{"id":617,"date":"2020-07-20T15:38:58","date_gmt":"2020-07-20T13:38:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hoperecovered.org.za\/?p=617"},"modified":"2020-07-23T09:12:05","modified_gmt":"2020-07-23T07:12:05","slug":"children-of-god-and-poverty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hoperecovered.org.za\/en\/fundraiser\/children-of-god-and-poverty\/","title":{"rendered":"The Gospel and Poverty"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Extractions of David Platt&#8217;s book &#8220;COUNTERCULTURE&#8221;, chapter 2: &#8220;Where Rich and Poor Collide: The Gospel and Poverty&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-1 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-2 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\"><ul class=\"blocks-gallery-grid\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img  title=\"\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/hoperecovered.org.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/book-cover-1024x768.jpg\"  alt=\"book-cover-1024x768 The Gospel and Poverty\"  data-id=\"618\" data-link=\"https:\/\/hoperecovered.org.za\/?attachment_id=618\" class=\"wp-image-618\"\/><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I hope this\npost will open our eyes to the needs of people in our nation and around the\nworld, bring us to our knees in tears and prayers on their behalf, and cause us\nto rise with conviction, compassion, and courage to humbly spread the truth of\nGod while selflessly showing the love of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My lack of\nconcern for the poor was a clear sign of a fundamental problem with my faith.\nJesus said that faith in our hearts will be evident in the fruit of our lives.\nHe taught, You will recognize [people] by their fruits\u201d (Matthew 7:16). He\nlater describes the separation of Christians from non-Christians at the final\njudgment in terms of those who have helped impoverished followers of Christ and\nthose who haven\u2019t (see Matthew 25:31-46). Concerning those who haven\u2019t given\nfood, water and clothes to brothers and sisters in need, Jesus says, \u201cThese\nwill go away into eternal punishment\u201d (Matthew 25:46). It becomes clear that\nthose who claim to be Christians but refuse to help poverty-stricken people are\nsimply not children of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img  title=\"\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"298\" src=\"https:\/\/hoperecovered.org.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/book-1-1024x298.jpg\"  alt=\"book-1-1024x298 The Gospel and Poverty\"  class=\"wp-image-619\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>God wants\nto make his glory known to all peoples everywhere in the world. He wants to show\nthe world that he is \u201cmerciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in\nsteadfast love\u201d (Exodus 34:6); that He \u201craises up the poor from the dust\u201d\nand&nbsp; \u201clifts the needy from the ash heap\u201d\n(1 Samuel 2:8); that he \u201cexecutes justice for the oppressed\u201d and \u201cgives food to\nthe hungry\u201d (Psalm 146:7); that He is a \u201cdefence for the helpless\u201d and \u201cthe\nneedy in his distress\u201d (Isaiah 25:4). These are the characteristics of God\nwhich are revealed in Christ, who came \u201cto proclaim good news to the poor\u201d.\nOnce we see this portrait of God in Christ, we realize that caring for the poor\nis not only necessary evidence of faith in him; it\u2019s the natural overflow of\nfaith in him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a\nculture that places great emphasis on leisure, luxury, financial gain,\nself-improvement, and material possessions, it will be increasingly\ncountercultural for Christians to work diligently, give sacrificially, help\nconstructively, and invest eternally. Yet this is what we must do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Work diligently<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>When God\ncreated man, he \u201cput him in the garden of Eden to work it\u201d (Genesis 2:15). This\nwas before sin\u2019s entrance into the world, so we must realize that work is a\ngood gift of God\u2019s grace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Give sacrificially<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Paul uses the example of churches in Macedonia who \u201cin a severe test of affliction [and] extreme poverty \u2026 overflowed in a wealth of generosity\u201d by giving to starving saints in Jerusalem in the first century. <strong>They gave \u201cbeyond their means, of their own accord, begging <\/strong>\u2026 earnestly for the favour of taking part in the relief of the saints\u201d (2 Corinthians 8:2-4). I love that picture of men and women living in extreme poverty yet begging to give an offering to a needy church elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What would\nit look like for us to give like that with eagerness and enthusiasm, insisting\non the opportunity to truly sacrifice for our impoverished brothers and sisters\naround the world?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is the\nclear pattern of giving in the New Testament church, yet it is unfortunately a\nfar cry from common practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Help constructively<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>This means helping the poor wisely, being careful to supplement the responsible instead of subsidizing the irresponsible. The worst thing we can do for the needy is neglect them. The second worst thing we can do is subsidizing them, helping people get through a day while ignoring how we can help people get through their lives. Scripture does not call us to rescue lazy people from poverty. Instead, Scripture calls us to serve and supplement the responsible. We need to consider how to <strong>help those in need in ways that empower them to fulfil the purpose<\/strong> for which God created them instead of enabling them to miss that purpose. <strong>Helping like this requires personal attention, consistent accountability, and long-term commitment<\/strong>. Giving to those in need is not about sharing handouts: it\u2019s about sharing life. Helping those in need doesn\u2019t consist of throwing our money at something: <strong>it involves investing our lives in someone<\/strong>, which is much, much harder to do. We must give personal attention to the people we are helping, providing accountability in the context of a personal relationship backed up by long-term commitment, and never looking at people as temporary projects to be played with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img  title=\"\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"955\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/hoperecovered.org.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/book-2-955x1024.jpg\"  alt=\"book-2-955x1024 The Gospel and Poverty\"  class=\"wp-image-620\"\/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In his book counterculture, David Platt looks at giving to the poor from a biblical perspective and describes how to bring sustainable poverty relief.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":633,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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