Zealous and Generous
This week, I had the immense privilege of listening to two Sunday-morning sermons: Corner Bible’s in online form and another church’s in person. I say this is a privilege because really, isn’t it the greatest privilege to not only get to attend (or watch, or listen) to church- but to do so easily, conveniently, and with total freedom?! How little I even think about it and how grateful I ought to be!
We have a lot to be grateful for here in Michigan, in the U.S.. Each one of us. That’s not to say many (I would argue everyone in differing ways) suffer through poverty and poorness where we live, but we Christians are truly blessed here. God is working, He is providing, and He is blessing each one of us with more than we often can see or take the time to thank Him for.
When I was thinking through Pastor Davis’ message on Zeal today, I started to realize there was an interesting connection to the other church’s message I had heard Sunday morning, which was about the poor.
Davis has defined the zeal we as believers should have for Jesus and the Gospel as “Wholehearted surrender and fierce devotion to God, rooted in the Gospel”. I love this. Zeal is a flame, and in one sense, it is an out-of-control blaze: out of our control, surrendered fully into God’s hands to use as He wills. THAT is who we are to be in Christ! On fire, wholly His and ready to be used. As Davis taught us in his message, Jesus needs us to be all-in committed to Him and the spread of the Gospel, because only then will He be able to use us to bear His light.
This surrender should overflow into more than our internal or church-attending spiritual lives, however. This same fiery zeal needs to be our attitude when it comes to helping the poor among us.
I notice that the topic of helping the poor tends to bring a feeling of tension. We all know it’s important, but if you are like me, thinking about giving to others tends to bring an inner feeling of “ick” and a string of frustrated thoughts:
“Why me? Can’t someone who has more help them?”
“I want to be generous, but I don’t have enough time to give in volunteering or enough money to donate financially!”
“I know I am supposed to give to the poor, but I feel like I am poor in many ways, and who is helping me? If I give anything, I want to do so out of a generous heart, not out of obligation or trying to be a ‘good person’, but I don’t think I have that kind of heart right now.”
Many of us have heard of “the beatitudes” in Matthew chapter 5, including, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3). I find it interesting to note though that Jesus doesn’t simply say “the poor” in this verse- He says “the poor in spirit.”
GotQuestions.org, an online Bible study resource I love and use frequently, explains being poor in spirit in this way:
“To be poor in spirit is to recognize your utter spiritual bankruptcy before God. It is understanding that you have absolutely nothing of worth to offer God. Being poor in spirit is admitting that, because of your sin, you are completely destitute spiritually and can do nothing to deliver yourself from your dire situation. Jesus is saying that, no matter your status in life, you must recognize your spiritual poverty before you can come to God in faith to receive the salvation He offers.”
When Jesus says the poor in spirit, He doesn’t mean those people living below the poverty line materially- He means those who are living below the poverty line in a spiritual sense. And without His salvation, Jesus is saying each one of us is spiritually impoverished. We are chained down by debt in our sins, and only He has the power to break that chain, pay our spiritual debts, and wipe our soul-slate clean. Yet this freedom is not ours until we recognize we are impoverished.
Think of it this way: if a homeless person thought that their tent-house and ragged clothes and meager food was living like a king, and really believed it, would they seek out help? Would they really see a need to change their living conditions?
That may seem like an extreme example, but I believe many people live in this kind of spiritual squalor, choosing to completely ignore Christ’s invitation for freedom. They say “no” to Christ not because He is offering a worthless invitation, but because they either don’t believe it’s real or don’t think they need it. That’s why what Jesus says in Matthew 5 is important: those that recognize they are spiritually poor will inherit the eternal, unfading inheritance we have a part in because of Christ’s gift of salvation (see 1 Peter 1:3-7). We are spiritually wealthy in Christ!
What does all this have to do with zeal for God and His kingdom? Here is the connection: We cannot be fully generous to the poor without being fully surrendered to God- and we cannot be fully surrendered to God without recognizing our spiritual poverty and accepting His gift of “spiritual wealth”.
We are all poor in some way, but we cannot let it lead us to self-pity, bitterness, or excuses. Our weakness (our poverty) can be our strength when we let it give us a lens of compassion and patience for others who are poor around us and the ways in which we can be generous with what God has specially gifted to us.
Whether their poverty is of a physical, seen kind, or an unseen spiritual nature, there is someone in each of our lives that God has called us to give out of our “wealth” to. How each one of us gives to others will look as different as the needs we are meeting, but we each have been given what is needed.
If we fully surrender all we have and are to our generous, loving God, He will provide with what we need to live generously and zealously for Him. God is eager to use you, and me, and every one of us, as vessels to give His hope to others. Let’s accept the invitation to do so with zeal!