Poverty is the results of sin. God has permitted them for a season. A believer should have a positive attitude towards them and make use of them for God’s glory. Now read on…
The very first thing to remember is that today we are living in an earth cursed by God (Gen.5:29). Before sin entered the world, Adam and Eve had every thing in plenty and there was no lack for any thing. But sin brought curse in to this world and then came along sweat and pain and lack along with death. Heaven is conceived as eternal bliss and there is no place for poverty there either.
In the Old Testament God gave commandments to Israel so that they will live happily and in prosperity in the promised land. The land of Canaan is described as the land flowing with milk and honey. If any thing, this gives the picture of peace and prosperity. In the blessings chapters of the OT like Lev.26 and Dt.28 blessings of God bring peace and prosperity in the land. It is only when they are under a curse by disobedience to the commands of the Lord that there will be hunger and poverty. God gave them the commands in such a way that there may not be any poor in the land. That was why God ordained the Sabbatical year (Ex.23:11) and indeed the Jubilee year when every thing was restored to the original owner (lev.25:10ff). Dt.15;4f promises that there will not be any poor among them if they are diligent to keep all the commandments of the Lord.
But both OT and NT take it for granted that there will be always poor in the world (Mt.26:11). And the Bible is very consistent when it says again and again that we should be considerate, compassionate, impartial to the poor always. It is not God’s desire for them to be poor but they happened to be poor for various reasons mentioned above, basically sin.
Coming to the NT riches of this world takes a back seat in the plan of God. It is spiritual blessings which are in focus. Worldly riches are often seen as a hindrance to seek after God and His kingdom. In fact in the words of our Lord, mammon (the word of wealth in Aramaic) can take the place of God and one has to choose between serving God or mammon (Lk.16:13). Poverty is idealized in certain passages in the NT. Look for example where Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor” (Lk.6:20). We know that the parallel passage in Matthew talks about ‘poor in spirit’. But Luke does not say that. He just says, “Blessed are the poor”. Blessedness of poverty is some thing to be experienced. For any thing, it gives one absolute trust in God having nothing else to rely on! Thus our Lord went around as a poor village preacher, His needs being taken care of by other around Him. Again look at Jas 2:5 where poor of this world are chosen by God to be rich in faith. “Hearken, my beloved brethren; did not God choose them that are poor as to the world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he promised to them that love him?”
Look at other passages which see the riches of this world in a negative sense.
Mat 13:22 talks about the deceitfulness of riches. “And he that was sown among the thorns, this is he that heareth the word; and the care of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful”.
Jesus our Lord said it was harder for the rich to enter into the kingdom of God. (Luk 18:24) “And Jesus seeing him said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!”
One of the most solemn passages in the NT about the rich of this world is found in Js.5:1-6. There is condemnation on people who become riches by oppression of any kind.
“Come now, ye rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you.
Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten.
Your gold and your silver are rusted; and their rust shall be for a testimony against you, and shall eat your flesh as fire. Ye have laid up your treasure in the last days.
Behold, the hire of the laborers who mowed your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth out: and the cries of them that reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. Ye have lived delicately on the earth, and taken your pleasure; ye have nourished your hearts in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned, ye have killed the righteous one; he doth not resist you”.
Jesus our Lord condemns any one who is not rich toward God (Lk.12:21). In 1Ti 6:9 Paul talks about the snares of riches. “But they that are minded to be rich fall into a temptation and a snare and many foolish and hurtful lusts, such as drown men in destruction and perdition”.
I think of all passages which talk about riches and poverty, Js.1:9-11 gives the greatest insight about how God views the rich and the poor in the church. James 1 is the chapter on trials and temptations. Thus both riches and poverty are seen as trials of one’s faith. Many commit sins because they are rich. Others do so because they are poor. But God has both the rich and the poor in His fold and each must realize that it is a trial of his/her faith and live according to the will of God in spite or riches or poverty. Lk. 16:9 tells us that God expects the rich to make eternal friends with their unfaithful mammon which they possess now. In other words riches are given to the believer that he/she might use it for the extension of God’s kingdom.
This is exactly the same teaching of the OT when it says that it is God who gives one strength to earn wealth in order to establish His covenant (Dt.8:18). Both OT and NT believer’s attitude should be :“Remove far from me falsehood and lies; Give me neither poverty nor riches; Feed me with the food that is needful for me: (Pro.30:8). “but having food and covering we shall be therewith content” (1Tim.6:8).
With all the riches attached to him, Abraham is said to have lived in tents looking for that heavenly city (Heb.11:9) while Cain is said to be the first city here on earth (Gen.4:17). So it is all a matter of the heart. However much wealth God gives in our hands, we should live like the poor in the heart. When Paul was discussing the question of the gentiles and the faith, it is very interesting to note that James, Cephas and John would tell Paul and Bernabas that the Gentile believers should be taught to remember the poor (Gal.2:10). May the Lord help us to taught to remember the poorhave the right attitude towards riches and poverty.
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