When little is a lot.

2 Corinthians 8:1-5 NLT

Now I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters, what God in his kindness has done through the churches in Macedonia. They are being tested by many troubles, and they are very poor. But they are also filled with abundant joy, which has overflowed in rich generosity. For I can testify that they gave not only what they could afford, but far more. And they did it of their own free will. They begged us again and again for the privilege of sharing in the gift for the believers in Jerusalem.  They even did more than we had hoped, for their first action was to give themselves to the Lord and to us, just as God wanted them to do.

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Albanian Abundance

"Help if you can," is a common refrain you hear from people raising funds. But maybe it should be rephrased, "help if you want joy."

It's obvious from Paul's description of the Macedonians that they had a full plate. He says they are being tested by many troubles. Turning to Jesus had a huge impact on people then, it effected their employment, their relationship to the city leaders, their relationships with their families, and if the new anti-Christian witchhunters (like Paul himself had been) were in town then life could be very difficult indeed. Presumably the Macedonians were being stonewalled, hunted and taken advantage of. Imagine not being able to get work and the local real estate agents all colluding to keep you from getting a fair price for your property. Increasingly your whole church community is needy, jobless  ostracised, and afraid.
Into this pitiful situation the news that others you've never met are suffering  moves your church to have a whip around. They are poor, and their immediate future prospects are grim and yet they find joy in giving. And although the needy in question are in a very tight spot they in fact may have actually been people who had previously been well off. The Macedonians probably had been poor at best all along and before they became followers of Jesus, where as the Jewish Christians now suffering in Jerusalem by in large could most likely have been comfortable or better off back before the persecution and the huge influx of new believers.

The Macedonians in spite of their circumstances are filled with joy. And this joy manifested itself in generous giving. I've always thought (maybe influenced by loony toons) that if we only had one bean between the members of our family we'd make the bean slices a little smaller so we could get one more person at the table. The slice might be smaller but the joy would be greater. It is obvious that generosity is a by-product of joy. Joy was a by-product of faith. It is true that this new faith had landed them all in rather troubling a spot of bother. But that was only temporary (even if it lasted for years). The Macedonian believers were so confident that God would care for them that their problems didn't dash their absolute confidence in God's wonderful gift of salvation. Having received this ultimate gift they felt rich. So they had plenty to share. The giving was cathartic and addictive and spread like a virus until the whole church was giving spontaneously and sacrificially.

We live now in time where every one wants to get not give. Today the answer of the educated powerful is to throw money at poverty. The failure of every project is lack of funds. The solution of every need is better funding. But  the Macedonians should have been the recipients not the funders. And today most people would say that it was 'foolish' to endanger the church, and the family by short-changing yourself to help others. Paul commends them. He recognises that their generosity with stuff and money was not really the root of their generosity. Rather they had already given themselves to the Lord and to Paul. The Macedonians didn't own themselves so they didn't have to worry about taking care of themselves. They were God's. It was God's responsibility to take care of them. And they knew in Jesus they were secure so they are free to give everything away.
Wouldn't you like to be so free?

True Justice

Deuteronomy  24:17-22 NLT

“True justice must be given to foreigners living among you and to orphans, and you must never accept a widow’s garment as security for her debt. Always remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God redeemed you from your slavery. That is why I have given you this command. “When you are harvesting your crops and forget to bring in a bundle of grain from your field, don’t go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigners, orphans, and widows. Then the Lord your God will bless you in all you do. When you beat the olives from your olive trees, don’t go over the boughs twice. Leave the remaining olives for the foreigners, orphans, and widows. When you gather the grapes in your vineyard, don’t glean the vines after they are picked. Leave the remaining grapes for the foreigners, orphans, and widows. Remember that you were slaves in the land of Egypt. That is why I am giving you this command.

Cruise Road is a  real welcoming community! (Cruise Road, Sheffield, England UK S11)

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The movement of people is inevitable. Famine, wars, crime, ethnic tensions and many other factors combine to cause people to move. Economic migrants are a constant story in the news. And refugees and asylum seekers never cease to pour across the worlds borders. Then there is the constant expansion and never satisfied commerce that lures people out into unknown worlds and far reaching places only to go bust and become trapped. The poor, the foreigner, the orphan (of which worldwide there are estimated between 120 and 200 million) and the widow will be on your doorstep. 

God has brought them to you! God wants you to take care of them. How can you turn them away? How can you think they are dirty, untrustworthy, or criminal? How can you protect your own jobs, land, privilege and position? Do you think you blessed yourself? Do you think you have it good because you are clever or hard working and they are lazy and stupid? Do you really think your men died defending your country to buy you the right to mistreat the needy? Do you think you can put yourself first? You have no good thing unless God has given it to you! You would have nothing if it were not for God's grace. And grace by the way isn't making you a favorite because you are better! Grace is a gift! Over and Over God reminds his people they were slaves! Over and over you need to remember your country is a country of poor immigrants. Or worse yet your forefathers came and took by brutal and uncaring force the land you call your own. 

Your life must take into account a caring humble attitude for the needy!

If it does not, God says the foreigner, the orphan and the widow have a case before him against you! Do you really want to pick a fight with God? Do you really disbelieve God? Do you know better than God?

How are you taking care of the poor, the needy, the foreigner, the orphan and the widow? In what practical ways are you helping them?

Deuteronomy calls this true justice and James calls it pure and genuine religion. 

So are you just in your attitudes, pure in your trust of God, and genuine in your humility?

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 27Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you. James 1:27

Social welfare is the strongest defence.

https://soundcloud.com/wkbode/consider-the-following-social

Jeremiah 22:3, 13, 16-17 NIV

This is what the Lord says: Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of the oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place.

“Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness, his upper rooms by injustice, making his own people work for nothing, not paying them for their labor.

He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?” declares the Lord.  “But your eyes and your heart are set only on dishonest gain, on shedding innocent blood and on oppression and extortion.”

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Leeds City Hall

When they march it feels like the ground actually shakes.  Hanging sweet in the air is the smell of oiled leather and sweaty horses. The din of soldiers speaking a foreign language echos in the valleys outside the city.

Had Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and the Babylonians left one man at home? Surrounding the city in every direction as far as the eye can see are these invaders.

You think God would be concerned with foreign affairs. But no, Jeremiah, the prophet everyone hates and the only one to warn us of this siege says, God is concerned with the needy and poor. Jeremiah has the audacity to go on and on about petty domestic issues.

We're all going to die and it gets worse and worse! Jeremiah says God wants us to be socially aware and to alleviate the situation for the most vulnerable. Can he be serious?

Why is God harping on about people who've supposedly been cheated? A King and his court have to make a good impression if I'm going to negotiate with Nebuchadnezzar! Those unproductive wasters will be glad to give up their food if I save their worthless lives. If we're going to make it out of this, I'm going to have to commandeer a lot more as well. I'll need to make sure the strong, good looking and the healthy are making the best impression, so some of the less important will have to contribute to the war effort to bolster our campaign to impress those foreign dignitaries. Maybe I'll secure our release? I've got no time at all to be settling the ridiculous complaints of a few street urchins and unfortunate old women. Priorities, man!

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Possibly an attitude like the one I've fictionalised above is being held by you or your friends. Maybe you think times are hard, terrorism is on the rise, the economy is plummeting, and crazy foreign governments are plotting a nuclear holocaust. So of course now is not the time to extend a free lunch to the needy. You think of ways to stimulate the economy by helping the rich create jobs, and if we have a strong nuclear deterrent, then in better times we'll maybe be able to help the poor help themselves.

That is not God's way. Need protection? Go God's way. Need to help the economy? Go God's way.

Take care of the poor and God will take care of you because you are just as poor and needy. The rich and the mighty will not be able to rescue you!

Jeremiah 22:25 NIV
I will deliver you into the hands of those who want to kill you, those you fear—Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and the Babylonians.

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Psalms 82:3-4 NLT

“Give justice to the poor and the orphan; uphold the rights of the oppressed and the destitute. Rescue the poor and helpless; deliver them from the grasp of evil people.

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Whose job is it to help the poor? Child of God it is yours! You are God's hands and feet. You are his eyes and the means he'll use to rescue the poor. God wants you to help the needy.

In what ways are you reducing the oppression of the poor? How are you making sure the courts are just? Have you helped the orphan or widow?

Often the rich are preferred over the poor.

The poor are made to feel shame for their situation. They are humiliated, looked down on because their clothes aren't nice enough, they don't have cars, nice homes, good gadgets or terrific holidays.

Don't make the poor feel shame.

Lift then up. Then you will be like God and show you are part of his family.

Who cares about the downtrodden?

Psalms 74:21 NLT

Don’t let the downtrodden be humiliated again. Instead, let the poor and needy praise your name.

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God cares about the the poor and needy. The writer of Psalm 74 knows the heart of God. The writer knows that being downtrodden can be humiliating. To be under the foot of some one uncaring doesn't lift you up. But God does lift you up.

And we can ask God to be the rescuer of the poor and needy. We can expect God to be concerned. If we are asking for him to intervene it isn't a long shot. God is concerned about the underdog and he wants us to be too.

Are you downtrodden, poor and needy?  You can praise God!

Do you know downtrodden, poor, and needy folk? You can pray to God trusting, God to fill them with reason for praise.