WEBVTT 00:00:00.970 --> 00:00:03.270 We come today to the end of a month in which 00:00:03.270 --> 00:00:06.250 we've sought to emphasize the management of our 00:00:06.250 --> 00:00:09.730 lives This morning we're going to take a little 00:00:09.730 --> 00:00:12.470 bit of a different track on this than might be 00:00:12.470 --> 00:00:15.210 expected Because we're going to talk about what 00:00:15.210 --> 00:00:20.550 Jesus says about the poor Would you pray with 00:00:20.550 --> 00:00:25.829 me please Father we want to be good managers 00:00:25.829 --> 00:00:28.789 of those things that you have put into our lives 00:00:28.789 --> 00:00:33.280 and of life itself And so teach us what that 00:00:33.280 --> 00:00:37.359 means, and then give us the grace to practice 00:00:37.359 --> 00:00:42.479 it in our lives. For we know that when we do, 00:00:42.560 --> 00:00:48.939 the blessing returns to us. Now teach us on this 00:00:48.939 --> 00:00:51.579 important theme that is part of our life management 00:00:51.579 --> 00:00:59.280 as well. For Jesus' sake, amen. Have you ever 00:00:59.280 --> 00:01:04.909 been poor? I know that most of us think of ourselves 00:01:04.909 --> 00:01:07.790 as poor because we have financial pressures and 00:01:07.790 --> 00:01:12.209 problems and we equate those pressures and problems 00:01:12.209 --> 00:01:16.530 with poverty. We imagine that if only we had 00:01:16.530 --> 00:01:19.250 enough money then all of our problems would be 00:01:19.250 --> 00:01:22.370 solved and we would be able to escape our worries. 00:01:23.689 --> 00:01:27.310 And so we see ourselves as poor because we're 00:01:27.310 --> 00:01:30.909 in debt or because we can't purchase the car 00:01:30.909 --> 00:01:34.510 that we need. or because we can't send our children 00:01:34.510 --> 00:01:39.450 to the college of choice, or because we're underemployed 00:01:39.450 --> 00:01:43.269 and have a low income, or because we're retired 00:01:43.269 --> 00:01:49.090 with only Social Security to get by on. However, 00:01:49.390 --> 00:01:51.930 the truth is that most of us have never experienced 00:01:51.930 --> 00:01:56.430 poverty. We may have gone without some necessities, 00:01:57.450 --> 00:02:01.480 but most of us have never gone hungry. except 00:02:01.480 --> 00:02:04.939 for a short time. We have never been evicted 00:02:04.939 --> 00:02:09.819 from a place to live and become homeless. We've 00:02:09.819 --> 00:02:13.500 not gone without shoes or sufficient clothing. 00:02:14.639 --> 00:02:18.599 We haven't lacked urgently needed medicine or 00:02:18.599 --> 00:02:23.099 care. We haven't been locked out of the possibility 00:02:23.099 --> 00:02:27.500 of changing our economic status because of where 00:02:27.500 --> 00:02:33.150 we have to live. or because of our race or our 00:02:33.150 --> 00:02:38.789 class or our ethnic background. Whoever we are 00:02:38.789 --> 00:02:42.550 or whatever our circumstances, the truth is that 00:02:42.550 --> 00:02:45.169 every one of us sitting in this auditorium this 00:02:45.169 --> 00:02:51.210 morning is in fact rich in comparison with most 00:02:51.210 --> 00:02:56.270 of the world. The massive poverty that exists 00:02:56.270 --> 00:03:01.979 in places like Manila Calcutta, Cairo and San 00:03:01.979 --> 00:03:09.759 Paulo exceeds what we can imagine. Nearly every 00:03:09.759 --> 00:03:14.439 major urban area in the third world has what 00:03:14.439 --> 00:03:19.520 is called a garbage city. I have seen one of 00:03:19.520 --> 00:03:25.580 these with my own eyes. A garbage city is actually 00:03:25.580 --> 00:03:30.020 a population of thousands, sometimes tens of 00:03:30.020 --> 00:03:37.280 thousands of people who live and eat in the garbage 00:03:37.280 --> 00:03:44.699 dump of the city. That is their only subsistence. 00:03:46.419 --> 00:03:49.180 Poverty exists also in the cities of America. 00:03:50.520 --> 00:03:53.099 And frankly, it's easier for most of us who live 00:03:53.099 --> 00:03:56.770 in the suburbs or in nice neighborhoods to ignore 00:03:56.770 --> 00:04:01.789 it, or at least to pretend to ourselves that 00:04:01.789 --> 00:04:06.330 we do not see it. You see, it's easier to do 00:04:06.330 --> 00:04:09.229 that than it is to acknowledge what is reality 00:04:09.229 --> 00:04:13.030 for some people, even in our own nation, and 00:04:13.030 --> 00:04:18.569 try to bring some change to their lives. However, 00:04:19.170 --> 00:04:22.560 I'm convinced that we cannot be the genuine followers 00:04:22.560 --> 00:04:26.279 of Jesus Christ and ignore the plight of the 00:04:26.279 --> 00:04:33.139 poor. Jesus was born himself among a poor people, 00:04:33.420 --> 00:04:37.839 and in that context he chose to live a life of 00:04:37.839 --> 00:04:41.360 poverty in order that he might identify with 00:04:41.360 --> 00:04:47.939 the lowest of sinners. He himself said, Foxes 00:04:47.939 --> 00:04:50.819 have holes and birds of the air have nests. but 00:04:50.819 --> 00:04:55.120 the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head. A 00:04:55.120 --> 00:05:01.620 self -confessed statement of homelessness. Paul 00:05:01.620 --> 00:05:04.339 testified, you know the grace of our Lord Jesus 00:05:04.339 --> 00:05:07.839 Christ that though He was rich, yet for your 00:05:07.839 --> 00:05:13.879 sakes He became poor. That poverty is more than 00:05:13.879 --> 00:05:17.720 physical material poverty. It embraces a poverty 00:05:17.720 --> 00:05:21.110 that is far beyond our comprehension. I remind 00:05:21.110 --> 00:05:25.610 you that Paul says that in the context of material 00:05:25.610 --> 00:05:31.649 poverty. And he says that even though we, his 00:05:31.649 --> 00:05:35.410 followers, may be poor, we need to be rich in 00:05:35.410 --> 00:05:45.649 giving, as was Jesus. Jesus loves the poor. And 00:05:45.649 --> 00:05:48.290 he calls you and me who are his followers to 00:05:48.290 --> 00:05:53.600 love them too. I'm reminded of a statement that 00:05:53.600 --> 00:05:56.959 Jesus made shortly before His crucifixion. I 00:05:56.959 --> 00:05:59.279 don't have time to go into the context of the 00:05:59.279 --> 00:06:03.160 statement where it fits very well, but listen 00:06:03.160 --> 00:06:22.269 to what Jesus says in Mark 14 verse 7. Poverty 00:06:22.269 --> 00:06:25.050 is a reality in the fallen world. When Jesus 00:06:25.050 --> 00:06:27.629 made that statement, He was not being callous. 00:06:28.110 --> 00:06:30.490 He was not being cavalier about the plight of 00:06:30.490 --> 00:06:34.829 the poor. He simply acknowledged the reality 00:06:34.829 --> 00:06:40.829 of poverty in the world. And I ask you as I ask 00:06:40.829 --> 00:06:45.910 myself, why is there poverty so present in our 00:06:45.910 --> 00:06:49.569 world? Well, I can think of at least four reasons 00:06:49.569 --> 00:06:53.149 or four categories of reasons, actually, as to 00:06:53.149 --> 00:06:55.290 why there is poverty in the world. In the first 00:06:55.290 --> 00:07:00.829 place, it is because sometimes of personal circumstances. 00:07:02.790 --> 00:07:07.870 Poverty sometimes arises out of laziness or out 00:07:07.870 --> 00:07:12.829 of mental illness or because of addiction to 00:07:12.829 --> 00:07:17.579 drugs or to alcohol. But poverty exists because 00:07:17.579 --> 00:07:21.139 of personal circumstances. Secondly, it exists 00:07:21.139 --> 00:07:26.540 because of political oppression. Politics can 00:07:26.540 --> 00:07:30.060 create a crushing famine as it is now in North 00:07:30.060 --> 00:07:36.879 Korea, or hunger in Iraq because of the political 00:07:36.879 --> 00:07:40.959 desires of its leader. Poverty exists partly 00:07:40.959 --> 00:07:44.730 because of political oppression. Third, poverty 00:07:44.730 --> 00:07:48.889 exists because of economic injustice. By this 00:07:48.889 --> 00:07:52.250 I mean the system. The economic system is stacked 00:07:52.250 --> 00:07:56.410 against those who are in poverty in many places, 00:07:56.589 --> 00:08:03.009 including our own urban ghettos. The real circumstances 00:08:03.009 --> 00:08:06.329 of their situation which none of us really can 00:08:06.329 --> 00:08:10.189 identify with is such that it is impossible for 00:08:10.189 --> 00:08:14.860 them to escape. It is easy for us to say, well, 00:08:14.879 --> 00:08:19.540 if they could, if they weren't lazy. The fact 00:08:19.540 --> 00:08:22.740 is that many of those people are very industrious, 00:08:22.740 --> 00:08:28.779 but they have no way to escape the cycle of poverty 00:08:28.779 --> 00:08:34.179 in which they are trapped. Not only because of 00:08:34.179 --> 00:08:37.379 economic injustice, but fourthly, because of 00:08:37.379 --> 00:08:40.580 racial prejudice, poverty exists in the world. 00:08:41.969 --> 00:08:45.789 Racial apartheid or separation creates an imbalance 00:08:45.789 --> 00:08:50.529 of wealth. So does discrimination that prevents 00:08:50.529 --> 00:08:53.889 a minority person from gaining economic capital 00:08:53.889 --> 00:08:57.970 or moving up the economic ladder. And I want 00:08:57.970 --> 00:09:00.850 to say again that that is the case in many of 00:09:00.850 --> 00:09:05.899 our ghetto situations in America. Because of 00:09:05.899 --> 00:09:08.220 racial prejudice, they're unable to gain the 00:09:08.220 --> 00:09:11.360 economic capital needed in order to improve themselves 00:09:11.360 --> 00:09:14.200 or to move up the economic ladder. We tell them 00:09:14.200 --> 00:09:16.940 to lift themselves up by their own bootstraps 00:09:16.940 --> 00:09:25.379 like we did. They don't have any boots. Now frankly, 00:09:25.519 --> 00:09:28.940 at the root of most of these causes of poverty 00:09:28.940 --> 00:09:34.080 is human fallenness and sin. Swath, dissipation, 00:09:34.379 --> 00:09:39.639 greed, pride, hatred, all of these create attitudes 00:09:39.639 --> 00:09:46.320 that in turn create poverty. Poverty is a reality 00:09:46.320 --> 00:09:49.059 in a fallen world, and it is into that kind of 00:09:49.059 --> 00:09:54.580 a world that our Savior incarnated Himself, in 00:09:54.580 --> 00:10:00.820 which He came and was flesh among us. That brings 00:10:00.820 --> 00:10:03.080 me to a second statement that I want to present 00:10:03.080 --> 00:10:06.860 this morning, and that is that Jesus came to 00:10:06.860 --> 00:10:11.320 preach the gospel to the poor. That was His commission 00:10:11.320 --> 00:10:15.080 as the Messiah. I invite you to turn over a few 00:10:15.080 --> 00:10:19.259 pages in your Bible to Luke chapter 4 and the 00:10:19.259 --> 00:10:24.159 14th verse, where after Jesus' temptation in 00:10:24.159 --> 00:10:27.980 the wilderness, He eventually returns to Galilee 00:10:27.980 --> 00:10:32.110 and there goes to the synagogue in Nazareth and 00:10:32.110 --> 00:10:36.090 as a visiting rabbi is allowed to read the scripture 00:10:36.090 --> 00:10:40.950 and to preach on it that day. To him was handed 00:10:40.950 --> 00:10:45.490 the scroll of the prophet Isaiah and he opened 00:10:45.490 --> 00:10:47.649 and found the place where they were reading in 00:10:47.649 --> 00:10:50.850 the natural course of things week by week and 00:10:50.850 --> 00:10:57.169 this just happened to be the text. Jesus read 00:10:57.169 --> 00:11:00.830 these words, the spirit of the Lord is upon me, 00:11:01.190 --> 00:11:05.590 because he anointed me to preach the gospel to 00:11:05.590 --> 00:11:10.049 the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release 00:11:10.049 --> 00:11:12.450 to the captives and recovery of sight to the 00:11:12.450 --> 00:11:16.009 blind, to set free those who are downtrodden, 00:11:16.049 --> 00:11:22.210 to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord. And 00:11:22.210 --> 00:11:25.009 so he reads what his commission is as the Messiah. 00:11:26.509 --> 00:11:30.750 And the very first thing that Isaiah said prophetically 00:11:30.750 --> 00:11:34.250 was, the Messiah would come to preach the Gospel 00:11:34.250 --> 00:11:40.529 to the poor. Later this becomes a mark of authenticity 00:11:40.529 --> 00:11:44.669 that Jesus is in fact the Messiah. Turn over 00:11:44.669 --> 00:11:50.269 to chapter 7. In chapter 7, the disciples of 00:11:50.269 --> 00:11:54.909 John come to Jesus, John being in prison, and 00:11:54.909 --> 00:11:58.809 they ask him, How do we know that you are the 00:11:58.809 --> 00:12:02.690 Messiah? Are you the expected one? Or should 00:12:02.690 --> 00:12:09.370 we look for someone else? Verse 22 of Luke 7, 00:12:09.370 --> 00:12:12.009 Jesus answered and said to them, go and report 00:12:12.009 --> 00:12:16.230 to John what you have seen and heard. The blind 00:12:16.230 --> 00:12:19.970 receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are 00:12:19.970 --> 00:12:23.230 cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised 00:12:23.230 --> 00:12:29.000 up, the poor. have the gospel preached to them. 00:12:32.019 --> 00:12:35.820 Jesus says that is evidence that in fact He is 00:12:35.820 --> 00:12:38.799 the Messiah. Now why is that remarkable? It is 00:12:38.799 --> 00:12:43.019 because the poor were considered unworthy of 00:12:43.019 --> 00:12:46.740 any attention and actually under the curse of 00:12:46.740 --> 00:12:50.779 God because they had no material things. The 00:12:50.779 --> 00:12:54.179 mistaken belief of the Jews in that day was that 00:12:54.179 --> 00:12:57.240 if you had a lot of material things, God was 00:12:57.240 --> 00:13:01.919 pleased with you and you were blessed. That deception 00:13:01.919 --> 00:13:05.860 did not die in the first century. It exists in 00:13:05.860 --> 00:13:11.759 our own day and in our own nation. When Jesus 00:13:11.759 --> 00:13:13.980 preached the gospel to the poor, how did he do 00:13:13.980 --> 00:13:20.240 it? How did he do it? He did it accompanied by 00:13:20.240 --> 00:13:24.159 actions of compassion. demonstrating God's love 00:13:24.159 --> 00:13:28.500 to them. As he says here, he healed their diseases. 00:13:28.600 --> 00:13:31.820 He delivered them of demons. He touched their 00:13:31.820 --> 00:13:37.159 uncleanness. He fed their hungry stomachs so 00:13:37.159 --> 00:13:41.419 that they could hear his message. Did all of 00:13:41.419 --> 00:13:44.460 them believe? Did all of them appreciate what 00:13:44.460 --> 00:13:48.740 he was doing? No. Were there those who took advantage 00:13:48.740 --> 00:13:54.950 of his healings and of his food? Yes. Did he 00:13:54.950 --> 00:13:56.769 know that there would be some who would follow 00:13:56.769 --> 00:14:02.570 him only because of the miracles? Yes. Did that 00:14:02.570 --> 00:14:10.590 stop him? No. It did not. Jesus intentionally 00:14:10.590 --> 00:14:14.690 proclaimed the gospel of salvation in the context 00:14:14.690 --> 00:14:20.250 of compassionate ministry to the poor, the socially 00:14:20.250 --> 00:14:25.850 rejected. and the oppressed. Listen to what he 00:14:25.850 --> 00:14:30.870 said to them in the Sermon on the Plane as Luke 00:14:30.870 --> 00:14:34.730 records it in the sixth chapter. Blessed are 00:14:34.730 --> 00:14:40.330 you who are poor for yours is the kingdom of 00:14:40.330 --> 00:14:46.950 God. Blessed are you who hunger now for you shall 00:14:46.950 --> 00:14:51.019 be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now. for 00:14:51.019 --> 00:14:55.200 you shall laugh. Blessed are you when men hate 00:14:55.200 --> 00:14:59.200 you, and ostracize you, and cast insults at you, 00:14:59.440 --> 00:15:03.960 and spurn your name as evil, for the sake of 00:15:03.960 --> 00:15:10.320 the Son of Man. Then he says, Woe to you who 00:15:10.320 --> 00:15:13.840 are rich, for you are receiving your comfort 00:15:13.840 --> 00:15:17.879 in full. Woe to you who are well -fed now, for 00:15:17.879 --> 00:15:21.759 you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, 00:15:21.799 --> 00:15:25.639 for you shall mourn and weep. Woe to you when 00:15:25.639 --> 00:15:29.539 all men speak well of you, for in the same way 00:15:29.539 --> 00:15:35.539 their fathers used to treat the false prophets." 00:15:35.539 --> 00:15:39.879 Believe me, that sounded as radical in that day 00:15:39.879 --> 00:15:45.799 as it does today to those who listen to it. And 00:15:45.799 --> 00:15:51.440 as disturbing. to those who are affluent, content, 00:15:52.299 --> 00:15:56.759 happy, and accepted in the dominant cultural 00:15:56.759 --> 00:16:03.259 system. Jesus came to proclaim the gospel to 00:16:03.259 --> 00:16:06.019 the poor. And the third thing that I want to 00:16:06.019 --> 00:16:11.220 say is that Jesus calls us also to proclaim the 00:16:11.220 --> 00:16:17.009 gospel to the poor. God points out there are 00:16:17.009 --> 00:16:19.490 three classes of people who were to be especially 00:16:19.490 --> 00:16:23.929 cared for in the ancient nation of Israel They 00:16:23.929 --> 00:16:29.549 were the widows the orphans and the aliens the 00:16:29.549 --> 00:16:33.529 non -israelites who lived among them Because 00:16:33.529 --> 00:16:36.009 you see in that day and in that culture these 00:16:36.009 --> 00:16:40.929 were the most at risk in the economic realities 00:16:40.929 --> 00:16:46.580 that existed the widows and the orphans and the 00:16:46.580 --> 00:16:50.480 aliens had nothing to fall back on except the 00:16:50.480 --> 00:16:53.500 generosity of people and most of them were left 00:16:53.500 --> 00:16:58.139 to begging. And so God ordered his people to 00:16:58.139 --> 00:17:03.120 especially care for these who were needy. Special 00:17:03.120 --> 00:17:05.500 laws were established in his covenant with Israel 00:17:05.500 --> 00:17:09.220 to protect and to provide for them. In a sense 00:17:09.220 --> 00:17:14.369 it was divinely ordained welfare. and it models 00:17:14.369 --> 00:17:18.430 something like affirmative action in our day. 00:17:21.210 --> 00:17:23.309 Now welfare as it has come to be practiced in 00:17:23.309 --> 00:17:27.170 America is now widely and rightly condemned as 00:17:27.170 --> 00:17:32.769 a failure in almost every respect. Our government 00:17:32.769 --> 00:17:37.450 has mandated welfare reform to make it more just 00:17:37.450 --> 00:17:43.000 and enabling, hopefully, to the poor. rather 00:17:43.000 --> 00:17:45.720 than condemning them to a life of dependence 00:17:45.720 --> 00:17:51.559 and poverty. In our own state, on January 1st 00:17:51.559 --> 00:17:54.000 of this month, the Minnesota Family Investment 00:17:54.000 --> 00:17:58.700 Program took effect, which dramatically changes 00:17:58.700 --> 00:18:06.740 the rules of the system of welfare. As we look 00:18:06.740 --> 00:18:10.240 at the welfare reform that is taking place, most 00:18:10.240 --> 00:18:13.650 of us rightly applaud the reform, but we must 00:18:13.650 --> 00:18:17.309 be careful not to advocate the throwing out of 00:18:17.309 --> 00:18:21.750 the baby with the bath water. Because our society, 00:18:22.009 --> 00:18:25.170 though we are not ancient Israel, must compassionately 00:18:25.170 --> 00:18:29.410 assist the truly impoverished and those who are 00:18:29.410 --> 00:18:33.769 at risk. As I would see it, including single 00:18:33.769 --> 00:18:38.829 -parent families, legal immigrants, and those 00:18:38.829 --> 00:18:41.569 who are crushed beneath the economic system. 00:18:41.930 --> 00:18:45.990 that will not work for them as it is now structured. 00:18:48.990 --> 00:18:51.589 You say, well, what is the church's role in all 00:18:51.589 --> 00:18:56.869 of this? It's a very good question. Again, the 00:18:56.869 --> 00:19:02.609 church neither is ancient Israel, but we are 00:19:02.609 --> 00:19:08.150 God's people. And we must not neglect the poor. 00:19:10.039 --> 00:19:14.460 Generosity toward the poor is commended in Proverbs. 00:19:15.299 --> 00:19:19.359 God says in chapter 14, verses 21 and 31, he 00:19:19.359 --> 00:19:23.359 who despises his neighbor sins, but blessed is 00:19:23.359 --> 00:19:27.420 he who is kind to the needy. He who oppresses 00:19:27.420 --> 00:19:31.339 the poor shows contempt for his maker, but whoever 00:19:31.339 --> 00:19:36.460 is kind to the needy honors God. And again in 00:19:36.460 --> 00:19:40.279 chapter 19 verse 17 he says, He who is kind to 00:19:40.279 --> 00:19:44.359 the poor lends to the Lord and he will reward 00:19:44.359 --> 00:19:50.940 him for what he has done. Not only is generosity 00:19:50.940 --> 00:19:53.759 commended but justice for the poor is commended 00:19:53.759 --> 00:20:03.359 by God in the prophets. Stop doing wrong. Learn 00:20:03.359 --> 00:20:07.680 to do right. Seek justice. Encourage the oppressed. 00:20:08.440 --> 00:20:11.960 Defend the cause of the fatherless. Plead the 00:20:11.960 --> 00:20:16.460 case of the widow," said God through His prophet 00:20:16.460 --> 00:20:21.420 Isaiah. And Jeremiah condemns those neglecting 00:20:21.420 --> 00:20:24.279 the poor when he says in chapter 5 verse 18, 00:20:24.819 --> 00:20:28.759 their evil deeds have no limit. They do not plead 00:20:28.759 --> 00:20:32.069 the case of the fatherless to win it. They do 00:20:32.069 --> 00:20:38.009 not defend the rights of the poor. God commands 00:20:38.009 --> 00:20:43.809 us to seek justice on behalf of the poor. Third, 00:20:44.069 --> 00:20:47.529 as the church, concern for the poor is modeled 00:20:47.529 --> 00:20:51.750 in the early church. As you know, in reading 00:20:51.750 --> 00:20:55.650 the book of Acts, there was occasional communal 00:20:55.650 --> 00:20:59.829 living intended in part to provide for those 00:20:59.829 --> 00:21:05.549 who had need. There was in the early church famine 00:21:05.549 --> 00:21:09.650 relief and offerings taken for the assistance 00:21:09.650 --> 00:21:13.170 of the poor. You see this throughout Acts and 00:21:13.170 --> 00:21:17.430 the epistles. Concern for the poor is modeled 00:21:17.430 --> 00:21:22.529 for us in the early church. But I want to say 00:21:22.529 --> 00:21:26.250 also the consideration for the poor is a part 00:21:26.250 --> 00:21:30.710 of the New Testament ethic for Christ's followers. 00:21:31.880 --> 00:21:34.500 Paul writes to the believers in Ephesus, and 00:21:34.500 --> 00:21:38.220 he says, he who has been stealing must steal 00:21:38.220 --> 00:21:42.900 no longer, but must work doing something useful 00:21:42.900 --> 00:21:47.119 with his own hands that he may have something 00:21:47.119 --> 00:21:56.759 to share with those in need. And James joins 00:21:56.759 --> 00:22:01.880 with Paul and says, If a man comes into your 00:22:01.880 --> 00:22:04.500 assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine 00:22:04.500 --> 00:22:10.180 clothes, and there comes also in a man in dirty 00:22:10.180 --> 00:22:13.720 clothes, and you pay special attention to the 00:22:13.720 --> 00:22:15.779 one who is wearing the fine clothes and say, 00:22:15.819 --> 00:22:19.420 oh, you sit here in a good place, and you say 00:22:19.420 --> 00:22:23.119 to the poor man, you stand over there or sit 00:22:23.119 --> 00:22:27.220 down by my footstool, have you not made distinctions 00:22:27.220 --> 00:22:31.150 among yourselves? and become judges with evil 00:22:31.150 --> 00:22:35.309 motives? Listen, my beloved brethren. Did not 00:22:35.309 --> 00:22:39.750 God choose the poor of this world to be rich 00:22:39.750 --> 00:22:43.589 in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised 00:22:43.589 --> 00:22:47.069 to those who love Him? But you have dishonored 00:22:47.069 --> 00:22:50.769 the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress 00:22:50.769 --> 00:22:55.009 you and personally drag you into court? Do they 00:22:55.009 --> 00:22:58.960 not blaspheme the name by which you have been 00:22:58.960 --> 00:23:02.920 called if However, you are fulfilling the royal 00:23:02.920 --> 00:23:05.579 law according to love according to the scripture 00:23:05.579 --> 00:23:10.059 You shall love your neighbor as yourself You 00:23:10.059 --> 00:23:18.519 are doing well We the people of God today Have 00:23:18.519 --> 00:23:21.420 a responsibility in the context of the church 00:23:21.420 --> 00:23:25.720 and in the context of our broader society to 00:23:25.720 --> 00:23:30.359 care for the poor. Our proclamation of the gospel 00:23:30.359 --> 00:23:35.380 of redemption, which is the very heart of what 00:23:35.380 --> 00:23:40.000 we are to do, must also be in the context of 00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:44.339 compassionate, caring ministry, as was the ministry 00:23:44.339 --> 00:23:52.539 of Jesus. John Perkins, a black brother, writes 00:23:52.539 --> 00:23:56.299 in the book entitled A Quiet Revolution about 00:23:56.299 --> 00:24:00.740 his own growth in understanding ministry to his 00:24:00.740 --> 00:24:05.579 African -American community. He says, I quote 00:24:05.579 --> 00:24:10.559 him, our evangelism had brought us face to face 00:24:10.559 --> 00:24:14.799 with physical needs. We had been preaching the 00:24:14.799 --> 00:24:20.019 gospel according to John 3 .16. Now we were discovering 00:24:20.019 --> 00:24:23.730 that our response must be to implement the gospel 00:24:23.730 --> 00:24:31.869 according to 1 John 3 .16. In that verse, we 00:24:31.869 --> 00:24:35.289 are exhorted to lay down our lives for the brethren. 00:24:36.650 --> 00:24:38.970 And the next verse goes on to say, whoever has 00:24:38.970 --> 00:24:42.410 the world's goods and beholds his brother in 00:24:42.410 --> 00:24:45.390 need and closes his heart against him, how does 00:24:45.390 --> 00:24:52.289 the love of God abide in him? Perkins went on 00:24:52.289 --> 00:24:57.049 to found the voice of Calvary, a community development 00:24:57.049 --> 00:25:00.809 ministry in Mendenhall, Mississippi. That is 00:25:00.809 --> 00:25:04.309 a marvelous example of how the redemptive gospel 00:25:04.309 --> 00:25:10.069 must be coupled with social action in context 00:25:10.069 --> 00:25:16.230 of ministry to the poor. Probably in no arena 00:25:16.230 --> 00:25:21.039 have we failed more miserably in preaching the 00:25:21.039 --> 00:25:25.799 whole gospel of Jesus Christ than in the community 00:25:25.799 --> 00:25:35.599 of the African Americans. John Perkins makes 00:25:35.599 --> 00:25:41.660 this statement that stabs me. With few exceptions, 00:25:41.819 --> 00:25:46.279 he says, there has been since the original enslavement 00:25:46.279 --> 00:25:52.240 of the black man in America no systematic concerted 00:25:52.240 --> 00:25:55.259 effort on the part of evangelical white Christians 00:25:55.259 --> 00:26:00.759 to evangelize or to develop any sort of community 00:26:00.759 --> 00:26:05.940 uplift in the black community. This is the historic 00:26:05.940 --> 00:26:09.619 negligence which we faced as the civil rights 00:26:09.619 --> 00:26:17.250 movement spread across the country. That is a 00:26:17.250 --> 00:26:23.789 convicting statement to me. The poor of America 00:26:23.789 --> 00:26:27.329 are congregating in the great urban centers, 00:26:27.869 --> 00:26:30.430 and that is not only true in America, it's true 00:26:30.430 --> 00:26:36.630 in the world. In 1900, listen to this, in 1900 00:26:36.630 --> 00:26:40.210 there were 20 cities that had a million or more 00:26:40.210 --> 00:26:47.329 people in the world. 20. In a year and a half, 00:26:47.369 --> 00:26:51.650 in the year 2000, there will be four thousand 00:26:51.650 --> 00:26:55.390 such cities of a million or more, and nine out 00:26:55.390 --> 00:26:58.109 of ten of them will be in developing countries. 00:27:01.509 --> 00:27:05.970 The poor are going to the cities in order to 00:27:05.970 --> 00:27:11.849 seek a better living. At the same time that the 00:27:11.849 --> 00:27:14.569 poor are coming out of the rural areas to the 00:27:14.569 --> 00:27:18.450 cities, We are sending 80 % of our missionaries 00:27:18.450 --> 00:27:25.349 to the rural areas. Something needs to be refocused 00:27:25.349 --> 00:27:31.390 there. I want to close by just suggesting how 00:27:31.390 --> 00:27:33.529 we at Grace Church Roseville might do a better 00:27:33.529 --> 00:27:36.390 job of ministering the gospel of Jesus Christ 00:27:36.390 --> 00:27:39.789 in the context of compassionate, caring ministry. 00:27:41.730 --> 00:27:45.880 In the first place, we can volunteer. volunteer 00:27:45.880 --> 00:27:49.140 with and give toward ministries that are already 00:27:49.140 --> 00:27:54.140 doing something. On the back of your outline 00:27:54.140 --> 00:27:56.039 this morning in the bulletin, there are some 00:27:56.039 --> 00:27:59.339 addresses. One is for Challenge the Mentality, 00:28:00.400 --> 00:28:02.559 and it suggests that there you can get a hold 00:28:02.559 --> 00:28:06.140 of Julie Norris here in our church staff, who 00:28:06.140 --> 00:28:08.319 has already worked with Challenge the Mentality, 00:28:08.460 --> 00:28:11.180 along with some of the others of you, in some 00:28:11.180 --> 00:28:15.220 outreaches. This is a marvelous outreach. to 00:28:15.220 --> 00:28:19.920 the black community in Minneapolis, to the poor, 00:28:20.980 --> 00:28:24.779 and its evangelism in the context of compassionate 00:28:24.779 --> 00:28:28.299 ministry. That's one place you can do it. I did 00:28:28.299 --> 00:28:30.700 not put down the address for Hospitality House. 00:28:30.779 --> 00:28:33.220 That is another possibility. And there are others. 00:28:34.440 --> 00:28:38.519 Habitat for Humanity is another. There's a second 00:28:38.519 --> 00:28:40.519 way I want to suggest as well and that is to 00:28:40.519 --> 00:28:43.700 volunteer through the Salvation Army's Operation 00:28:43.700 --> 00:28:48.980 Breakthrough to mentor low -income families as 00:28:48.980 --> 00:28:52.900 part of a team. And there's a telephone number 00:28:52.900 --> 00:28:56.559 and a person to call there, Stacy, who can tell 00:28:56.559 --> 00:29:00.079 you how you can be part of a team of people to 00:29:00.079 --> 00:29:04.720 mentor one low -income family over the course 00:29:04.720 --> 00:29:10.650 of a year to help them get out of their circumstances. 00:29:14.309 --> 00:29:16.730 And then there are other ways within our community 00:29:16.730 --> 00:29:19.549 to be involved, and you can research those by 00:29:19.549 --> 00:29:22.150 getting a hold of the Suburban Ramsey Family 00:29:22.150 --> 00:29:27.410 Collaborative or Metrolink. I wish I had more 00:29:27.410 --> 00:29:30.750 time to talk about those organizations, but my 00:29:30.750 --> 00:29:33.190 plea to you this morning is that Jesus loves 00:29:33.190 --> 00:29:37.519 the poor, and He calls us to love them too. If 00:29:37.519 --> 00:29:39.500 we're going to do that, the first thing we need 00:29:39.500 --> 00:29:44.680 to do is to learn compassion. To learn compassion. 00:29:44.799 --> 00:29:51.119 Jesus was in the house of Levi eating with the 00:29:51.119 --> 00:29:56.940 outcasts of his day, the tax gatherers, and the 00:29:56.940 --> 00:30:02.480 sinners. And the very righteous Pharisees said, 00:30:02.500 --> 00:30:06.029 why does your your Lord, your Master eat with 00:30:06.029 --> 00:30:11.029 people like this. You know what Jesus said to 00:30:11.029 --> 00:30:16.329 them? He said, go and learn what this means. 00:30:18.849 --> 00:30:26.650 I desire compassion and not sacrifice. What Jesus 00:30:26.650 --> 00:30:31.509 said to them was, go and learn compassion. Ladies 00:30:31.509 --> 00:30:33.930 and gentlemen, we are not going to learn compassion 00:30:33.930 --> 00:30:36.170 by sitting here on Sunday mornings and talking 00:30:36.170 --> 00:30:42.930 about the poor. You need to drive into the Phillips 00:30:42.930 --> 00:30:51.650 neighborhood in the daytime and see it. And you 00:30:51.650 --> 00:30:53.869 need to drive to North Minneapolis and you need 00:30:53.869 --> 00:30:56.529 to just go with Alan Holt or one of the other 00:30:56.529 --> 00:30:59.789 ministries here and see for yourself I believe 00:30:59.789 --> 00:31:02.410 Jesus is saying to us who are rather content 00:31:02.410 --> 00:31:08.109 and satisfied with our lives, go and learn compassion, 00:31:08.769 --> 00:31:11.990 and invest yourself and live with kingdom values. 00:31:15.210 --> 00:31:20.230 And as we do that, we will authenticate the message 00:31:20.230 --> 00:31:25.769 of Jesus Christ, and we will show that He is 00:31:25.769 --> 00:31:29.859 in fact the true Messiah of the world. and they 00:31:29.859 --> 00:31:38.960 will listen. Let's pray. Lord, it is much easier 00:31:38.960 --> 00:31:43.680 for us to be involved at arm's length with the 00:31:43.680 --> 00:31:50.799 poor. We are convicted that is so unlike the 00:31:50.799 --> 00:31:57.220 one that we call Lord. And so teach us what compassion 00:31:57.220 --> 00:32:03.130 is. and how in the management of our lives we 00:32:03.130 --> 00:32:10.130 can serve your kingdom by proclaiming the gospel 00:32:10.130 --> 00:32:14.869 in the context of loving ministry to the poor. 00:32:19.470 --> 00:32:20.809 Use us to do that, I pray.