All right, so if you picked up a sheet, you can see the basically ultra light master outline, course outline on the back. And then on the front, you can see a little Roman numeral three, which we are hoping to cover today under the nation of grace, God constituting Israel as a church and as a nation and establishing diaconal service and diaconal ministry as part of the people, as a central part of the lives of the people whom he has set apart to himself. Something that we will see continues, although the church is constituted as a church, Obviously it continues in the life of the church when we come to that part of the study. So this morning we aim in the next, Lord helping us, 28 minutes or so, to consider the poor and the slave and to some extent the sojourner. won't yield that much with the sojourner because the church is no longer constituted a nation. There is love of neighbor, but particularly the laws that were given for Israel distinguished. There was kindness to the sojourner. It was better to be a sojourner among Israel than it was to be a sojourner anywhere else. But there were distinctions that if we get far enough along this morning, we'll see this priority on brother over stranger, brother over sojourner, something that continues. The Lord using that household language with his church is very difficult. You know, once you've gone covenantal, you can never go back. Very difficult to imagine being Baptistic with the Lord saying things like, and especially to the household of faith. You know, like, oh, well, yeah. is still dealing with his church in that way. But that priority on the household of faith, that priority on the brother, the fact that corporately the church does not, in the New Testament, take care of outsiders, that that's something that believers do as love of neighbor. but that the diaconal ministry of the church is actually not for what in many congregations today is called mercy ministry to the community. Hopefully, the believers are each loving their neighbor that way, and when they come to an end of resources to be able to do so themselves, the church can help their brother or their sister in their ministry to neighbor. But now we're getting ahead of ourselves a little bit. So we're not going to do so much with the sojourner here. If we're studying Christian civil society, which would be an interesting study at some point, it's not part of the training for the diaconate, there certainly would be a desire to see what laws God gave Israel as a state with respect to the sojourners among them and what general equity of the principles of those laws. continue. If only we had that and I hope you are still praying for that and will for the rest of your life. We will not have a perfect society, whatever the Lord does, but that you would pray that we would have such a government of such a people among whom so many have been actually converted. Those in civil seats are asking reformed churches what the Bible says about how the state should be operated. Lord, give us such a day. So we're going to cover especially care for the poor, and especially among the poor, we're going to see the sojourner. In Israel, the sojourner would not be a landowner, The land being covenanted unto God and the people covenanted unto God, as we've already seen, inheritance was something that was to be kept in particular families. Not too long ago in 2 Kings, we saw that with Nabal. Just as a matter of righteousness, he couldn't do the exchange with Ahab because he wasn't free to hand over even for a better plot of land. uh, what the Lord had particularly assigned, uh, to his family. So, sojourners, uh, uh, are disadvantaged at least by the inability to own land, but, uh, by the time we come to the end of the, um, the section in Deuteronomy 15, in thinking about the slaves and the care of the slave among the Israelites, will find that they did have an opportunity to become rich, at least even in Israel. Well, first in Leviticus 25, as far as the poor are concerned, really a very important section, verses 35 to 38. If one of your brethren becomes poor and falls into poverty among you, then you shall help him, like a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you. Okay, so that was the floor. An Israelite could not end up in a worse place, at least than a stranger or a sojourner. Take no usury or interest from him, but fear your God, that your brother may live with you You shall not lend him your money for usury nor lend him your food at profit. I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God. Well, in verse 35, we have a little bit of a smooth, that English translation. If one of your brethren becomes poor and his hand shakes or stumbles among you, Now this is related to something we've already seen, that a big part of The way we think about what we have and how we obtain it and what we do with it is the fact that it is the Lord who gives us the power to make wealth and that the more the Lord blesses us, the more our remaining sin threatens us with pride in the place of ingratitude. And when pride starts to replace, or pride in the place of gratitude. When pride starts to replace thankfulness, selfishness starts to replace generosity. You know, both of those pairs go hand in hand. And in that particular text, Deuteronomy 8, 17, the one who is forgetting God and losing his thankfulness ends up saying, my might and the power of my hand has given me this wealth. Now, hopefully in those of you who have families with many children or at least many children who can toddle, you are learning the happy truth of that common proverb, not a Bible proverb, many hands make light work. Right? So you each have your chore or even better, sometimes your part in a chore that you're doing together and you're having fellowship in that and it's chore time and everybody uh, is doing their part. Uh, and as, uh, as enjoyable, you know, my favorite chores were always the ones where you could immediately see the result. You know, that instant visual gratification of the difference that it made. You know, have yourself a few kids and they will make messes that provide you with lots of opportunity for instant gratification. They can make a big difference very quickly in messing it up. And then you and they together can make a big difference very quickly in cleaning it up. Well, many hands make light work. And I hope that you brothers and sisters of one another have gotten to enjoy that. Well, here the Lord is teaching his people that many hands also make light hardship. If one of your brethren becomes poor and his hand stumbles or his hand shakes among you, then you shall help him like a stranger or a sojourner that he may live with you. There's two things going on there. One of them is location. If he's not able to sustain himself there, he might have to go somewhere else. and you don't want him to go somewhere else. You don't want him to be an Abraham or Abram at that point who's in the promised land and then there's a famine and he runs off to Egypt. You don't even want him to be Jacob who was told by God to go down to Egypt. But there's more of an implication there than location. It's also dignity. That he may live with you, that he may continue to live as one of you. One of the things that is hardest about coming into a difficult economic or financial providence is the embarrassment of it. And one of the things that often happens among those who are not a people of grace is that even as you help them, you think less of them. There's, you know, they're the ones that are getting the help and they're the ones who are giving the help. But the idea here was that he would not be even just at the level of sojourner and stranger, but that his dignity might be preserved. And this comes from that principle that we saw in Deuteronomy chapter 8, to which we just referred, that it is God who gives our hands the ability to do what they do. And so as you have that fellowship doing the chores together, many hands make light work, and you're enjoying the fact that God has given you both the duty and the ability and the brothers and sisters with whom to work. And so it's not just a fellowship with each other in which you're enjoying your relationship with one another, but as in every part of life, if we're understanding it rightly, and operating rightly in it, we're enjoying our fellowship with God. Well, what happens if your little sister or your big sister, even better, what happens if your big sister breaks her arm and she can't use her hand? You have your hands who are doing the work, but it's an opportunity from God to all pitch in together and do her part of the chore too. or her chore among the chores. And where one hand was shaken or stumbled in the providence of God, he has provided many hands around you." And so this was something that the Israelites were to see that God who gave them the land of Canaan, God who wanted them to be together, as though God in whose providence sometimes some have plenty and some have few, as we'll get to in the New Testament, the apostle encouraging different churches that are under different providence to help the ones who are in a season of want, because that comes in the providence of God, and you don't know when you will be the one who's assigned the season of want, and they will be assigned the opportunity to help you. Yes, Dave? So, here's a question I've always had and have not had. I don't know that I've arrived at a satisfactory answer. What if you have one that isn't coming with you? Let's say they lose their job. They're not able to work or they've been injured. Why don't you have responsibility for them? And then what about if there are other avenues like government assistance, how are you supposed to instruct them regarding that in the church? And what about if you have those who have Maybe they came to know the Lord later in life, and they have not done the things that require a Christian to be good stewards of their money, and so they arrive at a place in their life where they're here, they don't have time on their side to do things, to recover. What is our responsibility, and how do we handle that situation? Not all of those are answered in this particular text. We're going to answer some of those, especially when we get to Nehemiah and his conduct after the restoration of the exiles. We're definitely going to get some principles for that, especially when we get into 2 Thessalonians in the Arabic numeral three, on the larger outline. In this particular case, there's just the recognition that your hands aren't the only ones that are assigned to you, that God has assigned to us to have other hands around us, that sometimes He makes one hand to be strong while the other one is shaking or stumbling, and sometimes He makes the first hand to be shaking or stumbling while the other one is strong. And so, many hands make light hardship. There's a priority here on fearing God and therefore not taking a bite out of our brother. Again, this is a place where slightly more literal translations would help. Take no usury or interest from him. The word that's translated interest is from a root meaning increase, but the word that's translated usury is a word that has a root meaning of taking a bite out of them. And this is comparing how the flesh responds to the peril of our brother. This is our opportunity to take advantage of him. and how the renewed man in the spirit responds to the difficulty of our brother, this is an opportunity to be a blessing to him. Now, this is something that if you're thinking about, if you're learning, back to our application, with you little ones, when you see your brother or sister in a difficulty, you are going to have at least the temptation from the flesh to take advantage. Maybe the currency in your house is not financial so much as it is currying favor with mom and dad and always wanting to show one another up and maybe your sister or your brother is not doing well today or maybe even physically unwell or whatever it is and you have an opportunity either to take a bite out of them to outshine them or to be helpful to them, to help them in a way that does them good and blesses them and helps them. For instance, you might help your brother or you might help your sister with their chore and then you make sure you let everybody know that you were the one who helped and she only got done because you helped her and it got done better today than it ever has done when she does it by herself because you were involved. You can see there's like there's a taken a bite out of them even while you have the illusion of having helped them. You're really helping yourself. And there are people who, in financial circumstances, when someone is at a disadvantage and they need help, you're really helping yourself. And that can happen financially with usury or interest, trying to lend for profit in that particular case. And it also can happen with other currency as well. There's a principle there. We're gonna get to the idea of dignity in other passages. So we won't belabor that point just now. So we're definitely not going to finish a little open Roman numeral three today now. But there is the fear of God at the at the heart of this, first of all, fearing God, recognizing that it's his providence that has appointed the different roles in the current circumstances. If you're failing to fear God when you say about your own happy economic circumstances, my hand and my might and the power of my hand, You gave me this well, then you're also failing to fear God if you're not recognizing at least his His providential hand and whatever comes to your brother And we're all these we're obviously failing to fear God if we forget that we are before his face We've already looked at in exodus I Think there's 21 it might have been 22 earlier in the course, the fact that our brother or our sister is going to be talking to God about us if God's people are praying people. And if you have kept his pledge overnight and his pledge was his coat and he is freezing and she's praying and he curses you, God actually says, I won't listen to him. So remember that we are always before the face of God, even, and in this case, especially, when we are lending to our brother. It's an opportunity to imitate the Lord's redemption and mercy so that we would give our brother an occasion to bless the Lord. In the end of the text there, verse 38, I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, an act of redemption. to give you the land of Canaan, an act of mercy, and to be your God. And there's that covenantal ground of all of the godliness of our people. Because he is our God, we are to be like him. You shall be holy as I am holy. So you have all of that packed together in verse 38. We have a God who redeems us, we have a God who is generous to us, shows us mercy, and we have a God who wants us to image that in Him. And here in Leviticus 25 verses 35 to 38, he brings all of that together and he says, image him in the opportunity to spend in order to lift your brother up. Image him in doing your brother good. All of this is to be done out of the fear of God. Deuteronomy 15. Again, this is dealing with the poor. We've already had the idea of the sabbatical year in the Book of the Covenant. We're now preaching through Exodus. So I've just noted Exodus 23, 10 through 11 there. The sabbatical year there was especially having to do with the fields, that you would not continually farm the same field, but a field would get one year and seven often as we heard in the in the sermon on that text a big part of that is trusting our Our God that he is the one who has taken care of us and that he'll give us enough and that was something that That started all the way back with even before you get to Sinai The Sabbath being given at creation having a covenantal expression in the gathering of the manna the people in the wilderness remember the Lord doing multiple miracles and making sure that they would get enough for two days on the day before his Sabbath. So Deuteronomy 15 verses 1 through 11, at the end of every seven years you shall grant a release of debts and this is the form of the release. Every creditor who has lent anything to his neighbor shall release it. You shall not require it of his neighbor or his brother because it is called Yahweh's release. Of a foreigner, you may require it, but you shall give up your claim to that which is owed by your brother, except when there may be no poor among you. For Yahweh will greatly bless you in the land which Yahweh your God has given you to possess as an inheritance only if you carefully obey the voice of Yahweh your God. to observe with care all these commandments which I command you today. For Yahweh your God will bless you just as he promised you. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. You shall reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over you. If there is among you a poor man of your brethren within any of the gates in your land which Yahweh your God has given you, you shall not harden your heart nor shut your hand from your poor brother. that you shall open your hand wide to him and willingly lend him sufficient for his need, whatever he needs. Beware lest there be a wicked thought in your heart saying the seventh year, the year of release is at hand and your eye be evil against your poor brother and you give him nothing and he cry out to Yahweh against you and it becomes sin among you. You shall surely give it to him and your heart should not be grieved when you give to him because for this thing Yahweh your God will bless you in all your works and in all to which you put your hand for the poor will never cease from the land. Therefore I command you saying, you should open your hand wide to your brother, to your poor and to your needy in your land. So, There's a key verse in the middle of this text in verse 4, except when there may be no poor among you, for Yahweh your God will greatly bless you, verse 5, only if you carefully obey the voice of Yahweh your God. And then he says in verse 11, for the poor will never cease from the land. Now, are those verses in conflict with one another? And the answer always is no. If we think there's a conflict, we're missing something between one scripture and another. And in this particular case, the problem is remaining sin. There would be no poor among them if they fulfilled verse five. Only if you carefully obey the voice of Yahweh your God, observe with care all these commandments which I command you today. Remember what we saw earlier about how in the covenantal arrangement with Israel as a nation, They never just had a weather incident. Just like the environmentalists never just have a weather incident, everything is climate change. Yeah, there's climate change. God promised climate change. The seasons wouldn't stop again between the end of the flood and the return of Jesus. We have hemispheric warming on a daily basis. and seasonal and annual basis. So they're very religious about weather changes. Israel was actually supposed to be religious about their weather changes. Because whether the early rain came on time and the late rain came on time in their covenantal arrangement with God was directly tied to their national obedience or disobedience to the law of God. And so what God is saying here as part of the context of Deuteronomy 15, one through 11 is, at any given moment, if there are poor among you Israelites, it's your fault already corporately. There would not be poor among you if you were obeying God's law. Now that of course does not financially apply to the church, but it does apply to for the principle of being humble before God and seeing a do-over or a second-chance opportunity for godliness and righteousness in the existence of poor among them. Okay, so if there are poor among them, since there were never, not if, right, verse 11, since there are poor among them. The poor will never cease from among them. God's already telling them the same thing Joshua is going to tell them after they've finished conquering the land. And they say, we'll do all that Yahweh says. And Joshua says, no, actually you won't. You can't. The Lord is saying they will be disobedient. Since there will be poor among them, they are to recognize in the poor being among them an opportunity to imitate God in generosity with them And instead of the poor cursing them before the Lord, the poor would bless them before the Lord. And it would be righteousness for them that there is actually this opportunity that the Lord gives them. The language for release here is ordinary. The root of the word is dropping. With a sojourner, they didn't have to do this. Notice again the difference between the Israelite and the sojourner here. Every seventh year on the sabbatical year that the Lord gave the land, they were just to drop whatever debts there were. Just write them off with their brothers, with the Israelites. Not with the sojourner of a foreigner, verse three, you may require it, but you shall give up your claim to what is owed by your brother. Why? Because it's Yahweh's release, it's not them. It's not optional for them to drop the debt, the Lord is the one who's dropping the debt. And this opportunity that the Lord gives them then is an opportunity for new obedience. Yes, God loves the cheerful giver and he commands cheerfulness in verses seven through 11, but cheerfulness can also go hand in hand with obligation. And here they were under both, weren't they? He tells them in the first part of verses one through six, that they're under obligation to do it. And he tells them in the second part, verses seven through 11, they're also under obligation to be happy about it. Sometimes, children, I hope you never hear someone who reasons this way. But sometimes when I'm talking to somebody about something that the Bible tells them to do, they say, well, my heart isn't really into it and I don't want to be fake before God. So I'm waiting for him to, they don't say waiting, they say, I'm hoping he's gonna grow me to where I can do that from the heart and then I'll start doing it. Nope, God commands the hand. and God commands the heart, right? We see that in this passage. And you don't get out of the hand because you don't have the heart. And you don't get out of the heart just because you're already doing it with your hand. We are to do both. Do what he says and do it with the heart with which he says to do it. And if all you have is the hand and not the heart, well, praise God, we know who changes the heart and who grows the heart. We even know how he does that. And we're out of time. So we'll pick up in this section. We'll try to finish this section next week, starting with chapter 24. Our Father in heaven, help us to fear you, help us to know you, help us to see all of our life as a continual assignment of circumstances, continual opportunities to display the difference that you have made in us as your people. Now, even adopting each of us as your children and by your spirit training our hearts and our lips to call you our Abba. Lord, we pray that When you assign for the hands of our brothers or sisters to shake or to stumble, and you have at that time assigned for us to be strong hands, you would make us to rejoice in the opportunity to glorify you by lifting them up to the place of a strong-handed person by the fellowship of the brethren around them. And Lord, when our hands are the ones that have been made to shake or to stumble, we pray that you would make us not only to enjoy the dignity that our brothers and sisters give us, but the glory that comes to you by the fact that this happens among your people. Keep us from being proud poor, if that should come upon us, we pray. We do pray that you would continue to help us as we build line by line and connect, weaving together all of the instruction that precedes and supports what we are to do as your church under Christ in a world in which we are strangers and aliens. And Lord, keep preparing this congregation, we pray, for the diaconal ministry of each one and the oversight of that ministry by the men whom you give us as deacons. We ask it in Jesus name. Amen.