living below the line - bible study

8/4/2019 Living Below the Line - Bible Study

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LivingBelow the Line

A Bible Study Guide

The United States is not immune to the issue o poverty: more than one in ve children in the

U.S. live in homes that are considered poor. Whats even more shocking is that, among 34

o the worlds most developed nations, child poverty is worse only in Turkey, Mexico, and

Poland.

This Bible study will help you learn more about this tragedyand channel your passion to

make a dierence. As you work through this study, we wish you Gods insights and blessings.

We know that God is calling the American church to join in the ght against poverty in our

own land. It is World Visions privilege to partner with you in this essential work.

Who Is (Really) My Neighbor?

As Americans, when we think o the poor, we oten think o our brothers and sisters in the

developing world. We are right to do so. Ater all, we still live on a planet where more than

22,000 children die every daymost o them rom poverty-related causesand 925 million

people suer daily rom hunger.

But we dont have to look that ar to see a staggering disparity in how people live. We may

only need to look across the street or a ew city blocks away. It is very likely that the poverty

we see in the United States will never look as cruel and uncompromising to us as what we

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glimpse in the developing world. But the hardships and barriers that exist or the poor in the

United States are all too realespecially or children.

ISAIAH 58:6-11

Is not this the kind o asting I have chosen: to loose the chains o injustice and untie the

cords o the yoke, to set the oppressed ree and break every yoke? Is it not to share your

ood with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelterwhen you see the

naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away rom your own esh and blood? Then your

light will break orth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righ-

teousness will go beore you, and the glory o the LORD will be your rear guard.

Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry or help, and he will say:

Here am I. I you do away with the yoke o oppression, with the pointing fnger and mali-cious talk, and i you spend yourselves in behal o the hungry and satisy the needs o the

oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the

noonday.

The LORD will guide you always; he will satisy your needs in a sun-scorched land and

will strengthen your rame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose

waters never ail.

HOW DOES THIS SCRIPTURE RELATE TO US AND TO POVERTY IN THE U.S.?

In this passage, Isaiah is passing on a stirring challenge rom God to His people. He doesntmince words. I ever we wondered what God expects rom us, it is clearly set out here. The

passages that precede it (we suggest reading them, too!) outline some o what Gods people

have been doing wrong. Theyve been hypocritical in their worshippraising God one day

and mistreating their workers the next.

Central to the message o Isaiah (who is sometimes known as the eagle among the prophets)

is a declaration o Gods holiness and a corresponding call to right living, which is outlined

here as an essential part o genuine worship. In the U.S. it is possible, i we careully avert

our eyes, to avoid looking directly into the ace o poverty. We may live in a wonderul area

with neighbors who appear to live just like we do. We may think we dont know anyone who

struggles just to get by, or who doesnt make it at all. But whether or not we ever see big-city

poverty, such as crumpled sleeping bags in ramshackle doorways, real poverty does exist in the

U.S. Verse 7 o this passage in particular calls us to recognize itand do something about it.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION/REFLECTION

When you hear the term child poverty, what do you think about? What acts, images,

and ideas come to mind?


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Isaiah 58:6 talks about loosening the chains o injustice, setting the oppressed ree, and

sharing our ood with the poor, hungry wanderer. Who do you think ts these catego

ries in the United States? Who are the poor, hungry wanderers among us?

Remember the New Testament story o the Good Samaritan? Jesus listeners were

orced to consider what constituted being a good neighbor. What is your denition o a

good neighbor? Who is your own fesh and blood (Isaiah 58:7)?

I we are completely honest with ourselves, it can sometimes seem easier to respond to

the needs o the poor in the developing world than to help the poor in the U.S. Do you

agree? Why do you think this is?

In the Isaiah passage we read about great blessings to those who are good neighbors

and who care or the poor. What are some o these blessings?

What Does God Think About Poverty?Its easy to live our liveseven our aith liveswithin the sae walls o a comortable cocoon.

We can surround ourselves with people who look like us, live like us, and believe like us, and

we can convince each other that we are doing enough, caring enough, giving enough.

But God is not satised with this. And deep inside, we too know there must be more to the lieo aith, and to the lie o a caring American.

There are hundreds o verses in the Bible that demonstrate Gods love and concern or the

poor. Jesus Himsel, when he began to unveil His true purpose on Earth, said that He was

there to preach good news to the poor to proclaim reedom or the prisoners to release

the oppressed (Luke 4:14-30).

According to Scripture, one o the things that bothers God the most about the mistreatment o

the poor is when they are taken advantage o. The poor oten have no way o deending them-

selves against injustice. Again and again Gods people are warned not to trample on the rights

o the poor, but rather to stand up or them.

ISAIAH 65:19-25

I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound o weeping and o

crying will be heard in it no more. Never again will there be in it an inant who lives but

a ew days, or an old man who does not live out his years; he who dies at a hundred will

be thought a mere youth; he who ails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed.

They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their ruit. No

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longer will they build houses and others live in them, or plant and others eat. For as the

days o a tree, so will be the days o my people; my chosen ones will long enjoy the works

o their hands. They will not toil in vain or bear children doomed to misortune; or theywill be a people blessed by the LORD, they and their descendants with them. Beore they

call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.

The wol and the lamb will eed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, but dust

will be the serpents ood. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,

says the LORD.

HOW DOES THIS PASSAGE RELATE TO US AND TO POVERTY IN THE U.S.?

Gods ideal, seen in this passage and in countless other places in Scripture, does not include

poverty and injustice. God calls the Church to more than a right attitude about the poorHe

calls us to right action. Our aith does not tolerate injustice, oppression, or turning a blind eye

to the needs o others.

This is not always an easy call to live up to. We have all turned a blind eye and a dea ear to

the needs o others at some point. But we are called to so much more. This passage is not only

inspirational, it is also a concrete vision o the way that the Creator o the world expects His

creation to be. It is ull o hope and promise. The world, including the U.S., can be a better

placeand we can be part o that transormation.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION/REFLECTION Why should the Church care about poverty?

Have you ever heard (or even used) the expression God helps those who help the

selves? You probably know that it is not ound in the Bible; its a quote rom Benjamin

Franklin that rst appeared in print in 1757. God is, in act, a tireless helper o those

who are helpless. But is there a part o you that resonates with this statement?

Some reer to poverty as a crime o ailure. What do you think this means?

What challenges and barriers do you think the disadvantaged in the United States ace as

they work to make a better lie or their children?

What is Gods ideal or the world and or His people?

Have you ever toiled in vain? What does it eel like?

Which American children could be doomed to misortune? What hope does this pas-

sage oer to them and those who toil in vain?


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What Can One Person Do?

Its easy to eel overwhelmed by the enormity o poverty. The statistics are staggering. The

problem is complex. The answers arent simple. It would be easier to walk away and go back

to ocusing on our own lives. Except or that still, small voice within that whispers that we

can do something; that we should do something. This kind o knowledge changes us and the

way we view the world.

History is lled with stirring stories o individuals who have changed the world. One person

can do something. And that something may be just what was needed.

1 SAMUEL 25:1-34

Now Samuel died, and all Israel assembled and mourned or him; and they buried him at

his home in Ramah.

Then David moved down into the Desert o Maon. A certain man in Maon, who had

property there at Carmel, was very wealthy. He had a thousand goats and three thousand

sheep, which he was shearing in Carmel. His name was Nabal and his wies name was

Abigail. She was an intelligent and beautiul woman, but her husband, a Calebite, was

surly and mean in his dealings.

While David was in the desert, he heard that Nabal was shearing sheep. So he sent tenyoung men and said to them, Go up to Nabal at Carmel and greet him in my name. Say

to him: Long lie to you! Good health to you and your household! And good health to all

that is yours!

Now I hear that it is sheep-shearing time. When your shepherds were with us, we did not

mistreat them, and the whole time they were at Carmel nothing o theirs was missing. Ask

your own servants and they will tell you. Thereore be avorable toward my young men,

since we come at a estive time. Please give your servants and your son David whatever

you can fnd or them.

When Davids men arrived, they gave Nabal this message in Davids name. Then they

waited.

Nabal answered Davids servants, Who is this David? Who is this son o Jesse? Many

servants are breaking away rom their masters these days. Why should I take my bread

and water, and the meat I have slaughtered or my shearers, and give it to men coming

rom who knows where?

Davids men turned around and went back. When they arrived, they reported every word.

David said to his men, Put on your swords! So they put on their swords, and David put

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on his. About our hundred men went up with David, while two hundred stayed with the

supplies.

One o the servants told Nabals wie Abigail: David sent messengers rom the desert to

give our master his greetings, but he hurled insults at them. Yet these men were very good

to us. They did not mistreat us, and the whole time we were out in the felds near them

nothing was missing. Night and day they were a wall around us all the time we were herd-

ing our sheep near them. Now think it over and see what you can do, because disaster is

hanging over our master and his whole household. He is such a wicked man that no one

can talk to him.

Abigail lost no time. She took two hundred loaves o bread, two skins o wine, fve dressed

sheep, fve seahs o roasted grain, a hundred cakes o raisins and two hundred cakes o

pressed fgs, and loaded them on donkeys. Then she told her servants, Go on ahead; Ill

ollow you. But she did not tell her husband Nabal.

As she came riding her donkey into a mountain ravine, there were David and his men

descending toward her, and she met them. David had just said, Its been uselessall my

watching over this ellows property in the desert so that nothing o his was missing. He

has paid me back evil or good. May God deal with David, be it ever so severely, i by

morning I leave alive one male o all who belong to him!

When Abigail saw David, she quickly got o her donkey and bowed down beore David

with her ace to the ground. She ell at his eet and said: My lord, let the blame be on

me alone. Please let your servant speak to you; hear what your servant has to say. May

my lord pay no attention to that wicked man Nabal. He is just like his namehis nameis Fool, and olly goes with him. But as or me, your servant, I did not see the men my

master sent.

Now since the LORD has kept you, my master, rom bloodshed and rom avenging

yoursel with your own hands, as surely as the LORD lives and as you live, may your

enemies and all who intend to harm my master be like Nabal. And let this git, which your

servant has brought to my master, be given to the men who ollow you. Please orgive

your servants oense, or the LORD will certainly make a lasting dynasty or my master,

because he fghts the LORDs battles. Let no wrongdoing be ound in you as long as you

live. Even though someone is pursuing you to take your lie, the lie o my master will be

bound securely in the bundle o the living by the LORD your God. But the lives o your

enemies he will hurl away as rom the pocket o a sling. When the LORD has done ormy master every good thing he promised concerning him and has appointed him leader

over Israel, my master will not have on his conscience the staggering burden o needless

bloodshed or o having avenged himsel. And when the LORD has brought my master

success, remember your servant.

David said to Abigail, Praise be to the LORD, the God o Israel, who has sent you today

to meet me. May you be blessed or your good judgment and or keeping me rom blood-

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own hands. Otherwise, as surely as the LORD, the God o Israel, lives, who has kept me

rom harming you, i you had not come quickly to meet me, not one male belonging to

Nabal would have been let alive by daybreak.


The story o Abigail is ull o intrigue, passion, aith, and daring. But at its bedrock is one

womans conviction, buoyed up by courage, to right a wrong. Abigail risked her lie. She did

not tell her husband (even though she was technically his property) what she had determined

to do. Abigail could have lost everything: her standing as a woman in a household o great

wealth, even her own lie. But she took the risk o going to meet David, riding through a ra-

vine directly into the path o an angry mob o 400 armed men.

What was Abigails motivation? To plead or the lives o others. In doing so, she spoke pro-phetic words to David, calling him onto higher moral ground.

One person can change things. And a group o people working together can change even more

It takes courage and sacrice to do and say the right thing when not doing or saying anything

is a very real option. But its worth the risk.


Have you ever known someone who took a risky, courageous action on behal o some-

one else? Share your story.

Have you ever acted alone, with courage, to right a wrong? What happened?

What did Abigail exempliy that encourages you? Why?

I you have been involved in justice issues (either here in the U.S. or overseas), what has

enabled and empowered you to stay the course?

What is one thing you think you could dotodayto help combat poverty in the U.S.,

either or a specic individual or at a higher level?

What is the connection between your involvement as an individual and your relation-ship with your home church?


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What Can One Church Do?There is no doubt that the Church is designed to have an impact in the world. We are not a

private club that exists to satisy its members desire or a place to go on Sunday mornings.

You may have heard the quote rom Archbishop William Temple that a church is the only

organization that exists primarily or the benet o non-members.

This is a powerul and proound statement. Rooted in aith and secure in the knowledge that

we are loved and redeemed by God, the Church moves out into the world to go about Gods

business. And Gods business, as we have seen time and again in Scripture, is about righting

what is wrong, making mercy and justice fow, and communicating Gods message o love and

wholeness to a hurting world.

2 CORINTHIANS 9:115There is no need or me to write to you about this service to the saints. For I know your

eagerness to help, and I have been boasting about it to the Macedonians, telling them that

since last year you in Achaia were ready to give; and your enthusiasm has stirred most o

them to action. But I am sending the brothers in order that our boasting about you in this

matter should not prove hollow, but that you may be ready, as I said you would be. For i

any Macedonians come with me and fnd you unprepared, wenot to say anything

about youwould be ashamed o having been so confdent. So I thought it necessary to

urge the brothers to visit you in advance and fnish the arrangements or the generous git

you had promised. Then it will be ready as a generous git, not as one grudgingly given.

Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows gener-

ously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to

give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, or God loves a cheerul giver. And God is able

to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need,

you will abound in every good work. As it is written:

He has scattered abroad his

gits to the poor;

his righteousness endures orever.

Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread or ood will also supply and increaseyour store o seed and will enlarge the harvest o your righteousness. You will be made

rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your gen

erosity will result in thanksgiving to God.

This service that you perorm is not only supplying the needs o Gods people but is also

overowing in many expressions o thanks to God. Because o the service by which you

have proved yourselves, men will praise God or the obedience that accompanies your

conession o the gospel o Christ, and or your generosity in sharing with them and with

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everyone else. And in their prayers or you their hearts will go out to you, because o the

surpassing grace God has given you. Thanks be to God or his indescribable git!


Would your church want to receive a letter like this rom a writer like Paul? This section o

2 Corinthians is dealing head-on with an unpleasant issue tainting the young church body in

Corinth. It appears that the church had pledged to give a certain amount o nancial aid, but

had not yet lived up to its commitment.

Paul gently, yet directly, reminds and directs the church to ulll its obligation, and then oers

an explanation o Christian giving and service that roots both rmly in the soil o gratitude

to God or all that He has provided. We also see hints here o the Church as a larger body

extended and connected over time and place. There are connections between dierent groups

o believers, with a common goal o obedience and service to God, each other, and the world

around them.

The church in the U.S. has historically been a provider o care and hope to the poor among us.

This is not a new call, but it is a call that can be answered even more ully than it is at present.


What is the relationship between worship and our care o the poor?

How can giving be an expression o thanks, both individually and corporately?

Were you ever part o a church body that cared or the local poor in concrete ways?

Share some examples.

What needs do you see in your community that your church could respond to? I you

dont know what they are, how could you nd out?

What does it mean to be a cheerul giver o yoursel, your resources, your time, and

maybe even your church?

What message does it send to the world when the Church is ully engaged in the ghtagainst poverty?

Are you able to identiy any o your neighbors needs that might become part o the

mission o your local church? Take some time to brainstorm possibilities.

Copyright 2011 World Vision, Inc., Mail Stop 321, P.O. Box 9716, Federal Way, WA 98063-9716,

[email protected]. All rights reserved.


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About World VisionWORLD VISION is a Christian humanitarian organization

dedicated to working with children, amilies, and their communities

worldwide to reach their ull potential by tackling the causes o

poverty and injustice. Motivated by our aith in Jesus Christ, World

Vision serves alongside the poor and oppressed as a demonstration

o Gods unconditional love or all people. We envision a world in

which each child experiences ullness o lie as described in John

10:10, and we know this can be achieved only by addressing the

problems o poverty and injustice in a holistic way. Thats how World

Vision is unique. We bring more than 60 years o experience in three

key areas needed to help children and amilies thrive: emergencyrelie, long-term development, and advocacy. And we bring all o our

skills across many areas o expertise to each community we work

in, enabling us to care or childrens physical, social, emotional, and

spiritual well-being.

Partnering with World Vision provides tangible ways to honor God

and put aith into action. By working together, we can make a lasting

dierence in the lives o children and amilies who are struggling to

overcome poverty. To learn more about how you can help, visit

www.worldvision.org.

About World Vision ResourcesENDING GLOBAL POVERTY and injustice begins with education:

understanding the magnitude and causes o poverty, its impact on

human dignity, and our connection to those in need around the

world.

World Vision Resources is the publishing ministry o World Vision,

which educates Christians about global poverty, inspires them to

respond, and equips them with innovative resources to make a

dierence in the world.

For more inormation, contact:

World Vision Resources

Mail Stop 321

P.O. Box 9716

Federal Way, WA 98063-9716

Fax: 253.815.3340

[email protected]

www.worldvisionresources.com

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