World Poverty: “Do Good to the Poor.” Part II.

Jesus said, “The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want (Mk. 14:7). Christians through the centuries have followed the Two Hands Ministry Model of Jesus (see 3.6.12 blog post for more on the Two Hands Model). corporately as the church, individually as advocates for a just cause like Wilberforce and the abolition of slavery in England or para-church organizations like The Salvation Army. Christians have founded hospitals, universities, literacy for the masses, modern science, elevation of women in society, social justice and the condemnation of sexual perversion. Christian missions have taken Jesus Christ’s good news and ministry model to the ends of the earth.

The church’s “Two Hands” model is especially important because government help for the poor when available, by nature has been primarily one dimensional, a hand of compassion: material provisions to address immediate needs of hunger, shelter, jobs, or acute medical care. This focuses only on one aspect of poverty—material need. The poor also need assistance with wise living and ultimately, their need for a relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ. Many governments have adopted a separation between church and state model and do not teach gospel truth. Governments of poor nations like Haiti are not able to provide compassionate services to help for the needy.

Jesus Christ was Champion and Chief Advocate for all people (1 Jn.2:1-2). His ministry model demonstrated the primary way to help the poor. Jesus extended the hand of compassion to heal, feed, encourage and care for the needy. But the hand of compassion alone was not the total care package. Jesus also extended the hand of truth to those in need. The Samaritan woman was confronted with the uncomfortable truth about the multiple lovers in her life and her need for a relationship with God. This led her to saving faith in Jesus (Jn.4:7-26). Zaccheus repented of his dishonesty with clients when Jesus challenged his business ethics. This confrontation led to his salvation(Lk.19:1-10). Even Jesus’ own disciples, who argued over which of them was greatest, had to repent of their arrogance when corrected by the Servant Savior (Lk. 22:24-27; Mt. 20:20-27). The Two Hands Ministry Model of Jesus helped the whole person.

Jesus’ Two Hands Ministry Model – hand of truth and the hand of compassion - was his gospel .

“The earliest forms of Christian “hospital” assistance, organized from the second to fifth centuries around active ecclesiastical centers, had their origin in the deaconate. The deacon, collaborating with the presbyter and bishop, had the explicit duty of carrying out the functions of hospitalitas. His duty was to help needy brethren in the name of the Christian community. Around the diaconia a variety of activities, primarily eleemosynary in character, gradually developed in the centers of operation, known variously as xenodochia (inns for travelers), nosocomia (infirmaries), brephotrophia (foundling homes), orphanotrophia (orphanages), gerocomia (homes for the aged).”*

“Within forty years of landing in the New World, the Puritans turned to the task of educating a “learned clergy and a lettered people….Of the first 119 colleges birthed in young America, 104 were founded by Christians with the express purpose to acquaint Christians with the knowledge of God. Out of a graduating class of 40,000 in 1855, 10,000 became ministers….”**

* Bernard L. Marthaler, New Catholic Encyclopedia, 2nd Ed. [The Catholic University of America] (New York: Gale, 2003), 7:126.

** Wesley Campbell and Stephen Court, Be A Hero: The Battle for Mercy and Social Justice (Shippensburg, PA: Destiny Image Publishers, Inc., 2004), 50-51.

World Poverty: The Poor’s Responsibility To God, Self, And Others

All humans are poor and impoverished in at least one or more ways. Because of sin all people are fallen and in need of God’s salvation and restoration. Christ is the only answer to every person’s sin problem. The Apostle Peter declared, “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved” (Act 4:12). The Apostle Paul stated that in Christ, “we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Col. 1:14).

It has been the responsibility of all people to believe in God’s Christ and to love him wholly. “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9).

It has been the responsibility of all people to choose wisdom over foolishness. “Does not wisdom call, and understanding lift up her voice? To you, O men, I call and my voice is to the sons of men” (Prov. 8:1, 4). “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Proverbs 1:7). Wise living helps to protect one from the dangers of foolishness and helps one to provide for himself and others. Unfortunately, when people choose foolishness and reap the consequences they often blame God. Scripture counters this blame declaring, “When your dread comes like a storm and your calamity come like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you. Then you will call on me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently but they will not find me, because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the LORD” (Prov. 1:27-29).

It has been the responsibility of each person to work and provide for themselves and others as they are able. Work is good and was ordained and modeled by God. Jesus declared, “My Father is working until now, and I myself am working” (John 5:17). When Adam was created God put him in the garden of Eden to cultivate and work the ground. After the fall God cursed all creation. Adam’s work then became difficult and his labor was by the sweat of his brow just to provide food for his family.

If able, one ought to work and provide for oneself and one’s family. The Apostle Paul declared that, “…if anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat…for we hear that some among you are leading an undisciplined life, doing no work at all, but acting like busybodies. Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to work in quiet fashion and eat their own bread” (2 Thess. 3:10-12). A key element to this admonition is the phrase “if anyone is not willing to work.”

There were some who were “willing” to work but who were “not able.” Jesus encountered one such man who was blind and begged for a living. He healed the blind man who then believed in him as the Christ. The narrative does not say whether or not the man then found work but it does not say he continued begging for alms. The Apostle Peter came upon a man who had been lame since birth. The lame man’s friends would carry him to the temple gate everyday where he would sit and beg for a living. God, through Peter, healed the man who jumped up, began walking and praising Jesus. The Scripture does not say the man got a job but it does say that he no longer begged for alms.

The poor, like all people, have a responsibility to God, themselves and others. First, because they are sinners they must believe in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, be born again and love God with all their heart. Second, they are responsible to choose to live their lives with wisdom not foolishness. Last, able people are to work to provide for themselves and others. Our God is a working God who modeled and ordained the value of work.

World Poverty: Why Are There Poor?

You have seen the pictures―smothering poverty in Haiti, a country so poor it cannot remove earthquake shaken debris from its capitol two years later; or, famine in Ethiopia, Sudan, and Somalia where thousands have perished and millions have migrated in search of food; or the stunted growth and haunted eyes of tiny, malnourished children in North Korea. Why are so many people poor? When did the story of poverty begin?

The Bible says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. God created man in His own image…male and female…God blessed them…and said, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and rule over… the earth.’ God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good” (Genesis 1:1, 27-28, 31). God then placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden to work the ground and begin a family.

It was not long after the creation that Adam and Eve rebelled against God and what was created very good quickly turned very bad. The effects of their sin and consequent judgment plunged the human race into a life and death struggle against itself, a cursed creation, and a spiritual enemy that hates God and humanity and seeks only to “kill, steal and destroy” (John 10:10) God’s work and people.

Sin’s corrosive and deadly effects had an immediate impact on human society. Cain, the first son of Adam and Eve, murdered his brother Abel and became a banished wanderer. Within the relatively short time from Adam to Noah, society had become so wicked that, “The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart” (Genesis 6:5).

Because of Adam’s sin, God cursed the ground and Adam’s work became very difficult. “Cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; …. By the sweat of your face you will eat bread, till you return to the ground, because from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:17-19).

Adam and Eve and their progeny were to take dominion of the world but it would not be easy following the fall. They must deal with thorns and thistles, destructive bugs, various climatic conditions, floods, famines and other natural disasters.

Life became difficult because of people’s sin and rebellion. As people-groups grew and developed so did their problems. Famine caused mass migrations. Whole cities became corrupt and perverted. Wars broke out between opposing kingdoms. People were taken as slaves as a result of war or due to their inability to provide and protect themselves. As a result there were broken families, poverty, and injustices that left many people in fragile and vulnerable positions.

And just that quickly, man’s sin and rebellion against God unleashed a tsunami of devastation in the world that has impacted every generation since. But, there is hope in the midst of difficulty if people will only look to God for help.

World Poverty: You Always Have the Poor with You

No matter where you go in the world there are poor people. There have been plenty of studies made and strategies implemented to fight poverty over the years but the sad truth is, poverty is still a painful sore of global society.

In this series of blogs titled “World Poverty,” I will write about things I have learned concerning the poor and poverty from both an academic and experiential perspective. The core of my doctoral thesis focused on world poverty and how we can help those trapped in it. I have invested 30 years working with the poor and impoverished―including those living on the streets of Baltimore and Washington D.C., inmates in Pennsylvania state prisons and their families, friends, and for the past 15 years, children and adults in third world countries.

I am a Christian and write from a Christian worldview. Therefore, my first few blogs will give a Biblical perspective on poverty. The Bible has much to say about poverty, treatment of the poor, and even the responsibilities of the poor. Then I will share with you what prominent sociologists and development workers are saying about world poverty and what various government organizations and non-government organizations (NGOs) are doing to fight poverty. Along the way I’ll share with you sources and leads should you want to dig deeper. So, let’s begin with the Bible.

The Bible states, “For the poor will never cease to be in the land…” (Deuteronomy 15:11). Jesus reaffirmed this in the New Testament declaring, “…you always have the poor with you…” (Mark 14:7).

People can be poor both materially and spiritually. Jesus warned, “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28). In the “sermon on the mount” Jesus taught, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). A person is a physical and spiritual being – vulnerable to poverty both spiritually and physically.

Bryant Myers, a Christian development thinker, says mankind was created in the image of God as a relational being. Before the fall of humanity, God established four foundational relationships for each person: a relationship with God, with self, with others, and with the rest of creation. Human wholeness of life was experienced when these relationships functioned as intended.[i]

But, with the fall of mankind in the Garden of Eden, sin broke humanity’s necessary communion with God and ruptured people’s relationships with self, others, and the rest of creation.[ii] Mankind’s original parents passed on to their progeny a fallen nature that is evident in contemporary society by wars, murder, robbery, hatred, abuse, exploitation and more.

The Bible reveals there are two separate and distinct kingdoms operating in the universe: the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of the World. Each Kingdom has its Champion and principles of operation. The poor are treated differently in each kingdom.

The Kingdom of the World is ruled by Satan and is populated by those who follow him—whether they know it or not. Jesus said Satan’s rules of engagement are to, “…steal, kill, and to destroy” (John 10:10). Those who follow him are part of his kingdom and ultimately follow his rules. Because Satan is like a roaring lion that seeks to destroy, it is very difficult for the poor to find hope and effective help in this kingdom.

God’s Kingdom has a Champion who has brought hope and healing to a lost and fallen world. God’s Word predicted his provision of salvation from the very beginning of creation. The Bible has told the eternal story of God and his love for all people, rich or poor. In truth, because of sin, everyone is spiritually poor before God. Spiritual wealth comes only through faith in Jesus Christ, God’s Champion of love and life. Money does not factor into obtaining this wealth.

The Bible tells this story in a way that people can understand it and presents a perspective on God and humanity that is unique to all other religious and secular ideas. It presents a worldview that helps people understand three basic truths: 1) Where he or she came from and who he or she is (creation); 2) Why the world is in the condition it is (the fall); and 3) What can be done to fix it (redemption).[iii]

Apart from this Biblical worldview (and even with it) people have not done well in understanding and dealing with the world’s problems. God has intervened in our fallen world through Jesus Christ, his gospel, and the Holy Spirit. With God there is hope, restoration and healing. Apart from God mankind is doomed to selfish nonsense and ideas that lead to injustice and destruction.

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[i] Bryant L. Myers, Walking With the Poor: Principles and Practices of Transformational Development (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1999), 27.

[ii] Genesis 3:15.

[iii] Charles Colson states, “These categories provide the means to compare and contrast the various ideas and philosophies competing for allegiance in today’s world, for they cover the central questions that any world view must answer….” Charles Colson and Nancy Pearson, How Now Shall We Live? (Carol Stream, Il: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. 1999), xiii