Christ Over Culture (2)
Notes
Transcript
The Gospel And Poverty
The Gospel And Poverty
Follow up from last night.
Where do YOU stand - Do You Believe?
What are YOU placing your trust in - Christ or Culture?
And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”
We MUST understand our neighbors.
Not only the neighbors next door, but the neighbors on the other side of the world.
In the U.S. we do a great job of insulating & isolating ourselves from the rest of the world and their struggle in material poverty.
It’s time that our eyes are opened to the impact of the gospel for how we live in a world consumed with poverty.
* Here are questions to help us open our eyes.
How Rich Are We?
How Rich Are We?
A) We Are Spiritually Rich.
Everyone who has been raised to new life through turning from self to Jesus is spiritually rich.
But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
This is all possible because Jesus became poor even though He was rich.
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.
Our greatest wealth is found in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
(Show pictures of houses in Iraq and Afghanistan)
Having material wealth is NOT a bad thing, unless we make it an idol. (unfortunately most of us do)
We must not allow it to change our mindset or view of anyone else.
Jesus doesn’t look at our bank accounts or 401k before He offers salvation. We need to quit as well.
Not everyone can afford the same things, but the great part is salvation is FREE and we can all afford that.
Salvation is free to all because we are all made in the image of God. We look different but we are all the same and the same savior is the savior of all.
As Christians, we are called to help the poor, (not just by throwing $ at them) but by prayer.
He who shuts his ear to the cry of the poor
Will also cry himself and not be answered.
He who gives to the poor will never want,
But he who shuts his eyes will have many curses.
We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?
Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.
What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him?
If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food,
and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?
Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.
We cannot have a lack of concern for anyone - including the poor.
Christians are called to help people who have less.
Society pushes these people off as if they are less worthy.
“But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne.
“All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats;
and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.
“Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
‘For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in;
naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’
“Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink?
‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You?
‘When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’
“The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’
“Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels;
for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink;
I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’
“Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’
“Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’
“These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
It is important for us to remember that caring for those who are in poverty is not a means to salvation.
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Salvation is NOT gained by works, however, salvation ‘frees us ‘to’ work.’
That work is driven purely by faith!
Christians are supposed to work diligently yet simply.
To be intentional in what we do, while making sure not to highlight what we have.
By doing this, we make sure everything is pointed back to Jesus!
This is the opposite of society.
Society says to live extravagantly!
Even preachers do it.
Joel Olsteen vs. Billy Graham
Which one is living accoding to the Word?
that in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality.
For I testify that according to their ability, and beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord,
begging us with much urging for the favor of participation in the support of the saints,
Christians are to care for others no matter what the situation.
Our own household.
But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
Neighbors next door.
And a lawyer stood up and put Him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
And He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?”
And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”
And He said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live.”
But wishing to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
Jesus replied and said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, and they stripped him and beat him, and went away leaving him half dead.
“And by chance a priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
“Likewise a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.
“But a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion,
and came to him and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn and took care of him.
“On the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I return I will repay you.’
“Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers’ hands?”
And he said, “The one who showed mercy toward him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do the same.”
Brothers & sisters in other churches.
2 Cor 8-9
But how do we do this.
here is helpful advice from C.S. Lewis in his book ‘Mere Christianity.’
“I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. In other words, if our expediture on comforts, luxuries, amusements, etc, is up to the standard common among those with the same income as our own, we are probally giving away too little. If our charities do not at all pinch or hamper us, I should say that they are too small. There ought to be things we should like to do annd cannot because our charity expenditure excludes them.” - C.S. Lewis.
This is the kind of giving that is actually investing.
This is investing in people.
However, scripture does not call us to invest in ALL people.
Sounds crazy, but it’s true.
We are called to serve and supplement the responsible.
Now she who is a widow indeed and who has been left alone, has fixed her hope on God and continues in entreaties and prayers night and day.
Not every widow even qualifies.!
However, no matter whow wealthy we get, we can never look down on others or elevate ourselves as ‘wealthy saviors.’
In reality - we are all ‘poor sinners.’
Conclusion -
Jesus provided us a simple choice.
Either spend our resources on short term pleasures we cannot keep…
or -
Long term pleasures we cannot lose.
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
“But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal;
for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Story of the rich young ruler - Mark 10:21
Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and said to him, “One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”
This is not just a call to sacrifice, but a call to satisfaction.
Don’t forsake eternal treasures for earthly trinkets.
Focus on people who are not just simply material poor, But also spiritually poor.
Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel’s sake,
but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life.
Investing eternally goes completely against culture but lines up perfectly with the Word of God.
Next steps
Next steps
Pray.
All Good to intervene on your behalf for the poor. Both here at home and in other countries.
Help adjust your heart for you to be able to identify worth the poor in ways you have not been able to before.
Reveal ways you can assist those who are spiritually and/or material poor to help them see the gospel.
Proclaim
“In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.
But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?
