How Can We Help the Poor?

God tells us in the Bible to help the poor. But He also condemns laziness. How do we help the poor without enabling the lazy?

 Two men came to Good Shepherd recently asking for money. One man needed money to get to a job interview at a fast food restaurant. I told him that he was welcome to come here occasionally to work small jobs. He wanted a $10 loan and promised to come back and work when he had the time. The only problem was that he had already been given a $10 loan and had never come back to do any work. “Sorry,” I said. “Work first. Pay off the first loan. Then we’ll talk about more money.” “Oh my,” he complained. “But I NEED the money NOW.” “Sorry,” I said. “That’s life.” Away he went muttering.

 The second man was from Mississippi. He had gone to Home Depot to see if he could find any kind of odd job to get enough gas to drive to Springfield where he had a job waiting. They sent him to us. I was just leaving for the hospital to see someone who was dying when he showed up. I told him he just had to wait, but that I was sure I had a couple of hours of work for him. When I got back he was waiting. He never whined or complained. That day Pastor Hemenway and Tim Meister were working on VBS signs. So I sent him to them, and they put him to work. They also had some good talks about what it means to be a Lutheran. He had never heard of the Lutheran church before! When they were done I gave him $20, a bag of groceries, a Small Catechism, and sent him on his way (Tim had already given him a Bible). He was very thankful.

 Psalm 41.1 says, “Blessed is he who considers the poor. The LORD will deliver him in the time of trouble.” The word “consider” is interesting. It doesn’t just mean, “give a little thought to.” It means, “have prudence or understanding.” We really need to have “prudence” when it comes to helping the poor in this country. Far too often the poor of this country are poor because of the choices they have made and because of a lifestyle of laziness and flagrancy. In many ways we have a welfare system that has enabled this and has actually done more harm to people than good. But we can’t abandon people just because of they’ve been conditioned to think of themselves as victims. I’m anxious to continue working with that first man. I want to change his mind and show him how much better it is to try, to put forth a little effort, to forego immediate gratification in order to reap long-term benefits.

 A very good prayer for all of us is that God would give us both the gift of love for the poor as well as the gift of understanding so that in all our efforts to help we are actually helping and not enabling.

I Only Dance in My Head

Psalm 43 is a beautiful little psalm. It is one of the psalms of the Sons or Korah. There are eleven psalms by the Sons of Korah, and as the ancient scholar Origin said, "Their subject and tone are pleasant and cheerful, free from anything sad or harsh" (Homily on 1 Sam.). I've always found that interesting since Korah was the one who led a terrible rebellion against Moses in the wilderness (Numbers 16). Verse four is especially beautiful: The New King James and English Standard Translation both take it the same way: "Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy; And on the harp I will praise You, O God, my God." But it could really be translated "Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, the joy of my rejoicing..." You could expand on that even more to say, "the joy of my jumping up and down, whirling about and rejoicing..." Of course as a German Lutheran I only do this now in my head and deep down in my heart. But wait till I get to heaven! If you're interested here are some of my textual notes.

The Resurrection of Jesus is Scientifically Impossible?

How do you respond to someone who says something like this? It might be helpful simply to talk about what science really is. Many people do not really understand it. They often look at science as though it can answer all questions. For some, science has become their god.

Science is observation and interpretation. Scientists observe events in the natural world and then try to explain them. Their explanations are never perfect. They are always a matter of probability. For example, scientists have observed something as simple as boiling water and have come up with an explanation that has a high probability of being correct. We can be quite sure about our understanding of H2O molecules. However, have we come to the end of our understanding of H2O molecules? One hundred years ago many scientists would have said, "yes." As late as 1957, British mathematician and philosopher Bertrand Russell made this statement: "Physical science is thus approaching the stage when it will be complete, and therefore uninteresting” (Why I Am Not A Christian, p. 49). But there are not many scientists who would dare make a statement like this today. We are not approaching a stage when our understanding of the world will be complete. In fact, just the opposite is true. The more we learn, the more there is to learn. There is an infinite amount of knowledge and complexity in this world. Therefore all scientific explanations are in need of improvement as we learn more and more about the universe.

What does this have to do with the resurrection of Jesus? Science only works when you can make observations. Science works best when we can observe something happening again and again. Each time we observe it we can take a different angle, improve our resolution, or try to isolate certain variables. This works fine for repeatable events. But not all events are repeatable. Follow me on this progression: 1. There are some natural events that are very repeatable - the revolutions and rotation of the earth or photosynthesis in plants. 2. There are some natural events that repeat less often - earthquakes or hurricanes. 3. There are some natural events that are very rare - the birth of quintuplets or the occurrence of certain comets. Following this progression we could propose that there are singular events, events that only happen once. If there are such events, they are beyond our ability to properly observe and explain them.

The Bible tells us about such events: The Creation, The Resurrection of Jesus, and Miracles. Because they are singular events, we cannot observe them repeatedly to develop explanations that have a high probability of being correct. Science simply cannot prove or disprove them. So if a person would say, "The resurrection of Jesus is scientifically impossible," you could correct them and say, "Actually, the resurrection of Jesus is unobservable and therefore beyond the scope of science."

The resurrection of Jesus is not a matter of science but of witnesses. There were many witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus. What were they like? Ordinary people. How credible were they? They promoted morality and were not afraid to tell the world about their own faults and failures. They were very honest. What did they get out of saying "Jesus has risen from the dead?" Many were driven from their homes, others were put in prison, and still others were killed. Another important witness of the resurrection is the empty tomb. There were many people in high places who had a great interest in making sure Jesus stayed dead. There were also witnesses who lived long before Jesus' death and resurrection. These were the prophets who promised a Messiah who would die and yet overcome death.

In the end, the question for all of us is not a question of science but a question of witness. What will you do with the witnesses to the resurrection? Do they have a high probability of being correct?

Who Would Win? Navy Seal or Roman Centurion

The children in our school love to read the "Who Would Win?" books. These books pose imaginary battles between a scorpion and a tarantula, or a rhinoceros and a tiger, or a polar bear and a grizzly?

Allow me to pose another battle: Who would win in a battle between a modern Navy Seal and a first century Roman Centurion? Using the weapons of the first century, I would have to vote in favor of the Centurion. History shows that Centurions were the backbone of the Roman army. They were highly disciplined soldiers who led their troops in battle. They were especially chosen because of the valor they displayed on the battlefield.

The Centurion at the Cross in Mark chapter fifteen has always interested me. His confession, "Truly this man was the Son of God" (15.39) makes me tremble every time I read it. Here was a man who was truly the "hard-core" of the "hard-corps." Yet, his heart was taken captive by the love of God - a different kind of strength! Centurions had their approach to bad men. They made them bleed and die. But Jesus had a different approach to bad men: He bled and died for them! Centurions annihilated evil, Jesus redeemed evil. Which is stronger? Who ultimately wins? Of course it is the love of God in Jesus Christ.

The crucifixion of Jesus brought about several conversions on the first Good Friday. If you're interested, you can read about the others in my Palm Sunday sermon (April 1, 2012).

Don't Have to Go to Church to Be a Christian?

Recently pop icon Justin Bieber got a tattoo on his leg - a tattoo of Jesus wearing the crown of thorns. Of course this caused quite a sensation among his followers, the “beliebers” as they have been called. They wanted to know what this meant. What kind of Christian was he? Sadly, Justin said that he didn’t need to go to church to be a Christian. Now I know he is a young man, and young men are known to say stupid things. I know that I said some stupid things like that when I was his age. But this is wrong. Justin either doesn’t believe what Jesus taught, or (more likely) he doesn’t understand.

Many people see problems in the church such as hypocrisy or people weak in faith. Unfortunately they respond by rejecting corporate worship or what some people today would call "religion." People also feel that they can connect to God on their own without other people being involved. Justin probably wouldn't want to be lumped in with Tom T. Hall, who sang, "Me and Jesus, We Got Our Own Thing Going," but I think that's were he and a lot of people are today.

This rejection of religion or seeking Jesus privately is not the solution. Jesus said, “Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there I am in the midst of them” (Matthew 18.20). The writer of Hebrews warns us not to forsake the "assembling of ourselves together” (10.25). We would do well to notice that the longest of the Ten Commandments is the Sabbath commandment calling us to worship. Luke tells us that on the Sabbath Day Jesus went to the synagogue "as was His custom" (4.16). Jesus also describes the church as the “body” of which He is the head. No one can love the head (Jesus) without loving the rest of the body (the church) (Colossians 1.18).

In John chapter two we read about Jesus clearing the Temple of animals and money-changers. He wanted to clean up the hypocrisy and weakness that sometimes infects worship. But He didn't tell them to stop coming to the Temple! Instead He renewed worship by calling people to repentance and by offering His own perfect life and death as a redeeming sacrifice.

See "Renewing Worship" (sermon for March 11, 2012)

Handling Condemnation

When I made the decision to go to the seminary, one of my closest relatives said, "You know what most people have for dinner on Sunday don't you?... Roast Pastor!" On my vicarage my supervising pastor was adamant that I develop what he called "alligator hide." The barbs, the innuendos, the vague criticisms, and my all time favorite... the anonymous letters... are just some of the ways people like to smack the pastor.

Everyone gets to feel the scourge of condemnation from time to time. There are just a lot of people out there who love to let you know how bad you are! They do so in the corners and the shadows of life. Double that if you try to do anything in ministry... teach Sunday School, play the organ, lead the ladies' or men's group, etc.

I actually thank God for those who condemn me. The more they condemn, the more I cling to Christ and to His gift of righteousness. As I do that, I also become better at showing forth the righteousness of Christ in my life.

I don't assume that every condemnation is unjust. Condemnations are always a call for self-examination, for repentance, forgiveness and renewal. I find that as I struggle through that process I am also able to sift out the legitimate criticisms from the illegitimate. Another important clue to legitimate criticism is that it usually comes face to face and heart to heart. Those who sideswipe us, usually doing so with illegitimate criticism.

Unjust condemnation is still painful for me. But in that case I also turn to Christ for His assurance: "There is therefore now, no condemnation for those who are in Christ, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit" (Romans 8.1).

The Most Valuable Brand

What is the most valuable brand? Interbrand keeps track of the most valuable brands in the world. Click here for the top 100 brands of 2011. In the business world branding is very important - it is the way the world perceives a business.

Churches have gotten into branding. Many churches are dropping their denominational names such as "Lutheran" or "Baptist," etc. Why? It has to do with branding. In most cases those churches think the denominational label detracts from their perception by the world. The denominational label may be old fashioned or may carry some negative baggage.

However, as I look at the list of the top 100 brands for 2011, I don't think there is a single company on that list that has recently changed their name. Does changing your name really make a difference? I think people figure that out fast. On the other hand, I see the companies with the top 100 brands constantly trying to improve their products and services.

This is really what the church should be doing. One of my prayers for Good Shepherd Lutheran Church is that we would be the church that God wants us to be. That means being faithful to God's word in what we teach and practice - faithful in God's truth and in God's love.

As the Apostle Paul says: "Strive to excel in building up the church" (1 Corinthians 14.12 NKJ).