Text: Deut 15:1-18, Title: Except When There Be No Poor Among You, Date/Place: NRBC, 1/31/10, AM
A. Opening illustration: “shirt off his back” we say it a lot but it usually never happens that way, tell the story of Gary Tryon and Bill and that last $100
B. Background to passage: the whole book is a string of sermons that Moses preached on the edge of the promised land to the new generation of Israelites that had not died in the wilderness. And so many of the instructions, warnings, blessings, and covenants were reiterated in this book. Chapter 14 closes with some instruction on tithing and offerings in Jerusalem. And so it is an easy jump to dealings with the poor. An interesting note here is that the Lord indicates that the only time that these don’t apply is when there are no poor among you. The ideal situation is that we are sharing and meeting needs among us as the early church did, and there is no poverty around us—what a thought!
C. Main thought: Since the ideal is not reality now, esp in this economy, how then shall we live?
A. Do not harden your heart (v. 7)
1. The word “harden” here is to make strong like a rock. God says don’t try to kill your own Christ like compassion toward the poor. He has a special place in his heart for the poor, downtrodden, and oppressed. And those being transformed by Christ will have compassion toward those people unless they harden their hearts and close their hands. This is a blameworthy and culpable act, and you will be held accountable.
2. Heb 3:15
3. Illustration: “kindness to the poor for his sake! Where that has been, penitence and faith have wrought out in love. Where that has not been, there has been no love, and, consequently, neither faith nor penitent obedience. It is not necessary to be openly wicked and profane, in order to incur rejection by the Great Judge at last”
4. We are good at self-justification. When we see or know of a need, we come up with lots of good reasons why we shouldn’t help: not enough $$, prob buy alcohol/drugs, might harm me, would embarrass them, don’t know how to approach, don’t have any cash, in a hurry, they should get a job, etc. But in some sense, that is hardening your heart, and closing up your hand
B. Watch out for wickedness and greed (v. 9)
1. The word for wicked means worthless, as having nothing good of moral value, therefore wicked, evil, wretched, and vile. So not only is closing your hand due to hardness of heart, it is due to wickedness in your heart. And Jesus linked treasure and hearts together. And therefore these actions from within also demonstrate our greed.
2. Luke 6:45, Matt 6:21, Mark 10:21-22, Zech 7:8-13
3. Illustration: the deputies spoke of a reserve deputy who never lifted a finger when the officer he was with was involved in a struggle with a guy they were trying to arrest, cost him his work…one time we were getting ready to go on a trip, and had money saved just for that purpose, then noticed a fellow church member who needed it more than we did, and we struggled with greed in our hearts.
4. It could be an indication of your heart condition, hard or lost. Therefore to see a need and withdrawn your mind to other things is wickedness and greed in your hearts. It’s one thing if you can’t meet a need, it’s another if you turn away. God calls you wicked and greedy, your heart is not right
C. Blessings lost, judgment coming (v. 9-10)
1. Next God says that judgment will come upon those who have to give and do not give it. He says that the poor man (the one that you could have helped if you had not gone out to eat so much this week, or the ones that the church could have helped, but you didn’t give so that we could) would cry out to God, and although He doesn’t say He will judge, that is the implication. Then in the next verse, He will bless you if you are faithful to help those with needs.
2. Pro 21:13, Job 9:4
3. There will be judgment that day upon those of us who don’t do what we can to help the poor. We can solve poverty in the world or in the country, or even in the state, but we can help here. And I know that there are some that do that, but most of us don’t do it like we should, because our hearts don’t love what God loves, His poor. God will bless you if you keep his commands, if you are faithful to give. It’s kinda like tithing, if you give to your local church to use as it sees fit, the Lord will open up the windows of heaven.
D. Begrudging action is unbecoming (v. 10)
1. Then God tells them don’t do it out of duty alone, wishing all the while that you didn’t have to. This an unworthy attitude for the believer. It’s unworthy of Christ who regularly helped the poor, oppressed, and downtrodden. It is unworthy of a transformed heart to knows all resources belong to the Giver of all good gifts. It is unworthy of the poor who have been placed there by God to demonstrate a faith that we can’t understand. And it sure doesn’t testify to a world that Christ is our treasure and our rewards are not here, but there!
2. 2 Cor 9:6-13
3. Illustration: the old illustration about all the money that we need to alleviate debt, fund all ministries, plant churches, pay the bills, send to missions, but it is in your bank accounts. “A piety that is known only by negatives will be disowned by our sovereign Lord”
4. Does that mean that we don’t give? God forbid! Giving out of obligation aids the person in distress, but it still adds up to no rewards for you. But the point is to let compassion flow from you like living water. We don’t really believe it is better to give than to receive—that’s another light-hearted saying at Christmas time to cover our own disappointment and covetousness.
E. Gifts should be abundant and liberal (v. 14)
1. Now God instructs them on releasing slaves for the year of the Lord’s release. When you send them out, don’t send them away empty, but “load them down richly.” The idea behind God’s giving is that the poor are enabled to get back on their feet, not just give them a meal for the day.
2. Acts 2:45, 4:35, Job 9:4
3. Illustration: have you ever supplied someone maybe just enough to get by a day or a couple, then you see them later and they are right back in the same shape? The deputy who thanked me for lunch that I didn’t buy… What if this church was one that was constantly amove with money going from those who have some extra (remember none of us consider it extra) to those who don’t…kinda be like the early church
4. What if our gift wasn’t just money, what if it was a job bank, or training, or a new language. Or what if we sent someone as a missionary into one of the trailer parks to live? This is one of the reasons that we have a benevolence fund, so that we can really help. But we can only put so much in it. And the finance committee resisted cutting it for this reduced budget, but if we really wanted to get it down in line with 2009 income we would cut another chunk, and it would be cut. And this year more than ever in a long time are we going to need to help out our brothers and sisters in Christ in this church. So that means two things, we must tithe faithfully into the general fund of the church to help fund needs; and secondly, we are not absolved of individual responsibility. If you know of those that are really struggling, you can let me or a deacon know, but you must also open your wallet personally. And if you don’t want people to know who gave it, leave it on my desk, or tell me who It’s going to, and I will get it there.
F. Know that your blessings are for others (v. 14)
1. This is a foundational truth to undergird all of these warnings: God owns it all, gives it all, not so that we can heap it up, but so we can use it for the kingdom and give it away. The reason that God blesses is for you to bless others! We are Abraham’s seed, and God promised all the families of the earth will be blessed by his descendents, as God blessed him. And you do this because of gratitude from where the Lord has brought you from.
2. Luke 12:33
3. Illustration: a church (our size or smaller) here in Tifton that has over $280,000 in the cemetery fund, designated for perpetual care! Tell about the Hoarders show on TV the other night and the potential that could have been if these people had given away what they hoarded.
4. We are not called to sit on piles of money. We are called to spend for the kingdom. This doesn’t mean that we don’t plan or save, just that our mindset is not to hoard, but to give. For with it we can see things come to pass that are eternal rather than temporal. So the two motivations are compassion, love for Christ, and gratefulness for His abundance in your life.
A. Closing illustration: “The rich would neither oppress, nor despise, nor neglect the poor; the poor would no longer be jealous of the rich. Both would recognize their mutual relation to and need of each other. While, with universal righteousness and kindness, mendicancy would be a thing unknown”
B. Invitation to commitment
