Poverty: Broken Relationship with God

Last week we introduced an important and difficult concept. Poverty. We often think of poverty only in financial terms, but in reality, poverty is based in broken relationship. Broken relationship with God, broken relationship in ourself, broken relationship with others, and broken relationship with all creation.

In the beginning, God created humanity to be in perfect relationship with him. But very quickly, we find Adam and Eve disobeying God. The response, as found in Genesis 3:23-25 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

Now, instead of living in the Garden of Eden in perfect relationship with God, they have been banished, never to return. Never to walk together in the cool of the morning. Never again to speak face to face. Our relationship with God was thus broken. You can see that going forward, humanity has a broken relationship with God. Do you know the story of Noah’s ark? It’s a famous Bible story and we often decorate a child’s nursery with pictures of the great boat and the animals, but do you remember why that whole story happened?

Genesis 6:5-7 The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all of the time. The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. So the Lord said, “I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth — men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air — for I am grieved that I have made them.”

Broken relationship with God. I will pose that a main part of the purpose that God chose for humanity from our creation was to bring God glory and to enjoy His presence, and His part is bringing Shalom. Shalom is peace, health, success, wealth, wholeness — in a word, completion.

Because we have grieved Him, we have ruined that relationship. And that broken relationship brings utter poverty. Listen to these words from Psalm 13:1-2 “How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?” How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? Look one and answer, O Lord my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death; my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” and my foes will rejoice when I fall. Do these sound like the words of a wealthy person or a person in poverty? Remember that King David was financially wealthy beyond compare. He had power and position. But he was broken and poor, crying, “How long?” 

And then there are the words from Psalm 22:1, words Jesus repeated from the cross: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?

When our relationship with God is broken, nothing else is fixed. Nothing else is right. That’s why Psalm 14:1 can say: The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good. Isaiah 64:5-7 says it like this: when we continued to sin against [your Laws], you were angry. How then can we be saved? All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. No one calls on your name or strives to lay hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us and have given us over to our sins. 

In other words, when we continue sinning, when we continue to live out a broken relationship with God, then even the good things we do are like filthy rags. They are unclean and do not help us, and God’s face is hidden from us. 

What can we do about this broken relationship? If God’s face is hidden from us, who can survive? Romans 3:23-24 gives us the answer. Many of us know the first verse here: For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, but there is no period there. It is not a full stop. There is a comma, which means that the thought continues. Yes, we have sinned, BUT there is a comma. It goes on to say that we are justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

This is why Jesus says in Matthew 5:6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. We hunger and thirst for a right relationship with God. Why? Because we do not have it on our own. We cannot fill ourselves. And notice that Jesus’ promise is not “you will fill yourselves” — this is what’s called the passive voice. Meaning it is something that is done to us or for us. You will be filled. That word also means “satisfied.” And we will never be satisfied with anything else. 

You know, it’s like if you are hungry. Really hungry. And you go home to eat, and there is relish but no nshima. Have you eaten? Are you satisfied? Probably not. What if I bring over some sweets? Are you satisfied? No. What’s going to satisfy you? Only nshima. And the reality is, until we are hungry and thirsty for righteousness, which is a right relationship with God through Jesus Christ, then we will fill ourselves with everything else that does not satisfy. That is why there are people who are financially wealthy yet they are still in poverty. They have tried to fill their longing with money and power and all these other things, but only God Himself will satisfy.

Last week we said that poverty alleviation is all about reconciling relationships. If our poverty is rooted in a broken relationship with God, then only reconciliation with God will alleviate our poverty.

Do you remember the key verse last week, from 2 Corinthians 5:17-21? Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old is gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ… I’m going to stop right there. Reconciling our broken relationship with God is not something that we can do on our own. It is through Christ Jesus and the sacrifice he made on the cross. Paul writes familiar words in Ephesians 2:8-9 (you should memorize this: For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.

And what happens when our relationship with God is made right? We become his sons and daughters. I love the passage in Romans 8:15-17, where we are reminded that we did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs — heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

When our relationship with God is made right, not only does God make it right, but God makes us heirs. Meaning we gain his inheritance. Meaning everything he owns, he shares with us! So when we think about our poverty being rooted in a broken relationship with God, if our relationship with God is made right, then we will experience wealth. True wealth that is eternal.