Absurdity is the only word that accurately describes
allowing a democratic bureaucracy to address poverty, hunger and
homelessness. Let me give you an
example! Recently I received a document
from HUD, which turned out to be the official government’s final definition of
“homeless.” The document filled one
hundred and one pages! Would you like to
know how much the study to produce that document cost the taxpayers? Here is a hint. It cost more than one year’s budget for Grace
Resource Center, which is approximately 1.2 million dollars!
Poverty, hunger, and homeless are three abstract
nouns with which we are all quite familiar.
For those of us who have experienced any of these conditions
understanding the needs of those locked in the bondage they represent enables
merciful and effective ministry. Yet
Scripture is clear that it does not fall merely to those who have experienced
poverty, hunger, and being homeless to minister to those still in one or all of
those conditions!
Ministry is the key word. Governments cannot do ministry! Many initially will disagree with the next statement
I’m going to make, but if you think about it carefully, perhaps you’ll be able
to see why I make it. Only true
believers (Christ’s disciples) possess the resources necessary to effectively
minister to the needs of those in poverty, the hungry, and the homeless. Please allow me to explain.
For the poor will never cease to be in the land;
therefore I command you, saying, “You shall freely open your hand to your
brother, to your needy and poor in your land.”
Deuteronomy 15:11 NASB
“But I will leave among you a humble and lowly
people, and they will take refuge in the name of the Lord.
Zephaniah 3:12 NASB
God took the time to give specific instructions
regarding how we were to deal with our poor, hungry, and homeless. Some of it we accomplish without much effort,
and in that particular part of the ministry we’re usually very efficient. Our Lord, however, was not satisfied to have
us simply provide a handout, but rather a hand-up. And that, my dear friends, is where the job
becomes much more difficult. Just
remember that nothing worthwhile is ever easy.
And you shall sow your land for six years and gather
in its yield, but on the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, so
that the needy of your people may eat; and whatever they leave the beast of the
field may eat. You are to do the same
with your vineyard and your olive grove.
Exodus 23:10-11
If there is a poor man with you, one of your
brothers, in any of your towns in your land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your
heart, nor close your hand from your poor brother, but you shall freely open
your hand to him and shall generously lend him sufficient for his need in
whatever he lacks.
Deuteronomy 15:7
How blessed is he who considers the helpless; the Lord will deliver him in a day of trouble.
Psalm 41:1
Vindicate the weak and fatherless; do justice to the
afflicted and destitute.
Psalm 82:3
He who is gracious to a poor man lends to the Lord, and He will repay him for his good deed.
Proverbs 19:17 NASB
Asaph’s cry to the Lord in Psalm 82:3 came at a time
when compassion and obedience to God’s word had all but disappeared from the
temple and priesthood. Certainly the
words of the verse suggest that there are consequences to being disobedient to
God’s commands regarding the weak, fatherless, afflicted and destitute. Here we must be very careful, for our
churches must never lose sight of what it means to do God’s justice.
There’s an old saying: “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a
day. Teach a man to fish and you feed
him for a lifetime.” Steve Baker,
Executive Director of Grace Resource Center has refined that statement. According to him helping a hungry man means
teaching him how to own the pond!
One needs to understand the root causes of poverty so
that better insight into how to do justice to the afflicted and destitute,
helpless and fatherless may be gained.
Certainly one can weigh the efforts of our current government and admit
that welfare is not the answer. Instead
of freeing those in bondage to poverty, hunger, and the homeless the welfare
system further enslaves them! Asaph’s
cry in Psalm 82:4-5 shows us that in his day the same problem existed.
Rescue the poor and helpless; deliver them from the
grasp of evil people. But these
oppressors know nothing; they are so ignorant!
They wander about in darkness, while the whole world is shaken to the
core.
Psalm 82:4-5 NLT
Obviously the idea of delivering the poor, hungry,
and homeless from their plight is a recurring theme throughout the
Scriptures. It takes a lot of work to
help a person in bondage to become free, to come to God on His terms and live
life on His terms. In many cases that
will require years of painstaking labor.
Here are some Scriptures to help us better understand what God expects:
Poor is he who works with a negligent hand, but the
hand of the diligent makes rich.
Proverbs 10:4
The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, but
the soul of the diligent is made fat.
Proverbs 14:23
Let him who steals steal no longer, but rather let
him labor, performing with his own hands what is good, in order that he may
have something to share with him who has need.
Ephesians 4:28
Yet we hear that some of you are living idle lives,
refusing to work and meddling in other people’s business. We command such people and urge them in the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and work to earn their own living.
II Thessalonians 3:11-12 NLT
Our goal with those who are in bondage to poverty,
hunger, and homelessness is to help them become self-sufficient to the point
where they can give something back, helping others in need. Before I go further it would be appropriate
to identify the two types of people in poverty, hunger, and those who are homeless. Different methods will apply to each of these
two groups.
There are those who are in poverty, hungry, and
homeless through no fault of their own.
Many of them are people who have worked hard but through some tragedy
have lost everything. Katrina certainly
produced many such people. Tornadoes,
earthquakes, erupting volcanoes, hurricanes, floods, avalanches, and war are
common causes of poverty, hunger, and homelessness. How many have fled to America from famine and
war-torn lands with nothing but the clothes on their backs for the opportunity
to live in a land of promise? Folks in
this predicament tend to be less of a challenge than those who are in the other
group.
The second group is quite a different challenge. The following verse will give us some insight
into what is at the root of the problem:
Go to the ant, O sluggard, observe her ways and be wise,
which, having no chief, officer or ruler, prepares her food in the summer, and
gathers her provision in the harvest.
Proverbs 6:6-8
He who tills his land will have plenty of bread, but
he who pursues vain things lacks sense.
Proverbs 12:11
He also who is slack in his work is brother to him
who destroys.
Proverbs 18:9
I passed by the field of the sluggard, and by the
vineyard of the man lacking sense; and behold it was completely overgrown with
thistles, its surface was covered with nettles, and its stone wall was broken
down.
Proverbs 24:30
Generational poverty is a direct result of losing
sight of the root causes and dealing with them inappropriately. The welfare system is designed to develop
generational poverty rather than release people from its bondage because it is
incapable of targeting the root causes and actually providing help.
For instance, let’s take Johnny, a third generation
welfare recipient. Johnny’s grandmother
did not even go to school. Her home was
broken and dysfunctional. Her daughter,
Johnny’s mother, was born out of wedlock and raised in the home of a woman
given to sloth and laziness. Surrounded
by multiple siblings she was raised in a loud and profane environment without
respect. Both grandmother and mother
were consistently told by social workers and teachers that they were
stupid. The actual words may not have
been spoken, but the message was clear.
As a result substance abuse, and domestic abuse became the norm.
Johnny got the same message, growing up in a violent
culture without hope. Most likely he’s
ADHD and bi-polar, but had never been diagnosed. As a result he begins to self medicate in
order to retreat from the shame at a very early age, abusing alcohol or drugs,
or worse, both. He drops out of school
by the ninth grade. Johnny doesn’t read,
has a vocabulary of 400-800 words, many of which should never be thought or
spoken. He cannot use complete sentences
and when he communicates he needs physical gestures to interpret what he is
saying. He is unemployable, unmotivated,
and will spend at least two terms in prison.
Chances are very good he will get some girl pregnant and start the whole
cycle over again.
Second and third generation welfare recipients
develop an entitlement mentality, instinctively look for a hand out rather than
a hand up, do not respect themselves, and therefore do not respect anyone else
or anything else. Instinct is the basis
of their decision making, not reason, for they see no future for themselves.
Many in our culture would rather not admit that
people like Johnny exist, and most of them will ignore him and his needs. He will always accurately read our body
language and actions.
The only way to target the root causes of poverty,
hunger, and homelessness is to give people hope, to give them a future, to help
them to envision themselves as loved, respected, and worthy.
Truly, only those who can see another person through
the eyes of Christ, as one worthy of a future in Him, only true believers
(Christ’s disciples) possess the resources necessary to effectively minister to
the needs of those in poverty, the hungry, and the homeless. Only Jesus can change a heart. A person who experiences the power of God in
his or her heart and learns to follow His word in obedience will become a good
and productive citizen.
Christians often forget that the vacuum in every soul
that only Christ can fill is a very real and tangible thing. Every person locked in the shackles of
poverty wants something better, and will look for it in all the wrong
places. Some will look in a bottle, some
will seek a higher high, others will try sex, some will even try to be parents,
but until they meet Christ the void will remain.
Guard your heart above all else, for it determines
the course of your life. Avoid all
perverse talk; stay away from corrupt speech.
Look straight ahead, and fix your eyes on what lies before you. Mark out a straight path for your feet; stay
on the safe path. Don’t get sidetracked;
keep your feet from following evil.
Proverbs 4:23-27 NLT
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