Who is responsible for the poor?

Whose responsibility is it to help the poor, the government or the Church?  Prior to the Industrial Revolution the answer was the Church by default, nobody else had the resources to help much, even if the various kings or emperors had wanted to.  After Constantine, the Church had grown in influence, wealth, and power, eventually receiving tithes in the forms of taxes and taking on the responsibility to help the destitute.  After the French Revolution, that arrangement began to change, modern constitutional governments were more efficient and the horrors of Dickensian working conditions in overcrowded cities cried out for universal protections against misfortune.  By the time of the New Deal and Great Society, the Church had taken on a much smaller role in poverty relief, relegated to running the occasional shelter or food pantry, organizing disaster relief, perhaps helping out with an electrical bill or overdue rent. 

                But what if the answer to the question of helping fight poverty wasn’t either the government or the Church, but instead the government working in cooperation with the Church?  What if government could tap into the willingness of faith inspired volunteers to help their fellow man, and the churches could tap into the resources of government for help with financing and administering that volunteer spirit?  It would take a degree of trust from both parties.  The government would have to understand that fighting poverty requires a spiritual element alongside all the others in order to find long-term success, and the churches would have to understand that their call to make disciples is best fulfilled when real help in the name of Jesus Christ is included.

                This isn’t just a hypothetical, it has been tried with success in a variety of places and circumstances, recently here in Western Pennsylvania where the Human Services Department of Venango County has partnered with dozens of churches to work together to help the most vulnerable living amongst us.  The resulting leap of faith created Mustard Seed Missions of Venango County, a non-denominational para-church organization which in two years has helped nearly 300 clients by harnessing over 6,000 hours of volunteer labor and multiplying a local government grant, as well as charitable grants and donations from churches and individuals, by at least four-fold.  The answer to poverty isn’t the Church OR the government, the answer begins with trust and cooperation from both of them.

What do we choose to say about people?

How often is what we say to someone else about a third party something good about that person?  The news, be it local or national, politics or pop culture, print, TV, radio, or internet tends to focus upon the negative such that there are plenty of people that you or I know about only because of a negative report that we heard about that person.  The negative: the scandalous, salacious, and gossip laden grabs our attention, the stories of quiet good being done for selfless reasons get lost in the endless chatter about the latest celebrity, politician, or athlete DUI or overdose.
Aren't we meant for better than this?  Shouldn't we be making an effort to uphold and support the good and turn away from, instead of repeating, the bad?  The words of Matthew Henry on this topic ring true, "What is good in men we should take all occasions to speak of and often repeat it, what is evil we should make mention of but sparingly, and no more than is needful."
Think about the last few conversations you've had where you talked about a third party to somebody...How often did you focus on the good, sharing encouragement and thanking God, how often did you pass along gossip, take guilty pleasure in the misfortune of others, or simply laugh at their expense?  The things that we choose to say about other people, say an awful lot about us too.

Sermon Video: Joash restores the house of the LORD, 2 Chronicles 24:1-16

It isn’t often that the maintenance or repair of the church building ends up being a sermon topic, but given how prominently such work can be in the life of a church, perhaps it should be.  It was a church restoration project, and the unscrupulous financing that was attempted to fund it, that led to Martin Luther’s protest against indulgences and eventually the Protestant Reformation.  Few churches with a long history can say that they haven’t had to deal with strife or dissension centered around the funding for, or execution of, a plan to build or repair their church building.

                In 2 Chronicles 24, King Joash, now come of age following the regency of his protector, the priest Jehoida, has decided to use his authority as king to correct the disrepair that has befallen the house of the LORD.  Joash’s initial attempt, simply telling the priests to divert some of their incoming funds to the project, fails through lack of cooperation by the priests.  At this point the king, in cooperation with Jehoida, takes charge of the collection of the annual tax that the priests had formerly collected in decides to place an offering box at the entrance to the temple to collect these funds with the restoration project as the top priority.

                The alternative fund collecting idea of Joash is a great success, the people give gladly to the project enabling it to move forward quickly.  With the help of honest and hardworking craftsmen, the temple repair project is finished with enough funds left over to replace the golden objects used in worship that had been stolen and profaned by being used to worship Baal.  In the end, the efforts of Joash and Jehoida are entirely successful, and once again proper worship of the LORD can take place within the temple.

                The maintenance and repair, building or expanding, of the place wherein God is to be worshiped is an act of piety.  It ought to be an effort of collective sacrifice that brings the people of God together, which makes it all the more tragic when it instead tears them apart.  Those who give of their time, talent, or treasure to the service of the church building itself deserve gratitude and honor alongside those who likewise give to the benefit of the church’s programs.

To watch the video, click on the link below:
Sermon Video

Sermon Video: The Priests' Revolution - 2 Chronicles 23

The courageous hiding of the child Joash by his aunt Jehosheba from the murderous intentions of Queen Athaliah was but the beginning of the efforts to resist her tyrannical and idolatrous rule.  For the next seven years, Joash was hidden in the temple by the priest Jehoida, Jehosheba’s husband, until Jehoida had been able to secretly build up enough support among the military, priests and Levites, and elders of Judah to attempt to overthrow the queen.

                The efforts of Jehoida, fraught with danger as they were should they be discovered prematurely, ultimately came off without a hitch as the conspiracy unfolded according to plan and the city of Jerusalem was quickly under the control of those who had proclaimed Joash, now seven years old, as the rightful king as the only surviving direct descendant of David.  The rebels had risked much in going against a queen willing to murder her own family to maintain power, but they had chosen to make that risk on the side of that which if right in fulfillment of God’s promise to protect the throne of David.

                The people of Jerusalem, upon hearing the proclamation that Joash is the new king, rather than hiding indoors and waiting to see who prevails between the queen and the rebels, instead throng into the streets to celebrate their liberation.  Athaliah, rejected by her subjects and bereft of supporters, makes a dramatic entrance into the temple courts shouting, “Treason!”, but to no avail.  Jehoida orders her taken back to the palace where she is put to death, fittingly in the building she was willing to kill in order to control.

                It was an unlikely revolution, centered around a dispossessed child-king, led by a priest, and yet it succeeded with very little bloodshed.  Those involved in the conspiracy had been ready to spend their lives for the sake of that which is right, because of the promise of the word of God and the support of the people of Jerusalem, they didn’t have to.

                What does this mean for us?  We are unlikely to find ourselves in the midst of a revolution against a tyrant, but we will still have opportunities for acts of courage in defense of the weak, acts of purity in defiance of corruption.  Jehoida and those who followed him risked death to do the right thing, we can certainly risk far less to do likewise.

To watch the video, click on the link below:

Sermon Video

How can a small church make a difference?

How can a small church fulfill its obligation to help the poor when its resources of money and volunteers are limited?  An answer that is often not fully utilized is to partner with other local churches to pool resources.  First Baptist Church of Franklin has been a part of Mustard Seed Missions of Venango County since its founding in 2012, in part because it offers us a chance to make a difference in the lives of far more people than we could ever hope to achieve on our own.  In its first two years, Mustard Seed Missions, a non-denominational para-church ministry, has had over 280 clients referred to it by the Human Services Department of Venango County.  The only reason why this organization can hope to help so many is that it receives both funds and volunteers from dozens of churches throughout the county.  On our own, we can only help a few people, in cooperation with other Baptist churches, we could help a few more, but when we open our minds and hearts to the idea of working with any and every Christian Church in our midst, the work for the kingdom truly multiples beyond our expectations.  How can your church make a difference?  Step One: Stop thinking of it as your church and remember that it’s His Church, and so is the Methodist Church down the street, and the Catholic Church across town, and the Presbyterian Church outside of town…