That we should remember the poor.
A plea for the poor
Good men do not always think alike. When they differ, it is commonly from ignorance and a want of mutual explanation; and therefore when their understandings are informed, as their hearts were right before, they are like so many drops of water on a table--when they touch they run into one. Besides, while differing in some things, they agree in others--and these by fro the most important: and after awhile are generally led to see and acknowledge this. Such the case here. A difference among the brethren in Jerusalem concerning the missions of Peter and Paul; but none about the duty of remembering the poor. On that all agree.
I. Who are to be remembered? The poor. Found in every age and land.
1. Distinguish between the vagrant poor and the resident poor. Vagrants are generally the least entitled to succour, being lazy, and not disposed to work when the opportunity is offered them. The resident poor have these claims;
(1) they are neighbours;
(2) their cases can be searched out, and impositions detected;
(3) regarding them your bounty is known, and it ought to be known--not to extol you, but to honour your religion, recommend the gospel, and glorify God.
2. Distinguish between God’s poor and the devil’s poor. In helping the latter while they continue what they are, you are aiding the beer-house, the gin-shop, licentiousness, and every evil. We should try to save them from their suffering by saving them first from their sin.
3. Distinguish between the strong and healthy poor, and the sick and disabled. The latter deserve sympathy and help.
II. Why should you remember the poor?
1. In doing so, you keep the best company, and conform to the noblest examples.
2. You are bound by Divine authority.
3. The poor are your brethren.
4. You ire under great obligations to the poor. You are more dependent on them, than they on you. They cultivate your lands, manage your capital, prepare your food, furnish you with fuel; they man your ships, fill your armies, fight your battles, etc., etc.
5. In remembering them you will remember yourselves. By God’s eternal law, doing good is the way to gain good; giving is the way to thrive (Psalms 41:1-3).
III. How are we to remember the poor?
1. Compassion.
2. Readiness to relieve. All might do much by exercising self-denial, and influencing others.
IV. When should we remember the poor?
1. When you die.
2. When you prosper.
3. When you are unthankful. It will remind you of how many blessings you daily receive, and so stir up your heart to praise.
4. When you are peevish, fretful, discontented, and miserable. Go, then, and see real misery; and consider how much more others have to suffer than you; and then do your best to relieve that suffering. In the act of giving consolation, you shall receive it.
5. When you fast. Let your own abstinence for your soul’s health benefit the bodies of those whose life is a perpetual involuntary fast (Isaiah 58:6-8).
6. Every Lord’s Day (1 Corinthians 16:2).
7. Now. Give liberally to the charity work in aid of which your alms are to-day solicited. If the Saviour were here now as a Man, how would He give? He could not give much. He would then give--what many hero (and the best givers too, perhaps) will give--coppers; not from want of inclination, but from want of ability. He was a poor Man, had not where to lay His head. But suppose He was possessed of the fortunes some of you possess, what would He give then? Think of it, and go and do likewise. (William Jay.)
The duty of remembering the poor
Poverty no virtue; wealth no sin. Nor yet is wealth morally good, poverty morally evil. Virtue is a plant which depends not on the atmosphere surrounding it, but on the hand that waters and the grace that sustains it. Grace must be sustained by Divine power. Yet, as a fact, God has been pleased for the most part to plant His grace in the soil of poverty. A very large multitude of His family are destitute, afflicted, tormented, and are kept leaning day by day upon the daily provisions of God, and trusting Him from meal to meal, believing that He will supply their wants out of the riches of His fulness.
I. The fact, that the Lord has a poor people. A word from Him, and they might all be rich. Yet He does not speak that word. Why?
1. To teach us how grateful we should be for all the comforts He bestows on many of us.
2. To display His sovereignty in all He does.
3. To manifest the power of His comforting promises, and the supports of the gospel. The master.works of God are those that stand in the midst of difficulties--when all things oppose them, yet maintain their stand; these are His all-glorious works; and so His best children, those who honour Him most, are those who have grace to sustain them amidst the heaviest load of tribulations and trials.
4. To plague the devil, e.g., Job.
5. To give us some living glimpse of Christ. A poor saint is a better picture of Jesus than a rich one.
6. To give us opportunities of showing our love to Him. Take away the poor, and one channel wherein our love delights to flow is withdrawn at once.
II. The duty, that we should remember the poor.
1. In prayers.
2. In conversation.
3. In providing for their necessities.
IV. Why we should remember the poor.
1. They are the Lord’s brethren. This is surely reason enough. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Remembrance of the poor recommended
I. Examine the nature of the assertion. No need to describe the poor; they describe themselves. You daily witness the scantiness and poverty of their apparel, their pale and emaciated forms; you hear their piteous plaints, and the tale of their complicated woes. But we should remember--
1. The work of the poor.
(1) It is irksome and laborious;
(2) often destructive to health;
(3) of more benefit to others than to themselves.
2. The deprivations of the poor.
(1) Scanty means of instruction;
(2) little opportunity of improving their minds;
(3) uncomfortable homes;
(4) degrading surroundings;
(5) insufficient clothing and food.
3. Our remembrance of the poor should be founded on personal observation.
4. It should be accompanied by relief. The best form of relief is employment.
II. State the obligations we are under to comply with it.
1. The dictates of humanity require it. The poor are our brethren.
2. The demands of duty require it. The laws of God have made this imperative upon us (Deuteronomy 15:7-9; Daniel 4:27; Luke 6:36-38; Matthew 7:12; 1 John 3:17).
3. The rights of justice require it. To the poor we owe far more than to rich drones who merely live on the labours of others. Who erect our houses? Who make our clothes? Who procure our food? Do not the poor? therefore remember them.
4. The claims of interest require it. God remembers the poor; is it not our interest to imitate Him? (Psalms 41:1-2; Proverbs 3:9; Proverbs 19:17; Isaiah 63:10-11).
III. Answer objections.
1. My circumstances are straitened, I have nothing to spare. What! Nothing? (1 Kings 17:11-12; Luke 21:2-4).
2. Charity must begin at home. True; but it should not end there.
3. I have a right to do what I will with my own. But what is your own? Are you not a steward merely of God’s goods? Will He not call you to account?
4. The poor do not deserve to be remembered. God thinks they do; that is enough. What if He dealt with us according to our deserts? (Theological Sketch-book.)
Care of the poor
When Fox, the author of the “Book of Martyrs,” was once leaving the palace of Aylmer, the Bishop of London, a company of poor people begged him to relieve their wants with great importunity. Fox, having no money, returned to the bishop, and asked the loan of five pounds, which was readily granted. He immediately distributed it among the poor by whom he was surrounded. Some months after, Aylmer asked Fox for the money he had borrowed. “I have laid it out for you,” was the answer, “and paid it where you owed it--to the poor people who lay at your gate.” Far from being offended, Aylmer thanked Fox for thus being his steward.
A plea for the poor
Some one was expressing surprise to Eveillon, canon and archdeacon of Angers, that none of his rooms were carpeted. He answered: “When I enter my house in the winter-time, the floors do not tell me that they are cold; but the poor, who are shivering at my gate, tell me they want clothes.”
Paul’s care for the poor
I. Paul, who had beggared the Church, is now ready to beg for it.
II. Paul sets us as example of care for the poor (Romans 15:25; Romans 15:28). He gave more than good words and wishes.
1. The charge was very great to maintain the altar in the Old Testament. In the New Testament the poor come in place of the altar.
2. Mercy to the poor is a condition of Divine mercy.
III. Paul being warned was diligent to do that of which he was warned. It is a common fault to hear much and do little. (W. Perkins.)
True beneficence: its thoughtfulness
How difficult it is to be wisely charitable; to do good without multiplying the sources of evil! To give alms is nothing unless you give thought also. It is written, not “blessed is he that feedeth the poor,” but “blessed is he that considereth the poor.” A little thought and a little kindness are often worth more than a deal of money. (Ruskin.)
Beneficence: its reward
During the retreat of Alfred the Great at Athelney, a beggar came to him and requested alms; when his queen informed him that they had only one small loaf left, which was insufficient for themselves and their friends who had gone abroad in quest of food, though with little hope of success, “Give the poor Christian one-half of the loaf,” said the king; “He who could feed five thousand men with five loaves and two small fishes can certainly make that half of the loaf suffice for our necessities.” The poor man was relieved accordingly, and this noble act of charity was soon recompensed by a providential store of fresh provisions, with which his people returned.
Remember the poor
I was very much pleased with the conduct of a brother who is here present. A short time ago there stood in the aisle near his pew, a gentleman and a poor fellow in a smock frock! thought to myself “He will let one in, I know; I wonder which it will be?” I did not wait long before out he came and in went the smock frock. He thought very rightly that the poor man was the most tired, for he had no doubt had a hard week’s work, and probably a long walk, for there are not many smock frocks near London. I say again, “Remember the poor.” (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Remember the orphans
Puddings and potatoes form important articles of diet, and I shall be glad if farmers will remember our orphans in seedtime and harvest. Much more help could be rendered in kind if doners would only think of it. We need not mention things which an orphanage cannot consume; it would take space to mention things we could not use, such as alcoholic liquors, rattlesnakes, gunpowder, dynamite, or books of modern theology. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Christian forwardness
And now, when the standard of Christ is unfurled, have Christians become cowardly? Are there none among them who can step forward and say, “Here am I: send me.” I do not believe there is such a cowardly spirit among us. But there is what is generally called a retiring disposition. I am scarcely able to make nice distinctions. In the day of battle if the commanding officer found one of his men in the rear rank on account of his modest and retiring disposition, I think he would tingle it out of him with a few lashes on his back. (C. H. Spurgeon.)