The Christians Hour

Mike Breaux: Welcome to the Christian's Hour. Thank you for joining us today. It's a joy to have you with us. The Christian's Hour is a ministry of Gospel Broadcasting Mission, where we share the good news of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth through radio and media until all have heard.

Well, can I ask you, have you ever spent time serving others? Maybe someone who has faced difficult circumstances in their life or found themselves simply in need. They might be homeless, hurting, hungry, or simply lonely. Sometimes we don't see them at all, or perhaps we see them so often that it becomes overwhelming and we begin to wonder if stopping to help would even make a difference.

But I can tell you some of the most impactful moments in my life and in my walk with Jesus have come from serving others, intentionally going out of my way to care for those in need. Whether it's buying a meal for someone at a local restaurant or traveling internationally to help build a home for a family living in the slum, God has used those moments to change my heart. Through them, He has helped me see people the way He sees them: deeply loved, created in His image, and not defined by their circumstances.

Scripture reminds us that every person bears the image of God, and that truth shapes how we're called to respond. We become more like Jesus when we begin to see others through His eyes and love them as He does. In today's message, Ben Cachiaras, lead pastor of Mountain Christian Church in Joppa, Maryland, explores what God's word says about caring for the poor. He examines the scriptures and challenges us to live out our faith with compassion and purpose. Here's Ben.

Ben Cachiaras: Today I want to talk about something that'll help us be really shocking and different and weird to understand what God is doing all over the world, and then to understand our part in it, and then to be obedient to that. We believe God's calling us to make disciples where? All over the world, right. Matthew 28, Jesus' last words. He says, "I have been given all authority," so in other words, what I'm about to say, listen up. This is not optional. I got authority here. And then He said, "Go and make disciples of all nations." That's like everyone, all people. Baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, and teach them everything I've taught you. and be sure to know I'll go with you and help you out in it.

So, we're called to make disciples everywhere, aren't we? So every local church is a local church because you're planted somewhere in a community where the people in that church live. You're supposed to bless and love the people that you're right there with. We're a local church. But you know what? Every church of Jesus Christ is also a global church because God is a global God. We're locally rooted but globally minded. Does that make sense? Yeah, because that's exactly how Jesus was. He came to this earth and He lived in a certain specific place, but His love and mission was for the whole world.

God's a missionary God. He came to us and now He sends us as His missionary people to bless the world. Friends, if your vision for your faith and your Christian world stops at your city limits, if your vision of Christianity stops at the end of your cul-de-sac or at the end of your county or your country, it's smaller than the heart of God because God so loved the world. He sent His Son so that everyone who believes in Him would not perish but have eternal life.

After His resurrection, Jesus gathered a bunch of disciples like us and He said, "Hey, listen, stay put, guys." Acts chapter 1:8, He said, "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you to be my witnesses." You're going to be able to go share your story where? Everywhere. He says, "Starting in Jerusalem, where you are now, but also throughout Judea, that's the whole region that's bigger, but also in Samaria, those people we don't really like, and even to the ends of the earth." He goes on to just say, here, there, and everywhere.

So that means our lives have to be Jesus-shaped, and we've got to be weird. You've got to be a little different. You've got to stand out a little bit by being Jesus-shaped. I want to talk to you for a few moments about something that really bothers me. I suspect by the time I'm done talking, it'll bother you too.

I had a friend one time who had a scotoma. Anybody know what a scotoma is? If you're an eye doctor, you'd know what a scotoma is. It's a blind spot or a partial loss of vision in your field of vision. So you have this field of vision that's out in front of you, right? But then you have this little area that you don't see at all, and your brain compensates for it. You don't even realize you have a blind spot anymore. You just think you're seeing everything, but really there's this whole spot right here in the middle of your field of vision you don't see at all. That's a scotoma.

A lot of Christians spend a lot of my life with this spiritual scotoma, a blind spot, if you will, like a hole in our vision, a hole in our gospel. Even though we're trying to be Jesus-shaped, one of the blind spots is, if I'm going to not have a blind spot and I'm going to be Jesus-shaped, it means I have to learn to see when I look at the world, I'm looking through His eyes and I actually see the world the way Jesus does. That's what it means to be Jesus-shaped. Are you willing to have your eyes see things the way Jesus does? That's what it means. You either turn a blind eye or you're willing to open your eyes.

What I want to talk to you specifically is something that's very close to the heart of God. There are so many things we could put in that category, but there's one today I want to mention, and it's how we think about the poor. It's how we treat the poor, how we care for the poor, and our attitudes about the poor as Christ followers. I add that, it's important, as Christ followers, because you might have an opinion about the poor. Everyone does. What's important for us is if you want to be a Christ follower, it turns out whatever your opinion might be is not really the issue. The issue is what does Jesus actually have to say about this? What do the scriptures teach us? And then if we're a Christ follower, we say, okay, Jesus, let me see the world the way you do.

Open our eyes to any blind spots we might have. This is an ongoing process, and it bothers me a little. It might bother you too. Let's start with this. There are 700 million people on the planet who are living in extreme poverty. That's like less than two dollars a day. That's about 8.5 percent of the world's population. In the US, about 35 million, that's about 11 percent. So what? Who cares? I mean, that's a valid question.

Recently a single mom with three teenage children who had been living in their van with nothing but the clothes on their backs and the stuff they had in their van. So what? Who cares? I could tell you their names, but who cares? We were able to get them some immediate assistance with food and some clothing, and today they're working and have a job and are in an apartment nearby where they're close enough they can continue to get some assistance and friendship and resources.

However, they're not out of the woods. The oldest child, 19, is expecting a baby and is going to be required to move out of their Section 8 housing. So there's more needs down the road, but really who cares? Well, so if you're feeling the tension of that, let's answer the question as Christ followers today. Let me give you some reasons that I think we care. You care.

Number one, we care about the poor because God has a heart for the poor. Like, if you know God's heart, God cares, so we care. Do you know the Bible contains about 2,000 references to caring for the poor? So we got to get started because we got to get through every one of them. Ready? And we're not going to cover all of them. Let me give you a couple of them. Deuteronomy chapter 15, Old Testament, children of Israel, God is saying, "Hey, you're my people, act like it. I'm holy, you be holy." What does that look like? Well, here it is. "If there are any poor Israelites in your towns when you arrive in the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward them. Instead, be generous and open-handed and lend them whatever they need. Give generously to the poor and without a grudging heart. Then because of this the Lord your God will bless you." There'll be a kickback to you too. You'll be blessed in everything you put your hand to. And He says, "I don't trust you to do it, I'm going to command you to do it to share freely with the poor and with other Israelites in need." We got 1,999 more of those to go. Ready?

Psalm 41. "Oh, the joys of those who are kind to the poor." We live in the most depressed, negative society ever. Everyone is sad and depressed. And this says, "Oh, the joys of those who care for the poor." We think, "I don't want to think about those people in the van. That might depress me." Friends, that's backwards. You want to know joy? Maybe we actually start seeing the world with the eyes of God. And He says there's a kickback for you too.

Proverbs 29. "The godly care about justice for the poor." That's what godliness looks like. "The wicked don't care at all." You say, "I don't care. It's not my problem. I don't know how they got there. I don't know what they did to deserve that." Well, a lot of names for that. Bible calls it wicked. Proverbs 14. "Whoever oppresses the poor has insulted the creator, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God." Your attitude to the poor is apparently something God takes personally. You ever think about that? You insult the poor, you insult the Lord. You honor the poor, you honor God.

What's happening here? God is associating Himself and relating Himself to those at the bottom of the ladder, the ones down in the pits, those in need, those who are without, the poor, the oppressed. Wait a second. Gods don't do that. No, God does that. All the gods of the ancient world, all the gods today, they relate to the ones on top: the generals, the kings, the princes, the royals, the influencers, the celebrities, the rich, the famous, the happy, the popular, all of that. Aren't those the ones who are obviously blessed? Friends, this is one of the distinctives of the Christian faith because it's Jesus-shaped.

There's no other religion in the world where a God says, "I want to relate myself not to the ones on top but to the people at the bottom." The way you treat the people at the bottom, therefore, God says, "I take personally. Because when I came to the earth in the flesh, I descended and came down and I became poor so you could become rich. The way you treat them is how you think about me." Jesus said it this way: Matthew 25. "When you did it for one of the least of these, whether it was food or water or clothing or visiting, you did it for me. And when you didn't do it for them, you didn't do it for me." So suddenly a lot more's at stake than just a blind spot, isn't there? We're doing it for Jesus.

How about Luke 4? This is where Jesus begins His ministry. The very first sermon He ever preached. The first day on the job, Jesus says, what's the new traveling rabbi going to say? He grabs the Bible, opens it up, and here's what He says. "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, who has appointed me to preach good news to the poor." What does He mean? Poor, or poor in spirit? What's the answer? Yes. Yes. It's an undeniable part of Jesus' ministry.

Over in the book of Galatians, you can see how the early church thought about this. Paul, Peter, James, and John were shaped by Jesus. They hung out with Him. They're part of the twelve. And they're trying to affirm Paul in his ministry, and he says the only thing they had to say to me as a suggestion, they said, "Everything you're doing's great, Paul, but whatever you do, make sure you keep on helping the poor." He says, "Of course, I've always been eager to do that. I'm never going to stop," because these guys at the beginning who knew Jesus the best knew that it was part and parcel of what it meant to preach the gospel. So we reach the lost, we preach the gospel, yes, but we're also here to help the poor, and if we just do one without the other, we've forgotten part of the gospel. We care about the poor because God has a heart for the poor.

Second, we care about the poor because every person is precious in God's sight. Every person. You've never locked eyes with a human being who's not made in the image of God, who's part of His handiwork, who is a person that Jesus deemed valuable enough that He would give His life for them. So this is why, if you're a Christian, if you're an actual Christ follower, you're going to treat everyone with respect and dignity even if you don't like them or disagree with them and all that stuff because the people need to know they matter. And so we want everyone to know God cares for them, and it's a lot easier when you know someone cares for you.

Poverty, you see, is never just about the money. Poverty isn't like not having enough money. It's not having hope. That's what it's about. It's not about how much money you have. So we realize that. Isaiah 58's a fascinating passage. It's telling about the children of God. They're coming to God and they're kind of complaining because they're saying, "God, we're doing all this worshipy stuff, we're going to church, we're doing all this stuff, all these religious acts, and we're even fasting. And God, we don't feel like you're responding and paying enough attention to us."

And God tells them what the problem is. Verse two, He says, "They ask me to take action on their behalf, to intervene for them, praying me all these prayers, pretending they want to be near me, acting so pious they go to the temple, they wave their hands in worship and all this stuff, and why aren't you impressed, God?" Listen, it's possible to go to church every Sunday and have all the right doctrine and all the right beliefs and have all the exterior appearance of Christianity and yet have an attitude regarding the poor that disregards them in a way that is a blind spot for you so much so that you don't even realize you're separating yourself from the heart of God and therefore from the blessing of God. This is what this is teaching because you're not carrying the heart of God for the people of God who are made in the image of God.

God says, "I'll tell you why." Verse three, He says, "It's because you're fasting to please yourself. It's all about you. All your religious stuff is all about you. You keep oppressing your workers." You think if you just have this vertical relationship with me it's enough. He says, "If you want to say you really know me and worship me, then it's got to affect this way, and that's got to touch the people that I care about, and that always includes the people that are on the bottom."

Want to know something really religious? God says, how about verse seven? He says, "How about you do this: share your food with the hungry, give shelter to the homeless, give clothes to those who need them, and don't hide from your own flesh and blood." You ever want to just hide from this issue? That's what bothers me, is I like to hide from this issue. I come up to the intersection and just kind of wish I had tinted windows. That guy's standing there, I just want to hide. You ever want to hide? Don't hide, He says. I'll respond to you when you show that kind of godliness. So that's an important thing.

Verse 10, He says, "You must actively help the hungry and feed the oppressed, and if you pour yourself out," I love that phrase, "for the hungry and satisfy the desires of the afflicted, then your lights will rise, then things will get better for you too." You ever feel like, man, if you're like me, it's like when I get to this issue, I got so many other things going, sometimes I'm just like, "Oh, can I just do a teaspoon here and there?" And the Bible's like, "Man, pour yourself out."

So I think it's talking about two things here. It's saying, one, give and be generous, but also give yourself, like opening your heart. You're going to look at somebody and allow yourself to lock eyes with that person. Christians are called to be the first responders. You know what a first responder is, right? When you come upon the accident scene, the first responder doesn't get the measuring tape out, measure the skid marks, and try to figure out whose fault it was and how the accident happened. First responders go, "Someone's hurt." They get there and they just help.

Jesus tells a story about that, how a lot of people like to come by and do other things and just pass by. But we're supposed to be first responders. "Go and do likewise," He said in the Good Samaritan. And then He has that line in there about, "Hey, don't turn a blind eye to your own flesh and blood." He's not just talking about relatives. He's saying, man, whoever you're looking at, that's your flesh and blood. We're all one with God and we're all one people. We're part of the same race, the human race.

So I don't care what color your skin is. I don't care where you slept last night. I don't care how you smell or where you came from or who you voted for or what you look like or how you're dressed or how much money you make or what your background is or what your values are. It doesn't matter. I don't care who you are because you're made in the image of God. You're precious to Him, and that means Christ died for you. So I have to demonstrate that, and the way I do it is the same way Jesus did, which is pour yourself out. Proverbs 22:2 just says, the rich and the poor have this in common: Lord made them both. Lord made them both. Check your attitude. Check your attitude. I told you it would bother you. This bothers me, but I got to check my attitude. You got to check your attitude too.

Number three, we care about the poor because, friends, we were poor and God graciously and generously gave to us. If you're a follower of Jesus Christ, think about it, man. We have experienced unbelievable and unquantifiable measure of the grace of God. The King of glory who was rich, for our sake became poor. He gave it all up for us. He laid down His life for us. He poured Himself out for you. He suffered and bled and He died on a cross, a brutal, unfair death for you. And He gave us, as a result, unbelievable blessing: forgiveness of sins, community and real friends, purpose in life and hope for eternity, freedom, friendship, all of it.

We were spiritual beggars and now we're children of the king. We were debtors, had nothing, we couldn't fix any of this. But while we were still sinners, He came to us. He didn't ask you what'd you do to get yourself in this problem. He didn't ask us any of those questions. He didn't get political on you. He just came and He took care of the need and He blessed you.

And when you understand that, no one has to tell you to demonstrate some kindness to someone around you. And what you understand is freely I have received, therefore I freely give. When I really understand that, then no one has to tell me to explain this all to me about how I should think about someone else. And when I'm not generous, this is the part that really bothers me. Often I'm not generous in my attitude, my mind toward people. And in those moments when I'm not generous, it doesn't mean, "Oh, I don't have enough to give," or "I've got a good reason not to give," or "there's not a real need here." You know what it all means in that moment? It's that I don't get it. That's all it means. That I don't understand my own poverty and how God has met me.

And if you're one of those people and you're not generous of mind or heart or attitude toward this and all you can think about is the politics of it instead of having Jesus and His teaching inform your politics, well then it just means you don't get it. First John 3 says it this way. "We know what real love is because Jesus showed us. He gave up His life for us." First John 3:16. "So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters. If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion, how could you say, well, God's love is in that person? You couldn't say that." The next verse says, "Dear children, let's not merely say we love each other, let's show the truth by our actions." I love it.

Friends, the Bible doesn't say if you want to be saved, you've got to help the poor. It doesn't say that. It does say if you are saved, you'll help the poor. It just goes together. I told you it might bother you. So I don't care which party you're in or whatever you want to do with that. There's lots of things we can argue about there. But the main thing is, can we just agree if we're going to be Christ followers, we start with His stuff? And then we let that inform whatever actions we take. That's the starting place because the degree to which we understand the gospel is the degree to which we will behave with open hearts and generosity toward others.

Acappella Ministries: (Singing)

To the God of all creation

To the everlasting Father we sing

We will sing

With a joyful celebration

Lift our voices to our Father and sing

We will sing

Our heartstrings in tune with the Father

The giver of life

We will sing

In harmony united together

One heart and one mind

We will sing

We will sing

We will sing

We will sing

To the Savior the Son

To Jesus the Christ

We will sing

We will sing

To the Son of incarnation

To the everlasting Savior we sing

We will sing

With a joyful celebration

Lift our voices to our Savior and sing

We will sing

Our heartstrings in tune with the Savior

The giver of life

We will sing

In harmony united forever

One heart and one mind

We will sing

We will sing

We will sing

We will sing

To the Savior the Son

To Jesus the Christ

We will sing

We will sing

To a holy habitation

To the ever present Spirit we sing

We will sing

With a joyful celebration

Lift our voices to the Spirit and sing

We will sing

Our heartstrings in tune with the Spirit

The giver of life

We will sing

In harmony united together

One heart and one mind

We will sing

We will sing

We will sing

We will sing

To the Savior the Son

To Jesus the Christ

We will sing

We will sing

To the Savior the Son

To Jesus the Christ

We will sing

We will sing

We will sing

Mike Breaux: So how about you? Where might God be calling you to serve someone in need? Someone experiencing poverty, hardships, or loneliness. It could be a person on a street corner, a neighbor nearby, or a ministry you can partner with to make a meaningful difference for the least of these.

Friends, don't let culture define who the poor are or shape how you see them. Let God's word do that, and let the love of Jesus shape your response. We are called to love unconditionally, without expectation or judgment, and to serve with humility and grace. And as we do, we reflect Christ to the world and experience the joy of living more like Him.

Well, our thanks to Ben for helping us see others through the eyes of Jesus. And our thanks as well to Acappella Ministries for providing today's song of worship. If you'd like to hear today's program again, visit us at thechristianshour.org, where all of our programs are available to stream or download anytime. While you're there, we invite you to learn more about what God is doing through our global ministry. We believe in the power of radio and media to reach people with the message of Jesus, even in some of the most unchurched and hard-to-reach places in the world. So we invite you to come be part of this mission.

This work is made possible by listeners like you. If you'd like to partner with us, we encourage you to prayerfully consider supporting the ministry. Your partnership can make an eternal impact. You can learn more or connect with us at thechristianshour.org or by emailing us at thechristianshour@gmail.com. And be sure to follow us on social media. Simply search for us at The Christian's Hour on Facebook and Instagram today. There you'll stay updated with all that God is doing through the ministry. Well, thanks again for listening, and we hope you join us again next week.