Should the Church focus on the poor?

Why should the church focus on the poor?

BY DERMOT COTTULI

Have you ever wondered why it’s so easy to identify the poor when overseas but in our own country it’s so much harder? You’re not alone. Our inability to read our own culture is one of the most challenging issues facing us as disciples of Jesus, because some of the values that our culture holds run counter to the truth that Jesus said would set us free. And if we’re not aware of that we can end up living so-called Christian lives that run in opposition to the truths that Jesus taught.

In the west two of our cultural blind spots revolve around individualism and materialism.

Individualism because we’re taught from the cradle to the grave that our success in life is all about OUR personal accomplishments and fulfilling OUR dreams, finding OUR purpose and living OUR best life. The main character in OUR story is ME.

Materialism at its core is built around greed and insecurity that feeds back into our individualistic approach to life and the need for personal accomplishment and the ever increasing accumulation of wealth to validate our sense of identity and secure our future.

Because of our cultural fixation on individualism and materialism we very rarely consider the wellbeing of those around us as a prerequisite to our own flourishing.

So when Jesus comes along and says sell your possessions and give to the poor, our individualism and materialism kicks in and we think, “I need to protect what’s mine, if I give away what I have, then I will be less. Notice that the focus is on what I have and how that impacts on my identity. It’s not just that I will have less, but that I will be less.

The western church then puts a theology around it, to justify holding onto their wealth, “If I have nothing how can I be a blessing?” Have you heard that before or thought it yourself?

“I need to earn more so that I can give more”, can sometimes be a disguise for our individualism and materialism.

We take scriptures where God promises to bless us so that we can be a blessing (such as the Abrahamic covenant) and we use them to justify our pursuit of individual wealth not realising we are feeding our cultural fixation with self.

And then Jesus says, deny self, take up your cross daily and follow him. For the one who tries to save his life will lose it but the one who loses his life for his sake will save it, and we wonder why we struggle putting his words into practice. We struggle because of the culture we live in that has shaped the way we feel and think about ourselves and the world around us.

So how do we combat these blind spots that we all struggle with? The Bible says quite clearly we do it by changing the way we think and feel about ourselves and the things in life that we pursue, whilst at the same time giving away our earthly treasure and laying our lives down for the benefit of others, specifically the poor, those suffering injustice, the outcast and the hurting. Those who have no ability to pay us back. Now if that doesn’t cause you to wince you’re either really close to Jesus or you’ve hardened your heart to the voice of the Holy Spirit.

Hopefully this message will help to give you a greater understanding, as I fill in some of the background, as to why it’s so important to grapple with and apply the words of Jesus found in Luke 9:23, 24.

In this message I want to tackle the question of poverty and our responsibility as disciples of Jesus to do something about it. Whilst this is part of our Dying to Live series the question I’m addressing this morning is, “Why Should the Church Focus on the Poor?”

Earlier this year a young man who accepted a traineeship working in our kitchen at the Grace Centre, shared how thankful he was to Loaves and Fishes for giving him a job. When he applied for a job in the recently opened MacDonalds takeaway in Glebe Hill estate he said he was knocked back because he lived in Clarendon Vale. Now that may not be the case although it’s quite possible it was, but the message he received was that his identity and subsequent worth is lower than young people coming from more affluent suburbs from around the area. That belief about his identity, if not dealt with, will limit his options for employment and future life opportunities.

That’s an example of the injustice perpetuated by the social system we live in here in Tasmania that determines worth and subsequent life opportunity, based on where a person lives, their family wealth and the privilege afforded them in society because of it, all of which this young man has no control over.

It takes away the power of choice for many of those living in social housing estates. They are often viewed as “troublemakers” and “slackers”, unlike those from more affluent suburbs.

That view when internalised, can have a detrimental impact on their sense of identity and their perceived place in society. (Allen, K. A. 2019), (Kroger, J. 2017).

Left unaddressed it can narrow the range of opportunities available to them in life and lock them and future generations into a cycle of disadvantage and poverty that they feel powerless to step out from.

The World Bank’s definition of people living in poverty are those living on less than US $2.15 a day however poverty is more than just a monetary figure. It goes to the heart of an individual’s ability to make choices effecting their future wellbeing. It touches on all areas of life including access to education, services, housing and medical assistance. The World Bank estimates that more than 700 million people are currently experiencing extreme poverty which is an increase of 70 million people since the COVID pandemic in 2020.

Obviously the figure they quote is relative. A person living on $2.15 in Australia would be dead from starvation within a month if living outdoors hadn’t already done them in.

Mission Australia estimates that 3.3 million people in Australia are living in poverty.
Two million households have experienced food insecurity in the last 12 months
One in six Australian children are living in poverty
Sole-parent families and renters over 65 years are the hardest hit by poverty.

Now when we look at those stats, I wonder if this morning you can identify someone that you know who would fit in one of those categories. Because as we’ll see later on, these are the people that Jesus came to reach and if you don’t personally know someone like that, then the chances of you reaching them are pretty slim. Which then begs the question, are you truly following Jesus?

We can talk about poverty and injustice as an abstract concept but make no mistake, there’s always a person on the receiving end of “poverty” and “injustice.

The Bible teaches us that we were all created in the image of God, emphasising the dignity and “equal” value of every person on the planet (Genesis 1:26, 27 NIV). If we truly understand the implications of this biblical truth, the origin of everyone around us, it will profoundly impact the way we view them and the way we treat them. Regardless of whether they recognise it for themselves, our understanding of that key truth will shape the way we move through life and relate to every person we come across.

Just for a moment I want you to think about humanity from God’s perspective. He created us all in his image. He considers us His children. We all have equal value and worth in His eyes. How do you think He feels when looking over the earth and seeing the inequality and profound injustice being perpetrated against so many of his children across the planet, by their brothers and sisters? His plan has always been that we would be one, with everyone standing shoulder to shoulder, not living in a hierarchical power structure where a few hold all the cards and the rest are left scrambling for the scraps.

So where did it all go so badly wrong?

To answer that question we have to go right back to the beginning. Back to where it all started, the garden of Eden. When Adam and Eve decided to place their own selfish desires on the throne of their heart, displacing their love for God with self interest, the future of humanity was ensnared in a never ending cycle of sin and death with no hope of escape until Jesus came and through his death in our place, broke the hold that sin had on all our lives.

In Genesis 3:17-19 we read that poverty, this struggle that so many are trapped in, was an outcome of the fall when sin entered the human race and impacted all of creation.

To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’

“Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat food from it
all the days of your life.

It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.

By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return.”

‘Poverty that results from injustice and exploitation is the most visible and striking sign of the sin of the world.” (Jaykumar Christian, 1999)

It was never God’s plan for humanity to live in poverty and His constant instruction to the Israelites and then later to the Church around the alleviation of poverty features prominently in all of God’s redemptive efforts since the fall.

Throughout the Old Testament God gave the Israelites strict instructions on how they should look after the poor, going as far as to say in Deuteronomy 15:4-5 (NIV) that there was no reason for any Israelite to experience poverty as His intention was to give them a land where there would be plenty for everyone.

However, there need be no poor people among you, for in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you, if only you fully obey the Lord your God and are careful to follow all these commands I am giving you today.

Sounds amazing. But by the time Jesus turned up on the scene 1500 years later, poverty and injustice were common place in Israel.

The issue has never been the amount of resource on the earth, the issue has always been who has access to the resource and what it is they are doing with it.

Throughout the Old Testament we find poverty mentioned as a result of wars fought over land, injustice perpetrated through unjust laws and corrupt leaders, the breakdown of families and famine as well as mentioned in the context of foreigners living within the land of Israel who were suffering because they were migrants and didn’t have access to their own land from which they could gain a livelihood.

God was very explicit in his instructions to the Israelites regarding the way they were to treat those who were destitute with no-one to defend them. He instructed His people to look after them and to take up their cause.

Isaiah 1:17

Learn to do right; seek justice.
Defend the oppressed.
Take up the cause of the fatherless;
plead the case of the widow.

Proverbs 31:8, 9

Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves,
for the rights of all who are destitute.
Speak up and judge fairly;
defend the rights of the poor and needy.

The Israelites themselves experienced what it was like to be oppressed whilst living in a foreign nation because of their ethnicity, and then being delivered out of the hand of their oppressors because of God’s compassion toward them.

Deuteronomy 26:6-9

“But the Egyptians mistreated us and made us suffer, subjecting us to harsh labor. Then we cried out to the Lord, the God of our ancestors, and the Lord heard our voice and saw our misery, toil and oppression. So the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror and with signs and wonders. He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.”

Over and over again we have references to God’s heart toward the poor and those facing injustice.

Job 5:15-16

“He saves the needy from the sword in their mouth; he saves them from the clutches of the powerful. So the poor have hope, and injustice shuts its mouth.”

Leviticus 19:9-10

“When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the LORD your God.”

Deuteronomy 15:7 (NIV)

“If anyone is poor among your fellow Israelites in any of the towns of the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward them.”

Proverbs 14:31

“Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honours God.”

Proverbs 31:8-9

“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.”

Isaiah 10:1-2

“Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless.”

To understand God’s command that His people take care of the poor with their own means and their advocacy we need to realise that everything we have belongs to God and we are simply stewards of his resources. So we better be spending them according to his priority.

Psalm 24:1

The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it;

God promises that those who look after the poor will be blessed, demonstrating in a very tangible way His concern for the poor and His intention that his people be involved with alleviating poverty.

Deuteronomy 15:10

“Give generously to the poor, not grudgingly, for the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.”

Proverbs 19:17

“Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward them for what they have done.”

That’s an interesting one because Jesus says in Matthew 25 at the final judgement, that when he was hungry we fed him….

“Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward them for what they have done.” The poor won’t, because they cant, but He will….

Proverbs 22:9

“The generous will themselves be blessed, for they share their food with the poor.”

Isaiah 58:10

“And if you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.”

Disciples of Jesus are called to work towards a more just and equitable society, it’s part of being salt and light wherever we find ourselves. This involves addressing systemic issues that contribute to poverty, such as corruption, unjust economic practices, and discrimination.

The anointing of the Holy Spirit which ushered in the birth of the church, is directly linked to Jesus’ mission to the poor.

After his baptism by his cousin John and time spent fasting in the wilderness Jesus heads back home and goes along to his local synagogue on the sabbath. He gets handed the scroll of Isaiah to read from and opens up to Isaiah 61 – He starts reading and the first words out of his mouth are, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me…” This is the bit we as pentecostals love! But it doesn’t stop there, Jesus then goes on to say WHY he’s been anointed – it’s to bring good news to the poor.

Luke 4:11-19

When he came to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home, he went as usual to the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read the Scriptures. The scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where this was written:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
for he has anointed me TO bring Good News to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released,
that the blind will see,
that the oppressed will be set free,
and that the time of the Lord’s favour has come.”

The very first group of people that Jesus mentions are the poor, and he links his anointing by the Holy Spirit directly to his mission to the poor.

Luke 6:20-21

“Looking at his disciples, he said: ‘Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.’”

Do you realise that Jesus wouldn’t have said those words, if in the crowd sitting in front of him, weren’t the very people he was talking about?

If the alleviation of poverty and injustice doesn’t feature prominently in the church’s teaching and practice then we are in danger of becoming Pharisaical in our behaviour, in the way we live our lives in our community, the very group that Jesus saved up his greatest condemnation for. If Jesus’ ministry was first and fore-mostly to the poor then it’s obviously the first and most important group of people that the church is called to love.

Jesus was very explicit in his teaching around the responsibility of his followers to provide for the poor from their own means.

Disciples of Jesus are called to use their resources wisely and share with those in need. Our personal wealth is to be used for the benefit of others, in particular, those living in poverty.

Luke 12:33-34

“Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Luke 14:13-14

“But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

The bible speaks of the transformative power of the Gospel. When we do things God’s way the consequences of sin are reversed in people’s lives and they begin to walk in the first fruits of God’s future plan for their lives.

2 Corinthians 5:17

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

The sacred duty of the church is to see the poor set free, transformed and empowered through the pursuit of equality and dignity for all, breaking the cycle of poverty and enabling people with the power to choose their preferred future. A future where God’s priority for their lives is restored and His Lordship is established.

Revelation 21:4 says this about the future that God has planned for all who believe,

‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

Poverty along with every other outcome of sin will be done away with when we’re living fully within the Kingdom of God. We are to seek His Kingdom whilst here on earth which manifests through a reversal of the impact of sin and poverty in whatever community the church finds itself in.

“Poverty mars the identity of the poor and hurts the soul of all involved” (Jaykumar Christian, 1999)

“Poverty is not about numbers. It is about inequality, and specifically about inequality in power relationships. It is about a minority, ‘less numerous, [who] performs all political functions, monopolises power and enjoys the advantages that power brings.” (Jaykumar Christian, 1999)