Bible Studies

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“Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the Kingdom He promised to those who love Him? But you have insulted the poor.” --James 2:5,6

“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.” -Isaiah 61:1

“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 open-handed and freely lend him whatever he needs…Give generously to him and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to. There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land.”--Deut. 15:7,8,10,11

“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for the least of one of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’” --Matt. 25:40

“The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position.”--James 1:9

I say to you brothers: According to the Word of God, being poor is not a terrible curse that signifies a person is being judged by God, and is out of the will of God, or is certainly sinful and needs God.

According to the churches today in our affluent societies, being poor is all of the above. And I rebuke this attitude, as the prophets, and the Lord Jesus, and the apostles rebuked this attitude in their day.

The poor are chosen by God. The poor are blessed. Jesus came to preach good news to the poor. The poor have a high position in the Kingdom of God. The poor will inherit the Kingdom. Even the apostles were poor, as evidenced by Paul’s writing. The poor often set the standard for giving in the Kingdom of God, because they give out of their poverty, not out of their excess.

The poor among us are God’s way of testing our love and our generosity. They are here among us for our good. They give us reasons to give, and so are the means for us to receive blessing after blessing from God. We are even told that we will always have the poor among us, and for these good reasons!

How we treat those who are in need among the people of God is a barometer of our faith and love toward our own Father, and toward His Son, Jesus.

In the Kingdom of God, how we take care of each other physically is just as important as how we take care of one another emotionally and spiritually.

To our great shame, the churches have taken on the world’s attitude toward poverty. That the best way to fight the war on poverty is by pursuing my own wealth and security, and that writing a check to a charity out of my abundance once in a while will take care of any responsibility I have toward the needy.

We are taught to take no personal responsibility toward the needy brothers nearby; we don’t bind up their wounds, help them find work, share with them our bread and our homes, clothe them, or share our love and our lives with them.

We are taught by example they are somehow lesser people, and we shun them in our churches, because they cannot keep up with our busy, affluent, churchy lifestyles that demand we have money and cars and houses fitting with our status as God’s people.

We allow any poor who seep into our church groups to be ignored and left behind, accomplishing by our neglect what we want to accomplish. That is: We get them to leave, and we don’t care where they go, because they make us uncomfortable. Let them gather together with other poor people. They would feel more at home with their own kind, anyway.

We are fine with seeing videos of the little children who are starving in far-off lands. Our emotions are stung, and we pull out the card to be swiped. Besides, it’s deductible. And it’s quick. Takes no time at all on the internet to assuage our consciences for a bit longer.

We have no problem with missionaries coming in and telling us about their poor congregations in distant countries who’ve become believers and need us to write a check that will help them build a new building or buy printed materials or a new scooter to reach the outlying villages with the gospel. Once again, we give a little, it’s deductible, it’s quick, and it soothes our consciences until the next encounter with the distant poor.

Brethren, how can we think like this?
Don’t we know that God’s truth never changes?
Don’t we have any fear of the Lord?
Was the Word of God invented by us?
Do we get to interpret it any way that makes us comfortable?
Or are we required to obey God’s Word?

If it is the last of these, then we are in serious trouble in today’s affluent American churches.

We don’t associate with the poor. We don’t preach the gospel to the poor. We don’t love the poor, and include them in the every day life of the Body of Christ. We don’t reach out and give them what they need for their daily living, and make up for their lack. We don’t share our possessions with love, and without compulsion. We don’t give cheerfully to those around us in need—witness how easy it is for churches to raise large sums of money for building programs that benefit their memberships in comparison to how difficult it is to raise even a small amount for the “benevolence fund” or the “steward’s budget”.

And who invented these impersonal funds? Certainly not anyone who reads Scripture and takes it seriously. Not once are we commanded to start organizations or committees to dispense our giving. We are commanded to do it personally, brother to brother, and to make love for that brother our compelling motive. These awful, impersonal methods of giving we have invented come from the devil, who seeks to keep Christians apart. Our enemy has triumphed over us in this area of church life, separating brother from brother, and keeping our hearts locked away from one another.

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