Work and Welfare - Part 2 | Adult Sunday School

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The Biblical Theology of Work and Welfare, Part 2

Well, good morning and welcome back to Adult Sunday School here at KCC. And let us open with a word of prayer.

Father, the time seems to slip through our fingers for its people on the Lord's day.

To hear as the word is opened. And we pray, Father, that you would, by your spirit, help us to open our ears, our eyes, and our hearts to receive what you have for us. Transform us, we pray. Change us, because we have been with Christ through his word.

In his name we pray, amen. Okay, so we have arrived at the eighth and eighth topic, final message of the series on a biblical theology of work. We are returning to the topic of work and welfare. This is the second half of that message from last week.

If we'd had enough time last week, this would have all been one message. So by necessity, we had to divide it into two. And so we are arriving here at the second half. And as you'll remember, last week, when we introduced this whole topic, we noted that there are serious economic struggles going on in our society.

And we also noted the inability of the present political and economic solutions to provide solutions, really, at all to these kinds of problems. Poverty itself is as old as man, since the fall, at least.

And Jesus said, you'll always have the poor with you, and that is an unfortunate reality. But we are living in a day and an age where it is very much real. It is very much real in this society, in this community.

And that's where we are, and so we need to deal with that. We noted last time that all poverty is a result of sin. All poverty is a result of sin, although not all poverty is a result of the sin of a particular individual, not the result necessarily of a particular individual.

In fact, the sin that lies behind poverty is often lies with the various social structures of the very society in which you and I live. These social structures oppress the poor and provide for the wicked to take advantage of them, and that is also the sad reality of the world, the broken world in which you and I live.

And we looked at a number of Old Testament passages last time, if you remember, how through the prophets, God spoke to the nation of Israel about these very same issues. We also last week said, okay, if we are going to try to seek any kinds of biblical solutions to these problems, where would we go, where would we look?

And we postulated that if God were to establish an economic system in which he would deal with poverty according to his righteousness, then we could learn something from that, perhaps that we could apply in our own day and age.

And lo and behold, there was such a system, such a system embodied in the Mosaic Law. The Mosaic Law dealt very much with the issues of the poor and how to interact with them. And so we spent time in the Mosaic Law looking at various principles.

In particular, we looked at seven specific passages, seven specific passages in the Old Testament, in the Law of Moses, dealing with the poor. And we realized from them that God provides for the poor through a combination of regulations that enable the people to work and regulate while at the same time receiving economic help from their neighbors.

Provides the poor the economic help from their neighbors. They enabled the people to work, the regulations enabled the people to work and also spoke to the neighbors surrounding them as to their responsibilities towards the poor.

These regulations were designed to be compassionate in terms of meeting human need and at the same time preserving the dignity that is inherent within work, preserving human dignity which is inherent within work itself.

So that as a background, what we have before us this morning is this. I want to suggest how we can extract biblical principles from the examples we looked at last week, those seven passages, so that we can apply them to our own efforts to care for the poor.

There's a presumption here this morning that we do care about the poor.

We do care.

So how can we extract biblical principles from the examples? In other words, we don't live under the Mosaic Code. And so there is embodied within it though the mind of God. So how do we principalize that and apply them to our own efforts?

And so this, as I said, is the second half really of last week's message. So, principalizing the text, principalizing the text. What principles can we draw from these seven passages that help us to think about work and welfare in our own setting?

That's the question. What principles can we draw from those seven passages that help us think about work and welfare in our own setting? And I have three to suggest to you this morning to begin with here, three of them.

Able-Bodied People Should Work for Their Food

So the first is this. God insisted that able-bodied people work for their food because work is essential to what it means to be human. God insisted that able-bodied people work for their food because work is essential to what it means to be human.

Think with me. Think about Boaz and Ruth. Okay, we didn't look at it, but you're familiar with the story. Think about this. Boaz could no doubt have harvested his fields more efficiently using his trained crews and then sent some of the grain to Ruth.

He could have done that, and it would have been more efficient for him to do that, to use his trained workers to do that. But, and another great quote from perhaps my all-time favorite book, so I'll put in the plug here now, The Greatness of the Kingdom by Alva J. MacLean.

And some of you are reading it, and I delight in that reality. But another quote from Alva is about the Mosaic Code had in mind the welfare of the person as well as the feeding of the stomach. That's very insightful.

The Mosaic Code had in mind the welfare of the person as well as the feeding of their stomach. In other words, for them to work to glean was important, very important. And so that's how the structure was set up.

I'm always, when I see faces with furrowed brows, I wonder what did I put up behind me that might be different than what I'm seeing? We're concentrating. You know, this is where a confidence monitor would be a great help.

Can I put in a plug to the tech people for a confidence monitor? Okay, all right, so first principle we had, right? It's this. God insisted that able-bodied people work for their food because work is essential to what it means to be human.

Protecting the Working Poor from Despair and Debt

Secondly, second principle, God was concerned to prevent the working poor from falling further and further behind until they would give up in despair. Right, God was concerned to prevent the working poor from falling further and further behind until they would give up in despair.

Therefore, God granted a series of debt relief measures that they could honorably take advantage of. God provided a series of debt relief measures that the working poor could honorably, and that's an important word, could honorably take advantage of.

So, for example, God provided for interest-free loans. Interest-free loans, why? Because when money is borrowed at interest, then the debt increases by the amount of the compounding of the interest.

So, interest-free loans, the law provided. The law also provided for payment moratoriums. One year in seven, there was a moratorium on the payments. Because why? Well, they had to leave their fields fallow, so their income was reduced, and therefore the payments were suspended for the year until they began to harvest again.

And we noted last time that the foreigners who were not required to leave their fields fallow did not receive benefit of the payment moratorium. The third, and probably most significant, was the jubilee year that came after 49 Sabbaths.

The 50th year was the year of jubilee in which all the debts were canceled and land was returned to its original owners and slaves were set free. So, the ultimate was the jubilee. So, God provided these measures so that the working poor did not fall further and further behind and to fall into generational slavery having to do with debt bondage, okay?

The Heart Attitude Required in Helping the Poor

Third, God was concerned with the attitude of the heart among those who were called to help the poor. God was concerned with the attitude of the heart among those who were called to help the poor. God desired compassion, generosity, and love of neighbor to characterize his people.

Leviticus 19 .18, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. Leviticus 19 .18. So, these principles that we have drawn from the seven passages in the Mosaic Law now need application. This, by the way, is sort of the instruction of how Bible study is supposed to work.

First, we interpret, then we principalize, and then we apply, okay? So, we've arrived at application, application. Now, every time, listen to me now, every time we hear the word of God, whether we read it ourselves or we hear it read to us or we sit under the instruction of the word of God, there creates an obligation on our part.

An obligation is created. The obligation is to apply what we have heard lest we fall afoul of what James said, right? And that we become hearers of the word rather than doers of the word. And hearers only deceive themselves.

So, there's always incumbent on all of us whenever we hear the word of God to make application. That application might be we need to stop doing something that we are doing, we may need to start doing something that we're not doing, we may need to stop believing something that we are presently believing, or we need to begin believing something that we are not presently believing.

All of those ultimately result in action. The word of God comes in through the mind, to the heart, and out through the hands. If it doesn't complete the circle, then something is wrong, something is wrong.

So, we arrive at application, application. What is the role of the church as it relates to poverty and so-called social justice? What is the role of the church as it relates to poverty and so-called social justice?

A 2011 book by Kevin D. Young and Greg Gilbert entitled What is the Mission of the Church? What is the Mission of the Church? Does a good job addressing this exact question. In chapter nine of that book, the authors deal with the responsibilities of both the church as an institution, as well as individual Christians, correctly noting that they have overlapping but not identical spheres.

Overlapping but not identical spheres. The church must preach the gospel because it is uniquely the guardian of the truth. First Peter 3 .15, where Paul calls the church the pillar and support of the truth.

The church is uniquely the guardian of the gospel, of the truth, and so the church must preach the gospel. The individuals who make up that church may legitimately choose to become involved in a plethora of social ministries, but they do not individually set the agenda for the church, right?

They do not individually set the agenda for the church. In other words, if someone in the church is involved and passionately involved in some kind of a ministry, let's just pick one. Let's say pro-life, for example, a pro-life ministry.

That does not set the agenda for the church. In other words, everybody in the church doesn't now necessarily have to become involved in the pro-life movement in that way. The church, conversely, they have overlapping, not identical spheres, so does the church need to care about pro-life?

Yes, it does. Does everybody in the church need to work in the pro-life movement? No, okay? Does the church need to be in, can an individual be involved in a ministry that feeds the poor? Yes. Does everyone in the church need to be involved in a ministry that feeds the poor?

No.

The church may choose to become involved in various ministries to improve social conditions. The church may choose to do that. But, important caveat, but, if it so engages, it must never forget the eternal truth that there is something worse than death, that is hell, and there is something better than human flourishing, and that is heaven.

And it is only the preaching of the gospel that enables a person to escape one and gain the other. It is only the preaching of the gospel that enables one to escape hell and gain heaven. So, the preaching of the gospel can never be lost sight of.

No other activity can ever become central to the church. Taking it down a level. So how can we, how can we, that is you and I, how can we as individuals and KCC as a church apply these principles regarding God's view on work and poverty as taught in the Mosaic Law?

How can I apply them? How can you apply them? And how can the church, KCC, apply them regarding God's views on work and poverty? So what I have for you are some suggestions for you to consider, suggestions to consider.

These are not commands. These are merely suggestions designed to stimulate your thinking, okay, to stimulate your thinking. Are you nervous?

Good. Here we go.

Church-Based Benevolence and Job Support

Let's start with the church. Deacons, I have something for you. Deacons, you could establish and maintain a job postings of some sort, a list of job postings to help match those at KCC who need work with places that are looking for work, okay?

You could maintain, establish and maintain a job posting. Some time back, I received a phone call from somebody who lost their job. They asked me, do I know anybody who's working, you know, who's looking for work?

And I said, well, I know some people who might know some people. And so I made a few phone calls and so forth, and the person is now working, and praise the Lord and all of that. But maybe there would be a way to streamline some of that and extend it beyond what I might know or the couple of people I know might know.

Okay, so deacons, something to think about. Secondly, provide benevolence help to those who need it in exchange for work. Provide benevolence help to those who need it in exchange for work. In effect, hiring the individual and paying them in order to help them out financially.

Paying them in order to help them out financially.

Why?

Because they need to work, they need work. Now, if the person is unable to work because of age or infirmity, then they would receive the necessary support according to the principles that Paul lays out in 1 Timothy chapter five, verses three to 16.

So open your Bibles to 1 Timothy chapter five. Three to 16. Paul says, honor widows who are widows indeed. But if any widow has children or grandchildren, they must first learn to practice piety in regard to their own family and to make some return to their parents for this is acceptable in the sight of God.

Now, she who is a widow indeed and who has been left alone has fixed her hope on God and continues in entreaties and prayers night and day. But she who gives herself to wanton pleasure is dead even while she lives.

Prescribe these things as well so that they may be above reproach. But if anyone does not provide for his own and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

A widow is to be put on the list only if she is not less than 60 years old, having been the wife of one man, having a reputation for good works and if she has brought up children, if she has shown hospitality to strangers, if she has washed the saints' feet, if she has assisted those in distress and if she has devoted herself to every good work.

In other words, if her character exemplifies godliness. But refuse to put younger widows on the list for when they feel sensual desires in disregard of Christ, they want to get married, thus incurring condemnation because they have set aside their previous pledge.

At the same time, they also learn to be idle as they go around from house to house and not merely idle but also gossips and busybodies talking about things not proper to mention. Therefore, I want younger widows to get married, bear children, keep house and give the enemy no occasion for reproach where some have already turned aside to follow Satan.

If any woman who is a believer has dependent widows, she must assist them and the church must not be burdened so that it may assist those who are widows indeed. Okay, now there's a lot in that passage for sure.

But essentially what Paul's saying is that the family of the person in need is to help them first. Those among the body here in need, their family is their first line of defense and it is their family's responsibilities to care for them.

The church is the final line of defense. In other words, when the family can't or ultimately won't, then the church will have to step in. And balancing that is Paul's words in 2 Thessalonians and I'll turn you there.

Paul's words in 2 Thessalonians chapter three, beginning in verse six, if the individual is not willing to work, then these instructions come into play. 2 Thessalonians chapter three verse six. Now we command you brethren in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that you keep away from every brother who leads an unruly life and not according to the tradition which you have received from us.

For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example because we did not act in an undisciplined manner among you nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it but with labor and hardship, we kept working night and day so that we would not be a burden to any of you.

Not because we do not have the right to this but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you so that you would follow our example. For even when we were with you, we used to give you this order, if anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat either.

For we hear that some among you are leading an undisciplined life, doing no work at all but acting like busybodies. Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to work in a quiet fashion and eat their own bread.

But as for you brethren, do not grow weary of doing good. So, work in benevolence, work in benevolence. Consider the possibilities of tying work into benevolence for those that are able to work.

Why?

Because work is fundamental to expressing our humanity and to deny someone of that opportunity is to deny them a piece of their humanity. Throughout the whole process, a spirit of generosity should prevail, a spirit of generosity should prevail as was demonstrated in the early church.

So for example, in Acts 11 and verse 29,.

Acts 11, 29, well, let's just pick it up.

Verse 27, get a running start at it. Now at this time, some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. One of them named Agabus stood up and began to indicate by the spirit that there would certainly be a great famine all over the world.

And this took place during the reign of Claudius. And in proportion that any of the disciples had means, each of them determined to send a contribution for the relief of the brethren living in Judea. And this they did, sending it in the charge of Barnabas and Saul to the elders.

We can perhaps bring alongside that Galatians chapter two and verse 10. We're here following the conclusion of the Jerusalem council. Paul reports, they, that is the disciple, the apostles there in Jerusalem, they asked us to remember the poor the very thing I also was eager to do.

If you follow the life of the apostle Paul, you will see that he had an active involvement and concern for the poor, particularly the poor among the believers, particularly the poor among the believers.

So a couple of suggestions, foods for thought, rock in the pond for the church. What about for individuals, individuals within the church? Okay, well, here we go. This is where I go from preaching to meddling.

Are you ready?

At the retirement. The retirement years represent a great opportunity to redeploy your work. I really don't like the term retirement. I much prefer redeployment. So they represent an opportunity to redeploy your work.

In other words, loving and serving others. Remember, we talked about that. Work involves loving and serving others. So to redeploy that through other means. For example, mentoring young people. Mentoring young people is a way to redeploy your labor, your work.

Now, it's time to answer this question once for all. You'll hear people say that retirement is nowhere mentioned in the Bible, and I don't agree to that, so I'm gonna turn you to Numbers chapter four,.

And verse three, I'm gonna sneak up on it.

Numbers four, verse three. This is talking about the sons of Kohath and their work among the tabernacle. They are from 30 years old and upward, even to 50 years old. They enter the service to do the work in the tent of meeting, 30 to 50, okay?

Now, turn over to chapter eight, verse 13, and it says, thank you, 25, not 15.

Yeah, 23 to 26, sorry. That's what happens when you get eyedropped, okay? You experience eyedrop, anybody? Older people, eyedrop? Yeah, sorry about that. Thank you, you with young, sharp eyes, thank you.

Chapter eight, beginning of verse 23. Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, this is what applies to the Levites from 25 years old and upward. They shall enter to perform the service and the work of the tent of meeting, but at the age of 50 years, they shall retire, there it is, from service in the work and not work anymore.

But here's the mentoring enters in. They may, however, assist their brothers in the tent of meeting to keep an obligation, but they themselves shall do no work. Thus, you shall deal with the Levites concerning their obligations.

Listen, to work in the tabernacle as a Levite was a physically demanding job. You cut firewood, you butchered animals, you carried water, and you washed and cleaned up gallons and gallons of blood. It was a physically demanding work.

So at age 50, you don't do that anymore, but you mentor the next generation. Mentor the next generation. So, the retirement years, your redeployment years represent a great opportunity to mentor younger people.

They also provide a great opportunity to teach, to teach at either a local school, for example, perhaps for pay, but how about for free, for frizzle, as a contribution to the community? Perhaps you have a certain skill that the present instructing base doesn't have that you could bring in to the local community, an opportunity to teach, an opportunity to apprentice younger people to learn the craft.

This was and is, throughout the history of mankind, the predominant way crafts are passed from generation to generation, through apprenticeships. So the older can apprentice the younger to pass on their craft.

You can become involved in community and church volunteering, all kinds of opportunities to volunteer the community at large and within the church that you now have more time to do. You could run for public office.

You could run for public office to bring a Christian righteousness into the public square. You could volunteer, you could run for public office. So these are some things that could be done in the retirement years.

Another suggestion for you, you could consider establishing a job training center. Consider establishing a job training center, either individually or in partnership with others in order to help the economically disadvantaged to develop marketable job skills.

So one of the reasons why people have generational poverty is they don't seem to possess the skills to find work that can lift them out of that. And so perhaps some sort of a job training center could help in that particular area.

Maybe there's a certain skill, again, that you have that you could enable others to partake of. Now, you'd have to probably think creatively about childcare because you're probably talking about single parents.

You're probably talking about single parents and you're probably mostly talking about single moms, which are statistically the poorest class in our society. There's another one for you. You could create self-funding enterprises that would provide work opportunities for other people, self-funding enterprises.

Historically, things like thrift stores began this way. This is how most of the thrift stores began. They were self-funding entities and provided employment opportunity for those who needed it. So I'm sure there are plenty creative ways to do this that just need to be pioneered.

There's another one for you. Consider setting up interest-free microloans, interest-free microloans, whereby the poor could gain access to a small amount of capital in order to launch their own business idea, all right, a microloan.

So we're talking, that's not very much money, $500, $1 ,000, $1 ,500, enough money for the seed capital to begin to launch some kind of a business, interest-free. Again, the poor are the unbanked among us.

There is a sizable piece of our society that does not have access to traditional banking channels. They don't have it. And so they are trapped into the predatory lending practices that operate on the fringes of our community.

Now, in all these areas and many more, the limit is only your God-given creativity, your imagination, your hard work, and your persistent prayer. Obviously, we are not going to be able to alleviate poverty from the community of Sandpoint, but we could give a genuine helping hand to an individual and that will make a difference.

That will make a difference. So a few ideas. May you take them, chew up the meats, spit out the bones, and do with it what you will. Okay, we have time to do this. This is good. Here's what I wanna do with you now.

I'm done. What I wanna do with you, two things. I want to just recap with you 10 main ideas from this entire series. I'm gonna take it back over the series and recap 10 big ideas, okay? So I'm gonna do that.

And then I have time enough to answer the single question that came in. Well, that's not exactly accurate. Two questions came in. One came in in writing, one came in orally. I'm going to address the one that came in in writing this morning.

We have time enough for that. The one that came in orally, I'm coming back next week and we'll spend the entire time addressing that one. And that one had to do with, what about vocation and an at-home mom?

That one requires a longer explanation. All right, so here we go. Let's first recap the ideas. So here they are. Gonna put them up here and read them to you. And by the way, if you want all 10 of these, email me and I will send them to you.

So, the first big idea was this. The lordship of Christ applies to all aspects of life, including our work. Thus God has something to say to us in regard to how we think and act in this important area.

There is no such thing as secular or sacred work with regard to work. All work is sacred. Thus legitimate work, done well, is God-glorifying and a soul-satisfying endeavor. When we work as God intends, we glorify him by echoing his creativity and productivity.

This is part of what it means to be made in his image. This way of thinking is not merely helpful, but essential in enabling us to understand that there is spiritual significance in every act of work.

Fourth, because of the fall, even while accomplishing many good things, work measured in simply human terms is ultimately vanity because it does not endure. But God grants the capacity to his children to find enjoyment in this fallen world when we acknowledge his sovereignty even over the matters of work.

Remember that from Ecclesiastes. Fifth, laziness is a sin that abounds in our culture. As a Christian, it is easy to become discouraged by our laziness and want to give up. Rather than quit, we must remember and believe the gospel through which our forgiveness and deliverance comes.

Takes us back to the gospel.

Six, when we apply ourselves to our work, expressing our God-given talents and abilities, we are emulating Christ and acting in accordance with the way God created us. This gives God great pleasure. And when God is pleased with us, we can sense that pleasure.

Sense that pleasure. Seven, the workplace is inherently relational. The workplace is inherently relational. Generally speaking, we work alongside the same people for extended periods of time and thus conversations naturally arise.

We talk about sports, leisure activities, families, hobbies, current events, and many other things. In this environment, it is perfectly natural to talk about our faith in Christ, which makes up such a big part of our own lives.

Eight, contrary to most self-help books and seminars, you can't choose to be whatever you want. In God's providence, he has made you in a certain way with specific gifts, talents, capacities, and limitations.

These things help determine your vocation. They help determine your vocation. Nine, God calls us to our vocation and one of the purposes of that vocation is to love and serve others. One of the main ways we can do this is through doing our work with a high level of competence.

We serve God best when we work with excellence.

Serve God best when we work with excellence.

And 10th and finally, to work is what we have been created for and it's part of what it means to be made in the image of God. Therefore, to deny a person the opportunity to work through coercion or economic incentives is to deny them a portion of their humanity.

Okay, those 10 ideas encapsulate the last eight weeks.

Question About Sharing the Gospel at Work

Now, the question.

Hello, Dave.

I've not met this person, but I'd like to. If you have time next Sunday, would you speak to the balancing act between sharing the gospel with workmates and bowing to the parameters set by management on such action, speech or action?

Good question, very good question.

Obviously, obviously, we do not use work time and paid hours to do this. That's correct, you don't. However, my hands were slapped many years ago by my supervisor when I merely put into the mail slots of my coworkers a small printed invitation to something that would be happening locally at my church.

The tension is between preserving the approbation of management and also maintaining good relationships with colleagues, yet obeying Christ's command to preach the gospel everywhere.

Thus, the question.

Well, here's my answer to your question. A very good question, by the way. I would begin by asking what rules does your employer establish with regard to communications during work hours? In other words, putting it in their mail slots.

Are these mail slots available for non-business communication? Can you put an invitation to a birthday party, a baby shower, a Christmas party, any kind of other social event? Can you put those in there?

Is that acceptable to your employer? If the answer is no, then you know that you can't put anything in there if it's only for business communication. So, you need to figure that out. You need to find that out.

What are the rules?

You need to live with your rules. It's possible, maybe yea verily likely, that there is a double standard involved and that yes, you can put an invitation to a Super Bowl party in all of your employees' mailboxes, but you cannot put an invitation to a church event.

That's probably not only possible, it's probably likely. So now, you have a question. The question is, is it fair? Is it right? And the answer is no. It is neither fair nor right. But it is what it is.

So, you could put it in and face the consequences and to say I must obey God rather than man. God commands me to do this, although I would be careful before I would make that kind of a statement. I think you're several steps of logic beyond what is necessitated.

But if that is your conviction before the Lord, then do it and face the consequences of it, which maybe you lose your job over it.

That's possible.

I would counsel a different approach, which would be to communicate orally to your coworkers the invitation. In other words, rather than to put it in the mail slots of every single employee, many of whom you probably don't even know, is to communicate it person to person to the people with whom you have a relationship.

Because ultimately, you are seeking to share the gospel with them in a context where you have a real interest in them as a person. And just inviting them to come to church where they're going to hear a gospel event is good, but it's the equivalent of putting an ad in the newspaper.

It's just a general broadcast. It's not a bad thing to do, but it may not be the most effective thing to do. So that would be my counsel.

Is to just consider that possibility,.

That you know what, if you've got a dozen people that you eat lunch together, you see each other, just talk to them. Talk to them, invite them personally. Most people would love to have a personal invitation rather than an impersonal written invitation.

So not knowing any more of the facts than that, that would be my response. Yes, yes, don't do it during work hours, put on break time, yes, that's right. I mean, when we're being paid to work, we need to be working.

They're not paying us to talk about things other than work.

So that's for sure.

Yep, okay. It is 10 .15, we are right on the money. So I'm going to pray and let you go and then invite you back if you so choose to next week where we will spend the entire 45 minutes speaking about the question with regard to motherhood, okay?

Father, thank you for our time. Thank you for this series. Thank you for the truths that we've been able to mine in it. Thank you that you did not leave us untouched by your word. And so father, we pray for each of us that the things we've heard over these last eight weeks, that we could find one thing, one idea, one change of the way we have approached the whole topic of work.