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Poverty: Broken Relationship With Others

Matthew 22:35-40 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”   One of Zambia’s biggest problems is poverty. Any NGO or service operation will tell you this. We all know this. Nobody can say any differently, because we can all look around and see poverty. And we can see poverty in our own lives. The West would like you to think that poverty is all about money, or the lack of money. They say that all you need is money, which will solve your poverty problems.   The problem with this approach is that it never addresses the root cause of poverty. Nor does it de
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Poverty: Broken Relationship With Yourself

When I was a little boy, I learned at church that the plan of salvation included recognizing our sin, confessing, repenting, being baptized, and living the Christian life. It was presented as something easy, and for the most part, it looked to me like the adult Christians around me never struggled. We even sang a song that went “I’m in-right, out-right, up-right, down-right happy all the time. Since Jesus Christ came in and cleansed my heard from sin, I’m in-right, out-right, up-right, down-right happy all the time.” I often wondered why living the Christian life was so much more difficult than I thought it would be.   Part of the problem, I found, was not a problem with the Christian life. The problem was within. We have been looking at the root causes of poverty. Poverty is not about not having enough money. Poverty is at its core, about broken relationship. Last week we looked at broken relationship with God. Today we are looking at another relationship, one that we ho
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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 relations
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Poverty is Broken Relationship*

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One of my heroes as a child was a wrestler named Ted DiBiase. His nickname was the Million Dollar Man. He used to walk around with a briefcase full of money. He had it all. He was a champion wrestler. He had fame. He had more money than he even knew what to do with. But what he revealed later was telling. Although he had all of that, inside he felt empty. Though he was rich beyond measure, he was in poverty. How can someone who is rich be in poverty?   The truth is that poverty is more than a lack of money. In fact, in Revelation 2:9, the word of God to the church in Smyrna said this: “I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich)… You might be saying, wait, which is it? Are they in poverty, or are they rich? The answer is “yes.” They are both.   How about 2 Corinthians 8:1-2:  We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and thei
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The Vows: Faithful Membership

The evangelist Billy Sunday is quoted as saying, “Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than going to a garage makes you an automobile.” Last week I finished with the challenge that there is no such thing as a Sunday-only Christian. This week we continue looking at the vows of the United Methodist Church. Our final vow is this: As members of this congregation, will you faithfully participate in its ministries by your prayer, your presence, your gifts, your service, and your witness? This should serve as a reminder that the members of the congregation are, by definition, the church. The church isn’t a building or an institution. In today’s culture, we talk of “going to church” as if church is a destination or a place. But that isn’t accurate. The church is the people of God, called out by God for a purpose.   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. 
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The Vows: Video Service

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The Vows: Remain Faithful Members

According to the grace given to you, will you remain faithful members of Christ’s holy church and serve as Christ’s representatives in the world? An older couple came to me for marriage counseling. She told me, “I want a divorce. He doesn’t love me.” I turned to him and asked, “Is this true?” He replied, “We have been married for fifty years. At our wedding, the pastor asked if I loved her. I   As continue to we look at the membership vows of the United Methodist Church, we now turn to our responsibilities. We recognize again that our salvation is a gift of God’s grace. Remember that Grace is God’s unmerited favor. We didn’t do anything to deserve it; it’s all about what God did for us. While we were still sinners, Jesus died for us. That proves God’s love for us. There has often been raised the issue about our good works. In fact, there are some who seem to think that our good works are what save us. Apart from God’s grace, Isaiah 64:6 reminds us, that “when we displ
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