Love Your Neighbor as Yourself, Part 2

Colin Smith: I came away from the Daley Center folks, very thankful for the law, but more convinced than ever that this city, so awash with greed, desperately needs the gospel. The law won't change the greed that is in the human heart.
Guest (Male): Welcome to *Open the Bible Weekend* with Pastor Colin Smith. Colin, for those who live outside the Chicago area, the Daley Center that you mentioned is a government building in downtown Chicago. I'm hoping that you were there for jury duty.
Colin Smith: That's exactly right, and I’m glad to serve in that way. It was another case of one company trying to get a lot of money out of another company. The world never changes. We are looking today at the book of Deuteronomy and the kindly laws that God put in there because God's people are called to be a compassionate society. It's fascinating. Deuteronomy has these laws that actually place restraint on greed, and they give a break to the poorest people in the land. They speak powerfully to our culture today, and yet here's the problem: laws can't change the human heart. Only Jesus Christ can do that. That's why we're going to see that God gives these laws, and even his own people ignore them because actually, they're going to be pretty costly to keep.
Guest (Male): Well, we are in Deuteronomy 15. So, if you can, grab a Bible and join us there as we continue the message, "Love Your Neighbor as Yourself." Here is Pastor Colin.
Colin Smith: I want us to see here what we learn about the stubbornness of God's people. Remember that these are the words of Moses, and that he is speaking here in Deuteronomy both as the lawgiver and also as a preacher. The two are mixed together. If you look at chapter 15, for example, you will see that there are two specific laws. The first one is in verse one, where every seven years you must cancel debt. The second one is in verse 11, at the end of the section we read: "Therefore I command you to be open-handed towards your brothers, towards the poor and the needy in your land." There are two commands. The second one is repeated in verse eight. But between these two commands, Moses is preaching. He's preaching to the people about how it's not enough to have great laws that are given by God; you have to have a right heart. Otherwise, life is going to implode, even for the people of God. Notice that Moses warns them about four dangers. Verse seven: the first is a hard heart. "If there is a poor man among your brothers, do not be hard-hearted." Then verse seven: a closed hand. "Do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted. Rather, be open-handed and freely lend your brother whatever he needs." Verse nine: there's the hard heart, there's the closed hand, and there's the wicked thought. "Be careful that you do not harbor this wicked thought." Here's the potential lender, and he's harboring this wicked thought: "The seventh year, the year of canceling debts, is near, so that you do not show ill will towards your needy brother and give him nothing." He's got the capacity to help his brother, and he's thinking, "It's year six. Am I sure I'm going to get this back?" He's no longer operating on the manner of kindness, which is what these laws are all about. God says to be very careful you don't have this wicked thought. Did that thought occur to you? It occurred to me. If you say it wouldn't occur to you, I don't believe you. You'd think it. What you do and what I do, well, maybe that's another question. Fourthly: a grudging spirit. Verse 10: "Give generously to him, and do so without a grudging heart." Indeed, that comes over into the New Testament in a phrase that we know well. The New Testament version of that is: "God loves a cheerful giver." Now, you see what Moses is doing here? Moses is saying, "There are these wonderful laws that I received directly from the finger of God." Moses went up Mount Sinai. God's immediate presence came down, and Moses received the most perfect laws that could ever be given, or have ever been given, in human society. But law has its limit. Every law has a loophole. There is no law to which some person with an ingenious mind and a hard heart can't find a way around it. Moses is saying, "I'm giving you the very law of God, but it will not be of much use to you if you have a hard heart, and you have a closed hand, and you have a wicked thought, and you have a grudging spirit." Here's the law of God himself, and Moses is saying that if you have a hard heart, you could sin against God even while you're keeping it. This is why in the New Testament we have this very clear teaching. It speaks about what the law cannot do because it is weakened by the sinful nature. The law can't change the heart. Good laws only work well where there is a heart that reflects the spirit that is behind them. That is what Moses is saying. We've seen the bounty of God's provision, the kindness of his law, and the stubbornness of the human heart. But we cannot look at this scripture without seeing the glory of God's Son. As you get your mind around these laws, here's the obvious question: would you have liked to live under these laws? You have to think about that because if you're a borrower, it's great. If you're in grinding poverty, you get this relief. But what if you're a lender? These laws were great for debtors who were unable to repay, but very, very tough on those who had provided a loan in the first place. God gave these wonderful laws as a brake on acquisition and as a relief in relation to those who had least. But how often do you think these laws were actually kept? One thing to write them in a book; another thing to put them into practice. D.A. Carson says the extent to which these statutes were ever enacted is disputed, but there is very little evidence that they became widely observed in public law in the Promised Land. Are you surprised? Why would they not be enacted in public law in the Promised Land? The answer is very simple: the people who had the power to proclaim the year of release never had the will to do so. It would have been too costly. So the history of Israel, despite the abundant provision of God and despite the kindliness of God's law for the relief of poverty, because of human sinfulness, the history of Israel, like the history of the rest of the world, has been one of continuing frustration for the poor. That is why it is so striking, and it must have hit folks absolutely between the eyes, when the Lord Jesus Christ begins his public ministry. In Luke chapter four, verses 18 and 19, his first public utterances, the Lord Jesus says, "The Spirit of the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor." Then he says this: "To release the oppressed." That word release is directly back to Deuteronomy chapter 15. "I'm bringing the release, the canceling, the freeing, the unshackling that is spoken of in Deuteronomy chapter 15 and verse one, and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor," which of course was the Jubilee year. The Lord Jesus says, "This is what I've come to do." God is saying, "I am going to do for you what you have not done for each other. I've come to release you from an eternally crippling debt towards God." Of course, there was only one way in which that could happen. If someone owes you $1,000 and you release the debt, guess what you're down by? $1,000. You incur the loss in yourself. And so when Jesus goes to the cross, what is he doing? He is bearing our debt before God in himself. He bears our sins in his body on the tree. He assumes the loss, and in that way, he cancels our debt. Now he offers this release to all who will come to him in faith and in repentance. He offers it to you today: the release of your eternal debt before God, a full pardon paid for by his shed blood on the cross. God is saying, "I am doing for you what you have not done for each other." Jesus says, "I have come to proclaim the release. This is good news. This is eternal good news. The time for canceling debts has been proclaimed."
Guest (Male): You're listening to *Open the Bible Weekend* with Pastor Colin Smith and a message called "Love Your Neighbor as Yourself." It's part of our series, *Take Two: The Power of a Fresh Start*. It's our look at the book of Deuteronomy. If you ever miss a broadcast in our series, come and listen online at openthebible.org. There you can stream the program or download an MP3 for free. You can also listen through the free Open the Bible app, which you'll find at your app store. Let's get back to the message. Again, here is Pastor Colin.
Colin Smith: Look at the words in verse 11 for just a moment. I'm sure they'll seem familiar to you. "There will always be poor people in the land." It's a striking contrast to verse four, where God says there should be no poor in the land. There is no reason for it because of the abundance of provision, but because of human greed, here's what will be. Not what should be, but what will be: "There will always be poor people in the land." Now, if you recognize these words, you will probably recognize them because Jesus quoted them when Mary poured an expensive jar of perfume over the Lord before his crucifixion. You remember that Judas criticized and said, "Why wasn't this perfume sold and why wasn't the money used to give to the poor?" You remember that Jesus defended Mary's action, and he said in John 12:8, "You will always have the poor among you," quoting from Deuteronomy 15, "but you will not always have me." Now, I mention this because some people have abused these words of Jesus. They say, "Well, Jesus said the poor you'll have with you always," and they say it with a shrug. "The poor you'll have with you always, so what can we do about it? It's just a fact of life," as if it were part of being Christian to sort of walk away from it. That is why it is so important for us to read this verse today in full because the context in Deuteronomy chapter 15 is the only way in which we can understand the words that our Lord Jesus Christ quoted and what he meant by them. Look at the verse in full: "There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be open-handed towards your brothers and towards the poor and the needy in your land." So anytime these words of our Lord Jesus are quoted—"the poor you will have with you always"—remember where they come from. It is not, "Hey, there'll always be poor, so we can't do anything." It is: "There will always be people in need, so God says I command you to be generous." That's the lesson. And this culture of kindness is a distinctive calling of the church of our Lord Jesus Christ today. Jesus Christ has released us from a debt to God that we had no means we could possibly repay. His Spirit, the Spirit of this Jesus, lives within his people. Acts of kindness that help people in great need have been, from Acts chapter two onwards, a distinctive of the church of Jesus Christ. Kindness is to be shown to all people. But I want you to notice in both Old Testament and New Testament that God calls us to acts of kindness especially among his own people. Notice how often the word "brother" is used here in chapter 15. Verse two: "Cancel the loan to your fellow Israelite." Verse two: "You shall not require payment from your fellow Israelite or brother." Verse four: "There are to be no poor among you." Verse seven: "If there is a poor man among your brothers." Verse nine: "Do not show ill will towards your needy brother." Verse 11: "I command you to be open-handed towards your brother." It makes you think of that question back in Genesis: "Am I my brother's keeper?" You know the answer to that? No. You're your brother's brother, right? You are your brother's brother, and he's your brother. The Lord is saying here in Deuteronomy, "Remember that there is a special bond in the family of God. Your brother is your brother." Is that in the New Testament as well? Yes, it is. While kindness is to be shown to all people, a special priority is to be given to the family of God. Galatians chapter six and verse 10: "Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people"—there's the all people—but notice what comes next: "especially to those who belong to the family of believers." One way in which we do this in our church here is through the benevolent fund, which you give to after we have communion on the first weekend of every month. We use that, and it's being greatly used, especially in these times, much more than five or 10 years ago. It is used to help people both within the fellowship, and it is also used to help large numbers of people who come here every week and receive help through the kindness and ministry of our laypeople who do a marvelous job of serving in these ways. But I want you to understand this very clearly. That is only a very small part of it. The larger part by far is in the quiet acts of kindness that take place every week between one believer and another, one family and another, to the praise and the glory of God. I tell you, things happen in the body of Christ that don't happen anywhere else, and it is wonderful to see the body of Christ in action. I hope, just as we think about the ways in which we have been blessed by others, that it will encourage us to reflect kindness into the lives of others. "Freely you have received," Jesus says, "freely give." I don't often tell personal stories, but in these last moments, let me just tell you one thing that was huge that happened to Karen and to myself. Whenever I think about it, it still moves my heart with thanksgiving. Coming to this country was a big stretch for us. Many of you who have come this way know exactly what I mean. Moving to another country, you begin life again. We worked out what we felt that we were looking for in a home and what kind of mortgage we could afford, and it didn't add up. Then I was told in a phone call that someone in the church had offered to give us an interest-free loan of $50,000 to help us buy a home when we came to America. I had never met this person. Nothing like that had ever happened in my life before or since. I asked how long the loan would be for. The answer: "Repay it when you can." No paperwork. No schedule. It was amazing. We received the loan gratefully and took out a mortgage, put in our savings, and bought the house that is still our home today. So now we had two loans: one from a mortgage company bearing interest, and one interest-free with no repayment date. When someone shows you kindness, it will always test your heart. Always. I said to Karen, "We have been shown an extraordinary kindness. After our giving to the Lord, our first priority must be to repay the kindness that has been shown to us." By the way, your first priority is always your giving to the Lord. If you're steaming into your mortgage and so proud about it, but you're doing it at the expense of giving to the Lord, and you're saying, "Oh, one day in the future I'll be generous," that day will not come. There will always be another thing. Generosity is the habit of a heart developed over a lifetime. So we established our giving, started paying what we needed to on the mortgage, pulled in our belts, and made a plan to repay the extraordinary kindness in as short a period as we possibly could. In God's goodness, we managed to do that in five years. We had the joy of inviting the couple who had shown us such kindness to our home to thank them and to repay the money. A week later, *Unlocking the Bible* received a gift from the same person for $50,000. It was an early gift that established a new ministry. I was in awe. That experience has had a lasting effect on our lives. Freely, freely you have received; freely, freely give.
Guest (Male): You're listening to *Open the Bible Weekend* with Pastor Colin Smith, and our message is called "Love Your Neighbor as Yourself." It's part of our series, *Take Two: The Power of a Fresh Start*. It's our look at the book of Deuteronomy. *Open the Bible* is a listener-supported ministry. It is your generosity that allows us to bring you Pastor Colin's teaching each day. As you give a gift to *Open the Bible* this month, we want to say thank you by sending you a copy of a book written by Brad Weatherall called *Saved to Sin No More*. Colin, who is Brad Weatherall, and why should we read this book?
Colin Smith: Well, I’ve often said that we should choose books not by the title, but by the author. The reason for that, of course, is that when you read a book, you're actually reading a person. You're reading what has come out of that person. So, who has written a book is really very, very important. I'm just so glad to have the opportunity to introduce Brad Weatherall. His name may not be widely known. He is my successor as the senior pastor of The Orchard Evangelical Free Church. I served that church for 30 years. I’ve worked with Brad for more than 15. I stepped down from being the senior pastor just over a year ago to focus full-time on the ministry of *Open the Bible*. Brad is someone that I feel very, very close to and very, very confident in. He has a deep, authentic walk with the Lord. That's always the first thing you want to know about someone who you're going to read. He has a wonderful gift of preaching and a wonderful gift of writing. This is his first book, and he's chosen to write on a subject that he's studied very deeply, and it's this wonderful truth of union with Christ. I think this may be the most important and least understood doctrine in all of the Bible. People often look a bit quizzical. Union with Christ? What's that? Well, folks are going to love this compelling and clear introduction to what I think is one of the most encouraging truths in all of the Christian life.
Guest (Male): The book is called *Saved to Sin No More: How Union with Christ Empowers a Life of Holiness*. We want to send you a copy as our way of saying thank you for financially supporting *Open the Bible* this month. You can call and give over the phone. Our number is 1-877-OPEN-365, or give online at openthebible.org. For Pastor Colin Smith, I'm Steve Hiller. Thanks for listening, and I hope you'll join us next time. *Open the Bible Weekend* is a listener-supported production of *Open the Bible*.
Colin Smith: At *Open the Bible*, we're grateful for like-minded organizations committed to sharing the gospel around the world. To that end, I'd like to commend the work of Global Fingerprints. In the book of James, God calls us to help orphans in their distress. That's a clear command, but it's not always clear how we should obey it. This is where Global Fingerprints comes in. Through Global Fingerprints, you can sponsor a vulnerable child to help meet their physical needs and ensure they hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. I want to commend Global Fingerprints to you. They're focused on equipping the local church to care for children, and where there is no church, they help to plant one. If you'd like to help a vulnerable child, you can find more information on Global Fingerprints at our website, openthebible.org/gf. That's openthebible.org/gf.