121. CARE FOR THE NEEDY. Acts 5:1

In New Testament times, The church took on the responsibility of caring for the Widows and Orphans. Unfortunately bias raised it’s ugly head, and Jewish widows and orphans were given preferential treatment over Gentile Widows and orphans. How did the church leaders respond?First they called a meeting to resolve the problem (See acts 6:2) They let every member know that their church took poverty very seriously, and that they were each personally responsible before God to do something about it. The Scripture doesn’t enforce forced communism, but it clearly teaches Spirit-led volunteer-ism. Secondly, They assigned the problem to seven of their brightest and best men who were well respected and full of The Holy Spirit and wisdom and gave them the responsibility. See (Acts 6: 3) Instead of grooming our children for important fields like medicine, politics, law or teaching, First, let’s teach them “Caring for the needy”, it is one of God’s highest callings. Here is a question, Why does about 10 percent of the worlds population go to bed hungry every night? Or seventeen thousand children die everyday (one every five minutes) from malnutrition and preventable diseases when we can do something about it? In (James 1:27) we read “The Christian who is pure and without fault, from God the Father’s point of view, is the one who takes care of the orphans and widows.” Now, I know we can all quote Jesus “The poor you will always have with you’ but that doesn’t let us off the hook to help them. Jesus also said one of the questions we will be asked on arrival at the judgement seat is “Why didn’t you feed me and give me a drink when I was hungry and thirsty? Each of us needs to think seriously about how we will answer that question. No your, salvation does not depend on your answer, but, somebody else opportunity of life its self could depend on it. By refusing to help the needy, we are refusing to give life to a dying child or medication to a dying refugee. There are those of us who say things like “Most of the money goes on administration costs and it never gets to the right people.” or “it serves them right for having such big families.” How do you know these things? Where did you get your information? Check your source: It sounds like malicious gossip. Or a convenient way to opt out of our responsibility. We can all find legitimate reasons not to give, but none of them will stand up before a just and righteous God who knows our hearts and how much we have; Who are we to judge others? In fact, we are all required to give to God. Jesus said “If you give even a drink of cold water to one of these the least of my brethren, you are giving it to me.” So, use your discernment and make an informed decision. Because, when and what we give, or don’t give it’s God who is the recipient of our actions, He will deal with the giver, the gift and the poor. Our problem seems to be telling God what He has to do with our gifts, talents and finances; which come from Him in the first place. But things shouldn't be that way, just give your gift, and allow God to be God and deal with it as His wisdom directs. You and I are giving to God, so, Once we have given, we need to step back and take our hands off. Our job is to give, and His job is to use it as He thinks fit. Don’t try to play God, it never works. When Jim Wallis was a Theology student, he and some of his classmates took scissors to the Bible and cut out every verse which was about poverty, wealth justice or oppression. When they were finished there were over two thousand verses lying on the flour! The fact is, when you cut out concern for the poor from the Bible, you cut the very heart right out of it! Here is one such verse from (Jeremiah 22:16) “He defended the cause of the defenceless and poor...so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me.? Declares the Lord.” Jesus often quoted Scripture, But only on one occasion do we find Him selecting and reading from it. And what portion did He choose to read out publicly? (Luke 4:18) “The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, Because He has anointed Me to proclaim Good News to the poor… to proclaim freedom to prisoners...recovery of sight for the blind, to set captives free”. This was His to-do list. Help for the body and the soul Strength for the physical and the spiritual and therapy for the temporal and eternal. Some people (albeit a minority) are poor because they are lazy and need to be taught that God’s Word says in (2 Thessalonians 3:10) “Those who are unwilling to work do not get to eat.” But most are poor because war or disease has claimed their parents, or the cost of living has become too high, or rebel armies have destroyed their farms, or a struggling system has left them without support. These are the kind of people God has assigned us to care for. Three quarters of the world’s income ends up in the pockets of 20 percent of the world’s population. Think of it this way. 10 Dairy Farmers live in the same valley, and among them they own 10 cows. But the cows are not evenly divided up. Two farmers have 4 cows each, while the other 8 have to share 4 cows among themselves. Does that seem right to you? What responsibility does God place on the haves’ with regard to the have-nots’? First of all, that you allow yourself to feel concern and compassion towards them. Secondly, That you get out of your comfort zone and do something about it. (Psalm (41:1-3) says “Blessed are those who have regard for the weak; The Lord delivers them in times of trouble. The Lord protects and preserves them – They are blessed in the land...He does not give them over to the desires of their foes. The Lord sustains them on their sick bed and restores them.” You see! When you bless the poor, The Lord blesses you. So, as one leader wrote, make this your prayer; Lord you said “We would always have the poor among us. Help me to remember the reverse is also true; That I’m always among the poor – Restoring, encouraging and giving a helping hand wherever and whenever I can. Enable me to love the invisible God, by loving the very visible poor in my little corner of the world. Help me to be creative without being condescending, encouraging without being egotistic and fearless without being foolish may the poor bless You because of me...amen. Thank you for reading about helping the needy people. We can’t change the world. Or can we!-one person at a time. We don’t have to look far to see this problem even in our own town. We all have something we can give someone to show Christ’s love: Time, Talents, Money. Or a smile or even a shoulder to cry on can change someone’s day for the better, so go for it, and perhaps your day will change too. God Bless Phaline. ------------------------