Ezekiel 16:49
An interesting verse to mediate upon as it relates to much of the American church today.
Sodom’s sins were pride, gluttony, and laziness, while the poor and needy suffered outside her door. (NLT)
They were arrogant and spoiled; they had everything they needed and still refused to help the poor and needy. (CEV)
Are we also guilty of pride, gluttony, and laziness while the poor and needy suffer around us?
Pride: An air of arrogance, smugness and self-importance.
Gluttony: Consuming the treasure entrusted to us by God on ourselves. Even that portion which we “give back to God” is spent in our faith communities to support programs and staff to satisfy our own wants and perceived needs.
Laziness: Indolent, idleness and slothful. Unwilling to make others a life priority or to put ourselves at regular inconvenience to help our neighbors and community including the poor and needy.
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April 6th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
This is totally convicting, isn’t it…
April 6th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
It sure was for me Erin!
April 6th, 2008 at 10:36 pm
Rick as I read the verses you quoted, it’s not hard to envision God being fed up because of our failure to “live” out our worship in acts of justice and mercy. This passage from Isaiah 1…
When you come before me,
Who asked this from your hand?
Trample my courts no more:
Bringing offerings is futile;
Incense is an abomination to me.
New moon and Sabbath and calling of convocation -
I cannot endure solemn assemblies with iniquity.
Your new moons and your appointed festivals my soul hates; they have become a burden to me,
I am weary of bearing them.
When you stretch out your hands,
I will hide my eyes from you;
Even though you make many prayers,
I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.
Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
Remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes;
Cease to do evil,
Learn to do good;
Seek justice.
Rescue the oppressed,
Defend the orphan,
Plead for the widow. (Isaiah 1:12-17)
God is in the midst of the homeless, the oppressed, the sick, the broken, the un-loved…maybe the more our worship becomes about living in those places…the more we’ll Him.
Convicting yes…but in the conviction, may we be inspired to act.
April 7th, 2008 at 6:51 am
so humbling.
thanks rick
April 7th, 2008 at 10:47 am
Wow Ron, that is a great passage.
One that I memorized some time ago and the Spirit often has used to remind me of my duty is Is. 58:6-10:
Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
”If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.”
April 7th, 2008 at 5:58 pm
Rick, thanks for the words of Isaiah, I used them in a musing that had been sort of festering inside me over the week end. May we as a church awaken to the world that Isaiah sees…one that for the most part we have insulated ourselves from. Peace…Ron+
April 7th, 2008 at 9:22 pm
Rick, that line about “regular inconvenience” socked me in the gut. It reminds me of a line from Martin Luther King’s speech the night before his death, in which he called for us to develop a “dangerous unselfishness.” I have a long way to go before I am willing to be regularly inconvenienced or dangerously unselfish.
April 10th, 2008 at 3:48 am
I guess the verses that made a real impact in my life on these issues are in Matthew 25 (NKJV)
31″When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34″Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37″Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40″The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’
41″Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44″They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45″He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
46″Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
Jesus kind of re-emphasized the point on Saul’s Damascus Road experience. He was going to persecute Christians and Jesus appeared to him in Acts 9 (NKJV)
3 As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. 4 Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?â€
5 And he said, “Who are You, Lord?â€
Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.[a] It is hard for you to kick against the goads.â€
Jesus didn’t say that Saul was persecuting his brothers. Jesus said he was persecuting him.
There are those that would point out that Jesus said he was speaking of his brothers, not the world. The question becomes - how do you know if it’s your brother or not? Even if he’s not your brother now, he may be. We also have that second great commandment. “Love your neighbor as yourself.” We find in that passage the neighbor is the one who loves. It’s not based on physical proximity.
That’s why I go downtown now. I have learned to love homeless people and though sometimes it is very hard, I bear in mind - what I do for them I am doing to the Lord.
April 10th, 2008 at 9:29 am
John: That is a powerful image Jesus left us with. Knowing what we do for others is doing it to Him is humbling.
Glad to know you are still alive and well and on the streets! May the Lord walk with you and before you as you tread the streets of Dallas.