A Reproach To Our Maker

Terry Siverd
09/06/20 - Sun AM

Link to sermon video: A Reproach To Our Maker - T Siverd

A REPROACH TO OUR MAKER

Sermon By Terry Siverd / September 06, 2020 / Cortland  Church of Christ

I want to share a few comments before we begin the start of this morning's sermon.If Jeannie and I look tired today, it's because we are tired.  Have you ever had company for three solid months?  Betina & the boys flew back to Yuma, Az, this past Tuesday and we are still in a recovery mode......As you can see from the note in today's FM, both Jeannie & I have new cell phones.  Until you get us programmed into your phone, should we call you our new may show up under the name Kempton Aros.  Betina arranged for a special six-phone package deal at a discounted rate......Tony & Margaret Mickholtzick celebrated their 50^th Anniversary yesterday.  If you'd like to send them a belated greeting their Tennessee address is in today's FM......This afternoon there will be a celebration of Doug Cassidy's life.  All are invited.  Bring your lawn chair and a facemask.  The picnic luncheon will be provided.  Directions to the Pogany Pavilion at Austintown Township Park are on our website.  It will be a very informal celebration - - if you are able to attend, please dress casually.....We are recording this morning's sermon with the hope of transferring it to our church website later today.  We considered trying to livestream the message.  Although we don't currently have online access here at the building, it's sometimes possible to hitch a ride on the neighbors.  Our message will be brief(er) and to the point.  In transferring our sermons from Facebook to our website, we've discovered that brevity works best.  I don't want you to get too over-excited about this, but this shorter-sermon approach might prove to be one of the most celebrated outcomes of the pandemic......Welcome!!  Isn't it wonderful to be together again in worship!

How many of you have been reading from the Proverbs and Psalms?

In a previous message I suggested that you keep a journal or notebook.  In that notebook, you could carve out a place for some of your favorite proverbs.  You could also place select proverbs in categories.  We've already done some of that in the last two sermons.  The TONGUE - - with two subcategories:  how to button your lips and how to speak out when its appropriate.  This morning I want to emphasize another sub-topic that Solomon addresses in his book of Proverbs - - COMPASSION AND CARING.

In the last year or so I have grown especially fond of the story of the Good Samaritan.  We might be inclined to think of this story as a parable, but it is not unreasonable to consider that this may well have been a real-life story that was shared by Jesus.  As we've been reading the proverbs, it seems like many of the proverbs we will reference this morning are encapsulated by Jesus in the telling of the story of the Good Samaritan.

Years ago when I served as the director of our summer youth retreat, I also served as a cabin counselor.  Often we would have 12-15 boys in each cabin and I made it a practice early on in the week to counsel with the older boys, encouraging them to be big brothers.  I would urge them to keep their eyes open for younger campers who might be in need of some special attention and nurturing.  That practice reminds me of a quote:  Not all of us can do 'great' things.  But we can all do 'small things with great love'.

Today's sermon from Proverbs strikes at the very heart of Christianity.  It calls for the imitation of Christ in caring for others, especially the weaker.  When the apostle Paul bid farewell to the Ephesian elders he told them (Acts 20:35) - - In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

Open your Bibles to the book of Proverbs.

Prov.14:31 states, He who oppresses the poor reproaches his Maker, but he who is gracious to the needy honors Him.  Closely related is Prov.17:5/He who mocks the poor reproaches his Maker.  Sometimes we preachers prefer to title our sermons with a positive and upbeat caption.  But this is one of those occasions when I have chosen a more negative title.  My hope is that we will choose a positive course, but I want to warn us of the gravity of failing to do so.  Thus, my sermon title today is, “A Reproach To Our Maker”.

Sometimes we use the expression “beyond reproach” to describe a person with sterling character.  To not practice the proverbs we're will enumeratd this morning is become a reproach to God.  This word “reproach” means to discredit … to defame … to disgrace … to dishonor.  The word that really describes reproach best is the word OPPROBRIUM.  Prov.19:17/He who is gracious to the poor lends to the Lord, and He will repay him for his good deed.  This is a kind of vertical “paying it forward” or paying it heavenward - - a heavenly IRA.

Prov.22:9/He who is generous (has a good eye) will be blessed.  For he gives some of his food to the poor.  Prov.14:21/He who despises his neighbor sins, but blessed (happy) is he who is gracious to the poor.  Prov.28:27/He who gives to the poor will never want, but he who shuts his eyes will have many curses.   Prov.31:20/She opens her arms (spreads out her palms) to the poor and extends her hands to the needy.

Many of the psalms of King David align with the proverbs of King Solomon.  Ps.41:1/How blessed is he who considers the helpless; the Lord will deliver him in a day of trouble.  Ps.82:3f/Vindicate the weak & fatherless; do justice to the afflicted & destitute; rescue the week & needy.  In these sacred texts God seem to be declaring to us:  “You mess with the poor, and you're messing with ME!”

I have often told you that my mother was a shining example in this regard.  Throughout her entire life she rooted for the underdogs.  She was a perennial Indians' fans.  She not only “rooted for” underdogs, but she was a genuine advocate - - a beloved helper.  She showed me a side of Jesus that often becomes lost in the busyness of church life.  If you had to describe Jesus in a few words to someone it would be impossible to do without underscoring how He was fondly drawn to the outcasts … the cast-offs … the misfits … the downcast & downtrodden.  In one of His sermons he stretched his disciples saying (Lk.14:12-14a) - - When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return, and repayment come to you.  But when you give a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed.

Bill Hybels (Making Life Work, pg.163) tells the story of how, when he was 16, he father who was an eccentric Christian businessman, wanted to help him grow up.  He gave him a stack of airline tickets and sent him off alone on a two-month journey throughout Africa, the Middle East and Europe.  Hybels related that one of his first stops was in Nairobi, Kenya, where he witnessed people dying in the streets:  bloated bellies,  rotting limbs, fly-covered faces.  He said he felt a churning in his stomach. He heard the voice of God saying, 'This changes everything, doesn't it?  Because now you have seen it!'

One of the serious problems with modern-day Christianity is that many of us have become apathetic.  Perhaps this apathy stems from ignorance and our ignorance is often closely connected to our isolation.  Our vision is shielded by our comfort zone.  Instead of opening our arms and expanding our hearts, we have closed out eyes, hardened our hearts, pulled back our hands and stashed our wallets.  The problem with being apathetic is that you can actually be apathetic about your apathy.  A son once asked his dad, “What's the difference between ignorance and apathy?”, to which the father responded, “I don't know and I don't care.”

Peter Marshall once said in one of his sermons:  A different world cannot be built by indifferent people.  Apathy is incompatible with LOVE.   As John Stott says, Apathy is the acceptance of the unacceptable.

1Jn.3:17-18/Whoever has the world's goods and beholds his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?  Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth. cf. Js.2:15f

When we return to normalcy, I want us to have a brainstorming session focused on this specific arena.  How can we better serve the down and out?  We must not get hung up by the paralysis of analysis.  This is not a rocket science kind of undertaking.  But for the time being, since our wings remain somewhat clipped by the virus infringements, I want us to spend time dwelling on these proverbs and praying that God will open our eyes.

Dear Heavenly Father, You have blessed us richly in so many ways, and for this we are very grateful.  Help us in our struggles with apathy and indifference.  Remind us that such is incompatible with true love.  Strengthen us so that we might have open hearts and outstretched hand as we minister to those who are downtrodden and downcast.  Help us to love not only in word, but also in deed and in truth.  Through Christ who taught us that it is more blessed to give than to receive, we pray.  Amen.