I do believe the Lord would have believers in Christ (i.e. the Church…see Acts 12:47) caring for them as opportunity is given to us to do so. Regarding “caring for the SICK” (which would include the handicapped), the Lord Himself serves as a prime example of this in Matthew 4:23, “And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues…and HEALING ALL MANNER OF SICKNESS and ALL MANNER OF DISEASE among the people.” He also “cared for the elderly” and a beautiful example is seen in John 19:26-27, “When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, ‘Woman, behold your son!’ Then He said to the disciple, ‘Behold your mother!! And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home.” Jesus was suffering untold pain and agony at this time as He hung on the cross. He was about to die and yet He thought of His aging mother who would have to be cared for, so with great love and compassion He committed her to this loving disciple (whom He knew would take good care of her!) and from that day on she made her home with him and every need she had (physical and emotional) was met. With these examples before us, we are now encouraged to do the same in the following verses:

“By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also out to lay down our lives for our brethren. But whoever has this world’s good, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in Him. My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:16-18).

“But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel” (1 Timothy 5:8).

“As we have opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:10).

“Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction…” (James 1:27).

The Apostle Paul was another good example of caring for the less fortunate and he exhorts us to do likewise in Acts 20:35, “I have shown you in every way, by laboring like this, that YOU MUST SUPPORT THE WEAK. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” The words of the Lord Jesus teach us that we will be blessed when we give ourselves (our time, our money, our words of encouragement, our ears to those who are lonely and need human companionship, and whatever else we may have to offer them) to “care for their needs.” They may not have anything to give us in return for our care for them, yet when we see how they are blessed when we are giving them ourselves, WE WILL BE BLESSED!

I have purposedly avoided giving an answer to your specific question. I don’t know that we would call it “a sin not to care for the sick, the handicapped, and the elderly,” but it would surely show our failure to emulate the love of our loving and compassionate Savior who has met our greatest need on the cross and who continues to meet every need we have. Paul’s words in Romans 8:32 come to mind, “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things.” If God the Father cares this much about us that He meets every need we have through His Son, the least we can do is seek to meet the needs of the sick and elderly that the Lord puts in our path. (DO)  (699.1)