Category: Deuteronomy

  • Poverty and the Poor You Always Have With You 

    Live with Jesus love and compassion

    Homeless. poverty, A row of dome tents covered with blue and brown tarps lined up along a shaded sidewalk beside a chain-link fence.

    Like many other communities, we have what seems to be a growing population of homeless people. We also have large numbers of people who have a place to live but struggle with poverty. Our community is not alone in this problem; I doubt there is a community out there that doesn’t struggle with some form of poverty. Some hide it better than others, but it still exists.

    Poverty isn’t a new problem. It’s as timeless as sin itself and will continue until the Lord returns. There are people in poverty because of mental illness or poor life choices. Others are there because of circumstances beyond their control. It isn’t a one-size-fits-all problem. Some only need a hand up, while no amount of help will bring others out.

    Jesus Himself said:

    For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”  John 12:8  (see also Matthew 26:11, Mark 14:7

    Jesus is responding to complaints about a woman who had anointed Him with costly perfume. The disciples complained that the money could have been spent on the poor, but they really wanted it for themselves. I think they were jealous of the woman’s extravagant act of worship.

    Jesus saying here is often misunderstood. Some take it to be fatalistic: there will always be poor people, so don’t even try. Nothing could be further from the truth. Jesus is, in fact, pointing them back to a passage they should have known well.

    For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’ Deuteronomy 15:11 ESV

    The Deuteronomy passage does not merely predict the continuing presence of poverty; it commands God’s people to respond with generosity. Jesus’ words therefore should not be understood as an excuse for neglecting the poor. In Mark 14:7, He explicitly adds that they can do good to the poor whenever they wish.

    We are called to be generous in our worship of God, but also called not to neglect those in need.

    It’s true we can’t fully solve the problem, but we can show Jesus’ love through how we respond to the poor. The Lord doesn’t call us to believe poverty doesn’t exist or to turn a blind eye. We’re called to act in love.

    God didn’t send His Son believing that everyone would accept His love. He sent Him knowing full well that the problem of sin would not go away in this world (until He returns). He came in love, humility and sacrifice even when the problem would continue. 

    We are called to love and compassion the same way.

     Kevin

    SUMMARY

    Jesus’ words about the poor were never a reason to look away from them. We can’t end poverty in this world, but we can meet it with the same love Christ showed us.

    TAKEAWAY

    Jesus wasn’t telling us to give up on the poor. He was pointing back to Deuteronomy 15:11, a passage His disciples should have known well, where God commands us to open wide our hand to the needy.

    Poverty isn’t a one-size-fits-all problem. Some people only need a hand up, while no amount of help will bring others out. Either way, we’re called to act in love.

     

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  • Hobby Horse Alert – Read the Word

    Hobby Horse - a favorite topic - REad the Word

    All preachers and teachers have hobby horses, topics they come back to over and over again. Read the Word, and be saved by grace alone, are two of my hobby horses.

    I am a big advocate of Christians reading the Word. I’ve been known to repeat the mantra “Read the Word. Read the Word. Read the Word.”

    There are several reasons I think reading the Scriptures is important.

    Firstly, it’s God’s instruction book to us. It tells us who He is, what His plan for us is, and how we should live. 

    Secondly, you’re never going to hear the Scriptures preached on a Sunday Morning. If the preacher read three new verses every Sunday morning, neither he nor you would live long enough. It will take 200 years of Sundays.

    Thirdly, you can’t evaluate the merit of preaching or teaching properly if you don’t actually know what the Word says.  You read the Word, so you understand the context of what is being discussed, and its place in the overall Scriptures. Plenty of times the scriptures are taught out of context or to make a point, rather than let the Scriptures bring the message.

    That’s why I’m a big fan of expository preaching, verse by verse, chapter by chapter, book by book. Proper exposition in the sense of whole book preached in context, and the Scriptures speak clearly. There is a time and place for seasonal or topical preaching, but I believe they should be the exception, not the rule.

    Now, I will confess that I can’t point to a Bible verse that says, “Read the Word.” However, even a cursory look should show that the Bible calls out to be read. 

    Here are a few samples. I’m sure you can find more on your own.

    Now it will be when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests. And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear Yahweh his God, to carefully observe all the words of this law and these statutes. Deuteronomy 17:18-19

    This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way successful, and then you will be prosperous. Joshua 1:8

    Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. Acts 17:11

    And when this letter is read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans; and you, for your part read my letter that is coming from Laodicea. Colossians 4:16

    Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy and keep the things which are written in it, for the time is near. Revelation 1:3

    The Bible often frames it as “hearing,” “meditating,” or “searching” the Scriptures, the clear expectation is that God’s people actively engage with His Word regularly.

    Be blessed

    Kevin

    Kingdom Diversity

    Summary

    This article argues that Christians must personally read and know the Scriptures, not merely rely on sermons or teachers, because the Bible is God’s instruction to His people and the standard by which all teaching should be judged. While Scripture may not explicitly command “Read the Word,” the consistent pattern throughout the Bible is that God’s people are expected to read, hear, examine, and meditate on His Word regularly.

    Key points:

    • The Bible is God’s revelation of who He is, His will, and how believers are to live.
    • Christians cannot properly discern good teaching or recognize Scripture taken out of context unless they know the Word themselves.
    • The author strongly advocates expository preaching because it allows Scripture to speak in context rather than bending passages to fit topics or agendas.

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