despite a couple more attempts at conversation,
we both just sat there and ate and didn’t say much,
and I paid for the meal,
and he thanked me, and took off,
and I got back in my car and drove off.
You know, sometimes I’m so slow,
it wasn’t until years later that I remembered that incidence,
and realized,
I knew who that man was.
I knew his name.
His name was Jesus.
His name was Jesus.
Oh, I don’t know what he called himself,
or what his mother named him,
but in a very real way, when he came to me,
he was being Jesus.
You say, Ken what are you talking about,
have you lost your mind.
Next you’re going to say you saw Elvis.
St. Francis of Assisi said Jesus comes to us through the poor and the oppressed.
He thought that the poor and the oppressed are actually sacramental; in other words, they’re like baptism or communion,
that Jesus uses them to come to us,
Not that in themselves
they are particularly holy, but Jesus comes to us through the poor and the oppressed.
Now we may not agree with that,
it might not fit into our theology,
but Why would Frances of Assisi say that?
One reason is Because of Matthew 25:31-40
31 "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 34 "Then the King will say to those on his right, ’Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ 37 "Then the righteous will answer him, ’Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ 40 "The King will reply, ’I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’
I’m not going to read it all,
but Jesus then goes through the whole opposite picture,
and ends by saying,
’Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels….
WHY? Because…
whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
A young boy was walking through the park. He had just gotten out of his Sunday school class, where his teacher had told the class that you never can tell when you’ll meet Jesus.
As he was walking through the park, he noticed an old woman sitting on a bench. She looked very lonely, so he sat down next to her. He said "Hi" and then offered her a piece of his candy bar, which he had been saving.
She accepted the piece of chocolate with a smile. They talked for a while about nothing in particular and then the boy offered her another piece, which she also gladly accepted.
They talked a little while longer and then the boy got up to leave.
As he began to walk away, he turned around, ran back to the bench and gave the woman a big hug. And, she gave him her very biggest smile.
When he arrived home, his mother saw a big smile on his face and asked, "What made you so happy today"?
The boy said, "I shared my chocolate bar with Jesus. And, guess what, Mom? She has a great smile".
Meanwhile, the old woman returned to her little apartment which she shared with her sister. The sister said "You’re all smiles today",. "What made you so happy"? She said, "Well", "I was sitting in the park sharing a chocolate bar with Jesus. And, you know what? He looks a lot younger than I expected"!
Tony Campolo is one of the most well known Christian leaders in America.
Let me read you something he said.
Whenever you meet a suffering person, you will find that Jesus is there waiting to be loved in that individual. That’s why Jesus said, "whatever you do for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you do for me." You cannot reach out to a person in need, you cannot embrace somebody who’s hurting, you cannot minister to somebody who is in desperate straits, without having that eerie and wonderful awareness, that Jesus is coming back at you right through that person.
Tony tells a story: He says,
I was walking down the street in Philadelphia and a bum came towards me. I mean a dirty, filthy guy. He was covered with soot from head to toe. You couldn’t believe how messed up he was. He had this huge beard and there was rotted food stuck in the beard. As he approached me, he held out a cup of McDonald’s coffee and said, "Hey mister, want some of my coffee?"
I looked at his dirty, filthy man and said, "Thanks, but that’s okay," and I walked by him. The minute I passed him, I knew I was doing the wrong thing, so I turned around and said, "Excuse me. I would like some of your coffee." I took some of the coffee and sipped it and gave it back to him. I said, "You’re being generous. How come you’re being so generous today?"
And this bum looked at me and he said, "Because the coffee was especially delicious today and I think that when God gives you something good, you ought to share it with people."
I didn’t know how to handle that, so I said, "Can I give you anything?" I thought that he would hit me for five dollars.
He said, "No." Then he said, "Yeah, yeah. I’ve changed my mind, there is something you can give me. You can give me a hug."
I was hoping for the five dollars!
He put his arms around me and I put my arms around him. And as I in my suit and tie, and he in his filthy garb hugged each other on the street, I had the strange awareness that I wasn’t hugging a bum, I was hugging Jesus. I found Jesus in that suffering man.
If you study the bible for any length of time,
you come to see an interesting thing.
God does not treat everyone equally.
He actually gives preference to the poor.
God takes the side of the poor,
throughout the Bible.
Any theologian can tell you that
God has a definite bias toward the poor.
You see scriptures like Pr 19:17 NLT
If you help the poor, you are lending to the LORD — and he will repay you!
Pr 14:31 TLB
Anyone who oppresses the poor is insulting God
Pr 21:13 NLT
Those who shut their ears to the cries of the poor will be ignored in their own time of need.
There are 2,000 verses of Scripture that call upon us to respond to the needs of the poor.
This is at the core of the Christian faith.
Let me read you another one.
1 John 3:17 NIV
If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?
The answer is, it can’t.
What this is saying is,
If you have no compassion for the poor,
you’re really not a Christian,
because the love of God is not in you,
Or if you are a Christian,
then at the very least,
you have hardened your heart toward God
in this area.
Because God tells us 2,000 times in the Bible
how a Christian reacts to the poor.
A Christian has compassion,
and helps them.
In fact, just based on what the bible tells us,
this is one of the key ways
you should be able to tell who’s a real Christian.
Do they help the poor?
When I talk about helping the poor, people often get the idea that this is a painful, agonizing sacrifice.
Let me ask you, "How do you think Mother Teresa got up in the morning?
Do you think she kind of dragged herself out of bed and said, “Well, here we go again, another lousy day on the streets of Calcutta.
I’ve gotta meet the needs of the poor again,
man I hate Mondays,
I wish I could sleep in.”
No. I don’t think so.
She jumped out of bed with excitement and enthusiasm.
Those who knew her talked about the bubbling joy that radiated from within her.
Why was she so joyful?
Because she knew she was ministering to Jesus all day long,
because, Jesus comes himself to us through people who are in need.
And as we minister to them, the joy of Jesus comes into us and energizes us.
Now let me be a little practical, and blunt.
Because I know the thoughts that go through American Christian’s heads,
when I talk about serving the poor.
There’s two primary responses.
The first one is,
I’ll write a check.
And if that’s your response then you’ve totally missed what God is saying here.
Jesus does not come to you through your checkbook.
Yes its good to support the poor financially.
You should do that.
But Jesus does not say,
For I was hungry and thirsty and you wrote a check to the Red Cross,
I was a stranger and you said, oh my taxes are paying for that homeless shelter, I needed clothes and you gave a couple bags of clothes to Goodwill,
I was sick and you sent a check to the American Cancer Society,
I was in prison and you sent money to Prison Fellowship.’
No, that is not what Jesus said.
If you do that, and effectively shelter yourself behind your checkbook,
and you never come in contact with the poor,
then you never get a chance to serve Jesus
when he comes to you in the poor.
So that response, of only writing a check, doesn’t cut it.
Now our second response is even worse.
Because we say,
I’m just too busy.
you know my job is really time consuming,
I’m busy making myself rich,
so I don’t have time to help the poor.
And besides, I’m already involved in ministry,
I’ve got a small group,
or I’m an intercessor,
or I teach Sunday School.
so I’m too busy.
Or the most common excuse of all nowadays.
You know, my kids have forty gazillion sports practices,
piano lessons, school functions,
and I just don’t have time for anything else.
I certainly don’t have time for the poor.
You know, my family is no different from anyone elses.
Kathy and I both work full time,
and for years we’ve struggled to find time for all the things we do,
plus all our kids activities.
Not only do we have three teenagers,
but most of the time we have a foster child living with us,
and right now we have an exchange student from Germany.
so we are very busy.
You know what that means?
That means that sometimes,
we have to sacrifice kids activities,
so we can do Jesus activities,
and do what is on his heart.
And the truth is, Some of us here this morning,
need to cut out some of those activities,
that jam up every bit of our spare time,
and we need to spend some of that time
teaching our kids how to help to the poor,
and how to act like a real Christian,
because it’ll change their life.
My family is no different than any of yours.
My kids have lots of activities.
My son Joel is on a select soccer team
that is one of the best in the whole Cincinnati area,
so they travel all over, and it takes a lot of time.
A couple summers ago when he was 12
he decided he’d like to go on our annual Guatemala trip, where we visit an orphanage down there,
and work and help the poor.
I’d already taken my daughter Carol a couple times,
so Joel decided he wants to go too.
So I got him signed up,
and bought the airline tickets.
Then he found out that while he was in Guatemala,
he was going to miss a major soccer tournament.
He wanted to back out of going,
he really wanted to play in that soccer tournament,
but I said,
Hey we’ve already paid for the flight,
its non-refundable
you’re going.
He was not happy.
We went on the trip to Guatemala.
Once we got there,
and he saw these orphan kids,
and made some friends,
even though they didn’t speak the same language,
and he got to help them out,
and be used by God to minister there,
Not only did he change his attitude,
but he said that was one of the best experiences of his life,
and he told me,
Dad can I come back next year?
And so he’s going again this July.
This time my wife Kathy is taking him,
cause I’ve already been there 3 times,
And he’ll probably miss another soccer tournament,
and that won’t matter a bit,
because he’s doing the work of Jesus.
Our kids need to learn that,
it’ll change their lives.
You know, It’s not enough, to just say you care.
It’s not just enough to say, “Oh, that’s so sad, to see people suffering. I really feel sympathy. I’ll pray for those poor people.”
Jesus says,
That is not enough,
go do something about it.
Jesus says,
I have to put feet to my feelings.
Notice what the Bible says, 1 John 3:18 TLB
Let us stop just saying we love people; let us really love them, and show it by our actions.
Real love acts.
You say, “Oh, I’m a compassionate person.” Oh really? Prove it. What are you doing to help suffering people?
The Bible is so blunt, in your face about this whole area.
James 2:15 NLT
Suppose you see a brother or sister who needs food or clothing, and you say, "Well, good-bye and God bless you; stay warm and eat well" — but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?
The answer is nothing.
It does no good.
You’ve got to take action.
Last week I flew to Virginia, and you know how in the airports they’ve got these golf carts
that carry people around,
and they go “beep beep beep beep beep”
because they’re constantly in danger of running over people in a busy airport.
You’ve probably experienced this –
you’re in the airport,
walking down a narrow concourse, shoulder to shoulder with a bunch of people – you hear the beeping of the on-coming golf cart.
and all of the sudden, you’ve got to make a choice.
Are you going to dive off to the right side or dive off to the left side, because this things coming through. And you’ve gotta make a choice,
or you’re going to get run down.
That’s sort of what Jesus does, In the scriptures we read,
He says, hey you’ve gotta make a choice.
What’s it going to be, sheep or goat.
Remember he puts all the sheep on his right,
and the goats on the left.
He says,
You’ve gotta jump one way or the other.
Make your choice,
because I’m coming through on the golf cart,
and you’re going to get run down.
So choose.
Sheep or goat.
He says,
You’re going to have to make a decision because we’re talking about opposing world and life views.
Jesus says here’s how the Kingdom of God operates and here’s how the kingdom on earth operates. Here’s the values from My Father, here’s the values from the world.”
And so Jesus, like that golf cart comes at you
and makes you choose, which side you’re going to wind up on.
And how does he divide the sheep from goats?
We read it together.
Let me review it.
Based on how you treat the hungry,
thirsty,
homeless,
naked,
sick,
and in prison.
So this morning Jesus is in the golf cart and He is asking you the question: Sheep or goat?
How are you going to treat the poor and oppressed and suffering?
Let me ask you,
based on your activities of the past month,
are you a sheep or a goat?
How much time did you invest in helping the needy
last month?
It doesn’t have to be huge things,
it just needs to be something.
Matthew 10:42 NASU
Jesus says Whoever … gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward."
He says if you give a suffering person
a cup of cold water.
He doesn’t say you have to
solve the world’s water problem or feed all the hungry people in the world,
He doesn’t set the bar that high.
But he does say,
you need to feed somebody.
You need to help somebody who’s suffering.
Jesus says “You know, if all of My followers, just helped a few people, it would change life on the planet.”
You want to know the reason many people in the world
think so little of the Christian church?
Because we don’t really help anybody.
We spend so much time
within the walls of our little church buildings,
focusing on ourselves.
They don’t see us out in the world helping people.
We have to change that.
If you’re not doing something to help people
in Christ’s name,
outside the walls of this church,
If all of your ministry activity is done here at church,
then you are ignoring Jesus’ command,
to go and reach the whole world.
That’s what the Vineyard has always been about.
Reaching outside the walls of the church,
to help people
and show God’s love to them.
