The Call of Christ to Mercy

Honor. I just want to thank the Lord for Joe and Kim. The, they, they've been doing a great job with our children's church ministry and then just even providing some leadership and vision for the summer. Just very thankful for these guys.

And then just Joe being willing to come and lead worship. The whole worship team is here Wednesday night for a couple of hours. They're here early. Praise God.

And none of these guys get paid for this. They just come out and do it. So we're just very, very thankful for them. my job this morning.

is to continue the series that we began last week. If you weren't here last week, Milton, kicked us off on a series we're calling A Call to Mercy. And so I'm gonna do part two of this series. And I want to begin by just talking about what do we mean.

When we talk about major doctrines and minor doctrines, as you read throughout the scripture, you're going to run across certain concepts that while important, they're not necessarily major doctrines, like a pre-tribulational rapture. Here at Cornerstone, we believe that Christ is coming back before the tribulation and And that's an important doctrine to us. But would we say that if you don't believe in the pre-tribulational rapture, then you've got a hole in the boat, and you're in danger of losing your salvation or not really knowing Christ?

No, we wouldn't say that.

There are Certain types of doctrines that we would say they're important, but we would put them in the minor doctrine category. Then there's what we call major doctrines. These are doctrines where if you get a hole in your boat in this area, then the boat sinks. Things like the Trinity, right?

Things like salvation by faith alone, justification by faith alone, things like substitutionary atonement. These are things that you get those things wrong, and you're in a world of hurt. because they're so clear and so vital in Scripture. What we're talking about in this series, Mercy.

does not fit in the minor doctrine category. It fits in the major doctrine category. And I think you're going to see that's abundantly clear as we look at the scriptures this morning. You get the doctrine of mercy wrong.

You don't show mercy according to the scriptures, and your whole relationship with God and Christ and with the people of God is suspect. And so we're going to take a look at a number of different passages. To demonstrate the importance of this major doctrine of Scripture. Now, just by way of overview last week, Milton talked about the gospel call to mercy.

My job is to talk about the call of Christ to mercy. We're going to be looking at what does Christ say specifically in the four Gospels. We're going to focus in on the Gospel of Luke actually. But what is it that led us, to this series in the first place.

I just want to give you a little bit of history that over the past like 5 to 7 years, as elders, every year we receive nominations for deacon, deaconess, and elder, and it seems like whenever we get these nominations, particularly for deacon and Deaconess, we're looking over this list, and yeah, they're, they meet the qualifications, they're good people, but every year we've felt very dissatisfied with the question of what are these people supposed to do., they're serving, but lots of people are serving.

And so we just slap a title on them and say, OK, you're, we see that you are serving the Lord. And so you now have the office of Deacon. And we've been somewhat satisfied with that.

But over the, more recent years, we've been like, it doesn't seem to be satisfactory. So in 2007, the elder board gave themselves to the study of this particular doctrine. What does the Bible say about deacons, the deacon ministry? And so we started reading through a bunch of different books.

We read a book by Alexander Strock, biblical deacon, Diakconet, and look, lot, lots of different materials. And then more recently, one of the books that we read is a book by Thomas Keller called Ministries of Mercy. And this book has had a tremendous impact on our thinking, particularly on what is it that deacons are to do. Are deacons just to manage the building?

Well, that might be part of it. Are they to just pass out bulletins? That might be part of it. Are they to help the poor?

Are they to minister to widows and orphans? We're coming to the conclusion that's a big part of it. And so we're still in process. we're hoping that by the end of 2007, we're going to be able to come back to you guys in early 2008 with some, some more well rounded, A conclusions on this, realizing that every church is learning, we're in process.

We don't think we've arrived in our doctrine of deacon and deaconesses. We're hoping that by 2008 we'll be in a better place and be able to offer some more direction in that. And so this is part of of the of what we're talking about with this series is what is it the deacons are doing and right now we're just talking about what are all of Supposed to do when it comes to mercy. Now, by way of review, last week, Milton gave us some definitions, the definition of grace that you see up there, but the definition of mercy is what I want to highlight for you, and that is compassionate ministry to someone in dire need.

Children, this is where you begin to track with me compassionate ministry to someone in dire need. And last week, we looked at a lot of different passages, just by way of review. Things were in the Old Testament, in Christ, in the early church, in Paul, in James, and, and then now in First John. I don't know how Milton does this mirror thing.

I'm trying to get used to it. in First John, we see, that John says, but whoever has the world's goods and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? In other words, Do you really know that the love of God is abiding us? Are they really saved?

If they've got the world's goods and see their brother in need and close their hands, Little children, let us not love with word, or with tongue only, but in deed and truth. It's both and it's deed and truth. And as you look throughout the scriptures, you come to conclusions like Jonathan Edwards comes to, when he says, I know of scarce any duty which is so much insisted on, so pressed and urged upon us, both in the Old Testament and New as this duty of charity to the poor. It's absolutely everywhere.

And so as we continue this series, we want to just, just lay that out. We're talking about deed and truth stuff. Yeah, we're doing a great job with Word, but how are we doing in deed? How are we doing in mercies?

Now where does this fit? In the, in our whole structure as a church, where does this deed and truth stuff fit in our overall ministry structure? Is this just some new thing that we're off on that has no connection to the other things we've been talking about care groups and the local church we just got done on a series on what's happening on Sunday morning? No, it's intimately, it's, it's the center point of everything else we're talking about.

If you've been here for a while, you realize that we've been really hammered on this concept of experiencing the gospel, right? And, and we want to experience and express the gospel. Yes, in word, as we, as we drink in the gospel and the propitiation and justification, all these wonderful teachings, imputation of Christ's righteousness, we want to speak that 1 to 1 another. We want to believe it.

But if we understand what the Word of God says, it should work its way out in our expression. In our deeds, what we're talking about here is really two wings of an airplane, word and deed, which wing is most important? Yeah, if you take a wing away from the airplane, it crashes. We need both word and deed.

And so the gospel is the hub, the gospel is the flywheel, as it were, but where are we experiencing, where are we expressing the gospel in word and deed at Cornerstone? Well, first, at Cornerstone, it starts in our small groups. It starts as we get together in fellowship, close fellowship with one another. And we're practicing the gospel, we're experiencing the gospel in that home, as we're rubbing shoulders, our children and our husbands and wives, and we're, we're we're ministering to each other's marriages, we're ministering to each other's parenting, we're ministering to each other's needs, both in word and deed.

And it always starts in a small scale, right? this is, this is great that we're gathered here on a Sunday morning. But the one another stuff happens when you can really get to know someone in a smaller setting. And so here at Cornerstone, if you're going to be experiencing and expressing the gospel where indeed, it starts in a small group.

And then from there, it goes to the the local church at large, the big group celebration right here, what we're doing on Sunday mornings. And when you add both of these circles together, what you have is the church gathered. As the church gathers, then we see one another, we're the brothers and sisters, and we are going to love one another in word and deed through the venues of a small group and the venues of the big group celebration. But it doesn't stop there.

Then you have the church scattered, as we go out into the world, and we preach the gospel, and we experience and express the gospel in word and deed. So this is, this is how this, this whole concept of the ministries of mercy fits in here at Cornerstone. It's not some isolated thing. It's right in the hub of what we're doing as a church.

And so you consider another passage here. Whatever you do, Colossians, Paul says in Colossians do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus. So we have the gospel, and I'll do this for the kids. the gospel is the hub, the gospel is the flywheel, as it were.

And if the gospel is working right, if we're experiencing and expressing the gospel, then we have it coming out in word and deed. And at Cornerstone as leaders, we've been very encouraged by the feedback that we've gotten people over the years about how we're doing in our experience and expression of the gospel in word. We're very encouraged by that. And generally speaking, as we look out at you and the types of ministries you're doing, we're very encouraged by what you're doing, indeed, where it seems like the Lord is calling us to go further is as leaders, as being intentional, and providing ways in which we can corporately express the gospel better indeed.

We feel like corporately, we're doing well in our expression experience in Word. But we feel like the Spirit is urging us on to go further in our expression and experience of the gospel, indeed. And that's why we're doing the series. And that's how it fits.

So children, the gospel is experienced and expressed in word and Deed That brings us to this morning's title, The Call of Christ to mercy. And we're going to focus almost exclusively on a survey of the, of Christ's call to mercy in, in Luke's Gospel. And the reason we're going to focus on Luke, is because Luke pays special attention to what Christ does in respect to the poor and the downtrodden and the needy. It's amazing how much Christ talks about this.

The subject and Luke seems to just pick up every time Christ breathes it. Luke seems to record it. And so As we look through and do this survey, we're going to read a lot of scripture today. You're going to do a lot of running through the passages.

You're going to notice that there is a constant connection, children, between wealth and mercy. There is a constant connection between wealth and mercy. And I think you're going to see that abundantly clear. And so let's, let's take a walk through the Gospel of Luke together.

And let's start with Christ's birth and childhood. Turn, turn to chapter one in the, in the Gospel of Luke. Chapter 1, starting at verse 46, right after Mary has been given the announcement from the angel that she's going to give birth. To the Messiah She goes to prayer and listened to some of the contents of her prayer.

She says in verse 46, my soul exalts the Lord and my spirit is rejoiced in God, my Savior, for he is regarded. He has had regard for the humble state of his bond slave. When she says humble state, she's saying, I have, I, as a poor woman, a poor teen has been, have been regarded by God. Verse 50, and his mercy is upon generation after generation to those who fear Him.

He has brought down rulers from their thrones. He has exalted those who are humble. He has filled the hungry with good things and sent away the rich empty-handed. He has given help to Israel, a servant in remembrance of His mercy.

The first prayer that Mary utters, after learning of the incarnation of the Son, has to do with mercy. has to do with the poor. Then notice that when Christ was born, remember, the story that there was no inn that Mary and Joseph could find. And so they had to go to a place where animals were being kept.

And when Mary gives birth, she takes her little child, her little baby, and puts him in a trough, a feeding trough for animals. In an urban society, a modern equivalent would be if Mary and Joseph came here off university, couldn't find any hotels. And so they had to sleep down there at Fairmont Park. And then she wrapped Jesus in newspaper and put him in a, in a shopping cart.

That would be an equivalent to what the situation that Christ was born into. And then they were so poor they couldn't bring the normal offering on the 8th day when Christ was circumcised. They had to give turtle doves or two pigeons. The Bible, by implication, tells us that or indicates that Christ in all likelihood grew up in a single parent home eventually, because you realize that when he turned the care of his mom over to the apostles or the disciples, he wasn't able to turn Mary over to Joseph.

Joseph was dead. Most commentators believe that Joseph probably died sometime early in Christ's childhood. If you're a woman at this time in history, it's not like Mary went down to 7-Eleven and got a job. She lived upon the mercy of others to provide for her as a widow.

And then when Jesus probably hit the age of 12 or 13, he was providing for the home. Jesus grew up in a very humble circumstances. And then notice Christ begins his ministry in chapter 4 in Nazareth, he stands up in the temple, and he reads from Isaiah this passage out of all the passages that Christ could have read, to initiate his ministry and say, it's now beginning. What does he read?

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel. To the poor He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recover, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are downtrodden to proclaim the favorable, the merciful year of the Lord. When you see the word poor used in context like this in connection with these other words, you see that in a lot of ways, these are merely synonyms that poor is like a big word where you can pull out a lot of other terms.

Captives, blind, downtrodden, the deaf.

You see, in these times, if you were blind, that meant you were probably going to be poor. If you were deaf, in all likelihood, you were probably going to be poor. If you were an orphan, if you were a widow, in all likelihood, you were going to be poor. And so the word poor really encapsulates people have lots of different walks of life.

And this is the way Jesus initiates his ministry. Then you see the sermon on the plain over in Matthew, you have the sermon on the Mount. And Luke, you have Luke recording the sermon on the plain in all likelihood, Christ preached the same message probably dozens of times. And this is the one that Luke picks up, starting in verse 20, chapter 6, verse 20.

And turning his gaze on his disciples, he began to say, Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. Look down at verse 24.

But woe to you who are rich, for you are receiving your comfort in full. Woe to you who are well fed now, for you shall be hungry. Look at verse 33, same sermon. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you?

For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same amount. Verse 35, but love your enemies and do good and lend, expect nothing in return, and your reward will be great.

And you will be sons of the Most High. For he himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. And look at verse 38.

Give and it will be given to you, good measure pressed down, shaken together, running over, they will pour into your lap. For by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you in return. If we give, Christ says, With an incredible measure, it will be given back to us. a bag that it is completely stuffed with blessing.

I don't know if you've ever gotten a, a bag of potato chips that's just full of air and you crack that thing open, there's like 4 chips down in there. Like I paid $1.50 for this bag of 4 chips. That's not the way the Lord promises to return blessing back on us. Unless we're given 4 chips, right?

If we are giving ourselves over to the Lord and lending to the poor as He commands, and He promises to give back and bless us over in abundance. Now just notice a couple thoughts on this passage, and we'll move on. Verse 35 and 36. The Father's example is to be imitated.

He gives to his enemies, we are to give to our enemies. Verse 35, we are to be kind, even to ungrateful and evil people. We're not to look and see someone who's ungrateful and then withhold our hand. Verse 35, mercy is a test of genuine sonship.

After he commands us to do these things, he says, and you will be sons of the Most High. In other words, here's one way that you're truly a son, if you lend to those in need. the Bible is replete with criteria by which we are to look and judge whether we are indeed in the faith. We're saved by grace alone.

But we can tell if we're truly saved by looking at the fruit in our lives, right? Paul says, test yourself, see if you're in the faith. Let you be found wanting, make your call an election sure. John says these things have been written that you may know that you have eternal life.

And if you don't see these tests, John says, in the book of First John, that I'm giving you like to love your brothers and love the poor, then you have every reason to doubt your sonship. These are tests of genuine salvation. Let's consider Christ's response to John the Baptist. When John the Baptist was in jail, he sends a messenger to ask if Jesus is truly the Christ.

And here's how Christ responds. In verse 22, and he answered and said, Go and report to John what you have seen and heard. The blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. In other words, what is one of the fruit by which we can tell that he's truly the Messiah?

He preached the gospel to the poor, and he was reaching out to the needy. Jesus Christ himself had to be verified by these kinds of fruits. And if our Lord, if our Lord's Messiah, Messiah ship had to have verification, our salvation also must have life verification. Our sonship has the same verification as Christ's Messiah ship.

Consider also Christ's own financial support. We see in Luke chapter 8, that as Christ goes out to minister with his disciples, there are listed women that went along with him, starting in verse 2, Mary Magdalene, Joanna, the wife of Chua, Herod Stewart, and Susannah, and notice that the anniversary, and many others who were contributing to their support. Out of their own private means. Now think about that.

This is the Lord of the universe, who is dependent upon the mercies of these women. For him to be out doing his itinerant itinerant ministry with the, with the disciples, and these women are giving, they're not just securing funds from the government to funnel back to Christ. They're giving out of their own private means. Their own families' funds are going to help Christ and the disciples.

Christ and the disciples were the recipients of charity or mercy. Are you able to receive as well as give? As we talk about ministries of mercy, part of what's implied here is that every one of us at times in our lives are probably in all likelihood going to be recipients of mercy. And are you humble enough as your Lord, to receive mercy from others?

Or are you proud? Are you more proud than Christ to receive a handout from a woman? It goes both ways. We're receivers and we're givers.

Consider also the Christ parable of the four soils. In verse 14, and telling one of the explanations of one of these soils and the seed which fell among the thorns, these are the ones who have heard as they go on their way, they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life and bring no fruit to maturity. In this passage, fruit equals good works which show genuine conversion, riches and pleasures of this life choke out the false convert, leaving them fruitless with no genuine works of mercy.

Again, we're seeing over and over again how that wealth is connected to mercy.

Also consider Christ's homelessness. Now I think, I don't think I have this in the PowerPoint, but you could write this in Christ's homelessness in chapter 9, verse 58, where Christ says to someone who would follow him, foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. Think about that. Christ, who owns it all comes from heaven, is born in poverty, and is homeless during the time of his ministry.

He didn't own a home. He didn't own a donkey. He didn't own a bed. He didn't even own a pillow.

And the thing that's interesting about this is Christ, as the sovereign one, he elected and chose how he was going to be born and how he was going to live his life, no doubt, right? he's God, he ordained all of this stuff. And so if Christ wanted to come and be born a rich man, and accrue all wealth to himself, of anyone in the universe, he could have done that, and nobody could have accused him of wrongdoing, right? If Christ would have been born in his first Advent, and brought all wealth to himself, none of us could have raised a finger and said, why are you doing that?

But instead, the sovereign one of the universe comes and lives as a homeless man. No place to lay his head. Consider also the parable of the Good Samaritan in chapter 10. You guys are familiar with this.

Where the lawyer asks a question to test Christ. What shall I do to inherit eternal life? Christ says, what's written in the law. He says, the Shamah, you shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, mind and soul, love your neighbors yourself.

And Jesus says, you've answered correctly, go and do likewise. And then the lawyer thinks to himself, Well, that's a pretty tall order of what I've just stated, I better justify myself. And so he says, who is my neighbor? Who is my neighbor, Lord?

And so Jesus replies and tells the story of this man who goes down to Jericho from Jerusalem. He's robbed, he's stripped, he's beaten, he's left half dead, and then comes by some religious folk. Some professors of faith in Jehovah. And the first one's a Levite, very highly esteemed in his religion, and he passes by.

And then comes by a priest very highly esteemed in his religion, and he passes by, and then comes by a hated one by the Jews, a Samaritan. And it's not like the Samaritan was just lollygagging down the road with nothing to do. It says he was on a journey. In other words, he's probably on a business trip.

And what does he do? He in verse 33, he came upon him and he saw him and he felt compassion. And notice it doesn't say he felt compassion and then walked on. It doesn't say he felt compassion and then went to the next town and called the authorities and said, Hey, there's a man back there that's hurt.

I'm on a trip. Can you take care of him? He felt compassion. And then he did something.

He came to him. He bandaged his wounds. He poured oil and wine on them. He put them on his own beasts, brought them to an inn, and took care of him.

And the next day, which implies he spent the night with this man, he took out 2 denari, that's 2 days of wages, and gave them to the innkeeper and said, Take care of him. Whatever you spend, I'll repay you. And then Jesus totally turns the tables on the lawyer and says, which of these three do you think proved to be neighbor to the man who fell? He reverses.

This is the great reversal. The lawyer says, who is my neighbor? Jesus says, who is neighbor to him? And he says, the one who showed mercy to him and Jesus said, go and do the same.

Now, we have a responsibility to be a neighbor. Especially to those who are in need, and especially to those who are within proximity to us. Neighbor means nearness. I might not be responsible for every orphan on the planet.

I might not be responsible for every widow on the planet, but what? I can do something about the people that I come across in Riverside. I can do something about the people in this church. I can help people in my family and my extended family.

One of the principles that we learned here from the Good Samaritan is, is take care of those that you are in proximity to. It's your, it's your duty. It's your obligation. What about Christ's parable to the rich fool in chapter 12?

He speaks of the land. of a certain rich man. was very productive. And he began reasoning to himself, saying, What shall I do since I have no place to store my crops?

And he said, this is what I will do. I will tear down my barns and build larger ones. And there I will store all my goods and my grain. And I will say to my soul, soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come.

Take your ease, eat, drink and be merry. I don't want to be offensive to anyone, but a modern equivalent of this in America might be, what shall I do since I have so much stuff in my garage and I can't park my cars in there? And I have 3 vehicles. I know what I'll do.

I'll build a storage shed or I'll, whatever. What shall I do since I have so much stuff I've got to put my stuff in storage? And if our attitude is, wow, boy, I've, I've really done well for myself. I'm gonna take my ease, eat, drink and be merry, Boy, I, I've, life is good.

We might say to ourselves, What's Christ's response? But God said to him, You fool, this very day, your soul is required of you. And now, who will own what you have prepared? So is the man who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich towards God.

Children, you must be rich towards God. Rich towards God. So is the man who lays up treasure for himself. Jonathan Edwards says he who is all for himself and none for his neighbor deserves to be cut off from the benefit of human society and to be turned among wild beasts to subsist himself as he can.

A private stingy spirit is more suitable for wolves and other beasts of prey than for human beings. I just wish the Puritans would say what they mean. That's Jonathan Edwards. But we're going to mention this more later, folks.

You and I don't own a thing. It's his. It's all God's. You and I are merely stewards of his stuff.

And we're gonna Talk about the place of riches here a little bit later. The point here is, is that your riches and my riches are for him and for his kingdom. Notice chapter 12, verse 31, but seek for his kingdom, and these things shall be added to you. Do not be afraid, little flock, for the Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom.

when you really start to evaluate what Christ is saying in the book of Luke, there's reason to fear. Why does Christ have to say, do not be afraid, little flock? Because what he's saying is so radical. And it puts fear up and down my spine.

And he says, Don't be afraid. Your father owns the kingdom, and your sons of the king. And so verse 33, don't be afraid to do what? Verse 33, sell your possessions and give to charity.

Make yourselves purses which do not wear out an unfailing treasure in heaven where no thief comes near, nor moth destroys, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Christ Jesus, give us some qualifications here. I know what you're saying is true, but let's balance it out. Well, Christ isn't ready to balance it out yet this morning.

Let's look at Christ's parable of the Great Banquet. Is that what we have? Or do we just do that? Did I skip my one?

Here we go. That's what we want. Christ's parable of the great banquet. starting in verse 1214, 12, when you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors lest they invite you in.

They invite you in return and repayment come to you. But when you give reception, invite the poor, crippled, lame, blind, and you will be blessed since they do not have the means to repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous. Jesus just flips all of our thinking upside down. In the parable that follows, when people are too busy to come to the master's banquet, he says, Go out into the streets lanes of the city and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.

What about Christ's instruction to the rich young ruler? Jesus says in verse 20 of chapter 18, the commandments, do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, bear false witness, honor your father and mother. Notice that Christ does not say the 10th commandment here. He does not say do not covet.

Which is pretty, sneaky on the part of our Lord, because he knows what the sin problem is of this guy. And so the young guy in verse 21 says, all these I have kept from my youth. I've done it, Lord. Jesus says verse 22.

And he said this one thing you still lack, sell all that you possess, distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven. Come and follow me. Mark tells us that Jesus looked at him and loved him. But when he had heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.

This was Christ's command to this rich young ruler to sell it all. To give it all up. Is Christ going to command every single one of you to give up all of your wealth? I don't know if he's going to ask you.

But if the Bible means anything, if church history means anything, that he will probably ask some of us to do something like that. To give it a lot up for the, for the sake of the kingdom. Now throughout Scripture we're going to talk about this a little bit later. God is using people of wealth all over the place.

He's using, Jesus was buried his, his own grave was given to him by a rich man. We have people of riches being used of Christ all over the place. But the thing is, is these riches are always being held in Scripture, by those that are sons of the king, as not their own, and they're being used for the kingdom. They are on loan What is, what is this, what is the impact of Christ on Zacchaeus?

Here's a rich man. Zacchaeus, after having time with Christ, no doubt Christ was preaching the kingdom of the gospel to Zacchaeus. And then in verse 8, he says, Behold, Lord, half of my possessions, I will give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back 4 times as much.

Now, somehow the subject must have come up, or, or at least this was the response of Zacchaeus to the gospel. And Jesus doesn't turn to him and say, no, Zacchaeus, calm down, your sins are forgiven. And I appreciate your heart, but let's not get too radical about this. No, Jesus says to him today, salvation has come to this house, because he too is the son of Abraham, for the Son of Man has come to seek and say that was lost.

What you see here is that in Zacchaeus, we see the fruit, not the condition of salvation. Zacchaeus believed in Christ, but then what is the fruit? What is the immediate stuff that starts flowing out of his heart because he loves Jesus now, because now he's a son of Abraham. The first thing he says is, I'm gonna sell half of what I own.

And what, this is just, this is just my guess. I don't think that when Christ was preaching to Zacchaeus that Christ said, Zacchaeus, I want you to sell half of what you own. I just, I don't get that impression. I think that he had a wonderful dinner.

Christ was ministering the gospel to him. The Holy Spirit fell on Zacchaeus, and Zacchaeus' overflowing response was, I'm going to sell half of what I own, and I'm going to give back what people I've stolen from. That's, that's what his idol was. That's what his sin was.

And that was what his response was. How about Christ's attention to the poor widow, in chapter 21. And, and he looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury. And there he's in the temple situation.

We took an offering this morning. And, it's as if Jesus was sitting here and he looks out, and he sees all these rich Americans. Most of us in this room are very wealthy, putting their offering, their money in the offering. But then he saw a certain poor widow, putting in two small copper coins.

And he said, Truly, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all of them, for they all out of their surplus, put in the offering, but she out of her poverty, put in all that she had to live on. What's the point here? The point is, the degree of sacrifice is what matters to Christ, not necessarily final amount given. It really doesn't matter.

Christ owns it all, right? It doesn't really matter how much you put in. What matters to Christ, is, are you giving in a sacrificial way that reflects that the gospel is working in your life in word and deed. I think that's one of the things we walk away with.

We've also got Christ's need for charity and burial. We've mentioned this already, that Christ didn't even have, he didn't even own his own place. He didn't have money to bury himself or have himself buried. He had to rely upon the charity of a brother in Christ, Joseph.

And so all this To be said to summarize what we've looked at in this survey of just the book of Luke. We haven't even looked at Matthew, Mark, and John, right? This is just Luke. What can we determine from this?

Well, first of all, Kids, at least 14 of 24 chapters have something to say about wealth and mercy. They're just interlocked all over and over and over again, we see wealth and mercy put together. In, in over half of the chapters of this book. Christ's Father is merciful towards the poor, towards enemies, towards ungrateful people.

And we're told to To imitate the Father. Christ preached the gospel to the poor. He had an eye for the poor. Christ gave of himself to the poor.

If we had time, we'd look at the book of John where it's clear that the disciples carried around a money box in which they took money out regularly for the poor. Christ identified with the poor, he received mercy from others. As a child, he received, no doubt, he and his mother received mercy in order to survive. He was born in very humble circumstances.

He received mercy and, and, and giving from others in order to go out and do his ministry, and his own grave was a gift. He was a homeless man. At least the last 3 years of his life. Christ moved others to give to the poor.

And then lastly, our attitude towards wealth and mercy is a significant symptom of our spiritual state. This folks, is why this is not in the minor doctrine category. This is in the major doctrine category. If we close our fists to the poor and the needy, then the Bible would indicate we have great reason to question our sonship.

However, if we're free with our money and giving to the poor and needy, that is great. It gives us great hope that there is fruit of repentance in our lives. Am I saying that we're saved by our works? No.

But is there fruit that ought to be evident in the lives of a true convert that demonstrates we are indeed sons of Abraham like Zacchaeus? Yes. These are fruits. of repentance.

And we see that God loves his family, we ought to love the family. We are, we ought to start right here. We, we love our brothers and sisters, we're willing to part with our possessions and our money for our brothers and sisters. But then it goes beyond that, it goes to our enemies, it goes to the world.

There's a both, a both and. We want to give to those that know Christ. And we want to give to those in hopes that they will know Christ, right? Now how should this really flesh out Here at Cornerstone, what must we do with Christ's call to mercy?

if we look into this perfect law of liberty, as James says, and we walk away unchanged, we are of all people to be most pitied. We dare not look into God's word. And just say, wow, Pastor Mike delivered a wonderful speech this morning. Let's go home.

This is what we are doing right now is something that God has ordained that the word would be preached, that you guys would be impacted by the Word and that the Holy Spirit would work in all of our hearts, and that we would look at God's Word, and that the Holy Spirit would work grace motivated change and repentance. Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount, that he who builds his house on the sand, when the, when the storms come, that house will fall. He who puts his house on the rock and the storm comes, that house will stand.

What determines who's on the rock and who's on the sand?

Well, if you read what Jesus says there, it's those who do his word. Those who read everything he said in the Sermon of Mount and say, I will do it. That's the person who has built on the rock. When we hear such words as we see in the book of Luke, and if we walk away unchanged, then we are building our house on the sand.

So what should we do as individuals as a church? What do we need to do here? Well, 1st, 1st of all, Children, we need to obey Christ's teaching. It's very simple.

The Bible says these things. And by God's Holy Spirit, Christ doesn't give us anything that we can't do by His grace. And so we obey it. We obey it in word and deed, we say, yes, Lord, I, I want to experience and express the gospel.

In word Indeed, And it starts here at Cornerstone. It starts. In your care group. Think about your care group right now, the group that you're a part of.

And I understand that we, sometimes we have shut-ins, we have sometimes elderly people, sometimes we have people that can't technically attend their care group, but they're still considered part of a care group. But think of the, the, the small group that you are joined to. And in this church, we have people. who have handicapped children or disabled children that are needy.

We have single mothers. Children without dads. We have widows whose husbands have passed away. We have people that are recovering from illness.

In this church, We have people, young people who are coming to church, whose parents don't come with them. And they are needy. They fit into this category of what we're calling the poor. We have people in this church who are deaf.

And and struggle in their relationships with other people because they can't hear very well. We have needs, right? Think of, just think of your care group. We have, you probably, you might have people in your care group right now who are having trouble paying the electrical bill, and the phone bill.

And the first point of contact for the church is your care group. It's not the Agape Fund. That's, that's a great thing. The first point of contact is for your small group.

To get into their pockets and pull out money to help that family pay their phone bill, or pay their electrical bill, or pay their hospital bill. That's the first point of contact or to help that family take care of their disabled child. to help that family be a friend to those people that have trouble hearing. Be a friend to that mother that doesn't have a dad at home and is having trouble keeping the kids in order.

And they bring their kids to care group and their kids are causing a ruckus during the discussion time and We need to get up off our chairs and go grab that baby and go off in the other room so that woman can enjoy some time of fellowship. Those are ministries of mercy. It starts in our care group. And it comes into the local church at large.

That right here as a group, we've got lots of things that are going on right now as we speak. We've got our food pantry ministry and brothers and sisters, I want to be motivated by grace, but hear me when I say we've only got like 2 or 3 people that are coming out twice a month to distribute food and it's the same 2 or 3 people every month. And they're getting wiped out. You got Pepita, you got Carlos, Cindy is dealing with cancer right now, so she can't be there.

Folks, I just pray by God's Holy Spirit that we would be able to get some people to come out here and help us distribute some food twice a month. Because Pepita and Carlos can't do it by themselves. We need some help. We've got, Carl, Carl Sims goes out every Sunday to a convalescent home.

I, I get here on Sundays, my first default setting, I'm, I get here and do my thing. And after I, the service is done, I wanna, first thing I want to do is go eat some lunch because I'm cranky, right? So I, I don't have food in my stomach. I, and then I wanna go take a nap.

And then if an Angel game's on, I just want to watch the game. that's my default setting in myself. It's leave him alone. Don't bother me.

I'm eating, right? I want to watch the game. Carl Sams gets up every Sunday and goes down to Plymouth Towers. And ministers to the elderly.

This guy works insane hours. Is dog tired. And every Sunday he's down there ministering to the elderly, and he needs your help. They go out on Thursday nights.

They need your help. These are ways that we can get involved. what Joe's talking about this morning, these children over here, a lot of these children over here, a lot of them are church kids, but some of them are just kids from the neighborhood who don't know Christ yet. And this is a Ministry of mercy right here in this modular building right here.

And we need your help. Last year, we had, We had a tough time getting volunteers for children's church ministry. In the world. I'm amazed at what the city of Riverside is doing some research this week.

in the, in the county of Riverside, there's 5000 homeless on any given day. Right here in the downtown area, there's about in Riverside, there's about 1800 homeless on any given day. One third of them are children, but the city of Riverside since 2003 has been just pouring. Big time bucks in administering to the homeless here.

And a lot of that money is going to churches. They're just bringing in churches and different Christian organizations and networking them, and they're trying to get them together to minister. I just found out about this this week. I'm like, wow, this is amazing.

I didn't know about all this. And there's ways that we can get involved. We want to try to see how is it that we can network with people in this community to make an impact right here in university and down there in Fairmont and whatnot. Impact for change.

they've actually been moving people into jobs and into self-sufficiency. not just giving handouts. They've, I, I don't, I don't have the stats right with me, but I know it's above 60 people since 2003 that various volunteer agencies have been able to actually get jobs for them and get them self-sustaining. 60 people may not sound like a lot, but That's a lot of folks that were out on the street that now have jobs because of local churches that are coming together.

With government dollars, it's amazing and doing it. We should model Christ's example. We've been talking about obeying Christ's example, Children, we should model Christ's example in word and deed. In our care groups, in the local church at large in the world, your Father is merciful towards the poor, we should be merciful towards the poor, the ungrateful, the evil.

Christ identified with the poor, he lived simply. Christ avoided materialism and finery. And brothers and sisters, while it's pretty clear from Scripture that riches are not a sin, it's obviously that God uses wealthy people. It's also very clear that many of God's people ought to live on less.

We're going to follow Christ's example. If there's any sin that you could accuse the United States of, if there's one key sin, you could say this is the sin of Americans. It'd be materialism Hands down. And the thing is, folks, statistically, there's very little difference between what you see in the church and what's going on in the world, as far as the proportion of wealth that God has given to us, and the percentage of that wealth that we share and give to others.

Now Americans are known throughout the world as being a very giving people. But statistically, we're like the rich people compared to the widow's mite. Putting in our money, a little tokenism. I got a little leftover.

So I'll send it off to this ministry. Brothers and sisters, as we look at the book of Luke and look at Christ's own example, It seems that the Lord would call us, many of us, and let the Holy Spirit speak to you individually, to more. Who owns everything you have? You?

No. Who owns your car? Who gave you a job? Who gave you money?

Who gives you a house and clothes? We, we don't own a thing, folks. If we understand what Christ is saying, we don't own a thing. It's all his.

And you and I will give account to the Lord Jesus Christ on that day of judgment. And he will say, what have you done with what I gave you? I gave you my stuff. How have you used it?

Again, our riches bad and terrible? No, riches are a blessing from the Lord, but they are given to us for a reason. To expand the kingdom of God. To bring the gospel to the poor.

And folks, we need to realize That your attitude towards wealth and mercy is a significant symptom of your spiritual state. It is a significant, listen to that. It is a significant symptom of your spiritual state. Now just consider in closing here.

What we've been talking about is not something that's brand new. This is something we should continue the charity, the church has shown for nearly 2000 years. Christ, Jehovah kicks it off in the Old Testament in his commands to Israel. Christ instills it in the New Testament and his command to preach and minister to the poor and word indeed.

And the church from the early church to today has been putting this into practice. And it feels strange to us, brothers and sisters, because we've been lost in a fog. It seems so strange to us, because we have been disconnected with what the church has been doing for 2000 years. just listen to some of these examples.

Milton's going to give some more examples next week on the early church, but In the year 252, there was a great pestilence in Carthage, that's North Africa. Sickness afflicted many people, corpses lay about the streets. And it was a time of great persecution where Christians were being killed and slaughtered and sent to lions. And yet the pastor, Pastor Ciprian sent Christians out to minister to those who were sick and dying.

And this meant caring for some of those who had recently persecuted them and killed their own loved ones. And yet they went out and did that ministry of mercy. And is it any wonder that just a few, just a generation later that the Roman Empire was turned upside down? That Christianity revolutionized the world.

One of the early church fathers said Christians voluntarily contributed to the support of the destitute to pay for their burial expenses, to supply the needs of girls and boys, lacking money and power to support old people confined to the home. This was a part of just regular Christian living in the early church. I'm gonna skip by this quote from John Haas, but I just want to let that John Haas, one of my personal heroes, was a man that was known for his incredible giving of his resources to the poor.

And what's interesting is that John Huss, he's a pre-reformer who had an incredible impact on the church.

He's one of the guys that led to the Reformation. He was born in a very poor home. He could not have afforded his own education. He had great gifts.

And it was a wealthy believer who paid for his entire education. And John Huss is one of the guys that spearheaded the Reformation. he did it 100 years before it actually occurred, but without John Huss, you don't have the reformation, folks. And it was a wealthy man who said, This is not mine.

This is for God's kingdom. I'm going to pay for that guy's education because he's got some gifts. And we don't even know this guy's name this day. Do you think he's reaping reward in heaven for all of the salvation of people that came out of the darkness?

of indulgences and purgatory. Listen to This quote from Jonathan Edwards. This is the main point of his sermon. It is the most absolute and indispensable duty of a people of God to give bountifully and willingly for the supply of the wants of the needy.

And then as he's developing this message, he says, consider that what you have is not your own. You have only a subordinate right, your goods are only lent to you of God to be improved by you in such a way as he directs. God tells us that he shall look upon what is done in charity to our neighbors in want as done unto Him, and what is denied unto them is denied unto Him. Consider what abundant encouragement the Word of God gives that you shall be no losers by your charity and bounty to them who are in want, as there is scarce any duty prescribed in the Word of God, which is so much insisted on as this.

So there is scarce any to which there are so many promises of reward made. Cast your bread upon the water, and it'll return unto you. It's like, it's, it's like Christ's system. of saving Is the Is to give it away.

If we're understanding Luke at all. Folks, just, let's let the Holy Spirit minister to us. I know we've covered a lot. And these are some tough sayings.

It's difficult stuff to read the words of Christ, and he does not offer us a lot of qualification. He does not offer us. A lot of buts. And if we're going to take this stuff seriously, it seems, as we look at church history, and as we look at what the Bible says, there ought to be at least some of us that the Holy Spirit would move upon by God's grace, to give up a lot for the kingdom.

And to be as Zacchaeus as it were. And lay it out at the Lord's feet. For the benefit of the poor and the needy. No doubt there will be some of us that God will just pour out wealth and wealth and wealth and wealth, and they'll be able to do incredible things for God's glory and kingdom.

And there's some of us that are more on the needy side, and we need to be recipients of wealth. But just as Christ was a recipient of wealth, he was still giving to the poor, even though he was poor himself. There are many ways that we can contemplate applying this in the future. But today the main way that you can apply this.

is to your care group And to the people sitting in this room. Right now. Who in this room would the Lord lay on your heart? Who has a need Who needs help, who needs friendship.

Who in this room, are you, has the Holy Spirit been plucked in your heart maybe for weeks? You're like, man, I really need to give that person a call and go spend some time with them. I'm, I'm, I know I'm really busy, but I, that person needs some encouragement. We're not just talking about money here.

We're talking about resources, time. Right? Let's bow in prayer and ask the Lord. The Spirit to minister, Lord, we pray that your Spirit would help us apply these things to our hearts.

Lord, it is so easy for us to be afraid. Your word tells us little children do not be afraid. We know that you are the King of all. Lord, it is very easy for us to excuse.

It is very easy for us to explain away. Your words Lord, we come to you now as a people and we repent. We ask, Lord, for you to forgive us of our materialism. We ask you to forgive us, Lord, where it's appropriate of our stinginess.

We ask you to forgive us of thinking that we own anything and not considering ourselves stewards of your stuff. Lord, may we grow in this grace, motivated by your spirit, motivated by grace. But Lord, may we look at these words, and may it cause us to examine ourselves and to make our call and election sure. Lord, may we look at these truths and examine our hearts.

To make sure that we are indeed in the faith and that we are sons of the Most High, sons of Abraham. May your Spirit work that now in us in Christ's name. Amen. Why don't we stand together as we sing, Jesus is my Only Hope.

I come into your presence. With nothing in my drink