SOS Culture III - Glorify God by Serving the Materially Poor

This post is part of a series about 5 distinctives that are key to SOS’s culture.  Check out the rest of the series here.  These 5 culture distinctives are from David Montague’s talk to SOS summer staff alumni at the SOS 25th Anniversary.

The third culture distinctive is that SOS believes that God loves and cares for the materially poor, and this truth impacts the way we live.

You can't read the Bible and disagree with the fact that God loves those who are materially poor.  In fact, there are over 300 verses in the Bible relating to the poor, social justice, and our call to love the poor.  Here's one such verse:

"Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute.  Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy."  -Proverbs 31:8-9

It's clear that we have a mandate to love and serve those who are in need.  This is one of the ways in which we glorify and honor God (culture distinctive #2).  When people see our good deeds that are the overflow of hearts that have been changed by the gospel, they'll see beyond us to the God who has changed our hearts.

"Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven."  -Matthew 5:15-16

If you want to read more about how you can be involved with serving the materially poor, we highly recommend reading When Helping Hurts, by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert, or Generous Justice, by Tim Keller.