Transcript


0:00
thank you princes and Powers
0:05
[Music]
0:13
[Music]
0:21
one day we'll see his face
0:28
[Music] foreign
0:37
[Music]
0:43
[Music]
1:15
the mountains [Music]
1:25
awesome and holy friends
1:32
[Music]
1:43
[Music]
1:50
so just by a matter of housekeeping we have been working our way through the book of Deuteronomy and we have a video
1:56
about learning from the book of Deuteronomy but we will play it later after the sermon in between as they're
2:03
working on the technology aspect of it back there and so that will be coming in
2:09
between and so at the end of service today we have a brief break and then we'll have the membership meeting and so
2:14
we'll play that video for you at the end of service in preparation for this
2:20
sermon I discovered something about myself and I was trying to figure it out
2:25
exactly what it was and so I went to a young lady who is a Christian girl and
2:31
she is a child she is not an adult and that means she does not have a ton of Bible knowledge and I asked her just
2:37
some a few simple questions and I'm going to relate that conversation to you now and then you're gonna I think see
2:43
why when we look at the text okay so it goes something like this I asked her I said so what would happen what would you do if you had a friend come over to your
2:50
house that had a favorite toy like a plushie stuffed animal something and she's a young girl and I asked her and I
2:56
said what would happen if you had a friend called your house and she left that favorite toy there
3:01
and then left and went home and I said and then you discovered after she left that the favorite toy was there
3:08
what would you do and she said well I right away I would go to my mom and I would say Mom we need to call this person tell them that they left their
3:13
toy and try to get it back to her to her right and we assumed that the friend was a girl and and I said okay that's good I
3:20
said and what if the friend lived far away so you couldn't easily get it back to them so what we still call she said
3:27
maybe we could mail it to them and I said and if you couldn't mail it to them so well then we could hold it for her
3:34
right and and then maybe get it back to her at a later date and I said now what if you kept it for a long time and then
3:41
you kind of liked it it was the toy that you also like to play with it some whatever you had it for a long time and then your friend came back and asked you
3:47
for it what would you do she said well I would gladly give it back to her because it belongs to her and it was hers in the
3:53
first place and I said okay now let's let's change that what if it was an animal
3:58
and you're taking care of this animal and you've taken it to the vet and you've got shots and you've got medicine costs and you've got food costs and all
4:05
that kind of thing you've done all of that and now your friend wants their animal back after you've done all that
4:10
she said well I would give it back to them said Not only would I give it back to them but on top of that I would say I would let them know what I had done and
4:16
said I did that because I love them and I've took care of them I said I would give them all the extra food and if I we
4:22
had made a dog house because I think we used a dog as the example then we would give them the Dog House we'd give them
4:27
everything that we have for taking care of the animal to help them going forward because just because we love them and I
4:34
said but then that that would have cost you an awful lot or me because I'm you
4:39
know or your dad or your mom whoever would cost them an awful lot and she said yeah she said but God will take care of us
4:49
how you treat things that belong to other people so she's how you treat things belong to other people
4:54
shows how much you trust God to reward you for what you've done
4:59
after the fact so bear that in mind then with me as we go to the text you might say Amen or a
5:05
little hoot or a Holloman we're going to holler with me today as we go to Deuteronomy chapter 22. amen this is
5:12
God's word that's not about us that's about him the moment we begin to read his word it is what he says you may like
5:18
it you may not like it I have had many occasions where it's gone either way for me but what it says is what it says
5:24
this is Deuteronomy chapter 22 beginning in verse 1. we'll read verses one through four and then we just have a
5:31
couple of supporting texts that we'll look at before we're through Deuteronomy 22 verse 1 says you shall not see your
5:37
countryman's ox or his sheep straying away and pay no attention to them you shall certainly bring them back to
5:43
your countrymen so before we go any further there's a couple of things that you'll notice there in my translations
5:49
New American Standard Version I have the word countrymen your mate yours may have a different word there because that the
5:55
word that's there is a little tricky to translate into English it can simply
6:01
mean the person that you live near so a neighbor or a person who lives in your neighborhood or a person who lives in
6:07
your country uh King James I think or New King James maybe translates it brother and so that could confuse the
6:14
issue a little bit but the bottom line is this is somebody in theory um it's not you but they live where you
6:21
know where they live and you find their ox or their sheep straying away wandering off and it says you can't just
6:27
pay no attention to them and there's a really interesting word there where it says pay no attention that occurs a few times and we'll come back to that when
6:33
we get to the points you can't just pay no attention to them you shall certainly bring them back to your countrymen so
6:39
basically you're walking down the road one day here whatever you're doing and there is a sheep and you recognize that's your neighbor's sheep or sheep
6:46
from the guy down the road or however you know where it goes anyway and you take the sheep and at your own expense
6:51
your own efforts your own work you lead the Sheep or probably prod the Sheep because
6:56
you're not the shepherd now right this is somebody else's sheeps and kind of push them along get them along with her grab them by the Scruff of their wool
7:02
whatever you got to do to get them back where they go you take them back home okay you shall not see your countryman's
7:08
ox or a sheep an ox would probably even be harder to work with straying away and pay no attention to them you shall
7:14
certainly bring them back to your countrymen verse 2 says and if your countrymen is not near you or if you do
7:21
not know him then you shall bring it home to your house and it shall remain
7:26
with you until your Countryman looks for it then you shall restore it to him so now we have a new case where when we
7:33
find the ox of the sheep but we don't know to whom it actually belongs but we know it doesn't belong to us right so
7:40
we're going to take it back to our house and we're going to take care of it and that's that's a lot right that's
7:45
feeding that's if you don't Shear a sheep for example it can become very unhealthy so it's shearing and you may
7:51
profit from the wool for example if it's an ox you don't you have to feed it care for it check on its Hooves all those
7:57
kinds of things if you don't do all that kind of stuff it can be gone unhealthy and die so you're gonna have to do those things while it's living with you
8:04
and then at some point in time he's going to come looking for it and he comes to say hey did you find my Ox did you find my sheep did anyone go house to
8:10
house whatever looking and you shall restore it to him and I and I first read that and this is what happened in me I
8:17
said yeah that's Justice right it's the right thing to do because it belongs to him God willed it if you will to him and
8:24
so how dare I keep it it doesn't belong to me in the first place I would be kind of like profiting on his loss right God
8:31
gave it to him and it wandered off that's just what animals do maybe he should have had it better penned in or
8:36
who knows why but somehow or other it got loose and it wandered off and I found it if I take it that wasn't mine
8:42
now in the world a lot it's uh how's it going uh Finders Keepers losers weepers
8:48
right so you're you're walking you find something that don't belong to you you're like oh yeah I found something that didn't block me
8:54
so I'm blessed now we might even praise God for something just showing up because we didn't own it it wasn't ours
9:00
and now all of a sudden we do because we found it right so now we own it that's kind of the way the world looks at it but what he's saying is and we'll see it
9:06
very clearly by the time we're done with these four verses he's saying that is not how it actually works what he said was if your Countryman is
9:13
not near you so now you don't have an easy way to just walk the Sheep down the road or The Oxen down the road if you do
9:19
not know him you don't know where to even take it to then you shall bring it home to your house and it shall remain with you until your Countryman looks for
9:25
it then you shall restore it to him so when he comes to looking you are giving him back what belonged to him previously
9:31
verse three and thus you shall do with his donkey and you shall do the same
9:36
with His Garment and you shall do likewise with anything lost by your countrymen which we he has lost and you
9:44
have found you are not allowed to neglect them and that word there which is translated
9:50
neglect is a very very similar word to the first time we encountered it where it said to pay no attention and again
9:56
I'll talk about that in a minute so the bottom line is now we're extending this not just to ox or sheep and which you could that's pretty important right an
10:03
oxen is what you plow with the sheep can not only can it be year after year after year at sustenance but on top of that
10:08
you can eat it right so this is an expensive thing but now we're not just
10:14
talking about expensive things and now we're talking about a lost cloak or a jacket or shoes We're talking about
10:19
anything that you might find that pretty much your sure doesn't belong to you now very simply on the surface the bottom
10:26
line is if it doesn't belong to you don't take it but is that what he's saying he said if it doesn't belong to you don't take it I teach my grandkids
10:32
all the time and and I've taught Ariana if it doesn't belong to you don't touch it we go to garage sales and I tell them
10:37
if you're not thinking about buying it don't touch it if you don't have the money to pay for it don't touch it because it doesn't belong to you
10:43
but does that actually work based on what we're reading here because now we've been commanded not to neglect it not a garage sale that's one thing you
10:49
just leave it they're going to keep it everything's fine but you find something laying in the road now you have a responsibility you can't just leave it
10:56
because if you just leave it it's going to degrade it'll go to worthlessness and it's never going to find its way back to
11:01
whoever it was unless they come along looking for it sometimes driving along the road you'll see a hubcap sitting up against the pole and people put it there
11:08
because it came off a car and they're hoping the person drives that route and they're going to see it again if they take it home they're never going to get
11:13
back to the person to whom it belongs right but at the same time if they just leave it laying in the grass it's never going to go back the person belongs to
11:19
either so they've done something in an effort to try to get it back to the person who it belongs and so many folks don't do anything to try to get
11:25
something that was lost back to the person doing but belongs if you don't own it belongs to somebody else according to this text it's supposed to
11:32
go back to the person who owned it and if you have to take it home for a while and take care of it even use it
11:37
right because the donkey unused or an ox unused or a sheep unused would be in trouble so even use it for a while but
11:43
when they come looking for it it's supposed to go back to them whatever it is and you're not allowed to neglect them
11:50
so you can't just put the animal away and don't do anything with it you have to take care of it you're gonna have to feed it you're going to have to bathe it
11:56
if it needs baits you're going to have to check its Hooves and and maybe get it a shot from the vet if it's getting sick
12:03
you know whatever all those kinds of things now verse 4 it says you shall not see your countryman's donkey or as Ox
12:09
falling down on the way and pay no attention to them that's that same phrase again pay no attention to them
12:15
you shall certainly help him to raise them up and so now we've brought the countrymen or that individual that you
12:22
know who owns the other thing into the mix they're there so they're walking their
12:27
Ox down the road and all of a sudden their Rock steps off the edge The Edge caves in a little bit now they're in it's in the ditch and they're trying to
12:32
get the ox up out of the ditch and it's a lot of work to do that the ox doesn't want to do it under its own power so somebody's going to pull it somebody's
12:38
going to push it but if you're just one man you can't pull it and push it at the same time and so it says you can't just leave him in the ditch
12:45
you can't just leave him in the ditch rather you have to help him get his ox
12:50
or his donkey or whatever up out of the dish now this probably doesn't apply with a you know shoes or a coat or
12:57
whatever this is talking about an animal but the bottom line is this is where the individual in question is there
13:04
and you can't just look away they're in a hardship with their animal
13:09
and you can't just look away you can't pay no attention to them rather he says you will certainly help him to raise
13:15
them up all right so that's the text for today the first thing I want you to see here is you don't look the other way
13:24
I was in a college class at Owens and it was a business management class actually I was talking about how people treat
13:30
people now in a business management class talking about how people treat people you don't usually get things like the
13:36
golden rule or biblical principles right it was really about Hospitality customer service talking to people treating
13:43
people with respect right and the teacher said can we all agree that when
13:48
people treat people with respect they generally look them in the eye can we agree with that and I said well yeah
13:53
that's it's kind of old school but yeah we basically there's about 23 of us in the class and we all agree that they do
13:59
and I said then he had two students I was I was neither of them they had two students get up in opposite sides of the classroom and he says and when I say go
14:06
I want you to walk forward and I want you to walk past each other and take each other's Spots You're going to walk the other side of the classroom
14:12
and stand in the spot where the other person was standing and they did and said everyone everybody to watch closely
14:18
what happens and this is what they did as they started to walk forward at substantial distance away they looked at
14:24
each other to gauge which way that what the other person was going to go so they're going to go to the right I'm going to go to the right and we're going
14:30
to pass each other safely or whatever but if they're going to go the right I'm not going to go to the left because then we're going to bump into each other because they knew they were going to
14:36
switch spots so they looked at each other while they were still a substantial distance away and then once they got close say eight feet
14:44
10 feet away they looked away from each other the whole time they passed each other
14:49
and then they went and stood in each other's spots and the professor said if that if a measure of respect of a human
14:56
being is you look them in the eye then why is it that this is how everyone
15:02
behaves everyone what you watch them you're walking toward each other if they do not
15:08
want to specifically interact with each other they will not look at each other they will look at each other from a ways
15:13
away and then they will look away the whole time they're passing that's how you know hey I'm not accosting you I'm not interacting with you and he said
15:19
they're they're basically two reasons the first reason is because if you look at them in the face they'll think you
15:26
want to interact with them and so they may change their course to actually encounter you and you may wind up having it face to face in time with somebody
15:32
and I've seen that play out a number of times we'll walk from some distance towards somebody I look at them and I greet them and say hello whatever and
15:38
they'll stop and say hello to me and we'll have a conversation I had no intention of having a conversation just because I
15:43
treated them with some respect they'll stop and have a conversation with me and it's like they're basically asking me
15:50
what did you want and he's right so if you show that respect to a person they're more likely
15:56
to want to engage with you thinking why are you showing me this measure of respect okay the second reason is
16:02
because it's easier and the human Spirit like water flows down the easier path right
16:08
it's easier to not have to deal with somebody in fact if you look at them and feed away then when you get to seven
16:13
feet away and you say hello you don't have to say hi I go down the Elementary School uh hallway at my
16:20
daughter's school and I say hi to everybody I see it's always been out hi how you doing today hey I what's funny
16:27
is I'll we're past people and I'll say hey how you doing today and they they'll say how you doing today and neither one
16:34
of us answers and we just keep walking it's like a greeting you know so we don't really mean how you doing today apparently if he answered me then I
16:40
would answer him but it's clear that he just using that like hello right the point is
16:46
I walked in a lot of times they look a little freaked out like why are you talking to me
16:52
I'm just saying hello right when I lived in Mason when I first moved to Mason Michigan I discovered it's something
16:57
it's a town of about 5 000 people which is the same as what Northwood is but in Mason everybody waved to everybody else
17:05
it was a very community community right so you'd be in your yard Mowing and somebody to drive by in the car and they
17:11
wave to you while you're pushing them over you're push them over down you look up there they are waving to you like and you're waving back while you're like
17:16
whatever happened to that right in Northwood nobody waves anybody right I talked to my neighbor every chance I get
17:21
to talk to my neighbor every chance I get but if I'm driving down the road then nobody waves at me I wave at them and they go
17:27
like what is that what what's he doing with his hand like they don't know what that means right so the point is it's so
17:33
easy to just ignore all of our responsibilities to the rest of the race because why because we've chosen our
17:40
responsibilities for ourselves so there's a phrase that occurs in here that essentially means don't look the other way or don't uh and it has another
17:48
meaning which I'll show you with you in a second it's kind of cool and the phrase is hit the limb or hit the limta and I'm probably pronouncing that badly
17:54
because I'm not a Hebrew scholar but the bottom line is it means to not neglect that's how it's being translated here to
18:01
not not pay attention but what it really means is to hide yourself
18:09
and now you see don't you as we go about our days all day long this is what we're doing
18:16
we're hiding ourselves we're in fear of what others will think of us
18:21
we're in fear that we may not be adequate to do what needs to be done we have our little pet peeves and oh it
18:28
bothers me when they do this and it bothers me when they do that and if we interact with other people eventually they're going to hit those pet peeves
18:34
thank you and we're going to be bothered nobody wants to be bothered and by the
18:41
way when we're bothered oftentimes we do not react the way that even we think we should and so what we're doing is we're busy
18:47
hiding ourselves and what this text is says you have no right to hide yourselves from other people who live in
18:54
the country in which you live you have a responsibility rather
19:00
to help to intervene and I would submit not to get ahead of
19:05
myself to take a certain amount of risk you have a responsibility
19:10
realize that these are people we're talking about the Israelites we're talking about people recovered under God's grace why wasn't Israelite an
19:17
Israelite you say well it was because of his blood right well if we we've been studying the book
19:23
of Deuteronomy right and we know that they did take wives who were not blood
19:29
we know that is true and so that's not that doesn't hold true the Israelites for the Israelites
19:35
because one reason only because God said so out of Egypt I have called my son he chose the Israelites
19:42
when they were not a people at all and made them a people much like he has done with those of us who are Gentiles which is probably everybody in this room
19:48
and just as they had a responsibility to treat everyone with respect and to not neglect to not hide themselves from
19:55
others who were under God's grace we have the same responsibility this is even more
20:01
empowering because we have folks that don't know Jesus and have the right to be people who do know Jesus and the only
20:07
thing stopping them from being people who do know Jesus in some case is people who know Jesus not being willing to
20:13
invite them to know Jesus I know this great guy that you really need to know
20:20
and so seldom we even say because I while we're hiding the US that Jesus has
20:25
made us we can never get around to exposing the Jesus who made us the US that we are
20:32
don't look the other way do not neglect do not hide yourself I get it I'm gonna
20:37
just be playing if I may I get it you're kind of freakish it's okay I'm kind of freakish too well what does it mean
20:43
we're unique created you're only equal with another human being if you have
20:49
individuality that's what's so comical there's only so many people in the world trying to be
20:54
unique right so I'm gonna be unique I'm going to be I'm gonna pick on it I don't mean to but I'm going to be goth for
21:00
example Yami goth there are in the United States last I saw over 12 million that's real unique
21:06
why don't you just be you and stop hiding you behind the guise of being unique
21:11
the more you try to be unique the less unique you're probably going to be
21:16
so the bottom line is don't look the other way don't hide yourself be who you
21:22
are and care about the people that you encounter and the things that belong to them that's what the text is talking
21:27
about share with you an illustration illustration that goes way back 20 years ago I had a friend of mine and
21:34
we were playing a game together him and myself and about six other guys I'm sitting around a table and and he had
21:41
his arms on the table like this and he had his hand his head leaning on his hands like this and after about an hour
21:46
he was gently snoring we were pretty sure he'd fallen asleep because that's when people snore usually
21:52
and we began to talk about him not in any mean way just mentioning some things about him and what the way he was
21:59
playing the game and like that and uh he never responded and then somebody said
22:05
he's not responding because he's asleep and they called him by name when they said that and I'll I'll just
22:11
say Joe Joe's not responding because Joe's asleep and he said I am not asleep just like that and we all chuckled and
22:19
he said well we've been talking about you for like five ten minutes and you didn't say anything and he said I heard
22:25
you and we said well if you heard us why didn't you answer
22:30
and he said because I didn't think it was important just like that and it became a
22:35
long-standing joke in our in our group of friends that I didn't think it was important listen to me it is important
22:40
that you stop hiding yourself it is important that you care about what
22:46
is going on around you people around you are contemplating suicide people around you are struggling
22:52
with addiction people around you are struggling with Hunger people around you are laboring away in generational
22:58
poverty people around you do not know Jesus people around you do not have an eternity with God after this life even
23:04
though you may think oh he's okay but I'm not really okay that could exactly be the opposite you could think he he
23:11
seems like he's okay so I'm hiding myself because I'm not okay but I am a saved Christian right and then you go
23:17
when you realize you're okay if you're okay then you have to stop hiding yourself and you'll realize that he's
23:22
not okay some of the greatest human beings I have ever known later got saved
23:28
most of them in fact stop hiding yourself it is important
23:33
what's going on is important you may feel like you don't have the resources if you legitimately don't have the
23:39
resources God's not asking you to spend them but he's also he is asking you to stop paying particularly not attention
23:46
he is asking you to stop neglecting others he's asking you to care
23:53
the second thing I want you to see in this text that really struck out to me then is that low hanging fruit is almost
24:00
always fruit of suffering okay so it's pretty easy to be walking along the road and oh here's a sheep unattended I'm
24:07
just gonna take that right home here and then from now on for the next 12 or 15 years whatever I'm getting me some wool right and then when it gets a little too
24:13
old to do wool I'm gonna eat this bad boy and it's gonna be great right he needs help help him Josh
24:22
he just doesn't know how to work it very well it's not his fault okay low hanging fruit is fruit of suffering
24:30
they are suffering for lack of that fruit right so if you get something that belongs to somebody else and it now
24:36
suddenly belongs to you you didn't pay for it you didn't work for it they didn't get a fair wage for it whatever that suffering
24:43
doesn't just cease to exist because you got lucky or God blessed you and you found that sheep they still are
24:49
suffering their sheep wandered off that may have been their favorite sheep they're crying over that sheep it may have been their only sheep they need
24:56
that sheep it may have been their profit sheep right so they still have enough sheep to barely survive but they don't have enough sheep now to have enough
25:01
wool to live well and the bottom line is if it's suffering they may cry out
25:08
and I ask you if they are crying out to God and suffering who are they crying out against
25:15
the Sheep oh Lord punish that sheep that wandered off I feel so I man break its
25:22
neck wherever it is God no they're not praying against the Sheep it's just a
25:27
stupid sheep that wandered off or an oxen or a donkey right they're praying against that they're praying against the
25:32
person who took the sheep and didn't bring it back someone stole my sheep
25:38
Lord give me Justice now what they really want is their sheep back right that's
25:44
what they really want they've lost they didn't mean it when their car breaks down they don't have the money to fix it they're sad they really want their car
25:51
fixed but but make no mistake if they're crying out to God God woes me my car is
25:58
broken and I need my car fixed I don't have the money to get my car fixed I'm gonna lose my job my situation is terrible all of a sudden when they're
26:04
crying they're not crying out to God to strike the car with lightning they're not crying out to God to dissolve the car down into a pool of melted muddle
26:11
melted metal right they're crying out to God against the person who is consuming
26:17
the resources that is stopping them from being able to have what they need now if they are
26:22
at fault themselves they refuse to work or they've made certain choices that makes it impossible for them to do
26:27
whatever needs to be done where then that it may be Justice
26:32
but that doesn't mean their neighbor doesn't realize what's going on or you don't realize in a friend's life or family member's life whether they're
26:38
suffering whatever and you could step in and but you're busy hiding yourself but who are they crying out against
26:44
they're crying out against someone not necessarily by name but crying out against someone that might make a
26:50
difference someone that God has put in a position to care I have some people who have cared about
26:56
me in my life quite a few of them an example of them is Deacon Tony brister and his family and they have mowed my
27:01
lawn for uh well since Deacon Tony became my Deacon
27:07
and a few years back we had softball on Monday nights and Thursday nights it's pre-covered and there was a lady who
27:14
lived in the corner across the street from us it was before they built a bit other people bought it and built the house figure and had a big old yard and
27:20
her grass had grown to be over three feet tall and the city comes and mows at that point time and they send you a bill for
27:26
400 bucks that's what happens and I had a working riding mower but I didn't have to use it because they were mowing my lawn for me
27:33
and so I went this is before softball on a Monday night I went and took my riding over more over and I didn't think she
27:38
was home and I began to mow her lawn I only had time to mow her lawn because they had mowed my lawn I was I've been
27:44
mowing my own lawn right I only had time to do it softball was an hour and a half I only had time
27:49
to do it because they had mowed and taken care of my lawn so I'll go over there start mowing her lawn so she comes
27:55
out and she says over top of the morses what are you doing and I said I bought with the lawn
28:02
you know what does it look like I'm riding him riding more and I was back and forth and back and forth was three foot tall right I had a on the highest
28:08
setting and she said why are you mowing my lawn she's a little American Indian woman about five one and about 105
28:14
pounds and she probably at three foot tall she couldn't have mowed the lawn if she wanted to right she had two teenage sons and they refused to do it so here's
28:21
what I could have done I could have said well why don't they mow the lawn right they deserve to have to pay the 400 bucks because they're not mowing the
28:28
lawn it's their fault not my fault so I'm over there I'm going to lunch so why are you doing this and I said well and I
28:34
pulled the lever back I turned the mower all the way down on low and I said well let me tell you about this guy who once
28:39
did something for me and I did not talk about Deacon Tony brister who mowed my lawn I talked about Jesus
28:46
and in so doing she wound up accepting Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior and she came to new heights one time
28:52
when we were meeting at the high school and then she moved back on to the reservation Somewhere Out West and her
28:58
sons went and moved wherever and they left the house abandoned and then the new people that are living there now bought it
29:03
um and enlarged it and actually if I make
29:08
that connection I'm pretty sure that's Charlie's parents that bought that house right and Charlie's in the building right now working with the kids I just
29:15
made that connection just now but anyway the point is a little bit of add there
29:21
okay so the point is because I was able to do what it was that I was supposed to do because I was
29:26
able to pay the price and suffer a little bit do a little bit of work because somebody paid the price and suffered for me a little the dominoes
29:32
fell in such a way that I was able to share with her and she came to church just one time to profess her faith in Christ and to give some money in the
29:38
offering plate because I told her I wouldn't take any money I refused and she said well I gotta get money so that's the only way you could do it and
29:44
she did and then she moved back out west and she's living as far as we know as a Christian now and it was all because somebody was willing to pay the price
29:51
but was it low hanging fruit I mean was it really what I did no it took some work
29:58
and then that brings us to the third point in the text and that is that and
30:03
this is where my heart was confused when I began studying this text and I allowed that young lady to correct me and
30:09
allowed the text to correct me and that is that this text has nothing to do with Justice
30:18
you think about it for a moment but it is Justice right we think it's Justice that we give back to the person to whom
30:24
it belongs it's theirs so why what right have we to take it you wandered off that doesn't mean we
30:31
suddenly have right to own what belonged to somebody else right sounds like justice but then you think about it says you
30:37
take that ox or that sheep into your house and you take care of it now you may profit from it but I submit to you that if you can't eat it or sell it or
30:46
or mow it for a really long time right if you can't do that then
30:51
you're never going to get back the money that you're investing right you're never going to get back enough money to pay for a sheep
30:58
you're going to feed it and you might might if you had it for 10 15 years but they don't necessarily even aren't able
31:04
to share them for that long necessarily bottom line is you're not going to get back what you're investing so this text
31:09
is not about Justice it's actually about generosity and then if you're if you're following
31:16
along in your bibles if you go with me to Matthew Chapter 5 and so it's a text in The Sermon on the Mount
31:22
and Jesus is speaking let me get it straight from his mouth if you will and I'm not going to read the whole
31:27
chapter even but I want to start reading in uh verse 38 so Matthew chapter 5 verse beginning in verse 38.
31:35
you have said you have heard what that it was said let me just write you have heard that it was said an eye for an eye
31:42
and a tooth for a tooth and that sounds like justice right in reality an eye for an eye tooth for tooth was was
31:47
restraining them from taking more it was one of the best kinds of codes because back then it was an eye for an eye you
31:53
would take a death maybe their whole family killed them and you kill their whole family too because they put your
31:59
eyes you kill them in their whole family because if you just kill them their family would kill you right so the Justice in that part of the
32:05
world at that time was if they put your eye out you kill them all and all the cousins too anybody that might come after you later and and the the word of
32:12
God was saying an eye for an eye or Twos for tooth that was restraining
32:18
overrunning reasonable Justice he says you've heard it said
32:24
an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth but I say to you do not resist him who is evil but whoever slaps you on
32:31
your right cheek turn to him the other also it's not Justice he slaps you you turn your other cheek so he can slap you
32:37
that's not Justice but whoever slaps you on the right cheek turn to him the other also verse 40. and
32:43
if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt let him have your coat also and whoever shall force you to go one mile
32:49
go with him too that was a Roman law Centurion could come along and he could pick any person
32:56
living in that part of the world and tell them they had to carry his pack for a mile that was actually a law a Roman
33:02
soldier could pick anybody that they saw walking and tell them they had to carry their pack for a mile
33:08
and so if he makes you carry your pack for a mile carry it for him for two right that's not about Justice
33:15
41 was and whoever shall force you to go one mile go with him too 42 says give to
33:21
him who asks of you and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you
33:26
43. you have heard that it was said You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy but I say to you love your enemies
33:32
and pray for those who persecute you in order that you may be the sons of your father who is in heaven so in other
33:38
words we can be the sons of Our Father in Heaven if we love our enemies and pray for those who
33:44
persecute us hmm in order that you may be the sons of
33:50
your father who is in heaven for he causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous
33:57
and the unrighteous then he's going to illustrate for if you
34:02
love those who love you what reward have you do not even the tax gatherers do the same and if you greet your brothers only
34:10
what do you do more than others do not even the Gentiles do the same therefore you are to be perfect as your
34:16
heavenly father is perfect and I submit to that perfect means complete and you are complete when you practice generosity
34:25
when you take out of that which God has blessed you with and ensure that others have what they need
34:33
when you take out of that which God has given you and take care of that which somebody else has lost until they can
34:38
have it again this text is not about Justice
34:44
it's not that it's Justice to take care of an ox or a sheep or a donkey that someone has lost or to stop and help
34:50
them get out of the ditch even though we like to think that man I wish it was you know why because if it's Justice and
34:56
then somebody doesn't help us in that case then we can think that's Injustice we think well they should have helped me I should have been helped I should have
35:02
been taken care of and Jesus said it this way do unto others that which you would have them do unto you treat others
35:07
the way you want to be treated Luke 6 31 Mark 7 12 Matthew 7 12. so the bottom
35:13
line is we want to be treated well but we also kind of want to
35:19
hide ourselves so what if we decide to do it this way
35:25
what if we decide to do what this text points us toward that we live our lives
35:32
caring about what's going on in another person's life well according to what we just read in the Book of Matthew the end
35:37
result of that will be you will be a son of your father in Heaven
35:44
you'll be like Jesus you'll be like the person that you're supposed to be in Christ caring but at
35:50
the same time I submit to you you will risk or even it's not even just risk you will
35:57
guarantee a higher cost for your life it may cost you a lot you may pay vet
36:04
bills feed mechanic bills you may have to pay utilities for someone else you
36:11
may have to show up and sit with them when they're suffering or Mourning a loss or you may have to mow their lawn
36:16
when it's three feet high and you're like oh so disrespectful that they let their lawn get three feet high but you may have to clean up their mess after
36:22
they made their mess and they don't deserve that wait they don't deserve it if you do it for them and they don't
36:27
deserve it then what does that make you some kind of whippering slave fool that
36:32
serves people who don't deserve it is Jesus a whimpering slave fool
36:38
because he serves people who don't deserve it it'll cost
36:46
also my business Management's class I'm drawing a lot of illustrations from decades ago now
36:52
I learned that there are sort of like three phases of business there's a starting out business and then there's a
36:58
star business was rising in the field really becoming popular growing really fast getting a lot of more property or
37:04
more people that they serve more customers that kind of thing and then there's what's called a cash cow it's a business that's making money it's just
37:10
making money all day long making money staying status quo don't really have to do a lot of work don't have to grow
37:16
don't have to update the technology just stay in kind of where you're at and reaping in the box right
37:23
when a business becomes a cash cow business the number one thing they manage is
37:30
does anybody know any business management people in the room when you're a cash cow business you're
37:36
just rake it in the Bucks all day long the number one thing you have to manage is say it again
37:42
I didn't hear you okay good it's called in retail it's called shrink
37:48
right and property management is called expenses uh restaurant it's cost of goods cost of
37:54
sale cost of Labor right expenses you have to make sure that your expenses
38:01
do not grow as you are reaping in the benefits of this business that's been established so here's what I submit to
38:07
you this is what the Lord has revealed to me the reason that Christianity is irrelevant to the world today you say
38:15
well it's not it's not it shouldn't be but in reality in many cases it is the reason that Christianity is irrelevant
38:20
to the world today is that we like a son of a king have become prosperous a cash
38:26
cow if you will and we are busy mitigating reducing eliminating our risk
38:35
the bills come in if we're doing it even remotely right we're tithing and giving an offering
38:40
above and beyond that and then that's it we're serving maybe teaching in Sunday
38:46
school cleaning the building doing The Lawns doing the a little bit of Outreach right sending some texts or making some
38:52
calls we're fighting people to church transporting people to church we're serving for years after I became a
38:58
Christian at East Toledo Baptist Church I taught the gospel on Sunday mornings whatever was in this Sunday school material I taught but when I would leave
39:04
the church building there was no out there in the community caring about everybody everywhere I went talking to
39:10
everybody about Jesus wherever I went because for me being a Christian meant while I was in the church building while
39:15
I was with the church I was this kind of person but while I was out in the world I had my guard up I was essentially
39:21
hiding being careful why because it will cost you something if you walk around caring about what's going on in other
39:28
people's lives eventually it's going to cost you something because you keep care and you're eventually going to go I've got to do something like my tooth were
39:35
aching I would go to the dentist now I see all these problems I see all these difficulties people are going through I've got to do something about what
39:42
people are going through I've got to do something or I just can't stand it anymore and so if you're going to walk
39:47
around not hiding yourself caring not picking the low hanging fruit and profiting off other people's suffering
39:53
walk around in Grace and gender generosity it's eventually going to cost you something
40:00
and I submit to you it had better cost you something
40:06
David understood who would later be called a man after God's Own Heart even though he he did
40:12
some bad things in his lifetime and so have we if you want to look this is our last text for the day and second we'll we'll
40:18
read it in second Samuel chapter 24.
40:23
second Samuel chapter 24. in 24 24-24 which will mean later when
40:31
you look at it look it up again it would be easy to remember second Samuel 24 24.
40:41
however the king said to Aruna no but I will surely buy it from you for a price
40:46
for I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God which cost me nothing
40:52
see David wanted to make an offering the guy's like all you've done for me
40:58
I owe you this and more take what you need and David said no
41:03
I will not give to the Lord that which cost me nothing I will not make an offering to God that which cost me nothing
41:10
and Jesus understood it fully in fact he understood that when it cost you something
41:16
it's worth something and if it costs you nothing it cost somebody something his
41:22
low-hanging fruit and there's a good chance they're crying out against you to God and you will not benefit from it
41:28
in fact you may suffer for it if God delivers Justice and he often does
41:35
what happens if you try to live this way if you stop hiding yourself stop plucking the low-hanging fruit and
41:41
benefiting by other people's suffering if you start becoming a person of Grace and generosity caring about other people
41:47
and stepping up and helping them get their Ox out of the ditch which you'll probably never see an ox in your lifetime but you can see the metaphor
41:53
the symbolism helping them deal with whatever the emergency thing is in their life that they need to fix right now whatever that is what if you step in it
42:00
will cost you something and it had better because if it doesn't if you cannot find a time in which you have
42:06
stopped hiding and started caring started behaving generously toward other people then there is a very good
42:11
likelihood that you my friend are not a follower of Jesus Christ because Jesus
42:16
Christ is a man who gave people him in his entire self when what they deserved
42:22
was hell for an eternity and he did that for me
42:28
and he did it for you and if he did it for you
42:34
how can you go around hiding yourself how can you pluck the low-hanging fruit
42:40
and benefit by other people's suffering can you not live in generosity
42:47
stop thinking about well if I have a few more dollars I can buy this that or the other thing and start thinking along the
42:53
lines of if I have a few more dollars I can help somebody
42:59
and when you do that you will become like a son or a daughter of your father in Heaven
43:07
Moses got it
43:13
and he gave it to us that's a praise team to come forward at this time and lead us in our closing
43:18
hymn if you're here today and you realize that you've been hiding yourself and it's time to stop
43:24
time start caring about what's going on in the world getting out there seeing where people
43:30
are hurting and making a difference and you realize that that will cost you something eventually it will cost you
43:35
something there's no doubt about that if you care it'll cost you something it may cost you virtually everything you have if you follow Jesus and all of the
43:42
disciples it will cost you everything yeah
43:50
and if you're willing then
43:55
make that decision in your heart and your mind or bound to say Okay God
44:00
I'm willing to be that person who cares who doesn't hide who shows up to make a difference
44:06
if you're in this room and you realize that Jesus did that for you but you've never made a public profession of your faith or you've never truly began to
44:12
live the Lord and you want to be back today and say okay God I realize this costs me everything I used to be
44:17
but I get everything I'm going to be I get from you I want to be born again and
44:22
if that's you then as we sing this song you respond and come forward let us know what's going on today and we'll pray for
44:27
you all right As we sing the song would you stand with
44:34
us then and sing but if the Lord is moving you to respond then you just respond
44:39
[Music]
44:45
oh to Jesus [Music]
44:55
everything yeah I will
45:01
never [Music]
45:13
all that's all that's your wealth that's your time that's your talent that's your effort that's all you said all
45:21
you sing it in this song or not if you become a father Lord Jesus Christ you said all
45:26
[Music]
45:33
oh thanks for choosing this podcast by New Heights Fellowship Baptist Church of
45:39
East Toledo hope you're feeling generous today as the Lord has blessed you and he gives us our blessings that we may bless
45:45
others if you'd like to give to new heights Fellowship Baptist Church you
45:51
can do so by visiting our website which is churchtoledo.com or new
45:57
heightsfellowshipchurch.org and then you can also give in our app which is life the number four Toledo and that's
46:04
available in the iOS or Android cell phone app stores you can also text
46:10
g-i-v-e to 419-419-0095 and it'll allow you to give
46:16
by credit or debit card and then finally you can send checks or whatever to 255
46:22
Hefner Street Toledo Ohio 43605 thank you so much for tuning in
46:28
listening and I pray that we will all reach New Heights in Jesus