WEBVTT 00:00:04.059 --> 00:00:06.759 Today's reading is from Deuteronomy chapter 24, 00:00:07.040 --> 00:00:12.119 verses 19 to 22. When you are harvesting in your 00:00:12.119 --> 00:00:14.800 field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back 00:00:14.800 --> 00:00:18.359 to get it. Leave it for the foreigner, the fatherless, 00:00:18.440 --> 00:00:21.039 and the widow, so that the Lord your God may 00:00:21.039 --> 00:00:25.859 bless you in all the work of your hands. When 00:00:25.859 --> 00:00:28.710 you beat the olives from your trees, do not go 00:00:28.710 --> 00:00:31.489 over the branches a second time. Leave what remains 00:00:31.489 --> 00:00:34.429 for the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow. 00:00:35.649 --> 00:00:37.590 When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, 00:00:37.710 --> 00:00:41.210 do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains 00:00:41.210 --> 00:00:43.789 for the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow. 00:00:44.909 --> 00:00:47.590 Remember, you were slaves in Egypt. That is why 00:00:47.590 --> 00:00:50.130 I command you to do this. The word of the Lord. 00:00:51.149 --> 00:00:53.270 But you know that this summer, this is part of 00:00:53.270 --> 00:00:55.829 the Growing Season series because we've been 00:00:55.829 --> 00:00:58.689 exploring these agricultural or farming images 00:00:58.689 --> 00:01:02.829 and stories that run throughout Scripture. The 00:01:02.829 --> 00:01:04.689 videos with Rob's dad and, of course, the sermon 00:01:04.689 --> 00:01:07.150 series have been wonderful reminders that God 00:01:07.150 --> 00:01:10.430 in the Bible uses farming not just as illustration, 00:01:10.810 --> 00:01:14.489 but as a way of teaching people who he is and 00:01:14.489 --> 00:01:18.609 how his followers are to live. Now, unlike Rob, 00:01:18.709 --> 00:01:21.370 I didn't grow up on a farm. So I've been learning 00:01:21.370 --> 00:01:23.609 alongside many of you as we've listened to these 00:01:23.609 --> 00:01:26.170 videos, we've reflected on the ways that God 00:01:26.170 --> 00:01:29.530 has used ordinary farming practices or stories 00:01:29.530 --> 00:01:33.769 and images to teach spiritual values. And I would 00:01:33.769 --> 00:01:35.890 say that even though many of us don't spend our 00:01:35.890 --> 00:01:39.810 days on farms, the people of Israel certainly 00:01:39.810 --> 00:01:43.390 did. Farming wasn't just part of their economy. 00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:46.060 It shaped their imagination, it shaped their 00:01:46.060 --> 00:01:49.540 culture, their calendar, and even their understanding 00:01:49.540 --> 00:01:54.219 of God. And today's Bible passage that J .P. 00:01:54.260 --> 00:01:57.640 read takes us into one of those specific practices. 00:01:58.260 --> 00:02:00.599 We're going to look at how this ancient farming 00:02:00.599 --> 00:02:04.620 principle and the reasons behind it point to 00:02:04.620 --> 00:02:08.419 how God's people are to design our lives with 00:02:08.419 --> 00:02:13.189 room for others. We'll look at the law. We'll 00:02:13.189 --> 00:02:16.330 see it in real life application, and then we'll 00:02:16.330 --> 00:02:18.990 bring it forward to the life of Jesus and what 00:02:18.990 --> 00:02:21.409 we can learn from there. That's the trajectory 00:02:21.409 --> 00:02:25.689 we'll take today. But before we dive in and reflecting 00:02:25.689 --> 00:02:27.469 a little bit on what Rob's dad was just talking 00:02:27.469 --> 00:02:30.050 about, I want us to think about modern farming. 00:02:31.969 --> 00:02:34.009 You know, through these videos, we've seen a 00:02:34.009 --> 00:02:35.590 little bit about what farming looked like when 00:02:35.590 --> 00:02:38.150 Rob's dad was farming. We even heard, I think 00:02:38.150 --> 00:02:41.120 last week, His grandfather, we saw some of the 00:02:41.120 --> 00:02:43.680 tools that he used, hand tools, farming back 00:02:43.680 --> 00:02:48.740 in the Netherlands. Modern farming is absolutely 00:02:48.740 --> 00:02:52.939 extraordinary. It's big business. Increasingly 00:02:52.939 --> 00:02:55.919 it's powered by technology, automation, satellites, 00:02:56.419 --> 00:03:01.270 sensors, AI and data. Preparing for the sermon 00:03:01.270 --> 00:03:02.830 to get some background, I watched a bunch of 00:03:02.830 --> 00:03:05.490 video about modern farm equipment. And sometimes 00:03:05.490 --> 00:03:07.210 I wasn't quite sure whether I was watching a 00:03:07.210 --> 00:03:11.009 documentary or science fiction. I mean, think 00:03:11.009 --> 00:03:13.449 about a modern dairy farm like what Rob's dad 00:03:13.449 --> 00:03:16.389 has. Years ago, farmers would go in and milk 00:03:16.389 --> 00:03:20.370 cows, right? One by one, twice a day. Well, today, 00:03:20.530 --> 00:03:26.729 some farms use almost completely robots. Automation. 00:03:27.389 --> 00:03:29.669 The cows choose when they want to be milked. 00:03:30.569 --> 00:03:32.909 When they're ready, they walk into the robotic 00:03:32.909 --> 00:03:36.210 milking station where lasers locate each teat 00:03:36.210 --> 00:03:39.449 on each udder. Robotic arms attach the milking 00:03:39.449 --> 00:03:42.050 cups and every cow is identified electronically. 00:03:42.870 --> 00:03:45.669 The computer tracks milk production, behavior, 00:03:45.930 --> 00:03:50.069 health indicators. Well, let's move from cows 00:03:50.069 --> 00:03:52.650 to crops because we're going to talk about fields 00:03:52.650 --> 00:03:55.530 today. Consider what you could do with some of 00:03:55.530 --> 00:03:58.610 the machinery that's available. For example, 00:03:58.669 --> 00:04:02.210 this is the pinnacle of farming innovation. This 00:04:02.210 --> 00:04:05.330 is a top -of -the -line modern combine harvester, 00:04:05.530 --> 00:04:11.069 the John Deere X9 -1100. That's a bad boy. This 00:04:11.069 --> 00:04:14.569 is not your grandfather's combine. You know, 00:04:14.590 --> 00:04:17.730 Dave, for about $1 .5 million, you could have 00:04:17.730 --> 00:04:19.470 one of these in your own backyard if you wanted. 00:04:20.709 --> 00:04:24.949 This combine can harvest enormous fields with 00:04:24.949 --> 00:04:29.410 astonishing precision. Incredible speed, collecting 00:04:29.410 --> 00:04:33.810 almost every kernel of grain. It uses cutting 00:04:33.810 --> 00:04:36.709 -edge automation to use precise turns, protecting 00:04:36.709 --> 00:04:41.370 yields and reducing crop loss. And maybe even 00:04:41.370 --> 00:04:43.410 a little bit scarier, I learned that there's 00:04:43.410 --> 00:04:45.870 actually some technologies that may make farmers 00:04:45.870 --> 00:04:49.709 themselves less important. There are several 00:04:49.709 --> 00:04:52.689 manufacturers that are selling autonomous tractors. 00:04:52.769 --> 00:04:56.660 They can work fields with no driver at all. Some 00:04:56.660 --> 00:05:00.920 of the tractors can map a field to the centimeter. 00:05:01.180 --> 00:05:05.759 They can operate around the clock, avoid obstacles 00:05:05.759 --> 00:05:09.879 on their own. And they're designed to leave nothing 00:05:09.879 --> 00:05:14.279 behind. Because the goal is obvious with all 00:05:14.279 --> 00:05:17.300 of these advances. Don't miss anything. Don't 00:05:17.300 --> 00:05:23.300 waste anything. Harvest every acre. Measure every 00:05:23.300 --> 00:05:28.480 liter. Use every minute. Now, this approach is 00:05:28.480 --> 00:05:30.519 actually pretty good stewardship in some ways. 00:05:30.720 --> 00:05:33.600 Greater efficiency means better yields, which 00:05:33.600 --> 00:05:37.740 can feed more people. You know, when we look 00:05:37.740 --> 00:05:39.420 back in the Bible, we can see that there are 00:05:39.420 --> 00:05:42.319 lots of farming instructions. Many practices 00:05:42.319 --> 00:05:44.540 that are mentioned there are actually aligned 00:05:44.540 --> 00:05:47.839 with some of these goals in modern farming. They 00:05:47.839 --> 00:05:50.699 make good agricultural sense. I'm not going to 00:05:50.699 --> 00:05:52.399 take time to explore all of them, but just a 00:05:52.399 --> 00:05:54.540 few. There are instructions to farmers about 00:05:54.540 --> 00:05:58.519 leaving fields to rest, fallow, so that they 00:05:58.519 --> 00:06:02.959 improve productivity. There are instructions 00:06:02.959 --> 00:06:07.199 in the Bible about caring for animals that are 00:06:07.199 --> 00:06:09.639 working to improve their health and their productivity. 00:06:10.480 --> 00:06:12.459 There are instructions about harvesting at the 00:06:12.459 --> 00:06:15.740 right time to prevent loss. And modern agriculture 00:06:15.740 --> 00:06:18.459 has used, or maybe even rediscovered, so much 00:06:18.459 --> 00:06:23.589 of that wisdom. But then, like today, we open 00:06:23.589 --> 00:06:27.230 the book of Deuteronomy and we encounter one 00:06:27.230 --> 00:06:31.350 farming practice that makes absolutely no modern 00:06:31.350 --> 00:06:36.550 economic sense. So let's listen to one of the 00:06:36.550 --> 00:06:38.610 most unusual farming instructions in the whole 00:06:38.610 --> 00:06:42.029 Bible. These are known as the gleaning laws. 00:06:43.209 --> 00:06:46.480 So I'll just reread it from Deuteronomy. You 00:06:46.480 --> 00:06:49.019 see part of it on the screen here. God says to 00:06:49.019 --> 00:06:51.959 farmers, when you're harvesting your field and 00:06:51.959 --> 00:06:54.980 you overlook a sheaf, do not go back and get 00:06:54.980 --> 00:06:58.839 it. Leave it for the foreigner, the fatherless, 00:06:58.879 --> 00:07:02.120 and the widow, so that the Lord may bless you 00:07:02.120 --> 00:07:04.100 in the work of your hands. It goes on to say 00:07:04.100 --> 00:07:06.300 this, when you beat the olives from your trees, 00:07:06.519 --> 00:07:10.220 do not go over the branches a second time. Leave 00:07:10.220 --> 00:07:13.959 what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless, 00:07:13.980 --> 00:07:17.519 and the widow. When you harvest the grapes in 00:07:17.519 --> 00:07:19.540 your vineyard, don't go over the vines again. 00:07:20.139 --> 00:07:25.379 Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless, 00:07:25.420 --> 00:07:28.339 and the widow. Remember, it says, that you were 00:07:28.339 --> 00:07:31.459 slaves in Egypt. This is why I command you to 00:07:31.459 --> 00:07:35.500 do this. So this unusual command is actually 00:07:35.500 --> 00:07:38.360 not isolated. It's a couple other places in the 00:07:38.360 --> 00:07:42.019 Bible as well. In Leviticus, for example, they're 00:07:42.019 --> 00:07:46.209 almost more explicit. In Leviticus 23, God commands, 00:07:46.430 --> 00:07:49.189 when you reap the harvest of your land, do not 00:07:49.189 --> 00:07:52.889 reap to the very edges of your field or gather 00:07:52.889 --> 00:07:55.990 the gleanings or the leftovers of your harvest. 00:07:57.449 --> 00:07:59.730 Leviticus gives us that instruction. Don't go 00:07:59.730 --> 00:08:02.829 to the edges of your land. Deuteronomy even goes 00:08:02.829 --> 00:08:06.750 further and expands the principle. If you forget 00:08:06.750 --> 00:08:10.029 a sheaf, don't go back. If there are olives still 00:08:10.029 --> 00:08:14.040 on that tree, don't go back. If there are grapes 00:08:14.040 --> 00:08:18.980 still on the vine, leave them. Now, it's important 00:08:18.980 --> 00:08:21.339 to remember what God isn't saying here. He's 00:08:21.339 --> 00:08:23.959 not telling farmers to abandon their fields. 00:08:24.540 --> 00:08:27.240 Farmers still get to harvest. They earn a living. 00:08:27.519 --> 00:08:32.200 They enjoy the fruit of their labor. But God 00:08:32.200 --> 00:08:35.639 says they aren't to take everything. He gives 00:08:35.639 --> 00:08:39.639 them limits. His people are commanded to stop 00:08:39.639 --> 00:08:42.639 before... They had taken everything that they 00:08:42.639 --> 00:08:46.080 could. I think that's pretty remarkable because 00:08:46.080 --> 00:08:48.419 in some ways the instinct is for us to do completely 00:08:48.419 --> 00:08:51.019 the opposite. We naturally think, hey, this is 00:08:51.019 --> 00:08:53.259 mine. Why wouldn't I collect every last bit? 00:08:54.399 --> 00:08:59.100 And yet God says, leave the edges. Of course, 00:08:59.120 --> 00:09:02.340 that raises the obvious question, why? Why would 00:09:02.340 --> 00:09:04.799 God intentionally make his people less efficient? 00:09:05.600 --> 00:09:08.700 Why would he ask them to leave part of the harvest 00:09:08.700 --> 00:09:13.340 behind? Well, this morning, as we'll discover 00:09:13.340 --> 00:09:17.039 and as we explore, the answer actually has very 00:09:17.039 --> 00:09:21.580 little to do with farming and everything to do 00:09:21.580 --> 00:09:24.379 with the kind of people that God was forming. 00:09:25.980 --> 00:09:29.720 What if God wants us to leave the edges of our 00:09:29.720 --> 00:09:34.919 lives, too? So why would God ask his people to 00:09:34.919 --> 00:09:38.419 leave part of this harvest behind? Well, the 00:09:38.419 --> 00:09:40.600 answer begins in the very last sentence of the 00:09:40.600 --> 00:09:43.399 passage that we just read. Remember that you 00:09:43.399 --> 00:09:46.820 were slaves in Egypt. That is why I command you 00:09:46.820 --> 00:09:50.379 to do this. That little sentence changes everything. 00:09:51.259 --> 00:09:54.980 God doesn't simply say, be generous. He says, 00:09:55.179 --> 00:09:59.139 remember. Remember what it felt like to have 00:09:59.139 --> 00:10:01.980 nothing. Remember what it felt like to depend 00:10:01.980 --> 00:10:05.139 on someone else's kindness or just on God's provision. 00:10:05.929 --> 00:10:09.809 Remember what it was like to be powerless. Remember 00:10:09.809 --> 00:10:15.230 God's rescue. God understood something about 00:10:15.230 --> 00:10:18.450 the human heart. It doesn't take long for people 00:10:18.450 --> 00:10:20.669 who have been blessed to forget what it was like 00:10:20.669 --> 00:10:24.049 before that blessing took place. It doesn't take 00:10:24.049 --> 00:10:26.549 long for people who have found security to forget 00:10:26.549 --> 00:10:31.049 what insecurity feels like. And so every harvest 00:10:31.049 --> 00:10:36.100 in Israel was not just about getting food, of 00:10:36.100 --> 00:10:40.460 remembering. Every time an Israelite farmer walked 00:10:40.460 --> 00:10:43.179 past grain that he could have gathered, he was 00:10:43.179 --> 00:10:47.659 reminded, once you had nothing, everything we 00:10:47.659 --> 00:10:52.799 have is because God rescued us. It's a theme 00:10:52.799 --> 00:10:54.519 that runs throughout the book of Deuteronomy, 00:10:54.539 --> 00:10:57.039 actually. Just a few chapters earlier, Moses 00:10:57.039 --> 00:10:59.740 says, remember that you were slaves in Egypt 00:10:59.740 --> 00:11:03.940 and the Lord your God redeemed you. Memory creates 00:11:03.940 --> 00:11:08.360 compassion. I think it's here because people 00:11:08.360 --> 00:11:12.519 who have been rescued and remember rescue become 00:11:12.519 --> 00:11:17.159 rescuers. But memory is not the only reason. 00:11:18.700 --> 00:11:21.779 Other places in the Bible, God says a few things 00:11:21.779 --> 00:11:24.139 that completely change the way we think about 00:11:24.139 --> 00:11:28.740 our possessions. In Leviticus 25, 23, he says, 00:11:28.779 --> 00:11:31.779 the land is mine. He reminds them. And the psalmist 00:11:31.779 --> 00:11:34.960 in Psalm 24 echoes that same truth. The earth 00:11:34.960 --> 00:11:39.960 is the Lord's and everything in it. That's a 00:11:39.960 --> 00:11:43.320 profound shift in perspective. We naturally think 00:11:43.320 --> 00:11:47.080 in terms of ownership. God speaks in terms of 00:11:47.080 --> 00:11:51.580 stewardship. So gleaning wants us to steward 00:11:51.580 --> 00:11:56.820 the gifts of God. Yes, farmers worked hard. They 00:11:56.820 --> 00:11:59.120 prepared the soil. They planted the seed. They 00:11:59.120 --> 00:12:02.289 gathered the harvest. But these... Principles 00:12:02.289 --> 00:12:04.509 remind us that before the farmer's achievement, 00:12:04.809 --> 00:12:08.129 it was God's gift. Everything that they possessed 00:12:08.129 --> 00:12:13.090 first belonged to God. So if that's true, God 00:12:13.090 --> 00:12:15.590 has every right to say, leave some of it behind. 00:12:16.850 --> 00:12:21.450 And that leaves us to a third reason. Gleaning 00:12:21.450 --> 00:12:25.330 tells us to intentionally build generosity into 00:12:25.330 --> 00:12:29.129 our lives. So again, thinking about generosity, 00:12:29.210 --> 00:12:32.490 notice what God doesn't say. He doesn't say if 00:12:32.490 --> 00:12:35.669 you happen to notice somebody in need. He doesn't 00:12:35.669 --> 00:12:38.009 say if you're feeling especially generous this 00:12:38.009 --> 00:12:41.789 year. He doesn't even say if there's enough left 00:12:41.789 --> 00:12:46.889 over. Instead, before the harvest begins, God 00:12:46.889 --> 00:12:49.429 has already set aside part of it for someone 00:12:49.429 --> 00:12:54.309 else. The decision we learn here to be generous 00:12:54.309 --> 00:12:58.139 isn't made after the harvest. It's made before 00:12:58.139 --> 00:13:03.139 the harvest. Gleaning turns generosity from an 00:13:03.139 --> 00:13:06.200 occasional decision into a permanent design feature 00:13:06.200 --> 00:13:09.960 of our lives. God doesn't want us to leave generosity 00:13:09.960 --> 00:13:12.139 just to impulse, even though the impulse can 00:13:12.139 --> 00:13:15.279 be good. He wants us to build it into the architecture 00:13:15.279 --> 00:13:20.000 of his people's lives. I found it so telling 00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:22.379 when I read where we see these gleaning commands. 00:13:23.240 --> 00:13:26.659 If you look at the book of Leviticus 19, where 00:13:26.659 --> 00:13:29.019 we see the Leviticus pieces of these gleaning 00:13:29.019 --> 00:13:31.700 laws, it's actually set at the beginning of a 00:13:31.700 --> 00:13:34.980 long set of paragraphs. So it starts by telling 00:13:34.980 --> 00:13:37.279 farmers, don't go to the edges when you harvest. 00:13:37.759 --> 00:13:40.259 Then it moves on to specific commands around 00:13:40.259 --> 00:13:43.279 honesty, justice, fair treatment of workers, 00:13:43.480 --> 00:13:46.860 caring for others. And then, right in the middle 00:13:46.860 --> 00:13:50.230 of this chapter, we find words that Jesus would 00:13:50.230 --> 00:13:52.929 later identify as one of the greatest commandments 00:13:52.929 --> 00:13:56.929 of all of Scripture. Love your neighbor as yourself. 00:13:58.830 --> 00:14:01.850 Gleaning, loving your neighbor, are connected. 00:14:02.769 --> 00:14:05.049 So leaving the edges of the field for gleaning, 00:14:05.070 --> 00:14:07.169 it wasn't simply an agricultural regulation. 00:14:07.970 --> 00:14:10.889 It was one practical expression of loving your 00:14:10.889 --> 00:14:14.509 neighbor. Long before Jesus quoted these words, 00:14:14.590 --> 00:14:17.309 God had already meant to weave these principles 00:14:17.309 --> 00:14:21.129 into the ordinary rhythms of his followers' lives. 00:14:22.169 --> 00:14:24.470 Love wasn't meant to just be something that we 00:14:24.470 --> 00:14:27.029 felt. It was something that we intentionally 00:14:27.029 --> 00:14:31.210 designed into the way we lived. Now, I want to 00:14:31.210 --> 00:14:33.350 suggest that there's at least one more reason 00:14:33.350 --> 00:14:38.429 as well. Notice who benefits from this law. We 00:14:38.429 --> 00:14:40.250 repeated it a few times, right? The foreigner, 00:14:40.490 --> 00:14:43.029 the fatherless, or the orphan, and the widow. 00:14:43.990 --> 00:14:46.490 Those groups often appear together throughout 00:14:46.490 --> 00:14:50.669 the Old Testament. It's like the triad of these 00:14:50.669 --> 00:14:53.690 three people, a trio. They represent the people 00:14:53.690 --> 00:14:57.490 with the least amount of security, the least 00:14:57.490 --> 00:15:02.860 influence, and the fewest opportunities. We know 00:15:02.860 --> 00:15:06.240 from Deuteronomy 10 that God himself defends 00:15:06.240 --> 00:15:08.340 the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and 00:15:08.340 --> 00:15:11.399 he loves the foreigner. And in the very next 00:15:11.399 --> 00:15:14.320 verse, Israel is once again commanded to remember, 00:15:14.620 --> 00:15:17.279 and you are to love those who are foreigners, 00:15:17.440 --> 00:15:20.259 for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt. 00:15:21.720 --> 00:15:24.720 God's people are called to treat others the way 00:15:24.720 --> 00:15:28.440 God has treated them. So that's one more beautiful 00:15:28.440 --> 00:15:30.840 feature of gleaning, I think, that should point 00:15:30.840 --> 00:15:33.399 us to even rethink what charity can look like. 00:15:34.240 --> 00:15:38.559 Because gleaning preserved dignity. The poor 00:15:38.559 --> 00:15:40.960 didn't simply wait for someone to hand them food. 00:15:41.259 --> 00:15:44.080 They walked into the fields. They were invited 00:15:44.080 --> 00:15:46.159 there. They worked. They gathered what had been 00:15:46.159 --> 00:15:49.320 intentionally left for them. This wasn't simply 00:15:49.320 --> 00:15:53.519 a handout. It was a hand up. It created opportunity 00:15:53.519 --> 00:15:58.649 while preserving dignity. In my time at World 00:15:58.649 --> 00:16:01.429 Vision, I learned that having vulnerable people 00:16:01.429 --> 00:16:04.090 participate in their own development and support 00:16:04.090 --> 00:16:07.230 became a game changer in engagement and results. 00:16:09.470 --> 00:16:12.830 So can you begin to see what God is getting at 00:16:12.830 --> 00:16:16.190 and doing through these gleaning laws? Yes, he's 00:16:16.190 --> 00:16:18.649 feeding hungry people, but he's actually doing 00:16:18.649 --> 00:16:21.889 much more than that. He's forming a different 00:16:21.889 --> 00:16:25.460 kind of community. A community where generosity 00:16:25.460 --> 00:16:29.240 isn't just an occasional act. It's part of a 00:16:29.240 --> 00:16:32.740 design. A design where people remember grace. 00:16:33.559 --> 00:16:38.200 Where possessions are held in trust. Where neighbors 00:16:38.200 --> 00:16:41.980 are loved in practical ways. And where even the 00:16:41.980 --> 00:16:48.059 most vulnerable are treated with dignity. Well, 00:16:48.139 --> 00:16:50.600 these laws and the principles behind them, you 00:16:50.600 --> 00:16:53.070 know, they were never... meant just to remain 00:16:53.070 --> 00:16:56.610 words on a page. It was meant to shape the life 00:16:56.610 --> 00:16:59.830 of a community. And perhaps nowhere do we see 00:16:59.830 --> 00:17:01.610 that more beautifully than in the biblical story 00:17:01.610 --> 00:17:06.470 of Ruth. Deuteronomy and Leviticus give us the 00:17:06.470 --> 00:17:09.809 law, and Ruth gives us a face. Now, we didn't 00:17:09.809 --> 00:17:11.910 read the whole story of Ruth. I encourage you 00:17:11.910 --> 00:17:13.650 to go and look at the book of Ruth, particularly 00:17:13.650 --> 00:17:16.650 in chapter 2. But let me summarize it for you. 00:17:16.670 --> 00:17:18.710 I'll take you back to Sunday school with me this 00:17:18.710 --> 00:17:22.240 morning. The story that we're focused on begins 00:17:22.240 --> 00:17:26.619 with a tragedy. Naomi is an Israelite woman. 00:17:26.720 --> 00:17:29.579 She lives in Bethlehem. And during a famine, 00:17:29.619 --> 00:17:32.640 she and her family, her husband and two sons, 00:17:32.859 --> 00:17:35.640 move and settle in the neighboring country of 00:17:35.640 --> 00:17:39.559 Moab. There, unfortunately, her husband dies. 00:17:40.420 --> 00:17:43.859 Both of her sons have married a Moabite wife, 00:17:44.099 --> 00:17:47.380 but then they both die as well, leaving Noah... 00:17:47.930 --> 00:17:50.470 Naomi and her two daughters -in -law widowed 00:17:50.470 --> 00:17:54.730 and without any means of support. And so Naomi 00:17:54.730 --> 00:17:59.750 decides to return home to Bethlehem. And one 00:17:59.750 --> 00:18:02.329 of her daughters -in -law, Ruth, refuses to leave 00:18:02.329 --> 00:18:05.210 her. You probably know this, the famous word 00:18:05.210 --> 00:18:08.529 she says, where you go, I will go. Where you 00:18:08.529 --> 00:18:11.230 stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people, 00:18:11.289 --> 00:18:15.400 and your God, my God. So with that remarkable 00:18:15.400 --> 00:18:18.019 commitment to loyalty, they leave together and 00:18:18.019 --> 00:18:21.259 return to Bethlehem. And they arrive there just 00:18:21.259 --> 00:18:24.460 at the beginning of the barley harvest. Now, 00:18:24.460 --> 00:18:29.619 Ruth is poor. She's a widow. She's also a foreigner. 00:18:29.799 --> 00:18:32.279 This is exactly the kind of person that these 00:18:32.279 --> 00:18:35.740 Deuteronomy laws imagined. By every measure, 00:18:35.779 --> 00:18:38.039 she belongs to the very group that God told the 00:18:38.039 --> 00:18:42.240 people of Israel not to forget. So with no land, 00:18:42.259 --> 00:18:47.190 with no future, no income. Ruth does the only 00:18:47.190 --> 00:18:49.730 thing that she can during this time. She cleans. 00:18:51.130 --> 00:18:53.490 In the book of Ruth, chapter 2, she says to her 00:18:53.490 --> 00:18:56.069 mother -in -law, hey, let me go out into the 00:18:56.069 --> 00:18:58.430 harvest fields to pick up the stalks of grain 00:18:58.430 --> 00:19:01.970 left behind by anyone who is kind enough to let 00:19:01.970 --> 00:19:06.750 me do it. So she goes into the fields, trusting 00:19:06.750 --> 00:19:08.630 that she'll find someone who's actually following 00:19:08.630 --> 00:19:12.920 God's laws and who is leaving enough grain. for 00:19:12.920 --> 00:19:17.680 someone like her. Now, the story goes on. We 00:19:17.680 --> 00:19:20.440 learn that through God's providence, Ruth picks 00:19:20.440 --> 00:19:24.519 the field of a man named Boaz. And what follows 00:19:24.519 --> 00:19:27.960 is remarkable, because Boaz is not only somebody 00:19:27.960 --> 00:19:30.660 who's obeying the gleaning laws, but he does 00:19:30.660 --> 00:19:35.259 more than is required. First, he offers protection 00:19:35.259 --> 00:19:38.599 to Ruth as she gleans. She's given access to 00:19:38.599 --> 00:19:44.840 water. She's even invited to eat with his And 00:19:44.840 --> 00:19:48.099 meanwhile, Boaz quietly orders his harvesters, 00:19:48.119 --> 00:19:52.039 let her, Ruth, gather grain right among the sheaves 00:19:52.039 --> 00:19:55.960 without stopping her. Hey, and pull out some 00:19:55.960 --> 00:19:58.519 handfuls of barley from the bundles and drop 00:19:58.519 --> 00:20:02.119 them on purpose for her. Let them pick them up 00:20:02.119 --> 00:20:06.940 and don't rebuke her. So here we have a situation 00:20:06.940 --> 00:20:09.359 where Boaz doesn't just leave the edges of his 00:20:09.359 --> 00:20:13.220 field, he widens them. He doesn't ask, what's 00:20:13.220 --> 00:20:15.960 the minimum I have to do? But he asks, how can 00:20:15.960 --> 00:20:20.160 I bless this person in need? He goes beyond the 00:20:20.160 --> 00:20:22.579 letter of the law to the spirit that God put 00:20:22.579 --> 00:20:26.579 behind it and turns obligation into abundant, 00:20:26.619 --> 00:20:31.220 intentional generosity. The law made provision 00:20:31.220 --> 00:20:35.279 for vulnerable people, but grace made them welcome. 00:20:36.960 --> 00:20:39.279 And you know what? This act of generosity changes 00:20:39.279 --> 00:20:43.529 everything. Ruth and Boaz eventually marry. And 00:20:43.529 --> 00:20:47.069 their family line leads to King David and generations 00:20:47.069 --> 00:20:51.650 later to Jesus himself. The story that we just 00:20:51.650 --> 00:20:55.569 heard about begins with a forgotten foreign widow 00:20:55.569 --> 00:20:59.589 gleaning scraps in a field. And it ends with 00:20:59.589 --> 00:21:02.029 that same woman becoming part of God's great 00:21:02.029 --> 00:21:06.130 story of redemption. And I think that's exactly 00:21:06.130 --> 00:21:09.809 what Deuteronomy was aiming at. Not merely obedience 00:21:09.809 --> 00:21:12.410 to a rule, but a community that has been shaped 00:21:12.410 --> 00:21:15.589 by the generous heart of God. Where people on 00:21:15.589 --> 00:21:18.329 the margins discover that there is room for them 00:21:18.329 --> 00:21:22.009 in the harvest and ultimately a place in God's 00:21:22.009 --> 00:21:28.029 family. The law and justice says leave the edges, 00:21:28.210 --> 00:21:34.849 but grace says leave handfuls on purpose. I've 00:21:34.849 --> 00:21:36.829 kind of emphasized that a bit because Christians 00:21:36.829 --> 00:21:41.210 over the years have long seen in Boaz, that compassionate 00:21:41.210 --> 00:21:45.910 farmer, an echo of Jesus himself. Because like 00:21:45.910 --> 00:21:49.029 Ruth, we come with nothing that we can claim 00:21:49.029 --> 00:21:52.430 as our own. We come as people in need of grace. 00:21:53.509 --> 00:21:55.910 Scripture says that once we were separated from 00:21:55.910 --> 00:21:58.430 Christ, outsiders to God's promises and without 00:21:58.430 --> 00:22:01.450 hope in the world, but in Jesus, those who were 00:22:01.450 --> 00:22:05.869 far away have been brought near. Boaz welcomed 00:22:05.869 --> 00:22:09.450 Ruth, the foreigner, into his field. Jesus welcomes 00:22:09.450 --> 00:22:15.450 us into God's family. Boaz left grain. Jesus 00:22:15.450 --> 00:22:19.309 gave himself. At the cross, Jesus leaves nothing 00:22:19.309 --> 00:22:22.349 back. He takes upon himself our sin, our brokenness, 00:22:22.349 --> 00:22:24.990 our separation with God, and he opens up the 00:22:24.990 --> 00:22:28.130 way for us to receive forgiveness, reconciliation, 00:22:28.369 --> 00:22:32.390 and new life. This law made provision for the 00:22:32.390 --> 00:22:36.279 outsider. Boaz in the story made the outsider 00:22:36.279 --> 00:22:42.460 welcome. Jesus brings the outsider home. And 00:22:42.460 --> 00:22:45.380 that matters for everything that follows. Christian 00:22:45.380 --> 00:22:47.980 generosity doesn't just begin with guilt or obligation. 00:22:48.339 --> 00:22:51.480 It begins by remembering, remembering grace. 00:22:52.339 --> 00:22:55.819 We leave room for others because Jesus made room 00:22:55.819 --> 00:23:00.460 for us. We give because Christ first gave himself 00:23:00.460 --> 00:23:04.559 for us. We welcome because we have been welcomed. 00:23:05.940 --> 00:23:08.160 And of course, when we look to the life of Jesus, 00:23:08.240 --> 00:23:11.200 someone that we have to emulate, we see that 00:23:11.200 --> 00:23:13.980 grace, this grace, shaped not only his death, 00:23:14.000 --> 00:23:18.559 but the way that he lived every day. So as Christians, 00:23:18.640 --> 00:23:21.299 the call to leave room at the edges is not simply 00:23:21.299 --> 00:23:24.420 another demand that's placed upon us. It's an 00:23:24.420 --> 00:23:26.539 invitation to let the grace that we've received 00:23:26.539 --> 00:23:30.880 reshape the design of our lives. Jesus has made 00:23:30.880 --> 00:23:34.410 room for us. And the question is, will our lives 00:23:34.410 --> 00:23:39.210 make room for others? So let's turn to just a 00:23:39.210 --> 00:23:41.150 few practical ways to think about what this might 00:23:41.150 --> 00:23:44.390 mean for us. Now, I'm sure that among you here, 00:23:44.470 --> 00:23:46.130 there are some farmers, maybe there are some 00:23:46.130 --> 00:23:50.230 winemakers. Most of us, I don't think, own fields. 00:23:51.730 --> 00:23:54.750 We don't typically harvest barley or olives or 00:23:54.750 --> 00:23:59.440 gather grapes. However... Every one of us does 00:23:59.440 --> 00:24:01.759 have something that God has entrusted to us. 00:24:02.380 --> 00:24:06.039 We have money, time, home, abilities, relationships. 00:24:06.619 --> 00:24:09.819 We have influence and opportunities. And every 00:24:09.819 --> 00:24:11.859 one of those, I think, could be considered one 00:24:11.859 --> 00:24:14.539 of the fields that God has given to us to steward. 00:24:15.940 --> 00:24:18.200 So the question then is not simply whether we 00:24:18.200 --> 00:24:20.160 occasionally give some of those things away. 00:24:20.380 --> 00:24:23.400 That's a good thing. But the deeper question 00:24:23.400 --> 00:24:26.259 and the broader challenge for all of us is whether, 00:24:26.380 --> 00:24:29.519 as we follow the principles behind the idea of 00:24:29.519 --> 00:24:33.000 gleaning, whether we have designed our lives 00:24:33.000 --> 00:24:37.279 to leave room for someone else. And that's the 00:24:37.279 --> 00:24:39.880 difference I'm kind of getting at. Occasional 00:24:39.880 --> 00:24:43.440 generosity asks, is there anything left? But 00:24:43.440 --> 00:24:47.680 generosity by design asks, what will I intentionally 00:24:47.680 --> 00:24:52.829 leave? So what are the edges of our lives? Where 00:24:52.829 --> 00:24:58.309 can we leave room? Well, the most obvious way, 00:24:58.450 --> 00:25:00.569 maybe, begin, as we think about generosity, is 00:25:00.569 --> 00:25:03.710 to begin with money. You know, the Apostle Paul 00:25:03.710 --> 00:25:06.250 in 2 Corinthians says, each of you should give 00:25:06.250 --> 00:25:09.789 what you've decided in your heart to give. Notice 00:25:09.789 --> 00:25:13.349 that word, decided. Paul assumes that generosity 00:25:13.349 --> 00:25:16.329 has already been planned. It's not simply a reaction. 00:25:16.910 --> 00:25:19.049 It's been built into the life of the believer. 00:25:20.240 --> 00:25:23.599 Remember that point about gleaning before? The 00:25:23.599 --> 00:25:27.579 margin wasn't created after the harvest. It was 00:25:27.579 --> 00:25:31.740 created before the harvest took place. Now, lots 00:25:31.740 --> 00:25:34.660 of us follow a familiar pattern. We earn, we 00:25:34.660 --> 00:25:36.539 spend, we save, and then if there's something 00:25:36.539 --> 00:25:39.579 remaining, we think about giving. But God challenges 00:25:39.579 --> 00:25:43.400 us to reverse the order. He asks us to decide 00:25:43.400 --> 00:25:47.119 first. Not because he needs our money, but because 00:25:47.119 --> 00:25:49.319 he knows that generosity does something even 00:25:49.319 --> 00:25:53.200 more. It reshapes our hearts. So the question 00:25:53.200 --> 00:25:55.440 shouldn't just be, how much do I give? It's, 00:25:55.440 --> 00:25:58.779 is generosity built into the architecture of 00:25:58.779 --> 00:26:02.640 the way we live our lives? Now don't worry, this 00:26:02.640 --> 00:26:04.579 is not just a stewardship talk about giving more 00:26:04.579 --> 00:26:06.819 money to the church or something like that. In 00:26:06.819 --> 00:26:09.819 fact, money isn't the only field that we can 00:26:09.819 --> 00:26:14.250 harvest. Many of us harvest our calendars with 00:26:14.250 --> 00:26:16.289 the same determination as some of those modern 00:26:16.289 --> 00:26:18.950 farmers. I don't know about you, but every hour 00:26:18.950 --> 00:26:21.410 can feel spoken for. Every opening is filled. 00:26:22.430 --> 00:26:25.470 We think about that as being productive. But 00:26:25.470 --> 00:26:28.150 sometimes the downside is that it leaves us unavailable 00:26:28.150 --> 00:26:32.430 to the people that God places in our lives. Again, 00:26:32.450 --> 00:26:34.529 we look to the life of Jesus. Jesus certainly 00:26:34.529 --> 00:26:37.130 had a mission, and he was moving with urgency. 00:26:37.869 --> 00:26:41.220 And yet... he repeatedly made room for others 00:26:41.220 --> 00:26:44.319 who other people thought were interruptions. 00:26:44.839 --> 00:26:47.480 He noticed the woman who quietly touched his 00:26:47.480 --> 00:26:50.819 cloak. He welcomed children when his disciples 00:26:50.819 --> 00:26:54.319 wanted to shoo them away. He was willing to stop 00:26:54.319 --> 00:26:56.440 and look up in the tree and see Zacchaeus and 00:26:56.440 --> 00:27:00.039 invite himself to dinner. He never seemed to 00:27:00.039 --> 00:27:03.019 be in such a hurry that people became interruptions 00:27:03.019 --> 00:27:06.839 instead of neighbors. So maybe that's one of 00:27:06.839 --> 00:27:10.940 the edges that God wants us to leave. It doesn't 00:27:10.940 --> 00:27:13.099 mean endless availability. We need to have healthy 00:27:13.099 --> 00:27:16.420 margins in our lives, healthy boundaries, but 00:27:16.420 --> 00:27:19.299 enough margin to notice someone, maybe to take 00:27:19.299 --> 00:27:22.099 a little extra time, listen a little longer, 00:27:22.220 --> 00:27:25.200 or respond when somebody places someone unexpectedly 00:27:25.200 --> 00:27:31.119 in our path. We can leave room in our attention. 00:27:31.960 --> 00:27:34.400 This may be one of the scarcest resources in 00:27:34.400 --> 00:27:37.799 our culture. We can be surrounded by people and 00:27:37.799 --> 00:27:40.319 still fail to notice them because our minds are 00:27:40.319 --> 00:27:43.480 somewhere else. I am so guilty of this. We hurry 00:27:43.480 --> 00:27:45.299 from one commitment to another. We're distracted 00:27:45.299 --> 00:27:47.759 by our phones, our responsibilities, and our 00:27:47.759 --> 00:27:51.319 own concerns. And yet throughout the Gospels, 00:27:51.319 --> 00:27:55.339 one of the remarkable things about Jesus is that 00:27:55.339 --> 00:27:58.619 he simply noticed people. He saw other people 00:27:58.619 --> 00:28:01.940 that others overlooked. He listened to those 00:28:01.940 --> 00:28:05.359 who others ignored. He treated every single person 00:28:05.359 --> 00:28:11.339 as if they did bear the image of God. Paul writes 00:28:11.339 --> 00:28:13.460 in Philippians 2 that we should not look only 00:28:13.460 --> 00:28:15.940 to our own interests, but to consider the interests 00:28:15.940 --> 00:28:20.279 of others. I have a good friend. His name is 00:28:20.279 --> 00:28:23.400 Tim. His spiritual gift, I think, is attention. 00:28:24.299 --> 00:28:27.380 Because when you are with him, even though during 00:28:27.380 --> 00:28:29.619 this season he carries his own deep burdens, 00:28:30.329 --> 00:28:33.130 You feel like you are the only person in his 00:28:33.130 --> 00:28:36.950 world. It is a blessing to me when I'm with him. 00:28:39.009 --> 00:28:41.349 He's living that and leaving room in his attention. 00:28:43.349 --> 00:28:45.730 So it may be as simple as putting the phone away, 00:28:45.910 --> 00:28:48.670 maybe asking one more question or lingering long 00:28:48.670 --> 00:28:51.349 enough, even at coffee hour, for someone to know 00:28:51.349 --> 00:28:57.289 that they have been truly seen and heard. Beyond 00:28:57.289 --> 00:29:00.029 finances, time, attention, we all have other 00:29:00.029 --> 00:29:03.309 gifts that we can share too. Peter reminds Christians, 00:29:03.470 --> 00:29:05.509 each of you should use whatever gift you've received 00:29:05.509 --> 00:29:09.089 to serve others as faithful stewards of God's 00:29:09.089 --> 00:29:13.009 grace. See that echo of stewardship. Some of 00:29:13.009 --> 00:29:15.990 us have accumulated years of experience, wisdom, 00:29:16.289 --> 00:29:19.069 practical knowledge. Other people, and I can 00:29:19.069 --> 00:29:21.490 look around some of you who live this out, you 00:29:21.490 --> 00:29:23.789 have the gifts of encouragement or hospitality, 00:29:24.269 --> 00:29:27.269 administration. teaching, skills, or leadership. 00:29:28.150 --> 00:29:30.789 Those gifts are also some of the harvest that 00:29:30.789 --> 00:29:34.329 God has entrusted to us. So who's benefiting 00:29:34.329 --> 00:29:38.250 from what God has given you? Who are you mentoring? 00:29:38.470 --> 00:29:41.269 Who are you encouraging? Who is learning because 00:29:41.269 --> 00:29:44.710 you've taken the time to invest in them? We can 00:29:44.710 --> 00:29:47.509 keep our gifts to ourselves, or we can intentionally 00:29:47.509 --> 00:29:50.630 leave room for others to glean from what God 00:29:50.630 --> 00:29:55.220 has taught us over the years. I'm excited certainly 00:29:55.220 --> 00:29:57.680 as we even think about the role of leadership 00:29:57.680 --> 00:30:00.259 development and sharing in the good way plan 00:30:00.259 --> 00:30:04.079 that Trinity is implementing now. And that actually 00:30:04.079 --> 00:30:06.660 leads me to the last point, which is this. What 00:30:06.660 --> 00:30:09.200 would it look like if Trinity Streetsville intentionally 00:30:09.200 --> 00:30:12.680 left even more room at the edges as a church? 00:30:13.920 --> 00:30:15.880 I think we do this pretty well, but not just 00:30:15.880 --> 00:30:17.799 simply in our budget, but in our life together. 00:30:19.079 --> 00:30:22.160 If we did that, would newcomers feel even... 00:30:22.779 --> 00:30:26.539 Find it easier to belong? Would lonely people 00:30:26.539 --> 00:30:30.240 find deeper friendship? Could families in crisis 00:30:30.240 --> 00:30:32.819 provide support and discover that? Would those 00:30:32.819 --> 00:30:36.039 who are uncertain about faith find a safe place 00:30:36.039 --> 00:30:38.880 to ask questions? Would someone who feels like 00:30:38.880 --> 00:30:41.460 an outsider discover that there is room for them 00:30:41.460 --> 00:30:47.079 here? Even the best churches can become remarkably 00:30:47.079 --> 00:30:49.299 efficient at caring for people who already are 00:30:49.299 --> 00:30:52.910 part of the community. But when we apply the 00:30:52.910 --> 00:30:54.869 gleaning laws and the principles, it reminds 00:30:54.869 --> 00:30:57.450 us that God intentionally designed his people 00:30:57.450 --> 00:30:59.869 so that those on the margins would not be forgotten. 00:31:01.029 --> 00:31:04.009 That's still God's calling to the church. So 00:31:04.009 --> 00:31:06.750 let's continue to prioritize welcome as a church 00:31:06.750 --> 00:31:11.089 community here at Trinity. Well, as we come to 00:31:11.089 --> 00:31:14.029 the end, maybe the question this morning isn't 00:31:14.029 --> 00:31:17.390 simply, am I a generous person? Most of us, I 00:31:17.390 --> 00:31:20.089 think, should do and would like to answer yes. 00:31:21.160 --> 00:31:23.279 The deeper question I want to leave you with 00:31:23.279 --> 00:31:26.299 is, what have I intentionally built into the 00:31:26.299 --> 00:31:29.720 design of my life? Or have I harvested everything? 00:31:31.240 --> 00:31:34.319 God asks each one of us to leave something, something 00:31:34.319 --> 00:31:37.099 unclaimed, something available, or something 00:31:37.099 --> 00:31:40.460 that in God's hand can become grace for someone 00:31:40.460 --> 00:31:45.799 else. As I close, there's one particular memory 00:31:45.799 --> 00:31:48.220 from my years at World Vision that keep coming 00:31:48.220 --> 00:31:52.759 back to me. I was in northern Mali on the edge 00:31:52.759 --> 00:31:54.839 of the Sahara Desert. This is the village of 00:31:54.839 --> 00:31:58.799 Menaka. It's surrounded by sand dunes. The homes 00:31:58.799 --> 00:32:01.980 are all built by mud and sand. People survive 00:32:01.980 --> 00:32:04.940 there by raising a few camels, maybe coaxing 00:32:04.940 --> 00:32:07.880 enough food from tiny plots of land to keep their 00:32:07.880 --> 00:32:11.160 families alive. Everyone was vulnerable, but 00:32:11.160 --> 00:32:14.680 during that visit, the rains had largely failed. 00:32:15.119 --> 00:32:19.160 And so it was a real crisis. But one family that 00:32:19.160 --> 00:32:21.740 I met during that visit lived even further out 00:32:21.740 --> 00:32:25.400 on the margins. Just beyond the edge of town, 00:32:25.700 --> 00:32:27.940 I met a grandmother caring for her young grandson. 00:32:28.500 --> 00:32:30.880 She and her son, you see him there, had built 00:32:30.880 --> 00:32:35.039 this crude lean -to out of fabric. There was 00:32:35.039 --> 00:32:37.859 scorching heat, sand blowing through the air, 00:32:38.000 --> 00:32:41.680 wind, relentless. It didn't offer a lot of protection. 00:32:43.400 --> 00:32:45.099 She told me that they had had to leave their 00:32:45.099 --> 00:32:47.640 settlement farther out in the Sahel because they 00:32:47.640 --> 00:32:50.599 simply couldn't survive there any longer. But 00:32:50.599 --> 00:32:52.660 life for them near the town wasn't that much 00:32:52.660 --> 00:32:56.839 easier. Food was desperately scarce. And then 00:32:56.839 --> 00:33:01.700 she described how she fed her grandson. Each 00:33:01.700 --> 00:33:05.740 day, she would sift through the sand, searching 00:33:05.740 --> 00:33:09.119 for individual kernels of grain that had blown 00:33:09.119 --> 00:33:12.490 from other people's storehouses. grain that had 00:33:12.490 --> 00:33:15.390 been scattered by the wind, grain almost too 00:33:15.390 --> 00:33:18.910 small to notice, grain that even for other vulnerable 00:33:18.910 --> 00:33:23.390 people, they would almost never miss. She was 00:33:23.390 --> 00:33:27.349 literally gleaning in the sand. Whenever I read 00:33:27.349 --> 00:33:29.210 the story of Ruth, I think about that grandmother. 00:33:30.130 --> 00:33:32.769 Like Ruth, she was doing everything that she 00:33:32.769 --> 00:33:35.549 could to care for someone she loved. Like Ruth, 00:33:35.650 --> 00:33:38.009 she was living on the edge of survival, dependent 00:33:38.009 --> 00:33:42.799 on what others had left behind. Now, this story 00:33:42.799 --> 00:33:46.039 actually has a happy, hopeful ending. At the 00:33:46.039 --> 00:33:47.920 time, through World Vision, we were able to connect 00:33:47.920 --> 00:33:51.099 her family to an emergency food program. And 00:33:51.099 --> 00:33:53.240 through the generosity of people in Canada, supported 00:33:53.240 --> 00:33:55.460 by both individual donors and the government, 00:33:55.940 --> 00:33:59.279 grain, oil, and powdered milk found their way 00:33:59.279 --> 00:34:02.400 to that little shelter in the desert. By the 00:34:02.400 --> 00:34:04.279 way, that included grain from the Canadian Foods 00:34:04.279 --> 00:34:08.679 Grains Banks that Rob's dad had mentioned. In 00:34:08.679 --> 00:34:11.230 a sense, in this moment, the field... was in 00:34:11.230 --> 00:34:16.550 Canada. But the gleaning happened in Mali. People 00:34:16.550 --> 00:34:19.150 here had intentionally left room in their harvest 00:34:19.150 --> 00:34:20.909 so that someone else on the other side of the 00:34:20.909 --> 00:34:23.769 world could live. And that's what this passage 00:34:23.769 --> 00:34:27.210 is teaching us all along. We all have a field. 00:34:28.170 --> 00:34:31.130 For some, it's a business. For others, it's a 00:34:31.130 --> 00:34:33.789 profession, a pension, a home, a kitchen table, 00:34:33.949 --> 00:34:37.230 a network of relationships, years of experience, 00:34:37.409 --> 00:34:40.409 or simply the people that God has entrusted to 00:34:40.409 --> 00:34:44.329 our care. God doesn't ask each of us to leave 00:34:44.329 --> 00:34:47.769 the same thing. Our fields are different. Our 00:34:47.769 --> 00:34:50.769 seasons are different. But he does ask each one 00:34:50.769 --> 00:34:55.969 of us to leave something, to leave room, room 00:34:55.969 --> 00:34:58.889 in our budgets, Room in our calendars. Room in 00:34:58.889 --> 00:35:02.269 our homes. Room in our attention and our influence. 00:35:03.030 --> 00:35:06.849 Room in our lives. And imagine what would it 00:35:06.849 --> 00:35:09.309 look like if every follower of Jesus lived that 00:35:09.309 --> 00:35:14.510 way. Homes with room around the table. Calendars 00:35:14.510 --> 00:35:17.110 with room for interruptions. Churches like this 00:35:17.110 --> 00:35:21.090 one with room for strangers. Lives where no one 00:35:21.090 --> 00:35:25.300 at the edges is forgotten. Remember that simple 00:35:25.300 --> 00:35:29.860 command in Deuteronomy? Don't go back. Don't 00:35:29.860 --> 00:35:31.940 go back to every forgotten sheaf. Don't go back 00:35:31.940 --> 00:35:34.460 to every last olive. Don't go back for every 00:35:34.460 --> 00:35:39.619 grape. Leave room. And when we apply it here, 00:35:39.860 --> 00:35:42.739 that's important because sometimes that the space 00:35:42.739 --> 00:35:46.239 God asks us to leave at the edges of our lives 00:35:46.239 --> 00:35:50.760 can become the grace that someone else has been 00:35:50.760 --> 00:35:54.730 praying for. Amen. Thank you.