Through a Glass Darkly

Reality is fast approaching many folks who have conducted themselves as “have-somes” but were really “have-lesses.” They are now “have-nots” because of their foolish game. Many could have become “have-mores” if they had faced reality, saved more, bought less on credit and otherwise made good financial decisions.

But, for the most part, these have-nots-in-denial still play their game and refuse to face the reality of their situation. True, they have a nagging awareness of looming disaster. But they easily push back that feeling by going out and buying something (on credit probably) to reassure themselves that everything is okay. That game is coming to an end. Times are getting tougher for everybody across the board. And it is the have-nots-in-denial that will feel the pain the most.

The have-mores will absorb the increased costs and will often find a way to profit from the situation. Nothing wrong with that. That’s how many of them became “have-mores” to begin with.

The have-nots will make out alright. They already are used to doing money-crunch as a lifestyle. The poor have largely learned to work the system and have already been hard at work building up networks of help around themselves for a long time.

The situation looks bleak for the have-nots-in-denial. Getting more credit will likely become harder in the days ahead because of the current mortgage and lending crisis. The have-nots-in-denial will have less and less access to other people’s money in the days to come. Correspondingly, they won’t have access to a large portion of their own money because they are making payments on their past. What little remains of their cash-flow is buying less and less of the basic items necessary to live. They are being outed. Welcomed to the world of have-nots.

But isn’t the economy doing well? For the have-mores, yes. Not so good for the have-somes. But downright deadly for the have-not-in-denials. All that good news about the economy we read about is really more denial. A kind of denial the rich can afford, a denial the poor aren’t fooled by, and a denial that spells disaster for the have-nots-in-denial.

The reality of our economic standing is that high ticket luxury items are coming down in price, basic commodities for living are skyrocketing. When everything is lumped together the overall picture looks okay, but in reality its only great for those who buy high ticket luxury items (the rich), its pretty bad for those who buy basic commodities for living (everybody, but those basic commodities are already a much greater percentage spent of income for the poor), and disaster for the have-nots-in-denial.

Have-nots-in-denial will borrow money for the high ticket luxury items they “can’t live without” or that they “deserve.” They will pay more for them because of interest payments. Then they will have less to spend on those basic commodities that are increasing in price because they are paying off their debt load.

You can read more about the smoke-and-mirrors manipulation behind the rosy economic pictures we are being fed here, and here.

We are fast approaching a critical need for real ministry to the poor because we are fast approaching an increase in the number of poor among us. Many who have been “have-nots-in-denial” are about to be outed as “the poor.” The same difficult times will also mean the “have-somes” will have less money to give. That presents us with an opportunity.

What the church needs now more than ever is a ministry of hand-ups, not hand-outs. There is an increasing number of people with need and a decreasing amount of people with a decreasing amount of expendable income to share. Pouring money on a problem to hide it is fast becoming not an option. We now need to learn what we should always have been about before: offering real solutions to poverty that will lift have-nots out of their poverty for the rest of their lives.

Why Help the Poor? Reason 2: Because God takes it personally when we do (and when we don’t).

How do I figure? Well, let’s look at a teaching of Jesus:

And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Those being commended by the King are those who helped the needy. They didn’t realize that they were actually serving the King by serving those in need. The King, however, took note of the fact and rewards them for their service to Him.

Next comes something that should be terrifying to those who don’t help those in need around them: God takes it personally when we do not help the needy:

Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal. (Matthew 25:32-46 KJV)

Those receiving the condemnation of the King had no clue that they were passing up the opportunity to serve the King each time they passed up an opportunity to help the poor. But again, the King took note and casts them off.

When we come across someone in need, and the poor have many needs, then we must recognize the opportunity to directly minister to our King. To refuse help, when it is in our power to give it, is to directly refuse the King.

If being a peacemaker makes a citizen of God’s kingdom happy (Matthew 5:9), why is it that so many Christians are not happy unless they are stirring up contention and strife among brothers and sisters? The answer is clear to those who will accept it: it’s because either these folks are not really in the kingdom of God to begin with, or it’s because they are pitifully immature in Christ.

It’s imperitive that peacebreakers either enter the kingdom of God and receive a new nature, or grow up and start living according to the new nature they already have in Christ.

But that’s not likely to happen if mature christians tolerate (or worse, encourage) peacebreakers in their midst. We do a disservice to the body by ignoring the problem of peacebreakers. We must first gently and patiently teach God’s truth and standards of peacemaking to these offenders. But if that very basic teaching of the Bible and of Christ is rejected, then we must expose the practices of these hypocrites or imposters as being unhealthy to the church body.

I don’t know about your neck of the woods, but around these parts, “peacebreaking” is a much practiced and respected undertaking amoung church folk. Sadly, this is a very unnatural and perverted environment for a body of believers to tolerate, let alone bring new believers into. The biblical fact is that God hates what these people are doing! And we should too.

Consider these scriptures:

Peacebreaking is a part of the definition of a wicked person:

A naughty person, a wicked man…deviseth mischief continually; he soweth discord. (Proverbs 6:12-14 KJV)

God hates peacebreakers (so much so that He can’t stand the sight of them):

These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:…he that soweth discord among brethren. (Proverbs 6:16-19 KJV)

We are to live peaceably with all men:

If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. (Romans 12:18 KJV)

“Agressively” pursuing peace among the body is the worthy way for a Christian to take:

I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. (Ephesians 4:1-3 KJV)

We are to take note of those who cause division and offenses (scandals, in the Greek) among the body and deal with them:

Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. (Romans 16:17 KJV)

If we deal with the troublemaker, the trouble goes away:

Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out: so where there is no talebearer, the strife ceaseth. (Proverbs 26:20 KJV)

And if the trouble goes away we have made peace in the body. That makes us peacemakers at another level: not just keeping from troubling the body, but also being a part of the solution for the body. Are you ready to move to the next level?

Here’s a great question from a young man in the congregation under my care the other day. “Why should we help the poor?” He was hesitant to ask but I was very pleased he did. His attitude communicated a sincere desire for a reason to follow our church in the direction the Lord has been leading us in for over a year now.

This young follower of Christ is at another important threshold in his discipleship journey. The door is opening that will lead to a greater degree of Christlikeness in him. It will also contribute to the maturing of the congregation as a whole as he grows in ability, insight, and desire to serve with the rest of us.

So this is a great time to begin a running list of scriptural answers to that question. Here is the first list entry to that vital question for others who may be at the same threshold.

Why Help the Poor? Reason 1: Real followers of Christ really help the poor and needy. Religious phonies don’t.

It is a mark of a “religious” person to offer morally-high-sounding words while acting in ways that demonstrate their lack of faith and Spirit. Not helping the poor and needy is indicative of something vital missing. At worst, a real faith in Christ is missing. At best, a real growth, or maturity, in Christ is missing. Either way, it’s time for the phony to shut up and get real with God and with him or her self.

Consider James 2:15-17:

If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. (James 2:14-17 KJV)

Here is a real need (food and clothing in this case) that is recognized as such by a church member (”one of you”). The phony doesn’t want to get his or her hands dirty (”depart in peace,” or in other words, “please leave now” with a religious sound to it).

Rather than providing real help as Christ would have done, they do as hypocrites do: They offer nothing while trying to sound pious (”be ye warmed and filled” can be replaced with “I’ll pray for you,” “God will provide,” “I’ve been through that before, God got me through it,” and all kinds of oh-so-cute-and-clever-self-hot-air).

Wrong is done because the hypocrite didn’t give what was physically needed. Right would have been to provide the physical help to the perceived need. Do right. You have a living faith, so use it. Help the poor materially.

Bottom line: James says you can brag about your faith and act religious all day long, but it won’t make any bit of difference in the end. If you can’t show it, you don’t have it.

John also had some strong words for those claiming to be Christlike and yet not acting like Christ when it comes to the poor:

But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. (1 John 3:16-19 KJV)

Do you have what you need (”whoso hath this world’s good”) and perceive a need another has (”and seeth his brother have need”)? Your faith should kick your action into gear. There’s a problem if you don’t help (”shutteth up his bowels of compassion, ie. heart, from him”). The problem is you don’t have the love of God living and growing in you. John goes on to exhort us to be DOERS of the Word and not hearers only.

Bottom line: Do you see a need someone has that you would be able to help? Then the love of God in you OBLIGATES you to provide that help. You help. Not someone else. Not others that you tell to help. Not others you “share” or discuss the need with. You.

OK. That’s what James and John said. Now how do we do it? Admittedly, the application is tricky. It’s a challenge to determine who has a real need, what the real need is, and how to best satisfy that need. Also, it takes real honesty and generosity (and faith) to make what you have a little less in order to increase the position of someone in need. Furthermore, it requires true humility to give with out judging yourself superior to the person in need.

And yet, the challenge is not impossible to overcome. We just have to be faithful in working at overcoming the difficulties and roadblocks to truly helping the truly needy. But we are not expected to be perfect at it. We only have to be faithful in trying.

As we faithfully try, the Spirit will give the answers, lessons, and experience that lead to Christlikeness in this area. Don’t know the exact path yet? You do know the right direction. All we need to do is what we know is right today. The Lord will then show us the next step from there.