Our Sermons

Bible Passage: Deuteronomy 24:17-22
Pastor: Pastor Schlicht
Sermon Date:  August 4, 2019

If you’ve been to the Supreme Court building in Washington, you might have seen the statue of Lady Justice there. She has a blindfold across her eyes and a balanced scale in her hands. The implicit message of the blindfold is that all people should be treated fairly, no matter who they are or what they look like. Justice should be blind. As flawed as our justice system may be at times, blind justice is a noble ideal. However, did you know that Lady Justice was not always blindfolded? Lady Justice originates from a figure in Ancient Roman art known as Justitia. And she didn’t have a blindfold originally because it was thought that her extrordinary vision could see through lies and falsehood. It wasn’t until the 16th Century, some 1500 years later, that artists began portraying Lady Justice with a blindfold as a criticism of the injustice they saw in the courts. Only in modern times has the blindfold has come to mean impartiality.

You know, I wonder if they got it right the first time, without the blindfold. Even in a just society, however impartial, the balance of the scale tilts in favor of those who have a lot of money and power, and many times the disadvantaged and the poor are neglected. God certainly wants our courts to be impartial, but he doesn’t want Justice to wear a blindfold. Many times in Scripture God tells his people to care for those in need. The world may call it charity, but God has commanded us to look out for these people. To him it is a matter of justice. It is a matter of the heart and a proper response to his love. So today we will take off the blindfold to see God’s loving justice and care for souls in need.

Moses says in verse 17. Do not neglect justice for an alien who lives among you or for a fatherless child… The word for “neglect” in Hebrew is literally translated “bend or distort”. Moses says, “Do not allow justice” to be bent or distorted. Sometimes today, people with money and big lawyers try to bend the laws and use loopholes to deprive deserving people of justice. That happened back in ancient times as well, especially to aliens, which refers to foreigners and immigrants, and the fatherless or orphans. God wants us to take off the blindfold and make sure these people receive loving justice. 

Aliens are all around and among us today, aren’t they? Regardless of immigration issues in our country right now, as Christians we have been commanded to reach out in love to those who may feel like aliens in our country. This isn’t a command regarding their status as illegal or legal, it isn’t a pass for crimes committed, or an excuse for behavior. It is a blanket command to help those among us who do not understand our language and culture, to stand up when justice is neglected for them and their families. This could be as simple as being patient and kind with someone whose English is hard to understand. It could mean going out of your way to welcome that new family to your neighborhood, perhaps inviting them to church or a community event. It certainly does mean praying for those who are new to our country and asking God to bless the efforts of people who deal with often tense and complicated situations on our borders.

How about the fatherless? More than ever, it seems, there are kids who grow up without a father or any parental guidance. They need understanding and grace. Can you, as a Christian, take off the blindfold and have the humility to see where you’d be without the godly influences in your life? Each person makes their own decisions, but it is foolish to deny that we are all, to a great extent, a product of our environment—specifically our parents or the lack thereof. Should we really be surprised that a young girl without a father, looks for men to show her love and gets pregnant in her teens? Statistics show this pattern with terrible regularity. Should we be surprised when a young man without parental guidance does poorly in school and then gets in trouble with the law? It’s frustrating when someone, who’s never lacked any basic need in their life, says in astonishment: “I can’t believe what that boy or girl did! They are a bad influence!” Let’s be mature Christians and have compassion. Let’s listen to these kids and talk to these young adults with understanding. Another way to support the fatherless is to support people who pursue adoption. Finally, continue to take a clear stand against human trafficking and against pornographic organizations that specifically prey on young men and women without parental support to be in their videos. However you are able, do not neglect God’s loving justice for the fatherless.

Next Moses says, …do not take the clothing of a widow as a pledge. In those days, economic issues often centered around the loaning and borrowing of animals and goods. And, as is still the case, a pledge was usually required when a loan was made. Today we might call it collateral. The pledge in mind here is clothing, literally a “cloak”, which may not seem that valuable to us, but it was a big deal back then and especially for a widow. An average person would own only one cloak. During the day it would protect them from the hot sun, and it was like a blanket at night, protecting them from the cold. In that climate, there was a drastic change in temperature between the day and the night. Kind of like the weather in Arizona, if you’ve ever been there. So if anyone gave their cloak as collateral for a loan, they were the poorest of the poor. Now, earlier in the chapter, Moses says that the lender may take the cloak of a poor man as a pledge, as long as gives it back to the man at night. Our God is concerned about cold, sleepless nights, and so he makes this a matter of justice, an obligation upon the lender to give the cloak back at night. But for the widow God adds an extra command. They couldn’t take her cloak, period. This is loving justice. It would have been cruel to deprive a widow, already in a vulnerable position, of her outer garment, leaving her to go about insufficiently covered and alerting everyone to the fact that she had a debt to pay. God wants to protect the widow, not only from the physical elements, but also from a feeling of shame. In other words, God is concerned not only about her poverty, but also about her feelings and her dignity. Because one of the worst aspects of poverty is the shame that often accompanies it.

Have you ever known someone who has grown up with this type of shame, to the point that they resent their family, themselves, and in some cases even God himself? God knows the power of this shame, and he commands that we be aware of it and take care not to make someone who is less fortunate feel less than human because of their need. In this church and school, let’s do all we can to shield people from the sting of shame that accompanies economic need. No matter how in need someone may be, their soul is just as valuable as anyone else’s. Let’s treat them like it. Don’t be ashamed to spend time with them; value what they think; consider their feelings and preserve their dignity. And if you see a widow or anyone of low means being shamed or taken advantage of , remember that as a Christian you have an obligation to speak up. This is a matter of justice. 

The other principle of God’s loving justice addressed in this chapter is the ancient custom of gleaning. When you harvest the crops in your field and you forget a bundle in the field, do not return to get it. It will be for the benefit of the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in everything your hands do. When you beat your olives off the tree, do not strip the boughs clean of olives. Some are to be left for the benefit of the alien, the fatherless, and the widow. When you cut grapes from your vineyard, do not go over it again. Leave some for the benefit of the alien, the fatherless, and the widow. Three times in this passage we read that the owners of the field are commanded to leave some of their crops “for the benefit” of those in need. Again, we see the idea of justice as a command, not mere charity. We also see the concern of God again for the dignity of the poor. It is part of our dignity that we can work for a living, and the gleaning principle preserved such dignity for the less fortunate in the ancient community. They did not have to beg, they could gather their food. And I love the balance of Scripture here as well. It isn’t a part of our reading, but in the previous chapter, God limits what those poor gleaners can do. They can harvest grain from another’s field with their hands, but not with a sickle. They can enter a vineyard belonging to another and eat as much as they want, but they can’t carry any grapes out with them. God doesn’t want them to abuse the kindness of the land owners. And God doesn’t condone the abuse of charitable gifts or social programs that takes place today either. But that doesn’t give anyone license to neglect this kindness to the less fortunate. One bad experience does not allow us to withhold God’s loving justice.

How are you doing with this command? Do you give to the poor? Do you have excuses for not doing so? Do you shake all the fruit off of your trees? Do you pick every last grape for yourself? In other words, do you spend so much on yourself that you have nothing left to give to souls in need? If those Old Testament people kept all their crops for themselves, not only would they neglect the less fortunate in their community, but they would also be stealing—taking something that God did not want them to have. When this command was first given in the Book of Leviticus, God followed it with the words, “You shall not steal.” (Lev. 19:9-11) What does that say about us when we refuse to help the less fortunate that God has placed into our lives? What does it say if we do give to the poor but do it grudgingly with judgment and griping? Or, if we do it only in the hope that others might praise us for being so kind? Remember, this isn’t charity, not to God. It is a matter of justice.

You know, I don’t think anything we’ve considered in this chapter is really new information. Commands to care for souls in need are littered throughout the Bible. We know we’re supposed to be generous to the poor and promote justice for the disadvantaged. What’s needed is the correct motivation to do so. Yes, we are commanded to do this by God, which should be motivation enough. But obedience to God’s commands is should always be founded upon a deeper and greater motivation, namely the love of the Lord, his forgiveness and his promise of blessing. Moses speaks of God’s love twice in our text when he urges Israel to “Remember that you were slaves in Egypt.” (v. 18, 22). Motivation to follow God’s commands comes by remembering our initial position and how the Lord redeemed us to be his own. We were not slaves in Egypt, but slaves of sin and selfish desire. Until God set us free. God sent his Son, Jesus, to die on the cross, that we might be free from the chains of sin and selfishness. This is the love which motivates us to love and serve others, especially those who, like our Savior, are foreign, poor, or fatherless. 

In Minneapolis, people often call 911 because of a homeless man who lays on a bench on Hennepin Avenue. However, the medics don’t come anymore. The man is not a person at all, but a statue. It’s known as the “Homeless Jesus” sculpture and depicts a man lying on a bench with his body totally shrouded, huddling to keep warm. The only way you can tell it’s Jesus at all is by the feet which stick out of the blanket. They have holes in them. It’s actually one of many identical Homeless Jesus sculptures stationed in cities all over the world, from New York to Madrid. Everywhere it goes, 911 calls from concerned residents follow. The artist, Canadian sculptor Timothy Schmalz, wanted to make a visual representation of Jesus as the destitute and homeless among us. 

Think about it, Jesus fits into almost all the categories we’ve talked about today. He came from heaven above to be born a man on earth. He became a foreigner here so that we might become citizens of God’s kingdom. He also lived and died as a poor man. His parents made an offering of two pigeons when he was circumcised at the temple, the offering prescribed for the poorest citizens. During his ministry, he was homeless, “Birds have nests and foxes have dens, but the Son of man has no place to lay his head.” (Mt 9:58) At his death, his only possessions were his clothes and he was even laid in a borrowed tomb. All this that we might have the riches of heaven. And there was even a time that Jesus was fatherless. As his arms were stretched out on the cross, as he took the punishment for all our sin, he cried out to God his Father, “Why have you forsaken me?” He became fatherless so that we might be adopted as God’s children. This too was God’s loving justice: that his own Son would take our sins, so that we would be forgiven. This is what we are to “Remember”. This is our motivation. This is the depth of God’s love which frees us to live for others as he lived for us, to sacrifice as he sacrificed, and to love as we have first been loved. 

Finally, there is one last thought in our text that I should not skip over. Moses tells us that God attaches a promise to his loving justice: “the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.” When those ancient Israelites took care of souls in need God would provide special blessings. It may have been large crops of wheat and good harvests in their vineyards and orchards. It could have been the kindness and thanks which they received from those they left food for. It could have been provision in ways they couldn’t even detect. We aren’t sure of the exact form of these blessings, but they were promised. And they are promised today! Some of you have already experienced this blessings in your own lives. To those who look out and care for the less fortunate God promises blessing. He will determine the manner of blessing, but be assured that he will bless you generously. I want to be careful not to dangle blessings as our motivation to help others, because then we would be giving just to get back for ourselves, which is backwards. But this promise stands, as wonderful benefit of obeying our God of grace. For ultimately, the greatest satisfaction in following God’s commands is being able to thank him with our lives. What a privilege to know that when we uphold loving justice and care for souls in need, it is like caring for God himself! As Jesus once said, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ (Matthew 25:40) Amen.