Remember What You Were

Remember What You Were Deuteronomy 24:14-22

Opening Remarks:

Hospitality

Friendly Spirit

Pastor and Family (Staff wives - Mrs. Chelsea and Mrs. Lauren)

Responsiveness to God’s Word

READ & PRAY

Introduction: There are certain things in life you shouldn’t forget:

You shouldn’t forget to change your oil

Pay your electricity bill

Pick your kids up, or make sure they’re all with you

Husbands, you shouldn’t forget your anniversary or your wife’s birthday. How many of you have done that? The interesting thing is that becomes something your wife never forgets.

The same is true spiritually speaking. There are some things that are important enough that you need to remember them. Remembrance is an important word in God’s economy.

He often had the children of Israel build a memorial at an important battle site or a landmark event. It was something He wanted them to remember. Many times in the New Testament we are challenged to remember important things like the death of Christ or important teachings.

If you read the book of Deuteronomy, you’ll notice that a major theme Moses was trying to emphasize as they prepared to take the Promised Land was this: Remember. As you remember what you were, it will impact how you treat others.

I. This Passage is Written to Masters, Judges and The Rich

*This message was for the people of means.

A. A command to Masters (Employer/employee)

1. Vs. 14 – Don’t oppress them by overloading them with work or being overbearing. Take care of them.

2. Vs. 15 – Be faithful and punctual in paying them their wages. The typical arrangement in this culture was payment at the end of a day’s work. If a person works by day-wages he’s probably living hand to mouth and needs paid today if his family is going to eat tonight.

3. “He setteth his heart on it” means that wage is extremely important to him. He’s depending on it to help his family survive. If you oppress him, 1) He will be sorely disappointed, and 2) You’ll will be guilty of wrongdoing.

B. A command to Judges.

1. Vs. 16 – This verse teaches personal responsibility. Parents don’t pay for children’s crimes, and vice versa.

2. Vs. 17 – In legal cases against others, it was up to the judges to protect those who may be innocent from suffering simply because they don’t have money to defend themselves. If a person comes in that doesn’t have money or friends to be witnesses in a case against someone with resources, it was the responsibility of the judge to make sure everyone was on equal footing. The judge was to protect those who couldn’t protect themselves. The final instruction comes in vs. 19.

C. A command to the wealthy.

1. Vs. 19 – Be kind and charitable to the poor by following the laws of Gleaning according to Leviticus 19 (as well as others).

2. These laws were installed to give foreigners, widows, and orphans an opportunity to gather food since they didn’t have means or money. Certain crops and produce would be unripe or missed during the first harvest, and God commanded Israel to leave it for the less fortunate.

We could spend much more time on each of these, but all of these commandments to Israel are illustrations of a mindset God wanted the children of Israel to have toward those with less.

II. There Are Two Categories of People in This Passage:

A. The “Haves” and the “Have-Nots”.

1. Masters, judges and the rich are the “haves.”

2. The servants, orphans, widows and the poor are the “have-nots.”

B. God is helping the “haves” know what their attitude should be toward the “have-nots.”

1. God has always had a special place in His heart for the weak and underprivileged.

He views the poor with compassion. Every orphan matters to God. Every widow has value.

Consider the fact that God sent His own Son to earth “as a stranger.” No place to be born. No dwelling place during His ministry. No place of His own to even be buried.

God loves the stranger. God cares for down and out.

2. What a wonderful God of mercy we have! And His message through Moses is that God’s people ought to have His mindset toward the have-nots.

3. And He gives them a motivation for the mindset.

C. Look at vs. 18 and 22

1. Vs. 18 – “But thou shalt remember…”

2. Vs. 22 – “And thou shalt remember…”

D. He’s saying, “Remember that you were a slave in Egypt.”

1. “As a slave you were a debtor. As a slave you were poor.”

2. “You lived hand to mouth. As a slave you had no one to stand up for you.”

3. “As a slave you wondered where your next meal would come from.”

4. What God is saying is, “I know you’re a Have now, but you used to be a Have Not. So have mercy on them.”

E. He gave this message to Israel many times in the OT.

1. Exodus 22:21 “Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.”

2. That theme is repeated over and over: For ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. Seeing as ye were strangers. Remember that thou wast a bondman.

3. And it’s no different for us. We may be Have’s, but we used to be Have-Not’s.

4. I don’t mean wealth or means, although, as Americans we are Have’s financially. No, what I mean is as recipients of God’s grace through salvation in Jesus Christ, we are Have’s.

5. And God hasn’t changed. He still values the lives of the Have-not’s.

III. Remembering our former condition will change our treatment of the have-nots.

A. Illustration: Running along river, seeing a homeless person, making some kind of disparaging comment. Then I said, “If not for the grace of God.”

1. Sometimes you just need to stop and remember where you came from and where you could be.

2. We were miserable in sin. We were in bondage. We had no hope in ourselves.

3. Just like God told Israel in vs. 18, “…the Lord thy God redeemed thee thence.” Our only hope of escaping our sin was the redemption paid for by our Savior.

4. So just because we “have” doesn’t mean we deserve to “have” more than anyone else. We’re all benefactors of someone else, a Redeemer, stepping in and dying on a cross to make us “haves.”

5. “Without Him, we would be dying. Without Him, we’d be enslaved. Without Him, life would be worthless, but with Jesus, thank God we are saved!”

6. There are few attitudes worse than someone who receives great benefits but refuses to extend them to someone else.

7. Christ was very hard on the attitude of the church of Laodicea. He says in Rev. 3:17, 19, “Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing: and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked…As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten…”

8. The attitude of forgetting what we used to be is grieving to the Lord. He knows what we once were.

B. So look around. Spiritually speaking, us Have’s are no more deserving of God’s grace than the Have-nots. It’s only by His grace that we aren’t in the other category.

1. So what difference does it make to remember?

2. Why was this so important?

IV. The Effects Of Remembrance

A. #1 – Remembering what you used to be will make you aware of what you could be.

1. Where would you be without God’s intervening love?

2. For many of us, the gap between what we are and what we used to be is obvious.

3. If you got saved later in life, the difference is staggering.

4. But it doesn’t matter if you got saved as a child or adult, when you remember what you used to be, it gives you a glimpse of what you could be.

5. Think about the trajectory of your life if someone had never told you about Jesus Christ. Where would we be?

6. One product of remembrance is Thankfulness. When you remember, you’re thankful for the change.

B. #2 – Remembering what you used to be will help you be what you ought to be.

1. Think about the effect remembrance was going to have on the children of Israel.

It was going to impact how they treated the Have-Not’s.

It would help them show mercy on the poor, the fatherless, the widows and the strangers.

Remembrance would cause them to leave part of the harvest for those that desperately needed it.

In God’s economy, the Have’s give of their abundance to meet the needs of Have-Not’s.

2. But what does it mean for us?

A Have is anyone who used to be in bondage but is now set free.

Which means that any of us who have been set free in Jesus Christ are Haves.

We may not have great wealth and influence. And we may not be able to feed the poor and needy, but we have been tasked with taking the bread of life to the lost who so desperately need to be set free.

3. Whether or not you view yourself as a Have, you are part of a local NT church, and the purpose of your existence as a disciple is to fulfill the Great Commission.

You have something greater than food.

You have the truth. And truth, according John 8:32, is the only thing that sets men free from bondage.

This is where the connection to the Gospel comes in.

4. There is a direct connection between remembrance and compassion for those still in bondage.

When you appreciate what God has done for you, you won’t view Outreach as a chore or interruption to your schedule, because your remembrance of what you were gives you compassion for the Have-Nots.

Those who remember have no problem saying, “I will set aside a percentage of my weekly paycheck to send Missionaries to the Have-Nots.”

A remembrance of what you were makes a sacrifice like money seem like a small price to pay because you remember the difference between bondage and freedom, and you’ll do what it takes to help someone else experience it too.

Remembrance will help you be willing to say, “The people at work need to hear about Jesus Christ. Gratitude for my spiritual freedom makes me look at the Have-Not’s around me and do whatever it takes for them to experience what I have. Anything less would be ungrateful.”

For some it may even need to be a consideration to surrender and give your life to spread the Gospel message. You might say, “That’s a price too big to pay.” But wait, is there a price too great for your freedom? How do you put a price tag on that?

It’s God who makes a connection between remembrance and compassion. The more you remember, the more compassion you’ll show.

#1 – Remembering what you used to be will make you aware of what you could be. #2 – Remembering what you used to be will help you be what you ought to be.

C. #3 – Remembering what you used to be allows God’s heart for people to become your heart for people.

1. When you remember what bondage was like, your only logical response is to tell others.

a. The only right response to freedom is a heart for others to find it too.

b. Every member of a NT church should have a primary mission of sharing truth with those in bondage.

c. Whether that’s giving financially to Missions, deciding you are going to give the Gospel to those around you, or choosing to give your life for the sake of spreading the Gospel in a foreign country, here’s the common denominator:

2. If you remember what you were, you’ll have a heart for those who remain Have-Nots.

D. Illustration: You Used To Be Me

1. Person at store (You Used To Be Me)

2. Neighbor (You Used To Be Me)

3. Lost Soul in foreign country (You Used To Be Me)

4. New Believer At Church (You Used To Be Me)

5. You Used To Be Me will…get you out of bed on Saturdays, remind you to take tracts, be bold and speak up

6. When you remember that the people around you every day are simply reflections of what you used to be, it gives you compassion for their souls. Because it could be you.

7. But if you forget what you were, you’ll likely live your life missing opportunities to reach the Have-Nots. And you’ll answer for it, according to our text. We’re responsible to remember and reach out.

8. We need a Revival of Remembrance:

a. We need to remember the bondage to sin.

b. We need to remember the long nights of guilt.

c. We must remember wondering if we’d ever have joy

d. And we need to remember day we found freedom in Christ.

e. You remember what you could be, and what you ought to be, all you can think is this: I want them to know it too.

V. Harriett Tubman

A. Was a key conductor in the underground railroad leading up the Civil War.

1. But what do you suppose made her so passionate about seeing slaves set free?

2. Was it just skin color? Was it the pay? Was it the fame and notoriety?

3. Harriett Tubman said, “Now I’ve been free, I know what a dreadful condition slavery is. I have seen hundreds of escaped slaves, but I never saw one who was willing to go back and be one.”

4. Harriett Tubman was passionate about helping set slaves free because she remembered what it was like to be one.

B. Our compassion for the lost is directly connected to our remembrance of bondage.

1. Those who forget stop giving, going, and telling.

2. But those who remember will give their lives to the cause.

3. If nothing else, remember this: The only thing around the throne of God for eternity will be the souls of people.

4. There is nothing more important to give your life to than reaching the Have-Nots.

5. And our impact in their lives can be traced back to this one word: Remember what you used to be.