Love for the poor commanded

Questions:
Do you believe God commands us to minister to the poor? Why or Why not?

What scriptures do you know, where God commands us to minister to the poor?

Why is God so passionate about the righteous caring for the poor?

Why does God get upset when the poor are not being ministered to?

What is at the heart of God commanding us to minister to the poor?

Reading:
Not only has God ordained that there be poor, but there is another side of that – He has also ordained that we minister to the poor. Don’t go by this too quickly – God has ordained that we minister to the poor. The scripture is wrought with scriptures declaring that the righteous regard the poor. This is not just an afterthought. God over and over again speaks of His concern for the poor and downtrodden. One cannot read through the whole of scripture without finding this theme. James states, “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” Christianity is associated tightly with ministering to the poor and downtrodden. Why is God so passionate about this? God is even seen getting angry at those who ignore the poor. In Isaiah 58, God rebukes Israel, telling them they have not truly fasted nor found Sabbath rest:

“Cry aloud; do not hold back;
lift up your voice like a trumpet;
declare to my people their transgression,
to the house of Jacob their sins.
Yet they seek me daily
and delight to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that did righteousness
and did not forsake the judgment of their God;
they ask of me righteous judgments;
they delight to draw near to God.
‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not?
Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’
Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure,
and oppress all your workers.
Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight
and to hit with a wicked fist.
Fasting like yours this day
will not make your voice to be heard on high.
Is such the fast that I choose,
a day for a person to humble himself?
Is it to bow down his head like a reed,
and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?
Will you call this a fast,
and a day acceptable to the Lord?
“Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of wickedness,
to undo the straps of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover him,
and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
Then shall your light break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up speedily;
your righteousness shall go before you;
the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’
If you take away the yoke from your midst,
the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
if you pour yourself out for the hungry
and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
then shall your light rise in the darkness
and your gloom be as the noonday.
And the Lord will guide you continually
and satisfy your desire in scorched places
and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water,
whose waters do not fail.
And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
the restorer of streets to dwell in.
“If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath,
from doing your pleasure on my holy day,
and call the Sabbath a delight
and the holy day of the Lord honorable;
if you honor it, not going your own ways,
or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly;
then you shall take delight in the Lord,
and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth;
I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

God associates caring for the poor and downtrodden with worship, fasting and Sabbath rest. James associates it with pure religion. This is not a “maybe” part of a Christian walk, it will be part of the Christian walk. When we begin to understand what the depth of the Cosmic Story is about how God pursued and loved those who were poor, destitute, crazy, rebellious, and undeserving, how he loved us, we begin to get a glimpse of how important this is to God, and why God commands us to minister to the poor. God is so passionate about the righteous loving the poor, because He is so passionate about loving us, passionate enough to send His son to die. And God gets upset when we don’t love the poor, because as Christians this violates the image of the Gospel that God ordained when He stated the poor will never cease from the land. Portraying the Gospel in a very real way is at the very center of ministry to the poor, therefore God commands us to minister to the poor and destitute.

Scripture reading:
Read these verses and discuss what they mean to you and in regards to ministering to the poor.

Micah 6
He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?

1 Corinthians 6:19b,20a
“You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.”

Proverbs 21:13
Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor
will himself call out and not be answered.

Proverbs 28:27
Whoever gives to the poor will not want,
but he who hides his eyes will get many a curse.

Questions:
Why is God so passionate about the righteous caring for the poor?

Proverbs 21:13 states, “Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor will himself call out and not be answered.” Proverbs 28:27 states, “Whoever gives to the poor will not want, but he who hides his eyes will get many a curse.” Why does God get upset when the poor are not being ministered to?

What is at the heart of God commanding us to minister to the poor?

Are you ministering to the poor? Is this occurring in our own church?

Jonathan Edwards wrote,
THE duty here enjoined, is giving to the poor. “If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother: — Thou shalt surely give him.” Here by thy poor brother is to be understood the same as in other places is meant by neighbor. It is explained in Lev. 25:35 to mean not only those of their own nation, but even strangers and sojourners. “And if thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with thee; then thou shalt relieve him: yea, though he be a stranger, or a sojourner.” The Pharisees indeed interpreted it to signify only one of their own nation. But Christ condemns this interpretation, Luke 10:29, etc. and teaches, in contradiction to their opinion, that the rules of charity, in the law of Moses, are to be extended to the Samaritans, who were not of their nation, and between whom and the Jews there was the most bitter enmity, and who were a people very troublesome to the Jews.
What do you think about what he said?

Jonathan Edwards wrote,
God gives us direction how we are to give in such a case, viz. bountifully, and willingly. We should give bountifully, and sufficiently for the supply of the poor’s need. Deu. 15:7, 8, “Thou shalt not shut up thine hand from thy poor brother; but thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth.” And again, in verse 11, “Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.” Again, we should give willingly and without grudging. Deu. 15:7, “Thou shalt not harden thine heart from thy poor brother,” And verse 10, “And thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest him.”
What do you think about what he said?

Jonathan Edwards wrote,
This is a duty to which God’s people are under very strict obligation. It is not merely a commendable thing for a man to be kind and bountiful to the poor, but our bounden duty, as much a duty as it is to pray, or to attend public worship, or anything else whatever. And the neglect of it brings great guilt upon any person.
What do you think about what he said?