I took a big leap just now when I assumed that the church has a requirement to respond to poverty. Someone may ask a good and reasonable question: What does this have to do with the church? Governments, secular NGOs, and everyday people already respond to poverty. Is there any reason for the church to do so as well?[1] I believe that there are several reasons. I therefore want to propose that:
The first reason the church must respond to poverty is that Christian scripture teaches that God wants us to do so. If the church believes that The Bible is indeed God’s message to the world – as many Christians do – then the church ignores God when it ignores poverty.
The life of Jesus demonstrates that God chooses to be on the side of the poor.[2] Christians must ask if we are also on the side of the poor. When worshipping God, do we remember that He equates kindness to the poor with kindness to Him?[3] If Christians expect to be taken seriously when we claim that we follow Jesus, we will stand with the poor.[4]
The Bible does not have one clear lesson for people about money and material goods. What we should learn from this is not a prescribed set of actions about our things, but instead an understanding that what we own affects our relationship with God.[5] By not providing people with a single rule about how we use what we own, God leads the church to be faithful instead of ideological. The Bible teaches that poverty isn’t simply the result of a bad economic system. It is the result of sin.[6] Because God does not provide a single response to poverty, the church is able to cater its response to particular situations. Sometimes the church should serve suffering people. Sometimes the church should see how it contributes to such suffering and repent.[7]
The second reason the church must respond to poverty is that God commands us to do so. Calvin taught that the basis God uses to judge our spiritual lives is what we do with our material goods.[8]
Israel’s role as taught by The Old Testament was to “enlighten the nations.” This means that other cultures (like Canadians) can look to ancient Israel for guidance. Old Testament commands about economics were to prevent poverty. The Law allowed everyone to have access to land and its resources. It values work and includes provisions that everyone who is physically able to work has both the right and the responsibility to do so. It demonstrates that material goods are a good thing, while commanding that people closely watch how these goods are used. It commands fair distribution of economic benefits and warns that God judges a society by this distribution.[9]
In the New Testament, the Gospels summarize the Law as love for God and love for neighbour.[10] Here, Jesus creates a new community that He will govern as an alternative to the powerful and oppressive structures of the world that surrounds it.[11] It is a community of “words of truth and deeds of love.” Such a presentation is dangerous in a world that will hate this message.[12]
Scripture presents a view about the end of history that includes the fulfilled Kingdom of God, however. [13] This matters to the spiritual and physical realities of people today. The Bible presents a “grace-sin conflict” as historical reality. This conflict impacts the physical and social aspects of life because the Christian struggle for justice is an attempt to demonstrate God’s Kingdom here and now when justice is not completely realized.[14] If Christians acknowledge that the Kingdom of God isn’t completely here yet, while trying to live like it is, we will see an impact on our relationship with money. Simultaneously living in two kingdoms is difficult, but God provides the church with two things: imagination and faith. Imagination is important because it lets Christians envision the Kingdom. Faith is important because it lets Christians know that God’s complete victory is coming. Faith allows the church to demonstrate the fulfilled Kingdom.[15]
The third reason the church must respond to poverty is that poverty is not good. The material world is a good creation of God. God intends material enjoyment, assuming that people do not allow enjoyment to lead them away from God. God partly gives gifts so the receiver can share with others. Proper stewardship is evidence of faith and it is impossible to separate how we use material goods from our faith.[16]
In his survey of money and the early church, Justo Gonzalez notes that early theologians saw an intimate connection between financial issues and faith. While there was a range of opinion about how to relate faith and wealth in the early church, no one taught that the issues should be kept separate. The idea that preachers and theologians should let only other people talk about money and poverty is unique in the modern church.[17]
The
fourth reason the church must respond to poverty is that it has the resources to do so.
Obviously, this does not apply to all members of the church. Nonetheless, there is wealth in pockets of
Christianity. Such pockets exist while the
effects of poverty kill people. This can
only happen if wealthy Christians choose to ignore the biblical teaching that
God evaluates people’s faith in Him by their response to poverty.[18] God created people to be equal. Life is a gift from God and the lives of the
poor are as valuable as the lives of the rich.[19] Sin destroyed this equality. When a wealthy person learns that another
person is starving and then refuses to act, this wealthy person has infringed
on his or her neighbour’s right to life.[20]
[1] Secular
is a word with loaded meaning, so I should be clear. In The
Desire of the Nations, Oliver
O’Donovan points out that “secular” and “Christian” are not opposites. Secular simply means things that are of the
world and temporal. An eggplant, for
example, is both secular and morally neutral.
(For that matter, church is
also a loaded term. I’m going to use it
broadly and mean the Christian community rather than referring to a specific
congregation or a specific denomination.)
[7] Steven J. Friesen, “Injustice or
God’s Will? Early Christian Explanations
of Poverty,” in Wealth and Poverty in the Early Church and Society, 36.
[15] Walter Wink, Engaging the Powers: Discernment and Resistance in a World of
Domination, 323-324.
[17] Justo L. Gonzalez, Faith and Wealth: A History of Early
Christian Ideas of the Origin, Significance , and Use of Money, 225.
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