Put your money where your mouth is

04May09

Half the world lives on $2 or less a day.

At least 80% of the world lives on less than $10 a day.

The remaining 20% (that’s us) earn a VAST amount more – we earn more in a week than most people in the world will earn in a year.

The poorest 40 percent of the world’s population accounts for 5 percent of global income. The richest 20 percent accounts for three-quarters of world income.

So, what does this mean? This means we can do A LOT to help bridge the poverty gap, as we have the resources available to do so.

God’s heart is for the poor. This is apparant in the Bible from beginning to end.

God commands us to help the poor:

Exodus 23:6 Do not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits.

Deut. 24:12-13 If the man is poor, do not go to sleep with his pledge in your possession. Return his cloak to him by sunset so that he may sleep in it. Then he will thank you, and it will be regarded as a righteous act in the sight of the LORD your God.

 Deut. 24:14-15 Do not take advantage of a hired man who is poor and needy, whether he is a brother Israelite or an alien living in one of your towns. Pay him his wages each day before sunset, because he is poor and is counting on it. Otherwise he may cry to the LORD against you, and you will be guilty of sin.

 Deut. 26:12 When you have finished setting aside a tenth of all your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, you shall give it to the Levite, the alien, the fatherless and the widow, so that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied.

Deut. 15:7. If there is a poor man among you, one of your brothers, in any of the towns of the land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand to your poor brother; but you shall freely open your hand to him, and generously lend him sufficient for his need in whatever he lacks.

Luke 3:11. And [John the Baptist] would answer and say to them, “Let the man with two tunics share with him who has none, and let him who has food do likewise.”

Luke 14:12-14. ”When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return, and repayment come to you. But when you give a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, since they do not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

We say we care about the poor, we say we care about injustice but when it comes down to it we care more about our bank balance and what we ‘need’ to buy for ourselves to practice what we preach. We buy excess food that we then waste. We buys clothes that we don’t need, we just want. We buy gadgets that are unnecessary just because they’re ‘cool’. Doing your bit doesn’t mean setting aside some of your income for the church or charity. It means going without some of the things we simply don’t need. 

God commends simple living:

Mark 10:21. Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

Luke 12:33. “Sell your possessions and give to charity; make yourselves purses which do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near, nor moth destroys.”

God condemns those who care more about themselves than the poor:

James 5:1-6. Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten. …Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields, and with you have withheld, cries out against you; and the outcry of the harvesters has reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.

Luke 6:24. ”But woe to you who are rich, for you are receiving your comfort in full.”

Prov. 29:7. The righteous is concerned for the rights of the poor; the wicked does not understand such concern.

1 John 3:17. But whoever has the world’s goods, and beholds his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?

God sees no value in riches and material goods, and when he entered this world he did not pursue a life of luxury – in fact the very opposite. So if we call ourselves Christians and claim to follow Jesus’ example, why do we love money so much and why are we caught up in a culture of consumerism and materialism? 

God has blessed us greatly. It is by his grace alone that we have been born into a prosperous nation and that we have opportunities for education and skill development. Whatever is in the bank is God’s and it is a gift he has entrusted to us temporarily. Is God more concerned with you getting the lastest ipod or with the poor? His heart grieves for the poor, and so should ours. We say we care, but we reluctantly give out of our abundance.

Do we need a luxury car? Do we need a 42 inch flat screen TV?
Is investing our money to get even more money  wise, or simply greedy?

Forget comfort and luxury that our society craves and worships, as Christians we should be concerned with what God is concerned with, our hearts should be reflecting God’s. God doesn’t want you to have a nice house and car and live a life of luxury. God wants you to use the gifts he has graciously given you to honour him.

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Tags: comfort, consumerism, culture, excess, God, God's heart for the poor, injustice, Jesus, luxury, materialism, money, poor, poverty, society, waste, wealth