“I have showed you all things, how that so laboring you ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
It is duly noted that this statement of Jesus is not given in the four gospel accounts. Keep in mind that it would be impossible for the gospel accounts to tell us everything that Jesus said to all of the people who followed Him. It was allowed into inspired scripture – case closed. To quote Jesus: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” We often apply this to giving to Christian ministries through the church. This is certainly a good interpretation; for it is a blessing to give financially to the church’s mission. I know that it blesses me that the money that I give to my church is being to promote the gospel in ministries here and around the world. I trust you feel the same. The context of the quote is about “supporting the weak.” The Greek word “astheneo” can be translated as “feeble, ill, diseased,” etc. It leads me to believe that what Paul meant by “support the weak” was that when you find a need, as much as you are able to help, do it. I want to give a few possibilities: There are people who really need financial help. Many churches have ministries to help in this area. The Baptist association that I served had a ministry that included helping people, for example, to pay their monthly utility bills. To be a good steward of the money that the association’s churches contributed to meet those needs, we had checks and balances on giving financial help. (If you find fault with that, you have probably never served in such a ministry.) In that association we also had a clothing ministry, and a food ministry. I was blessed to see the “weak” helped. If some people got by all of our checks and balances, and were not really "weak," my thinking was that we had done what Jesus told us to do in Matthew 25:34-36.(Look it up and read it.) I let them answer to Jesus. If you are worried about people who do not need help, you will never help anyone. (Matthew 10:16: "Be ye therefore wise as serpents and as harmless as doves.") There are people whose needs are not financial but personal. This might seem to be an oversimplification, but you could be blessed by giving a word of encouragement to a discouraged person. It is quite possible that you are aware of people who could benefit from an encouraging word from you. Hey, just do it. You will be blessed. There are people who need to receive a witness about salvation. You will be blessed. If you put your mind to it, you can find several things that could be a blessing. Do it! Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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September 2021
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