The Christian Approach to the Problem of Crime

 The Christian Approach to the Problem of Crime

Romans 13.4 and Ezekiel 33.14

 

     When I was in college I had an unusual opportunity to take a psychology class at a state prison in my hometown of Vandalia, Illinois. My mother was teaching a child development class there for a local community college (Lakeland College, Mattoon, Illinois). It was through her that I was able to take the psychology class. Each night that the class met I was given a pass through the front gate of the prison. I waited by myself in the classroom until the prisoners arrived. After that, the class was just like any other college class – lecture with questions and answers. However we were given a break, and it was during that time that I got to know some of the prisoners and their stories. One of the constant complaints they all made was that they had been framed for their crimes and were being treated unfairly. Yet, as they talked another story almost always emerged. They began to talk about all the crimes they got away with. One man, in particular, complained about being framed for holding up a Pizza Hut restaurant with a sawed off shotgun. But he bragged about getting away with four previous holdups! 

 

Misunderstanding Crime

 

     That experience taught me a few things about criminology. First, most of the crimes are committed by a small group of people. Second, most of these criminals are pretty hard-boiled and unrepentant. I did meet a few who I think were repentant, and they wanted to start a new life after they got out of prison. My mother had some of those guys in her child development class. She said they were really interested in that subject because most of them were fathers, and they wanted to be better fathers. I also wondered if some of them were learning something about their own child development.

 

     The problem of crime has ballooned in America in the past one hundred years. Since 1930, the incarceration rate per capita has increased five-fold; the number of police per capita has doubled; the number of private security guards has increased three-fold. Today we spend five trillion dollars a year on the problem of crime. What could be the cause of this increase? Part of it is certainly a misunderstanding of the causes of crime. Many criminologists and politicians blame the problem of crime on guns, poverty, racism, and the justice system itself. I have been reading new articles for decades about crimes and criminals, and I rarely see anyone examining their beliefs, their upbringing and their education. What has changed in the past one hundred years regarding these things?  Much has changed. One hundred years ago a new religion was being inculcated in American schools. It wasn’t called a religion, so most people didn’t see it that way. It was called a philosophy – the philosophy of humanism. It slowly became the dominate view human beings. Humanists taught that we are all animals, and that the problem of crime could be solved by getting rid of the animalistic traits still lingering in the “evolutionary” process. Humanists removed God from the discussion and attempted to solve the problems of humanity themselves. Humanists have ended up chasing their tails for the past one hundred years while the sins and evils of society have doubled.

 

The Biblical Approach to Crime

 

     God’s approach to crime employs governments as His servants. The Apostle Paul taught good criminology in Romans 13 when he said:

 

“For [the government] is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, and avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil” (Romans 13.4).

 

     I once had a discussion with a liberal pastor who said the death penalty is “unchristian.” I reminded him of this verse and said, “They don’t use swords to spank people.” He had no response. I do not enjoy seeing harsh measures meted out against criminals, but I recognize the necessity. Governments are called to “execute wrath on him who practices evil.” This is God’s way of “curbing” evil, and hopefully in some cases “curing” evil. But the cure comes from Jesus, not from the government. Do you know that a hundred years ago many prisons were called “penitentiaries”? Even the prison at Vandalia was once called a penitentiary, then a “state farm,” and now a “correctional center.” The word “penitentiary” comes from the word “penitence,” which means “repentance.” The idea was that men who committed crimes would be forced to think about what they had done and hopefully be brought to repentance and renewal. Thankfully, in some cases, this really does happen. 

 

     This happens when we accept the love and grace of God shown to all of us sinners – even to those whose sin has led them to commit violent crimes. All sins are abominable to God, and we must not think ourselves as better people just because we haven’t committed a terrible crime. Sin is like a seed that will grow if it is not killed. It may not grow to full fruit in our lifetime, but it will be passed on to others who may well take it to its full development. Ezekiel the prophet spoke of the need for harsh warnings given to the wicked, and above all the blessings of forgiveness. These words apply to each one of us:

 

Again, when I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ if he turns from his sin and does what is lawful and right, if the wicked restores the pledge, gives back what he has stolen, and walks in the statutes of life without committing iniquity, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of his sins which he has committed shall be remembered against him; he has done what is lawful and right; he shall surely live” (Ezekiel 33.14).

 

     Notice the beauty of the last part of that verse: “None of his sins which he has committed shall be remembered against him.” That is the way God looks at a repentant and forgiven person. There is really nothing more beautiful and wonderful than that. “He shall surely live.” 

 

Only the Cross Can Restore

 

     God showed us how He deals with crime in the most famous case of crime and punishment the world has ever seen. This was the arrest, trials, conviction, and execution of Jesus along with two other criminals. These three crosses that stood at The Place of the Skull are a powerful testimony to God’s approach to sin and crime. At the center is the cross of Christ. We can call that cross the cross of Redemption. Jesus died, not for His own sins or evil, but for the sins and evil of the whole world. Next to him were two criminals who were both mocking Jesus. But one repented and believed in Jesus. We can call his cross the cross of Repentance. To him Jesus said, “Today, you will be with Me in paradise.” The other hard-boiled criminal mocked Jesus to the end. His was the cross of Rejection. What did he hear from Jesus: Silence. Dead silence. (Luke 23). 

 

     With this truth in our hearts and minds we can do something that is helpful and constructive when it comes to the problem of crime. First, we ourselves can listen carefully to the warnings of God’s judgment against sin and take it seriously. We may think that our sins are little and not that bad. But all sin works together with other sins to destroy. Many years ago, a member of my church was murdered in his driveway in Edwardsville two days before Christmas. As I drove to the home to help comfort the family, I was very angry about the criminals who did this. But I then began to remember how I have sinned and that my sins certainly contribute to the overall problem of evil in this world. Perhaps I failed to be a watchman like the prophet Ezekiel and to warn someone about their sin? Perhaps I thought badly about a wicked person instead of praying for them? Perhaps I had failed to show the love of Christ when I could have? Neither anger nor sentimentalism is going to help solve the problems of evil in this world. The first and best thing is for each of us to remember the good proverb: “But for the grace of God, there go I.” With that we also seek God’s forgiveness in Christ, and to strive for faithful living.  Secondly, we should pray constantly for our government and its efforts to keep justice. This is a difficult task, and we must pray that God will bring justice through soldiers, police officers, prosecutors, judges, prison workers and parole officers. Thirdly, we should support the ministries of the church that try to prevent the growth of evil and to help those caught up by it. That would include children’s Bible studies, youth ministries, Christian education, family ministries, and prison ministries just to name a few. 

 

Conclusion

 

     Today, in our Sabbath worship, we can give thanks that once again that God’s word has come into our life to renew our thoughts with the truth and our hearts with grace. We know bad beliefs when we hear them. Human beings aren’t making the world better when they avoid the truth of God and the harsh realities of evil, they are making it worse. Don’t listen to those who throw shade on the Christian faith and try to shame Christians. They have nothing to show for their beliefs about crime and evil than failure. Instead of letting sin grow and destroy, we constantly put it to death in repentance and forgiveness. Christians are always living in spiritual penitentiary and a hospital of mercy in Christ. We can leave this day knowing that God has restored us to a good life and that He wills to restore others through the cross of Christ. Amen. 

The Book of Life (Bible Study)

 The Book of Life

Thursday Bible Study, Immanuel Lutheran Church, Mt. Olive, Illinois
September 3, 2026

In 1893 James Milton Black wrote the song “When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder.” He wrote the song because one of the students in his Sunday School class was absent. He visited her home and called a doctor to attend to her pneumonia. After that the thought of someone not being in attendance in heaven haunted him, and this inspired the song.

What is the Book of Life and how can I be sure that my name is written in it?

1. Exodus 32.32 – Moses uses the phrase to describe earthly life. 

It is most likely that Moses is asking for the LORD to end his life as he did in Numbers 11.15. He doesn’t use the expression “Book of Life.” There is nothing we can do to put our names in or take our names out of the Book of Life. As one pastor said, “The names in the Book of Life are not written in pencil.”

2. Psalm 69.28 – David prays that his enemies be blotted out from earthly life like Exodus 32. As unbelievers their names are not in the Book of Life with the righteous.

Some suggest that everyone’s name is in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world and that if they reject Christ, they’re names are removed (Universal Inscription). The Hebrew word m-ch-h means “to wipe out, annihilate.” This fits better with his enemies being killed rather than removed from the Book of Life.

3. Daniel 12.1-3 Describes those who are delivered to eternal life.

Daniel is clearly speaking about the resurrection and eternal life. 

4. Luke 10.20 Jesus urges us to rejoice knowing our names are written in heaven. 

ἐγγέγραπται “written” is in the Perfect Middle Tense. The core meaning of the Perfect Middle is “a present state resulting from a past action.”

5. Philippians 4.3 Here it is equivalent to those who are saved.

John uses the phrase more than any other in the Book of Revelation.

6. Revelation 3.5 Again equivalent to those who are saved.

7. Revelation 13.8 Emphasizes that the names were written from the foundation of the
world See also Revelation 17.8.

8. Revelation 20.12-15 Describes other books used for judgment that record our works
    as well as the book of life. 

9. All in all, the Book of Life is an expression used as an equivalent to “those who are
    saved.” What is the significance of using the image of a “book”?

The image of a “book” adds the sense of “permanence.”

10. When are the names written in the Book of Life? The Bible clearly says: From the foundation of the world. 

Three schools of interpretation
1. Names are written in the Book of Life when Jesus is accepted. (Wrong)
2. Names are written from the foundation of the world but are “sealed” at conversion. (Wrong)
3. Names are written from the foundation of the world. Accept it at face value. (Correct)

The first two interpretations stem from the idea that we participate in our conversion in some way if only that of “acceptance.” [“As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him” (Colossians 2.6) Ephesians 2.1 says we were dead in trespasses and sins and made alive.] 

Those who hold to this view are afraid that the doctrine of election will lead to a lack of holy living if people think they have nothing to do with their salvation. “Why evangelize if salvation is predestined?” “Why strive to live a holy life if salvation is predestined?” Human beings feel they must have some control over their salvation. They think this gives them assurance. But this also leads to bad outcomes. How will I ever be sure of my salvation if somehow it depends partly on me? How terrible I must feel if I think that the salvation of my neighbor depends on my zeal to share the gospel with him? Synergism leads to pride and presumption or doubt and fear. 

Why is the Lutheran (Face Value) interpretation more consoling? It consoles us because we know that God’s work is the only reliable work. It consoles us because we know that our salvation is not an accident, a coincidence, or a work we finished. God started it, continued it, and will finish it. “He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1.6). It was planned by God from the beginning. I’m sure that in the heart of a hypocrite this would disincentivize a person’s spirituality. But in the heart of a true believer it actually motivates. Consider how this truth motivated the apostle Paul when he came to the spiritually corrupt city of Corinth. God told Paul, “Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent; for I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you; for I have many people in this city” (Acts 18.9-11). 

What is happening when we evangelize and when people come to faith in Christ? Neither the witness or the converted person is putting their name in the Book of Life. It is already there! It is the Lamb’s Book of Life! What is happening is this: They are being awakened to the fact that they are saved! This is highly motivational. It tells us not to look at the outer person to see if they could become a Christian. We should witness to the worst criminal as well as to the most refined gentleman. God will determine the outcome since “Salvation belongs to the LORD” (Psalm 3.8). 

But what about personal responsibility? Don’t confuse personal responsibility with God’s work in us. Something is happening. The heart is brought to repentance and filled with faith. Good works will result. But this does not come from personal responsibility, it comes from God. “No one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12.3). Ask yourself this question: Are we saved because we accepted Christ? Or, Do we accept Christ because we are saved? Which view gives all the glory to God? “By grace you have been saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2.8-10). 

10. Martin Luther said on several occasions that the Book of Life is Christ Himself and
      to be written in it is to be in Christ by faith. 

11. The Formula of Concord (SD XI.13) states:

¹³ Hence if we wish to think or speak correctly and profitably about eternal election or about the predestination and ordering of the children of God to eternal life, we should accustom ourselves not to speculate concerning the absolute, secret, hidden, and inscrutable foreknowledge of God. On the contrary, we should consider the counsel, purpose, and ordinance of God in Christ Jesus, who is the genuine and true “book of life” as it is revealed to us through the Word.

Conclusion

Our hymnal contains the hymn “The Day Is Surely Drawing Near” (LSB 508) that accurately describes the Day of Judgment. It is drawn from an older poem known as the Dies Irae or “Day of Wrath.” The hymn pulls no punches as it describes the fright which will engulf the world at that time. It also offers great comfort to believers assuring them: “My Savior paid the debt I owe And for my sin was smitten; Within the Book of Life I know My name has now been written. I will not doubt, for I am free, And Satan cannot threaten me; There is no condemnation.” 

 

1 When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound, 
and time shall be no more,
and the morning breaks, eternal, bright and fair;
When the saved of earth shall gather 
over on the other shore,
and the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there.

Refrain:
When the roll is called up yonder,
When the roll is called up yonder,
When the roll is called up yonder,
When the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there.

2 On that bright and cloudless morning 
when the dead in Christ shall rise, 
and the glory of His resurrection share;
When His chosen ones shall gather 
to their home beyond the skies,
And the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there. [Refrain]

3 Let us labor for the Master 
from the dawn till setting sun;
let us talk of all His wondrous love and care.
Then when all of life is over, 
and our work on earth is done,
and the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there. [Refrain]

Cross Bearing to Conquer Evil Matthew 16:21-24

 Cross Bearing to Conquer Evil

 

Matthew 16:21-24 From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.  ²² Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, "Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!"  ²³ But He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men."  ²⁴ Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.  

 

Introduction:

 

     I heard the story of a Russian man who was born to atheist parents, grew up in an atheist town and attended an atheist school. He had never in his life heard of Jesus Christ. But somewhere along the path of his life he saw a picture of a man who had died on a cross. He never forgot that picture and often wondered why he was strangely drawn to that picture. He wanted to understand it. At first he thought the man must have been a very bad criminal. Then he thought that he might have been a very persecuted man. Eventually he met a Christian who also knew about this picture, and he explained it to him. That explanation, that the Son of God suffered and died on the cross to take away his sin, was the most beautiful thing he had ever heard.

 

Jesus is the Christ - What Does This Mean?

 

     Last Sunday our Gospel lesson came from the verses right before today’s lesson where Peter boldly confessed that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the Living God. But Peter didn’t fully understand what that meant. Jesus went on to explain that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer, die, and rise again. Peter, like so many people before and after him, could not conceive of the Son of God suffering like that. The Son, he thought, should be crushing His enemies, not being crushed by them. But Jesus was only fulfilling the plan that God had in mind from the foundation of the world. In the very first promise of the Messiah, God told Satan, “You will crush His heel, but He will crush your head” (Genesis 3.15). Jesus would suffer and die at the hands of God’s enemies. But in the end He would rise from the dead, and His victory would mean forgiveness and salvation for those who trust in Him. 

 

     If we would all be honest with ourselves, we would have to admit that this makes no sense at all. We can understand Peter’s confusion. When has anyone conquered by being killed? What army has ever won a war by being destroyed in battle?  It doesn’t make sense as long as we have in mind the “things of men” as Jesus says.  But so typical of Jesus... There’s much more to this.  

 

     Gregory of Nyssa lived in the 300s A.D. from the region of Cappadocia, which was known for its famous “Cave Churches.” Gregory was a bookish pastor who loved to explain the deep mysteries of the Christian faith. Here is the way he explained the incarnation and crucifixion of Jesus: He said that Jesus, the Son of God, was like a hook buried in the flesh of a worm. He became the bait for the devil who attempted to devour Him on the cross. Instead, when Jesus died, the devil was caught by the holiness and divinity of the Son of God, and all his powers over believers were taken away. 

 

     What Peter was struggling to understand and what Jesus was gradually unfolding before his eyes in His earthly ministry was that He was not just another ordinary man. He wasn’t even just an extra-ordinary man. He wasn’t a man who came to use the ways of men to destroy evil. He was the perfect, pure, righteous, truthful Son of God. Satan had the power to crush anything of this world and of men. But he couldn’t crush Jesus. In fact, by trying, he was crushed. This is why we, like the Russian man, are not only drawn to this picture of a dead man on a cross, but more importantly to the meaning of it. In death, the death of the cross, Jesus defeated the cause of death and ended its reign of terror over this earth.  

 

     Now, Jesus says something just as shocking about the cross. He says that those who follow Him must take up their cross as well. Please remember that in Jesus’ day the cross represented the worst punishment for evil that anyone could think of. Today He might have said, “Take up your electric chair, or lethal injection, or a bullet to the head” This was serious. As He defeated sin and Satan through death, so must we. What are our crosses?

 

Your First Cross: Repentance

 

     The first cross, and the most difficult of all, is the cross of repentance. Only the Holy Spirit can bring about that change in our hearts that causes us to quit making excuses, and to quit blaming others or even God for our failure to live according to God’s commands. If Jesus came to die for our sins, then we have to acknowledge those sins and present them as our spiritual sacrifice to God. But uncovering our shame and turning from our sins is not easy. The very core of our sinful nature is to lie to ourselves and cling to our self-righteousness. But those sins cannot be forgiven as long as you cling to them. 

 

     How can we repent of them? Jeremiah taught us three very simple but powerful prayers. The first two are in chapter seventeen (v. 14): “Heal me, and I shall be healed; save me and I shall be saved, for Thou art my praise.” The third comes in chapter thirty-one (v. 14): “Turn Thou me, and I shall be turned.” “Turn,” is the main Hebrew word for repentance, and this prayer shows us that repentance is something that comes from God. He gives us the power to do what we can’t do by ourselves. Job also prayed in this way: “Make me to know my transgression and my sin” (13.23). This, the hardest of all crosses, can only be taken up with the help of God. 

 

Your Second Cross: Scorn of the World

 

     The second cross is that which the world puts upon us for being Christians. In chapter ten of Matthew Jesus said, “You will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved” (10.22). The world despises true faith because it despises the object of true faith: God. The world either denies the existence of God or exchanges God for an idol of its own creation. In either case it is men who become their own lawgivers. Rather than seeking God’s pleasure, they seek their own. One by one what God calls evil they call good: disrespect of parents, disrespect of life, disrespect of marriage, promoters of dishonest gain, denial of truth, and uncontrollable desire to have whatever they want. Jude describes them well saying they are: “wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shameful deeds; wandering stars for whom the blackness of darkness is reserved forever! ... These people are discontented grumblers, walking according to their desires; their mouths utter arrogant words, flattering people for their own advantage” (Jude 13, 16 HCSB). Truth and righteousness become whatever they say it is, and woe to anyone who tells them otherwise.

 

     How do we handle this? Paul tells us, “Speak the truth in love” (Ephesians 4.15). Jesus said, “Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you” (Matthew 5.44). This cross also can only be lifted up with prayer. I have often said that when we watch the news of the world, we are watching the dispatches that come from a spiritually dysfunctional world. It is tempting to become disgusted and even angry about it. But don’t let that take you off track. Instead write down the dark things you see and hear and add them to your daily prayers. You must look at the scoffers not as your enemies. Satan is the enemy, and they are simply living under his influence. Pray that they would be delivered from that influence to the influence of the Holy Spirit as you have been delivered. 

 

Your Third Cross Is Satan

 

     The third cross is Satan himself. Satan wants us to think that he is a joke. But he is very real. He works to tempt us and to draw us away from God, and he has many disciples doing his bidding for that purpose. But finally, he is our earthly destroyer. John, in Revelation 9.11 says that the world has a king,  “whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but in Greek he has the name Apollyon.” Both words mean “destroyer.” Jesus told us of a woman who had “a spirit of infirmity” who was bent over and could not stand up for eighteen years. Jesus healed her, and when she could stand up she immediately glorified God. He went on to say that this woman had been “bound by Satan” (Luke 13.10-17). Peter said that Jesus, “Went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him” (Acts 10.38). Paul had a thorn in the flesh that he called, “a messenger from Satan” (2 Corinthians 12.7). This world is totally afflicted by Satan which God allows because of sin. 

 

     What do we do when we are told we have a disease or are injured in an accident? What do we do when we face pain and suffering? We can ask for something to numb the pain, and there is nothing wrong with this. Even Jesus drank sour wine when He was dying on the cross. But there is something else we can do. We can face the pain and pray for God’s help to endure it faithfully. We can look upon the pain and suffering of this world as a battle with Satan, which it is. Satan wants the pain to drive us to despair. He wants to use it to drive us away from God. But when that doesn’t happen, when a Christian responds to pain and suffering with faith and prayer, he is defeated. He is defeated in so many ways. First, he failed to turn you from God. Second, many people who saw you suffering and yet trusting in God were inspired in their faith and drawn closer to God as well. 

 

Conclusion

 

     Let’s summarize this message by focusing again on Jesus’ words “the things of men” and the “the things of God.”  We cannot fight evil with the things of men.  Humans are by nature sinful and weak. Our powers may seem great, but they are no match for ultimate evil. The things of God are truth, righteousness, love, and good works.  These are the things that defeat evil.  This is what Christ has given us in His cross bearing, and this is what empowers us for our cross bearing lives.  

 

     Andy had the unfortunate fate of being born to a very immature and ignorant father. His father routinely mocked him for his lack of athletic ability and for his difficulties in relating to girls. Andy was tempted to hate his father, and for a time he did. He even had day dreams about killing his father. But something was holding him back. Andy was a Christian, and his family regularly attended church. For Andy this sometimes made everything worse. His father was a blatant hypocrite. Andy, however, took up his pastor’s recommendation that he actually read one of the Gospels to learn about Jesus for himself. As he read through the Gospel of Matthew, he came to this passage that we’ve read today, and he realized what his cross was. It was his father. From that moment on he stopped hating him and began to pray for him. Andy didn’t allow Satan’s venom that was working so effectively in his father to infect him. He grew up to be an outstanding young man, advancing far beyond his father’s achievements in every way. Andy didn’t flaunt his success in front is father. He didn’t stop talking to him, visiting, or praying for him. He just felt sorry for him. I wish I could tell you that his father finally came to repentance, but I can’t. This isn’t a fairy tale, this is real life. But I can tell you that Andy’s life did not go unnoticed. He had a brother and a sister who also struggled with the pain inflicted by their father. Through Andy’s cross bearing life they also learned to be cross bearers themselves instead of hypocrites full of hate.

 

     Here is your challenge today:  Look at all the problems you face. You may pray that they go away, and I’m sure some of them will. But just as Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, “Not My will, but Yours be done,” so be prepared for the fact that not all of them will go away. Now, looking to Jesus, who bore the cross for you, take up your cross and follow Him.  Good will come of it, I promise.  Amen.  

How to Help the Poor - 3

3. Helping the Poor Today

     In the last lesson we looked at several Biblical remedies for poverty. In the Old Testament farmers were required to leave grain in their fields for the poor. Slaves were given freedom and debts were cancelled every seventh year. In the New Testament Jesus and the Apostle Paul collected offerings to give to the poor. The Christians of the church in Jerusalem voluntarily pooled their resources to help one another. Paul said we should “do good to all, especially to the household of faith” (Galatians 6.10). James 2.14-19 stresses that Christians need to help the poor. Yet Jesus said in Mark 14.3-9 that the poor will be with us always, and that the gospel of salvation is foundation for all help that we might give for the poor. 

 

1. Support for the Poor Through Our Regular Offerings  

 

     These services of the church are often offered to all free of charge: Worship, Bible Study (for all ages), Counseling, Pastoral Care, Evangelism, Food Pantry, Emergency Assistance, Scholarships, Micro-Loans

 

2. These Organizations Are Often Supported by Local Churches.

 

     LCMS Disaster Relief

     Orphan Grain Train

     Salvation Army

     Pregnancy Centers

     Food Pantries

     Lutheran Hour Ministries

 

3. These Are Some of the Most Well-Known “Christian” Missions to the Poor

Samaritan’s Purse

Lutheran World Relief

Operation Blessing

Catholic Relief Services

World Vision

Salvation Army

Bread for the World

Compassion International

Food for the Poor

 

4. These Are Some of the Current Strategies Used to Help the Poor

 

Asset Based Development & Asset Mapping: Approach development by looking first not to the needs but to the assets of the community. Look to what is good and build on that.

Participatory Learning: Involving the community in the plan for development

Family Advocates: Single mothers were matched with family advocates who worked with them to improve the situation. 

Jobs for Life: This program involves classroom training, mentors and businesses that work with poor people to get them into good jobs.

Micro Loans: Small loans to help the poor start businesses

Individual Development Accounts: This program provides matching funds to the poor to help them build savings.

Savings and Credit Associations: This is like micro loans except that the loans come from the people within the community rather than from outside donors.

Business as Missions: This program helps start for profit businesses within a poor community that will help provide jobs.

Circle of Allies: This is a mentoring program in which allies (mentors) and participants meet monthly and at other times to plan and work together for development.

5. How Shall We Evaluate Poverty Programs?

 

     A. Is the mission to feed both body and soul?

 

     B. What proportion of donations are spent on administration and advertising vs. actual help. 

 

     C. How is the mission connected to the local church? 

 

     D. How does the mission focus on sustainable transformation?

Pastor Michael P. Walther, Vacancy Pastor at Immanuel Lutheran Church, Mt. Olive, Illinois

The Renewing of the Mind

 The Renewing of the Mind

Romans 12.1-2

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

 

Introduction

 

     The human mind is one of the most amazing miracles of God’s creation. If you want to upset an evolutionist, ask them if the mind can be seen under a microscope and how it supposedly evolved. The mind is clearly one of the unique features of human beings. It has the capacity for immense good and for immense evil and everything in between. Many people mind their clothes they wear, the car they drive, the work they do, and the friends they have. But we don’t always pay much attention to our minds. We’re very concerned about our blood pressure, our weight, our strength, etc. But what about our minds? Is our thinking good or evil? Are our desires pleasing to God or not? Are our feelings hurting us or helping us? God wants our minds to be renewed according to His will that we might live our lives constructively and not destructively, dedicated to holiness and not to evil. Our minds need to be renewed by God’s wisdom rather than ruined by sin. How? That’s what this sermon is about.

 

1. Refuse to Be Conformed to the Mindset of the World

 

     The apostle Paul urges us to be living sacrifices to God. That is the goal of the “transformed mind.” But I’m going to set that aside for a moment and start with the problem that we all face. Paul said, “Do not be conformed to the world.”  The first thing we need to know is that our minds can be shaped in a good or bad way. Our thoughts, feelings, and desires can be turned to the good or the bad.  The good mind comes from God, who created our minds. The bad mind comes when there is no input by God and when we have forsaken our Creator. These two ways of thinking – Thinking the thoughts of God and thinking the thoughts apart from God will always be contrary to one another. 

 

     The Bible shows us how this has happened in the past. Pharaoh resisted the mind of God when he refused to let Israel go free from slavery. The prophets of Baal resisted the mind of God when they lured Israel to worship the idol of materialism and lust. The Pharisees resisted the mind of God when they refused the forgiveness of God in Jesus. Solomon said that the talk of a foolish man, a man who rejects the mind of God, ends in “raving madness” (Ecclesiastes 10.13). Paul warns us in his letter to the Ephesians not to walk with those who in the “futility of their mind” are “alienated from the life of God,” and have given themselves over to “lewdness” (NKJ), “licentiousness” (KJV), ἀσέλγεια (Greek) “total lack of self-control.” This is literally “losing your mind.” 

 

     Is this not the mind of many around us today? Unrestrained lust fed by the steady online stream of pornography? Unrestrained anger which explodes into domestic violence, road rage and murder suicides? Unrestrained imaginations that wage war against nature itself with people thinking they can do and be anything they want without any consequences? None of this will end well. 

 

      All of these examples point to one thing: Either our minds are formed by the teachings of God’s word or not. In every age there are those who want to force people to conform to ideas that are contrary to God’s word and His will. Paul urges us not to be conformed in this way. The word here for “conform” literally refers to the way something is forced into a mold and forced to take the shape of that mold. The Christian mind is molded and shaped by God’s word. 

 

     Many people reject this Christian mindset. They have in every age, and they always will. They prefer to see themselves as God and to live by their own will. You and I cannot stop that. We cannot control that. But we can refuse to be controlled by it and conformed to it. We will always be of another mind, another will, another way of living – this is the way of Christ, to whom we have been called.   

 

2. Be Transformed By the Renewing of the Mind

 

     Our resistance to all of this comes when our minds were “transformed” by what Paul calls the “renewing of the mind.” Paul’s words show us that we were once conformed to the mind of this world. We were also gods unto ourselves, dominated by sin, and destined to destruction. But our minds were renewed by the word of God. The Holy Spirit enabled us to accept our guilt, to repent of our sins, and to believe in Jesus for our forgiveness. 

 

Paul talks a lot about this transformed mind in the eighth chapter of Romans:

 

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8.5-8) 

 

     Notice that there are two different mindsets. One is of the flesh, that is, it is without God’s input. It is the mind of sin and transgression. The other is the mind of the Spirit, that is, of Gods word. We remain transformed and renewed when God’s word is continually shaping our thoughts, desires, words, and actions. A person with the mindset of the Spirit is a person who simply asks themselves a lot: What does God want me to think, say, & do? This question never comes to the mind of those conformed to the world.

 

     Let me share with you a good example of a mind that was transformed by God’s word. Rosaria Butterfield was a professor of queer theory and feminist criticism at Syracuse University, and an advocate of LGBTQ+ causes, an atheist, and was in the process of writing a book against Christianity. She received a letter from a pastor that was warm, intellectually serious, and raised legitimate questions about life. This led her to begin reading the Bible seriously. She realized the Bible presented a much different moral universe, but she was also attracted to the beauty, coherence, and the authority of the Bible. She began to realize that she was not just reading Scripture. She said in her own words: “Scripture was reading me.” She felt convicted of her sin and was turned to Jesus and His grace. She knew this would destroy her career and friendships. But she couldn’t go on opposing the will of God. She was transformed. You can read more about her experience in her book, The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert. There have been many, many examples of this throughout history. 

 

     But I would like you to think about your own transformation and how it happened and is happening. Think about the events of life and the people you have met that have drawn you closer to God. In my life I think my parents, my sixth grade Sunday School teacher, the vicar who taught my confirmation class, my pastors, and my Christian college and seminary professors. All of them were part of the team that transformed my mind to the mind of Christ. They all had one thing in common: They pointed me to the word of God and encouraged me to read it so that I could “prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” 

 

3. Be a Living Sacrifice to Help Save.

 

     When our minds are working in this way, our lives will show it. This is what Paul means when he says that we should become “living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God.” The transformed mind asks this question: Am I pleasing to God? Just asking yourself that question several times a day can make a big difference in your life. The sacrifices that God commanded the people of Israel before the sacrifice of Christ were very important. They were the means of grace through which Israel received forgiveness and through which they also offered to God their thanksgiving and praise. But even then, God also expected Israel to be living sacrifices through faithful living. David said, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and crushed heart, God will not despise” (Psalm 51.17).

 

     Jesus Christ became the ultimately pleasing sacrifice that took away not only the sins of Israel but also those of the whole world. And, when we live in that joy and renewal of that forgiveness, our lives also become a living sacrifice.  St. John Chrysostom (d. 407) preached about this when he said, 

 

"How can the body become a sacrifice? Let the eye look on no evil, and it is a sacrifice. Let the tongue utter nothing base, and it is an offering. Let the hand work no sin, and it is a holocaust (burnt offering). But more, this suffices not, but besides we must actively exert ourselves for good; the hand giving alms, the mouth blessing them that curse us, the ear ever at leisure for listening to God" (Chrysostom). [Isn’t it amazing that a sermon that is more than more than 1,600 years old still speaks today!]

 

     Sometimes Christians think that they must have some kind of control over the age in which they live, that somehow they should be able to convince the world to operate by the transformed mind in Christ. This has never happened and never will happen. “Broad,” Jesus said, “is the way of destruction, and there are many who go in by it” (Matthew 7.13). This is what I call the “minority temptation.” When we were children, we asked our parents: “Everyone else is doing it, why can’t I?” Now as adults we wonder: “Everyone else is still doing it and even more so, maybe I’m wrong?” Not at all. Those who told us not to follow the crowd that doesn’t follow Christ were right because it is God that ultimately tells us this. He urges us to stand fast, and to be the living sacrifices – the representatives of His Son, Jesus, in this world. This is what Paul calls “our reasonable service.” Don’t worry when the world scorns you for believing that God created the world, that the one way of salvation is in Jesus, and that we are called to holy not an unholy life. We are here, in this situation now, to show people the mind of God. How would they ever come to know it and perhaps believe it unless they see it in us?

 

Conclusion

 

     Every Sunday morning when you come to worship, every day when you read and remember some words from the Bible, and every moment spent in prayer is a “renewing of the mind” experience. Maybe some will join you. Maybe many will join you. Maybe none will join. But either way we have no choice but to live in the mind of Christ. The only other alternative is the mind of the world and sinful flesh which is nothing more than a step into the abyss of madness. I thank God; we thank God, that He has awakened us to this, and that every step we take in this walk with Jesus is a step to a better life, a better future, and better eternity. Amen. 

How to Help the Poor 2 (Biblical Approaches to Poverty)

 Introduction

     

     As we noted at the end of the first lesson, Jesus said we would never end poverty in this world. But that does not give us the option to give up trying to help the poor. In this lesson we’ll explore God’s concern for the poor and some of the ways people helped the poor in the Bible. Hopefully these examples will help us for next week’s lesson: How We Can Help the Poor Now.

 

1. Why we should care for the poor...  

 

     Isaiah 3.15

 

     Isaiah 61.1

 

     Luke 4.17-19

 

     Matthew 11.4-5

 

     Matthew 25.36-40

 

     John 13.29, 34

 

     1 John 3.14-18

 

2. How did the first disciples do this?

 

     Acts 4.32ff

 

     Act 6

 

     1 Corinthians 16.1-4

 

2 Corinthians 9.1-5

 

3. Did the church do for the poor what they can do for themselves?

 

     Ephesians 4.28-29            

 

2 Thessalonians 3.6-15

 

     1 Timothy 6.17-19

4. How did God instruct Israel to care for the poor?

 

     Leviticus 19.9-10 & Exodus 23.11

 

     Leviticus 25.25-30

 

     Exodus 22.25

 

     Deuteronomy 15.12-15

 

5. What conclusions can we draw from these teachings and examples?

 

A. Both Israel and the New Testament Church were heavily focused on feeding both the soul and the body. If salvation is about sin, then we have to be concerned with sin.

 

B. If sin is the ultimate cause of poverty, then all relief efforts must focus on repentance and forgiveness. We must focus on bread for the body as well as bread for the soul. This also means that helping the poor must be done in a spiritual way.

 

C. The commandment to love your neighbor as yourself provides a foundation for wisdom when it comes to helping the poor. What would you want someone to do for you if you were poor?  (Caution: We have to be careful about assuming we can understand their situation.)

 

D. Because of sin, work has become difficult. But work itself is not sinful. Everyone works, if able – the rich and the poor. 

 

E. Helping the poor, like trying to do anything good in this life, will produce mixed results. Some projects will succeed better than others, but we can’t give up trying. 

 

Conclusion

 

      Our incentive to help the poor is not the idea that we are going to bring an end to poverty. Our incentive flows from the love of God that He has shown to us. We help the poor because God has helped us, and we know that He wants us to help the poor through us. God’s ultimate goal for all is life, physically and spiritually. Some will choose death, and we cannot help that. We must choose life and urge everyone else to do the same.