This is Chad Harrison, and you're listening to hope alive, applying God's word to your daily life. Hi, this is Chad Harrison, and I am the teaching pastor of Lake Community Church and have been serving as a pastor for 25 years. I'm also a practicing attorney. This podcast is designed to help you study God's word and find God's will for your life. I pray in the name of Jesus right now that God would open up his word to you and allow you to see him and to know him and to know his will, that you might glorify him and that you might walk in faith and power each and every day, especially today, in Jesus name.
Well, good morning. Welcome to Lake Community Church's morning Bible study. We are in Leviticus, chapter 25, and we're dealing with lending to the poor. And this is one of those passages where actually, as far as the jewish people back during biblical times, and actually Christianity itself over the last 2000 years, if you had to ask what kind of grade you would give the church on this or that or the other, actually, I think this is probably one of our better subjects. It's not, we're not perfect at it by any means, but it is a subject that we're good at. It's one of those things that the church and you go, well, I don't know how that's the case. Well, I can tell you this, that the United States of America is by far and away. And when I say by far and away, by far and away, the greatest benevolent giving to the needs of not only people in our nation, but in our world, is one of the greatest nations in human history, maybe by far and away the greatest nation in human history of providing to the poor. And that's based off of the christian ethos or the christian ethic that this country was founded on. We give somewhere, you know, some studies, I've seen as much as 60, and I mean as little as 60 and as much as 90% of what is given. And I'm not talking about a government, I'm talking about just regular people, our people, giving to people around the world in need. We are. We are by far and away one of the greatest nations in that. And the reason is because way back in Leviticus, and then you're going to see, actually, this principle is going to be spelled out in deuteronomy, and you're going to see it spelled out throughout the Old Testament and then into the New Testament of taking care of the poor, or taking care of, in fact, Jesus said, the poor, you will have with you always. What he's saying was, we're going to live in a world where they're just certain people who are not going to have either the ability or the faculty or the means by which to take care of themselves fully. Now, I'm not saying anything negative about them. In fact, my dad's greatest psalm, maybe one of the greatest verses of his life, was best. Blessed was. Blessed is he who has regard for the weak. And the weak means someone who is not as strong in a certain area of you as you have regard for those who are not as high up on the ladder, whatever ladder that might be. That might be talents, that might be gifts, that might be. That might be property, that might be position, political position or social status, whatever. The latter you're talking about is, the Bible says blessed is he who has regard for the weak. And it goes through all these things that God will do for those who do those things. And it is a principle that comes from the heart of God. It comes from the. The very nature God has. And obviously, I mean, you know, if you think about it, he is. He is the ultimate being. He is the greatest possible being that is unimaginable. He is all knowing, all powerful, omnipresent. He is. He is. And he's good, too, because everything that he made works. The universe actually works. And so he is the ultimate good. And yet we being nothing and we being just a speck in that universe, actually, I mean, really, absolutely nothing in that universe. We are really less than nothing if you think about the breadth and the depth of the universe. But we're nothing in regard to even time and history because we're here just so quickly and gone away so quickly, and yet he has regard for us. He cares for us, he loves us. And so understanding that. That. That is the very nature of God and the very nature of how he made his creation, then when. When we have regard for the weak. And remember, that word weak may not mean that they're going to always be weak. It might be that they're a child and they can't. In fact, New Testament says that true religion is taking care of the widow and the orphan. Well, the widow might have been one who actually had a lot of means at one point in time, but lost those means through her husband. The orphan might be a child who one day grows up to be a billionaire or grows up to be a great leader, but at the moment that they're. That they're orphaned, they need. They need somebody to have regard for them because at that moment, they're weak and so not weak in a negative sense, weak in a lesser sense. And they need, they need that help. And God has regard for them and God has, has told us that. True, if you want to just be religious, and God doesn't want you to be religious, he wants you to be relational. But if you're just going to live religiously, then take care of the weak. That's Old Testament, that's New Testament, because that's the heart of God. He said, if you want to be like, if you want to do it religiously, like you will would do it normally. If that's what you want to do, just live out religion. Then if you ever God for the week, you're going to have, you're going to have very close to my heart and so I'm going to take care of that. And God says that that's what we should do. Now you go, well, you know, I'm just not going to help. Uh, God has limitations to it, you know, he does. And even if you, there are those out here, you know, I don't know who I'm helping. I don't know if I'm, I'm, I don't know. And true, there is, there's an element of having to listen to the Holy Spirit and allow the holy spirit teach you. And yeah, if somebody is perfectly capable of taking care of themselves, you shouldn't, you shouldn't enable and enable their laziness or enable their, they're not being who they should be. In fact, the Bible says a man doesn't work, he doesn't eat. That's New Testament. And it's the idea that if you were able to do it, you should. And that's the parable of the talent. So those truths work themselves out also in our lives and understanding those things. But when you're thinking about the poor, when you think about the weak, when you think about those who have less, you should regard them. You should recognize that there are needs out there that need to be met. And if you are capable of meeting those needs, well, you ought to. And that's what we find in verse 35. He says, if one of your brother becomes poor and falls into poverty among you, notice he's something calamitous has happened, something negative, really terrible has happened. They weren't poor always. And by the way, if you're a child of God, you're already part of the kingdom, you're already an heir of Christ, but you in your physical circumstance might find yourself in poverty because of something that's happened in your life and that happens a lot, even to the strong and the smart. He says, then you shall help him. Hmm. It's just kind of. He said, then you shall have him. That's kind of straight to the point, isn't it? He says, like a stranger or a sojourner that he may live with, you notice, treating, treat him like, like we are, we all sojourners and strangers in this world and allow him to have a place. Now that was of great importance back in the day when there weren't a lot of places to live, a lot of places to stay, and he was then. And when people passed through, you would offer them a place to lay their head, a place out of the, out of the elements to lay their head back then, because there weren't hotels and there weren't places that people could go to find shelter. And he says, he says, if you would do that for a stranger or sojourner, someone who's just passing through, which they had a, they had a fabulous ethic of hospitality. If you do that, do that for your brother also. If you would do that for someone who you did not know, well then why wouldn't you do it for somebody you do know? And you know, if you think about it logically, that makes great sense. It makes, it computes his best way to say it. He says, take no usury or interest from him. Now that doesn't mean don't get paid for something you may do for someone. He's not saying that. He's saying, don't take any usury or interest from him. And you go, well, what's usury? Well, really weird. The best, best road for me to describe it to you is if you've ever watched the movie. If you've ever watched, in my mind just went the Godfather, the Godfather, to when they, the second godfather movie, when the, the dawn is coming of age. It's flashbacks and there's a guy who runs the neighborhood, he wears this white suit, walks around, he's fat and mean and the whole nine yards. And whenever he's booting with someone to get some money from them, he says, I just want a taste. I just want a bite. And he says, I'm not trying to take it all, I just want to taste. And that's what usually is, to take a bite out of it. So if someone had a meal and you were, you were, you were getting, usually you'd get a bite of their, bite of their burger. And if you think about it, it seems strange, but if you don't have very much food and, and someone didn't have a whole lot of food, but you were giving them an opportunity to stay at your house, you might say, well, give me a bite of that food. Give me a taste of that food. Well, God said, don't do that. If you're going to let them stay, let them stay. If you're going to lend them something, lend them something for a season, you can get paid back. Just don't take any interest out of it. And especially for those who are God's children, for those who you know to be believers. And now listen to me, we don't know for sure who all is and isn't. A lot of people will name Christ just to get. And that happens a lot in, it happens in a lot of places. People use the name of Christ to make a living, and they use people's desire to be godly. They use that against them to make a living. But if you know, someone is genuinely seeking after God, their heart, their actions reveal that, and yet they have very little, well, we should take care of them. We should help them. And, you know, in every church I've been in, there have been those types. And oftentimes they are the most productive believers as far as their walk goes. They're faithful to be there, they're faithful to use their gifts, they're faithful to serve God. And you know, the church people, when they see a need there, they should, if it's possible at that moment, they should meet that need. And you go, well, how do you decide when, where? Well, just like deciding how to live your own life. The Bible teaches in New Testament that we're just to live by the spirit, love the spirit to lead you. Sometimes it's not the time for you to be a blessing to them. Maybe it's time for somebody else to be a blessing to them. Maybe it's time for you to be a blessing to someone, and you've not been one very much in your life. Those, those things you have to work out in your own heart. But to be the character of God, that needs to be a natural part, who you are, he says, and so don't take any usury, and if you lend them something, don't take any interest, just expect them to pay it back. And I have found in my life, the more I practice this, the wealthier I become. And I want to say that to you, the more I have done this. And this has been a regular part of my this has been a regular part of my life for since I was an adult, the more I practice this, the wealthier I become. I'm not losing anything. My father owns the cattle on a thousand hills, and if I were to give a calf to someone to eat, oftentimes he sends me two bulls knowing that I'll make more calves and give them out more. The attitude that you got to hold on to the things that God has given you as blessings so that you can, and a lot of times you'll hear people, well, I got to be a good steward of it. Sure. And stewards need to pay out. Stewards need to use the resources God's given them in the way God would have them use them, not hoard them. Being a good steward does not mean to hoard things, okay? And that's very important. Being a good steward does not mean to hoard things. It means to give them, means to hand them out and, and, and to make sure the money goes to the right places. Now, that does require you to listen to the Holy Spirit and make sure you're not just giving it away. But it doesn't mean that you hold on to it either. He says, you shall not lend him your money for usury nor lend him your food at a profit. Notice. He's saying, give them, give them what they need. If it costs you a dollar to give it to them, then sure, you can ask them for a dollar down the road, but don't ask them for a dollar 50 when they, when they get paid at the end of the week. Don't, don't charge them interest. Don't take a bite. Don't take a bite. He says, I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. Notice what he's saying. He's identifying. Whenever God says something like that, he's telling them something about him that they ought to associate with what he's talking about. He's saying, I've delivered you out of Egypt and you were in slavery. So I'm God. If I tell you to do this, well, don't you think I'm going to take care of you in it? And obviously, the answer to that question is, yeah, he's going to take care of us. In the midst of that, he's saying, if you'll do this, I'll take care of you. And Psalm 96 says that also. He says, I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God. What he's saying is, I gave you your inheritance and so if your inheritance is going to be fully blessed, make me your God and do by these people the way I've told you to do by. And I'm going to tell you, I found that if, if, if and when we do those things the right way, rightly, God has always blessed me. It's. It's strange that I've been in Leviticus and I've talked about money, probably the most on this Bible study that I've talked about it because I don't talk about it enough. But I will tell you this. Of the things that probably I have been able to be blessed in to do this, this is something I've. I've practiced most of my life. I watched my father do it. I watched my parents do it. And it's become a part of who I am and it is a gifting of mine, I think. And I have never, ever been in want because of it. I have been in less, but I've never been in want. And oftentimes I find myself being blessed overly and abundantly. More than I could ever imagine. I've been blessed way more than I could ever, ever imagine because God knows I won't hoard it necessarily. I put it to good use, whether that be making more money or whether it be helping those in need. And that that kind of heart is important. I really think that, and I'm doing this as a personal testimony. If you're willing to give your hands wide open, God's willing to fill your hands up.
As you go today I pray that the Lord will bless you and keep you, that he'll make his face to shine upon you, and that he will give you hope and peace today. In Jesus name.
