by Jeffrey W. Hamilton<\/p>\n\tI. Poverty is an existing problem. It has always been this way and it will continue until the\nworld ends.\n
A. Jesus said “You will always have the poor among you.” – John 12:8<\/p>\n B. Poverty comes from a variety of sources: Circumstances, incapacity, and sometimes\neven by choice. \n
1. These things will continue to happen, so poverty will continue to exist.<\/p>\n
II. The question is what should be done?<\/p>\n A. In an editorial published on 12\/23\/1996, Cal Thomas, worried that the government’s\ncapacity to care for the poor is exceeding its limits argues that the church should take\nup the responsibility.\n 1. He urges a return to the time “when religious people were on the front lines\nin the war on poverty.”\n 2. “According to the Maryland secretary of state’s office, there are 53,253\nfamilies or 185,083 individuals, receiving welfare payments in that state. \nThere are more than 5,000 places of worship in Maryland. So if every place\nof worship became responsible for just 10 families, or 37 individuals, the\nwelfare rolls in Maryland could be wiped clean.” Failure to do so would just\nbe churches “rejecting one of their fundamental mandates and opportunities.”\n a. Note that if each family is supported at $20,000 per year, Mr. Thomas\nis suggesting that each church would be adding $200,000 per year to\nits budget.\n 3. “Clergy should begin preaching messages about the privilege of helping the\npoor out of their poverty. The state grants certain tax breaks to religious\nbodies, expecting them to perform work that the state can’t or shouldn’t do. \nIt has a right to expect a return from the tax exempt. If church leaders think\ngovernment ought to be the primary provider for the poor, perhaps the state\nought to be asking the churches to help foot the bill.”\n B. President Clinton has stated something similar. In a message to church leaders, he\nsaid, “If every church in America just hired one family [off the welfare rolls] the\nwelfare problem would go way down.”\n C. We see how deeply ingrained in American’s thought is the idea that the church is a\nwelfare organization.\n
D. The only problem is that such is not taught in the Scriptures. <\/p>\n 1. No where does God instruct the church to eliminate poverty (such would not\nbe possible according to Jesus). \n 2. No where is the church commanded to support the poor in general, though it\ndoes aid members who are needy\n
III. The care of the poor is place on each individual Christian’s shoulders<\/p>\n
A. James 1:27 – We are to visit (oversee) widows and orphans in their affliction.<\/p>\n
B. Gal. 6:9-10 – Do good to all as you have opportunity.<\/p>\n
C. It is the idea of having compassion for your fellow man – Luke 10:25-37<\/p>\n
D. Compassion means action, not just sympathy – James 2:15-17<\/p>\n
E. Compassion is what separates the sheep from the goats – Matt 25:31-46<\/p>\n
F. God wants a sacrifice of doing good – Heb. 13:16<\/p>\n 1. Isa 58:6-12 – By these services, we have a chance to undo the consequences\nof sinful men.\n
2. I John 3:17 – To love God we must show love to our fellow men<\/p>\n
G. The care for others does not depend on convenience<\/p>\n
1. Even if we are forced, we must give generous help – Matt 5:38-42<\/p>\n
2. Pr. 25:21-22 – Help your enemies<\/p>\n
H. Willing to share God’s blessings<\/p>\n
1. Be willing to give up what you have – Luke 12:33-34<\/p>\n
2. Share from your abundance – Luke 3:11 <\/p>\n
3. I Tim 6:18 – The rich should be willing to share<\/p>\n
I. God encourages our generosity<\/p>\n
1. Luke 6:38 – God returns blessing in proportions of our generosity <\/p>\n
2. Prov 28:27 – If we give, God will help us<\/p>\n
3. Prov 21:13 – If we ignore the poor, then we will face similar situations<\/p>\n
4. Eccl 11:1-2 – Helping others is investing in our own future<\/p>\n
IV. But all of this is commanded of the Christian, not the church<\/p>\n A. Look at Jesus. He was a poor man from a poor family. The common people gladly\naccepted him as one of their own – Mark 12:37\n
1. Jesus’ purpose was to teach the truth – John 18:37<\/p>\n
2. His service to the poor was to teach the Gospel – Luke 7:22<\/p>\n 3. When people followed him because he feed the 5,000, Jesus turned them\naway, because that was not his purpose – John 6:26-27\n 4. Jesus came into a world dominated by an oppressive government, filled with\nslavery, poverty was wide spread through much of the population; yet, he did\nnot seek to change the people’s political, social, or economic status.\n
B. As with the Christ, the church’s purpose is in the spread of the gospel<\/p>\n
1. It is the pillar and foundation of truth – I Tim 3:15<\/p>\n
2. From each congregation, God’s word is sent forth – I Thess 1:8<\/p>\n 3. Congregations, at times, did give aid to needy members, but it cannot be\ndescribed as a primary purpose. Nor was it ever given to world in general.\n 4. “Go to the American Lung Association with a toe problem and ask for help. \nWhat would happen? Chances are good that those folks would be unable to\nassist you. Their area of expertise begins at the top of your chest and ends\nabout the middle of your stomach. They aren’t the American Toe\nAssociation. They do lungs, and anything associated with your lungs and\nbreathing.”\n“Does this mean they aren’t compassionate? If you are turned away and told\nto have your toe looked at elsewhere does that mean the American Lung\nAssociation does not care? Is the American Lung Association “anti”toes, or\nhorror of horrors, actually guilty of hating toes? No, they are not. When the\nALA tells you to go elsewhere for toe care, it simply means they have a\nmission, a focused objective, and they have to “stay on target.” They do\nlungs, period. If they start scattering themselves all over everywhere doing\neverything for everyone, who will take care of lung and breathing problems?”\n– Mark Roberts\n 5. The church’s focus is teaching God’s word – Matthew 28:18-20. Everything\nit does revolves around this duty. The church is not an employment agency,\nrecreation center, political action committee, or welfare aid society.\n
V. Our deepest poverty is not material wealth, but our soul’s great need for salvation.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Jeffrey W. Hamilton I. Poverty is an existing problem. It has always been this way and it will continue until the world ends. A. Jesus said “You will always have the poor among you.” – John 12:8 B. Poverty comes from a variety of sources: Circumstances, incapacity, and sometimes even by choice. 1. These things will continue to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[194,676],"class_list":["post-63277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermon","tag-benevolence","tag-poor"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":41146,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-poverty-a-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":63277,"position":0},"title":"Is poverty a sin?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 2, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What is poverty? And is poverty a sin? Answer: Poverty is the state of being poor. Neither wealth nor poverty is a sin, though people in either state can be tempted to sin. \"Give me neither poverty nor riches - feed me with the food allotted to me; lest\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3933,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-bible-and-the-poverty-problem\/","url_meta":{"origin":63277,"position":1},"title":"The Bible and the Poverty Problem","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 11, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"by Matthew W. Bassford In 2003, social scientists Isabell Sawhill and Ron Haskins noticed\u00a0three striking differences between poor people in America and the nonpoor. First, poor people generally hadn\u2019t completed high school; the nonpoor had. Second, nonpoor people kept a steady job; poor people didn\u2019t. Third, nonpoor people got married\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":68982,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/notes-on-the-poor\/","url_meta":{"origin":63277,"position":2},"title":"Notes on the Poor","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 23, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Equal Treatment Leviticus 25:35 Exodus 22:26-27 Deuteronomy 15:7-11 Deuteronomy 24:15 Proverbs 19:17 Proverbs 22:2 Proverbs 29:7 Equal Treatment in Court Leviticus 24:22 Numbers 15:15-16 Numbers 15:29-30 Deuteronomy 1:16 Daily Wages Leviticus 19:13 Deuteronomy 24:14-15 Jeremiah 22:13 Usury Exodus 22:25-27 Leviticus 25:35-38 Deuteronomy 24:10-13 Debts Exodus 21:1-6 Leviticus 25:39-43 Deuteronomy 15:1-6\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Notes"","block_context":{"text":"Notes","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/notes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32834,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-only-christians-be-blessed\/","url_meta":{"origin":63277,"position":3},"title":"Should only Christians be blessed?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 12, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: When you ask God to bless someone, do they have to be a Christian? I doubt it, but I still want to ask. When someone says may God bless you, does He actually do it? Also, what do you think of Mother Teresa since she was a Catholic? Do\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13212,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/feeding-the-poor\/","url_meta":{"origin":63277,"position":4},"title":"Feeding the Poor","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 15, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"by Edwin Crozier Where in the Bible did Jesus feed the poor? My only goal is to provoke some intense thinking and searching. I'll just say at the outset that I know my point here is going to make me an outlier. I know I'm cutting against the grain and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/feeding-the-poor-300x148.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":69140,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/passed-values\/","url_meta":{"origin":63277,"position":5},"title":"Passed Values","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 6, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Zeke Flores Families with strong value systems tend to pass those values on to succeeding generations. So do families with poor value systems. It's not the only reason, but it's one reason why you see some families stuck in poor cycles (poverty, alcoholism, etc) and others navigating life more\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63277\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}