On Being Gospel Centered Missionaries in a World of Suffering, part 2

With how complicated helping people can be, it can be tempting to ignore the physical suffering we see. We can’t do everything, so we might choose to do nothing. The book of Proverbs describes this as ‘hiding your eyes’ and says that it results in many curses. (Prov. 28:28) Deliberately ignoring physical suffering is not compassionate, it’s not righteous, and it’s not good for you spiritually.  

We shouldn’t have to make much of an argument to motivate Christians to want to do good to those who are suffering. As Spurgeon has said, “where God has given a man a new heart and a right spirit, there is great tenderness to all the poor—and especially great love to those” who are their poor brothers and sisters in Christ. God is at work in our lives making us into compassionate people. The grace God has shown us changes us into people who want to show that grace to others. As we behold the glory of God in the face of Christ, we are transformed into more compassionate people. We always become like what we worship, and the God we worship is merciful. 

How merciful?

Jonathan Edwards writes,

“So merciful and full of pity is God, that when miserable man, whom He had no need of, who did Him no good, nor could be of any advantage to Him, had made himself miserable by his rebellion against God, He took such pity on him that He sent His only Son to undergo his torment for him, that he might be delivered and set free. And now He offers freely, to bestow upon these rebels, complete and perfect happiness to all eternity upon this, His Son’s account. There never was such an instance of goodness, mercy, pity, and compassion since the world began: all the mercy and goodness amongst creatures fall infinitely short of it: this is goodness that never was, never will, never can be paralleled by any other being.”

While we can't match God's mercy, we are commanded to demonstrate it and the importance of this command is emphasized in a number of different ways.

The way we respond to hurting people is connected to our relationship with God. Psalm 37:21, “The righteous shows mercy and gives.” Proverbs 14:31, “He that honors God, has mercy on the poor.” Because this command can be difficult to obey, God attaches many encouragements and promises to it. Charles Spurgeon once preached as sermon on Psalm 41:1, which says “Blessed is the one who considers the poor” in which he remarked, “This precious promise belongs to those who consider the poor, look into their case, devise plans for their benefit, and considerately carry them out. To those who consider the poor, the Lord promises his own consideration in times of distress. He will bring us out of trouble if we help others when they are in trouble. We shall receive very singular providential help, if the Lord sees that we try to provide for others.” God says a true love for people can’t exist without it.1 John 3:17-19, “But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?” While John may be thinking specifically of loving other believers there, certainly there are many other places in Scripture where we are commanded to love our neighbor, and even our enemies. And one of the ways the early church did that was by caring for the needy.  In fact, when the apostle Paul met with the leaders of the church of Jerusalem, Galatians 2:10, he tells us that one of the main things they asked him to do, was “to remember the poor” which for Paul wasn’t a difficult request, because he says, that “was the very thing I was eager to do.” 

Clearly sacrificially loving the needy is an important Christian duty. 

More than that, it is an honor. 

We don’t just have to show mercy to the poor. We get to serve God by being instruments in His hands to show His mercy to those who desperately need it. We might look at the good angels and think they are privileged to serve God the way they do, and yet, as Jonathan Edwards explains, “When God makes any one a blessing unto others he puts that honour upon them to make them the instruments and vehicles of his mercy and goodness. In order to honor us, He so orders it that his Goodness shall pass to others through our hands…”  

Not only does God honor us by allowing us to serve him in this way, He does us good. Doing good for those who are suffering is good for us. Jesus told us that it is more blessed to give than it is to receive. He’s not simply saying that it is better to give, but that it is more blessed. We receive more blessing through giving to others than we do by selfishly hoarding things for ourselves. God’s stuffed his commands filled with blessings and the command to bless others with the blessings we have received is just another way for Him to bless us! 

However we seek to help the needy, clearly, not helping the needy is not an option. The Bible commands us to do good to the souls of others. It also commands us to do good for their physical needs. It tells us to do good to the good and bad, friends and enemies, those who are grateful and to those who aren’t.