WHOSE RESPONSIBILITY IS IT?

SERMON STARTER

It’s the State’s Problem        

          Two incidents are on my heart this morning. One happened last night. A Wal-Mart clerk asked me if we’re having a spaghetti party because I purchased so much spaghetti and sauce. I explained that in our neighborhood, my wife and I offer an emergency food outreach to the poor. Food stamps today just don’t go far enough. People are in our midst actually are hungry and homeless.

The Wal-Mart Clerk glared at me: “It’s the state’s responsibility to feed the poor!”

I didn’t ask her what she meant, I already knew. Her remark was to cancel any guilt she might have over the need for each of us to be sensitive to the needs of disadvantaged people.

The Heartbreak of Homelessness

          The second event happened last Sunday afternoon I was awakened from my Sunday after-church nap by a doorbell ring. A man who was truly hungry had come to my door. At first I was irritated and told him I appreciated a call so I had time to prepare for him. He simply told me he had no phone.

          I invited him in and began to fill out a little simple intake information sheet. He said he resided in a tent under the Connelly Street bridge. I have been told all types of stories by professional cons looking for a sucker and an easy buck. This guy had an air of authenticity about him. He smelled like someone who had been living outdoors for some time. He didn’t ask for money, only food and was genuinely pleased when I packed extra things what he could eat without too much preparation.

          After he left I sprayed the room and burned a scented candle and took an assessment of my own life and work. There has always been an approach I believe in,  ”If it ‘aint broke, don’t fix it!”

Yet, part of me wanted to solve this man’s problems. It took a lot of self-control not to follow him to offer suggestions and solutions that were unasked for and probably unwanted. I told him not to do without and invited him to return if he ran out of food again.

          How do you genuinely help someone like him without enabling him? Is it possible to help the poor without becoming part of their problem? This week’s sermon explores a familiar Biblical text and seeks Godly solutions for difficult social problems.

 

Agape,

Pastor Phil  <><<

 

January 18, 2009 - Sheepfold MinistriesPastor Phil Roland

WHOSE RESPONSIBILITY IS IT?

LUKE 10:25-37

“In the bitter cold of winter we can thank God we have a warm home, clothes for our bodies and food to nurture us and grant us life. Jesus is God’s bread of life sent to nurture and care for us with his salvation, mercy and love.” Pastor Phil 

 

"The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD." Isaiah 61:1,2

                       

I.  OUR FIRST RESPONSIBILITY IS TO LOVE GOD – Luke 10:27a

'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,'

          A. Heart – Spirit – “The deepest part of your being” – Matt. 5:8

                 “Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.”

          B. Soul – Mind, Emotion, Will – Mark 8:36

                 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his

                        own soul?”

                        1. Note: The text doesn’t say “losing your own salvation”

                        2. Losing your soul to lust, pride, greed, contempt, fear

          C. Strength – Giving it your all – Holding nothing back – Heb. 12:2

                 “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy

                   that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and

                   has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

          D. Mind – Cognition – Rational Thinking Ability

                        1. Ruled by Logic

                        2. Limited by our Mortality

                        3. David’s thoughts were of love for his God - Psalm 139:17,18

                            How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is

                            the sum of them!  If I should count them, they would be more in

                            number than the sand; When I awake, I am still with You.”

 

II.  OUR SECOND RESPONSIBILITY IS TO LOVE MANKIND –.27b

“And (to love, agape) 'your neighbor as yourself.'"

          A. This cannot be accomplished w/o loving God first

          B. We’re good at “Passing the Buck”

              "Passing the buck" originated from a ritual practiced during card games.

                  Card players used to place a marker, called a "buck," in front of the

                  person who was the dealer. That marker was passed to the next player

                  along with the responsibility of dealing. Eventually "passing the buck"

                  became synonymous with passing on responsibility.

                   1. Adam tried to pass the buck – Genesis 3:12

                           “Then the man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me,

                               she gave me of the tree, and I ate."   

                   2. Cain attempted to pass the buck – Genesis 4:9

                            “Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?"

                              He said, "I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper?"

          C. Modern Day Buck Passing

                        1. It’s the state’s job to care for the homeless and hungry

                        2. It’s the church’s job

                        3. It’s the preacher’s job

                        4. Someone else will always take our responsibilities for us        

          D. Blaming the Disadvantaged for their Plight

                        1. Shaming and Blaming attempts to deflect responsibility

                        2. “They got themselves into this mess w/poor choices”

                        3. Blaming others attempts to cancel Guilt

                        4. “It’s not my fault!”

 

III.  JESUS’ PARABLE OF THE GOOD SAMARITAN – vs. 30-37    

1. A.     Thieves met a certain man                

            B. Fell, Stripped, Wounded, Departed

            C. Priest came by and changed his path, probably too busy

            D. Levite came by, worried about touching unclean blood

            E. Samaritan had compassion

                        1. He had the wrong race – Outcast, Mixed Race

                        2. He had the wrong religion – Idol worship mixed w/Jehovah

                        3. He had compassion and acted on it – v. 33

                        "But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And

                          when he saw him, he had compassion.”

                        4. He poured in the Oil and the Wine

                        5. He paid a great price: Two Pieces of Silver Denarii

            F. In the parable, We are the “certain man”

 

IV.  JESUS’ IS OUR GOOD SAMARITAN

          A. He took responsibility for our brokenness

          A. He took responsibility for our Sinful Condition

            B. He provided a Bridge to Heaven through His Cross

 

WHOSE RESPONSIBILITY IS IT?, Text:

Luke 10:25-37

And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"

26  He said to him, "What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?"

27  So he answered and said, " 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,' and 'your neighbor as yourself.'"

28  And He said to him, "You have answered rightly; do this and you will live."

29  But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

30  Then Jesus answered and said: "A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.

31  "Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

32  "Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side.

33  "But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion.

34  "So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

35  "On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, 'Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.'

36  "So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?"

37  And he said, "He who showed mercy on him." Then Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."

 

MATTHEW 25

A contemporary look

 

I WAS HUNGRY

AND YOU FORMED A HUMANITIES CLUB TO DISCUSS MY HUNGER.

THANK YOU.

I WAS IN PRISON AND YOU CREPT OFF QUIETLY

TO PRAY FOR MY RELEASE.

I WAS NAKED AND IN YOUR MIND

YOU DEBATED THE MORALITY OP MY APPEARANCE.

I WAS SICK AND YOU KNELT

AND THANKED GOD FOR YOUR HEALTH.

I WAS LONELY

AND YOU LEFT ME ALONE TO PRAY FOR ME.

YOU SEEM SO HOLY.

S0 CLOSE TO GOD,

BUT I'M STILL HUNGRY AND LONELY AND COLD.

DENARII – A silver coin that weighed as much as ten small brass coins called “as.”

 

ANTHONY CAMPOLO – 1997 Inauguration Address

When Jesus told His disciples to pray for the kingdom, to pray that the kingdom might come on earth as it is in heaven, this was no pie-in-the-sky, bye-and-bye when you die kind of prayer. It was a prayer that the kingdom might be done here and now, and that His will might be done here and now. When we pray that prayer, we pray give us this day our daily bread; and that prayer cannot be prayed in the first person singular. We have to pray for all of God’s children to have bread. No child should go to bed without bread; no homeless person should despair for lack of bread; and we must not forget the people in the third world on this day when we celebrate America.

I stood at a grass landing strip when a woman tried to give me her baby in Haiti. I was waiting for the piper cub to come and take me back to the capital. She begged me to take her baby. I tried to tell her that I couldn’t, but she kept on saying, “If you don’t take my baby, my baby will die, my baby will die,” and I looked at this child with its swelled stomach and its arms and legs hanging limp, and I knew I couldn’t take the baby. I was relieved when the airplane came into sight and touched down. I brushed by her and ran towards the plane. She ran after me yelling, “Take my baby! Take my baby! Take my baby!” I climbed into the plane. I closed the plexiglass door. She was alongside the plane banging on the door yelling, “Don’t let my baby die! Don’t let my baby die! Don’t let me baby die!” And the engine revved up and we pulled away from her, and into the air. And half way back to Porto Prince it hit me, I heard a voice saying, “I was hungry; did you feed me?” And I said, “But I balanced the budget!” “I was naked; did you clothe me?” “But you don’t understand; I took care of the affairs of state.” “I was naked; did you clothe me? I was in prison; did you visit me? I was a stranger; did you take me in?”

And I knew that I had left the one who was sacred there because God comes to us, to those who are in need, and to this great President and this great Vice President, I say embrace the Lord. As the Lord waits to be embraced in those who are in desperate need, for the Lord blesses the nation that remembers the poor. And as it says in Ezekiel, “As Sodom was destroyed because it neglected the poor, so shall we be if we neglect the poor.”

We must pray for daily bread, but we must pray with the awareness that we cannot live by bread alone. There is a spiritual reality that is even more important than physical bread, and it is the bread that come from the word of God. And this is the word of God, “You are forgiven because the blood has been shed. You have been forgiven because I am a God who says to you, ‘if you will confess your sins, I am faithful and I am just, and I will cleanse you from all unrighteousness.’” And oh, how we need a cleansing in this nation. Not just this person and that person, but each of us needs to be cleansed, needs to be purified. We must ask God to forgive us, and we cannot expect to be forgiven says this prayer unless we are willing to be converted into forgivers. Oh, how we need to become forgivers! Across party lines, across religious lines, across national lines, America is tired of the politics of bile; America is tired with partisan acrimony; America is looking for a new day when people come together and let their sins be blotted out and buried in the deepest sea, and remembered no more. This President is tired of a politics of bile; this speaker of the house is tired of the politics of bile; enough of this accusing, and let us move on together, forgiving each other even as God has forgiven us.

Lastly, if we are to be the leaders that God has called us to be, and all of us here are called to be leaders, then we must indeed be ready to resist the dark forces. And people, there are dark forces. We wrestle not just against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers. There is evil out there. It expresses itself in racism, in sexism, in homophobia, in pornography. And worst of all, in that kind of religion that is arrogantly triumphalistic and dares to say, “If you don’t agree with us, we will persecute you.” There must be an end of this!

IV.   WHAT IS THE SHEEPFOLD VISION?

            A. God is with the poor – Proverbs 22:9; 28:27

        ”He who has a generous eye will be blessed, For he gives of his bread to the poor.”

         “He who gives to the poor will not lack, But he who hides his eyes will have many

          curses.”

            B. Gospel is for the poor – Luke 4:18; Isaiah 61:1,2

            "The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach

            the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim

            liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those

            who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD."

            "The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, Because the LORD has anointed Me

To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;  To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD. . .”

            C. Threefold Mission of the Sheepfold

                        1. We are an Army

                        2. We are a Hospital

                        3. We are a family 

            D. Gideon’s Cry, “Why are there no miracles?” – Judges 6:11-16

            ”Now the Angel of the LORD came and sat under the terebinth tree which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress, in order to hide it from the Midianites.12  And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him, and said to him, "The LORD is with you, you mighty man of valor!"

13  Gideon said to Him, "O my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, 'Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?' But now the LORD has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites." 14  Then the LORD turned to him and said, "Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?" 15  So he said to Him, "O my Lord, how can I save

Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house." 16  And the LORD said to him, "Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man."