FINDING THE BALANCE
In our last devotion we talked about the Christian's obligation to care for the poor in some way or another. It will not do just to tell the poor among us (and for that matter in the rest of the world), "I'll pray for you" without helping them in some material way, if we have any means to do so. (1 John 3:17-18).
And yet helping the poor isn't as easy as it might seem. It may make us feel good to give the homeless a few bucks, but is there not some aching feeling that what we're doing is only enabling them to continue bad habits? Are we really helping someone when we just give them money? Then what? I guess we can find an organization that is dedicated to helping the poor, but that's not so easy either right? Which organization is trustworthy and truly will use the funds given to them to help the poor and not line their pockets? Which organizations are overwhelmed with overhead? Who has the time to really do the fact-checking?
How should we as Christians go about fighting poverty? Lesslie Newbigin, a Missionary in India for years, had a great deal to say about how we should reveal the kingdom to the world. He offers two words of instruction that must go hand in hand if we Christians are to be Biblically faithful:
1. Presence- This is the part of our calling that indeed does show itself to the world through good deeds, especially for the poor. Throughout the gospels and the book of Acts, we see the Church bringing healing, food and physical refreshment to the communities they visit. When Jesus came he did not merely tell them He was the Bread of Life, but fed them first physical bread to eat! The presence of God was seen through the good works (or signs) done. However, the good works alone were never enough. Signs always point to Something! Newbigin writes,
"So words without deeds are empty, but deeds without words are dumb. It is stupid to set them against each other. It is, for example, stupid to say: "The one thing that matters is to go everywhere and preach the gospel; all other activities such as schools and hospitals and programs for social action are at best merely auxiliary and at worst irrelevant." Why should people believe our preaching that the kingdom of God has come near in Jesus if they see no sign that anything is happening as a result, if they can see no evidence that disease and ignorance and cruelty and injustice are being challenged and overcome? Why should they believe our words if there is nothing happening to authenticate them?"
2. Proclamation- Along with good works for our neighbors, always, always, always there was a proclamation of some sort telling them where these good works came from. They are (good works and preaching) never separated in the Gospels. We do things for the poor in the name of Jesus. Newbigin again:
"On the other hand, it is equally stupid to say: "Preaching is a waste of time. Forget it and get on with tackling the real human problems of poverty, injustice and oppression." That is to repeat the folly of the people who are fed in the desert (when Jesus fed the 5,000). It is to confuse the sign with the the thing it points to. Our best programs are not the kingdom of God; they are full of our pride and ambition- as the world easily sees. But apart from these obvious inconsistencies, we surely know that human beings have a greater and more glorious destiny than even the best of our programs can offer. To a hungry man a good meal looks like heaven; when he has eaten he knows that it is not. We know that our true life is beyond our grasp, and we are deceived when we invest all our hopes, and encourage others to invest all their hopes, in programs that do not reach beyond the horizon of this present age."
So then who are the groups that have found the proper balance when it comes to helping the poor? Tomorrow, I will give a list of at least 5 organizations that I'm convinced are both Present and Proclaiming that we can confidently work alongside with...
Soli Deo Gloria,
Pastor Erick
RECEIVING FROM CHRIST....GROWING IN CHRIST....GOING WITH CHRIST....
No comments:
Post a Comment