What The Wisest Man On Earth Said About Giving To The Poor And How You'll Benefit From Doing It

By: Matthew Robert Payne
Submitted: 2007-01-17 16:25:30
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One day as I ate a hamburger in Mc Donald’s a homeless man saw my Bible and asked me if he could show me a passage. He turned to this following passage and shared some of his wisdom with me. Today many poor people steal just to get by, many people addicted to drugs steal our goods to finance their habits. I don’t condone addicted lifestyles but I don’t despise them as I was addicted to prostitutes for twenty years.

Proverbs 30:7-9 7 Two things I request of You

(Deprive me not before I die):

8 Remove falsehood and lies far from me;

Give me neither poverty nor riches—

Feed me with the food allotted to me;

9 Lest I be full and deny You,

And say, “Who is the LORD?”

Or lest I be poor and steal,

And profane the name of my God.

There is much wisdom in this proverb. Many people who have riches seem to deny the LORD in their life and yet it’s mostly to the poor that have the richest faith. There are many poor Christians in the world, there is a need for some 200 million Bibles in just China and Africa. Those poor cries might not reach your ears, but the Word of God understood and applied will make them rich if you send them a Bible. Okay, who is going to pay you back if you give to the poor? We have all heard if you give preachers your tithe or sow into a ministry that there is a return blessing from the LORD but will the LORD repay us for our mercy on the poor we meet.

Proverbs 19:17 17 He who has pity on the poor lends to the LORD,

And He will pay back what he has given.

Did you read that?

When you lend the poor money it is the Lord God Almighty that you are lending the money to. And the Lord God Almighty is no man’s debtor. In the past six years I have given about five thousand dollars to the poor of my city and in one year my brother bought me $1500 worth of computer, $1000 sofa bed, and my parents payed for me to go on a short ministry trip to my favourite country India to preach and meet the wonderful Christians there which cost $3000. Over hundreds and hundreds of gifts to poor people were swiftly re-paid five years later with these three gifts from my loved ones. Jesus spoke of giving to the hungry, and the taking the homeless in the sheep and the goats parable and said that we were not giving it to the person who asked in our love, but we were giving it to Him.

The king or leader of a country who establishes justice and equity for the poor and looks out for them will be established.

Proverbs 29:14 (New King James Version) 14 The king who judges the poor with truth,

His throne will be established forever.

That is a good promise! How is your government treating the poor in court in social justice?

Do you think you are a generous sort of person?

Proverbs 22:9 (New King James Version)

9 He who has a generous eye will be blessed,

For he gives of his bread to the poor.

If you exercise your generosity with the poor’s needs you will be blessed. You won’t be short of money, you will be blessed. Some people don’t like to feed an addicts sin. That is like giving me the money to spend on a prostitute when I was still stuck in my addiction. But drinkers and gamblers in many cases have starving families and a food parcel can’t be gambled and drunk by that father. Proverbs 10:3 (New King James Version)

3 The LORD will not allow the righteous soul to famish,

But He casts away the desire of the wicked.

The LORD has been good to me even in my years of disobedience when I was not in any way righteous. But perhaps there is a righteous soul in your church that the LORD wants you to bless with $20 this week. You’ll be surprised at how thankful a desperate person can be for just $20 and how strong a bond can be formed. I bought a poor person a Caf? Latte and he won’t ever let me forget it and every time he sees me he wants me to know one day he’ll take me out for coffee and cake. There is more joy in seeing a poor person blessed in a crisis than your new worship CD this week.

Some people see the homeless and say he gets charity, he should get his life together and get on with it and pass by in judgment of the guy down on his luck like the Pharisee in the Good Samaritan parable. Beware Jesus brought this proverb to light in his parable.

Proverbs 17:5 (New King James Version)

5 He who mocks the poor reproaches his Maker;

He who is glad at calamity will not go unpunished.

Be sure you don’t judge the poor and reproach the living God! Who made you judge? The Good Samaritan parable should really make most people feel guilty. If you have poor where you can see, take them a present and give them some food. These promises will stand true.

Many people say I can’t tithe my ten percent and give more money to the poor. Surely the poor will always be with us. That is because the road is narrow that leads to life and men do not change without the resurrection power of the Holy Spirit. Sadly the poor are still with us when the richer Christians of the world could do a great deal more to change that. But if you are faithful God will look after you. He promises so.

Proverbs 28:20 (New King James Version)

20 A faithful man will abound with blessings,

But he who hastens to be rich will not go unpunished.

Even my disability pension from the Australian government is eight times the salary of a full time driver in India. So I am rich in comparison to them. Seven dollars can bless 20 Chinese Christians with a Bible to share amongst themselves.

Proverbs 13:7 (New King James Version)

7 There is one who makes himself rich, yet has nothing;

And one who makes himself poor, yet has great riches.

We hoarde our wealth and save and make investments and have all the best of the world and what have we got? Then we get a person in India who gives his life to Jesus, loses his family, his position and even his job and he becomes so rich in the wisdom of God. Some people without theologians teaching them read, “If you will come after me, sell what you have, give to the poor and you will get reward in heaven, and come follow Me and guess what this Hindu does? He does it and is blessed with the secret counsel of the Lord and is anointed with a powerful ministry in return.

Take the life of Sudhu Sundar Singh for a case in point. He was offered riches from his father and uncle that would mean he and his future wife would never have to work in their life and he denied that and was kicked out of his house shortly after as he would not deny his new found faith in Jesus Christ. Many Hindus find Jesus shortly before suicide; I have only known a few testimonies and all of them were suicidal before conversion and all devout Hindus who couldn’t find truth in all their studies. Proverbs 13:13 (New King James Version)

13 He who despises the word will be destroyed,

But he who fears the commandment will be rewarded.

Jesus said: Luke 6:30 (New King James Version)

30 Give to everyone who asks of you. And from him who takes away your goods do not ask them back.

So we have a command from Jesus here and people who despise this word of Jesus can be destroyed. But to the giver, he will be rewarded. So who are the brethren in the sheep and the goats parable? Well I don’t know the answer, but we are commanded to love our neighbour as we love ourselves and Jesus said our neighbour is a stranger from a despised culture.

Jesus asks us to give to everyone who asks of us and guess what? I do it! It’s a simple command to build your faith. Fearing the Lord is obeying the Lord and the commands. Refusing a person who comes to you for spare change is not loving your neighbour.

Proverbs 24:23 (New King James Version)

23 These things also belong to the wise:

It is not good to show partiality in judgment.

Many people if asked by a man in a suit who has said that he lost his wallet in a taxi and needs money for a fare home would hand him some change. But if asked by a person in jeans who has a stain on his shirt the same question we say in our heart that he is lying to us and feel justified when we don’t give freely of our money.

One time when I refused an elder drunken looking man, the Lord rebuked me with the sheep and the goats parable and the man who asked me for money disappeared into thin air. Not everyone gets an angel to teach them not to judge the askers by what they look like.

James speaks on partiality when he says we treat the well groomed visitor with honour giving him the royal treatment and the best seats, but judge the drunk with harshness giving him the lowest seat. James warns us not to judge and seeing that Jesus did most of his preaching in the marketplace we should show mercy on the poor in the marketplaces also, for as James says, it’s not the poor that drag us into court battles.

Proverbs 11:25 (New King James Version)

25 The generous soul will be made rich,

And he who waters will also be watered himself.

People who are generous will be blessed in the giving and will be blessed by the LORD. I think that modern teaching on giving fails miserably because in the modern prosperity doctrine being preached it’s as though we are going to get rich giving money away. If your giving is dependant on getting money back you have the wrong motive and your giving is making money your idol. When you see a poor person in need your compassion should move you to give.

Jesus on one of His worst days was moved by compassion to heal, then preach, then feed 5000 people. And who gave him the food to feed all those people?

A poor boy with barley loaves!

Jesus fed the people from the gift of a poor boy, a bit of faith, and a Man moved by compassion. Look how much faith in God that little boy gave to poor givers all around the world. Look how many his mother who packed his lunch blessed, so too are you in the dark when you water those who water, but the LORD will bless you. How much faith can you spark in a faithful broke servant of the LORD when you send them a gift that puts food in their stomach that week or month? Remember $100 a month is a good wage in India.

Proverbs 16:20 (New King James Version)

20 He who heeds the word wisely will find good,

And whoever trusts in the LORD, happy is he.

Giving to the LORD, giving to the poor is fundamentally not a money issue it’s a faith issue. Giving a tithe of your income and blessing servants in ministry with love offering and giving to the poor is basically putting trust in the LORD and his promises. It’s our lack of faith and trust in God as a provider that stops us from giving and whilst some prosperity Gospels can go too far many other churches around the world are closing because of the lack of faith in their congregations. It seems the mega churches back their faith up in mega giving and they are growing. The fact of the matter is the Word of God does not return void and whilst some people are giving with distorted motives the Lord is faithful to His Word.

Happy is a person that gives and He that heeds the Word will find good!

Proverbs 29:7 (New King James Version)

7 The righteous considers the cause of the poor,

But the wicked does not understand such knowledge.

If you do not understand the needs of the poor you are not wicked. Focus on the righteous in this verse. If one Bible can bless a whole home church in China can you afford to buy one for a home church? You can bet they won’t sell it, won’t trade it on the stock exchange and you’ll be surprised that seeing as they have the five fold ministry over there that it may even go to a future Apostle, prophet or evangelist and you will be a co labourer in that Bible’s harvest.

Proverbs 28:27 (New King James Version)

27 He who gives to the poor will not lack,

But he who hides his eyes will have many curses.

Once again Jesus expanded this psalm to His Jewish audience. The person who hides his eyes is a person who does not help the broken hurting person that they can see on the street. They don’t even read the cardboard sign they have begging for money. They walk past pretending that they don’t see.

One day I approached a person from behind playing a flute. I could see he had a cardboard sign and it wasn’t facing me. The Holy Spirit said to me, “Even a printed sign is asking you for money, he doesn’t need to use his voice.” I went up and got the change out of my pants to give to him. After I gave him three dollars, the Holy Spirit asked me, “Ask him if he’s like to go to lunch with you.”

We went to lunch and over a Turkish kebab we had a great conversation and much seed was planted in his life and he told me how the Lord always seems to bring kind people along to help him out when he ask Him to. The Holy Spirit then prompted me to give him $20 which brought this man to tears

We fear giving the poor and tithing because of our fear of lack. But this promise says if we give to the poor WE WILL NOT LACK!

Further references to ponder are proverbs, 21:13, 14:31,14:21,10:21-22, 3:32b

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