Turning Off The Tap Series

Now, I could address this idea of fully obeying God to receive blessings in several ways.

· I could talk about making sure your life is holy before God. Hebrews 12:6 “… the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son." So… you might be in financial problems because God is disciplining you and trying to get your attention.

· Or, I could talk about the tithe God wants us to bring to Him. Malachi 3 tells us that when the Israelites didn’t tithe, God accused them of robbing Him and said the whole nation was under a curse. Thus, they suffered financially because they weren’t bringing the first fruits of their tithe to God.

So, I could talk about holiness and the tithe in relation to this passage. The idea would be how God withholds blessings from His people because they haven’t obeyed Him in things that He expects.

But Deuteronomy 15 is different.

It doesn’t talk about God withholding blessings.

This passage says… God will bless you if you do this one thing.

What ONE THING could that be?

“If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land 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.” Deuteronomy 15:7-8

That’s the main focus of this promise: you take care of the poor… and God will take care of you. That theme is repeated several times in the Old and New Testament. Proverbs 19:17 for example, says: “He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward him for what he has done.”

If you help the poor what does God say happens? (wait for reply)

God says when you do that you have LOANED to Him.

ILLUS: Now if I go down to the bank and take out a loan, is the bank just giving me the money out of the goodness of their hearts?

No? What do they expect in return?

They want me to repay the loan… with interest.

So what God is saying here is, when I’ve helped the poor, I’ve loaned to Him. He WILL repay, and He will repay with interest.

But, wait a minute.

If I’m struggling to meet MY debts… how can I give to the poor?

I mean, let’s say I owe Greg (one of the men in the congregation) $5000. And I say to Greg: “Sorry, I can’t repay your loan. I gave it all to the poor.” Is that ok?

Of course it isn’t.

I’m not giving to the poor.

I’m making Greg do it for me.

So if I’m struggling financially, how could I possibly give to the poor? Well, God gives us a way to do that. It’s called fasting.

Fasting is when you DELIBERATELY don’t eat so that you can give the money you’d have spent on that food to the poor. You were going to spend that money on food anyway. You have simply denied yourself a meal (or a few meals) so that you can loan to God.

And how does God repay that kind of Loan???

“… if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.” Isaiah 58:10-12