New Covenant Presbyterian Church
Sermon Psalm 82:3-4 “Compassion”
October 28, 2018
Listen to this sermon.
This morning we are continuing with our journey through Believe, Living the Story of the Bible to Become Like Jesus. We know that the mission of the church is to go out into the community and make disciples of Jesus Christ. But, according to Jesus, we must wait until we are empowered by the Holy Spirit then we will be able to go into Bayberry, Whitehall, Parkside and throughout Middletown as witnesses of Jesus Christ. As we saw last week, the first step in this processes of transformation by the Holy Spirit is that we begin to love all people just as God loves all people. Today we will look at the second step in our transformation. We develop compassion for the least of us. We will get to this, but first, let pray.
“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy Heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)
Psalm 82:3 Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed. 4 Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.
We are called to have compassion for the weak, the orphan, the poor and the oppressed. Compassion means that we walk in the shoes of those less fortunate than us. We experience what they experience and we help them. God is certainly compassionate.
Psalm 86:15 But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.
And we know that God is compassionate because when God came to earth it was to a poor family. Joseph was a carpenter, probably a trained craftsman on Roman building projects. He could support himself and his family, but they would be of very humble means. Here is what Mary said when she learned she was pregnant,
Luke 1:46-48 ... “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.
So Jesus grew up in humble circumstances. He learned firsthand what it means to be hungry. He learned to depend on the compassion of others. And Jesus was certainly concerned about people who were hungry.
Matthew 14:14 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.
15 As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.”
16 Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”
The requirement to be compassionate comes to us in the book of Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy 25:17 Do not deprive the foreigner or the fatherless of justice, or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge.
What is common about the foreigner, the fatherless and widow? In ancient times these people could not own land and therefore could not provide for themselves and their families. Foreigners could not own property. Widows should be cared for by their families, but some widows had no sons. And orphans had no family at all. So if a person cannot support themselves and they are not part of a family that will care for them then the people of God have a responsibility to act compassionately toward them. What are we to do? How can we help? Let’s go back to Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy 24:19 When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. 20 When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. 21 When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow.
These commands are for farmers. They are to leave behind some food when they are harvesting so that the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow could glean the fields and find something to eat.
This is beautifully seen in the Book of Ruth. Ruth was a foreigner. She was also the widow of a Hebrew farmer. There was no one to care for her. And she had no way of supporting herself.
Ruth 2:2 Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor.”
Naomi said to her, “Go ahead, my daughter.” 3 So she went out, entered a field and began to glean behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she was working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelek.
4 Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters, “The Lord be with you!”
“The Lord bless you!” they answered.
5 Boaz asked the overseer of his harvesters, “Who does that young woman belong to?”
6 The overseer replied, “She is the Moabite who came back from Moab with Naomi. 7 She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the harvesters.’ She came into the field and has remained here from morning till now, except for a short rest in the shelter.”
8 So Boaz said to Ruth, “My daughter, listen to me. Don’t go and glean in another field and don’t go away from here. Stay here with the women who work for me. 9 Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the women. I have told the men not to lay a hand on you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled.”
Boaz did exactly what Moses told him to do. He allowed a widowed foreigner to glean his field. He protected her so she would feel safe. And he made sure that she had ample water. This is compassion. Boaz remembered that his people had once been slaves in Egypt. They knew what it was like to be poor. They had experienced what Ruth was experiencing. And so Boaz was filled with compassion and obeyed the Law of Moses.
So too with us. We are called to care for those unable to care for themselves. And if someone is hungry we must feed them.
That is why this church volunteers for the First Friday Lunch at Our Daily Bread. We prepare and serve a nutritious lunch for anyone who is hungry in Middletown. The Vision of Our Daily Bread is: “to create healthy, flourishing, positive eating experience for every individual by serving nutritional meals in a safe environment”. Their mission is to “Feed low-income families, individuals, children, the elderly and all those in need in the Middletown, Odessa & Townsend communities with nutritious meals in a safe environment”. (https://www.ourdailybreadmot.com)
Our Daily Bread is doing good work. Keep supporting them.
We also bring food for Neighborhood House. “Neighborhood House provides informational programs that impact low to moderate income individuals, families and communities. “ So if a family, and there are many, is at risk of losing its home they go to Neighborhood House to ask for help. Neighborhood House then helps them with budgeting and financial management. They are given help in locating affordable housing and they have a food closet where families can pick up some groceries. We have a bin in the back of the sanctuary where you can put non-perishable food and other household supplies to replenish the closet.
Also, I urge you on Thanksgiving Sunday to bring non-perishable food as your Thank Offering to God. This will all go down to Neighborhood House. (http://neighborhoodhse.org)
We also support the Presbyterian Hunger Program through our annual One Great Hour of Sharing at Easter. “Fighting hunger is at the heart of our Presbyterian understanding of mission. Jesus fed the hungry and told his disciples to do the same. Yet, we know that hunger is an extremely complex phenomenon with economic, political and social causes… [Presbyterian Hunger Program] is vital to people who are hungry today... by doing “root cause” work to help address the underlying questions of why people are hungry in order to reduce ongoing hunger”.
So what does the Presbyterian Hunger Program do?
“Development assistance: addressing the root causes of hunger and poverty through equitable and sustainable development
Hunger Education: learning about systemic causes of hunger, leading towards faithful action that is informed and directed by directly affected people and partners
Lifestyle Integrity: adopting sustainable personal and corporate lifestyles to restore justice and protect all of God’s creation
Corporate and Public Policy Witness: advocating and campaigning for changes in policies and practices to end hunger and its causes, promote self-development, and care for creation
Worship: incorporating prayer, education, and preaching about ending hunger and its causes into worship.” https://www.presbyterianmission.org/ministries/compassion-peace-justice/hunger/nationaldevelopment/hunger-action-congregations/
So we are a compassionate congregation. We provide a monthly lunch at Old Daily Bread. We fill the food closet at Neighborhood House. And we support the Presbyterian Hunger Program with our One Great Hour of Sharing. But the need is great. So whatever you can give to ensure that people have something to eat, do it. Let’s pray.
Father in Heaven we thank you for the abundance of food that we enjoy. But Lord we know that there are people in our community who do not have sufficient food to eat. Help us to share what we have with those who are hungry. Fill us with compassion for all who need help. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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