Loving the Vulnerable

Well, if you've been here for a while, you know that I'm a huge fan of the musical Les

Miserables.

Actually, I'm a bigger fan of the book.

It's just as hard to slog through the 900 pages to get the richness of it.

But if you're up for the task, it's totally worth your summer reading.

But if you can't get to that, the musical captures many of the great themes.

And one of my favorite characters in it is Inspector Javert.

Inspector Javert, who is known for his beautiful solo stars where he sings of his commitment

to righteousness and law-keeping in the world and how he is called to enforce it.

But one of the interesting things about Inspector Javert that you may not know if you haven't

listened to it as many times as I have is that Javert comes from a very interesting place.

In one scene where he has this conflict or this confrontation actually with Jean Valjean,

the redemptive hero of the story.

They're singing at the same time.

And so it's really hard to hear what he's saying.

But what you learn is that Javert was born in a prison.

And that Javert was, as he grew up, he grew up to hate the place that he came from.

And his commitment to righteousness and his commitment to law-keeping.

And the way that he did it, which becomes clearer and clearer throughout the story,

with no understanding of grace or of mercy or of love or of anything but law-keeping as an end in itself.

He had a hatred for those who would break the law.

He had a hatred for those who were like where he himself came from.

He hated their weakness and he hated their sinfulness.

One of the reasons why he's such a powerful character is because I see that in my own self as well.

That there are times when if I have a really strong and legalistic and critical attitude towards someone else,

if I stop and think,

one of the main reasons why I am like that

is because I see in someone else a weakness or a vulnerability or a sin

that I'm prone to and that I hate in myself.

I remember back in 2005, the Lord brought this home to me.

He unpacked my heart through a series of conflicts and difficult situations.

He said,

Do you see that you are critical towards those closest to you

at the very areas that you are weak

and you want them to be stronger than they can ever be?

The Lord used that in my life in deep ways.

But I wonder if you're like that too if you stop and think about it.

Do you tend to hate in others the weakness you see in yourself?

Do you tend to condemn most loudly the sin that you're most prone to fall into?

And when you do that,

when I do that,

what happens in our hearts?

Our hearts become hardened

rather than become softened in compassion.

When people call us on this and question us,

we become defensive.

We excuse.

We justify ourselves.

Sometimes we feel guilty

that we have become critical and hard-hearted.

But in doing so,

we also feel relief

because it allows us to step back.

Having condemned someone else,

we can step back and say,

okay,

I don't have to have anything to do with you.

It's so easy for our hearts

to turn

on those

who are weak and vulnerable.

To turn on those

who show their humanity

and their frailty

and their sinfulness.

What does God think of that?

What do we think of that?

What does God call his people to in that?

Well, this brings us to our text this morning

as we continue our series in Exodus.

We're going to be in Exodus 22,

starting in verse 21.

If you want to turn there in your pew Bibles,

it's page 63.

As you're turning there,

let me remind you,

Exodus is this grand story,

God's deliverance in chapters 1 through 19,

his deliverance of his people

from slavery in Egypt

and bringing them to the foot of Mount Sinai.

Now he is revealing himself to them

and making a covenant with them.

And if you remember,

a couple weeks ago,

we looked at chapter 19,

verses 4 through 6,

where God comes to Moses

and says,

remember how I bore you out of Egypt.

Remember how I delivered you from slavery.

Now I am calling you

to be my people,

to be a kingdom of priests

in this world for me.

And I will be your God

and you will be my people.

And this is the setup for then

the giving of the Ten Commandments.

These grand principles

on how God's people are to live,

to be a kingdom of priests,

to reflect God in the world.

And then as we keep going,

we're now in this section

in chapters 21 through 24,

usually called the Book of the Covenant,

which is this, again,

dipping into God's instruction

to his people

about how to live as his people.

Last week, if you were here,

Greg dove into a whole series

of different sections

in 20 and 21,

that are in 21 and 22,

I'm sorry,

which were primarily case law, right?

If this happens,

this is how you ought to respond.

One of the things

that Greg said last week

is that the laws were given

to God's people

so that they might know

how to live in a fallen world.

We can always mistake,

we can fall into the mistake

of thinking that the laws

were given to establish an ideal.

And there are ideals

and there are principles

and there are characteristics

of God and his people

that come through the law.

But the law is actually given

to people who live

in a fallen world

and who battle against sin.

And what you'll see

in our passage today

is that that continues.

We're no longer in case law.

We're now,

the formal word

that you read in seminaries

is apodictic,

which basically,

as far as I can tell,

means instructional law.

This is what you ought to do,

period.

And as you walk through it,

as we walk through it,

you will see,

and I just want you

to give a tick now.

As we read the passage

in just a second,

I want you to think,

if there were no sin

in the world,

would we need these laws?

So, I just want to put that

in your mind

so that as we're thinking

about it,

so that you'll understand

that this is God's instruction

to us living

in a fallen world,

giving us some direction

on how to do this.

And what we will see

in this passage

is an answer to the question,

how does God want us

to respond to the vulnerable

and the weak among us?

So, let's read the passage together.

Starting in chapter 22,

verse 21,

let's read together.

This is God's word.

You shall not wrong

a sojourner

or oppress him,

for you were sojourners

in the land of Egypt.

You shall not mistreat

any widow

or fatherless child,

if you do mistreat them

and they cry out to me,

I will surely hear their cry

and my wrath will burn

and I will kill you

with the sword

and your wives

shall become widows

and your children fatherless.

If you lend to any

of my people

with you who is poor,

you shall not be like

the money lender to him

and you shall not exact

interest from him.

If ever you take

your neighbor's cloak

and pledge,

you shall return it

to him before the sun

goes down,

for that is his only covering

and it is his cloak

for his body.

In what else

shall he sleep?

And if he cries to me,

I will hear,

for I am compassionate.

You shall not revile God

nor curse a ruler

of your people.

You shall not delay

to offer from the fullness

of your harvest

and from the outflow

of your presses.

The firstborn of your son

shall be given,

the firstborn of your son,

you shall give to me.

You shall do the same

with your oxen

and with your sheep.

For seven days

it shall be with its mother

and on the eighth day

you shall give it to me.

You shall be consecrated to me.

Therefore,

you shall not eat any flesh

that is torn

by beasts in the field.

You shall throw it

to the dogs.

You shall not spread

a false report.

You shall not join hands

with a wicked man

to be a malicious witness.

You shall not fall in

with the many

to do evil.

Nor shall you bear witness

in a lawsuit

siding with the many

so as to pervert justice.

Nor shall you be partial

to a poor man

in his lawsuit.

If you meet

your enemy's ox

or his donkey

going astray,

you shall bring it back to him.

If you see the donkey

of one who hates you

lying down

under its burden,

you shall refrain

from leaving him with it.

You shall rescue it

with him.

You shall not pervert

the justice due

to your poor

in his lawsuit.

Keep far

from a false charge

and do not kill

the innocent

and righteous

for I will not acquit

the wicked.

And you shall take

no bribe

for a bribe

blinds the clear-sighted

and subverts

the cause of those

who are in the right.

You shall not oppress

a sojourner.

You know the heart

of a sojourner

for you were sojourners

in the land of Egypt.

Let's pray

and ask God's help

to understand this passage.

Lord, we thank you

this morning

for your word.

Lord, we thank you

that it teaches us

about you

and the character

of who you are

and Lord,

also how you instruct us

and teach us

and call us

to be a people

Lord,

set apart for you

that we might reflect you

and display you

in this world.

Lord, thank you

for the grace

that you have shown us

in Christ

that we might be

your people.

We pray this morning

for your help

as we listen

to your word.

Lord, may you open

our hearts

to receive your word.

Will you awaken

our minds

to understand it?

Lord, will you move

our hands

to obey it?

We pray these things

in Jesus' name.

Amen.

All right.

So, just one more comment

as Greg mentioned

last time.

You know,

this wouldn't have been

the section of Scripture

I would have picked

to preach on this morning.

Like, oh,

let's preach on these ones.

But because we're committed

to preaching

through the Scriptures

and believing

that it has good for us,

that all Scripture

is God-breathed

and is profitable for us,

so we preach through

and we come to this passage

and we think,

what does this have to say to us?

So, we're going to try

to break it down,

the process this morning.

We're going to first

look at the meaning

of the passage.

The second,

we're going to look

at its application

for us as a church.

And third,

we're going to look

at how it connects us

with the gospel

of Jesus Christ.

So, that's basically

what we're doing.

And as we look

at the passage,

I don't know

if you noticed it,

but it has actually

a really beautiful structure.

It has bookends,

it has a center,

and then it has

everything else.

And the bookends,

the starting place,

is this comment

about being a sojourner.

This comment about being,

he says,

you remember

that you were

a sojourner in Egypt,

and therefore,

you ought to

not oppress

or treat badly

a sojourner among you.

Now, a sojourner,

and this is someone

who lived in another land,

someone who,

in an agricultural context,

living in a foreign land,

meant that you often

had no access

to owning your own land

or to cultivating it.

It meant you had

no place in the society,

often legally.

Think about Ruth

in Israel,

or think about Daniel

in Babylon.

These are people

in different parts

of scripture

who were these,

who had moved

and settled

in a different place,

but who were outsiders.

They were resident aliens,

might be the technical

immigration term

that we might use today.

They've moved to live

and to reside,

but they were not

fully citizens.

And so,

God reminds them,

this is what happened

to you.

You moved to Egypt,

and you lived there

for 400 years.

And though initially

you were welcomed

and accommodated

and blessed

by the Egyptians,

over time,

it turned sour,

and you were oppressed,

and you were beaten

such that you cried

out to the Lord

to rescue you

from slavery

and from oppression.

God says to his people,

you remember

what it's like

when those in power

took advantage of you.

So,

you now,

as my people,

need to remember

that I'm a God

who rescues people

from that kind

of situation.

So,

you must be one

who does not

persist in that

fallen pattern

that our world

is so prone to

where those in power

take advantage

of those who don't,

but instead,

you are to treat

them well.

You are to treat

them rightly.

This is the basic command,

and this is the book

end of this whole section.

And I think it's

very instructive

because I think

what we see is that

in all of these

different laws,

the vulnerable

are being exposed

for their vulnerability,

and the command

is to God's people,

don't take advantage

of the situations

where they,

in their vulnerability,

could be abused

or taken advantage of.

And why is this?

Well,

the bookends

lead us to the center.

The very center

of this passage

is actually verse 31.

Look with me again

at it.

And it's kind of

an odd verse.

I want to just look

at the first sentence

of it to clarify

because the rest of it

is a little odd.

But the very center

of this is this idea.

You shall be

consecrated to me.

Consecrated is one

of those religious words

that we use a lot.

We talk about it a lot.

What does it mean?

Well,

what it really means

is to be set apart.

It's actually related

to the word holy

that we read

in 1 Peter earlier.

It's this idea

that rather than

something being

common every day

or sort of mundane,

something that is

set apart

or consecrated

is particularly

belonging to

a sphere of things

that have been

dedicated to God

and set apart

for his purposes

in the world.

And the connection

between the bookends

and the center

is very clear.

God says to his people,

I have rescued you

from slavery

and from oppression

and made you

my people

so that I'm going

to set you apart

from all the other

nations of the world

so that you may be

the place

where I will display

what kind of God

I am in the world.

And so you are

to be distinct

and different

from the people

around you

by following my laws

and by displaying

my character,

particularly in this context,

by how you treat

the vulnerable.

That's the heart of it.

Now, in the surrounding verses

right around verse 31,

you have a couple of things.

He says,

in this heart,

in this,

the core of this consecration

is that you've got

to put me first

in your identity

and in your lifestyle.

And so,

that means you put me first

by honoring the authorities

that I set over you.

First of all,

myself,

don't revile God

and also the governments

that are put over you.

Don't revile,

or the leaders

that are put over you.

Don't revile those

because I have put them

in place.

And then he goes on

and he talks about,

if you look in verses

29 through 30,

this nod towards

the idea of the first fruits,

the first fruits of our life,

the best things,

the most important things,

the richest parts,

go to God.

We give them,

we dedicate

our firstborn children,

we dedicate

our first oxen

and our first sheep

and the first fruit

of our harvest.

And all of these things

as an expression

of our consecration,

God,

we are your people.

This is what he's instructing

the nation of Israel

to do.

In fact,

he even gives a nod

towards the Passover,

it seems,

the eighth day.

Seven days,

the baby shall stay

with its mother,

but then on the eighth day,

remember circumcision

was meant to be done

on the eighth day

as a sign of setting

a human male child apart

for God

and to be a part

of God's covenant community.

And there's a nod

even to that idea

in the setting apart

of the animals

on the eighth day

rather than on the first.

Briefly,

I need to say something

about the rest of 31,

don't I?

Okay,

what's the world

about the dogs?

So,

you know,

I'll be honest with you,

commentators have some

really interesting ideas

about this.

I think the clearest

and easiest

understanding of this

is that

when God

calls his people

to be set apart,

there's a whole

sacrificial system

that he puts in place

and in that sacrificial system,

the meaning of life

and death

and the significance

of blood

in that life

and death picture

is so important

that he instructs them

in other places

to not eat meat

that still has the blood.

You're supposed to drain

the blood from something

before you eat it.

Now,

if you come across

an animal

that's been killed

in the wilderness

by dogs,

that has not been

properly treated,

that is,

set apart,

you have not followed

the way that God

has honored

the significance

of life and death

in the sacrificial system

and pointing ahead

to the life and death

of Jesus

and the shedding

of his blood

for us.

And therefore,

though it might be

really tempting

to pick up a piece

of roadkill

and take it home

and put it on the barbecue,

God says,

no,

don't do that

because that's not,

that's not,

that's not respecting

life and death

the way my people

are supposed to.

That's my best guess.

It's a,

you know,

65% read on it

so you can argue

with me later

if you want to.

But,

so,

the bookends are

you've been sojourners,

God's rescued you.

The center is

you've been set apart

to be my people

and this then flows

into all of the other commands,

the ethics.

And in this section

in particular,

what God is saying is

the way you are

to be set apart

and distinct

is by the way

you treat people

who are weak

and vulnerable.

Widows

and fatherless.

Particularly

in a patriarchal society.

Particularly

in an agricultural society

where a strong back

would have been

an important thing.

Widows

and children

are particularly

vulnerable.

This is not

actually

uncommon,

this is true

throughout human history.

and God

comes

and he says

to his people,

you must not

treat them

badly.

You may not

mistreat them.

Why?

Because I will

hear their cries.

Because I am a God

who is a compassionate God.

And in fact,

I will bring

vengeance on you

if you treat

these

the least of them,

these the vulnerable,

poorly.

I will bring

that back

upon your head.

It's fascinating

in the law.

It doesn't say

the law is going

to kick in

and bring punishment.

God just says

if you do this

I will come

and bring punishment

upon you.

It's a powerful

statement.

It says

God is reminding

them

I have a special

care

so you ought

to as well.

what did that

mean

in that culture?

Well,

it might have

meant providing

food.

It might have

meant

giving them

a place

to stay.

It might have

meant

giving them

a place

to work

for a child

growing up.

It might have

meant all sorts

of things

to care for them.

What it did

mean is

don't take

advantage

of them.

don't take

advantage

of their

desperation

to make

them your

servants

or your

slaves.

Don't take

advantage

of their

desperation

leading to

sexual immorality.

Don't take

advantage

of them

by

making

them

do your

bidding

but think

about how

to treat

them well

with honor

and be a

blessing

to them.

He then

goes on

he talks

about the

poor.

He says

don't charge

them interest

because someone

who's already

struggling to

have enough

money

can't afford

to be taken

advantage of

by having to

pay great

interest

for a

loan.

He goes

on and he

says

and if he

gives you

his cloak

as a

surety

right

literally

the jacket

off his

back

he's saying

the coat

off his

back

I'm giving

it to

you

for a

loan

seemingly

for a

day

whoever

would offer

that has

nothing else

to give

right

as a

down payment

or as a

as a

pledge

that he

will fulfill

paying back

the loan.

God

comes and

says don't

take advantage

of that

man.

Don't let

him suffer

at the end

of the day

by keeping

his coat

but give it

back to him

so that he

will live

so that he

can wrap

himself up

in it.

There's a

dignity

that's being

extended

towards someone

in a

vulnerable

position.

God

says this

is how

you ought

to be.

He then

goes on

beginning

of chapter

23

he talks

about the

courtroom

and I

wrestled

with this

for a

while.

Why the

courtroom?

Why does

he talk

about false

testimony?

Then I

thought about

it a little

bit from

the position

of those

who feel

powerless

in society

who feel

like they're

on the

margins

who don't

have access

to the

corridors

of power

and the

influence

of those

who are

well situated

and I

realized

yeah

that's

exactly

right.

The courts

are a

place where

in theory

justice

is done

but in

reality

when we

look at

life in

a fallen

world

how easy

is it

for these

systems to

actually go

wrong?

And this

law doesn't

condemn the

justice system

it just

says when

you're engaging

in the

justice system

when you're

engaging in

it do

it right.

Don't fall

into the

temptation

of using

the power

that you

have to

take advantage

of others.

In 23.2

it says

resist

resist the

power of

peer pressure.

Everyone else

says he's

guilty.

Well

alright I'll

testify he's

guilty too.

I don't

know anything

about it

but sure

I'll do

that.

Maybe you

remember the

case I just

came up

recently the

case of

the five

or six

youths in

Central Park

who were

convicted for

attacking a

woman jogger.

Twelve years

later they were

exonerated but

in the meantime

the justice

system put them

in jail because

they assumed

that these

teenagers

who didn't

have an

alibi

and probably

weren't quite

doing the

right thing

but didn't

do this

wrong thing

went to

jail.

And people

went along

with the

crowd because

there was a

lot of

peer pressure

to get

something done.

And it

took a long

time for

justice to

actually work

its way

out.

We need to

recognize that

this can be

true.

God says

recognize the

power of

peer pressure

recognize the

power of

words.

When you

speak you

must be

careful to

speak only

what is

true.

Do not

let your

words,

your

accusations,

your

insinuations,

your testimony

be false

for the

sake of

manipulating the

justice system

for a

desired result.

that's what

he's saying

in this

passage.

And he

goes on

and he

talks about

bribes.

Beware the

power of

money.

Recognize how

easily money

perverts is

the word he

uses.

Twists the

corridors of

power in a

courtroom.

God says

my people are

to stand for

truth and for

righteousness.

And they

need to be

wise to

recognize how

these power

power dynamics

can be used

in a

courtroom

unrighteously

and they

need to

resist it.

You need

to say

do not

do this.

Finally,

in verses

4 and 5

of chapter

23,

you see

God saying

and you

are to

do good

to your

enemy.

And recognize,

Greg mentioned

this last

week that

there are

places in

the law

where it

just says

don't do

things.

But here

it's actually

a requirement.

It is to

say when

you see

your enemy's

ox,

don't just

walk by

and say,

oh look,

there's Bob's

car broken

down by the

side of the

road.

Oops.

Well,

Bob ruined

my lawn

last year,

so I don't

care.

I'm just

going to

keep going.

He says

no,

when you

see the

ox,

you have

to return

it.

And when

you see

his donkey

crushed

under its

load,

you go

and you

help him

so that

the donkey

can stand

and so

that the

load

can be

borne.

God

says if

you're

going to

be set

apart,

you're

going to

love

even

those

who

hate

you

when

they

are in

a

vulnerable

or a

needy

position.

This

is what

it means

to be

God's

people,

he says.

To be

set apart,

to be

my

priests

in this

world

is to

not

take

advantage

of those

who are

vulnerable,

to not

harden

your heart

against

them,

nor to

simply

stand

by and

say,

it's a

fallen

world,

I know

it's

really

hard,

good luck

with that,

but to

actually

engage

properly

and

powerfully

and

meaningfully

in

blessing

and

helping

fighting

against

injustice,

showing

care

and

compassion

and

doing

what

is

right

even

when

it's

costly.

Israel

would have

been a

wonderful

place

to live

if these

things had

actually been

true,

wouldn't

it have?

People

would have

come

to the

nation

because it

was a

place

where they

know

this is

where

they would

have been

treated

well.

So this

is what

God has

called his

people to,

to be set

apart.

This is the

meaning of

the passage

as we've

seen it

in its

original

context

of Israel,

the nation

state that

God is

creating

and leading

to establish

in the

promised

land.

This leads

us to

our second

point and

our second

question,

which is,

okay,

so how

do we

understand

how to

apply this

today?

And we're

going to

keep saying

this so

that hopefully

it will

just soak

in,

right?

The major

thing we

want to

say is you

cannot draw

simple straight

lines from

the Old

Testament law

to our

context today,

but we need

to think

carefully about

what God

has done.

In the Old

Testament,

Israel was a

nation state,

and these

were laws

governing how

that nation

state was

to inhabit a

physical place

in a physical

government and

a physical

society.

Now,

what we see

in the sweep

of history

is that

with the

coming of

Christ,

God's

people moves

from this

identity of

being a

nation state

to being a

transnational,

international,

multi-ethnic

body that

does not have

a government

and does not

have a land

per se.

but lives

in all

lands so

that people

from every

tribe and

tongue will

come and

worship Jesus

so that the

kingdom of

God will

extend to

the ends

of the

earth.

And because

of this,

we need to

not draw a

straight line

from the

Old Testament

laws to,

for instance,

our governmental

laws today.

It does not

mean that it

doesn't say

anything to

that.

It may say

lots of

things.

It may

give us

principles and

characteristics that

are going to be

good for our

government and

for our

country.

It may reflect

ways in which

as much as the

kingdom of God

will come on

this earth as

it is in

heaven, it

will be a

blessing to

our world.

But as we

think particularly

about this issue

of how do we

think about God's

care, God's

people caring for

the vulnerable and

the weak,

think, let's

look at a

couple of

thoughts about

how we want to

think about that

in principle and

in practice here

at Trinity.

First of all,

Galatians 6.10

says this,

so then as we

have opportunity,

let us do good

to everyone and

especially to those

who are of the

household of faith.

And John 13.35

says, by this,

all people will

know that you are

my disciples if you

have love for one

another.

one of the

really interesting

things is as you

get technically

into the definition

of sojourner and

part of what you

see is that the

sojourner has

actually become a

part of the people

of Israel.

When they've come

and dwelt in the

land, they've

actually said, I

will submit to the

laws.

They might be

called proselytes,

those who have

converted to Judaism.

It seems that that's

the primary meaning

of that word as

it's used throughout

the Old Testament.

And this points us

ahead to what we

see in the New

Testament, which is

that our first

application of this

principle needs to

be in the church.

God's people must

love the vulnerable

and the weak among

us in our church,

first and foremost.

I'm thankful for this

church because I see

it.

Because I see you

loving one another

and caring for one

another.

I see you reaching

out.

I see you sacrificially

giving of your time

and of your money and

of your resources to

love one another in

many ways.

I see us living

out the principle

that we would be a

church that loves the

least of these among

us.

We must still ask

ourselves, is there

more for us to do?

Do we really embody

this as fully as we

might?

Is there more for us

to grow?

How are we doing at

caring for the widows

among us?

How are we doing

coming alongside the

single mothers?

How many of us are

coming out of jail and

putting our lives back

together?

About some of our

elderly.

I think of the

internationals.

Many of you have come

and are sojourners in

America.

In this sense.

And you are even

sojourners in our

church.

And it feels

different.

I know what it's

like to have been on

the other end.

To move to another

country and to go to

church in places where

lots of things were

unfamiliar.

And I've experienced

the church showing a

kind of hospitality and

a warmth and a

welcome.

I pray that would be

true for us.

pastor Greg prayed

earlier for the

overseas ministry

study center.

Our partnership with

them is an opportunity

for us to love people

from all over the world

who come to New Haven

for a time of rest and

refreshment and renewal.

And every year we have

people from OMSC who are

part of our congregation.

I pray and hope that you

would look for them.

Look to get to know

them and to welcome

them and to care for

them.

I think that our

tendency in our

culture today is less

to truly mistreat

people as much as it is

to just ignore them.

I think it's easier for

us to just see the

people who are like us

who are easy to relate

to because of that and

to gravitate towards

those relationships.

One of the observations

that I make about our

church often is that and

maybe you can test and

see if this is true.

Almost everyone I talk

to who's been a part of

this church for a little

while says well this

church is for and then

they name some group that

they're not a part of.

It's for the university.

It's for the town.

It's for the marriage

with children.

It's for the university

singles.

It's for the and it goes

on and on and everyone

feels like they're an

outsider and a minority

in this church.

And part of that is

because of the blessed

diversity that we have

that we have all these

different people in our

church.

But let me simply

disabuse you of there

is no core at least

that I understand in this

church.

church.

All of us need to

continue to reach out

to one another.

To continue to show

hospitality.

To continue to look for

those who are weak and

vulnerable and to welcome

them and to care for them.

I think however it's a

mistake to see that the

only application of this is

in our church.

Because I do believe that

there's a very clear call

for us to not only do

this within our church

and first and foremost

in our church as Galatians

6 says.

But also to do good to

the world.

To be the neighbor.

To love our neighbor.

Not just in the church

but in the world.

That this is what God has

called his people to do.

So how do we do that?

How do we in our culture

today think about the

vulnerable and the weak?

I'm just going to run

through, rattle off a

list of opportunities

that you might think

about.

You could get involved in

caring for the unborn

and unwanted babies

by connecting with the

Hopeline Pregnancy Resource

Center in Connecticut.

You could get involved as

some of our, in our

congregation have in foster

care and adoption to

care for children without

families that are able to

take care of them.

You can get involved in

ministries that are working

to stop the sex trafficking

that's happening in the

world.

Love 146 is a great

organization and it's based

here.

If you don't know more

about it, it's a great

organization working to be

involved in rescuing those

who have been enslaved into

this terrible, terrible

abuse of the week.

If you don't know it, New

Haven is a refugee

resettlement city.

One of the designated ones.

There's a ministry here

called Iris that helps

called, shoot, I forgot it.

International refugee

resettlement.

Oh, okay.

Greg can tell you what it is

afterwards.

But it's, but they do

great work and we've had

people in our congregation

who've been a part of what

they do in helping resettle

people from some of the

hardest places who are

seeking asylum, who are

refugees from situations of

political or social

oppression.

We have an opportunity to

welcome sojourners into our

city.

Not only OMSC, but I don't

know if you know this, but

every Sunday afternoon

there's an Eritrean and

Ethiopian congregation that

meets in our church

downstairs.

An outreach to the

immigrant community from

that country.

If you ever go up on

Prospect Street at 10

o'clock on a weekday

morning, you will find

that if you don't speak

Mandarin, you may have a

hard time having

conversations with people

up there.

Because there's a huge

community of overseas

Chinese who are here

studying.

And their grandparents are

here taking care of their

kids.

And we have a

partnership with Calvary

Baptist Church here in

New Haven, a Chinese

church.

Reaching out to Chinese

speaking.

Sojourners in our city.

Friends, there are other

ways for us to care for

those in our city who are

in need.

The children, the mentoring

program that's run through

Bridges of Hope is a great

opportunity.

And I'm proud of our church

for the number of people

who have gotten involved.

But there's still a need.

As you're thinking about

your investment for next

fall, think about being a

mentor and investing in the

lives of some of these

kids.

Think about being involved

in the Christian Tabernacle

Summer Camp program this

summer.

Greg mentioned it earlier.

There's a mention in the

program about it.

You have an opportunity to

volunteer and to be a part

of that outreach to the

Newhallville community

through in partnership with

Christian Tabernacle Church.

church.

And friends, every Wednesday

night there are a small

group of people from this

church who go to Columbus

House to meet, to love, to

give dignity to those who are

in transition, who are at

present without a home.

home.

You can be involved in that.

There are great opportunities

for you to take steps to show

God's care for the vulnerable in

our city.

May it start here in our

household, but may it expand and

overflow into our city so that

people might know what kind of

God we serve.

Now look, none of us can do all

of this.

Most of us could only do one of

these.

But that's okay.

If each of us said, what will

you be involved in?

How will you show God's heart?

How will you not allow the

fullness and the busyness of

your own life that's centered

around you to blind you to the

opportunities and to the call

that God has put on your life?

To be God's priest in this

world.

To be holy as God is holy, set

apart by his compassion and his

love for the vulnerable.

Friends, this is how we ought to

think about it in our church and

in our culture today.

But then how do we connect this

with the gospel?

Well, we know this clearly.

There's a consistent pattern that

God's laws are instructions to us

to live a particular way because

of what God has done for us.

And friends, what this passage

reminds us is that spiritually,

fundamentally, we know that we

too were sojourners.

That is, we were alienated from the

kingdom of God and outsiders because

of our own sin.

Because of our sin and rebellion and