God’s Word for You

Galatians 2:10 Take care of the poor

by Pastor Timothy Smith on Friday, June 14, 2024

10 Only they asked us to remember the poor, which was what I was trying very hard to do.

Before Paul left the pillars (James, Peter and John), they asked him to remember the poor, and Paul happily tells us that this was no burden to him, nor a new idea. It was the very thing he was always striving to do. In ancient Israel, the poor were to be looked after by everyone. Remembering the poor was actually built into the laws of Israel.

Gleaning was the process of taking food that was left unharvested, or at the edges or corners of the fields. God commanded that farmers had to leave a certain amount for poor people: “When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over your vineyard a second time, or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God” (Leviticus 19:9-10).

Another way the poor were looked after was in the Sabbath year. Every seventh year the fields were to go unsown: “unplowed and unused” (Exodus 23:10). It is common for such fallow soil to produce a crop anyway, although not as rich as in other years, but this was so that “the poor among your people may get food from it, and the wild animals may eat what they leave” (Exodus 23:11). This was the same for fields, vines, and groves.

However, out in the wide world and away from Israel, many poor people faced harder times. The Greek governments from city to city did not always have similar rules, and poor people could be hard pressed to feed their families. Paul wanted to help them.

In our culture, there are diverging opinions about helping the poor. Some want the state to take care of such things; others do not mind doing it themselves. But we must be careful about our attitude toward people who are poor. God warns: “Hear this, you who trample the needy and do away with the poor… The LORD has sworn, ‘I will never forget anything they have done’” (Amos 8:4). And again: “Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy and say to your husbands, ‘Bring us some drinks!’ The Sovereign LORD has sworn by his holiness: ‘The time will surely come when you will be taken away into captivity with hooks; the last of you with fishhooks’” (Amos 4:1-2). Taking care of the poor is not an option that we can choose; God wills that it must be done. We must look after one another; this is one of the reasons he places some people with wealth here and there in the world, on account of the very many people who need their help.

This brings us to another matter about good works in general. Good works do not contribute to our salvation, and we must not go so far as to say that they are harmful to our salvation. But they are necessary in another way. They are necessary because God places them in our path to carry out his compassion and grace in the world. In other words, it is not for us to dream up what good works we might do; it is up to us to notice what good God has placed before us to do. As Paul says: “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10). And Moses warns: “Each one must not do just the things that are right in his own eyes. You should be careful to do whatever I (the LORD) command you. You shall not add to it or take away from it” (Deuteronomy 12:8,32). In Colossians 2:20, self-chosen service is counted among “the elementary principles of the world.”

“Therefore,” teaches Professor Gerhard, “there are three reasons which argue that we must seek the norm of good works from the Law and reject self-chosen service: (1) The proper nature of God’s Law. For because it is the perfect rule of good works, people should not think up new acts of worship. (2) The authority of God, who does the commanding. Only God, the most wise, absolute Ruler has the right to establish acts of worship. James 4:12, ‘There is one Lawgiver and Judge who is about to save and to destroy.’ (3) The blindness of human reason. For deprived of the light of the Word, it dwells in and strikes at sheer darkness” (On Good Works §16).

Do not be confused when the Bible commands us not to choose our good works. This means that we need not and should not think up new ways to serve God, but continue to study his word and to do the things he has always set out for us to do: Be a good student, parent, wife, husband, and neighbor. Care for the poor, the orphaned, and the widowed (Jeremiah 22:3). When you choose to do such a good thing, do not brag about it or bring it up in conversation. This is what Jesus meant when he said, “When you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing” (Matthew 6:3). Do not look for recognition, but for more opportunities to serve and to help out. Whatever we do should come from faith, and be done first of all to the glory of God (Revelation 14:7; 1 Corinthians 10:31). As the Psalm says: “Not to us, not to us but to your name be the glory” (Psalm 115:1). The secondary purpose of the things we do is to show love to our neighbor. Paul also says: “Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also the interests of others” (Philippians 2:4). And John teaches us: “He has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother” (1 John 4:21). Do what is necessary for your work today, student, worker, wife, husband, employer, or whatever the Lord has given you to do. Do it to God’s glory, and do it out of faith. This is the good work of each day.

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith

 

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