Life Meets Doctrine

as i have been listening through some Tim Keller sermons, certain passages of Scripture have truly stood out to me. one of those has been Galatians 6:2: Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. as i think on this verse in the context of giving to the poor and needy, it brings out a whole new element of giving. i personally enjoy giving and blessing others (whether in real poverty or just having a short-term need, like for a mission trip). but i only like giving to the extent that it does not infringe on my family’s normal budget. i like to give out of the margins, the edges. it is kind of like in the Law where God tells his people to not harvest the edges of their fields. leave that for the poor. i would be fine with that. but i don’t think i would be quite so fine with the command to give the first tenth of my fields produce…especially when the remaining nine-tenths wasn’t exactly guaranteed.

i don’t mind the first command because it does not infringe on my comfort or lifestyle. i do mind the second command because it might infringe on my comfort or lifestyle. naturally, i will give to the extent of (and stop once i get to) my personal comfort. or, in other words, i will give out of my surplus, my extra.

then Galatians 6:2 comes into the picture and it commands me to bear a burden. i should experience some burden, some infringement on my comfort, some imposing on my lifestyle. this text specifically says i should do it to the degree that someone else has need – a real someone else, someone i know, a brother (Galatians 6:1). this command does not allow me to only give out of the surplus or the extra.

to bear means to carry, to pick up. and burdens just refer to troubles, hardships, weight. i am commanded to carry someone else’s weights. i am commanded to take the hit for someone else.

Other uses of the word for bear in the New Testament:
* Matthew 8:17: Jesus bore our sickness.
* Luke 14:27: we are commanded to bear our cross and follow Jesus.
* John 19:17: Jesus bore his cross.
* John 16:12: Jesus didn’t tell his disciples everything because they wouldn’t have been able to bear it.
* Acts 3:2: the crippled man Peter healed was borne and lain daily at the Beautiful Gate.
* Romans 15:1: those that are strong are commanded to bear the failings of the weak and not to please themselves.
* Galatians 6:5: in a balancing verse, each one will have to bear his own load.

that last passage (Galatians 6:5) leaves me wondering just what is up in Galatians 6. On one hand we are commanded to bear one another’s burdens. On the other hand we are told that each of us should bear our own burden. Maybe Paul is talking to both the giver of aid and the receiver of aid. to the giver of aid Paul says, “bear their burden; don’t just give from the edges.” but to the receiver of aid Paul says, “don’t get lazy; start working and producing for yourself; the fact is you need to bear your own load.”

this is also a good balance to some givers. we must be careful to not give to the point that we burden our own families and lives. we must be responsible and faithful to bear our own load, first. then, we bear one another’s burdens. it’s just that i can’t keep using family comfort as a rationale or excuse for not bearing another’s burdens. i must be diligent to take care of my family responsibility, but that is an entirely different standard of living than family comfort. in order to bear one another’s burdens, i need to live at the level of responsibility, but not at the level of comfort.

i am starting to open up more and more to the verses that follow one of my favorite passages in all of the Bible. for years now, i have loved the mutifold truths in Luke 12:32: Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. i love it! the metaphors are loaded in there (flock/sheep, father/children, king/kingdom). the goodness of God is there. the removal of our fear. the giving nature of God. and so much more. i love it!

for the longest, though, i didn’t know what to do with the following verses. and even now i don’t really know what to do with them, but i do feel like they have more meaning, they are taking more shape, they aren’t quite as scary as before. Luke 12:33-34: sell your possessions, and give to the needy. provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. this is right after the tender reassurance of God in Luke 12:32.

the power is built up in verse 32:
* we have no need to fear
* we are the sheep of the greatest shepherd
* we are the children of the most generous, wealthy father
* we are the offspring of the most pleased, happy father
* we are the subjects of the most powerful king
therefore we are commanded to sell our possessions and give to the needy. oh the truth shows up over and over again. God’s pleasure and God’s love is not meant to terminate on us! we are missing it if we become the final stop of God’s financial blessings. we are meant to be the passage through which his blessings flow.

it is striking to me in Luke 12:33 that we are commanded to do two things: (1) sell our possessions, and (2) give to the needy. if Jesus only said give to the needy i could get away with the occasional closet cleaning and giving to Goodwill. i could get away with making a monthly pledge to help a missionary. but Jesus doesn’t only say give to the needy. he says sell your possessions. we must take a hit for the team! we must feel the effects of loss! we must give something up – something we currently like and use and enjoy. otherwise we lose the power of the whole thing. we lose the blessed freedom of realizing that Jesus is better than the stuff – the good stuff, the sweet stuff, the stuff we really want to keep.

i am sure there is more to be had in this passage, but this is all i will post for now. please, Jesus, help me to give as you have given to me – with the care of a shepherd, the heart of a father, the authority of a king’s son, and the generosity of the richest (or poorest?) man in the world.

Proverbs 14:20: The poor is disliked even by his neighbor, but the rich has many friends. It certainly seems like this is true, especially in general terms. no one likes to see a poor person on the street; they would rather turn away from such a sight. the poor is disliked. but even when you get close to the people who are close to the poor – their neighbors – you find that even their neighboors don’t like them. and their neighbors are also usually poor, whether they be a geographic neighbor or a social-class neighbor or someone intersecting with the poor on a consistent basis (like children in school). even the poor’s neighbors don’t like the poor. the poor hate the poor. they feel like they can’t trust each other even though each other is all they’ve got. of course, on the other hand, the rich has many friends. everyone wants to be nice to the people withy lots of money and possessions. this passage especially deals with my attitude towards the poor: i want to like the poor.

Proverbs 14:21: whoever despises his neighbor is a sinner, but blessed is he who is generous to the poor. the proverb writer is calling for a change in the way things are as he described them in the other verse. even though in general the poor is disliked by his neighbor, you better not be that neighbor who dislikes the poor. despising your neighbor – whether he be rich or poor, even though i think a poor neighbor is mainly in view here – is a sin. it is not allowed! and to motivate us to care for our neighbor we are given the promise that those who are generous to the poor are blessed. it doesn’t say that lots of money comes to those who are generous. it says that those who are generous to the poor are already blessed. that is who they are. the blessed ones give. this means there can be people who have money who are not blessed. how do we know if they are not blessed? by observing that they don’t give to the poor. if they were blessed they would give to the poor. clearly, blessing refers to so much more than possessions. it is a state of being, an attitude of the heart. this passage deals with how i handle my attitude toward the poor: i want to be generous to the poor.

Proverbs 14:31: whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker, but he who is generous to the needy honors him. now we see that our relations with the poor is actually our relations with the Maker of the universe. Jesus definitely echoes this in Matthew 25:34-40. i must be so careful in my thoughts towards the poor and interactions with the poor. when i oppress them i am insulting Jesus. naturally, this seems so disconnected. surely Jesus wouldn’t line himself up with the poor, right? it is totally against my habits, my normal way of thinking, my culture. but the writer of the proverb is clear: oppressing a poor man = insulting God; giving to a poor man = honoring God. this passage deals with why i should be generous to the poor: i want to be generous to the poor because i want to honor God.

Jesus is asked this question twice (and maybe other times, too). i am fascinated by Jesus’ response. in Luke 10, Jesus answers the question with the story of the Samaritan helping the beaten man on the road between Jerusalem and Jericho – an example of social mercy. in Mark 10, Jesus answers the question with the command to sell everything and give it to the poor – another example of social mercy. honestly, i find it troubling and startling that when eternal life is talked about social mercy is this close to the heart of Jesus. his immediate responses to two different people asking the same question both have to do with social mercy. oh my, how i fall short on taking hold of eternal life if social mercy is truly as essential of an element as Jesus makes it out to be. Jesus, help me! teach me, too, what i must do to inherit eternal life.

i have been amazed lately how God repeatedly brings poverty to my attention. here are just a few ways he has done this:
* began praying for Omaha, NE, which led to discovering Open Door Mission
* Matt Chandler mentions international mercy ministry in a sermon
* Mark Driscoll mentions poverty and riches in a sermon
* Jase Wilson mentions extravagant giving in a time of financial crisis, referring to the story of the widow’s mite
* i read through A Framework for Understanding Poverty by Ruby K. Payne, which is mainly for educators but has lots of insights on understanding people in the lower class in America.
* i read through Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger by Ronald J. Sider, which mainly deals with international poverty and hunger but has great sections of biblical understanding God’s heart for the poor
* i have a talk with Pastor Dominic from Kenya who deals with orphans, poverty, and hunger on a daily basis; it is the world he lives in
* i have a talk with the Reed family from Mozambique who also deals with orphans, poverty, and hunger on a daily basis; it is the world they live in
* i talk with Ben Wong a former pastor in Hong Kong who re-planted a church targeting the lower class in Hong Kong; we talk a lot about “simple church”; Ben has a great insight into unreach people groups and why they remain unreached. he says it might be because most of them are either (1) poor or (2) muslims or both. no one wants to be poor or persecuted so a lot of us end up not going to unreached people groups.
* in an intern meeting we watch a NOOMA dvd where Rob Bell talks about wealth and poverty; it is entitled “rich”
* i pick up a book that had been on the shelf for a long time and the next chapter to read is marked as “the discipline of social mercy”