Overflow

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,

Deuteronomy 15:4

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.

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 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

and again

God keeps

chasing after us

showering his

blessing on us

his grace

and forgiveness

on us

again and 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