Renewal for a broken culture and good news for the poor?
July 9th 2010 at 4:25pm
We’ve started a new sermon series in the mornings called ‘Renewal for a Broken Culture’. We’re looking at the promise of the gospel for the renewal of our society – we’re asking ‘how do we want Gateshead to change in the light of the gospel? ‘
On Sunday Dan preached the first in the series titled ‘The Poor: Good News’ because we believe the gospel is good news for the poor. It was a challenging sermon (you can listen to it here), and I’ve asked Dan to follow up with a blog post for those who want to take it further. So here it is, and I hope you enjoy it.
From Dan Martin:
Following the start of our new sermon series, Rod has asked me to write a blog post to make a few more comments about what the Bible has to say about ‘the poor’.
If you were there last Sunday you’ll know that the big idea I was trying to get across from Luke 4:14-21 is that Jesus is God’s good news to the poor. The Bible does have a great deal more to say on the topic, and if you’re keen to dig deeper I’d strongly recommend Tim Chester’s little book, ‘Good News to the Poor’, or Tim Keller’s scholarly paper ‘The Gospel and the Poor’.
If you have a few minutes now to think more about this issue, then read on…
When it comes to thinking about social action, here are some key passages to look at (you can use www.biblegateway.com to read them online):
-Deuteronomy 15
-Proverbs 14:31
-Proverbs 21:13
-Proverbs 22:9
-Proverbs 22:22-23
-Proverbs 28:27
-Proverbs 29:7
-Proverbs 31:8-9
-Isaiah 1:17
-Isaiah 58:6-11
-Ezekiel 16:49
-Amos 4:1-2
-Amos 5:11-15
-Micah 6:8
-Acts 4:34-35
-2 Corinthians 9:6-12
-Galatians 2:10
-1 Timothy 6:17-19
-James 2:1-13
You’ll see from these that the way we ought to respond to poverty is summed up in two words: justice and mercy. Politicians try to simplify the issue: conservatives say that poor people should take more responsibility for their situation. Liberals say the rich should do more about inequalities. I said on Sunday that the Bible is far more realistic than any human ideology: we’ll never have a world without poverty until we have a world without sin-that is, until Jesus returns and takes his followers to live with him in his New Creation. But the Bible is also far more realistic about how to respond to poverty right now; and the answer is justice and mercy. Justice, because inequalities exist. Rich nations exploit poor ones. Big businesses break the rules and seem to get away with it. Look over those verses again and you’ll see: Christians should be involved in promoting justice-it’s a crucial way of caring for the poor and marginalised. But we’re also called to mercy. Mercy because people fall into bad situations and need compassionate help. When we can help give our money or time or resources to someone in need, we should.
You may have heard the famous challenge: you’re walking into a cafe to buy a coffee, and you see a starving child lying on the street outside, begging for money. There are other people standing around on the street too, ignoring the child. What do you do? Step over him into the café? Does the fact that other people aren’t doing anything mean that it’s not your problem either? Now move the starving child over to Africa. Does the need for your mercy actually change?
The Gospel moves us to mercy because God has been merciful to us in sending Jesus to die for us. Maybe you think that the poor don’t deserve our money. Did we deserve Jesus? Did God owe us something? Maybe you think that poor people are offensive and ungrateful. Did that stop Jesus? Maybe you think that other people should help the poor. That doesn’t make sense; in the Gospel, we’re the ones who’ve received everything. So we’re the ones who can ‘pay it forward’ in compassionate social action. In his book, ‘Good News to the Poor’, Tim Chester references a church in the UK which estimated that, if everyone in their congregation became unemployed and received benefits, and then gave 10% of their benefit money to church, their total church giving would increase by 60%. Shocking. The Gospel, sincerely understood, moves us to compassionate social action: to justice and mercy.
Three categories are often helpfully articulated regarding Christian social involvement: relief, development, and reform.
Relief: is helping to relieve crises. For instance, tearfund’s response to the Haiti earthquake.
Development: is working to help people become useful participants in society. It’s different from mere welfare, which leads to dependence. Education and training are central to development,
Reform: is campaigning to change unjust or unequal structures within society; for instance, in housing or education or healthcare. William Wilberforce, who successfully campaigned for the abolition of the slave trade, is a famous example of this. Organisations like the Christian Institute represent a vital ongoing call for reform within society; for instance, as they campaign to promote marriage and the family, they are in effect working to prevent poverty in the UK, since family breakdown is the leading cause of poverty.
So, the central thing for us to keep in mind is that Jesus is God’s good news to Gateshead; the best thing HTG can do for Gateshead is to preach Jesus, and clothe that message in compassionate social action. Hopefully this blog post helps to put a little more meat on the bones: if our thinking is to be Bible-shaped, we should be thinking about compassionate social action in Gateshead in terms of justice and mercy. Can you be involved in some form of relief to people in need? Can you play a role in development? Can you push and campaign for reform?