Episode Transcript
WEBVTT
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Please remain standing if you're able,
and let's give our attention to Romans chapter
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twelve. Going to read just two
verses this morning, verse thirteen and Verse
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Fourteen of Romans Chapter Twelve. Contribute
to the needs of the saints and seek
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to show hospitality. Bless those who
persecute you. Bless and do not curse
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them. May God bless his word. Please be seated. I want to
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remind you a little bit of what
we're doing here in Romans chapter twelve by
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using a an analogy. I might
be getting the statistic wrong. I should
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have double checked it, but I
think that the average person spends two seconds
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and so, or just a few
seconds anyway, between each painting at a
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museum. If you go to a
museum, perhaps you've done this yourself.
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Maybe some you'll spend a little longer, maybe even thirty seconds something like that,
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but a lot of them people breaze
by or it's a brief look,
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a brief look, a brief look. I wonder if you've ever had the
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opportunity, though, to go to
a museum and spend a lot of time.
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I remember the first time that I
did this the Phoenix Art Museum.
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I was in high school and I
went and checked out a little audio thing
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that you can get a recording device
and some headphones and you sort of plug
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in the number of the art piece
and you can stand there for five minutes,
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three minutes, something like that,
and you hear all of this instruction
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and Information and background on each of
these paintings. I don't know if one
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experience is necessarily better than the other. It just depends on what you're there
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to do and your goals and that
kind of thing. As we're going through
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this section in Romans twelve, we're
doing the ladder. We're sort of standing
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in front of each verse or sections
or phrases and thinking carefully, meditating on
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them, what they mean, how
they apply in our lives. God is
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giving us a lot of a specific
commandments and we can read it and it's
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perfectly fine to read them as a
group. I may even preach a sermon
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on this whole section at the end. There's a sort of general overview or
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a general way and feeling that we
get about the lives that were called to
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live, but it's also helpful from
time to time to think about the lives
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that God has called us to live
as Christians. In very detailed ways to
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think about the specifics. I hope
to do some of that for you this
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morning with verses twelve and, I'm
sorry, versus thirteen and fourteen, and
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I hope so. You've received some
of that already. But I want to
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encourage you, as we think about
these particular commandments that God has given,
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don't let the don't feel like all
that we can be said is said here.
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Talk about them with each other within
your families, ask and think and
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meditate on how can we grow in
these things? What ways can we improve?
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What is it that's really motivating us
to do this? Why am I
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afraid of that? Whatever it is, these are the things I want to
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encourage you to spend time on and
thinking about today. The focus is on
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the way that we express our love
in mercy, very practical ways in which
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we care for one another. Paul
says contribute to the needs of the saints.
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He has in mind the members of
the Church, the body of Christ,
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and he says wherever their needs are, contribute to them. Could maybe
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be translated as share with them,
take a part of yourself and give that
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to them. That might be time, it might be money, it might
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be sympathy, as he goes on
to say in Verse Fifteen, rejoice with
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those who rejoice, weep with those
who weep. We are to bind ourselves
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with one another, share the burdens, contribute to the needs. He adds
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to that he says seek to show
hospitality. This word seek, I think,
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can be translated even more strongly as
pursue, pursue hospitality. The word
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there can be used actually a various
things. It can be used negatively and
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positively. So, for example,
earlier in Romans Paul says to pursue righteousness.
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Right, that's a positive thing,
or here pursue hospitality. But very
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interestingly, the same word is used
not only in verse thirteen but also in
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verse fourteen, bless those who pursue
you. It's the same word, the
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same word that is therefore seek is
the same word that is there for persecute.
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It's translated differently because of the context. You know, we're not supposed
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to persecute hospitality, nor are we
supposed to bless those who merely seek you.
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Right, so it's being translated rightly
according to context. But the point
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is that word has this general concept
depending on where it's aimed, and so
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what Paul is saying in verse thirteen
is contribute to the needs of the saints,
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but pursue it, seek it in
this deliberate and active way. It
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sort of lays aside any kind of
excuse to say, well, I'm not
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wealthy or I don't have resources,
or maybe if someone shows up on my
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doorstep I'll help, or if I
hear a need, I'll help. But
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it's it has a kind of activeness
to it. You're to go looking for
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these opportunities, he says, to
pursue hospitality in the same way that a
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people might be pursuing you, to
persecute you. It's a strong word and
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both of them revealed to us God's
character. God, in His mercy and
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in his love towards us, is
not sort of standing back and saying,
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well, if something happens to happen, I guess maybe I'll help out.
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No, God actively has pursued you, has he not? If you count
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yourself as a son or a daughter, are of God, does the Scripture
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not say that you are adopted?
Does that happen by accident? Know what
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happens, because God pursues you,
he sets his eye on you and he
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seeks to show you the sort of
ultimate act of hospitality. He brings you
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into his own house, but not
only his own house, his own household.
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He makes you a member of his
family, not because you're so sparkling
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and wonderful, so righteous and holy, but he pursued you, he sought
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you, he saved you while you
were still ungodly, while you were still
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dead and your trespasses in your sins. He wasn't waiting for you to show
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him a favor, that to then
turn it back. He did it even
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when you didn't deserve it, which
helps us make sense of verse fourteen.
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Bless those who persecute you. Bless
and do not curse them. It's an
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activity that is very gospel based.
It's Gospel driven. By Gospel I meaning,
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I mean the good news that God
came to save sinners from their sin.
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God's character is very practical. In
other words, when we think about
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mercy, when we think about love, these are not sort of abstract ideals
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floating up in the platonic atmosphere fear, which we contemplates from time to time
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and have good conversations about love mercy. No, it's actually giving money,
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it's actually having somebody in your home, sleeping on your bed, on your
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couch, on your floor, means
providing food that you cooked, visiting people
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and and other things. I'll get
to some more specific examples of that,
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but I really want you to notice
how practical it is. True love is
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more about conceptions and intentions and even
feelings. Paul is saying here, God
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is saying here through his apostle,
that love, genuine love that he's talks
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about in verse nine. Genuine love
shows itself in real actions. It means
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looking for and recognizing the needs of
people around us and pursuing hospitality, pursuing
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ways to fulfill them. Let's think
about some of those ways and then we'll
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finish with some more of those reasons. Why? Just want to fill out
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some more of what I've already said. So who are the needy? It's
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a good question to ask. What
constitutes a real need? I think we
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can break that down into various categories. First, there are material needs and
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spiritual needs. You've experienced this,
I'm sure, times when you needed a
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drink. You are thirsty or you
are hungry. It might be momentary right.
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All you have to do is take
your Water Cup and go over to
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the fountain and got to drink.
Not a big deal. But maybe there's
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other times when you've been thirsty and
water or food has not been quite so
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available for various reasons. Sometimes our
needs are spiritual. We find ourselves spiritually
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hungry, spiritually thirsty, and you
get a card in the mail, somebody
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says an encouraging thing and it feeds
your soul. That's the language we use.
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Who are the needy? Well,
some people are needy because they're unable
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to meet their own needs. It
might be a temporary situation, or it
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maybe a more long term perhaps someone
loses a job, perhaps a family member
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comes into the House and an income
that once provided for everyone now can't provide
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for everyone. People that are too
simply unable to meet their own needs.
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Might be temporary, might be more
long term. There are also those who
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fall into a category I'm where it's
almost always long term. In the Bible,
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this was typically widows and orphans,
women and children or provided for through
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the means of the male breadwinners in
the family, and they're often weren't as
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many opportunities and means to be able
to go and make a living. And
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so if you are truly without a
family, either as a widow or as
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an orphan, without protection, especially
if you're if you are a woman,
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and your father couldn't take you back
into your house and you're essentially an older
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orphan, what do you do?
There's not much you can do. There
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are people in every society that struggle, the simply struggle to survive within the
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system and be able to live.
There of course, sick people, people
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that have mental illnesses, people that
have physical illnesses. They're powerless people.
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There are persecuted people as well.
I'm in the early church there were people,
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and there are today, who confess
their faith in Christ and suffer as
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a result. They're pushed out,
they're put into prison, they become hungry
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on they become a day, they
become needy. They're sick people. There
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are burden people, they're powerless people, there are persecuted people. We might
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also add there are preaching people.
The Levites and the Old Testament had a
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responsibility, a ministry to the Lord, and in such a way that they
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didn't have land, they didn't have
the means of typically providing for themselves,
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and so the people of God were
called to provide for them. The same
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is somewhat true of the preaching task
today. Paul says that a man who
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preaches is worthy of his Labor.
If a man is preaching, if a
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missionary is being sent and they're doing
that work well, it's often very difficult
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to be doing side jobs, to
be working with their hands and doing other
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work. And so throughout the history
of the church, because of the call
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of the ministry, we see that
those who are called to preaching and other
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forms of ministry are often supported by
the church, and this is, the
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apostle say, a good thing,
because they can't earn a living for themselves
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because they're engaged in full time ministry. It is good that the people of
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God contribute to their needs as well. Paul experience this many times. He
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talks to the various churches. Please, I'm coming to you. Would you
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please create a place for me to
stay? Or he thanks people for showing
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him hospitality. Of course Paul works
with his own hands as well. There
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are various things that indicate Paul was
possibly independently wealthy, and that would be
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a great thing. And we see
ministers doing this as well, ministers who
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live on very small salaries or no
salary at all. Because of retirement funds
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or pensions or inheritance they've received.
All that to being said, there are
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different kinds of needs around us and
we want to be thoughtful about that.
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In the New Testament we see money
given to the saints in Jerusalem. We
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see money being collected for the poor. It's one of Paul's main activities.
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In addition to preaching, he's collecting
money from the various churches to contribute to
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the needs. So these are some
of the categories of those who need the
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churches funds, I'm in order for
their needs to be provided for. There
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is much evidence of this in the
New Testament and outside it as well,
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and a lot of interesting stories and
examples. Aristides speaks of hospitality in the
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early church. Want to read a
quote to you from him. He's giving
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an apology. He's giving something of
a defense for Christianity. He's saying to
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the outside world, this is what
Christians do. It's sort of a way
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of doing what Jesus says. They
will know you by your love for one
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another. nearisides gives some examples of
this. He says regarding hospitality, when
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they see strangers, they take him
in under their own roof and rejoice over
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him as a true brother. For
they do not call themselves brothers according to
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the flesh, but according to the
soul. And whenever they, that is
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Christians, see one of their poor
has died, each of them, according
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to his ability, contributes ungrudgingly and
they bury him. And if they hear
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that some are condemned or imprisoned on
account of the name of their Lord,
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they contribute for those condemned and send
to them what they need and, if
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possible, they even redeem them,
whether it's buy them out of whatever bondage
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that they have. There are some
amazing examples of this we've we've, I
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give a spoken of Paul, for
example. Remember the situation in the early
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church. Rome had created an extensive
system of roads which allowed the Gospel to
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spread, but there weren't really a
lot of ends and hotels and places that
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you could stay, and those that
were there were notoriously nefarious. They were
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not places that you would want to
stay. There are not places you would
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want to go and be associated with
as a Christian. So what do you
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do if there's no hotels, if
there's no ends? Of all the places
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you can go are dangerous or bad. What would you do? Well,
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you do, what would the only
thing that makes sense. You say,
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I know someone in Philip I who
might be able to put you up.
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Here's a letter. Take this to
them. And so one day someone knocks
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on your door and says, Hey, your friend or a friend of a
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friend said that I might be able
to stay here. What do you do?
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Bible says you let them in.
I have to say that this is
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something that I experienced myself in coming
here, but in the very early stages
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of coming to be a pastor here. I remember coming down here and,
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without knowing some of you at all, on the recommendation of someone else,
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you opened up your homes to us. You allowed us to stay, to
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sleep in your bedrooms and to eat
your food, not knowing me or my
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family or anything about us, hoping
that we were good, hoping that we
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wouldn't do bad things, and you
opened your homes to us. And you
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did this not only for me,
but you remember Dave come. He would
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stay regularly every month in our homes, and some homes in in particular,
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opening up our homes, opening up
our lives, making them available so that
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we could receive, as a church, the preaching of the Gospel. Now,
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of course there's ask in that.
Right. When we imagine this,
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least when I imagine the situation in
the early church, I think that's kind
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of dangerous, isn't it? How
would you know the way you don't.
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I mean there is some risk.
Mean they are is recommendations. The person
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is saying they're a Christian, they're
saying they go to such and such a
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church or they know such and such
a pastor or friend. But it's a
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risk that the early church understood as
well, and that's important for you to
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understand. These people weren't naive.
It wasn't such a different society that they
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felt like there weren't dangers or things
to be aware of. In both the
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New Testament and outside the Testam New
Testament we hear expressions and warnings about how
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do you deal with these people that
are coming into your home, and there
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are rules even given for visitors and
for hosts. The Dida Key, for
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example, says don't stay more than
one or two days and if you're staying
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more than one or two days,
or if your guest is staying more than
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one or two days, you should
probably tell him to stop being idle and
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move on. Right. Christianity is
certainly about supplying for the needs of people
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that are needy, but it's not
about promoting idleness or just giving and giving
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and giving without any with to those
who aren't needy. Paul says that the
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man who doesn't provide for his family
is worse than an unbeliever. I believe
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it's in the deed a key that
it says that those who feed on Christ
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who have in this way and receiving
the mercy of Christians who don't really deserve
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it. It calls them Christmongers.
Sort of striking word, isn't it?
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So, in a similar way as
we are supposed to give as to the
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Lord, we are not supposed to
take from the Lord in a way that
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is greedy and irresponsible, by taking
the things that aren't rightfully ours. When
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we are in need, we are
to receive it and be thankful for it.
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We are not to be embarrassed or
shy, because it's the Ministry of
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Christ through his people. But it
also means that if we're not in need
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and we're taking those things, we're
taking from something that belongs to someone else,
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someone who truly needs those things,
and on the host side of things.
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We are to give liberally and openly, just as Jesus does to us.
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But to those who do not teach
the word of God, who do
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not live the word of God,
who pretend to be Christians but are destroying
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the church, we are to turn
them out. John says this and third
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Johnny, he says don't share with
people that aren't teaching Orthodox things, lest
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you share in their wickedness. It's
one thing to help a man that's hurting
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on the road and feeding him and
taking care of his knee means, it's
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another thing to support an evil or
wicked ministry and Anti Christian a teaching liberal.
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Hospitality of the church is respected,
it's a virtue, but we're not
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supposed to support those who teach anti
Christian doctrines. So hospitality means kind of
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a variety of things, providing housing, picking up at the airport, providing
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meals. And you know what happens? As we receive Christians into our homes
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and into our lives, even those
who are outside of our normal congregation,
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we often receive great blessings. It's
really true. I don't think I'll ever
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forget Doug class in our our secretary
for foreign missions, playing this rocous game
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with my kids. It was so
much fun. And also remember that same
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day in which he was very helpful
to me, gave me godly counsel and
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Biblical advice during a particularly difficult time. It wouldn't have happened if he wasn't
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there. He was able to share
with me the Lord, even as we
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were able to share with him the
hospitality. Of course, there are other
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things. All in the interest of
time, I'll move quickly through these other
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things that Aristides mentions, burying the
dead, for example, caring for the
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confessors. That's an amazing thing.
Christians would regularly, during times of persecution,
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go to the jails and identify with
those people. The Bible speaks about
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this right, not only being the
poor, but associating with the lowly.
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Can you imagine going to visit someone
who's been arrested for the very same thing
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you're doing and believing, Yep,
this one's mine, this one's a friend?
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But that's what they did. Interestingly, they would regularly bribe prison guards
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to get them to better parts of
the cell or or accomplish various things.
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They would bring these people that were
being persecuted in jail, food and other
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things. There's a lady Perpetua in
two hundred and three, around two hundred
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and three, a d that we
read about the deacons of the churches organizing
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a series of visitations, of bribing
the Gulp, the the soldiers to move
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her to a better location, and
then, finally, before she was ultimate,
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nearly martyred, they were again able
to bribe the prison officials so that,
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instead of her being having to partake
of a feast, this Liberalia,
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which was often taken by people that
were going to go into the Coliseum and
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whatnot, they brought to her the
Lord's supper. Gives me chills to think
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about it. Or Felicitas another woman
who is going to be martyred soon after
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giving birth, and one of the
women visitors who came to visit her before
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she was martyred took her newborn baby
girl and promised to raise her as her
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own pursue hospitality. Well, there's
much more we could say, but let's
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consider the why of this, and
I've already touched on this. Part of
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it is it's this is the character
of our God. He takes care of
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the poor. How many times do
we read this in scripture, that while
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the rich are persecuting people, oppressing
people, ruining their lives and doing evil
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things, God says I stand for
those in need. Persecute the Widows and
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orphans and you will be persecuted,
he says, Exodus Twenty Two, twenty
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two, you shall not mistreat any
widow or fatherless child. If you do
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mistreat them and they cry out to
me, I will surely hear their cry
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and my grath will burn and I
will kill you with the sword and your
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wives will become widows and your children
fatherless. I will take care of those
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in need. That is the character
of our Lord and that is exactly what
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Christ does when he comes into the
world to restore the sight to the blind,
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to heal the brokenhearted, to bind
up the wounds, to bring the
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dead to life. Our God pours
out mercy and we are both made in
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his image to be merciful and and
we are being remade, after our sinful
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fall, to show this glorious aspect
of the character of God, the character
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of Christ. So when we go
into the world, we are being like
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our heavenly father. We're doing the
things that he does and of course,
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in that we glorify him, which
is a wonderful reason to do these things,
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but we are also acting as his
children and even extending his mission.
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Jesus has these remarkable words, remarkable
words in Matthew. He says, when
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I was thirsty, you gave me
a drink, when I was in prison,
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you came and visited me, when
I was sick, you came and
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helped me. I say, when
did we do this? I don't remember
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doing this for you, Lord,
and he says you did, when you
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did it for the least of these, my brothers. In other words,
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when we do what the Lord says
to hear, we are serving our savior.
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Sure it might feel like a quick
ninety nine cents card and a stamp
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and a and I hope you're feeling
better, but when it's done out of
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love and true service to Christ,
it's an extension of his ministry. We
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become, to use the language of
scripture, his hands and his feet.
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How could you not want to be
that? How could you not want to
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be so united with Christ that you
are his hand, giving and helping and
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rescuing, to play a part in
the mission of God in the world and
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among his people? It is to
be the body of Christ. This is
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a necessary thing for Christians, not
just because it's commanded, but be it's
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because it's who we are. When
we act in this way, we are
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acting in union with Christ and according
to the spirit, the giving, that
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is described here. The similar word
is used in John Sixteen. Here are
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the Gospel says that God so loved
the world that he gave, he shared,
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he or can he contributed his only
son, that whoever believes in him
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should not perish but have e turn
a life, for God did not send
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his son into the world to condemn
the world, but in order that the
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world might be saved through him.
We can look at our lives and we
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can see lots of ways in which
we have not been hospitable, ways in
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which we have been greedy, ways
in which we have kept things for ourselves
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when we should have given them to
other people, ways in which we've been
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too much worried about money and the
things that we have to be able to
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give them freely to other people,
too much worried about the logistics of things
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or how it might be perceived,
too much worried about the the mechanics of
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it and calculating it all out.
When there's a kind of excessive generosity that
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the scriptures talk about, we think
about these things, we think about how
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gracious God has been been to us, and I know I feel convicted.
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I know I think the various ways
in which I should have done better,
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should do better. The good news
to us, though, is that we
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don't do these things, as I
say, apart art from the Ministry of
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God in us. We're not doing
these things to prove ourselves to other people,
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to prove ourselves to God, to
earn our salvation, to check a
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list, to fulfill mere duty.
We do these things because the spirit of
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God is at work in you.
And when our sinful nature fights up against
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that, when love of money and
lack of generosity and lack of mercy pushes
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against that spirit that we've been given, God continues to promise us what he
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has always promised us, continues to
give us what he's always gives us excessive
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and liberal generosity. He keeps pouring
out His grace, more and more it.
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While you are yet sinners, Christ
died for you and while you yet
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continue to sin, Christ still died
for you and still lives for you,
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and still gives to you. You, as an adopted child in the household
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of God, aren't always a very
good child. You're sometimes disobedient and honre
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and hard to live with. I'm
that way too. But what does our
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father do? Does he turn US
out? Does he reject us? Did
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he say go away, adoptions over? I know, he says, you're
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still mine. I'm still taking care
of you, I'm still giving to you.
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So when we feel the weight of
our sins, when we feel those
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convicting feelings, don't push it down, don't turn away from it, but
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turn to our father, who graciously
gives, received from him as one who
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is in need, and then turn
to others and be his hands and his
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feet, show them that Gospel.
May God grant this for our church.
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Let's pray. Our heavenly father is
we think about our needs, what's are
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so many, and as we think
about the many ways in which you have
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provided for them, we do worship
you and give you all adoration and praise.
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We confess to you are ungrateful hearts. We confess to you our love
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of money. We confess to you
our inability to trust you to provide for
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our needs. We confess these things
and ask that you would forgive us.
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We do desire not to be controlled
by the things of this world, the
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desires of our heart, but be
to be controlled instead by the Merciful Spirit
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of Christ, that our mission would
be his mission and that our glory would
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be his glory, that our service
would be his service. We asked,
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Lord, that you would grow and
inculcate this kind of love in covenant OPC.
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We asked that the contribution to the
needs of the saints would be robust
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and pursued, that hospitality would not
be a thing of of convenience, were
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mere duty, but an act of
love, empowered by the very spirit of
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God working in us. And when
we fail, which we will do and
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have done, we has that you
would continue to lift us up, even
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in this task, that you would
continue to pour your grace out on us,
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as you promised to do, and
we look forward to the day,
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Lord, when, one day there
will be only the poor in spirit,
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but no more poverty, no more
needs, except the need and joy of
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loving one another and he being united
to one another for all eternity. Thank
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you for giving to US Jesus Christ
himself, that we might have salvation.
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The forgiveness of our sins and union
with the people of God. We ask
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these things in Jesus name. Amen.
