"But what I can say about Scripture is... We are commanded over and over and over to take care of the Poor right? The Orphan and the Widow. Ok so this is totally Sunday School but obviously how we do that now looks different than it did when Jesus was healing people; different than when the early church was working out their distributions of God-Given wealth..."
I'm copying part of a previous blog post that deals with this question. The Bible does tell us to take care of the poor, but it's almost always referring to the poor within the covenant community, which in the OT is the nation of Israel and in the NT (for us), the church--believers. When the disciples are distributing wealth in Acts, they're believers. The widow and orphan in James are believers.
**Note: This article was written for the Travelogue and so I knew I'd be speaking for my elders. In retrospect I feel like I understated the case, but since it had Sojourn's name on it, I wanted to be sure to honor the aforementioned elders. Here's the excerpt:
HONOR ALL MEN. LOVE THE BROTHERHOOD: Part of a Theology of Financial Giving
"...We’re instructed by the apostle Peter, “Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood.” (1 Peter 2:17) We are to honor everyone, but we are to love the brotherhood (It's crucial to note that the Bible is using the terms 'brother' and 'sister' not in the sense of a universal brotherhood of all men--an idea spun by liberal theologians at the beginning of the last century--but rather fellow Christians). Paul echoes this sentiment in his letter to the church at Galatia: “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.” (Galatians 6:10)
It is clear in Scripture that there is a marked difference between a believer’s responsibility towards a fellow believer and his/her responsibility towards a non-believer (we’ve seen Jesus recognize this distinction throughout our study of Matthew: 12:46-49, 18:17; see also 1 Corinthians 5:9-13). Deuteronomy sheds some light on one practical implication of this difference: “You may require payment from a foreigner, but you must cancel any debt your brother owes you…There should be no poor among you…If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother. Rather be openhanded and freely lend him whatever he needs.” (Deuteronomy 15:3-4, 7-8)
The Bible teaches that loving our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ is much more than just financial care—but it is certainly not less! The Apostle John exhorts us, “If anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” (1 John. 3:17-18) And James tells us, “If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?” (James 2:16)
THE EXAMPLE OF THE EARLY CHURCH
The book of Acts documents for us the very first Christian church, containing the very first Christians. And what is it that we find these immature young believers doing right away? “And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.” (Acts 2:44-45) We know from a few chapters later that the church in Acts wasn’t practicing Socialism—individuals still owned property, had money, etc. But all of a sudden, these men and women were thinking and living out of a Gospel framework—and it was this Gospel that compelled them to give freely to their brothers and sisters in need. As a matter of fact, this love for the brotherhood—believers taking care of one another—is what Paul seems to be looking for first and foremost when determining whether new churches are in fact TRUE Christian churches. Thus, even when these young believers get so much wrong (1 Cor. 5; Gal. 1:6, 3:1-5; Rev. 2-3), Paul can always recognize them as true Christians by their love for one another: “We ought always to give thanks to God for you brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing.” (2 Thes. 1:3; also see Eph. 1:15-16;Col. 1:3-4) And again, “Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another.” (1 Thessalonians 4:9) We see here that there is something wrought in the Christian by the Holy Spirit that compels him to love his fellow brothers and sisters and that this love is one distinguishing mark of true faith in Christ."
6 comments:
Ok. Worth Consideration.
But while I'm thinking about this within the context of "brother" and "sister", I have to throw out "neighbor" as well.
-"cat"
oh and just to be perfectly clear following the last post and discussion....
I speak of caring for the poor and loving your neighbor not for their own sake, but again- for the sake of reconciling them to God as we've talked plenty of already.
But didn't want to take it for granted that everyone understands it's what we/i speak of.
True that. Neighbor is presumably talking about a category that would include non-believers.
My purpose in posting part of that previous post is to show that the majority of 'good deeds' believers are commanded to perform in the New Testament are directed towards fellow believers. And that we are definitely responsible to take care of believers financially before non-believers--and not just believers who are members of our own local church, but any poor believers, as far as we can get our hands on them...like in Sierra Leone or Somalia.
I just want the priority to be on helping these fellow brothers and sisters because I see that as such a priority in the Bible and I feel like I hear very little about sharing our wealth with believers in other countries.
When someone downtown asks me for money I've started telling them that the Bible teaches me I need to take care of my fellow church members and so that's where my extra resources need to go. I always want to go a step further and tell them that this is one more advantage of joining God's family--instant brothers and sisters who will care for you spiritually as well as physically.
Good word Scott. That's def something I haven't considered much. And it's encouraging too as I often feel like I'm using up too much of my time ministering inside the body
so I might change the words I said but I still stand behind the point I was making. Our 'poor' brothers and sisters suffer under the same opression and injustices mentioned before. And some of us might even feel the need to get involved in a more vocational, even political, way. But I believe all of us are called to consider the poor and to resist injustice. There are several verses in the psalms and in Isaiah pertaining to this and- I could be wrong- but I don't think all of them only pertain to believers.
So the point is once again... I feel I'm being repetitive... The point is still that we are living on our neighbors in practical ways, praying for receptive hearts and relationship. There are very few people who will respond to Christ's compassionate love and mercy if we don't show them the same
purrrfect post, Scotty. in a globalized world these distant needs are right at our gate. thanks for pointing this out.
And Amos and Proverbs and Jeremiah... Defending the cause of the needy and fighting for justice. Not taking away from the truth of your words Scott 'cause they're good ones.
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