“God’s People Help the Helpless”
September 1, 2013
The 15th Sunday of the Christian Season of Ordinary Time/Kingdomtide/Time of the Church
Ecclesiasticus 10: 7 - 18/Psalm112/Hebrews 13:1-8/ Luke 14: 1; 7 - 14
His Eminence
The Most Reverend Archbishop Loren Thomas Hines D.D.
Archbishop of Manila
and
Primate
of the
National Church in the Philippines
and
the Territorial Church of Asia
International Communion of the Charismatic Episcopal Church
What a blessed people we are! We have been created in the image of God, in His likeness. He breathed His breath into mankind. He has done so much for us. When we failed Him, He sent His Son to redeem and to restore us. Not only did He restore us, but He gave us new life. He did not just restore the old, but He gave us new life. He gave to us power, dominion, and authority. What a blessed people we are!
In the fifteenth week of Ordinary Time or Kingdomtide, as God's people, if only we knew, if only we were interested to find out, we would find that God's provision is more than enough. We lack in nothing – blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places; grace upon grace; faith. All He has provided that we could be like Him that we could walk in a manner as Christ did. This is why Christ said to us, “The things that I have done, you shall do; and even greater than these.” For some reason, as people, we question, we doubt or we just don’t believe that we are given such grace and mercy.
Most churches have a church mouse. We have a church mouse. It is very interesting to watch this mouse. This mouse is unique. He is more faithful than you are. Every day, at noon, when it is time for Noonday prayers, approximately 10 minutes before it is time to begin, the mouse comes out of the backroom. It comes across the church and comes to the side of the altar. It remains there for the prayers and the Mass.
Almost every day, if you are here, ten minutes before we begin, you will see it. Some of the priests don’t get here half a minute before. There are not as faithful as the mouse. The mouse obviously has an awareness of the value of the Eucharist. It has an awareness of the honor that we give God because we are on time. Because we set course, we set direction, we bring honor to God. A mouse is more reverent and respectful than many people because we don’t understand who we are. Neither do we understand what God has done for us.
From the reading of Ecclesiasticus, it is very interesting how it relates to us. It begins by talking about arrogance. Arrogance is a sense of superiority. Many times, this is our attitude. We feel we are superior. We have forgotten that we have come from dust. We have forgotten that we are here because God breathed His breath into us. Our whole life comes from another Source. We cannot claim it for ourselves. Our whole being – everything that we are is in Him. We can’t stand alone. If we stand alone, we fail and we are defeated. We are separated and we become nothing. When we try to do things on our own, as the world teaches us today, we become arrogant; and pride rises in and we become aliens. We become separated from God and failure soon follows.
Sometimes we think we have achieved much and we allow pride to rise up in our hearts and we feel that we are so much blessed than others. Yet, God shows us that He is not a respecter of persons. What He does for one, He will do for all. It is an offense to God and it is an offense to Christ that we think that we can do things on our own and we can set our own course and set our own direction as the world encourages us.
Our dependence is upon God. Our dependence is more than just upon God, but it is a dependence upon one another. We strengthen each other; we encourage one another. We are to be sensitive to the needs of others. We are to be sensitive to the hurts, the pains. We are to be compassionate, loving, and generous.
This is what the Kingdom is all about. We are a body – the Body of Christ. We are connected one to another. Each different part of the Body, but yet each dependent upon the other parts of the Body to function properly that we rise and become what God intended us to be. If the physical body has a pain, we favor that part of the body. Blood rushes to that part of the body to bring healing. We pamper that part of the body until the pain is gone and we feel that part of the body is okay. We take care of ourselves in such a way that we don’t have the bigger picture that we are a part of a Body of Christ. We are responsible for every part of the Body. We are to be sensitive to that which God has given to us.
It is amazing how we pamper our own pain; it is amazing how that we watch over to make certain that we heal a part of the body which has been hurt. A couple of weeks ago, I was doing my weights and I was lifting normally what I would lift. But I was not in the proper position. My posture was wrong and I pulled my shoulders out. The whole side of my body and the back began to have pain. When this happens, you pamper; you are very cautions. You will do what you can to bring healing to that part of the body that is in pain. I went to the chiropractor so that he could put back the spine in its proper place, where it is supposed to be. At the same time, I pampered what I carried, what I did or how I slept so that it did not irritate that part of my body that was hurting.
This is an example of how, as the Church, we are to supposed to care for each other; how we are supposed to be concerned for each other. Many times, when we see a brother in trouble or in pain, we want to get away from him. We don’t want to comfort him. We don’t want to get involved because it takes away from our self and our own interest.
The writing of Hebrews 13 begins with the verse which says, “Let brotherly love continue.” This brotherly love was a command of Christ when He said, “You must love one another.” He did not give a choice; He gave a commandment. This commandment is not love as we have been taught love is – emotional - like flowers and chocolates. The love Christ is talking about is faithfulness; loyalty; protection; covering; providing. This is the love that God commands of us. Let this love continue. Hebrews says to show hospitality, even to strangers. Even though you may not know them, they are still a part of the Body; they are still a part of that which is connected to Christ, as one Body has been created by Him.
Verse 3 says, “Remember the prisoners.” These are those who have made mistakes and failed and have been incarcerated for their failures, perhaps, unforgiven. The challenge is: remember them because unless the grace of God was on your side, it might be you. You should have compassion, concern for them. We are to comfort them, and to make certain that they do not lose their relationship with God. You have to restore their faith so that they do not allow that which is taking place to discourage them to a point of failure and giving up. “Remember them because it might be me. It might happen to me if I reject them because how I treat them is how I am going to be treated.”
In Matthew 25:40, it tells us that as we do unto others, we do unto God. This is as though we were doing something to Him. “To the extent that you did this to one of my brothers, even the least of them, you have done this to Me.” How many times do we ignore the need of a brother? How many times do we ignore the pain of a brother, not realizing that in verse 45, “If you did not do it to one of them, you did not do it to Me.” We find it so easy to do things for what we think is God. In reality, the thing that God is saying to us here is that when we live in the Body and we are ministering one to another, we are actually ministering to Christ. We are giving our thanksgiving to Him in our actions, in the things that we do.
Hebrews says that our character should be free from the love of money. “The love of money is the root of all evil.” It doesn’t say that it is wrong to have possessions, but it says, “The love of them where they control us rather than we controlling them.” Verse 7 says, “Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you and have led you to Christ. Remember them. Do not forget them. Bless them and encourage them and thank them for what they have done. Remembering that Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He does not change.”
We see there the helping of the helpless. It is not necessarily the poor, although that is included. But the helpless is the Body of Christ as it may face a need or it may face a situation, a pain, a sorrow, a failure, a defeat. Rather than allowing that fear or that failure to bring about death, we step in with love and compassion. We step in to heal and to restore and to bring back that which God has given to us.
Remember that we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places. We lack in nothing. If we are complete in ourselves, we will not find fault in others. We will not find failure in others because we are secure in ourselves. When we begin to point our fingers of guilt, condemnation or judgment to others, it is because we are lacking in our own lives; so we try to cover up our failure by pointing to others rather than realizing that God has given to us everything. We need not look for failure in others because God has also given them that provision and that blessing.
We look at the kingdom of God; and the life that God has given us to live out in this Kingdom is servanthood because we have so much given to us. We see the compassion; we see the need; we see the pain of others. We can come to their aid even if it is only a word; even if it is only a touch. We may not have the physical need or material need to meet their need, but we can bring comfort, concern, and prayer. This is the help that we give. This is the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ heals itself. The Body of Christ restores itself. The Body of Christ multiplies and is blessed because God has so created it to be.
How blessed we are as God’s people! How His provision is ample to us. His compassion, His mercy, His grace to us is more than enough. So blessed are we that we can reach out and touch the lives of those who do not understand all that God has given. Be cautious not to make ourselves seem to be greater than we are.
As Jesus was saying in the gospel, “When you go to a feast and you are invited, don’t put yourself in a position of honor because maybe someone else is greater than you that is coming. If the host is to remove you, it can be embarrassing if he put you down a few chairs. Start at the bottom. Don’t think highly of yourself. Be humble and let the host bring the blessing to you and bring to your own life the provision that comes because of what Christ has done in your life.”
This brotherly love that this Scriptures teaches about, Hebrews says to let it continue because Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever It doesn’t matter the culture, the generation, the time that you live in. Christ is still the same. He has blessed you as much as He has blessed anyone. His provision is there so that there can be a witness to others.
Romans 12 says, “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.” Give preference to one another in honor. Not demanding or pushing yourself in front, but instead giving way to others so that they recognize the concern you have for them, the love, the compassion, the honor that you would give to them. Scriptures challenge us, Jesus said in John 13, "A new commandment I give you: that you love one another. As I have loved you so you also love one another.”
Here is the help that we are to give to each other – the love, the compassion, the concern. This is Christianity. Not looking for others to help us; not looking for the Church to be a blessing to us; but because of what Christ has done, we are blessed; therefore, we become a blessing. We become the source. We become that which helps others and causes others to rise up. If I have need, that need is not to be the controlling factor of my life. That need, God will meet because He has promised to meet all of our needs. He says, “I will never leave you. I will never forsake you.”
God will take care of us. He will provide for us. He will not fail us. This is the blessing of God. This is how we, now, in Kingdomtide have been given so much. Now, our responsibility is to be a help to others. To the poor, yes, but also to a brother or a sister in the Body of Christ who has a need at the moment. He may not be poor; he may not be lacking, but it may be emotional or situations have occurred that has caused him to be anxious or painful at the moment. We step in to be the healing. We step in to be strength. We step in to be a moment of encouragement knowing the greatness of God and His provision that He has given to us.
It is not arrogance. We are not better than anyone else. Humble; and in that humility, we reach out to touch the lives of others. We are concerned to help carry the load that might be upon a brother’s shoulder for a moment. We do not leave them alone. We do not forsake them, but instead, we stand together with them so that they would know the greatness of God and the Body to be healed. The Body becomes great because as the Body exercise, it multiplies. As the Body reaches out and touches the needs of others, it causes growth and multiplication.
This is what the Church is all about. This is our relationship with God. This is what we are challenged to do in the Kingdom. We have been given the Kingdom. Scriptures says, “God is glad to give us the Kingdom.” If He has given us the Kingdom, then we should use it. We should live in it according to its guidelines and principles. Let it be the guiding light of our lives and let our lives be a guiding light unto others who have need or want or have the ability to rise up if we help them.
Help the helpless. This is our challenge in the fifteenth week of Kingdomtide. Not just thinking of ourselves, “Look at what God has done for me. I am so blessed. He has blessed me with everything.” Yes, for what reason? That you may be a blessing and that you might reach out and touch the lives of others; that you may encourage and bring healing; that you may bring comfort; that you may bring compassion, if necessary, counsel and wisdom. This is the privilege of ours.
Humble, yes. We are not greater than another. We came from dust. How can dust be so great? Yet, God's life in us has brought us to this place where that we are to bring glory and honor to him. May the Kingdom in us bring forth praise and honor to Him. May our lives, because we have given, be a blessing not only to others but also in our ability. God's provision is more than enough for us. May we be the help, the humble, and be the source of life to others.
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