What does the Bible say about poverty and wealth?
Video Timeline
WELCOME
0:00 - Welcome with Matt & Phil
TALK with John Sloan
06:51 - What does the Bible say about Poverty And Wealth?
07:22 - Defining Mammon
09:18 - When You Look At Poverty And Wealth, Whose Lens Are You Looking Through?
11:26 - I Will Enrich Your Life So You Can Enrich Other's Lives
15:20 - Three Types Of Poverty Covered In The Bible
15:46 - 1. Chance Disadvantage
16:21 - 2. Oppression
17:39 - 3. Foolishness
18:02 - The Shame Of Poverty
19:22 - What Does The Bible Say About Wealth?
20:01 - What Does The New Testament Say About Wealth?
23:45 - Contentment
24:43 - Cures And Antidotes
26:56 - Tithing
PRAYER
29:46 - Prayer For Ukraine
WORSHIP
32:20 - When I Survey with lyrics
CONVERSATION STREET with Matt & Phil
38:16 - Conversation Street
CLOSING WORSHIP
59:28 - Grace Alone with lyrics
What does the Bible say about Poverty & Wealth?
— John Sloan
Defining Mammon
In terms of context, we should recognise that stopping to look in detail about a particular topic is often really helpful. We live fast moving lives, and we tend to be superficial on things.
Jesus mostly taught on topics, really challenging people's thinking. And it's relevant to note that he spoke about money a lot. In fact, he taught on money in 11 of his 39 parables that's over 25% of the time. Money is Jesus' most talked about topic.
Perhaps his most telling comment is that we cannot serve God and money (Mammon).
“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
Mammon was a biblical term for riches, often used to describe the debasing influence of material wealth. In English, Mammon persisted as a word in other literature, although is probably dying out now. And in fact, most modern Bibles variously use the word wealth, riches, or gain. But they don't convey the negative context that Mammon is meant to convey. Mammon is when wealth riches or gain become your God.
When you look at poverty and wealth, whose lens are you looking through?
There's a lot of evidence that we form our judgments emotionally, because of our background, or because of things that have happened to us. Psychologists talk about moral intuition, in other words, having made an emotional judgement on the topic, our moral reasoning simply serves as a rationalisation of already formed prejudices.
It appears that our beliefs are rarely based, initially, at leastm, on a deep understanding of a particular issue. When it comes to belief, it seems we remember facts that support our innate natural worldview, but ignore or reject information that runs counter to our opinions.
We see a lot in politics. And the more passionately we feel about an issue, the more this is so. And justice and fairness rank pretty high in many people's minds. So they may well impinge on a subject such as this.
But don't forget, Father God says,
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways”,
declares the LORD.
”As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
I will enrich your life so that you can enrich other's lives
The first reference I want to look at is the key one in all of Scripture. That's a statement, isn't it?
It is perhaps the true biblical lens on this topic. The conversation is between God, the Master of the Universe, and Abraham, the father of our faith. So quite a helpful conversation to consider!
In fact, these two have impressed me so much for maybe 30 years that if I ever I were vain enough to buy a personalised number plate for a car, it will be G E N 123. Rest assured I'm not planning to do that.
“I will make you into a great nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you. ”
Now, some people have rationalised that and said, yes, people on earth will be blessed through Abraham because he's in the lineage of Jesus. Well, that's true, of course. But I think that ignores the richness of what God's actually saying, which is this, I will enrich your life so that you can enrich other's lives.
We see this in Jewish history. The fact that Jews are disproportionately successful in many fields of endeavour is undeniable. The statistic statistics simply speak for themselves. Jews make up about naught point 4% of the world's population. And yet 30% of Nobel Prize winners in science have been Jewish. In virtually every industry, successful Jews are disproportionately represented. We see it in art, music, informatics, physics, the list goes on.
And they've consistently made it more than 20% of the Forbes 400 list of the world's richest people. Now, of course, the world has courted many conspiracy theories on this: that Jews have oppressed others, and they've stolen and that was some of the origins of the Nazism of the Second World War.
“For God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable.”
When God makes a calling, it's irrevocable. And the calling is right there in Genesis 12:2,3.
Three types of poverty covered in the Bible
About 30 years ago, I made an extensive, exhaustive study of biblical poverty. And I was amazed to find that there are three distinct types of poverty in Scripture, not be confused with each other.
1. Chance disadvantage.
Things have been going fine, and then suddenly you lose your crops fail. Things have been going fine, and suddenly there's war.
“Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.”
And we must look after the fatherless and the widows and those that are seriously disadvantaged by what has happened to them chances advantage, big big group.
2. Oppression.
For instance, slavery.
“Woe to those who make unjust laws,
to those who issue oppressive decrees,
to deprive the poor of their rights
and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people,
making widows their prey
and robbing the fatherless. ”
Now we see oppression in many forms in society. Perhaps one of the biggest, or certainly a very big one is is the drugs trade. People are enslaved by their addiction to drugs. Some pushers will actually give drugs away to get people enslaved, and then start charging them ridiculous sums of money. Another form of oppression we see is loan sharks who find people in real need then lend them the money that they need, and then they charge them 20-30% interest with violence if that interest isn't paid.
3. Foolishness
Now the third group, which is a very big group, is foolishness.
“Lazy hands make for poverty,
but diligent hands bring wealth. ”
Foolishness results in a good deal of biblical poverty.
The shame of Poverty
Now, all three forms of poverty share this one, emotional feeling: shame. No matter how you become poor, you feel ashamed. Apart from foolishness, the others haven't sinned, they've been they have been sinned against, or circumstances have contrived to make their circumstances very, very difficult.
Now, I suggest, just like in medicine, that the diagnosis determines the treatment, and that applying a standard approach to poverty without that diagnosis is unhelpful. So maybe the kingdom response is different for each of these three causes:
With disadvantage we care, share, and give sacrificially to those who have no choices.
In oppression we campaign, fight the oppressors, and strive to release the captives.
And in foolishness, we may not give of our money, but we might give of our time and energy to educate, demonstrate responsibility, and set clear standards.
What does the Bible say about wealth?
In the Old Testament, wealth is (usually) seen as a good thing
If you take a concordance and skim the references to wealth, you will see one thing: the majority of Old Testament references are describing wealth as a good thing.
“A faithful person will be richly blessed,
but one eager to get rich will not go unpunished.”
“But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.”
What does the New Testament say about wealth?
The next thing you'll notice, as the majority of New Testament references are warning of the deceitfulness of wealth: the temptation to hoard and the temptation to put our hope in wealth. Why? Well, I think because Jesus and the early church leaders had seen how the Jews had disobeyed what I call *the giving imperative.* In other words, they were happy to be rich, but did not see that the purpose of being rich was to bless others as Genesis 12:2-3 had said.
The prosperity gospel perhaps makes the same mistake. The prosperity gospel is common these days. Less so in the UK, but we see it massively in Africa.
And it perhaps overemphasise the fact that yes, God does bless His people. But perhaps it under emphasises the fact that we are blessed to be a blessing, to be givers.
When I studied the teachings on Jesus, this giving imperative is dealt with so well. Take covetousness for instance, how often do we use that word or even think about the concep? And yet, this is strange, as we live in a world where material goods not only are bound, but a temples dedicated to them often called *shopping outlets*, or *shopping malls* built to celebrate their existence, and we risk being inoculated by overexposure, such that we may fail to recognise covetousness in our own lives, and that's why Jesus speaks on this very topic.
“And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’
“Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’
“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
“This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.””
Are you getting the picture? Wealth may be a good thing, if we can pass it on, and bless other people. When the rich young ruler came to Jesus in Matthew 19:16, it was not his riches that were the problem. But his selfish love of his riches. That was the problem. Jesus saw through him immediately.
Let's stop and subject ourselves to the same test about all we have. How do we fare? Is it that we have to have this for ourselves? Or is it that we can share this with those who might appreciate it?
When the crowds follow Jesus after the feeding of the 5000, he saw the greedy reason why they came?
“Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.”
Would we be the same? How earnestly do we want Him? Or do we just want what he gives us?
Contentment
But let's be positive, the opposite of covetousness is contentment. It protects us against the insidious spiritual dullness, that love of riches, brings.
Look at the Pharisees. They're always regarded by Jesus as hypocrites and described as *lovers of money.* I'm sure this played a big part in the fact that, that they followed Jesus around.
“The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus.”
In this era, we need to take heed what Jesus had to say is radical. We must be content with what we have, or the price we will pay maybe a weakened faith. In fact, ultimately, it might lead to a failure to have any real faith at all.
Cures and antidotes
As a doctor, I was trained to look at the diagnosis then apply a cure. We were never trained to apply cure before we knew what the diagnosis was. And as I've said poverty appears to have three diagnosis: chance disadvantage, oppression, and foolishness. Wealth, on the other hand, may make us covet and be greedy. But here are some cures.
Contentment, cures covetousness the two cannot coexist.
Generosity, cures greed and aggressors, two of the three causes of poverty.
Wisdom, recognises the foolishness and can address the third cause of poverty.
And in all these things, if our true currency is love, we will apply the correct cure. In fact, for us as Kingdom citizens, love has to be the currency we particularly want to accrue.
Acts 2 challenges in in contentment and generosity, and it's a Holy Order. It results in living as family. That's what happened in Acts two. They demonstrated contentment and generosity and they lived as family.
We are generous to all, but more so to believers.
“Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”
Tithing
You may wonder, as I come to the close of this talk, why I've not mentioned the T word, the tithing, well, tithing is a starting point. But it lets the wealthy off lightly. And it's quite harsh on people who don't have a lot of money. 10% of a poor income is a great deal of money to give away. 10% were very big income, hardly impacts the giver.
So it's great scripture actually deals with this further, and encourages us to be cheerful givers.
“Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work ”
Maybe that is 15%, 20%, 30% or more. We should give until we just have to laugh.
It was John Wesley who is alleged to have said, earn all you can, give all you can, save all you can.
If God blesses you with wealth, it is for you to thank him and share your blessing. In fact, God will give you prosperity. You are in the promised Genesis 12:2-3. You can have that number plate as well.
But beware that money can master you. contentment, and giving generously and outrageously, will cure that. So why not start to give outrageously? Let me close with the Scripture.
“Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.”
Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and generous to those in need, always being ready to share with others. By doing this they will be storing up their treasure as a good foundation for the future so that they may experience true life.
CONVERSATION STREET
With: Matt Edmundson & Phil Watson
What is Conversation Street?
Conversation Street is part of our live stream, where the hosts (in this case, Matt & Phil) chat through John’s talk and answer questions that were sent in through the live stream. To watch the conversation now, click here.
Matt Edmundson - So what does the Bible say about poverty and wealth? Now that's the second time I have heard John's talk on this topic. And I have to say, when I listened to it the first time I thought "Goodness me, I've not actually heard people talk about it the way that John has talked about it that much in church. He rarely talked about the tithe which we all get into and what that all means and so on. And he started off the talk by using an old-fashioned word, Mammon.
Phil Watson - Yeah, the etymological root. Maybe a more modern word would be materialism, but I'm trying to think of something that sums that up. It's not as simple as having money. It's maybe wealth and the love of wealth. So, if you've got cars, your property, your pensions, your clothes, the brands, whatever else that makes up your portfolio of wealth.
And I thought it was really interesting when John was talking about how much the Bible and Jesus talk about our wealth, how we manage it, and how it impacts us. I think one of the things that struck me was you and me, Matt, we live in the western world in 2022. And I know we were saying earlier that we got a budget in the UK last week, and energy prices are going up, inflation is rising. And we're going to be, as British society, and probably Europeans, less well off in the next few years that actually we're used to. However, relative to the history of humans in the world, we're pretty well off. And there's a privilege there. And I'm tempted to quote Spider-Man. What is it?
Matt - With great power comes great responsibility.
Phil - I spin that a little bit too, "With great privilege comes great responsibility", because I do believe me and my wife, we have solid, dependable incomes. And whilst our outgoings again go up, I'm a teacher, I work for the local council, promoting fostering, my wife, she's a solicitor working in private practice. Now she works in education. We know what we're going to earn. And we know it's a pretty healthy number. Unless something radical happens, like what John was saying, a chance disadvantage.
Brings us back to somewhere like Ukraine, you could have been in a very good job and living perfectly adequately, living within your margins and within your income. A war happens, and there is nothing you can do but get out of where you are. And your prosperity, your wealth and your income crashes down. But I think the question for people like me, and you have to decide whether you're anything like me is,
What am I going to do with my privilege? What am I gonna do with my wealth?
What you think about that Matt?
Matt - I think it is a really good question, Phil. The word privilege is a fascinating word. And I would agree with you because so often, when we look at our money, or when we look at what we have, and what we don't have, we always look up. And when you look up, you've never got quite enough, you've never got as much as they've got. And it's part of our culture is to idolize celebrities in some respects and one of the things that they all have in common is a very big bank account, at least in theory that's what we think they have. And so it becomes very easy to go, "Well, I've not got enough or compared to them, I've not got enough".
And I don't want to get into politics and nor should we, in some respects. But this whole idea to solve Britain's problems is you tax the wealthy and a lot of people in England go, let's just tax the wealthy, as in the people that have earned more money than they have. But like you say, compared to 97-98% of the world, we are wealthy. There are 98 people behind us looking at us going you should pay more tax. And we're looking at the 2% in front of those going, you should pay more tax. What are you going to do with your privilege?
Phil - Always is that the wealthy should be taxed, and I'm not wealthy, and everyone's defining themselves in that way. I know you're a big football fan, and when I was younger, Delia Smith, if you're a fan of cooking, you'll know her. She put me into Norwich, what a great football team, who are rapidly about to be relegated and she is a very, very wealthy lady, but compared to the organizations that own Chelsea, possibly Newcastle, Man City, you know, her wealth is tiny, yet, I guess what we're saying is it's relative, its relative poverty, but whatever you've got, I don't think John mentioned this particular story of a woman who is a widow in the Bible, who puts all her wealth into the offering.
And we've talked about Ukraine, about refugees. Whatever you've got, if you're in the UK, it's more than they've got because they've probably got whatever they're carrying on their back. They might have a bank account, it could be frozen, I don't know. But I think if you've got some resources, the Bible is very clear about sharing them. So if you've got a spare room, what's in it? There's a question for you Matt and for everybody else.
What can you do with your spare room?
If you've got a spare room, do you use it to keep junk and rubbish that you're one day going to take to a car boot sale? Is it full of rubbish? Or is it possible that you could put up somebody who is a Ukrainian refugee? Is it possible you can foster?
John used one of my favorite verses about defender of the fatherless. And I know that sounds a little bit sort of patriarchal. But in biblical times, if you had no male to protect you, you were really struggling. And he talks about widows again. John used the word marginalized. What can you do with your spare room? Who could be in it? Someone who hasn't got anywhere safe to live or anywhere secure?
Matt - I think you're exactly right, Phil. And again, the onus is on us to do something with what we've been given. So rather than just assume the person that earns more in front of us is going to solve the problem, what can I do and where can I be generous?
And I think that is the call and cry of the Christian faith. We are compelled, in some respects, commanded is a much stronger word, to live a generous life, to look out for people. So if I think about the West, the 98 people behind me that don't have the level of security or wealth, or family, or love, what am I doing to help those people? How can I bring the love of God and the generosity of God into that situation? Because tying it back to the Gospel, that's fundamentally how it works.
God's been ultimately infinitely generous with us. The least we could do is be generous back, right?
Phil - Yeah. And not hold it tightly. In the Bible, we've got the story about how easy it is for a camel to get through an eye of the needle than it is for a rich person to get into heaven. And I've heard all sorts of talks on that, and variations of what it could mean. But putting it bluntly, I think what it's saying is, if you're wealthy, you've got to be really spiritually careful, because you're gonna end up just how John started the talk with, you'll end up loving money, more than you'll end up loving God. And that actually, spiritually is extremely dangerous. This is why I think giving money away is really great, it's good for your spirit life. It's good for your soul, because there are times I don't want to do this. I'd rather keep the money.
Matt - Yeah, I've got this thing that I'm saving up for over here, it'd be good to keep it.
Phil - Yeah. And yet, you go no, this is spiritual, because I'm saying to God, I trust you enough. If Christianity is true, it's either all true or none of its true, not I'll pick the bits I like. And often, when you read in the New Testament, Jesus was on the move quite a lot, walking around, the area of Galilee down to Jerusalem, people like Paul and Timothy on the move, somebody hosted all these people. And obviously, sometimes they get mentioned in the Bible and you think, what a great thing to do. It is the gift of hospitality. And that is using your privilege, whether it's hosting somebody who is marginalized, a refugee, looked after child, whatever it might be, that's a wonderful use of the resources that God has blessed you with.
All the time. You're going, God, I've got this. What do you want me to do with it? How do you want me to share it? How is my home going to serve you? How is my wealth going to serve you? I've got a car, can I give people lifts? I've got a big car, how many people can I give a lifting? And I don't think there's anything wrong with having a large house. As long as you hold it lightly in your hands and go God this is a great blessing. What should I do with it? Who do I need to bless with this thing that I have today?
Matt - Very good. Very good. We mentioned tithing a couple of times and just to explain what that means. The tithe is simply a practice that not everybody in the church hold sacred but a fair few do where we give 10% of our income to the work of God. Not charity, necessarily, but 10% of our money would go to the work of God. Its something that we would choose to do. And like Phil and John said, that's the minimum. And then what do you do on top of that?
And I think, when it comes to being generous, like any good alliteration, if we have the tithe, what else can I do with my time, my treasure, my talent, and my tongue is the other Ts. I'm sure there's probably more. But you can be generous with your time, your treasure, your money, your talent, the gifts that God's given you. And your tongue, I think is one that we definitely need in the world at the moment, be generous with how you talk about people and just be kind. Phil, we've got like, two minutes, we've talked a lot about being generous.
What did you think of the three kinds of poverty that John mentioned?
Phil - I think it's very interesting because sometimes when people are wealthy, and I would count myself wealthy, and I've met some very, very wealthy people as well. There's a real tendency to go, it's down to my skill and wit, and charm and ability. And it might be down to some of those things. But also, I think we always have to build in how much of your wealth is down to where you were born and how you were born. Be careful about taking all the credit when some of it is circumstantial, which is the inverse of what John was saying, a chance disadvantage, you know, there's a war and suddenly you go from wealthy to no wealthy, no fault of your own.
And then the second one, which I thought I could spend a long time talking about this one and chatting about it with John, where he talks about oppression, so slavery, or oppressive laws, oppressive taxes. And while I'm glad I'm not Rishi Sunak, who is the Chancellor in charge of the money in the United Kingdom, how you create a system that is fair is extremely important. I can't help thinking that you need to know how some poor people live, to really understand what your laws and what changes you make will do.
So I'm going to chuck out another little challenge, which is, you've got a spare room, Foster, or take any Ukrainian refugee. If you've got strong opinions on what should happen in the taxes, the tax system, try and find some poor people, somebody who uses the food bank, somebody who maybe is disadvantaged or marginalized and find out why. And it might change your opinion on whether people are poor because of their own life choices.
I know a very simple one - if you've got enough money, and you could afford to pay your energy bills on a credit card or direct debit, you get a discount. If you haven't got enough cash to pay by direct debit, you pay an additional charge to buy credit sticks that you put into gas, electricity, etc. So, you're already penalized for being poor, I don't know if I could explain that very well. But if you're wealthy, find somebody who isn't and get to know them and see what life looks like from where they're sitting.
Matt - Have a conversation. Yeah, that's one of the fascinating things for me about when I got involved with church, the cross of people in church, from wealthy doctors and surgeons through to middle class, you got the teachers, and the educators and so on, to what we used to call the old working class and sort of those that were marginalized, poor and you sat down with them.
You and I would do this all the time Phil when we were students. We would be around everybody's house for dinner and we could care less how much money you earned and what you put in front of us whether it was a Pot Noodle or a steak pie, it didn't make any difference. But it was an absolute privilege to get to know people and understand that the background that I have, does not compute here. The worldview that I have, John talked about it didn't he?
The worldview that we look at things through. You want to expand that a little bit?
Phil - Yeah the third one he said, which is, your own responsibility is whether you behave foolishly or stupidly, you know, you have to get up and go to work. That being said, I think there was something with managing money, some of it is the practical skills that some people don't have. And that can make it difficult.
And I think sometimes people get into debt, because of the emotional issues that he was talking about. Drug dealers will look for vulnerable people, and get them hooked on drugs so you end up in a cycle of poverty. I would say gambling is as big as that. It's something I've had a little bit of experience with, where you get sucked into what is a legitimate business, gambling, and I find it abhorrent that you can gamble so easily, so quickly, get into so much debt, and you might go that's foolishness, but sometimes I'm kind of thinking people who get into examples of alcoholism or drugs or gambling, there's some kind of spiritual lack there or some kind of deficit that goes, I need the buzz of the gamble, to make me feel like I'm alive. But, again, speaking from a position of privilege. We need to have another session on this Matt.
Matt - I think we're just scratching the surface and I'm aware of time. And I think you're entirely right, there's so much more to be said on it. Probably a good place to end this is just to say that as Christians, we believe that yes, you have to be generous, but we believe you are generous in response to the generosity of God. And God is a very generous God.
And the Bible talks a lot about God supplying our needs. And like Phil said earlier, the reason we can be generous is that we can trust God to supply our needs, not our wants. I want to be clear on that. I want an Aston Martin, I'm just putting that out there. I'm never going to be able to buy one because Sharon will never, ever allow me. And rightly so too. But you know, there's not going to be one outside well, maybe there will be, I'm not going to limit God. But, I mean, I'm not necessarily praying for the Aston Martin. But God does meet our needs.
And I think we can trust him to do that. If Christianity is true, then all of its true, and God is real. God's concerned about us. And God can meet all of our needs. And the Bible talks a lot about that. And out of that provision that comes from God, it has nothing to do with our education, nothing to do with our abilities, everything to do with him, and out of that, we can be generous back. And I think that's the story of the gospel, right there, in that nutshell.
Bible Verses About Poverty & Wealth
Proverbs 14:31 - He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God.
Proverbs 30:7-9 - Two things I ask of you, LORD; do not refuse me before I die: Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the LORD?’ Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.
Proverbs 14:31 - Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker, but he who is generous to the needy honors him.
Isaiah 1:17 - Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, and please the widow's cause,
2 Corinthians 8:9 - For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.
Luke 4:18,19 - The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
2 Corinthians 8:2,3 - In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own,
Deuteronomy 26:7 - Then we cried out to the LORD, the God of our ancestors, and the LORD heard our voice and saw our misery, toil and oppression.
James 2:5 - Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?
Proverbs 29:7 - A righteous man knows the rights of the poor; a wicked man does not understand such knowledge.
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