Grace in the past shaping the present

You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this.
Deuteronomy 24:22

God wanted Israel to remember her past. Both here and just a few verses up in Deuteronomy 24:18, God jostles the memory of Israel's past slavery in Egypt. There the nation was impoverished, a minority, and discriminated against by cruel slavery. That memory was to inform them in their treatment of the poorest of the poor (see Deuteronomy 24:17-18). and in the creation of a means by which the impoverished could work diligently to provide for themselves (Deuteronomy 24:19-22).

God's insistence upon this was not just so that Israeli society would not be blighted by poverty. There was a lesson of national trust and grace and salvation to tell. And by appealing to their past, God was helping them to realize that greater spiritual reality. Helping the poor by providing sustainable work that would meet the basic needs of the impoverished showed God's grace. God cared enough to rescue slaves from Egypt. They should care for each other with that kind of rescuing love and grace.

It is good for me to look at my present through the lens of my past. God has given me a lot from my simple roots. And I must invest my life and my time with the same grace He has blessed me to share with others. It is no bother to help others when you realize just how much God has helped you!


- Posted with my iPad. The Apple Kool-Aide tastes fine.

The call to charity for those in poverty

For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, 'You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.'
Deuteronomy 15:11

God's plan for Israel was that a responsible society would help all of its members. If find it interesting that God Himself acknowledges that in any human society the reality of some poverty would always exist. Even in Israel... even in the Promised Land. God said that while Israel existed as a nation, poverty would be a social issue.

We should help those in need. That is a given. The deep question is how. But nowhere in scriptures are we told to expect that by human effort alone the elimination of poverty is possible. Human systems and social orders are too corrupted by sin to achieve this. Instead, God wisely instructed Israel that care for the needs of the poor was a matter of personal moral conviction and action. "YOU... open wide YOUR hand... to YOUR brother... to the needy ... to the poor... in YOUR land." It is a part of good personal character to not ignore the extreme need of those in poverty.

I prefer to view this not in terms of income levels or lack of dollars, but in terms of human need for the basics... food, shelter, safety. The poor of the bronze age Middle East were victimized and often died in starvation and abuse. God would not let His people tolerate and perpetuate that kind of treatment of the neediest people made in His image. Instead, care for the poor meant employing them (read the rest of Deuteronomy 15) and feeding the poorest of them. Lives would be saved and grateful service rendered in return (Deuteronomy 15:16-18). So charity from the heart can fend off the worst parts of extreme poverty.


- Posted with my iPad. The Apple Kool-Aide tastes fine.

Responsibility for the poor.

If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you. Take no interest from him or profit, but fear your God, that your brother may live beside you.

Leviticus 25:35-36

God did not want Israel to be a nation of abusers. They needed to remember their own history. They were at one point in time poor dispossessed slaves in Egypt. They came from something and were given everything by the gracious hand of God. They were reminded to never turn a blind eye to poverty as a result.

The responsibilities as described in these two verses are clear. First, they were to see the poor as family. Now, it could be that this only applied to extended family members, but I think “brother” here is meant to describe Jewish identity. They could not ignore the plight of a fellow Jew. This poor man was family. Secondly, they were to offer hospitality to the poor and not allow them to become totally homeless. That is what the phrase “support him as though he were a stranger and sojourner” means. It is Middle Eastern culture. It was unthinkable to turn a traveler away. The same was to be true of the poor. Of course, without that knowledge, we might be tempted to be OK with ignoring the needy, since American culture believes more strongly in stranger danger than in opportunity to care for them (and for good reason).

Thirdly, the hospitality was meant to be a personal investment. Relatives were to open their homes to the poor. If there was no family left, the responsibility fell to neighbors to take in the poor and support them. Fourthly, nobody was to profit from someone else’s poverty. There was to be no outlandish rent charged to them. There was to be no taking of interest in a load or exorbitant profit in a transaction. All financial concerns with the poor were meant to get them back on their feet.

The final observation here is that all this was done out of fear of God. There was a spiritual dimension to caring for the needs of the poor. It was not done to get attention to good works. It was not done because the eradication of poverty was the responsibility of government. It was done out of love and respect for God and His law. God made it clear that He expected obedience in this area as a marker of the sincerity of relationship with Him. He went to great lengths to instruct His people to care for the poorest among them out of relationship with Him.

Technorati Tags: Leviticus,Poverty,Social Justice

The poor can’t be kept from God.

And if she cannot afford a lamb, then she shall take two turtledoves or two pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering. And the priest shall make atonement for her, and she shall be clean.

Leviticus 12:8

The provisions in this short chapter of Leviticus have to do with the restoring of a woman to the covenant community after the birth of a child. Much of the ritual purity practice had to do with blood, and since blood was shed in the birth of a child, a period of ceremonial uncleanness resulted from that birth. The woman needed to fulfill the law in that regard. Then, after the “days of her purification” were complete, she could go to the priest and offer a sacrifice that was meant to restore her to full community with God and His people.

The poorest of the poor might have trouble offering a lamb (which was the required offering). God freely allows that this is a hard sacrifice for the poor and allows them to substitute two turtledoves or pigeons instead. This is exactly the situation that the parents of Jesus found themselves in (Luke 2:22-24). Jesus entered the poorest of Judean homes. When the time came for Jesus to be presented at the temple, his humble parents brought the sacrifice of the poorest of the poor.

It moves me when I consider that when God gave this command to Moses so long ago, He knew that He would send His own Son into a home that would be directed by its provisions for the poor. God could have come into a more well-to-do Jewish home. He could have been born into better circumstances. But he came to nearly the lowest economic position. Simple peasants welcomed the King of Kings into this world.

God provides for the needs of the poor. The law is full of provisions out of concern that Israel not create a society that trampled those in poverty. But God also made those provisions such that the poor had something to offer to Him. He expected them to sacrifice. He made provisions in the agricultural dictates that allowed the poor to work and glean grain. He provided a means for the poor to find dignity, respect, work, and respect as human beings, even in their poverty. There were no handouts, just the offer of understanding, hard work, and the means to have basic needs provided for by caring neighbors.

In worship, the poor were invited to join in the celebration. They were given the chance to offer what they could, to praise the God of the covenant, and to equally participate in its observance. They were brought into worship because God wanted them there just as much as anyone else. He desires that all men worship Him, great and small, rich and poor, because His glory is worth celebrating.

Technorati Tags: Leviticus,Sacrifice,Poverty

Helpless & Harassed: Beyond Physical Poverty

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest."
Matthew 9:36-38

Jesus had compassion on people. He saw their need. What sheds light on the condition of these people is found in the context of this statement. It was not a physical poverty alone that overwhelmed the heart of Christ. It was the spiritual poverty of these people. He had healed them and preached the kingdom to them, only to have the religious leaders among them sharply disagree and even work against Him. That is why the crowds were "harassed and helpless". Their spiritual leaders were the ones harassing them and trying to lead them away. They had no shepherd.

But Jesus used this observation to drive a call to ministry home to His disciples. He urged His men to earnestly pray to the Lord to send "laborers" out into the harvest of such hurting, ripe souls. These people were ready for good news. They were oppressed by legalism and false religion. And they had found the Messiah, the Savior Who could bring them a new life.

What follows IMMEDIATELY in chapter 10 is the commissioning of the twelve to do just that. Jesus is using the clear observation of the overwhelming spiritual need of His world to urge the disciples to action. And we need the same kind of mindset today. Not just for foreign missions, but for the entire world of humanity.

I see people who are harassed and helpless, even within the culture of the evangelical church. They come to me hungry, never having been fed a meal from the Word of God. They have existed on formulaic feel-good success-oriented motivational speeches. And they are anemic. They have been shown a church that is more consumeristic than a shopping mall, and struggle with really caring for others. They have been coddled, spoiled, and spoon-fed. And they are harassed and helpless sheep without a shepherd. And that is WITHIN the church! The spiritual poverty outside the church is beyond poverty now. And Christ is calling His followers to address it.

O Lord of the Harvest,
Send me. Here I am. I am ready to go into the harvest. I am ready to work among spiritually starving people. I need to have Your compassionate tears to fall on my soul and compel me as You were compelled in the cities and villages of Galilee so long ago.
Amen

Technorati Tags: Jesus,Poverty,Ministry