Shepherd of Hermas: Help the poor out of their need

If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. 1 John 3:17-18

“Every person must be helped out of his need. For whoever starves and suffers want of the most necessary things of daily life endures great pain…Whoever knows of the need of such a person and does not help them out commits a great sin.”

Shepherd of Hermas (c. 140-155) in Similitudes 10:4-2-4. This early church pastor of Hermas describes the posture Christians must have toward those who are suffering. For us, we think of the destitute in the garbage dump of Guatemala City as well as the struggling or sick person in modern America.

Take some time to pray and ask God to help you identify a person or group of people that you will help “out of their need” from what you have. Don’t do this alone. Do it with a spouse or friend, or as a family or group of families. Why? We must not love with words but with actions.

If you want to partner with us to bless a poor family in the garbage dump of Guatemala City, a “prayer walk” bag of supplies that includes rice and other necessities costs $22 or Sammy and Sophie will build bunk beds from a kit with a $200 price tag.

To make your gift, simply visit their website and click on the donate page, and in the special instructions section, mark “Hoag Family Trip” and they will be sure your tax-deductible gift covers the supplies related to our visit. Thank you.

It’s Memorial Day in the USA. Today I am urging everyone I know to “Remember the Poor” like James, Peter, and John urged Paul and Barnabas in Galatians 2:9-10.

James, Peter, and John, those esteemed as pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to me. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcised. All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I had been eager to do all along. Galatians 2:9-10

“Not infrequently, scholars see Paul’s mention of the poor in Gal 2:10 as peripheral and secondary to the main theological considerations outlined by Paul in 2:1-9…that passage is best read as indicating that remembrance of the poor is something that would (continue to) characterize the emergent Christian movement in mission both to the circumcised and to the uncircumcised. Assuming that such remembrance would inevitably characterize the Jewish mission [of Paul and Barnabas], the Jerusalem apostles [James, Peter, and John] were nonetheless concerned that Jewish traditions about caring for the poor could be lost in Paul’s mission to the pagan world.”

Bruce Longenecker in “The Poor of Galatians 2:10: The Interpretive Paradigm of the First Centuries” in Engaging Economics: New Testament Scenarios and Early Christian Reception ed. Bruce Longenecker and Kelly Liebengood (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009) 205, 220.

The call to “remember the poor” is not a suggestion for Christians. Such behavior should characterize our lives as Christians. Basically the Jewish leaders were saying to their brothers engaged in Gentile mission, “Go for it! All we ask is that caring for the poor is part of the DNA of all you do. Christ-followers care about the poor because God cares.”

Practically speaking, my family has determined that one way we will “remember the poor” is through our regular service in Guatemala. This week we will return to Potter’s House to serve the Treasures there, that is, the poor who scavenge for existence from the garbage dump. This will be the fifth trip there for my wife, Jenni, and the third one for our son, Sammy (18), our daughter, Sophie (17), and me.

Our trip has these objectives: assisting with curriculum development, doing service projects, and training leaders.

Jenni will work with PH leaders on the curriculum for VBS for November 2014 among other projects. Sammy and Sophie will be teaching English to Treasures in the school program and building bunk beds. Gary has been asked to deliver seminars for Guatemalan ministry leaders as well as PH staff members on the book he recently co-authored, The Choice: The Christ-Centered Pursuit of Kingdom Outcomes. As a family we will do prayer walks through the shantytowns delivering supplies to those who may be experiencing a current need.

While we have cashed in frequent flyer miles for our trip and plan to stay with Edgar and Gladys Güitz, the founders of Potter’s House, they estimate $952 in expenses for supplies related to our visit. One friend has covered the $52 so we only have $900 in remaining need.

If you would like to “remember the poor” by making a gift to Potter’s House to equip us to serve the Treasures, simply visit their website and click on the donate page, and in the special instructions section, mark “Hoag Family Trip” and they will be sure your tax-deductible gift covers the supplies related to our visit.

Whether or not you send support for us to serve the Treasures with Potter’s House, please “remember the poor” because Christ-followers must reflect God’s heart of love and care for everyone in word and deed.

“Give to every one who asks you, and don’t ask for it back. The Father wants his blessings shared. Happy is the giver who lives according to this rule.”

Didache, a.k.a. The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles trans. and ed. by Tony Jones, 1.5.1.

The Didache is one of the earliest Christian documents, dated to the second half of the first century. It’s a must read as it reflects both the simplicity of the teachings of Jesus and represents the corpus the first disciples used to make disciples.

“Nay, may I not do what I want with my own money? But here lies the ground of your mistake. It’s not your own, and cannot be, unless your are the Lord of heaven and earth.”

This profound quote by John Wesley is recounted in an amazing three minute video “John Wesley Lived a Generous Life” produced by Generous Giving and shared with me by Jim Rathbun, a dear friend who serves as director of generous living with the Wesleyan Church.

I am so thankful for my friends at Generous Giving who capture and retell stories like this one to inspire people to greater levels of generosity. In Wesley’s case, I love how the story paints him as an ordinary child and a brilliant young scholar that grew to become a selfless person whose Christian generosity changed the world for Jesus Christ.

I must pause to honor another such young Christ-follower today: Samuel David Hoag. Sammy has been named the valedictorian for the graduating class of Front Range Christian School and in a few hours will deliver a message. I have no idea what he will share but I know this: He exhibits the humble resolve of Wesley, and he is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.

I don’t want you to read this as an order. It is only my suggestion, prompted by what I have seen in others of eagerness to help, and here is a way to prove the reality of your love. 2 Corinthians 8:8 J.B. Phillips

“It is clear that Paul is not ordering the Corinthians to send money to those who are suffering want, but encouraging them to do so, demonstrating that they have the right attitude toward God and other people. In return for that they will undoubtedly receive a reward.”

Ambrosiaster sometime between 366-384 in Commentaries on Romans and 1 & 2 Corinthians trans and ed. Gerald Bray (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2009) 237.

I am sharing a devotional from 2 Corinthians 8-9 this morning at my meetings in the Washington D.C. area and so I read Ambrosiaster for edification. I love how he basically says that generous sharing with those who are suffering is what God’s people do! It is the proof of our love.

As others look at your life and mine, what does our generosity prove?

“I will take Paul for my comrade, and like him will discourse and say, “Let each one of you lay by him in store, as he may prosper.” Now observe also how he avoids being burdensome. He said not, “so much,” or “so much,” but “as he may prosper,” whether much or little. Neither said he, “what any one may have gained,” but, “as he may prosper” signifying that the supply is of God.

John Chrysostom (347-407) in Homily on First Corinthians 43.4.

I am just outside of Washington D.C. and will share devotionals today and tomorrow linked to the Jerusalem collection at meetings between ECFA leaders and Korean church leaders. The purpose of my visit is to discuss the history and standards of the ECFA in America and to discern prayerfully how to best encourage the formation of such an entity in Korea. God help us!

For inspiration I read John Chrysostom’s commentary on 1 Corinthians 16:1-4 this morning. Though some 300 years separated Paul and John Chrysostom, they are “comrades” calling everyone to give to the poor as God supplies. Alms are not optional and they must be carefully administrated. Also, such giving does not to flow from “our gain” but instead from “God’s supply.” There is a difference!

Gain is something many in modernity see as “good” thinking that “God wants me to make lots of money so I can bless the poor.” In Scripture, Paul told Titus that God’s leaders must not desire gain (cf. Titus 1:7). So how should we understand these terms and what are the implications for our lives? Gain is the opposite of prosperity. Gain is what I try amass as if God depends on me. Prosperity results from obedience and represents the fruitfulness that flows from faithfulness. It is what God supplies to me.

So Paul…and later John Chrysostom…and today I am reminding my “comrades” around the world that each of us gets to participate in God’s work as God prospers us, and whatever we do, we must not go after gain because we’ll expend our energies going after the wrong goal. So what should we do? Let us work not for gain but to bring glory to God, and as we prosper, let’s be known for our sharing that is carefully administrated.

Are you prospering now? If so, share something today with someone you know who is in need.

“Now we make an offering to Him, not as though He stood in need of it, but rendering thanks for His gift, and thus sanctifying what has been created. For even as God does not need our possessions, so do we need to offer something to God…

For God, who stands in need of nothing, takes our good works to Himself for this purpose, that He may grant us a recompense of His own good things, as our Lord says: Come, you blessed of My Father, receive the kingdom prepared for you. For I was an hungry, and you gave Me to eat: I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink: I was a stranger, and you took Me in: naked, and you clothed Me; sick, and you visited Me; in prison, and you came to Me. Matthew 25:34.

As, therefore, He does not stand in need of these [services], yet does desire that we should render them for our own benefit, lest we be unfruitful; so did the Word give to the people that very precept as to the making of oblations, although He stood in no need of them, that they might learn to serve God…”

Irenaeus of Lyons (130-202) in Against Heresies 4.18.6.

Many heresies emerged in the second century. Some doubted the deity of Christ, so related to giving, generosity was imperative to make up for any insufficiencies in Jesus. Not! Others argued that such offerings and service won the favor of God; consequently, good works were performed with the belief that they helped the doer earn their eternal salvation. Wrong again!

Irenaeus, a student of Polycarp who in turn was a disciple of John, wrote his multi-volume work Against Heresies to refute such notions in his day, and I guess you could say I post meditations with the same aim today. So in the spirit of John, Polycarp, and Irenaeus…remember…

God does not need our offerings, but we need to give them. When we make gifts to the poor, God sees them as given to Him. Let us sanctify or set ourselves and our resources apart unto Him in our hearts and model the way for others. Lastly, let us combine generous giving with sacrificial service, again, not because God depends it but so that we might grow and be fruitful.

“The good servant receives the bread of his labour with confidence; the lazy and slothful cannot look his employer in the face. It is requisite, therefore, that we be prompt in the practice of well-doing; for of Him are all things. And thus He forewarns us: “Behold, the Lord [cometh], and His reward is before His face, to render to every man according to his work” [Rev. 22:12].

He exhorts us, therefore, with our whole heart to attend to this, that we be not lazy or slothful in any good work…For [the Scripture] saith, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which He hath prepared for them that wait for Him.”

Clement, Bishop of Rome (c. 100) in 1 Clement 34. Clement ministered until he was martyred by being tied to an anchor and thrown into the sea. Despite persecution under the Roman Emperor Trajan, the early church continued to grow.

Why should Christians not grow weary in well-doing? Clement basically offers two answers to his persecuted peers. First, be zealous to do good works because you will have to give an account. Second, the reward for your obedience will be unfathomable.

To read about a church that recently shut its doors one Sunday and deployed everyone in service, click here to learn more. Special thanks to my brother in law, Jim Pickrell, for this illustration. Imagine if his church and ours did this all 52 weeks of the year. We might take over the world like the Christians did in Clement’s day.

“Continually remind each other of these things. And the wealthy among us help the needy; and we always keep together; and for all things wherewith we are supplied, we bless the Maker of all through His Son Jesus Christ, and through the Holy Ghost.

And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things.

Then we all rise together and pray, and, as we before said, when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, and the people assent, saying Amen; and there is a distribution to each, and a participation of that over which thanks have been given, and to those who are absent a portion is sent by the deacons.”

Justin Martyr (100-165) in “Weekly Worship of the Christians” in First Apology LXVII in The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus in the Christian Classics Ethereal Library.

This excerpt comes to us from Justin Martyr’s first of two extant apologies to Emperor Antonius Pius, who ruled the Roman Empire from 138-161. They contain his case to the emperor to stop the persecution of Christians in the middle of the second century.

This specific section gives us a glimpse of life in the church on a typical Sunday. The role of the rich in the community of faith is to help the needy. The role of the leadership is linked to exhortation and reflection on the Scriptures and presiding over prayer, communion, and the distribution of provision to the needy. Deacons even serve to deliver portions to those who are absent.

Why is this significant? People often ask me how giving in modern churches compares to the early church. The major difference I see is that the early church appears to do far more distributing of money and provision to the needy among them in their weekly gatherings.

This second century testimony also illustrates the sharing of Acts 2:42-47 and 4:32-35. Even as “there was no needy person among them” among the first disciples (Acts 4:34), this condition persists because participation in the gospel means Christians share with one another each Sunday. And sometimes, as was the case with Barnabas it means selling a tract of land.

Speaking of selling a tract of land, please allow me to add a personal note.

After 100 days on the market, our home went under contract yesterday. We are so excited and thankful to God. Our hope in downsizing is twofold: to help Sammy and Sophie to be able to go to college and to position ourselves to live and give more generously following the example of Barnabas.

“But the love of money is the root of all evils. Knowing, therefore, that as we brought nothing into the world, so we can carry nothing out, let us arm ourselves with the armour of righteousness; and let us teach, first of all, ourselves to walk in the commandments of the Lord.

Next, [teach] your wives [to walk] in the faith given to them, and in love and purity tenderly loving their own husbands in all truth, and loving all [others] equally in all chastity; and to train up their children in the knowledge and fear of God.

Teach the widows to be discreet as respects the faith of the Lord, praying continually for all, being far from all slandering, evil-speaking, false-witnessing, love of money, and every kind of evil; knowing that they are the altar of God, that He clearly perceives all things, and that nothing is hid from Him, neither reasonings, nor reflections, nor any one of the secret things of the heart.”

Polycarp of Smyrna (69-155) in “Chapter IV – Various exhortations” in The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus in the Christian Classics Ethereal Library.

Here Polycarp appears to echo Paul’s strong statement to Timothy on the love of money (1 Timothy 6:10). Additionally, after spending last evening in the home of a dear friend, Dee Wolfe, who is a widow, it is noteworthy that widows are exhorted to a life a prayer and to avoid the love of money. It could be easy for a widow to think “all I need is money to secure my future” when in reality, all she needs is God.

As a disciple of John the Apostle and Bishop of Smyrna, Polycarp is calling everyone to live out the truth and to avoid the trappings of accumulation because you can’t take it with you and you don’t want it to worm its way into your heart.

Also you may notice that widows are equated with “the altar of God” meaning that gifts to the needy in the community of faith are gifts to God. In those terms, Polycarp would say any kindness we show Dee, or any kindness any of us extend to any widows, would be considered by God as gifts to God Himself!

May the God from whom nothing is hid find our reasonings and reflections to be pure and free of the love of money, including the secret things of our hearts.