Exactly What I Was Eager To Do (Remember The Poor)

The Hook: The Poor a System of Judgement

The Diagnosis: There are some things that we just can’t avoid until Christ comes back. One is sin, and the other is the poor. There is no economical system that doesn’t have a poor component. Every system or country has a system, in which there are a massive amount of people that are poor. Some people are poor because of bad habits in self-infliction. However, there is a large group of people that are poor because of sin. The sin isn’t something they self-inflicted or something they wanted, and most cases it is a generational cycle. Nonetheless, the Poor are a integral part of God’s judgement against man. We live in a society were we walk right over the poor, we judge the poor, and label the all as losers. We tell the poor if I can do it so can you, we send money overseas and we don’t take care of those in our own backyard. But most of all the poor exposes the heart of the rich and wealthy. The poor will always be with us ( Matt 26:11), and it is easier for a camel to go through and eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.

The Church: How do we differ from society? Scripture calls us to take care of the poor, however most churches do great a missions. Missions are very noble, sending money to those that are afflicted is also noble. However, I ask what is your perspective towards people that are poor. Do you pray for the poor, do you think of the needs of the poor before your own, and do you use your wealth to help minister to the poor.

The Assignment: Before we dive in to our study. I want to do a quick project. We are all guilty for ignoring the poor one time or another. I want each of you to write out 5 reasons that you ignored the poor. We will define poor as; 1. Hard worker, but just cant make ends meet 2. Homeless 3.Junkie on the street 4.Mother on welfare barely making it, 5. People who choose to live meager lives. I want you to give me a reason why you would you ignore anyone from one of these groups. What goes through you mind when you see them. As we go through this study I want us to develop a new mindset.

The Challenge: Each people group listed is different, I want you to list two things that you could give each person that would help them in there situation.

The Book: This Was One of My Priorities Anyway

Study: Book of Galatians ( 2:10)

Theme: Paul is reminding the Galatians that with the death of Christ the new covenant of Grace is now what we live under. Gentile Believers do not have to become Jews or submit to circumcision. Justification by faith alone is what Paul is the message Paul wants to convey. He wants to remind them that obedience to the Law is not what pleases God, only your faith in Jesus Christ will suffice.

Background: We will only focus on one verse. However in this one verse there is so much richness. A crisis hit the church of Galatia, in which false teachers came in and begin teaching the church that circumcision was a requirement to be in the body of Christ. Paul gets word of this false gospel that is being preached. Paul understands the implications of believing this falseness and then writes a letter to the Galatians that calls them out for there foolishness. However, in his attempt to turn them back to the truth he tells them about his life, and how he got permission from 3 hero’s in Judaism to preach the gospel to the gentiles. Paul was to show no partiality to any Gentile that wanted to embrace the truth. However, lastly he was told to make sure that he took care of the poor, but it was something that Paul was eager to do.

Correlation Verse: Old Testament: Exodus 22:25

Correlation Verses: New Testament: Luke 14: 12-14, Luke 16: 19-31, Mark 14: 7-11

What Do we see: Starting with the Old Test what instruction did God give to Israel? Do you consider poor a moment or a lifestyle? If poor was a moment are you guilty of what God commanded? 2. In Luke what was the wisdom that Jesus bestowed? How did God say you will be repaid; is God’s repayment more important or is a earthly one more important? If yes or no why? 3. What did we Learn about the Rich man; did he know Lazarus yes or no? How would the truth that Christ gave in Luke 14: 12-14 benefited the Rich man? If the Rich Man knew Lazarus; would you say that the reason that we neglect the poor has a lot to do with what we think, if yes or no why? 4. Why has God allowed the poor to always be with us, and what is the purpose of the poor?

Bring it all together: We know that Jesus taught the disciples, and we also know that Jesus selected Paul and taught him. So, if the 3 pillars John, Peter, and James said not to forget the Poor, and Paul was already thinking about taking care of the poor; what would be one of the common lesson Jesus taught his followers without us seeing it repeatedly in the Bible? If Jesus taught his Apostles these lessons how much more are they important to us. And after this study is it better to live meager than in abundance? If yes or no why? It seems if Poor people and the way we look at them exposes our heart. So, if a camel has a better chance going through an eye of a needle, than a rich man has to enter the Kingdom; do you think that the poor are used for judgement against the rich? If God’s definition of rich is simply one who is put in the position to bless; then would we be consider rich?

Look: How Do We Apply What We Learned

Getting caught in our own world is so easy to do. And we can see from this study that God is very concerned about the poor. I would love for us to adopt that same compassion that Christ had for the poor. So, each student will:

Pray and ask God to forgive them for their lack of concern for the poor.

Pray that God opens our hearts and eyes to focus more on the poor

Money is not always the answer, however we do have the free gift of time. I want each of us to look at the 5 groups that we identified and for the next 6 months be intentional about seeking out individuals that fit into one of those groups. I want you to see if they would benefit more from time spent or gifting. Once you acknowledge which one would be more beneficial, I want you to fill in that gap. If you have a hard time spotting someone remember that widows, elderly, handicap, and the sick fit in this same category

I want us as a team to go evangelize to the poor and then we will go evangelize to the rich. However, I want you to keep a journal of who is it easier to share the gospel with. I want you to record what group of people relied on hope more, what group of people were thankful you brought the good news, and what group of people did you see Christ in the most. And what did you learn about the poor after your research.

Took: What Will We Take With Us:

After you finish with this study, and the things assign. I want each student to create a mini manual. The manual doesn’t have to be long, no more than 10 pages and no less then 4, in which I will give you 90 days to complete. The manual should lay out instruction on how we should view the poor, and it should also contain what you learn from your brief evangelism encounter with both people groups of rich and poor. Your writings will be available on our church website