14 Mar 05 Helping The Helpless

What a tremendous day we had today! I’m humbled by the response of those of you who stood up to hold our church family accountable in reaching and helping those who cannot help themselves. Thank you so much for your encouragement and your commitment to Jesus Christ. I believe we will look back on this day with joy — recognizing once again — the work of God in our midst.

For those who were unable to be in our assembly this morning, I have included the main idea of my message, taken from the story of the poor widow of Mark 12 for this Sunday night blog.

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Had the religious people of Jesus’ day been doing their job, the poor widow of Mark 12 would not have been the “poor” widow of Mark 12! The religious people, with the heritage, the tradition, the history, and the words of God – closed their hearts to the plight of this woman. The poor widow, with nothing save two small coins, opened her heart to God and gave all she had.

How blessed are those who give from their necessity! How cursed are those who, in their abundance, turn a blind eye to the suffering of others.

This is why Jesus warned his followers to avoid the mistakes of the religious leaders, (Mark 12:38-40). It would be quite easy, and quite convenient for us to jump on the religious leaders of Jesus’ day – talk about their mistakes, talk about how they were wrong. In this way, we would just be trying to let ourselves off the hook.

So the issue is not that the religious people of Jesus’ day were not doing their jobs, the issue is “are we doing our job?” What is our response to the stranger, the foreigner, the orphan and the widow? What plan do we have to help those who are near to the heart of God?

A barrier, at least in my own life, in helping the helpless is the endless debate of who really needs help and who really does not heed help. The result of the debate? More time spent debating and less time spent helping. I can talk myself out of helping a lot of people because of my own determination that they are somehow not worthy of help. That somehow my helping them would be enabling not equipping. In the words of my grandfather . . . hogwash!

Yes, the Bible says, if a person will not work they should not eat. Yes, the Bible talks about the peril of laziness. Yes, the Bible says all this and it is quite true! The Bible, however, also points out the mistake in closing our own heart to the need of someone else, (James 4:17). James had a few things to say about the way we treat the rich, the way we treat the poor. He had a few things to say about “words” based outreach programs – he was not a big fan! (James 2:15-16).

I’ve been prayerfully searching to understand and grasp the plan God has for our own church family, the purpose God has in mind for us, the role God needs us to play in our own community. I’ve been asking God to make His purpose for our church family evident.

Part of the picture is becoming quite clear: God expects us, as his people – as his arms and legs, to share his heart with the stranger, the foreigner, the orphan and the widow.

Part of our purpose as a church must be to help those who are unable to help themselves. Part of the plan God has for us relates to the job we must do for the immigrants, the aliens, the poor within our own church family. Part of the plan God has for us relates to the job we must do reaching out to the immigrant, the alien, the poor, the orphan, the widow, and the homeless in our community.

This is not just the expectation of God for an individual believer, this is the expectation God has for any group proclaiming itself to be a church OF Christ! We who wear the name of Christ must not shrink back from the cause of Christ. We must live up to our name, live up to our calling. Our uniqueness as a church cannot rest in our tradition but in our response to those whom society discards.

Ultimately this is exactly what it means to love God will all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. Precisely what it means to love our neighbor as ourself. To love as Christ loved, to serve as Christ served is the mission of his church.