The following “Question” was asked by a member of the congregation at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, and “Answered” by their pastor, John MacArthur Jr. It was transcribed by Anjela Paje of Spokane, WA, from the tape, GC 70-24, titled “Questions and Answers Part 52.”  A copy of the tape can be obtained by writing, Word of Grace, P.O. Box 4000, Panorama City, CA 91412 or by dialing toll free 1-800-55-GRACE.  ©2003. All Rights Reserved.

Questioner

My question is our role and responsibility to the poor and homeless. It seems to be a great challenge, many times, especially, once, you help a family, then you help ‘em again, and then, you start taking on the financial burdens and then you’re beginning to wrestle, especially, if you see them in the same position. And, then, the topper is the claim of Christ, which means, they’re now part of the family or they’re in the family. And, yet, they don’t go here, but they go to another fellowship, and when you see them, you struggle. I guess, I need a little help in trying to define my responsibilities.

John MacArthur's Answer

Let me tell you, first of all, the way you framed the question, indicates that you’ve approached it the right way. You know, dumping a periodic check into the United Way is not what the Bible talks about. Helping people in need means like the Good Samaritan. You help the person that comes across your path that has the need. You know, it’s not some institutional thing. It’s not, you know, take it out of my paycheck approach. It’s getting involved of the lives of the people who have the need, whatever the need is, a physical need, economical need, emotional, whatever it is, and you invest your life in them.

One of the challenges with the homeless is, no matter how hard people try to put ‘em in a home, they leave. I mean, this is just pretty much general conduct, because they want an irresponsible lifestyle. They want a lifestyle with absolutely no accountability and all of that. But, I think, where you go with this thing is when you do all you can, the Bible says, “If a man doesn’t work, he shouldn’t eat.” So, it’s the old story, you either give the man a fish or teach him how to fish. I mean, you can help them for a while. And, we as a church, do this all the time. But our limit comes; we will help someone with a need, but when we see that that’s a chronic life pattern, we can’t feed that. You can’t make a beggar successful. I mean, you don’t want to do that. I don’t want to make any beggar successful. I’ll be glad if I come across somebody who has a genuine need to meet that genuine need. But, I’m not going to make a beggar successful. I’m not going to make a man who won’t work, successful. I’m not going to let him settle in that kind of lifestyle. So, after a while, even if he claims to be a Christian, you’ve got to say, “Any more, and I’m contributing to your indolence, or your laziness, or your lack of effort.” If the guy’s doing everything he can trying to find work, and trying to find some way to make it, that’s a different story. But, if you see indications that this is just sort of an endless gravy train kind of thing and then, I think, you do them no favor to sustain that. But, again, you need to be wise, and trust your wisdom and your instincts as you deal with people.

Questioner

It’s the first time I approached this. I found the family and the man works, but, you know, expenses today are just a struggle. He works. He works all day, but he doesn’t bring in enough to cover [what he needs].

John MacArthur's Answer

Well, those kind of people you can help, you can find ways to help them. If you know somebody in that situation, you need to call the church. We have some access to some resources to help those kinds of people, to get ‘em over that kind of hump. Some of it is sitting down and doing some financial counseling with them about how they budget, where they live, and how they could live, maybe, more inexpensively. But, if it’s a desperate situation, there are ways to help that kind of people. If you get strung out on a situation like that and you, you want to help, but you don’t think you have the resources, let us know here, so that we might be able to come along side and provide some of the resources we know about.

Added to Bible Bulletin Board's “MacArthur's Questions and Answers” by:

Tony Capoccia
Bible Bulletin Board
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