A Godly Response: Moderation

“Woe to him who builds his realm by unjust gain to set his nest on high, to escape the clutches of ruin!  You have plotted the ruin of many peoples, shaming your own house and forfeiting your life. The stones of the wall will cry out, and the beams of the woodwork will echo it.”

Habakkuk 2:9-11

Frank E. Gabelein wrote in a Christianity Today article entitled “Challenging Christians to the Simple Lifestyle” (September 21, 1979) the following:

With all the Old Testament says about wealth and prosperity, it sets them in clearly defined perspective.  While not forbidding them, it hedges them about with restrictions and cautions.  They are not to be accumulated just for the sake of getting more and more; they must not be gained by oppression and injustice; they can and do lead to covetousness.  They do not belong to us but to God, who is the ultimate owner of all we have.  Therefore, we are stewards, not proprietors, of our wealth.  In our use of it, we are sinning if we do not reflect God’s strong concern for the poor and the hungry, the weak and oppressed.  What we do with what we have must be in accord with the great command to love God with everything we are and have.

            The follower of Christ must be ever so carefully to live a life of justice and mercy and ensure that who we are, the positions we hold and the possessions we gain are gathered and used as stewards.  Unfortunately, we live in a world where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.  The rich and powerful elevate their status in life at the expense of the poor and powerless.  These few verses in Habakkuk expressly denounce building up oneself at the expense of others.

           What is the relationship between justice, greed and a moderate lifestyle?

  As followers of Christ, how would you define a “moderate lifestyle”?

            A comedian once said, “I know in my heart, by pure logic, that any man who claims to be a leader of a church is a hustler if he has two suits in a world in which most people have none.”  How do you respond?

 “They know nothing, they understand nothing.

They walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken."  

Psalm 82:5

A Godly Response to the Poor

If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land

the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother.

Deuteronomy 15:7-11

            Outlined in these verses is the appropriate, godly response to the poor.  As we read the Old Testament law, it become quite evident that the suitable reaction to the poor is an emphasis on a ‘handup’ out of poverty rather than a ‘handout’.  When a ‘handout’ approach is taken, the poor often are left powerless and dependent upon the giver of the handout.  The dominant of society maintain their place of prominence, while the poor also maintain their place of inferiority and lack of resources and dignity.  When a ‘handup’ is given, the one receiving is given opportunity and access to resources.  A ‘handup’ is empowerment to aid in the solving of one’s own problems and needs.

            Consider the law of the gleanings as found in Leviticus 19:9-10:  ‘When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest.  Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen.  Leave them for the poor and the alien.  I am the Lord your God.’

            Among the Sabbath laws we find the command to leave the land fallow on the seventh year.  ‘. . .during the seventh year let the land lie unplowed and unused.  Then the poor among your people may get food from it, and the wild animals may eat what they leave.  Do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove (Exodus 23:11).’

            A godly response to the poor includes being openhanded.

            A godly response to the poor includes lending freely.

            A godly response to the poor includes harboring no wicked thoughts towards the poor.

            A godly response to the poor includes giving generously.

Remember there will always be poor people in the land.

What experiences have you been involved in which you have given a ‘handout’?  What experiences have you been involved in which you have given a ‘handup’?  What was the significant difference in these two approaches?

Rescue the weak and needy;

Deliver them from the hand of the

wicked.

Psalm 82:4