Losing Count of the Good

Lose Count of Doing Good For Others Deuteronomy 15:1-15

Introduction This is week three of Keeping Score: What we lose when we keep count. As we have seen, this entire series is based on Grace. Perhaps the hardest word in the entire Bible to wrap our minds around is the infinitely wide one-syllable word grace. Defining it is not the problem. Succinctly put, grace is unmerited favor. Confining it is where we get into trouble. The truth is, we who are in Christ Jesus do not have a single challenge, need, temptation, desire, craving, conflict, sacrifice, relationship, or task where grace should be limited. Further, there is no opportunity, opposition, or occupation where grace is ineffective. No category exists where grace should be in short supply.

For many believers, the concept of grace doesn't go beyond the basic definition of unmerited favor or the free gift of God. Grace is just about me and God. Since grace is at the very heart, indeed, the very foundation of true Christianity, it is extremely important to think more precisely and have a larger understanding of this important word and its truth. Grace has to impact all of life and go beyond what just what God gives me.

The ramifications of God’s grace to us in Christ affect our lives on every level. Throughout the Bible, the effects of God’s grace are emphasized. Everywhere we turn, we run into this word and concept. In fact, the Lord Himself is described as the very epitome and manifestation of God’s grace. The doctrine of God’s grace in Christ is multi-sided. Grace touches every area of truth or doctrine in one way or another. Every spiritual doctrine is related to grace. It is no wonder grace is an essential word and one that Paul desires to be experienced by all and given by all.

Today, through the writings of Moses, we are going to see how God, from the beginning, has called us to show grace and how we help others because of and through God's grace Deuteronomy 15:1-15

Deuteronomy 15:1–15 ESV

“At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release. And this is the manner of the release: every creditor shall release what he has lent to his neighbor. He shall not exact it of his neighbor, his brother, because the Lord’s release has been proclaimed. Of a foreigner you may exact it, but whatever of yours is with your brother your hand shall release. But there will be no poor among you; for the Lord will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess— if only you will strictly obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all this commandment that I command you today. For the Lord your God will bless you, as he promised you, and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow, and you shall rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over you. “If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be. Take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart and you say, ‘The seventh year, the year of release is near,’ and your eye look grudgingly on your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he cry to the Lord against you, and you be guilty of sin. You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’ “If your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you, he shall serve you six years, and in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. And when you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty-handed. You shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, out of your threshing floor, and out of your winepress. As the Lord your God has blessed you, you shall give to him. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this today.

Scriptural Analysis Chapter 15 is saturated with calls for the Israelites to care for their fellow man. There's a commandment earlier in Deuteronomy called the Shema: you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. That is the foundation for everything that Moses said afterward. Total love of God is the basis for demanding the social program outlined in these verses.

Verses 1-3 Here Deuteronomy recalls an ancient law. A law in Exodus 23 prescribed a sabbatical year for the land. The Israelites were to work a land for six years, then let it rest for the seventh year. Deuteronomy 15 uses the same word as that translated “let the land lie unplowed” in Exodus 23. Moses calls on all creditors to refrain from pressuring neighbors or “fellow Israelites” to pay off a loan. In many cases, such loans would have consisted of portions of land, whose produce would be used to repay the loan. As a last resort, there would have been human labor pledges working for the creditor to pay off the debt. So Moses is calling for a year of rest. Most historians agree that this cancellation was a year of suspension of the debt, not outright permanent cancellation. Debtors would naturally feel the release of pressure if the creditor renounced all claims to the property given as a pledge, and even more so if he suspended the payment for the loan that was due in the seventh year. Allowing the land a year to rest provided it with an opportunity to rejuvenate itself. So by suspending his rights to the loan, the creditor would offer the debtor an opportunity to catch his breath and hopefully get back on his feet economically.

Verses 4-6 Moses’ picture of Israel’s ideal economic future sounds utopian. He opens with an announcement: “There should be no poor among you.” But we know that's not the reality they face because the book of Deuteronomy expresses great concern for widows, the fatherless, the foreigner, and the poor. Coming immediately after the instructions about how to alleviate debt poverty, the assertion, that there should be no poor among you, sounds curiously inconsistent. Furthermore, it seems even more contradictory with verse 11, There will always be poor people in the land. Moses is arguing, that poverty ought not to exist in the rich land the Lord blessed them with, even though it does. This seems to be the best understanding of verse 4 rather than the idea that there would absolutely not be any poor among them. The tension between the two statements is indicative of the gulf that exists between the ideal and actual, what could be the case where God’s purposes are carried out, and what inevitably occurs when they are not. If you obey God, he will bless you richly. If he blesses you richly, there will be no poor among you. It's not a contradiction. It's a call to obedience and a call to generosity.

Verses 7-11 In verses 7–11, Moses moves from describing the ideal future to the reality that awaits the people once they cross the Jordan. These verses proceed to give a portrait of the law in action, on the assumption that it would always be necessary. In the real world of fallen humanity, there will always be the poor, but there must also always be, among God’s people, a spirit of generosity to the poor. Concern and provision for the poor is an important theme throughout the Scriptures. Moses calls on blessed people to be generous toward the poor and to give without regret.  Moses declares the consequences of cheerful generosity toward the poor. The promise that God will bless the creditor “in all your work” and “in everything you put your hand to." God will reward those who are kind and generous to the needy because the needy are image bearers of God as well.

Verses 12-15 It is generally agreed that the slave here refers to landless people who were dependent on Israelite land-owning households for their employment and survival. The Exodus laws gave them some rights and protection, effectively allowing them to go free after six years of service in one household. This generosity is an amazing command for the benefit of one who was, after all, a slave. Supply him liberally is literally “you shall garland him!” The master was to celebrate his departing slave, with flocks and grain and wine. This would enable this individual who now entered the status of a free man to have some chance of economic stability.

The rationale for this was the comparable situation in which Israel had found itself in Egypt. There they had been pressed into slavery, cruelly mistreated, but at last delivered by the redemptive grace and power of God. But even the Egyptians had sent them away with provisions to tide them over until they could stand on their own feet. If this mighty act of redemption was carried out by the Lord on Israel’s behalf, how much more should the beneficiaries of that goodness be quick to exercise it on behalf of their financially oppressed?

The motivation for this law is from that economic principle and a theological principle. The theological reason focuses on present blessing and historical redemption. Give to him as the Lord your God has blessed you. This wonderful text, which could have fallen from the lips of Christ himself, perfectly sums up the reciprocal dynamic of obedience and blessing, of doing to others what God has done for you. It is based on the historical motivation of the Exodus redemption. Those who had been “Hebrews” in Egypt and had experienced God's liberation should not hesitate to grant liberty to others. The words, remember that you were slaves in Egypt, recall the reality they cannot outgive what God has already given them. And we, once being slaves to sin, now know the grace and freedom God has given us.

TODAY'S KEY TRUTH Lose Count of Doing For Others. Application Moses presents his people with a vision of a community of faith and the spirit of charity that should characterize God’s people in every age.  Moses says at the six-year mark, stop counting what you're owed. The softheartedness and openhandedness called for here are clearly reflected in 1 John 3:17–18: “But if anyone has material possession and sees his brother in need yet has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.” There is no better opportunity for Christians to distinguish themselves from the self-indulgent Canaanites of our day than through our generosity and charity toward the poor trapped in the cycles of poverty and destruction.

Here in Deuteronomy, God puts oceans of grace and love amid all the black print of the law. Loving words always look beautiful; they look the most beautiful when surrounded by the stern and unyielding law. Here, in the midst of all of God's Laws, He paints a beautiful picture of what loving grace looks like.

We find in this year of release what we all need, namely, the principle of new chances, new opportunities, and fresh beginnings. Imagine that conversation at the end of the year. Tomorrow, says the owner to the slave, is the day of release and the day you can begin again. The burden will be taken away, the darkness will be lifted, and life shall be new again for you.

Every person ought to have more chances than one. God has filled the sphere of life with recurring new opportunities. The expired week is dead and gone. Today is a new week, a new beginning. Christ’s own resurrection day came with the Gospel of hope, the Gospel of a new beginning, and the Gospel of a grander opportunity. Moses is telling his people and us, as God has granted us new life and freedom, that we are to do the same with our fellow man. Give people the help, the freedom, and the release God has given you. As I say on repeat, the amount of grace I have received, is the amount of grace I am to give others. That's a lot of grace.

Lose Count of Doing Good For Others.

When Paul exhorts the Corinthians to give, he reminds them, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake, he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich." God initiated his love toward us in Christ, and we love one another generously because he first loved us. Christian giving, based on the work of Christ, is done in joy. The New Testament says more about giving than about any other single aspect of church life. Giving to others serves as clear proof of one’s love for God, according to James 2 and 1 John 3. In 1st and 2nd Corinthians, we see giving should stem from a life that has first been given to God and should be done voluntarily, liberally, even in poverty, cheerfully, and according to the measure of prosperity God gives to the individual. Giving is central to the character of the people of God because of all that God has given to us. And God is clear that the poor and needy are a responsibility of believers. He outlines that through Moses, Paul, and many biblical writers.

When we give, we are also not to make an issue or celebrate what we have done. We're not to keep count. Jesus said when you give, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. In other words, it's not done, so others will count it to you, or for you to count it to yourself. We are to give without keeping count. If you keep count of the good you are doing for someone else, then they are constantly going to be in debt to you. In fact, that is the only reason to keep count of the good you're doing: so you know what you're owed.

For example, how happy, satisfying, and peaceful is a marriage where one or both parties are keeping count of everything they do for the other? There's a constant tension of who is in debt now to the other because they cooked, or they cleaned, or they paid a bill. That's not grace, which every marriage needs. A marriage based on counting isn't a marriage, it's a cold transaction. So when you give or help someone in need but keep count of it, that's not grace, that's a transaction. Moses is calling his people to lose the transaction and show grace based on what God has done for you. Gracefully help your neighbor find a new chance, a new opportunity, and a fresh beginning. A debt is based on counting. If there's no counting, there's no debt. We are called to help others and not keep count.

Lose Count of Doing Good For Others. Conclusion You extend God’s grace by helping people with the blessings and gifts God has given you.  When you give to other people using the blessings and gifts God has given you, you are extending God's grace to them. Peter wrote, “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace,” (I Peter 4). The transactional nature of our culture has caused us to view all of life as a transaction. That mentality has caused us to even view helping others as transactional. I do for you, and if you don't reciprocate at some point or if you do something I don't like later, then you're in debt to me. You don't appreciate what I have done, so now that's a debt you owe me. But that's not the nature of the grace we have received.

Last week, we talked about how we can't earn God's forgiveness and grace. God just gives it. And then, when you sin again, He just gives it. And 5 minutes later, when you sin again, God gives you grace again. God doesn't keep count of our failures or the grace he gives. God calls Christians to that same grace and to help everyone they can because of and through that grace.

Don't help your neighbor, or your co-worker, or your friend, or your husband or wife, and expect something in return. Help others, especially the needy, because of the grace you have received from God.

Lose Count of Doing Good For Others.

Like we said at the beginning, perhaps the hardest word in the entire Bible to wrap our minds around is the infinitely wide one-syllable word grace. Defining it is not the problem. Confining it is where we get into trouble. Don't confine it. Grace flows to us, so it can flow through us. His grace knows no bounds. It's not confined. God blesses us gracefully, and we are called to bless others gracefully, with no bounds.

That guy with the sign at the stoplight needs grace, just like I need grace. That family member who never appreciates anything you do needs grace. That neighbor, who never does anything for you despite your kindness, needs grace. If God doesn't keep count, then we shouldn't keep count, either.

Lose Count of Doing Good For Others.