So we've been looking at this book of Deuteronomy.
And this book is all about what we're to be as his people.
The kind of family we're to be.
And in the midst of all the nations around, all the people around,
pagan nations, God's people would be different.
They would be generous.
They would be hospitable.
Last week we looked at how they would be partying.
How they would be filled with joy, eating together,
enjoying each other, serving each other, inviting people in.
And all of that was to show that all the people around would look at that and say,
why are you so different?
Why are you so different?
And the Israelites were meant to say, well, it's because we have an amazing,
generous, gracious, hospitable, glorious God.
That's why.
And they were meant to attract people to himself through this community.
And today we're just going to have a look at this passage in Deuteronomy 15,
which is a beautiful passage.
It's a challenging passage, but it's a beautiful one.
And it's a challenge that we're to be out of an overflow of God's goodness in our lives
to be a just people.
And so what I'm going to look at is just three sections.
I'm going to look at a vision for justice.
That's going to be verse 4 to 6.
A heart for justice.
That's verse 7 to 11.
And a power for justice, which is verse 15.
So let's look at a vision for justice.
Have your bulletin open.
And I encourage you to go away afterwards and read through this.
This is just really powerful stuff.
Deuteronomy 15 verse 4 says this,
There will be no poor among you.
For in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance,
he will richly bless you.
I don't know many people whose heart would not resonate with that.
There will be no poor among you.
You know, with the 300,000 kids in Hong Kong who can't afford three meals a day,
wouldn't we want them to be well fed?
There is elderly people living in drafty nursing homes with nobody to visit them.
Wouldn't we want them to be loved and given dignity?
There are single mothers.
There are people who are abused in their families.
Wouldn't we long for them to find acceptance and belonging?
Because poverty is spiritual, it's physical, it's economic, it's social, it's relational, it's economic.
It's economic in all of these different things.
Wouldn't we long to see that?
There's none of that.
None of that poverty.
And that's God's vision.
That's God's vision for his world.
God says in this passage, he's going to provide so much for this people who are about to enter into the land of the promised land of blessing.
There's going to be enough to go around for everyone.
No one should be poor.
That's what God is saying to his people.
And Michael Jackson, he sang, heal the world, make it a better place.
I'm not going to sing it.
Okay.
My voice isn't that high.
But deep down in our hearts, we resonate with that, right?
We resonate with that.
Because we know there's something fundamentally wrong with the world and with the injustice in the world.
And we want there to be a fix of this.
And that is God's heart, too.
But I don't know.
I sometimes scroll down the BBC News.
And there is like 15 tragedies in the world at one time.
And do you know what I do?
I avoid all of them, clicking all of those stories.
And I click on the stories, which are like, why did the Victorians electrocute themselves?
You know, like kind of these trivial things.
Because I don't want to hear about the tragedies of the world.
Because it's so much need.
It's so overwhelming.
So I hide in kind of the trivial things.
I don't know if anyone else is like me.
That's what I'm like.
And yet this passage is going to say, God wants his people to face the issue of poverty and need.
And in this passage, there are two types of poor people.
The desperate poor.
They're the people who simply need relief.
That's the people in verse 7 to 11.
And then there's the struggling poor.
Those who just need help to get back on their feet.
That's the people in debt.
That's the slaves in this passage.
The servants.
And so just to give you like the background of what's going on in this passage to help you understand it.
Remember, most wealth and income comes from the land.
And the passage tells us every seven years, and we know this from Leviticus as well and Exodus, every seven years the land was meant to have a rest.
Okay?
And they weren't to work the land.
But Exodus 21 tells us they would have let the poor eat from the land on their fields.
Okay?
And if you become poor and had to borrow money to survive, your debts in this seventh year would either be cancelled or they'd be delayed for at least a year.
Because those people who had to keep paying back would have less to provide from their land to repay debts.
So they took it all into account.
Foreigners, who are mentioned in verse 3, they were traders.
So they didn't rely on the wealth of the land.
So they could keep paying back their debts.
But those who had fallen into the pit of poverty sometimes could only sell themselves to someone else because they had no more land.
They had nothing else to gain an income from.
But Leviticus 25 tells us they would be treated not as slaves.
They would be treated just as employees.
Treated with dignity.
And every seven years, they would be set free so that nobody would be permanently enslaved to poverty as a family.
All land sales after 50 years...
Okay, get this.
All land sales after 50 years would go back to the original family.
So Li Ka-shing and his family would not continue inherited wealth.
But everyone would be equal again after 50 years.
So nobody would have this unbridgeable gap between rich and poor.
And the reason for this, Leviticus says, is the land shall not be sold forever because the land is mine.
And your tenants on my land.
This is my world.
And your tenants here on what I have given you.
And God is loaning this land of blessing to the people.
And what he says is, with great blessing comes great responsibility.
You see, he's saying, you can party.
We saw this last week.
You can party and enjoy God's goodness.
I don't want you to be a people living in guilt.
But you've also got to be aware that as you're partying, there are some people who don't have what you have.
And so because there is a broken world, poverty will always be among you.
That's what he says.
Jesus says the same.
You know, sometimes it's because of the environment.
Some people's land is more fertile than other people's land.
Sometimes it's because of people's own sin.
Their own poor choices that they've made.
Sometimes it's other people's sin.
Their greed and injustice.
All of these things are going to mean that there will always be poverty in your land.
But you guys, as God's people, it's your responsibility not to neglect those who are poor.
I'm going to give to you so you can give and be a blessing to others.
That's what he's saying.
And now here's the challenging part.
He says in verse 10, if you as my people don't do this,
he says, you will have your poor brother appealing to God and you will be guilty of sin.
That language is the language of the courts.
It's language of a crime.
Because this passage is not just about generosity.
It's about justice.
And what God is saying is that people, his people and being his people,
it's not a private thing between me and God.
The vertical relationship with God always flows out in the horizontal of the way you live.
Tim Keller puts it like this.
He says, a lack of concern for the poor is not a minor lapse,
but reveals that something is seriously wrong with one's spiritual compass, the heart.
You know, I find this challenging because a few years ago,
there was this story about a three-month-old Korean girl who died from malnutrition.
And if she had died because there wasn't enough food to go around,
we'd say that's a tragedy.
But her parents had plenty of food to eat.
The child died from neglect because her parents were gaming for hours every day.
And it wasn't that they were kind of terrible people.
They didn't mean to do it.
But actually, they had no idea what it meant to be parents.
And neglect, no matter how good their intentions were, was a crime.
And they got arrested for it.
And God is saying here, and this is pretty hard, heavy stuff.
He's saying, if you as my people are blessed with material possessions,
and we mentioned a couple of weeks ago that all of us are rich, right?
So none of us escape from this.
We're blessed.
And he says, you're to enjoy the blessing.
Don't go on a guilt trip because you're blessed.
No, you enjoy it.
But we have responsibility to those who don't have it.
So sin is not just about doing bad things.
Sin is also neglecting to do good things when you have an opportunity to do it.
Okay?
In Ephesians 4, this is really, really interesting.
If you go and read Ephesians 4, Paul picks up on the Ten Commandments.
And he picks up on the sin of stealing.
You know, do not steal.
And he says this, let the thief steal no more,
but rather let him labor doing honest work with his hands.
And you think, that's great, you know?
One of the solutions to stealing, and you know, if you're poor, don't steal.
Get a job.
That's good advice, right?
That's not bad advice.
That's good advice.
But do you know what he goes on to say?
He says, get a job so that you may have something to share with anyone in need.
Do you know what he's saying?
He's saying, if God has blessed you with work, this is challenging.
If God has blessed you with work, it's so that you can provide for yourself.
It's so that you can provide for your family.
But it's also so that you can provide for those in need.
So he's saying, you have a job.
Have you thought about that?
Your job is given as a blessing by God to you, in part,
to be able to provide for people who don't have what you have.
That's challenging.
So your job is a blessing to be able to bless other people with the fruit of that.
And verse 6 also says this.
The Lord your God will bless you as he has promised,
and you will lend to many nations, but you will borrow from none.
You will rule over many nations, but none will rule over you.
And this passage, it's talking particularly about providing people for those in need within God's people.
But here, he's saying that God's going to bless his people,
and they're going to be the lenders and the rulers of other nations around.
He's not saying, you're going to be the guys who are going to be the big, strong guys,
so that you can oppress everybody else.
He says, no, I'm going to give you position and blessing,
so that through you, people around will be blessed.
I heard a TV presenter who was normally highly critical of Christians.
She's an atheist, and she was kind of lamenting the current situation of the refugees in the States.
And she said this.
She said, you may not believe that I am actually saying this,
but the church in America may be the only hope for America
because they've consistently welcomed and spoken out for refugees.
She was an atheist.
You see, when a blessed people share that blessing with other people,
it's a powerful witness to the world around in need.
And the reverse is also true.
If I preach a gospel message, and yet you know that I'm abusing my wife at home,
you're not going to listen to anything I say.
I've lost all credibility.
And it doesn't matter how great the message is.
If I'm doing that, I've lost your heart.
I've lost your ear.
But if the church in Hong Kong, if we as the church in Hong Kong
only seem to be supporting ourselves indifferent to the needs of people around us,
while we invest lots of money in our own programs, our own buildings, whatever we're doing,
if we do that, then the gospel message will not be credible to the city around.
But history shows when the early church rescued babies from rubbish dumps,
people noticed.
People noticed.
When they fought against slavery, people noticed.
And the gospel message backed up by deeds of serving and using what we have to bless the poor
is powerful in society.
That's part of God's vision for us as his church.
So the second thing is there's a heart for justice.
Not just God's vision for justice, a heart for justice.
It says here,
If anyone is poor among your fellow Israelites in any of your towns in the land
the Lord your God is giving you,
don't be hard-hearted or tight-fisted towards them.
Rather, be open-handed and freely lend them whatever they need.
Okay?
So he said,
From the overflow of your blessings,
you're to be open-handed, liberally, generously blessing as God has blessed you.
That's why you cancel debts, even if it's going to be a cost to you.
Don't be tight-fisted.
Don't hold on to money.
People matter more than money.
Yet, the interesting thing is,
though I know all this stuff,
that's not always my first response.
Do you know why?
I think there's a number of things.
I mentioned it already.
One of the things that stops me from really having that heart
is I'm overwhelmed.
I am overwhelmed.
You know, I read this,
and my first thought is often,
are you asking me to give to everybody?
Like, everyone?
Because I walk along in Central,
and you know there's often beggars along the side of the bridges,
and I go through that thing,
should I give to them?
Okay?
I don't know if you've heard this.
Should I give to them?
And sometimes I've given because I feel guilty.
Like, you know,
I know I've got more than you,
so I should give anyway.
Sometimes,
I've not given
because I think they're probably part of a gang
or something like that.
Right?
It's real.
Sometimes I've just ignored them.
Okay?
And if I was to
magnify those responses
on a city level
and then on a world level,
you kind of get to see
that often we're paralyzed,
particularly when those charity guys
come up to you on the streets
with their clipboards.
Do you know,
my instant response is like,
how can I avoid them?
Right?
Anyone else like me?
I kind of head down,
straight on,
I'm not,
no eye contact,
that kind of thing.
Because I'm overwhelmed.
But he's saying,
you will always have the poor among you.
You're not going to save the world, Chris.
This church is not here to save the world.
That's Jesus' job,
not our job.
Okay?
One day he will return
and bring justice
and full justice to the world.
That's his job.
He's the savior.
I'm not.
But,
what I'm asking you,
what God is asking
is for a people
whose heart is soft,
who have eyes to see,
a heart that's soft
and hands that are open.
And God,
if we're like that as his people,
God will show us
who the poor,
who you're poor,
it says here,
who you're needy,
who you're,
the people that you can reach out to
within your context
are going to be.
One Bible scholar said it like this,
the disposition of one's possessions
signifies the dispositions
of your heart.
I'm not calling you to everyone,
but we are calling you to someone.
To someone.
So do you ever pray,
and this is challenging,
do you ever pray,
God,
show me who that someone might be.
Show me who that people in need
that I can bless might be.
So we're sometimes overwhelmed.
Sometimes we just don't trust God.
Verse 9 says,
be careful not to harbor
this wicked thought.
The seventh year is near.
And basically,
the seventh year is like
they're going to cancel the debts,
so it's kind of,
I'm going to lose my money.
If I lend money,
I'm not going to get it back.
So I'm not going to lend to this guy.
And the idea is,
if I lend to him,
then I'm not going to,
I won't have enough for myself.
I've got school fees to pay.
I've got to provide for myself
and my family.
And what he's really saying
when he says this is,
God's not going to keep providing for me
if I am generous.
God's not going to provide for me.
Maybe I can't trust him.
You know,
there was a multi-billionaire
called Ted Turner
in the States.
He pledged to give
a billion dollars
to the UN
to encourage other billionaires
to donate wealth.
I don't know if you've heard of this.
But years later,
after his pledge,
a reporter came to him
and asked him,
are you going to give
another billion away?
And his reply was,
well,
the price of beef
is going up at the moment.
Now,
this is a guy
who's got
at least three billion dollars.
And he's saying,
with my other
two or three billion dollars,
I'm not sure
if I've got enough money
in the bank
to kind of account
for inflation.
And that's ridiculous.
I mean,
he's got enough
to buy a whole,
like,
the whole of American farming,
probably.
But,
if you look at it,
and we look at all
that we have,
do you know what?
I think sometimes
I do the same thing.
I may not have
a billion dollars,
but God has blessed me.
Every meal,
that's what we talked
about last week,
every meal is assigned
God's provision,
God's grace,
God's blessing to you.
Do you think
he's going to stop
providing in the future
if he's already
provided in the past?
He says,
no,
be generous,
trust him.
God is good.
He will provide for you
so you can be open-handed.
But the third thing
that I think
when I hear
all of this stuff,
do you know
what I tend to feel?
I just feel like
there's this weight
of guilt on me.
You know,
I feel like
so much that has
motivated me
to do charity work
and to serve people
is actually just
out of guilt.
You know,
I feel bad
that I've got so much
and other people don't
and I feel blessed.
But the motivation here,
that's not the motivation
of this passage.
This passage,
verse 4,
verse 6,
verse 10,
verse 18,
it says this passage
is about blessing,
which is interesting.
It's about blessing.
He says,
showing justice
to the poor
and the needy,
it will free you
from an impoverished spirit.
This is a way
for God
to channel
his blessing
to you.
Because if you want
to enjoy God,
if you want
to enjoy
his good things,
then party together.
That's what we said
last week.
If you want
to enjoy God,
celebrate him,
invite others to join,
but then look out
for those who don't have.
And do you know
what will happen?
You will just begin
to see God's blessing
flowing into your life.
That may not be
financial blessing,
maybe,
but it's going to be
a richness
in your experience
of God
in your life
that actually
is so much
more exciting
when you become
actually the person
you deep down
would really want to be,
a generous person,
somebody
whose respect,
who you would love
to be like.
So the vision
is no poor among you.
The heart is
not out of guilt,
not just because
you're overwhelmed,
not just because
you're like,
I can't trust God,
but with a trust
of him for your future
and realizing
that God is calling
you to blessing,
look out to serve
and give
and be generous
to the needy
and the poor.
Third thing,
the power to be just,
the power for justice.
Verse 15,
give to them
as the Lord your God
has blessed you.
Remember that you
were slaves in Egypt
and the Lord your God
redeemed you.
That is why
I give you
this command today.
Do you see
what he's saying?
He's saying,
you need to remember
who you were.
You were slaves
in poverty in Egypt
and I rescued you.
So now you reflect
my saving work
to others.
You know,
so much charity work
and I've done this
is when we feel like
we're the strong,
confident ones
and we're the wealthy ones
and we're just going
to help all the poor.
We're going to rescue them
from their problems.
That's one of the reasons
why NGO workers
have such a high burnout rate
because actually
when they get down to it
they realize
they can't rescue the poor
because there are
so many different things
going on.
sometimes we can
so much neglect people
because we feel
they don't deserve
to be helped
because frankly
the poor are sometimes
as unrighteous
as the rich.
Right?
And we feel like
we've worked hard
to get what we have
but are God's people
of justice
and neither of those?
Jesus is the savior
and that's what motivates us.
I shared this story
a few years ago
but I think it's worth
sharing again.
When I was in the UK
I met a homeless guy
I called him Jim
and we tried to help him
find a place to live
and so we had him
stay at our house
for a few days
and eventually
a friend of mine
agreed to kind of
put him up
and the first night
he stays there
he steals 500 pounds
from my friend.
He runs away.
Didn't see him
I called the police
eventually they were like
oh we can't press charges
or anything like that
and so I went to find him
went down to a homeless shelter
and I went there
I knew he was going to be there
he walks in
he sees me
his face was just like shock
and kind of like
just hang his head in shame
and I told him
you know we know what you did
we've called the police
and those different things
but do you know
at the end of the day
I know there's a God
who's gracious
and he forgives me
so we forgive you
and I invited him
for dinner
he never turned up
a few days later
or maybe even a week
I can't remember
maybe a week or so later
I was cycling
in this completely
other end of town
in this kind of
narrow back alley
like no one goes down there
and I was cycling through
and then suddenly
I see him
sitting on a bench
and as I saw him
I got off my bike
and went over to him
and again
he saw me
and the look on his face
was like shock
and he said to me
you know I've been trying
to avoid you
all of this time
in fact
and I thought
this was the one place
in this city
that I could come
to avoid you
but obviously
God's got something
different going on here
and so from that point
we started doing
Bible study with him
I invited him
to stay at our house
for a few days
until we found him
another place to go
one day I went out to work
I get a call
from my housemate
saying this guy's
gone and stolen my PSP
and we call the police
he gets arrested
he'd stolen some other stuff
he gets sentenced
to three years in prison
every month
I went to go
and visit him
in prison
every month
we talk about Jesus
we talk about
going to the chaplain
and going and
sharing the gospel
with him
and every month
he'd say
I'll go to see the chaplain
every month
I went back
I'd ask him
have you been to the chaplain
and he'd say no
this went on
for like
about a year
and then I kind of
began to give up
about 18 months
into his term
I hadn't seen him
for three or four months
I get a letter
from him
the letter says
I
I just wanted to say
that I've become
a Christian
and I got baptized
last week
because I was
put in isolation
for brewing beer
inside the prison
go figure
you can tell
the kind of guy
Jim was
and
and he said
and while I was in there
I remembered
everything
that you guys
had done for me
and the grace
that you had shown
for me
and I realized
how much a sinner
I was
and so I asked
God to save me
he said
later that day
the chaplain
came around
and he came around
and he said
hey
you're getting baptized
Sunday
and Jim hadn't
told anyone
he prayed this prayer
and he's like
okay
fine
Saturday comes
the chaplain
comes around again
and says
hey
I'm really sorry
Jim
but I totally
mistook you
for somebody else
like
but do you still
want to get baptized
and
and he did
and
and he gave
this testimony
to all of the other
inmates
of God's grace
and faithfulness
now why do I tell you
that story
it's not because
I'm great
but it's because
looking back
would I have done
some of the same
things that I did
before
maybe there's one
or two things
I would change
but I think
I would do
exactly the same
why
did Jim
deserve my help
absolutely not
could I rescue
Jim
absolutely not
his own sin
prevented him
from accepting
my help
really
so why love
people like Jim
why love people
who are desperate
in need
in this different way
because the gospel
says that you
and I are just
like Jim
you see
God lavishes
his blessing
on me
again
and again
and then we steal
his stuff
trying to keep it
just for himself
when he says
your tenants
I've loaned this
to you
but we say
no it's mine
and again
God keeps
chasing after us
showering his
blessing on us
his grace
and forgiveness
on us
again and again
and again
we keep holding
on to it
Jesus didn't
just lose
a PSP
he lost
his life
for you
and me
because we're
just like Jim
we were slaves
to our own
spiritual poverty
and God
rescued us
and he blesses
us with so much
not because we
deserve it
but because
he's gracious
and that's
the kind of
people that he
calls us to be
in this city
a people
who are gracious
to those
who are in
need
what does that
look like
for each of us
that's going to
look very different
very different
some of us
are like
I'm so busy
I have so many
things to do
and God is not
saying I want you
to fill your
timetable with
a hundred things
but I want your
heart
to just stop
and ask yourself
do I see
people
is my heart
soft
are my hands
open
the greatest
education
my parents
gave me
was never
in a
classroom
but it's
they invited
a refugee
family around
to my home
week after
week
they never
preached to
me about
reaching out
to the
poor and
needy
I saw it
that's the
greatest sermon
you can give
your life
there are
tutoring
opportunities
at Ebenezer
some of you
God has blessed
you with some
time or some
abilities
that could be a
great opportunity
right here
to teach
some of the
people
Thursday
sons and
daughters
they go out
loving and
serving the
sex workers
on Lockhart
Road
maybe you can
go
maybe you're
not free
then but maybe
you can pray
for them
maybe you can
bake goods
for them
maybe we can
just get together
and think about
look at our
spending
I don't know if
you've ever got
together with
somebody and said
hey how much do
I actually spend
on clothes
how much do
I actually spend
on food and
entertainment
maybe if I just
cut one meal
and we set that
money aside
and used it
to be able to
give to those
in need
maybe we just
need to just
start to pray
as a CG
and say God
open my eyes
I don't know
where I don't
know how
I don't know
what but my
eyes and my
ears are open
for what you
want to say
maybe that's
where we start
last year
and I'll close
with this
I was walking
back from the
community center
the old community
center on Bonham
Road
and I saw
this guy
walking towards
me
and he looked
at me
I looked at
him
it's one of
those kind
of awkward
moments
you know
and I was
like should I
stop and be
friendly or
should I just
ignore him
but I said
hi and he
kind of said
hi
and he then
said to me
do you know
a church near
here
and I was
like I don't
have random
strangers just
coming up to
me asking
me that
and he
I found out
he was a
Sudanese guy
he said I've
just come over
from China
and there was
money that was
meant to be
wired to me
today hasn't
come through
and I've
literally got
nothing this
night
like tomorrow
morning stuff
should be come
through and
but I've got
nothing right
now and at
that point I'm
going yeah I've
heard so many
stories like
seriously I know
how this works
and I asked
him a few
more questions
we chatted
for a while
and I'm
kind of in
this should I
give should I
not should I
give should I
not and then
I'm like okay
it's 20 I
there's I said
there's a
McDonald's I
had to go out
later but I
said hey if you
want to stay the
night there's a
McDonald's there
a 24-hour
McDonald's down
the road okay
and here's
$20 or
$30 whatever
it was just
buy yourself
something you
can hang out
there and
you know what
happened at
that moment he
just burst into
tears like
literally his
face just started
streaming with
tears and you
know what he
said to me he
said I've been
around to so
many churches and
all of them said
they couldn't help
me and he said
I thought that
God had
abandoned me
but now I
know that he
hasn't and I
wonder how many
people there are
in this city that
think that God has
abandoned them
because I just
haven't stopped to
think to pray to
ask God show me
who it is who's
that someone you
want me to reach
and yet God has
us here as his
people not just to
be a busy people
running around
doing lots of
stuff but to
see who are the
people within the
church we need to
love but outside
people whose eyes
are open whose
heart is soft and
whose hands are
open to say God
may I bless people
here so that they
might know that you
have not abandoned
them but that you
came to rescue
them and pray
father this is a
heavy topic in
many ways but it
does cut right to
the heart of my
own sense of
comfort and sense
of responsibility
I pray for us as a
church make us this
kind of people that
you call us to be
change our hearts
don't let us go away
from here feeling just
guilty that we're not
done enough let us go
away here with just
that heart saying God
change my heart open
my eyes open my hands
show me I pray that
you'd make us a
people who know how
to bless those around
us who know the
riches that you've
lavished on us and
will freely openly
bless those around us
with wisdom but with
compassion in Jesus
name amen
what's going on
your neighbors
you
are
saying