If God provides, why help others?

Hey, thanks again for sending in questions related to our recent sermons.

This last week we talked about worry and anxiety and Jesus says, don’t worry, don’t be anxious

for your father knows what you need.

Seek first him, his kingdom, his righteousness, everything else will be given to you as well.

And we said in the sermon, Jesus is saying, don’t seek the things of this world like the

Gentiles do, food, clothing, even these necessities, but instead seek God and his kingdom.

So we said, instead of seeking something unreliable, everything in this world, seek something reliable,

which is God, his affirmation, his validation of you.

God provides for you by providing himself to you and that is what we really need.

So the question this week is, if God is going to provide everything that people need, why

do we need to help anyone?

Which is a great question and totally understandable.

We could just punt and let God take care of everything, it seems like.

And even if somebody has really severe basic needs, we could look at them and say, oh,

God must be doing something in your life to bring you more of himself through your starvation.

So I’m free of any responsibility.

Why do I need to help if God’s really the one who’s going to provide for you and provide

your deeper needs rather than even just necessities?

Well, we’ll answer this in a couple stages.

First, that’s in direct defiance of many biblical commands.

Love your neighbor as yourself.

James 2, if you see somebody in need and say, hey, good luck, buddy.

That’s totally useless.

Proverbs 14, whoever honors the poor, shows love for their maker, anybody who shows contempt

for the poor, dishonors God.

It’s all throughout the Bible.

Help the orphan and widow, help those in need.

On and on and on from beginning to end, it is love thy neighbor.

So you would be in direct defiance of commands of God.

We still need to help even if God has some other plan going on.

That’s the first thing.

The second thing is you have no idea what God is up to behind the scenes.

And so what we need to do is just follow commands.

But behind the scenes, you know, God could be developing in that person, dependence on

him.

God could be developing in that person humility to be able to ask you for help.

And so that could be going on over there.

You don’t know.

But then God can also be doing something in you.

And especially if our attitude is like, I don’t need to help, God will take care of

it, then God is definitely doing something in you.

And God is saying, what is this that you want to hang on to your material possessions and

not help somebody out?

And so it might not have anything to do with the person in need.

It might have everything to do with you and how tightly that you’re hanging on to everything

that you’re hanging on to.

And the person in need might be a way that God is trying to wake you up because you are

the one who is in error.

We have no idea what God is up to behind the scenes.

He’s tying together an infinite number of plot lines for the glory of himself, for the

benefit of all people.

And if you try to step behind the curtain to understand all of that that’s going on,

you’re really putting yourself in a position of God.

And there’s no way that you can see everything that God is up to.

It’s not even just in one person’s life.

It’s the ripple effects of that one person’s life to other people’s lives.

It’s generations down the road.

What’s going to happen out of this one interaction?

You can’t see all that.

Don’t try.

Just follow what God says.

And God tells us to help those in need.

So it’s trust him, listen to him, obey him, and leave the results to him.

If we’re in defiance of a biblical command, then that’s on us.

Jesus says at the end of the book of John, he tells Peter the kind of death that he’s

going to die, and then everybody looks and says, does that mean John’s going to live

until you come back?

And Jesus is like, that’s between me and him.

Jesus only tells us our own story.

And so if we’re looking at somebody in need and saying, oh, I know what God’s up to in

your life.

No, you don’t.

You have no idea.

God only tells us our own story, sometimes not until much later in our lives.

Again, our responsibility is just to follow and obey.

So hey, thanks for the question.

And we will see you next time.