Serving with a Pure Heart

Dannah Gresh: Here’s Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: God has a heart for the poor and the needy. If I have God’s heart, then I will have a heart for the poor and the needy.

Dannah: This is the Revive Our Hearts podcast with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, author of Biblical Portrait of Womanhood, for August 16, 2024. I’m Dannah Gresh.

For the last couple of days Nancy has been helping us as women devote our hands to the Lord. She’s been teaching us out of Proverbs 31, and we’ve been looking at using our hands for diligent work to serve God and others.

We’re going to stay on the theme of work. But this time, rather than focusing on our hands, Nancy is going to help us examine our hearts. Are we working with pure heart attitudes? Here’s Nancy picking up in Proverbs 31.

Nancy: Verse 18, this virtuous, excellent woman:

. . . perceives that her merchandise is good.

The NIV says "she sees that her trading is profitable." She sees that the work of her hands, the things she's investing her time and her effort in, she sees that it has produced a good fruit for her labor.

She's quality conscious. She wants to make sure the work that she's doing is a good work. She's not going through life as a wife, as a mom, as a woman, as a homemaker in whatever her season of life, she's not doing things in a sloppy way or a haphazard way. Quality matters to this woman. She's able to stand back and look and see that the work of her hands has been good. And some of you live by this verse, and some of you don't like this verse at all:

Her lamp does not go out by night [or at night].

Some of you are night people and you lamp doesn't go out at night.  Some of you are out at 9:00 at night. The emphasis here is not what time she goes to be. The emphasis here, as in an earlier verse where we saw that she's up before dawn, is that she's a woman who's diligent. She does whatever is needed at whatever hours it's necessary to minister to the needs of her family.

She's up early if she needs to be; she up late if she needs to be. In her waking hours she's gainfully occupied. You don't see here a picture of a woman who spends her evenings watching TV or a woman who sleeps till 11 o'clock in the morning when there is work that needs to be done for her family.

I'm not telling you what time to get up; I'm not telling you what time to go to bed, because the Scripture doesn't tell us that. But it does tell us that as women, we are to be industrious and using the hours, the moments that the Lord gives us in ways that are pleasing to Him.

You say, "Does that mean I never stop and have fun with my kids?" Yes, you absolutely must stop and have fun with your kids. And when it's time to do that, then that is holy, then that is being virtuous, that is being excellent. But it does mean that we don't fritter away the precious moments and hours and days that God gives us, that we use them in a way that is purposeful and intentional and intended for the glory of God.

Now we come to verse 20, which is a beautiful verse and shows us, as do other verses in this chapter, the heart of the Lord Jesus. We've said before that we're looking here at a portrait of Christ and nowhere is this any clearer than in verse 20 of Proverbs 31.

She extends her hands to the poor,
Yes, she reaches out her hands to the needy.

Here's a woman; (we're seeing this all the way through this passage) she's not a taker. She's a giver. She has her priorities in order. Her hands were first used to minister to the needs of her own family.

I know it sounds like I keep repeating myself but the passage keeps bringing this truth out—she's a woman who has priorities. She doesn't minister to everyone else's needs before she has ministered to her own family's needs. She doesn't neglect the needs of the poor and hungry in her family in order to minister to the poor and hungry people outside of her home.

But once she has ministered to her family's needs, in due time, in due season, as God provides opportunities, she reaches beyond the circle of her family, reaches out her hands, extends them. You see that she extends her hands to the poor; she reaches out her hands to the needy.

It is interesting to me that both the husband and the wife in Proverbs 31 are concerned about the poor and needy. If you recall back to verse 9, this mother of the king who wrote this passage, King Lemuel. His mother told him (as a man) in verse 9: "Open your mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy." She had told him, "You're going to be a king and you're going to be in a position where you can have influence on the laws of the land. You can help to bring about justice. And when you have that opportunity, use your influence to defend or plead the cause of the poor and needy."

So the husband pleads the cause of the poor and needy. He judges righteously. He effects changes in the system and in the laws. And now comes the word to the wife. The description that this mother gives her son about what to look for in a wife. And one of the qualities he should look for is a woman who has a heart for those who are underprivileged, for those who are needy. Now how does she go about addressing the needs of the poor and needy? By extending practical, personal acts of mercy and compassion.

Now, I would not be rigid about this because the Word isn't rigid about this. It doesn't mean that men are never to extend their hands to the needy in ways that are practical, personal acts of mercy and compassion. It doesn mean that women aren't to be involved in ways God may give them in their community to see laws changed or to see the cause of the needy addressed and justice affected.

In this picture you see an ideal, God-ordained balance together—how the husband and wife complement each other. You see, if they were both doing the same thing, one of them wouldn't be necessary. But God has ordained male and female in every way to complement each other and this is just one illustration of how that happens.

Now as this woman extends her hands to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy, she does good works. She does good works on behalf of those who need help, who need grace. I want to remind us that according to the New Testament—and all of God's Word bears this out—that we are not saved by our good works.

Our good works cannot earn us salvation. We could never do enough good works to balance out the scales when it comes to our sin against a holy God. So no matter how good you are, how many people you are helping, how much volunteer work you do, it will never get you a place in heaven.

You can never earn the favor of God, no matter how good you are. There are people all over this world in various religions including people who call themselves Christians and people who are in our churches Sunday after Sunday, who think that they are going to heaven because they've lived a life doing good works.

Actually, those people are sometimes the hardest people to come to see that they need a Savior because they are such good people. Some of those people do more good works than people who really are Christians, children of God.

But let me remind you that if you're counting on any amount of good effort or work that you have done, no matter how much good you have done in your community, no matter how much you've helped poor people in need, no matter how much you have reached out to the underprivileged; if you do not have a personal relationship with Christ and are not trusting in what He did on the cross for your salvation—your only hope of salvation—then you can live a lifetime of good works and still spend an eternity in hell. 

That's kind of strong language. Well the Scripture talks about this in Matthew 7 [:22-23], about those who will come to the end of life and will say, "God, You should let me into heaven. I did all these good works."

And God will say to some of them: "I never knew you; depart from me, you who work iniquity" (see vv. 22–23).

Because you see, if we do not have a saving relationship with Jesus Christ, then all of our "good works" are actually an abomination to God. It's actually wickedness if it comes out of a heart or out of hands that have not been redeemed and made righteous by the saving blood of Jesus Christ.

I may be speaking right now to some women who are full of good works. You've lived a life doing good works. But maybe God has spoken to your heart in this session and you've realized that you have never been born again. You've never been made righteous through placing your faith in Jesus Christ; acknowledging that it's His works, not yours, that make you righteous.

Now if that's the case, I'd like to invite you right now to join with me in prayer. I'm going to pray a prayer and give you the opportunity to express your desire to trust in Christ and His works to save you. So let's bow our hearts right now. If this expresses the desire of your heart, would you just make it your prayer to the Lord.

Oh Father, I know that I cannot save myself and that all my good works will never earn me a place in heaven or a right relationship with You. I confess that I have sinned against You and, in spite of all my good works, my heart is basically bent against You.

I am a sinner separated from You. Thank You for sending Jesus Christ to this earth. I recognize that He is the only One who has ever lived a sinless life. And through His sinless life and in His death on the cross for sinners, I realize that He has made a provision for me to be saved, for me to be reconciled to You.

And so right now by faith I stop trusting in my own good works and I trust instead in the righteousness of Christ. Please come into my life, Lord Jesus. Save me from my sin. Then give me the grace to do the good works for which You have saved me, not by which You have saved me.

And if you've just prayed that prayer in these last few moments and it came from your heart, then you can know on the assurance of God's Word that God has saved you and that you are right with God. You've been reconciled to God, not by anything good that you have done, but by His righteousness. And now when God looks at you, He will look at you as clothed in the righteousness of Christ.

You will be free, able to do good works for which God has saved you.

Thank You, Lord, for such a great salvation. And may those of us who have experienced that salvation show our gratitude to You by the good works that we do. I pray in Jesus' name, amen.

Dannah: Nancy's not finished. She’ll be back for part two on this topic. We’re able to bring you practical teaching like this thanks to listeners who give to the ministry of Revive Our Hearts.

Our mission is to help women around the world thrive in Christ as they live out God’s design, and we couldn’t do it without your support. So as a way to thank you for your donation of any amount this month, we’d like to send you a copy of a Biblical Portrait of Womanhood. It’s a booklet by Nancy that contains some foundational truths for living out God’s plan for your life. 

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Nancy’s back to continue helping us do all our work for the Lord.

Nancy: One of my very favorite characters in the New Testament is a woman to whom there is only one paragraph devoted. We don't know a lot about her. But what we do know, I think, is inspirational and challenges my very life as a woman of God.

Her name is Tabitha, or in Acts 9, the other name you would know her by is translated Dorcas. She lives in a town called Joppa. And you may want to look there in your Bible in Acts chapter 9 (NIV), beginning in verse 36.

We're told that she was a disciple; she was a follower of Christ, named Tabitha or Dorcas. Here's the descriptive phrase of this woman:

She was always doing good and helping the poor.

That's almost all that we were told about her. She was a disciple. She was a woman—we don't know if she was married or single. She may have been widowed. We don't know. But we know that she loved Christ and that the way she expressed her love for Christ was that she was always doing good and helping the poor. She had a reputation for that. That was what she was known for.

"Tell me about Dorcas. Tell me about Tabitha. I'm new in town. I heard about this woman. Is it really true."

"Yes, it's true. Everything you heard is true. She's always doing good. She's always helping the poor."

Well, verse 37 tells us:

About that time she became sick and died, and then her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room. Lydda was near Joppa; so when the disciples heard that Peter [the apostle, Peter] was in Lydda, they sent two men to him and urged him, "Please come at once!"

Now, I wonder what they thought Peter was going to do. This woman was dead. I don't know whether they were expecting him to raise this woman from the dead. That certainly was hardly an everyday occurrence even for the apostles.

I don't know what they expected, but they knew that here was someone who could help in this crisis situation.

And it is interesting that they didn't go and call Peter every time someone died. But when this woman died, she was really missed. And even the men were sent to him. The disciples heard that Peter was there. They sent two men to him. They urged him, "Please come at once."

It seemed that everyone's life was affected by the loss of this woman. What a reputation. She wasn't an apostle. She wasn't a preacher. She wasn't a pastor (God has called men to have those roles in the body of Christ.) She wasn't the head of a home. We don't know much about her except that she was a woman who was always doing good and reaching out to those in need. And when this woman died, she was missed. People were affected.

How will people be affected when you die? Will there be a sense that this is a crisis, not because you held some great position and there is a vacancy left in your job, but because you are always doing good and helping people and you will be missed for reasons of your being compassionate and merciful?

Peter went with them, and when he arrived he was taken upstairs to the room. [Listen to this description.] All the widows stood around him. (v. 39)

There were a lot of widows in that day because, typically, women married young and they married men who were much older so women would often be widowed. Apparently, one of Tabitha's ministries was caring for the widows. Now we don't know that that's all she cared for, she cared for the poor. She did good. If she had a family, we know she did good to them.

But here were widows who stood around Peter and they were

. . . crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them. (v. 39)

So they came to display these things that Dorcas had made for them while she was still alive.

They were touched. She apparently had not just done these acts of mercy, she must have had a heart of mercy. They apparently felt connected to her. It wasn't just the clothing that they were going to miss; it was the woman behind the clothing.

So we see that with these acts of mercy, there was relationship. There was heart. There was compassion. There was tenderness. I think I'm not reading into the text to say that would be the case. So you know as the passage goes on that . . .

Peter sent them all out of the room, and he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman he said, "Tabitha, get up"

She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up. He took her by the hand and helped her to her feet. Then he called the believers, and the widows, and presented her to them alive. This became known all over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord. (vv. 40–42)

By her life, by her death, and by her resurrection, God used this woman as an instrument to bring many to faith in Christ.

You know, it's as we women live out a life of compassion and generosity and mercy toward those who are in need, that we make the gospel believable. It's one thing to have preachers and Bible teachers talk about the gospel. It's another thing to have a woman in your community who lives out the gospel, who makes it visible, who makes it tangible, who makes it believable by acts of mercy and compassion, coupled with a heart of mercy and compassion. 

So as we've been reading and studying in Proverbs,chapter 31, we're talking about this virtuous, excellent woman and we see in verse 20 that "she extends her hands to the poor and she reaches out her hands to the needy." She's a woman who practices mercy and compassion.

First Timothy 5:9–10 tells us that when a woman is widowed, as an older woman, if she wants to be cared for by the church, (and it is the church's responsibility to care for her) and if she wants to be plugged into serving in the life of the church (which I believe is the specific context of 1 Timothy 5); if she wants to be put on that list of godly widows, there are some things that have to have been true of her before she was widowed.

Someday on Revive Our Hearts perhaps we'll do a whole series on this list, but I just want to touch on it right now.

She needs to have been "faithful to her husband and she should be well known for her good deeds." If you want to qualify to be a godly older woman, one of the things that must be true is that you are well known for doing good deeds.

Then it tells us what some of those good deeds are: "such as bringing up children, showing hospitality, washing the feet of the saints, helping those in trouble, and devoting herself to all kinds of good deeds" (NIV). These are distinctively womanly ways that we put hands and feet on the gospel, that we make the gospel believable.

First Timothy 2:9–10, just three chapters earlier, tells us that as women we are to adorn ourselves. We're to make ourselves beautiful. And our primary adorning is not to be the external appearance, but it is to be a heart that produces good deeds.

We are to be adorned—dressed with good deeds. When we are, you know what we do? We demonstrate the beauty of the gospel. When we are adorned with the good deeds, we adorn the gospel by our good deeds.

So we see a woman here who is a picture of generosity, of giving—giving money, giving food, giving clothing, giving things. Then we see her reaching out her hands, not only reaching out her hand to give things to people, but reaching out her hands to give herself and her time in activities that require two hands. Things like: caring for the sick, holding a baby for a mom who has her hands full, reaching out her hands caring for children, caring for the elderly—using her hands for ministry.

Susan Hunt says that a "true woman's sanctified, feminine instincts make her a channel of compassion to the afflicted and the oppressed." That's to be womanly, that's to be virtuous, that's to be an excellent woman. It is to be a channel of compassion to the afflicted and the oppressed. And we see this heart all the way through the Scripture.

Deuteronomy 15 tells us:

If there's a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns that the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother. Rather be openhanded and freely lend him whatever he needs. (v. 7 NIV)

You see, when we are givers, we reveal the heart of God. We may be the only picture those in our neighbors, our friends, those in our community ever get of what God is really like.

Psalms 72 tells us that God "will defend the afflicted among the people and save the children of the needy (v. 4 NIV). "He will deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who has no one to help. He will take pity on the weak and the needy and save the needy from death" (Psalm 72:12 NIV).

You see, God has a heart for the poor and the needy. And if I have God's heart, then I will have a heart for the poor and the needy.

Father, I pray that You will give us a heart full of love, full of Your love because You live in us. Give us hearts that are compassionate and tender and sensitive and alert to the needs of the people around us.

Lord, help us to know when it is You directing us to these ministries of compassion and not to feel the responsibility to do everything that needs to be done to meet every need for every person, but to be seeking You and to know when You're putting it on our heart that this is a time to reach out; this is a way to reach out. And as we're all obedient and sensitive to Your Spirit, then we know that the needs around us will be cared for.

So, Father, give us the heart of Jesus who took into His arms children and the sick and the weak and the needy and the poor and reached out His hands to them. In fact, You reached out Your hands to us when we were poor and needy and could not help ourselves.

May we extend to others the mercy, the goodness, the grace that You have lavished upon us. I pray in Jesus' name, amen.

Dannah: That’s Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth inviting all of us to have the same kind of heart that God has for people in need.

Next week, Nancy will continue in this series on Proverbs 31. Every mom knows that preparing a family’s clothing for a new season can be a daunting task. Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth will cheer moms on as they do that. 

Have a great weekend, and I hope you’ll be back for Revive Our Hearts.

This program is a listener-supported production of Revive Our Hearts in Niles, Michigan, calling women to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ.

All Scripture is taken from the NKJV unless otherwise noted.

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