In our study of Mark we are in Mark 10:21-22; where Jesus told the rich man to sell everything he had, give the proceeds to the poor and follow Jesus. Because of this unique mandate we have taken up a study of the doctrine of the poor.
Last time we saw the passage in Mark 12:41-44; where Jesus noted the poor widow who gave everything she had. She was not security conscious because her security was the Lord.
She did not feel sorry for herself. She was not trying to attract any attention to herself but Jesus noticed and used her example to teach the principle of grace giving to His disciples.
She was grace-oriented and doctrinally oriented. Personal love for God the Father motivated her. She shared God's happiness and tranquility, had a personal sense of destiny, and was occupied with the person of Christ.
When one gives, it isn't the amount that is given, but the mental attitude regarding the giving. She was giving as an act of worship. And worship doesn't depend on the amount you give. In fact, you can give nothing; have the right mental attitude and God honors it because of the principle of as a man thinks in his heart so he is.
The Lord was not criticizing the others who gave either because there is nothing wrong with giving from your profits in fact that is the normal case for grace giving. This widow's giving was the exception rather than the rule, but it was her free will choice and Jesus recognized it.
Charity to the poor is a legitimate function of establishment, Prov 19:17;
Prov 14:30-31; "A tranquil heart (the thinking of the right lobe of the soul) is life to the body, but jealousy (Net note 84) is rottenness to the bones. (Net note 85)
v31 He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for his Maker, (Net note 87) but he who is kind to the needy honors God." (Net note 88)
We see from this that giving to the poor is legitimate and even mandated but believers must distinguish between the socialism of the welfare state and charity.
Charity is legitimate for the helpless poor Gal 2:10; Matt 25:40; but welfare and the welfare state increase poverty by causing the poor to become increasingly helpless because they become dependent on government rather than on God and government can never keeps it's promises. Jer 17:5;
People who can work should be working. 2Thes 3:7-12;
Charity is a voluntary free will function for those who are productive and have the ability to help because God has blessed them with profit from their work.
Socialism and the welfare state is the function of an evil tyrannical government that plunders those who are productive for the purpose of empowering itself through evil forced redistribution of property.
Socialism and the welfare state use the rhetorical veil of helping the poor or "disadvantaged" to hide their hidden agenda of controlling people. They simply use the poor as a tool to try to manipulate people.
They don't really care about the poor they just use them as pawns to advance their agenda.
Their policies actually decrease productivity by making laws that confiscate and redistribute resources that would otherwise go into improving productivity and at the same time enslave the poor by making them dependent on government.
Some rhetorical veils that are commonly used by evil people for the purpose of establishing their hidden tyrannical redistribution agenda include: "help the poor", "save the children", "save the world", "save the environment", "global climate change", "immigration reform" and just about anything that refers to a "global" issue that they allege is an emergency that needs to be addressed by some kind of coordinated international activity that plunders the rich.
God places a special curse on those who ignore helping the truly helpless poor.
Prov 21:13; "He who shuts his ears to the cry of the poor will also cry himself and not be answered.
Prov 22:22-23; "Do not rob the poor because he is poor, or crush the afflicted at the gate; For the Lord will plead their case, and take the life of those who rob them.
God also places a curse on those who take advantage of or who profit from those who are in a weaker position. Prov 22:16; He who oppresses the poor to make more for himself Or who gives to the rich, will only come to poverty.
This is the curse the government is under because they stole from the people by printing money, bailed out the banks and corporations in the derivative economy and did not help the people in the real economy so now we have the lowest labor participation rate ever recorded.
Prov 28:3; A poor man who oppresses the weak is like a driving rain which leaves no food. (A hurricane or a tornado) Net note 9
This is one of the curses that God places on the progressives because of their evil Fascist Marxist socialist redistributionist plundering policies.