Looking for a Better Connection 8: Helping Those in Need

Luke 3:7-16 

John the Baptist’s job is to get people ready for the coming of Messiah.  What kind of preparation is important to God?  John says, “Bear fruit worthy of repentance.”  If you are truly sorry for your sins, if you truly desire to know God, if you truly have faith, then live a life that demonstrates those things. 

What is faith?  Is it just an eternal insurance policy?  Or does it change how we live?  Does it upend your values, your priorities, your attitudes, and your behavior?  Does faith change our hearts and minds?   

Many of Jesus’ harshest words were reserved for people who wanted everyone to see them as respectable, upstanding, “good, religious people,” but their hearts and minds were not really changed by their faith.   

John warned people not to seek security in anything other than a faith that changes everything.  “Don’t just say, ‘It’s cool.  We are the children of Abraham.’”  What are the rationalizations we use to dismiss God’s calling on our lives?  I’m too young.  I’m too old.  I’m too poor.  I’m too insignificant.  I can’t make any difference, so there’s no real point in trying.  I’m too tired.  I’m too busy.  I’m too important.  I can’t take time away from ____ or ____ to do something for God.  Someone else will just have to do it.  God’s calling on your life is to have a faith that changes everything, that upends how you think, what you say, and what you do.  He won’t take excuses or rationalizations. 

John’s stern warning to those who tried to find complacency was, “Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down for the fire.”  And if you think John was too harsh, remember that Jesus said the exact same thing in the Sermon on the Mount!  If you truly have faith in Jesus Christ, then bear good fruit in your life. 

“What must we do?” the crowds asked?  John’s answer was not complicated or difficult.  First, live with integrity.   

To the tax collector, he said, “Don’t collect more than you are required to.”  Tax collectors had a bad reputation in the first century Roman world.  Rome farmed out the collection of taxes to local people.  They hired tax collectors and said, “This district owes this much in taxes every year.”  Then it was up to the tax collector to go and get them.  As long as Rome got their money, they mostly ignored any abuses of the system.  And some did abuse it.  They collected far more than was required and used it to line their own pockets.  This made all tax collectors very unpopular, even if many were honest.   

To the soldiers, John said, “Don’t extort money.”  Most likely these are not actual “Roman” soldiers.  They were working for Rome, but there just weren’t enough people in Rome for them to put soldiers in every garrison around the empire.  So while the officers, the centurions, were likely all Romans, the rank and file soldiers were from all over.  So these guys were probably from a neighboring province, like Syria.  There were some Jewish soldiers, mostly working as Temple guards, but Rome would not accept Jews into their army, because of their religious rules.  Not likely that many would volunteer anyway.  Soldiers in the Roman army often complained about their poor wages, so some “supplemented their income” through extortion.  The army was also the police force.  They were the ones that enforced the law.  And it was easy for soldiers to say to people, “I heard you planning sedition right now.  You pay me ___ or I’ll arrest you and turn you over to the tribunal.”  “Don’t do that,” John says. 

Whatever we do in life, we must do it with honesty and integrity.  Colossians 3 tells us, “Whatever you do, do it as though you are working for the Lord.”  If you wouldn’t do it before God, then don’t do it otherwise.   

Second, share out of your abundance with those in need.  “If you have two cloaks, give one to someone in need.”  The basic wardrobe of the day was that people had two garments, an inner garment called a tunic, which was basically a long shirt, and an outer garment, called a cloak or coat, which was basically like a bathrobe.  Most people were poor and only owned one of each.  So if you had two cloaks, you were “above average.”  “And if you have extra food, share with those in need.”   

The command to share with those in need is plain for us to see in the teachings of Jesus and elsewhere.  Jesus told us to love our neighbor, and when he was asked what that meant, he told the story of the Good Samaritan.  Your neighbor is the person in need.  God wants you to help them.  In his epistle, James said that a person of faith does not see another in need and say, “Well, goodbye and God bless you.  Stay warm and eat well.”  He or she takes it upon him or herself to do something about the needs of others.  God will not hold us blameless if we have more than we need and we ignore those who lack what they need!   

And third, be content.  This is the lynchpin that holds the other two commands together.  We can’t live with integrity if we lack contentment.  And we can’t share with others in need if we lack contentment.   

And there is the struggle, right?  We live in a society that lacks contentment.  The world tells us that we should not be content.  We should always be wanting more.  And I would be lying to you if I said that I did not struggle with contentment.  I need to hear God’s word here as much as the next person.   

I want to conclude this morning with two Scriptures that speak to the need for contentment in the Christian life.   

The first is from 1 Timothy 6:  “True godliness with contentment is itself great wealth.  After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world, and we can’t take anything with us when we leave it.  So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content.” 

And the second is from Philippians 4:  “How I praise the Lord that you are concerned about me again. I know you have always been concerned for me, but you didn’t have the chance to help me.  Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have.  I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little.  For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. “ 

Lord, teach us to be content, and then to be generous with those in need.  Amen.