Articles
"Do You Not Care?"
A recent sermon (entitled "The Church and Social Activities") addressed the important and relevant issue of the uniqueness of the church’s responsibility. As a collective body, the local church has four goals—to preach the gospel to the lost of the world, to edify its own members in the faith, to worship our Creator and Savior, and to take care of the physical needs of fellow saints. We did not make these points up: each of them is either expressly commanded or implicitly mentioned in the Scriptures. Thus, we conclude, that anything which falls outside of these four functions cannot be warranted as a work of the church.
We often say (and rightfully so, I think) that the work of “general benevolence” (that is, taking care of the hungry, poor, and distressed of the world) is not a work of the collective local church; instead, that responsibly falls on the shoulders of individuals.
How well do we practice this, really? We say it, but do we live it?
A common objection to the church’s limitations in general benevolence is, “Do you not care about the poor and hungry?” Have you ever had someone actually ask you that? If so, how did you respond? More importantly, what did you have to show for your answer?
By the way we live we ought to be able to prove that objection false, but more often than not I think they are right. We don’t care about the poor or needy as much as we say we do. (Sadly, I speak of myself as much as anyone else.)
There is too much in the Bible and in Jesus’ teachings about caring for the poor to simply brush that responsibility off by saying, “That’s not the work of the church.” Jesus said the thing that separated the sheep from the goats in Matthew 25 was their compassion toward those who were hungry, thirsty, strangers, naked, sick, and imprisoned. The sheep were saved because they did something to help the needy, but the goats will be escorted to the left with these words: “Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.” What a chilling condemnation!
Also clear in Jesus’ teaching is that hypocrisy can run deep among religious people. Jesus accused the Pharisees of stealing from poor widows while putting up a front of piety and righteousness. While you and I may not actually steal from the needy (far be it from us to do such an awful thing!), the real question is how much do we give to the needy?
I am afraid that too often we are like the well-versed scribe who wished to justify himself before the second greatest command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” He asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:29). Jesus responded with the familiar Parable of the Good Samaritan, poignantly illustrating that it was an outcast of society that cared enough for the man who was beaten, robbed and left for dead in the gutter to do something to help him. Yet the Samaritan was not the first person to see the victim, but the third! A priest and Levite had gone by; it was not as though they didn’t see the man lying beside the road because Jesus said they both “passed by on the other side,” implying that they were attempting to avoid contact with him. If we do not live up to what we say (“the work of caring for the poor falls on the individual”) our faith is just as worthless as that of these two men.
I know it we must be prudent and careful; we do not want to be taken advantage of. I know it is difficult to know when to and when not to help someone. I have been burned more than once. But there are other ways of helping the poor than passing out cash on the sidewalk. Perhaps we can volunteer at a homeless shelter or hospital? Perhaps we can donate to a worthy charity? There are all kinds of ways to carry out our duty to our neighbor.
The greatest thing that we can offer people—ultimately—is the gospel of Jesus Christ (see Acts 3:6). Even if we have no money to give someone we can show them the Savior. That also is a part of “doing good to all people” (Galatians 6:10). Not everyone can help in the same way, but we can all do something.
While we uphold and defend the truth about the church’s responsibility (as we ought), let it never be said of us, “They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger” (Matthew 23:4).
