Jump Start # 3701

Proverbs 19:17 “One who is gracious to a poor man lends to the Lord, and He will repay him for his good deed.”

The mid-section of Proverbs, where our verse comes from today, can be viewed as a hodge-podge of unrelated topics put together like grandma’s vegetable soup. One might find anything in there. Wisdom from above is how these ought to be viewed. This is not a couple of old guys sitting on a bench at the local courthouse, just shooting the breeze. These are Heaven’s words.

It’s hard to teach Proverbs, especially, verse by verse. The topics flip back and forth and repeat each other often. I have found it useful to string together by theme the various Proverbial passages. Study wisdom in Proverbs. Study what the book teaches about money. Study the subject of the fool.

Here, in the nineteenth chapter we find this wonderful passage about helping the poor. Be gracious to the poor. The poor man can’t repay you, but the Lord will. Now, the incentive ought not be doing this so we get something good from the Lord. The purpose is to help a poor man. Be gracious to him.

But interestingly, helping the poor man is viewed as lending to the Lord. The CSB words this, “kindness to the poor is a loan to the Lord”. Lending to the Lord, can you imagine? If the Lord were to ask us, “Can I borrow this from you?” We’d immediately say, “Certainly, Lord. You can have it.” The kindness and compassion shown to a poor man is viewed as if you were helping the Lord Himself.

That thought is repeated multiple times in the N.T. The story of the good Samaritan is wrapped around this. The judgment section of Matthew 25, where the Lord said, “I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat,” stands upon this principle. Both James and John warn brethren of telling the needy to take care of themselves while doing nothing to help them.

Some thoughts for us:

First, compassion is the key to being gracious and helping the poor. The poor man is unable to improve his situation. The poor man is likely not going to be able to repay you. The poor man cannot do anything for you. And, in a selfish culture, the generosity of a compassionate heart will open more doors than all the preaching about baptism and the one true church.

As this is written, in Proverbs, the church as we know it was not in existence. The “one who is gracious” is not a company, the government, a church, a school, or some organization. It’s me. It’s you. Being gracious costs. Being gracious involves a sacrifice. And, hasn’t the Lord already been gracious to us? The cost of salvation. We were poor, yet, through Jesus we have been made rich.

Second, the opportunities to be gracious to the poor is all around us. Jesus reminded the disciples, “the poor you always have with you.” There will always be ways to help others. We hear things at work. We listen to reports at church about brethren overseas. We see posts on Facebook. Folks struggling because of storms. People who are having a hard time with the price of things today.

The story of the rich man and Lazarus could well be our story. The rich man was in position to do something. He was rich. One poor man can not do much for another poor man. The rich man ate well. He dressed well. He lived in a fine place. The rich man also had opportunity right before him. Lazarus was not on the other side of the planet. Lazarus was not in an unsafe part of town. He was the rich man’s gate. One couldn’t get any closer without being inside. Means and opportunity. The one thing the rich man did not have was a heart.

All about us are opportunities if we will but look. The poor doesn’t always have to be someone lacking food and money. There are those who go an entire day without hearing an encouraging word. You can be gracious. Some just need a person to talk to and listen to. You can be gracious. Some need to know about Jesus, that there is a better way. You can be gracious. So many ways to show kinds and spread sunshine to those who dwell in darkness.

Third, our passage reminds us that the Lord recognizes what you do. The Lord saw that you were gracious to a poor person. Heaven noticed. Like the Lord’s words in the Gospel about giving a cup of cold water to a little one, God noticed. The Lord will repay, our passage says. Don’t expect a check in the mail. Don’t expect a doubling of what you did. The repayment may be the crown in Heaven. The repayment may not be now or even here. That shouldn’t matter. It doesn’t matter.

Helping someone, even if it is just a little thing that gets them through the day, is what we do.

Gracious to a poor man. Can you do that?

Roger