Our Duty to the Household of Faith
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who are educated to look for help to anyone who will sustain them.
This is not the right kind of missionary work. It is not in harmony with
the Lord’s plan.
Wherever a church is established, its members are to do a faithful
work for the needy believers. But they are not to stop here. They
are also to aid others, irrespective of their faith. As the result of such
effort, some of these will receive the special truths for this time.
The Poor, the Sick, and the Aged
“If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within
any of thy gates in thy land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou
shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother:
but thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shalt surely lend
him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth. Beware that
there be not a thought in thy wicked heart, saying, The seventh year,
the year of release, is at hand; and thine eye be evil against thy poor
brother, and thou givest him nought; and he cry unto the Lord against
thee, and it be sin unto thee. Thou shalt surely give him, and thine
heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him: because that for
this thing the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all
that thou puttest thine hand unto. For the poor shall never cease out
of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine
hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.”
Deuteronomy 15:7-11
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Through circumstances some who love and obey God become poor.
Some are not careful; they do not know how to manage. Others are
poor through sickness and misfortune. Whatever the cause, they are in
need, and to help them is an important line of missionary work.
All our churches should have a care for their own poor. Our love
for God is to be expressed in doing good to the needy and suffering of
the household of faith whose necessities come to our knowledge and
require our care. Every soul is under special obligation to God to notice
His worthy poor with particular compassion. Under no consideration
are these to be passed by.
Paul wrote to the Corinthian church: “Moreover, brethren, we do
you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia;
how that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and