The Gospel to the Poor

Once the issue of redemption through faith alone in Jesus Christ is understood, then one can see something quite interesting throughout the New Testament. Many parables and teachings deal uncomfortably with works, and even with some that seem to use works as the dividing factor between sheep and goats. In fact, without the clear doctrinal teachings of Paul we might be tempted to believe in a works salvation. But there is irrefutable Scriptural evidence that lays out the truth that without faith, and faith alone, no one can be saved. Upon the first sighting of any human work as it pertains to redemption that redemption is eternally poisoned and is an enemy to grace itself.
But after that foundation is established we can see how important works are in the life of a believer. And not just the usual list of dos and don’ts that the western church has constructed, but a list of works that God deems paramount and revealing of an authentic believing follower of Jesus Christ. And central to these works is the ministry to the poor, the disenfranchised, and the social outcasts. From the very moment that the church in Jerusalem understood that Gentiles could be saved they immediately made mention of a ministry to the poor. Jesus Himself was faithful to identify His own poverty as He walked as a man.
I did not see this clearly in my early years as a believer, and I was quick to defend certain doctrines while giving pitiful lip service to others. I mean who could be against the ministry to the poor? At least with our lips, and as a doctrinal aside, we acknowledged such. In my Bible College there were many classes on certain doctrines and even some entitled “Systematic Theology”, but there were no classes on the divine call to minister to the poor and downtrodden. In fact, most "orthodox" and "conservative" Bible colleges treat any kind of social ministries as the liberal wing of evangelicalism and they often and loudly warn of its dangers while assuring everyone they believe in such things as long as they are free from gospel entanglement. But that does not square with the tone of the New Testament and the passion that Jesus had for those who were without upon this earth.
Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven. What light was supposed to shine to those who need to see our Heavenly Father? Was it because we do not smoke? Or drink? Or do drugs or commit adultery? I have heard atheists and agnostics notice that the church falls short in this area. Even such outspoken atheists like Bill Mayer and Christopher Hitchens have often pointed out the western church and their lifestyles and lack of sacrificial passion for the poor and downtrodden, as well as our preoccupation with the sinner's sin and the supposed divine destiny of America. Sadly, from the mouth of unbelievers comes truth. However that also reveals that the lost see the ministry to the poor as spiritual and they know nothing of any doctrinal disputes. That seems to be the city on a hill that would draw men to ask us of our faith and hope. So when believers take political sides and castigate the gay community, and demand all illegals be deported, and treat Muslims with contempt and ridicule, what must the lost person think of our faith? He dismisses our faith as just another set of moral rules and political perspectives, and now we are not known for Jesus…we are known for our causes and moral crusades. And when someone like Bono spends time and energy in an effort to raise money and awareness for the poor and sick around the world, the orthodox church is quick to discredit him lest we allow the Spirit to use someone of his "ilk" to chasten our own lethargy.
The fallen man cannot know the things of God, but the Spirit will use the gospel to draw that same lost man if we do not place these earthly stumbling blocks in his way. The western church is consumed with greed, nationalism, hatred, arrogance, and carnal boldness which have created an atmosphere of powerless rhetoric that diminishes the Lord we claim to follow. And Sunday after Sunday men speak from pulpits as if God approved of all our debt, lavish lifestyles, and dead religion. The whores, and the addicts, and the alcoholics, and the homosexuals, and heterosexuals, and the imprisoned, and millions of children are without authentic love and hope, and many are being systematically tortured. They, like Lazarus, watch as we build bigger barns and store up our goods for future days and we continue to be willingly oblivious to people's plight to say nothing of God's written desires. But God sees what we do as well and He hears as we attach Jesus’ name to what we do. Jesus has nothing to do with any of it.
Many in the orthodox community spend inordinate energy and time defending the inerrancy of the written Scriptures while boldy disobeying many of the "inerrant" teachings of the New Testament. And when presented with such a suggestion they recoil and retreat to the safety of their systematic forts and "heretic" label makers. Introspection does not seem to be their best suit. Believing and teaching the inerrancy of Scripture, including confronting those who dismantle and change its teachings, are worthless and hypocrisy at its zenith when it is accommpanied by a blatant disregard for the very teachings we claim are inerrant. Defending the faith consists of two major principles: Defending Jesus by word and deed - and the deed is much more than lip and pen service. In fact, this kind of defense is actually a redemptive offense.
That does not mean people are not saved since salvation is purely by faith and faith alone. But it does mean that we in the west have bought into a ecclesiastical system that has disemboweled the very essence of what it means to be a believing follower of Jesus. In our playbook a true believer is a church member, a tither, pro-life, conservative, and careful with his finances. Just a cursory reading of the New Testament would suggest a true believer is a verbal witness, a painfully humble person, meek, moderate, loving and gracious, and he is passionate about the poor and disenfranchised. What are the hot issues that usually take up our thoughts and banter? Gays, Muslim extremists, Hollywood, Miley Cyrus, Voting, the Judeo-Christian ethic, and a host of other things that benefit no one. Rarely are we energetically engaged about how we can reach starving children around the world, or how we can reach more prisoners, or God forbid how we can reach out and help undocumented Mexicans in this country. God has every single one documented.
And some of the same believers who would disobey any law that forbid us to read our Bibles, defend the mercurial and financially motivated laws that attempt to find and deport many poor people who have come in search of the common necessaries of survival. But what they fail to see is that the government's views and laws about undocumented workers is every bit as antichrist as would be a law forbiding Bible studies. You see, we are in favor of confronting a law that would forbid a Bible study, but we happily support a law that forbids our obedience to the teachings supposedly learned in those "Bible" studies.

I again challenge you to read the New Testament all the way through in one month. And at the conclusion ask the Spirit to reveal to you what God desires of us who claim to know and follow Him.

When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.

And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

(By a complete study of the New Testament we see that salvation comes by faith alone, so that cannot be what is suggested here. However these words came from the very lips of God. They must mean something very important.)