Up until Tuesday I was preparing a sermon about Jesus walking on the water…it’s a great sermon…you’ll hear it…BUT…Wednesday morning that changed because of something Elaine said to me Tuesday regarding last week’s sermon…it disrupted my normal sermon preparation.
She told me I misspoke in my sermon regarding how we assist people who come to our church requesting assistance…she suggested that I was in error regarding what I said in how our church helps those outside our immediate church family.
Now going back to my school days, I can remember my teachers saying, ‘there’s no such thing as a stupid question because if you have a question chances are there are at least 2 or 3 others with the same question.’
I thought about that and realized there may be some here this morning with the same concerns as Elaine about how I as the Pastor view outsiders seeking assistance from our church and how we help them…I want to explain that.
The statement was something to the effect that I am reluctant to help people who are not members of our church…the example was…those wanting us to buy gas…or having us pay for overnight motel rooms…and I can tell you in the past we have done that…numerous time…so Elaine was right…we do help in some instances…she reminded me we did so just a month ago.
As I thought about that I became more convinced I should address that… but how exactly to present it to you the Church…I’ve been thinking as I worked on this message…asking my self is this a sermon?
Well I don’t know the technical definition of what a sermon is…to me it’s what I believe God is wanting me to share with you…for your instruction and spiritual growth…so that’s what I preach.
So, I want to share with you this morning something regarding that issue.
As Christians, how are we to help?
That’s a complex question…it’s not just a matter of… ‘hey you’re a church, are you supposed to help people…isn’t that what you do?’ …there really needs to be some clarification to that statement.
SO, how do we determine whom to care for and when to do something… because the Bible is full of explicit commands to help the poor and the needy…BUT at the same time who we are not to help.
Where does The Branches church fit into these Biblical commands to help…I said last week in looking at the feeding of the 5000…that if you look at that miracle only as Jesus feeding people…you have missed the entire message Jesus was trying to teach the disciples.
What I want to say to you today is an amplification of that point…the feeding part was to meet their physical need…the real message to be learned was when Jesus told the disciples. ‘you give them something to eat’ …Jesus is telling the church the same thing He told the disciples… “you give them something to eat!”
But if you just focus on the food give away you’ve missed the intent of what Jesus is saying…the feeding of the 5000 was not about giving out food… here’s what it is…you give them something that reveals the kingdom of God!
This is accomplished when the Church become the arms…hands…and feet of God…we are given the same opportunities Jesus gave to the disciples.
If Christians have an obligation to help the poor (and we do), does that mean we are obligated to help everyone…everywhere regardless of the circumstance…The answer is NO we are not…let me explain.
Here are some biblical guidelines in defining who we are most responsible to help.
Here’s the best way to look at this…biblical guidelines in defining who we are most responsible to help is like throwing a rock into a pool of water… there are expanding concentric circles…that is the best way to think of our sphere of responsibility…as having expanding concentric circles.
In the middle is the closest circle, that’s our immediate families. “If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever” (1 Tim. 5:8) …I’m going to give you Scriptural references…not just my opinion…I’m telling you what the Bible says.
This means that if you have the ability to help your immediate family and you don’t…if you have the necessary resources and yet neglect your aging, helpless parents, you are worse than an unbeliever. Family first.
The next circle represents the members of our church…the principle is really the same: just as we have an obligation to provide for our natural family, so we ought to provide for our spiritual family.
The New Testament commands us to care for the needs of the Christians in our local churches (Acts 2:45; 4:32-37; 6:1-6 / James 2:15-17 / 1 John 3:16-17 / Galatians 6:10).
We see this in the early church that the needs of members who were poor and distressed was a priority (Acts 4:34-35; Acts 11:30; Gal. 2:10).
We are command to love one another not only with words but with actions of generosity and material support (James 2:15-17; 1 John 3:16-18).
These first two ‘circles’ are evident that charity begins at home…with your immediate family and with our church family…see in Scripture where Paul took up donations to help Christians who were struggling financially.
Then there’s a third ring…those members of our Christian family whose needs are more distant…speaking primarily of those on the mission field… we have an obligation to care for those Christians who are not part of our immediate church family but who are engaged in doing God’s work.
Then there’s the fourth outer circle…those who have needs who are non-Christians in the world…the church should still be ready to do good to all people, but this support is less obligatory than what we owe to Christians.
It’s framed more as an “opportunity” rather than a requirement (Gal. 6:10).
There is one more category that should be mentioned…that fifth circle that includes those whose needs are so obvious…so immediate…it would be wrong not to help…the situation is such that you just can’t refuse to help.
So let me hopefully clear up any misunderstanding I might have caused… because I can assure you this church is following Jesus’ command of… “You give them something to eat!” …giving something that reveals the kingdom of God by being open for opportunities of service.
I’m going to reiterate on something I said last week using the five expanding concentric circles that explain my position…the Churches position… regarding helping those inside and outside our church.
Obviously the first circle is your immediate family…that really needs no further explanation…we are to assist our family when and if possible.
The second circle is our church family…our church has helped numerous members of our church in a variety of ways and circumstances and we will continue to do so.
When people in our church have immediate needs and have no way to address them…we are going to help…that is Biblical…and let me just say…that any help given to any member stays in confidence.
Third ring I mentioned are those members of our Christian family whose needs are more distant…speaking primarily of those on the mission field.
This church is proclaiming the kingdom of God with our support of missions including…Lottie Moon…Annie Armstrong…Advice and Aid…with our contribution to the SBC that supports missionaries worldwide.
We contribute to the Kansas/Nebraska convention and Kansas City area Baptist Association…and a dozen other independent missions and missionaries who are on the mission field. Don is Mission’s Director.
The fourth circle I mentioned is being ready to do good to all people.
That’s a pretty wide-open statement…doing good to all people…would seem to encompass just about everyone…but it’s restrictive and we are to be selective in how we do that.
This church does do good to people by proclaiming the kingdom of God by helping feed those at the Somerset apts. with weekly food assistance… with back-snacks…supplying household needs…giving Christmas baskets.
We do good to people by proclaiming the kingdom of God through our partnership with New Hope Food Pantry…feeding thousands annually.
The fifth circle includes those whose needs are so obvious and so immediate that we can’t say no…and because we are in such a unique position to help, it would be wrong to ignore it.
This church proclaimed the kingdom of God when we were approached with a request to house the homeless…a need that was so obvious we could not say no.
And after the homeless left…it cost us over $15,000 dollars to restore our church to its previous condition…not because of anything done maliciously… but mostly through the normal course of being used…BUT…our offer to help was the right thing to do because to ignore it would have been wrong.
IN additionto what I have mentioned…this church is proclaiming the kingdom of God with our work at Villa St. Francis and Good Samaritan care homes insuring those who can’t be in church still have the opportunity to sing and hear God’s word preached.
This church is proclaiming the kingdom of God by insuring the Hispanic church…and the Algerian church have a place to worship… giving the Narcotics Anonymous folks a place to meet…and providing the Ethiopian missionary an office.
This church is proclaiming the kingdom of God with our AWANA program that for over 20 years has been proclaiming the love of God to little children.
Then there’s another circle that needs mentioning…the responsibility to help those who are least able to help themselves…people whose situation and options are limited…orphans and widows. (James 1:27).
We have assisted in the past helping widows with our support of ‘Mission Dignity’ …I will be asking our church to refresh our efforts in assisting those ladies.
Our involvement in the community through all those activities is The Branches church not only proclaiming…but demonstrating through actions, the presence of the kingdom of God.
And we do on occasion help those who knock on our door for help…and we will continue to do so but that’s where the farthest circle needs addressing.
In the farthest circle are people that positively will not be helped by the church…I earlier mentioned being ready to do good to all people and said that was a pretty wide-open statement…but it was restrictive…these are the ones I was referring to last week…who are they?
First…Christians should not provide hospitality or do anything that would aid false teachers in their works (2 John 10-11).
Second, Christians should not support able-bodied persons who could provide for themselves but prefer laziness instead (1 Thess. 4:11-12; 5:14; Prov. 24:30-34). “If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat” (2 Thess. 3:10) …in fact Paul insists that the church discipline those who persist in idleness (2 Thess. 3:14).
Along with that…our Christian responsibility to charity does not extend to those who expect others to do for them what they could do for themselves and won’t…again because of laziness.
Third…our responsibility does not extend to those who would steal from the church by abusing our Christian charity for their own selfish purposes.
Obviously, there are a thousand “What if’s…?” …and “What about’s…?” questions that arise when churches start to care for the poor.
I can’t give specific answers for every situation because the Bible doesn’t give those answers…that’s why we consider them on a one on one basis.
That is why when we are approached for help Elaine calls me and I engage Larry…Richard and Debbie into the discussion because when we do help with money it usually doesn’t come from the church budget…it comes from a benevolence fund which is outside of the church budget.
It’s not decisions I make on my own…I want the advice of other people so I can feel comfortable and confident that we have complied with Jesus’s desire that we are helping in a manner that is within Biblical guidelines.
But what about those verses in Scripture that seem to be explicit regarding how we as Christians and the Church are to support the poor…the needy and the destitute…they seem to be pretty straight forward. [Matt. 25:35-36]
35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
That sounds pretty definite to me…seems to be little leeway there…so does Matthew 25 have an application to the Church today?
I hear sermons…read in books and articles that calls for us to feed all the hungry… clothe all the naked…and visit all the sick and oppressed… because when we do that, we’re living out the Gospel in our lives…that doing such works of charity is the way to enter Heaven.
Matthew 25 does not teach any of that…Jesus was not into free handouts …Jesus never called on the government to provide free stuff…the Gospel is not about social activism or social justice…Salvation is not the reward for doing works of charity.
Jesus lists six deeds of mercy; food…drink…hospitality…clothing…care… nursing…and visitation…which should be the concern of every Christian Church… and I think we—The Branches church—are doing those very things.
I’ve just shared how we’re doing our part…so in that respect YES it does have an application to us…and yes we are complying.
BUT…it’s important to understand to whom these verses are directed at and why they were written.
The meaning of these verses is not directed at the Church today…these verses were spoken by Jesus Himself and given as a warning to the Jews living in the last days.
Matthew chapters 24 and 25 were written for a time right before Jesus’ crucifixion…the context of Matthew 24 must be viewed as applying to the nation of Israel and the Jewish people living during the Tribulation.
Jesus is outlining the criteria or the standards by which He will judge the Jews who go through the tribulation…they will be judged based on how they treated their brethren who were being persecuted.
Matthew 25 is a command to care for the physical needs of those who suffer hardship for the sake of Christ during the last days…these are the Brethren Jesus was talking about in Matt 25…when Jesus said, “My brethren,” He was referring to the Jewish people (Mt. 10:6; Jn. 1:11; Rom. 9:5).
SO…does Matthew 25 have an application to the Church today…yes it does …we should help our neighbors and others in physical need as we are able and have the opportunity…of course we should because they are human beings like we are.
SO…is Matthew 25 a directive to the Church today…NO it’s not…to infer this is God’s direction to the church today is to take these verses out of context.
SO…in reflecting back on what I have shared with you this morning…to clarify myself…we do help those outside our church…BUT…we also have an obligation as stewards of God’s money to spend it wisely and not be taken advantage of.
If we believe that anyone seeking help from out Church falls into one of those four classifications…we will be reluctant to assist them…that is biblical.
As Pastor of this church God holds me personally responsible for how the church is being managed…how we conduct our service…how we manage His money…what is being preached and taught…on the opportunities He
gives us…on every decision that is made…in everything God holds me accountable.
So what I do is make few decision on my own…I trust the advice of men in this church who are men who walk with God…I trust the Church Council and other individuals I can rely on to give me godly advice.
So how do I know if what I’m doing…what we’re doing as a church is agreeable with what God expects from us…because the answer to that does determine God’s blessing on The Branches church.
Said this three weeks ago…living a lifestyle of faithfulness and obedience leads to a life full of favor from 1) God and 2) favor from the right people around us.
Having the favor of God extends to people around you…God causes the favor of people to be on the church…the evidence that God has shown His favor to The Branches church is evident in countless ways.
Mentioned earlier the literally tens of thousands of dollars that has been donated to our church…in addition to the many ways He provides for our needs because of what I believe is God’s favor on our church.
Today’s message is a little out of the ordinary…but it’s a message that is specific to us—The Branches church—because more than anything else I want to insure that you all understand how we make decisions in our church…decisions that are for one purpose…decisions that proclaim the kingdom of God.
As a Church that has as our priority…proclaiming the kingdom of God…God will continue to bless us through our efforts to follow Biblical guidelines of faithfulness and in being obedient in the opportunities He presents to us.
It’s no different in your personal life…you…being a part of a Church that I believe is faithful and obedient in following God’s direction causes you also to fall under the umbrella of God’s favor.
And as you continue to be faithful and obedient in your personal Christian life, God will continue to bless you…it’s Scriptural…it’s a biblical principle.