Tackling Tradition 72: Love Your Neighbor!

From time to time, members of the chattering class will accuse Christians of hypocrisy by taking in money for themselves first then others.   That’s because there are people in the pews who believe churches are to help the needy among their own members first & then themselves.

The Bible itself teaches the exact opposite.   How so? 

God’s moral law is both individual & corporate in application. 

But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:34–40, ESV) 

9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. (Romans 13:9–10, ESV)

You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:43–48, ESV)

The Bible summarizes the Decalogue as exhaustive, meticulous, & perfect love for God first then everyone & everything else BEFORE yourself & then yourself. Therefore, churches are to support people outside of their congregation first, then their own.   

When you think about it, that’s a righteous & wise thing to do, because it requires local churches to manage their finances & resources in a manner that doesn’t draw down  resources for their own first, leaving little or nothing for others in the community.   That way, those who chastise us for prioritizing our own over others will find themselves silenced.   

As a Presbyterian teaching elder, I would rather my congregation be known as a people who manage our people power & what few material & monetary resources we have in a manner that allows us to assist others FIRST, like the Bible teaches & have enough left over to help our own too that the congregation that helps meets their own members first & has nothing left for anybody else.   That’s how the mercy fund is supposed to work — nonmembers first, then members, & to do that manage your people, material, & finances in a manner that enable you to do that.   

God FIRST; others NEXT, then yourself LAST.   That’s how this is supposed to work.