Hello and welcome to this week's edition of the Weekend Sermon. Thank you for taking the time to read the blog and the sermon this week. I hope that everyone is doing very well.
I've been having a very good week in writing so far, and I am thankful to the Lord for that. I've also been out working in the yard this week. It has been fairly warm since the ice event we had.
In prayer this week, please pray for those in Florida who are still recovering from the incident at the school. Pray that action can be taken so that this type of tragedy doesn't happen again.
Continue to pray for those in Puerto Rico affected by the hurricane. Many people still are without power, and some people don't have enough water. Pray that more aid will arrive.
Please continue to pray for those in Papua New Guinea who have been affected by the earthquake. There is a great need there for assistance. I know that Australia is sending aid. Hopefully, that will help.
Please continue to pray for peace in this world. Pray for peace in Syria, Afghanistan, Yemen, South Sudan and Iraq.
For our prayer focus countries of the week, let us all pray for Benin and Laos. Pray that many will hear the message of the love of Jesus.
I have two things that I would like to ask prayer for. For the past four months, I have had increasing amounts of pain in my legs and feet. For many years, I've had nerve pain in both legs and mild arthritis. Over the last four months, the pain in my legs has increased dramatically. I'm having great pain at night, and I'm only able to work outside in the yard for a short time. I'm worried that I'm not going to be able to take care of the place anymore. Please pray that I won't hurt so bad. Also, please pray that if its the Lord's will that I can get the house sold. I've tried to sell it in the past to no avail. It is a very old house in disrepair. Please pray about this.
On another note, please pray that the mole in my yard will go away. It's not a big deal as far as problems go, but it will hinder me getting the house sold if the yard is torn up. Thank you for your prayers in this matter.
Now, on to the message. Starting last week, we began a series of messages on some of the misinterpreted passages in the Bible and passages that are taken out of context. Last week, we looked at the verse in Revelation where Jesus states that He is standing at the door knocking.
Today, I would like us to examine Jesus' statement in John 12:8 where He states, "You will always have the poor among you."
First, what is the misinterpretation of this verse. Ever since I was a young man going to the far right-wing churches my parents attended, I heard this statement of Jesus interpreted something like this. There will always be poor people. There's not really anything that we can do about it. Poor people are responsible for there own problems. We're supposed to spend our money on spreading the Gospel and not on the poor.
I often hear this statement of Jesus used by those who don't want to help the poor and the oppressed even today all these years later. It is as if the people quoting it want a justification for not doing anything about poverty.
Jesus did not mean that we are not supposed to help the poor in this statement. I don't believe that He meant that we can't do anything to combat poverty and social problems.
Let's look at this verse in its context.
Jesus was in Bethany at the home of Lazarus, Mary and Martha. There was a dinner prepared for Jesus. During the course of the meal, Mary took an expensive jar of perfume and anointed Jesus with it.
When this happened, Judas Iscariot spoke up. He said that it was a waste to use up all the perfume. He said that it could have been sold to help the poor. John adds that Judas didn't care about the poor.
Jesus replied to Judas and said, "Leave her alone. She did it in preparation for my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but I will not be here with you much longer."
There are two ways to accurately look at Jesus words. First of all, Jesus was defending the actions of Mary. She knew that Jesus wouldn't be on earth too much longer. She did something nice for Him, and Jesus appreciated it. Jesus was pointing out that while He wasn't going to be around too much longer, the poor would be there after He was gone, and then they could be ministered to .
I believe that Jesus was also pointing people to the instructions found in Deuteronomy 15:11. This verse states, "There will always be some in the land who are poor. That is why I am commanding you to share freely with the poor and with other Israelites in need." This verse is in a broader context of speaking about the law of remission of debts every seventh year.
Those assembled with Jesus would have understood that Jesus was making a reference to the passage in Deuteronomy. Jesus was essentially stating that His followers were to do what is right by Him and give to those in need. Jesus was saying to Judas and those at the dinner that doing something nice for Him and helping the poor wasn't any either/or proposition. They were expected to do both.
So, how does this apply to us today. Jesus, and the rest of Scripture, is quite clear that we are to help those who are in need. In the Old Testament law it was both an individual and a governmental requirement to help the poor, the oppressed and the needy.
Jesus stated that when He comes back to earth in His glorious Second Coming that He will judge the nations of this world on how they cared for the least of those among them. While on earth, Jesus gave His followers an example of how to help others. Jesus fed those who were hungry when He fed the 4,000 and the 5,000. Jesus healed the sick, and He ministered to those who were ignored by those in society. We know that Jesus and His disciples gave money from their shared resources to help those in need. We see this at the Lord's Supper when Judas left the Upper Room. The other disciples thought that Jesus had sent Him to give to the poor since Judas was the treasurer of the group.
With Jesus as our example, we should give our time and our resources to help those who are in need. Churches need to have food banks and clothing ministries. Churches need to have ministries to help the homeless. And churches need to help those in desperate circumstances in many of the nations around the world.
As individuals, we need to do what we can to help others. If the Lord has provided for us, we need to help others.
I believe that whatever nation you are in as you read this blog, that you ought to advocate with your government, if you live in a democracy, for them to help the poor and the oppressed. In the Old Testament, the Lord commanded the nation to observe a year of jubilee and to forgive debts every seventh year. The rulers of the nation were to see that this was done. The Lord called on the leaders of the land to be good shepherds who looked after the sheep especially those who were vulnerable.
Now, this isn't directly related to what we have just discussed, but the same attitude is involved. Some people say that we shouldn't work for a cleaner environment or to stop the harming of endangered species. The thinking goes like this. The world is going to get worse and worse. The world is going to be destroyed during the Great Tribulation. Then a new heaven and new earth will be created, so we don't need to worry about the earth now.
That type of thinking is also not in accordance with the Bible. The Lord told us to take care of the earth that He has made. The earth is the Lords. We are the caretakers of it. We have an obligation to take care of it in a proper manner that does not harm the earth or its creatures.
No one knows when Jesus will return. It may not be for 1,000 years or it could be today. If Jesus should tarry His coming, we don't want to live in a cesspool of pollution with contaminated water and have all the animals on the planet killed off.
I hope that you will pray and consider what you can do to help the poor and the oppressed. I hope that you will be environmentally conscious.
Next week, I will post another sermon in our series on Friday, Lord willing. On Monday, I will post the verses. I will be reviewing a dog book on Wednesday. May God bless you all. Amen.
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