We come today to the end of a month in which
we've sought to emphasize the management of our
lives This morning we're going to take a little
bit of a different track on this than might be
expected Because we're going to talk about what
Jesus says about the poor Would you pray with
me please Father we want to be good managers
of those things that you have put into our lives
and of life itself And so teach us what that
means, and then give us the grace to practice
it in our lives. For we know that when we do,
the blessing returns to us. Now teach us on this
important theme that is part of our life management
as well. For Jesus' sake, amen. Have you ever
been poor? I know that most of us think of ourselves
as poor because we have financial pressures and
problems and we equate those pressures and problems
with poverty. We imagine that if only we had
enough money then all of our problems would be
solved and we would be able to escape our worries.
And so we see ourselves as poor because we're
in debt or because we can't purchase the car
that we need. or because we can't send our children
to the college of choice, or because we're underemployed
and have a low income, or because we're retired
with only Social Security to get by on. However,
the truth is that most of us have never experienced
poverty. We may have gone without some necessities,
but most of us have never gone hungry. except
for a short time. We have never been evicted
from a place to live and become homeless. We've
not gone without shoes or sufficient clothing.
We haven't lacked urgently needed medicine or
care. We haven't been locked out of the possibility
of changing our economic status because of where
we have to live. or because of our race or our
class or our ethnic background. Whoever we are
or whatever our circumstances, the truth is that
every one of us sitting in this auditorium this
morning is in fact rich in comparison with most
of the world. The massive poverty that exists
in places like Manila Calcutta, Cairo and San
Paulo exceeds what we can imagine. Nearly every
major urban area in the third world has what
is called a garbage city. I have seen one of
these with my own eyes. A garbage city is actually
a population of thousands, sometimes tens of
thousands of people who live and eat in the garbage
dump of the city. That is their only subsistence.
Poverty exists also in the cities of America.
And frankly, it's easier for most of us who live
in the suburbs or in nice neighborhoods to ignore
it, or at least to pretend to ourselves that
we do not see it. You see, it's easier to do
that than it is to acknowledge what is reality
for some people, even in our own nation, and
try to bring some change to their lives. However,
I'm convinced that we cannot be the genuine followers
of Jesus Christ and ignore the plight of the
poor. Jesus was born himself among a poor people,
and in that context he chose to live a life of
poverty in order that he might identify with
the lowest of sinners. He himself said, Foxes
have holes and birds of the air have nests. but
the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head. A
self -confessed statement of homelessness. Paul
testified, you know the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ that though He was rich, yet for your
sakes He became poor. That poverty is more than
physical material poverty. It embraces a poverty
that is far beyond our comprehension. I remind
you that Paul says that in the context of material
poverty. And he says that even though we, his
followers, may be poor, we need to be rich in
giving, as was Jesus. Jesus loves the poor. And
he calls you and me who are his followers to
love them too. I'm reminded of a statement that
Jesus made shortly before His crucifixion. I
don't have time to go into the context of the
statement where it fits very well, but listen
to what Jesus says in Mark 14 verse 7. Poverty
is a reality in the fallen world. When Jesus
made that statement, He was not being callous.
He was not being cavalier about the plight of
the poor. He simply acknowledged the reality
of poverty in the world. And I ask you as I ask
myself, why is there poverty so present in our
world? Well, I can think of at least four reasons
or four categories of reasons, actually, as to
why there is poverty in the world. In the first
place, it is because sometimes of personal circumstances.
Poverty sometimes arises out of laziness or out
of mental illness or because of addiction to
drugs or to alcohol. But poverty exists because
of personal circumstances. Secondly, it exists
because of political oppression. Politics can
create a crushing famine as it is now in North
Korea, or hunger in Iraq because of the political
desires of its leader. Poverty exists partly
because of political oppression. Third, poverty
exists because of economic injustice. By this
I mean the system. The economic system is stacked
against those who are in poverty in many places,
including our own urban ghettos. The real circumstances
of their situation which none of us really can
identify with is such that it is impossible for
them to escape. It is easy for us to say, well,
if they could, if they weren't lazy. The fact
is that many of those people are very industrious,
but they have no way to escape the cycle of poverty
in which they are trapped. Not only because of
economic injustice, but fourthly, because of
racial prejudice, poverty exists in the world.
Racial apartheid or separation creates an imbalance
of wealth. So does discrimination that prevents
a minority person from gaining economic capital
or moving up the economic ladder. And I want
to say again that that is the case in many of
our ghetto situations in America. Because of
racial prejudice, they're unable to gain the
economic capital needed in order to improve themselves
or to move up the economic ladder. We tell them
to lift themselves up by their own bootstraps
like we did. They don't have any boots. Now frankly,
at the root of most of these causes of poverty
is human fallenness and sin. Swath, dissipation,
greed, pride, hatred, all of these create attitudes
that in turn create poverty. Poverty is a reality
in a fallen world, and it is into that kind of
a world that our Savior incarnated Himself, in
which He came and was flesh among us. That brings
me to a second statement that I want to present
this morning, and that is that Jesus came to
preach the gospel to the poor. That was His commission
as the Messiah. I invite you to turn over a few
pages in your Bible to Luke chapter 4 and the
14th verse, where after Jesus' temptation in
the wilderness, He eventually returns to Galilee
and there goes to the synagogue in Nazareth and
as a visiting rabbi is allowed to read the scripture
and to preach on it that day. To him was handed
the scroll of the prophet Isaiah and he opened
and found the place where they were reading in
the natural course of things week by week and
this just happened to be the text. Jesus read
these words, the spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he anointed me to preach the gospel to
the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release
to the captives and recovery of sight to the
blind, to set free those who are downtrodden,
to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord. And
so he reads what his commission is as the Messiah.
And the very first thing that Isaiah said prophetically
was, the Messiah would come to preach the Gospel
to the poor. Later this becomes a mark of authenticity
that Jesus is in fact the Messiah. Turn over
to chapter 7. In chapter 7, the disciples of
John come to Jesus, John being in prison, and
they ask him, How do we know that you are the
Messiah? Are you the expected one? Or should
we look for someone else? Verse 22 of Luke 7,
Jesus answered and said to them, go and report
to John what you have seen and heard. The blind
receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are
cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised
up, the poor. have the gospel preached to them.
Jesus says that is evidence that in fact He is
the Messiah. Now why is that remarkable? It is
because the poor were considered unworthy of
any attention and actually under the curse of
God because they had no material things. The
mistaken belief of the Jews in that day was that
if you had a lot of material things, God was
pleased with you and you were blessed. That deception
did not die in the first century. It exists in
our own day and in our own nation. When Jesus
preached the gospel to the poor, how did he do
it? How did he do it? He did it accompanied by
actions of compassion. demonstrating God's love
to them. As he says here, he healed their diseases.
He delivered them of demons. He touched their
uncleanness. He fed their hungry stomachs so
that they could hear his message. Did all of
them believe? Did all of them appreciate what
he was doing? No. Were there those who took advantage
of his healings and of his food? Yes. Did he
know that there would be some who would follow
him only because of the miracles? Yes. Did that
stop him? No. It did not. Jesus intentionally
proclaimed the gospel of salvation in the context
of compassionate ministry to the poor, the socially
rejected. and the oppressed. Listen to what he
said to them in the Sermon on the Plane as Luke
records it in the sixth chapter. Blessed are
you who are poor for yours is the kingdom of
God. Blessed are you who hunger now for you shall
be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now. for
you shall laugh. Blessed are you when men hate
you, and ostracize you, and cast insults at you,
and spurn your name as evil, for the sake of
the Son of Man. Then he says, Woe to you who
are rich, for you are receiving your comfort
in full. Woe to you who are well -fed now, for
you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now,
for you shall mourn and weep. Woe to you when
all men speak well of you, for in the same way
their fathers used to treat the false prophets."
Believe me, that sounded as radical in that day
as it does today to those who listen to it. And
as disturbing. to those who are affluent, content,
happy, and accepted in the dominant cultural
system. Jesus came to proclaim the gospel to
the poor. And the third thing that I want to
say is that Jesus calls us also to proclaim the
gospel to the poor. God points out there are
three classes of people who were to be especially
cared for in the ancient nation of Israel They
were the widows the orphans and the aliens the
non -israelites who lived among them Because
you see in that day and in that culture these
were the most at risk in the economic realities
that existed the widows and the orphans and the
aliens had nothing to fall back on except the
generosity of people and most of them were left
to begging. And so God ordered his people to
especially care for these who were needy. Special
laws were established in his covenant with Israel
to protect and to provide for them. In a sense
it was divinely ordained welfare. and it models
something like affirmative action in our day.
Now welfare as it has come to be practiced in
America is now widely and rightly condemned as
a failure in almost every respect. Our government
has mandated welfare reform to make it more just
and enabling, hopefully, to the poor. rather
than condemning them to a life of dependence
and poverty. In our own state, on January 1st
of this month, the Minnesota Family Investment
Program took effect, which dramatically changes
the rules of the system of welfare. As we look
at the welfare reform that is taking place, most
of us rightly applaud the reform, but we must
be careful not to advocate the throwing out of
the baby with the bath water. Because our society,
though we are not ancient Israel, must compassionately
assist the truly impoverished and those who are
at risk. As I would see it, including single
-parent families, legal immigrants, and those
who are crushed beneath the economic system.
that will not work for them as it is now structured.
You say, well, what is the church's role in all
of this? It's a very good question. Again, the
church neither is ancient Israel, but we are
God's people. And we must not neglect the poor.
Generosity toward the poor is commended in Proverbs.
God says in chapter 14, verses 21 and 31, he
who despises his neighbor sins, but blessed is
he who is kind to the needy. He who oppresses
the poor shows contempt for his maker, but whoever
is kind to the needy honors God. And again in
chapter 19 verse 17 he says, He who is kind to
the poor lends to the Lord and he will reward
him for what he has done. Not only is generosity
commended but justice for the poor is commended
by God in the prophets. Stop doing wrong. Learn
to do right. Seek justice. Encourage the oppressed.
Defend the cause of the fatherless. Plead the
case of the widow," said God through His prophet
Isaiah. And Jeremiah condemns those neglecting
the poor when he says in chapter 5 verse 18,
their evil deeds have no limit. They do not plead
the case of the fatherless to win it. They do
not defend the rights of the poor. God commands
us to seek justice on behalf of the poor. Third,
as the church, concern for the poor is modeled
in the early church. As you know, in reading
the book of Acts, there was occasional communal
living intended in part to provide for those
who had need. There was in the early church famine
relief and offerings taken for the assistance
of the poor. You see this throughout Acts and
the epistles. Concern for the poor is modeled
for us in the early church. But I want to say
also the consideration for the poor is a part
of the New Testament ethic for Christ's followers.
Paul writes to the believers in Ephesus, and
he says, he who has been stealing must steal
no longer, but must work doing something useful
with his own hands that he may have something
to share with those in need. And James joins
with Paul and says, If a man comes into your
assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine
clothes, and there comes also in a man in dirty
clothes, and you pay special attention to the
one who is wearing the fine clothes and say,
oh, you sit here in a good place, and you say
to the poor man, you stand over there or sit
down by my footstool, have you not made distinctions
among yourselves? and become judges with evil
motives? Listen, my beloved brethren. Did not
God choose the poor of this world to be rich
in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised
to those who love Him? But you have dishonored
the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress
you and personally drag you into court? Do they
not blaspheme the name by which you have been
called if However, you are fulfilling the royal
law according to love according to the scripture
You shall love your neighbor as yourself You
are doing well We the people of God today Have
a responsibility in the context of the church
and in the context of our broader society to
care for the poor. Our proclamation of the gospel
of redemption, which is the very heart of what
we are to do, must also be in the context of
compassionate, caring ministry, as was the ministry
of Jesus. John Perkins, a black brother, writes
in the book entitled A Quiet Revolution about
his own growth in understanding ministry to his
African -American community. He says, I quote
him, our evangelism had brought us face to face
with physical needs. We had been preaching the
gospel according to John 3 .16. Now we were discovering
that our response must be to implement the gospel
according to 1 John 3 .16. In that verse, we
are exhorted to lay down our lives for the brethren.
And the next verse goes on to say, whoever has
the world's goods and beholds his brother in
need and closes his heart against him, how does
the love of God abide in him? Perkins went on
to found the voice of Calvary, a community development
ministry in Mendenhall, Mississippi. That is
a marvelous example of how the redemptive gospel
must be coupled with social action in context
of ministry to the poor. Probably in no arena
have we failed more miserably in preaching the
whole gospel of Jesus Christ than in the community
of the African Americans. John Perkins makes
this statement that stabs me. With few exceptions,
he says, there has been since the original enslavement
of the black man in America no systematic concerted
effort on the part of evangelical white Christians
to evangelize or to develop any sort of community
uplift in the black community. This is the historic
negligence which we faced as the civil rights
movement spread across the country. That is a
convicting statement to me. The poor of America
are congregating in the great urban centers,
and that is not only true in America, it's true
in the world. In 1900, listen to this, in 1900
there were 20 cities that had a million or more
people in the world. 20. In a year and a half,
in the year 2000, there will be four thousand
such cities of a million or more, and nine out
of ten of them will be in developing countries.
The poor are going to the cities in order to
seek a better living. At the same time that the
poor are coming out of the rural areas to the
cities, We are sending 80 % of our missionaries
to the rural areas. Something needs to be refocused
there. I want to close by just suggesting how
we at Grace Church Roseville might do a better
job of ministering the gospel of Jesus Christ
in the context of compassionate, caring ministry.
In the first place, we can volunteer. volunteer
with and give toward ministries that are already
doing something. On the back of your outline
this morning in the bulletin, there are some
addresses. One is for Challenge the Mentality,
and it suggests that there you can get a hold
of Julie Norris here in our church staff, who
has already worked with Challenge the Mentality,
along with some of the others of you, in some
outreaches. This is a marvelous outreach. to
the black community in Minneapolis, to the poor,
and its evangelism in the context of compassionate
ministry. That's one place you can do it. I did
not put down the address for Hospitality House.
That is another possibility. And there are others.
Habitat for Humanity is another. There's a second
way I want to suggest as well and that is to
volunteer through the Salvation Army's Operation
Breakthrough to mentor low -income families as
part of a team. And there's a telephone number
and a person to call there, Stacy, who can tell
you how you can be part of a team of people to
mentor one low -income family over the course
of a year to help them get out of their circumstances.
And then there are other ways within our community
to be involved, and you can research those by
getting a hold of the Suburban Ramsey Family
Collaborative or Metrolink. I wish I had more
time to talk about those organizations, but my
plea to you this morning is that Jesus loves
the poor, and He calls us to love them too. If
we're going to do that, the first thing we need
to do is to learn compassion. To learn compassion.
Jesus was in the house of Levi eating with the
outcasts of his day, the tax gatherers, and the
sinners. And the very righteous Pharisees said,
why does your your Lord, your Master eat with
people like this. You know what Jesus said to
them? He said, go and learn what this means.
I desire compassion and not sacrifice. What Jesus
said to them was, go and learn compassion. Ladies
and gentlemen, we are not going to learn compassion
by sitting here on Sunday mornings and talking
about the poor. You need to drive into the Phillips
neighborhood in the daytime and see it. And you
need to drive to North Minneapolis and you need
to just go with Alan Holt or one of the other
ministries here and see for yourself I believe
Jesus is saying to us who are rather content
and satisfied with our lives, go and learn compassion,
and invest yourself and live with kingdom values.
And as we do that, we will authenticate the message
of Jesus Christ, and we will show that He is
in fact the true Messiah of the world. and they
will listen. Let's pray. Lord, it is much easier
for us to be involved at arm's length with the
poor. We are convicted that is so unlike the
one that we call Lord. And so teach us what compassion
is. and how in the management of our lives we
can serve your kingdom by proclaiming the gospel
in the context of loving ministry to the poor.
Use us to do that, I pray.