Jesus Used The Poor – Remember And Learn From The Poor – Part 1 of 4

Hello, and welcome to Social Media Ministries. My name is Spencer Coffman. Thank you so much for tuning in today. We’re kicking off a brand new sermon series about the poor. It’s about the poor, and we’re titling this one “Remember The Poor,” or another title could be “Learn From The Poor,” and this is the kickoff.

We’re talking about, today, how Jesus used the poor. So, if you haven’t yet subscribed to our channel or are not following us on social media or a podcast somewhere, then take this opportunity to do that. Click on that subscribe button. Click on that follow button and follow us because we’ve got four sermons in this series.

This is part one. We’re going to have three more about learning from and remembering the poor. So today, we’re talking about how Jesus used the poor. It’s going to be a good sermon. So stay tuned. I hope you’re really excited, cause I am. This is an excellent sermon series; we’re talking about wealth—building wealth—everything like that.

Uh, it’s okay, it’s not okay—should you be poor? Do you need to be a poor nomad shepherd? Do you need to give up everything and have nothing? Do you need to go out into the world with nothing but the shoes on your feet and the tunic and don’t even take a money purse with you? What’s all this about?

So stay tuned. This is going to be a great series for you to follow. Hit that subscribe button, and I really hope that you like these sermons and also share them with other people because this is a big controversial topic within Christianity and religion.

It’s almost as big as tithing. People say, “No, I’m not giving my money,” or they say, “Yes, give it away,” or they say, “God doesn’t want it,” or they say, “Churches are corrupt,” or whatever they say.

Poor and rich. This is like, this—another huge issue—pretty much anything with money is a big issue for people. So this is going to hopefully shed some clarity and some light on this topic for you so that you can then answer other people and speak with confidence and boldness when they start asking you.

Like, “Hey, you’re pretty well off. What does that say about you in Christianity?” or “You have to be poor to be a good Christian and I don’t want to be poor so I can’t be a good Christian.” or all these things that people bring up.

You need to know how to respond, and so, hopefully, this sermon series can help you. And if, at the very least, you learn a little bit from it and then when other people talk about it say, “Hey, there’s a great sermon series. I’m going to send you the link. Watch it. Let’s talk about it,” and then you can talk about it with them.

All right, so let’s kick this off throughout the Bible. Many of the people that Jesus used in his ministry were poor. Seriously, look at the 12 Apostles. Look at the other people that followed with Jesus.

Look at the people who were martyred for their faith around the time of Jesus. Many of them were traditionally very poor. Not just poor, but like very poor. They were lower class. Bottom of the barrel. Barely getting by, and then they were called into the ministry. Of course, though, many of the people God used have also been rich like Job.

He was very, very wealthy. How about Abraham? He had tons of flocks and herds. Even his children – Isaac, Jacob – they were very well off. Look at Solomon, the richest man in history. Look at Joseph of Artamathhea—the guy that buried Jesus in his own tomb.

Look at Nicodemus: what he did. He was also very, very wealthy. A lot of the people that Jesus used were very wealthy. We’re going to talk about that as we wrap up this sermon series. So stay tuned for that. There will be a card here that will bring you to that sermon, “Okay To Be Rich”, but for right now, we’re talking about how Jesus used the poor.

Many people that he used were considered poor or lower class of that day and age. He called the fishermen. They were – they were – low working class. Like, uh, what would you call them today?

Maybe janitors at schools or at public buildings. Maybe the people that service the rest stops along the highway. Although, they’re probably better off than some other janitors because at least they’re probably working for the state or the government and they have benefits. These people didn’t even have that.

They – were probably, they – were most likely self-employed fishermen. So we’re talking, this was the lower, lower class. That was a common, a very common, person. He called the fisherman. Let’s take a look at Matthew 4:18.

Matthew 4:18. “As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee he saw two brothers Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. they were casting a net into the lake for they were fishermen.”

All right, two of them—two down: Simon and Andrew. Fisherman. Who else? Let’s go to Matthew 4:21. Matthew 4:21 says, “Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee.”

So again, another family business, self-employed. “Preparing their nets,” Jesus called them. Okay, Simon, Andrew, James, John. That’s four of the 12 fishermen right there.

He also called tax collectors to follow him. Now, if there’s a ranking in a hierarchy. Fishermen are like low working class. Tax collectors. They were probably a little more wealthy. Maybe not probably. They were more wealthy.

However, in terms of social class, they were like horrible. People hated the tax collectors. Then what would they be like today? Is there really a profession out there that people just hate? Maybe the IRS.

People don’t like the IRS, but, back then, they would like not want to be seen with a tax collector because it would ruin them. Whereas today, if we met an IRS agent, we wouldn’t be like, “Oh man, I can’t even talk to you,” but it, it was bad. It was really bad.

They didn’t like tax collectors at all. So these people were like the bottom, bottom of the barrel. They were the worst of the worst. They didn’t like tax collectors.

Jesus called them, and they were probably well off. They weren’t poor like the fisherman, but they weren’t liked. So let’s take a look at a couple verses about the tax collectors and who they were. You probably already know, but it’s a good reminder.

Matthew 9:9 says, “As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. ‘Follow me,’ he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.”

So there we go, Matthew is a tax collector. We have four fishermen and a tax collector. Who else? Let’s go to Luke 19. Now, this whole chapter is about Jesus calling a tax collector, not one of the 12, but another person Jesus wanted to use.

So we’re going to go through just the first part, Luke 19:1: “Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and he was wealthy he was very wealthy.”

All right, we’re going to skip ahead now to Verse 5. “When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.’ So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.”

All right, Jesus was associating with tax collectors. He called Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus wasn’t poor. He was very wealthy. So then we can, kind of, reason. Now Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector in Jericho.

Matthew was a tax collector in another town at Capernum, near the Sea of Galilee. Same town of James and John and Simon and Andrew. So, Matthew wasn’t the chief tax collector, but he was a tax collector. Probably paid very well.

He was probably the wealthiest of the 12 Apostles. Although we don’t know that for sure, he most likely was. He could’ve been, his family may not have been, but he probably was. You know Zebedee, with his own fishing company, might’ve been very, very wealthy as well. But that doesn’t mean his children were very wealthy.

We don’t know. But we know that tax collectors were very well taken care of in that day and age. Now, Zacchaeus, chief tax collector, was very wealthy. So Jesus used poor people. Lower class fishermen, and he used some people that were upper class tax collectors—wealthy but hated. All right, that’s the point. He’s using these people who are poor or not well-liked, so if you’re poor or not well-liked, don’t worry.

If you’re rich, don’t worry because Zacchaeus was also rich. As we have talked about, many other people have been wealthy. So the point of this is, no matter what your status, God’s going to use you. He wants to use you. So start listening for what He will use you for. But throughout the ministry of Jesus, He associated with the homeless and the unemployed and the not liked.

Why did He use these people? Why did He call them? Well, He used these people because they had all the time in the world. If they’re not employed – they – what else are they doing? He goes to the homeless shelter and says,

“Hey, I want to use all you guys.” They’re like, “I got nothing better to do other than sit around here,” but that argument might not hold up so well because as we saw in Matthew, both Simon and Peter were working when Jesus called them, and they left their work.

They just walked out; James and John, sons of Zebedee, were with their father, casting nets. Working. They just walked away. Matthew was working at his booth; they walked away. So all these people, these five people, were employed and left their jobs to follow Jesus. Some of the other people may have been unemployed, maybe not.

He used these people because they were poorer, or they were frustrated, or they had to make ends meet. They were scraping by. So they didn’t have a lot to lose by walking away. Arguably, Matthew was the only one that had a lot to lose, but he obviously wasn’t happy in his trade. So he turned and followed Jesus. These people who then became unemployed obviously had all the time in the world.

They weren’t overly busy. So they were – was pretty easy for them to follow Jesus around and travel if they didn’t have much to leave behind. However, Peter, his—this would’ve been much—a little bit more difficult.

See Matthew, walked away from a house or worldly possessions—wealth. The fishermen, like James and John, they walked away from their father’s business. So they probably knew their father was okay.

Andrew and Simon. Andrew, we don’t know about his family, but he was a brother of Simon. So Andrew was with his brother. But then Simon was married and had a family so he left his family behind. Now, of course, he didn’t leave them behind and never see him again, but he left them behind. So that could’ve been a little bit more difficult to be on the road.

How do we know he had a family? Let’s go to Matthew Chapter 8. Matthew 8:14-15, “When Jesus came to Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever.” Okay, mother-in-law, that means he has to be married because in order to have a mother-in-law, you have to have a wife or a spouse.

So, if Peter had a mother-in-law, he must have had a wife, and that means he was married. All right, very simple. “He touched her hand, and the fever left her. She got up and began to wait on them.”

So there. We know that Peter was a married man. He had a mother-in-law. We don’t know if he had children. It’s speculated that he probably did if he was married, but we don’t know for sure. In addition, he would’ve had to have left them behind when he was on the road with Jesus.

So yes, some of them may not have had much to leave behind. Some of them may have had more than others, but Jesus called them, and they were of the working or lower class. But now, also, consider the story of the rich man in Matthew Chapter 19. We can go there if you would like.

It’s Matthew 19:16-30. So I’m not going to read all those, but I’m going to read you one. 19, 16-30: “There was a rich man and he wanted to know what he needed to do.” So let’s check this out,

“Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, ‘Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?’” then, Jesus kind of tells him follow the Commandments, and he says, “Yes, I’ve done this. It’s good,” and Jesus says—we’re going to skip ahead.

This is Verse 21: “‘If you want to be perfect, go sell your possessions and give to the poor and you will have treasure in Heaven. Then come, follow me.’ When the young man heard this, he went away sad because he had great wealth.”

See, he had a lot to lose. Whereas the people fishing were working day in and day out, and they’re like, “This is horrible. We smell. We’re hot. We’re tired. We”—whatever. All this, the conditions.

Jesus says, “Come on. Follow me.” “Fine, let’s go. We’re out of here.” Whereas this guy was very wealthy, and he’s like, “Man, I don’t want to get rid of everything. I don’t want to sell everything. I got a lot of stuff,” and he didn’t want to do it.

So that’s another reason Jesus would have called the poor because he knew the wealth would never—the rich would never want to give it up. But that’s not always the case because look at Matthew.

He was wealthy. He gave it up. Look at some of these other people. They have used their wealth for the ministry. You say, “All right, on and on we understand. Rich, poor, God can use everyone. Whats the point?” Well, the point we’re getting to is that this rich man was discouraged because he had a lot of wealth.

Jesus wants you to be rich. He wants you to have wealth, but He wants you to have the right mindset. So you need to combine this worldly richness with this mentality of the poor with the desire for Jesus and the willingness to leave it all behind for a greater good. A greater cause. A greater purpose. He wants you to keep the right frame of mind so you, you don’t become overly attached to the things of this world.

Let’s go to Matthew 6 Verse 33. Matthew 6:33 says, “But seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well.” Now, what does this mean? Well, we’ve had this in many sermons before. We have a sermon series about worrying. “Do not worry” and that “You’re better than birds” so check that out right here in this card, but I’ll give you a little recap.

Basically, God is telling people, “Hey, don’t worry about what you’re going to eat, what you’re going to wear, what you’re going to have, where you’re going to live—all this stuff. These things are worldly. They’re earthly. Your Heavenly Father knows you need them.

Take a look at the birds: they don’t work like you do. They don’t worry like you do. They don’t store up treasure in bank accounts or have safes full of gold or investments like you do, but guess what? The Heavenly Father takes care of them, no problem.

“Look at the flowers. The lilies of the field—they don’t do all that work. They don’t do anything. They bloom one day, and a few days later, they’re gone and forever—nothing. But yet, not even Solomon, the richest person in the world, was clothed as beautiful as they. So if your Heavenly Father takes that good of care of the birds and of the flowers which are here today and gone tomorrow, how much more will will he care for you?”

He knows you need these things. He’s going to give them to you. He wants to give them to you. But you have to have the right frame of mind in order for them to stay with you. Do you see what I’m saying? If God gave you $10,000 today and said, “It’s yours. I’m going to give it to you in a week.” How many of you already have that money spent? It’s gone.

“Oh, all right. I’m going to get my new car. I’m going to get my new boat. I’m going to get this. I’m going to get that,” or “I’m going to pay off this,” and “I’m going to pay off that, and the rest is going here.”

Most of us, $10,000 is not going to last that long. It’s not going to go that far unless you’re in a third-world country living on a dollar a day. Then okay, great, but then you probably be like, “I got 10 grand, I’m going to America.” Boom! And then you got nothing.

It doesn’t last that long. God wants you to have the mentality of when He says, “I’m going to give you riches,” you’re like, “Okay, I’m going to take those, and I’m going to steward them well.” Multiply them for the Kingdom. First thing: tithing. Second thing: giving 20%. Gone.

“I got eight. What am I going to do with eight?” Well, I’m going to steward it. Am I going to blow it on a new TV, or a new car, or boat, or this, or that? No, give some to my children, inheritance, some investments, store some up for a rainy day. Let’s kind of continue along and use it wisely. Leave an inheritance and follow what the Bible says for that money.

God’s going to say, “Well done good and faithful servant. Let’s give you more and more and more and more,” and you can be very wealthy here on Earth just like the other people who are wealthy in the Bible but if you’re not going to use it properly, you’re not going to get it.

We’ve talked about it before in other sermons. We’ve got a lot of sermons on wealth. Money is one of the most talked-about topics throughout the entire Bible. Yes, it’s important. We have to know what we’re doing with our wealth. Jesus wants you to have the right frame of mind.

He wants you to have this frame of mind like the poor has. And guess what? We’re going to be talking about that in this sermon series. So you want to know what type of mindset you need to have.

Keep with us. We’re going to get there. Remember, Solomon sought God first, and God blessed him with riches. What did Matthew 6:33 say? Let’s read it again.

“But seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well.” So, right now, in the comments, what do you need? What do you need, really?

“Oh, I need a new car. Mine is in the shop.” “I need X number of dollars because whatever car repair.” “I need a new house.” “I need money to pay for a medical bill.” Whatever you need – better health? You need clothing? You need food? We know you need all these things.

God knows you need them. Seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness. Everything written down there in the comments, everything that you need. Everything you think you need will be provided to you as well— not everything you want—doesn’t say everything you want.

All these things that you need will be given to you as well. You’re not going to be like, “Well, I need a new boat and a new car and like a second car, and you know, I’d really love to have a Maserati, and I think that it would be great if I had, um whatever, first class tickets every time I flew, and if I could buy a second house, and maybe I want a cabin on the lake”—no, that’s all extra stuff you want.

The stuff you need will be provided to you as well. Seek first His Kingdom. Then, guess what? You may get blessed enough to get all that stuff you want as well. Solomon sought God first. Let’s go check that out 2 Chronicles 1:12 Are you ready?

“Therefore, wisdom and knowledge will be given to you because Solomon sought God first. And I will also give you wealth, riches, honor such as no king who has ever before you had and none after you will have.”

Think about this. Solomon sought God first. His mindset was right—his heart was right and God said, “Wow, because your frame of mind is right, because your heart is in the right place, I will give you wealth, riches, and honor such as none have ever had nor will have ever again.”

Now, does that mean that you’ll never get wealth, riches, and honor? Cause hey, Solomon already had more than you’ll ever have. He had so much that if you had just a fraction, I mean I’m talking like if you had a tenth of what he had, you’d probably be one of the richest people in the world. If you had 1% of what he had, you would be so rich you wouldn’t know what to do with all the wealth.

All right, there’s plenty of wealth around, and God has it for you. If you seek Him first. Allow God to bless you, and then use those blessings to bless other people. You see. What did Solomon do with his wealth? There’s a theme in the Bible. Look at Job. Look at Joseph of Aramathea. Look at Nicodemus. What did these wealthy people look at?

Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph—look at all of these rich people. What did they do with their wealth? They used it to bless others. They gave it to other people, and God continued to bless them.

You see, the wealth didn’t stop with them. It flowed through them, and God said, “Here’s more. Here’s more,” because He knew that they were building His Kingdom on Earth. They had the right frame of mind.

Jesus used the poor, but He can use you as well for wealth. So keep that in mind, and next week, we are going to talk more about this and how you need to honor the poor. So wherever you are in life. Whether you’re poor, middle class, lower class, upper class, very, very wealthy—wherever you are.

Number one: God is going to use you. So pay attention and seek what He wants you to do.

Number two: Start following God’s plan for your life and your wealth. Seek first His Kingdom. Allow Him to bless you and use what He gives you to build His Kingdom. Let’s pray.

Lord Jesus, thank you so much that you will use each and every person out there. Lord, I ask that they would be willing to open up and listen and then do whatever you’re asking of them. That they would do what you are asking.

That they would be willing to do it. If it’s give away their money. If it’s give their house. If it’s tithe more. If it’s donate more, whatever it is, whatever is on Earth that they are so attached to, let them not be like the rich men—man—who was so discouraged because he had great wealth.

Lord, let them just give willingly. If you want them to do something, have them do it. Whether it’s volunteering, helping, we’re not talking about just giving away all their possessions. It’s a heart of willingness that they would know that no matter what is here on this Earth, there is nothing more important to them than honoring you.

Show them to seek you first. Seek your Kingdom and your righteousness, and Lord, bless, bless them for that. I pray for a huge blessing upon them that you would bless them richly and greatly and that they would continue to use those blessings.

Whether it’s talent. Time. Knowledge. Influencer ability, the-the uh—reach uh, skills, trades or money—whatever it is—space, maybe they have extra rooms in their house. Maybe they have extra vehicles—whatever they have, Lord.

Whatever you have blessed them with, allow them to use it for your Kingdom and your glory and that they would be willing to use anything and everything that you give them for you. And Lord, we know you’re not going to ask all of these people to give up everything, but it’s a mindset.

It’s a heart. Give them the right frame of mind and the right heart, and then bless them beyond their wildest dreams so they can continue building your Kingdom here on Earth. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

I hope you stay tuned. We got some great sermons coming up next. So hit that subscribe button. Hit that like button, and stay tuned as we talk about the poor. How God’s using the poor and the rich, and how God’s using the rich, and how we need to remember and learn from the poor. God bless.