穷人、富人？义人、恶人？The poor or rich? the wicked or righteous?

Title: The poor or rich? the wicked or righteous?
Date: 30 October 2022
Preacher: Ps Zhang Li

【引言】
Blessed morning, brothers and sister!
Let us pray. Our heavenly father, please speak to our hearts, let your spirit help us to gain understanding and wisdom. in Jesus’ name we pray, Amen!
Let’s look at 3 questions:
1st, do you wanna be righteous or wicked? which one does God want you to be, then? A very easy question!
2nd, do you wanna be poor or rich? Which one would God want you to be? can give me a hands up? a? b?
The last one, are the rich pple bad, the poor ones good? Or is it the other way around, answer b?
These are 2 common opinions, completely opposite to each other，esp in the church. 1st one, the rich people are arrogant, depend on own ability, tend to bully others. While the poor are upright, honest, caring people, they work diligently, care for others. There’re several examples in the Bible, for example, the story of the rich man and Lazarus. In the book of Matthew, Jesus also said that: “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
A young brother, 30+, once shared that he was ashamed of himself being a successful businessman. He accidentally got a job offer in a jewelry shop after uni, 2 years later started his own jewelry business without any support from parents and friends. He worked very hard, in 10 years he opened 4 shops in BeiJing. But he dared not to drive his branded car to church, afraid that brothers and sisters would look down on him, even though he served wholeheartedly in church.
The opposite opinion is also quite popular in some churches: those righteous people are blessed by God with prosperity, but the poor people must have done something wrong. It seems that there’re also supports in the Bible, i.e. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, were all super rich and powerful guys. In Deuteronomy, God promised his people that if they fully obey the Lord and carefully follow His commands, they will be blessed in all aspects of life.
Brothers and sisters, what do you think?
There’re many passages in the Bible, talking about wealth and poverty, Proverbs 28 is one of them. Today we will look at this chapter carefully, for a deeper, and thorough understanding about the puzzling question. Please listen to the scripture reading:
28 The wicked flee though no one pursues,
but the righteous are as bold as a lion.
2 When a country is rebellious, it has many rulers,
but a ruler with discernment and knowledge maintains order.
3 A poor man who oppresses the poor
is like a driving rain that leaves no crops.
4 Those who forsake instruction praise the wicked,
but those who heed it resist them.
5 Evildoers do not understand what is right,
but those who seek the LORD understand it fully.
6 Better the poor whose walk is blameless
than the rich whose ways are perverse.
7 A discerning son heeds instruction,
but a companion of gluttons disgraces his father.
8 Whoever increases wealth by taking interest or profit from the poor amasses it for another, who will be kind to the poor.
9 If anyone turns a deaf ear to my instruction,
even their prayers are detestable.
10 Whoever leads the upright along an evil path
will fall into their own trap,
but the blameless will receive a good inheritance.
11 The rich are wise in their own eyes;
one who is poor and discerning sees how deluded they are.
12 When the righteous triumph, there is great elation;
but when the wicked rise to power, people go into hiding.
13 Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper,
but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.
14 Blessed is the one who always trembles before God, but whoever hardens their heart falls into trouble.
15 Like a roaring lion or a charging bear is a wicked ruler over a helpless people.
16 A tyrannical ruler practices extortion, but one who hates ill-gotten gain will enjoy a long reign.
17 Anyone tormented by the guilt of murder
will seek refuge in the grave; let no one hold them
back.
18 The one whose walk is blameless is kept safe,
but the one whose ways are perverse will fall into the pit.[b]
19 Those who work their land will have abundant food, but those who chase fantasies will have their fill of poverty.
20 A faithful person will be richly blessed,
but one eager to get rich will not go unpunished.
21 To show partiality is not good—
yet a person will do wrong for a piece of bread.
22 The stingy are eager to get rich
and are unaware that poverty awaits them.
23 Whoever rebukes a person will in the end gain favor rather than one who has a flattering tongue.
24 Whoever robs their father or mother
and says, “It’s not wrong,”
is partner to one who destroys.
25 The greedy stir up conflict,
but those who trust in the LORD will prosper.
26 Those who trust in themselves are fools,
but those who walk in wisdom are kept safe.
27 Those who give to the poor will lack nothing,
but those who close their eyes to them receive
many curses.
28 When the wicked rise to power, people go into hiding;
but when the wicked perish, the righteous thrive.
 
We will examine chapter 28 carefully, to find out:
1. What does it say?
2. what is the message for us?

【1. What does chapter 28 say?】
1st subject is about the wicked and the righteous. Most of the related verses are antithetical sayings, but I separated the 2 parts, and summarized the behaviors of the righteous and the wicked in the tables on the screen. Verse numbers are in bracket.
The righteous people are those who keep the law, blameless, and faithful, they tremble before God, and trust in God, thus they are bold, they are richly blessed, and can receive a good inheritance. Even more, they confess and renounce theirs sins, they do everything in wisdom. They work diligently and honestly, never gain anything with wrong means. And they are kind to the poor people, willingly help those in need.
At the end of the day, they will be kept safe, lack of nothing, have abundant food, and enjoy long lives.
The wicked ones are those forsake the law, agree with the wicked people, self-righteous, don’t want to confess their sins. They are perverse themselves, and lead others to evil path. They collect high interest, get money in a wrong way, flatter, oppress the weak, murder, and don’t help the poor. All of these deeds will eventually lead them to poverty, conflict, death, and curses.
2nd subject is the rich and the poor.
All of the verses about the poor are collected here, the key word is highlighted in blue:
Verse 3 says a poor man oppressed other, while 15 says helpless people are being mistreated; verse 6 mentions a blameless poor person; verse 11, one who is poor and discerning.
Verses 19 & 22: getting rich in the wrong way will cause poverty; 8 & 12 say that it is good to help the poor.
These 8 verses don’t tell us what kind of people are poor people.
How about the rich? Again, verses mentioning the rich are listed here, this time key words in red.
Some rich people are perverse, and wise in their own eyes, some get money by taking high interest from others. (slide)
These 3 verses are about those rich people who work diligently, who are faithful and trust the Lord. (slide)
Again, the 7 verses don’t tell us the characteristics of rich people.
Thirdly, let’s look at the relationship between wealth/poverty, and wickedness / righteousness.
In Chapter 28, sometimes the poor people do bad things, sometimes it’s the rich people who do bad things.
Meanwhile, these are good examples, the righteous ones, we found that they can be poor people, they can also be rich people.
In summary, there’s no clear definition of wealth and poverty in this chapter. Poor people can be good or bad, rich people can also be good or bad. There’s no connection between your financial situation and your character.
【Message of proverbs chapter 28 for us】
Then, what is the message proverbs chapter 28 for us?
Proverbs talk about wealth and poverty quite a lot, most of the verses tell us that it’s righteous to be kind to the poor, to give to the needy.
Several books in the Bible, esp the OT, define the poor as those who include widow, fatherless and stranger. Some examples are shown on the screen.
In the old times, only man can be the bread winner, widow and orphan could not work to support themselves. Aliens living among the Israelites won’t be able to get own piece of land. Based on these, the poor are most likely those who don’t have the ability to sustain their living, like food, drink, clothing and housing.
Whereas the rich should be those who have far more then they need for survival.
Wealth is a blessing from God, as a reward for following moral life, for private initiative, ad for hard work. it is greatly valued in proverbs. God created such a beautiful and resourceful world, He wants us to enjoy it, to enjoy the life He gave us. But, wealth is not the only form of blessing from God, whereas, poverty is not only caused by wrong doings.
Wealth and poverty, might come to those who have no personal responsibility for either. War, drought, unjust actions by the powerful, the death of a provider, the global political and economic situation, might push people into poverty. Wealth might also result from unexpected good fortune.
For example, the people who were born in the poor states in India, these are photos of the countryside in Uttar Pradesh. Also, the domestic helpers and construction workers in our midst.
The other end of extremes are those who were born with a silver spoon in their mouth, here are some familiar faces. (next slide)
We don’t have the chance to choose where we are born, who can be our parents, neither can we control the policy of our country, or other countries. But the decision of being righteous or wicked is up to us.
1. Very clearly, chapter 28 advocate the righteous way, it is the way of safety, blessing, and abundant life. We should fear God, trust Him, pursue wisdom, be a righteous person, no matter what our financial situation is.
2. However, when we look at this table, as Christians, we still struggle. Because we can’t be a perfectly righteous person. We know we ought to do the things on the left, completely abandon the life styles on the right, but a lot of times, we can’t make it. We struggle on following God’s instructions, it might cost too much, let it be money, time, or my ego. From time to time, we face the challenges to compromise the integrity to obtain more profit. We want to hold on what we’re having, don’t want to give to the needy.
Proverbs use lots and lots of antithetical sayings, black-and-white terms, the contrast between good and evil, life and death is super clear. This type of sayings is easy to be memorized and to be understood literally. But it also gives us an impression that God does not allow anything in between, which is the reality of life. We thought that Proverbs are hard, we will be punished if we are not doing the right thing, the things on the left.
Brothers and sisters, please take note, all of the behaviors on the left are not conditions of becoming the children of God, you don’t have to be a perfect, a righteous person to come to the church, to join any cell groups. Precisely the opposite, we can only be transformed from the right to the left after being saved by God, after this new life of Jesus starts to grow inside us. Joining a church, becoming a member of a cell group, can help this transition process.
Process! yes, we are all in the process of transformation. The keys are in verses 4 & 5, the words of God and God Himself.
Proverbs, and the entire Bible, tells us the right and wrong, good-and evil. This forms our characters, gives us guidelines and right view of values. Right mindset is the foundation of right decision and action.
More importantly, verse 5 tells us to seek the Lord. Only God Himself can transform our lives (turn back to previous slide). You may ask, how? How to seek the Lord, what should I do? There’re many ways, I only wanna emphasize one thing today – confess and renounce our sins. Transformation starts from there. (next slide)
Confess to God. Admit that I have struggles, tell God that I wanna be righteous, I wanna do good, but I can’t make it all the time, please help me to change.
When God reveals the darkness inside us, the problem of my heart, renounce the sins, let the grace of God work in us.
A Taiwan pastor and his wife once shared about a deacon’s story in their church. They are very experienced marriage counsellors. This deacon is a nice guy in his company, serves fervently in church ministry. Nobody knew that something went very wrong at his home until one day, at mid night, his wife called the pastor couple, because she was being beaten up badly by her husband.
It's painful and difficult, the abuse had been going on for many years already. At first, the husband wanted to cover up, he was afraid to admit he had a problem. But gradually he started to realize how much pain he had brought to his wife and children, he realized that he needed help. He accepted counselling from the pastor couple, church formed a supporting group. Things are being changed, he and his family are in the process of transformation, experiencing the renewing power of Jesus.

3. Be kind and help the needy
Last, chap 28 specifically addresses the issue of wealth and poverty, advocating about being kind to the poor, giving to the needy.
God does not put everyone in the same financial situation, this world is diversified. At the same time, God really cares about the marginal, the needy ones. He Himself watches over the fatherless and widow, He also urges his people, especially those powerful, those with much more than they need, to look after the weak people in the society.
the rich are those who have far more then they need for survival. We may ask, what is my essential, how to draw the line?
Brothers and sisters, there’s no standard answer. It really depends. Having a car is essential to some, while others are happy to take public transport; some are happily cooking most meals at home, some think that it saves a lot of time and energy to DaBao. A 60+ pastor could not understand, his daughter insists to live in a 4 room flat, with 3 young children, means 5 people household should at least stay in a 4 room flat. When this pastor was young, he and his entire family, 8 people in total, only had a 3 room flat, they were quite satisfied by then.
Brothers and sister, there is a standard answer, the answer is in our heart. It is good to work hard, to be successful, to pursue for more, larger, higher. But God give us responsibilities when He entrusts us with more, larger and higher. We can’t only care for selves, we must stretch out for the needy. Are there needy ones in Singapore? Yes!
We Singaporeans are really KiaSue, a lot of times we get lost, cause we keep comparing with others, with our friends and siblings. It is our social circle, our culture, the media, decide how much is enough for us. The pressure, the comparison, makes us anxious, uneasy, and worried.
We must pause from time to time, ask, is this what God wants me to do? is this what I really need? What kind of impact is my striving for more, larger and higher on my relationship with God, on my family, on my health? Do I have a heart for the needy people around me?
Let me finish with a short story: a mum and her 7 yr-old girl were preparing stuffs for the refugees in another country. The mom sort out all of her useless clothes, while the little girl put her favorite teddy bear in the bag. Mum was surprised…the girl said, Jesus tole us to love our neighbors as ourselves….

华语崇拜视频链接：https://youtu.be /-IUxS1Wa-4g
Bilingual Service Video Link: https://youtu.be/zJ4_9BGFELE