Luke 3: God's Heart for the Poor

In Luke 3, Luke tells us about the ministry of John the Baptist.  He tells us that John's ministry was largely about repentance.  John called people to seek forgiveness of their sins and to change the way that they had been living, learning to follow God's commands rather than their own desires.  John told the people that it wasn't good enough to be born a Jew.  God expected fruitfulness.

The question of course is what kind of fruitfulness would God expect?  In Luke 3, we see the crowds and the tax collectors and the soldiers asking John what type of obedience God expected of them.  The answers, I think, are surprising, at least to our ears.  We might expect John to say pray.  We might think he would say go to synagogue.  We might suspect that he would say bring sacrifices to the Temple.  But he says none of those things.  Instead, he says share with the poor.  Don't take advantage of people.  Don't use the political and social power you have to exploit others.  John's words about obedience all focus on political and economic justice.  His words show that God has a heart and a concern for the needy.

I think this aspect of obedience has been lost in the American church.  We rarely hear that serving the poor is a touchstone of Christian obedience.  Our faith is often about serving ourselves not about serving those in need.  But the Bible makes very clear that God has a heart for the poor.  It makes very clear that giving to the poor is a key act of obedience for godly people.  While there are many areas in which we can and must obey Jesus, charity for the needy is as important as any. 

Where do you give to help the needy?  Perhaps like the crowds that came to John, we need to learn to repent and share with others.