Wednesday April 3, 2013

Read Deuteronomy 24:10-15.  James 2:1-4

I wonder how our churches would react if we had a wave of desperately poor people come in to them? I recall being in one church that started an outreach to the homeless. What a blessing to the Lord. All was going well until they started coming along to Church. People were angry and scared and worried about their things. People wouldn’t talk to these poor, homeless folk and certainly wouldn’t include them. Some were told blatantly not to touch anything. I have no doubt that everyone was well meaning.

 

But it’s all to easy to make judgements and to treat people according to their physical appearance. It’s all to easy to write people off as irrelevant and unimportant because they don’t wear a suit or have to walk barefoot because they can’t afford shoes. This was dramatically brought home to me as I watched an interview with a homeless man. It was very easy to dismiss him as another vagabond, a vagrant who skimmed off society. But he turned out to be a well spoken, articulate and exceedingly pleasant person! As he spoke rather intelligently, it became clear that he was a university lecturer and through no fault of his own lost his job and his family both within a short space of time. First impressions aren’t always correct!

 

Even more so, God loves the poor and needy. His heart goes out to them. God wants His people to treat the poor and needy with dignity, with love and with justice. We are not to show favouritism or partiality to someone because of their income or social status.  We are not to take advantage of the poor or to abuse them or to think less of them because they are poor.

Our motivation for loving the poor comes from God Himself. We read in 2 Corinthians 8:9 - “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, so that you through Hs poverty might become rich.” God has sent Jesus into our world to save us and to give us all the inheritance of heaven. In Christ we are billionaires. God wants us to share that wealth with those who are needy and poor. God wants us to love them as He Himself has loved us.

 

Prayer:

Write down your prayer points in the space provided. Use today’s reading to help you get ideas.

 

Adoration:

 

Confession:

 

Thanks:

 

Supplication:

¥ Pray that God would raise up a spirit of generosity within your church. Pray that the weekly giving would be reflective of the generosity that we have received from our Lord and Saviour. Pray that your Committee of Management would be able wisely steward the funds given to them by the Lord.

¥ Pray that our governments at all levels would be working towards a fair and equitable distribution of funds and resources. Pray that justice and fairness would not be deprived from the poor and needy.

 

Jesus Challenge: There are many people suffering quietly in the pews.

As a Cell Group see if you can pick one        person or family that may be in need and give them a gift/love donation from your cell.

 

As you plan to help a particular person make sure that people don’t just transfer their tithe to the Lord. That portion of our giving should remain with the Lord. Our offerings go above and beyond our tithes.

 

Discussion Questions For Families and Groups

1. In what ways does our society deny justice and equality to the poor and needy?

2. How can the church support the poor and needy?

3. Many churches can not afford to pay all their bills, let alone support the poor and needy. What does this communicate to the world?