Wednesday - Change It - The Night That Changed the Poor
Today, the poor are often excluded from active participation in society’s big events. We lookd at one example from the Olympics already, but there was also a recent study that hits a bit closer to come. Regular commuting to work negatively affects civic engagement, unless you have a certain threshold of income.
I once did a survey where we asked, “Why don’t people go to church?” One woman told me, “I can’t come to church because i haven’t got enough money.” It broke my heart – no one should ever think church, a Christian community of learners, has tuition fees. But she did, and was excluded as a result!
The story of Christmas shows the poor in key roles, not just Mary and Joseph, but some shepherds:
8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told. (Luke 2:8-20)
These shepherds were not the farmers we envision today. These shepherds spent 24/7 with their sheep, even sleeping outside. This was physical, taxing, nomadic work. Yet they play a key role – they are the first outsiders to acknowledge who he is. They are the first to provide third party Confirmation for Mary and Joseph – this was no strange dream – this was really happening. Then they are the first to tell the story to others.
We all have a role to play in God’s plan, story, and our bank balance is no barrier. Our worldly skills are no barrier. Our history is no barrier. There is a barrier, but God has dealt with it, as we’ll see tomorrow.
Question: Why might God choose poor or financially precarious people for such key roles in his story? What does it communciate? How would the story be different if God had chosen wealthy parents and visitors?
Reminder: We are reading the Bible in sync as one community – so check out today’s reading here.
Read the Bible in Sync Today
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Hi! Welcome to Redeem the Commute. I'm Ryan, your host for the Daily Challenge. Today's Tuesday; it's the day we explore in the Bible the topic that we introduced yesterday. We're in a series called, "Reset" right now, looking at how deciding to follow Jesus resets some really important areas of our lives. We've looked at several and this week we're looking at how it resets our view of family.
So what is family for, if following Jesus comes first in someone’s life?
Does this mean not loving family at all? No way. Here’s how Pastor Tim Keller put it: “If we have made idols of work and family, we do not want to stop loving our work and family. Rather, we want to love Christ so much more that we are not enslaved by our attachments.”
One Christian author, Stanley Hauwerwas said: For Christians do not place their hope in their children, but rather their children are a sign of their hope . . . that God has not abandoned this world.”
We can see this in how the Bible set out the requirements for an overseer – a pastor or bishop. They were written by a church leader named Paul, addressed to his protégé, Timothy.
The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church? (1 Timothy 3:1-5 ESV)
You can see where leadership is supposed to be practiced: at home first, then in the Christian community. This isn’t saying every leader needs to be married – Paul himself was not. But if a leader is, they need to be leading at a Christian home already. The most important line is, “if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church?”
A family is a miniature church of sorts. Martin Luther said centuries ago ago: “A house is actually a school and a church, and the head of the household is a pastor in his house.”
Family is a place to learn essential skills for Christian living, learn to follow Jesus. This is one reason among many that Redeemer Church, the church being developed through Redeem the Commute, baptizes children. We are celebrating that they are starting school, not graduating. A Christian family commits to teaching the basics of following Jesus when their child is baptized.
Family becomes a training ground for the kingdom of God. How does that look in pracitce? Look at one example from ancient Israel that surely informed early Christians as well:
Deuteronomy 6: 4-9: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
Their faith was meant to be everywhere in family life, so children encountered it daily.
Question: How do this? What skills do you think are essential for Christians, and learned in the family?
