Compassion for the Poor

One of the points in Sunday's message was that THE sign of whether or not we have understood and experienced the Gospel is if we give generously to the poor.

Twice I had this question... "Should we always give to the poor we encounter on the streets? What about people who will misuse the money, or what if by helping them we are endangering ourselves?"

I would never claim to have all this figured out, but I live by two principles:

• We cannot let personal danger to ourselves or the fact that some will abuse or misuse our generosity as an excuse not to give to the poor. Yes, some people will misuse the money we give them. Some people will take advantage of us. Sometimes we might be put into danger. These things cannot stop us, however, from giving to them, because it did not stop Jesus in coming to help us. We took advantage of Jesus' generosity. We abused it. And we killed him. Thank God He came anyway.

• It is better to ACT rather than REACT to the poor. What I mean by that is this: when you see a guy on the side of the road and you give him a biscuit or a $5 bill, you are reacting to him. And that's well and good. But I would rather act proactively by pouring my money into strategic ministries out of our church that will help him much more than a quarter in his can will. At our church we promote, serve in, and give to ministries that do much better for the poor than small change here and there. Your $5 will go much farther if given strategically, proactively, and not just reactively. I don't mean you should never be open to spontaneous generosity "in the moment," but that your life primarily should be one of acting.

Think of it like this. If you were trying to take over a hostile territory, you wouldn't simply go in and wait on people to shoot at you and then react to that. You would analyze and plan out how to take over the area. That's a better strategy for doing battle against a military enemy, and it is a better strategy in doing battle against poverty.

It doesn't mean we never react. Sometimes God sends us an unexpected person in need. This seemed to happen frequently with Jesus.

In reality, Jesus did both: occasionally he stopped to react, but his whole life was proactive action on behalf of the poor. The cross was not reacting to the moment, but a strategic action that perfectly met our need. Our church takes its call to serve the poor seriously, so I'd rather do the majority of my giving to the poor through it knowing that I am making a much more significant difference in the lives of the poor that way.

Does that make sense? What insights do you have?

Comments

[Josh]

While I identify with this and agree with it, there's a trap that it tends to set for me, and that is that I rarely stop at an intersection to drop off a biscuit or a $5 because my wife and I give strategically through the church - it's easy to think I'm already doing my part. I'm glad God didn't say "I've already done enough" before the cross.

I say that to say, I agree that giving actively should be a priority, but it doesn't exempt us from reacting to what is happening in front of us.

[Neimoller]

Great sermon this Sunday on Christians putting their faith into action (ie - Wilberforce and others putting an end to the slave trade of their time). If our faith only affects us in a spiritual, internal level and never manifests itself in a tangible way, what good is it? It's like keeping medicine in it's bottle and never pouring it out into the mouth of the sick. It's great to remember the efforts of Christians of ages gone by and how their faith in the Almighty broke down seemingly indestructible walls of oppression and tyranny and outright evil, but if all we do is give lip service to these act s of faith, then aren't we just clanging symbols? What are the "Wilberforce" issues of today? Is the church even acknowledging these issues or are we just ignoring them because if we acknowledge them then we will be forced to engage against seemingly undefeatable foes? I say, "If God be for us who can stand against us!" I say we run into the Promise Land with swords ablazing! Let those who represent the 10 spies who entered Canaan with Joshua and Caleb die already so the inheritance can be taken! With that said, I encourage everyone to get a copy of John Walvoord's book called "Armageddon, Oil, and Terror". Walvoord was the President of Dallas Theological Seminary and was the head of Eschatology. Chapter 5 in this book is titled, "The Decline and Fall of America". All Christians today, should take a look at this and how it's being orchestrated. Take a deeper look at events like 911 and see the documentary called "Loose Change Final Cut" which can be watched on google video or youtube. Look at last week's financial bailouts and how this is bankrupting the American taxpayer with a financial burden that will forever enslave the American people. All this while we are supposedly being governed by a Christian President. JD spoke of those stealing Christ's identity to do evil...even Hitler twisted scripture to manipulate the masses. It's time that true believers put their faith into action...we are assured the victory if we stand up! Remember the parable of the sheep and the goats...the goats represented those who adorned themselves with an outer shell of Christianity but internally despised Jesus. Jesus said, "Depart from me for I never knew you", and he cast them into eternal death! People of the church, it's time to do a "goat" check!

[Neimoller]

Everyone is invited to come out to a showing of "Washington you're fired!" tomorrow night, Tuesday, September 23, 2008 at 7:00 PM at UNC. This is sponsored by the campaign for BJ Lawson for Congress.

Go to the following link for info:

http://www.lawsonforcongress.com/events/wyf-showing/

[Tiffany]

I think it's a little more complicated than just considering that they might abuse your generosity and then giving anyway. It's not that I am worried for myself and my money going to a good cause but what if he/she goes and buys alcohol, drives a car and kills somebody? Or gets high on drugs that you bought, and hurts themselves or somebody else? Or buys into the drug industry -- a highly destructive system that entangles many many people and ruins lives -- and you have literally just invested in it. I try to make sure I'm not saying this stuff because I am stingy or selfish, but responsible. And that's where your "act" vs. "react" plays into it and trusting the church with my money, etc.

I hear a lot of people say that what they do into your money is "between them and God" -- I think that's really dangerous and irresponsible.

[KHL]

The generosity of Christians can sometimes be underrated. My husband,who teaches in elementary school and doesn't believe in Christ, was looking for a way to get his students involved with relief to Haitian victims of hurricane Ike. The problem was that he had a very difficult time finding local charities that were not Christian! so, yay for the small miracles that further batter his skepticism!

[CTK]

Just finished listening to the sermon. Thanks as always for some good material to chew on for a while. Quick complaint in response to your post - as someone who isn't a member of Summit, I've noticed that you rarely if ever suggest that we should give our money to anyone besides Summit Church. I'm curious - it seems like the blog might a good place to highlight the various extra-church ministries that serve in the Triangle area an encourage people to support them? Or to team up with people, for example in their Summit Life group, to spend time and money proactively serving neighbors without needing the imprimatur of the church?

Anyway, rock on!!!

[LA]

Tim Keller's book "Ministries of Mercy" goes into great depths about these exact struggles. It delineates the difference between giving graciously in response to and as a reflection of God having freely given us all things and the ultimate goal to truly love a person (which strives toward pointing them to the Father and will at times require denying physical help to a person). I highly recommend the book, written by one of JD's dear old friends.

[Crystal]

Just when I thought Sunday was a wake-up call... thank you for this post!

During the sermon, I remembered that the last time I felt that overwhelming compassion and ACTED on it was in college three years ago when I saw a homeless man on the corner of a highway exit, went to Burger King, bought him a Whopper meal, and brought it back to him. But SO WHAT?!? Can a Whopper meal change his life? No... but Jesus can.

Helping those in need is important, and a kind act may help for little while, but sharing the Word of God is the ONLY thing that will truly make a difference in peoples' lives. This is why we need to be "proactive" and get involved in a ministry--to reach out to the poor with a message--not just clothes or food.

So the bottom line is--sure we can help clothe people and feed their stomachs, but only God can feed their souls.

[Mike Blacker]

I just got done reading a great book called "The Tragedy of American Compassion" by Marvin Olasky (The World Magazine Guy). It provided some great historical insight on "compassion" in America from its inception. Moreover, it provides a biblical and pragmatic (as if they are different) model for how to fight poverty on an individual and collective level. He even posed as a homeless person in D.C. as part of his research. Very interesting. Half of the book is referencing his sources.

http://www.crossway.org/product/0891078630