Julius: The first reading will serve as the sermon text this morning from Leviticus chapter 19. When you reap the harvest from your land, you are not to finish reaping all the way to the edge of the field. Do not gather up the gleanings of your harvest, do not strip your vineyard clean, and do not pick up the fallen grapes from your vineyard, but leave them for the poor and the alien who live with you. I am the Lord your God. You shall not steal, you shall not swindle, you shall not lie to one another. You shall not swear falsely by my name, so that you do not profane the name of the Lord your God. I am the Lord. You shall not exploit your neighbor, you shall not rob him, you shall not keep the wages of a day laborer with you overnight until morning. You shall not curse a deaf person, nor shall you put an obstacle in front of a blind person, but you must fear your God. I am the Lord. You shall not act unjustly in court cases. Do not show favoritism to a poor person. And do not show undue honor to an important person. You must judge your fellow citizens with justice. You shall not go around spreading slander among your people. You shall not testify falsely against your neighbor in a capital case. I am the Lord. You shall not hate a fellow Israelite in your heart. You must openly rebuke your fellow citizens so that you do not become responsible for his sin. You must not take revenge. You must not bear a grudge against the members of your people. But you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Grace, mercy, and peace are yours from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. We pray. Lord, open the eyes of our hearts to see wonderful things in your teaching. Amen. I'm not sure the summary, love your neighbor as yourself, is getting it done anymore. Now I don't want to criticize Jesus. He used this summary, he said it was a good summary, but it is just that, isn't it? It's just a summary. And if you only stick with that all the time, then people can get the wrong idea. And that's what happened in the gospel reading. This man who wanted to justify himself before God, he said, yeah, love your neighbor as yourself. And you could tell he thought, I've done that. Not that hard. Pretty easy. I'm a pretty good person. God should justify me. And so Jesus had to go into the details. Because he loved this man and he needed to show this man that you're not that good of a person and you do need a savior. And so he went into detail in the story of the Good Samaritan. He says, you've loved your neighbor, then this story should sound just like you. There was a man beaten on the side of the road, helpless, dying. And a really good person showed up, a priest, and he passed by on the other side. And the other really good person showed up the Levite, the church worker, and he passed by on the other side. And then a Samaritan came. A Samaritan? People like that, the enemy, and he came and he canceled everything on his schedule. And he went to the man and he felt for the man. And he got his hands dirty helping the man and he signed a blank check. Of time and money to become this man's neighbor. Jesus says, so you've done that. And it doesn't give the man's answer because you know the man couldn't answer. that's what you meant by love your neighbor as yourself. It's the details. Often we say the holiness is in the details. Maybe today we can put it this way. Or we say the devil is in the details. Let's put it that way. The holiness is in the details. And you can tell that in the book of Leviticus. You might think it's funny. Before the sermon, we pray, Lord, show me wonderful things in your teaching, and we're gonna do a sermon on Leviticus. Maybe you're thinking, yeah, I'm praying especially hard. How can I see good things in Leviticus? Why? What do you know about Leviticus? Laws, laws, laws, laws, laws, laws, laws. All these things you have to follow. And we're right in the middle of it here in Leviticus chapter 19, which starts this way Be holy and As I, the Lord your God, am holy. And then he goes into detail on what that means. And we just have a few verses in front of us today. It's not even the whole thing, but a few verses in front of us today where God says, This is what I mean when I say, Love your neighbor as yourself. And what's going to happen to us as we look at these words is the same thing that Jesus wanted to happen to that man who j who tried to justify himself. We will look at this and say, boy, I need a savior. Because with all of these details, we have not kept them perfectly. We have not loved our neighbor as ourself, like God demands. And so that's the primary use of these words, just like Paul talked about in the epistle reading, these laws imprison everyone under sin, so all of us are the same, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, in order to drive all of us to the promise of a Saviour Jesus. So that's what these verses will do. First of all, make us go, whoo, I am glad we have a Savior who is holy in my place. But secondarily, as Christians, as people who have been baptized, who have been killed to sin on the cross and raised to new life in baptism, we look at these words and say, Okay, let's get into the details. God has called me holy through faith in Jesus. I want to act like it, so I'm gonna try to follow these laws as best I can. So let's get into it piece by piece. Verses nine and ten. When you reap the harvest of your land, you are not to reap to the very edge of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not strip your vineyard bare or gather its fallen grapes. Leave them for the poor and the resident alien. I am the Lord your God. This rule is almost like a poor tax. And you can imagine it w even with farmers in Nebraska, Jesus is basically saying, Okay, farmers, when you program your big combine and you're harvesting the corn, I want you to round the edges of the field and leave a bunch of corn unharvested so that poor people can come who are hungry and find some for themselves. He says, Hey, don't glean all the way to the edge of your field, don't pick all of the grapes so that people can come behind who don't have as much as you do and receive something from your generosity. And you can already feel the sinful nature tension there. Why should I leave my hard-earned stuff for someone who hasn't worked as hard as me? I feel this tension when the screen gets turned around, when you're paying for something. You know it, every single thing you buy. Tip: 10, 12, 15, 20. I think, I'm already paying $87 for a coffee. You want more money from me? The Lord is saying here, really, does it cost you? Does it cost you to be generous? Jesus, earthly speaking, wouldn't exist if someone didn't follow this command. Think about the book of Ruth. Ruth is poor, and she's a foreigner, by no fault of her own. She's a widow, and she went with her mother-in-law with faithful love to her mother-in-law and to the God of Israel, and she goes back to Israel and she has nothing, and she and her mother-in-law, their prospects don't look good. They're probably going to starve. Not only that, but this is during the time of the judges. If they go to any old field, something bad will happen to a pretty young lady. But she happens to wind up in the field of a man named Boaz, who fears the Lord, and goes above and beyond with this command, and he tells his workers, Don't touch her, and leave extra for her. Throw some grapes and wheat over your shoulder. And Ruth gathered so much that when she came home, Naomi said, Wow, whose field were you in? You guys should get married. And they did. And Ruth became the grandmother of David and an ancestor of Jesus. Because one man, a God-fearing man, Boaz said, God has given me so much. What does it cost me to be generous? I'm not using myself as a good example here. I'm using myself as a bad example, so take it that way. But something has been helpful for me in life when it comes to generosity. I don't know if it's just because I'm a Wells pastor that the Wells has my address and they send me all the mailings asking for money. Maybe you get them too. I don't know. It used to be. That when I would get those letters, I would go, another one? Why are you sending it to me? I'm a pastor, single salary, four kids, I don't have any money. And I'd throw it in the trash with a huff. And then one day thought, you know, that's not working out so well, is it? Really? Really? do I not have any money? I did pay $87 for a coffee yesterday. The Lord has taken care of me. And so what I decided to do in order to stop being so grumpy is I will open every one of those letters from the Senate, I will read it, and immediately I will give some money towards it. Some. No, I don't have a lot. Some. As much as I could do. And you know what? I'm a lot happier. I have a great time when I get those letters in the mail, because what am I thinking? Instead of thinking, I have so little, how can I share? I'm thinking, wow, I have so much, and God has given me so much so I can be generous. That's you. You're the most blessed people in the world. And why? Why do you work hard and earn a lot? The Lord tells you in another place, he says, work hard and earn money so that, so that you can be generous. Jesus is perfect generosity in our place. Thank you, Lord, for forgiving us, and give us that generous heart. We go on. Do not steal, do not act deceptively or lie to one another. Do not swear falsely by my name, profaning the lame the name of your God. I am the Lord. Do not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages due to a hired worker must not remain with you until morning. Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, for you are to fear your God. I am the Lord. Pretty straightforward, love your neighbor stuff here, right? Would you like if someone stole from you or defrauded you, deceived you, lied to you? Would you like if someone said, I swear, I swear I'll be there to help you. And then they didn't show up. Would you like if somebody hired you for a day and said, I'll pay you fifty bucks, and then at the end of the day they went, sorry, I don't have it on me. You think, hey, I was gonna use that for dinner. Of course not. So the Lord says, Be generous and fulfill your promises. And at the end here I love this picture. Do not curse a deaf person. And you're thinking, like, but they wouldn't know. So does it matter? But what's God's motivation at the end of that sentence? He says, Fear the Lord your God, I am the Lord. right. That person might not hear, but the Lord does. He hears and sees all. It says, Don't put an obstacle in front of a blind person. In that case, it would hurt them, but they wouldn't catch you. Nobody would know. fear the Lord your God. The Lord sees and the Lord knows. Some of these I think, I think of driving in the car. You know, somebody does something ridiculous or they're stuck at the light and they're not moving. And you let them have it. that person is such a this and that and that and there might even be some expletives thrown in there. And why? Because they can't hear you. So you feel safe saying that in the car. You might not say it to a face to face. But who hears that? The Lord. And the Lord says, Would you like if everybody did that to you every time you made a mistake on the road? And by the way, I heard all of those things you said about that person for whom I died. Lord forgive me and keep me from saying things about people behind their back or when they can't defend themselves because you hear. And don't put an obstacle in front of the blind person. This is basically don't do something just because you won't get caught. I I think of the person who in helped install our back door this last week. Finally, we got our new back door installed. It looks amazing. And the handyman who did it, he he kept asking me questions. He c comes over, I'm working over there. He comes over and asks me these questions, and I'm just like, uh-huh. Because when it comes to home construction, I am blind. I don't know anything. Is it okay if I put that there? yeah, sounds good. Rub some dirt on it while you're at it. No, I don't know anything. And one of the things he did while he was working on this door was he was working on the door jam there and he said, You only had one screw in right there, and I have screws, but my screws don't match your screw. Do you want me to go to the store and get a screw that matches the screw that you had? And I'm thinking, No. First off, that's a blind spot. That's that's where the door touches the house. I'm never gonna see the top of those screws. And think, my goodness, those mismatch. How did he do that to me? But the point is, this man cares about that. He would put that kind of detail into it in his own home, and so he says, Well, I'm gonna do that for you. I'm not gonna take advantage of the blind person because I'm not working for him, I'm working for the Lord. If you're wondering this week, what can I do for the Lord? Well, do something no one notices. And if you're thinking, well, I don't know a lot of blind people, that's not the point. The point is, you can do things for people and they won't know. You can do things for your spouse. You can clean something up. You can help them with something and they'll never notice. Good. Because you're working for the Lord. You can work hard at work, and the boss will never compliment you. Who cares? You're working for the Lord. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as if you're working for the Lord. Thank you, Jesus. You know, Jesus could badmouth us all the time, He knows everything. But he speaks well of us. Thank you, Lord. Jesus could get away with everything, he's God, but instead he goes above and beyond to show us the kind of love that the Lord wants to show to us. Thank you, Jesus, for forgiving us and give us this kind of love for our neighbor. We go on Do not act unjustly when deciding a case. Do not be partial to the poor or give preference to the rich. Judge your neighbor fairly. This one's pretty applicable today. Of course, there's always people who say, Don't show favoritism to the rich and famous. Because we know that's what happens in a sinful world. Sure. The rich and famous they can get away with stuff sometimes that other people couldn't. They can hire a better lawyer. And the Lord says, No, don't show favoritism to someone just because they're important or rich or famous. Right is right and wrong is wrong for them too. But then the Lord also adds this don't show favoritism to the poor either. And I think that's applicable for our society because there is a big idea now that if you're poor, well, it can't possibly be your fault. Or if you do something wrong and you're part of a certain group or you have a certain background, well, you can't be blamed. The Lord says, no. Right is right and wrong is wrong. Whether you're rich or you're poor, don't show favoritism to others and don't show favoritism to yourself either. The Lord goes on, do not go about spreading slander among your people. Do not jeopardize your neighbor's life. I am the Lord. Do not go about spreading slander. There's nothing better than gossip. Half the shows on TV are because we like to hear the juicy details. The Lord says, don't be a part of that. Don't gossip about other people. And don't jeopardize your neighbor's life. This will be a special one for I maybe younger people today. What I think of when it's don't jeopardize your neighbor's life is I think of distracted driving. You think, okay, I just gotta check a text. I just gotta look at something. And what are you doing? You're taking your attention off the road, you're not looking at other people. You could cause some danger. And you think, love your neighbor as yourself. Do I like when other people are driving? Staring at their phone, looking around, causing a danger to me? Of course not. Don't jeopardize your neighbor's life. In other words, love your neighbor as yourself means whatever you do in life, be the best neighbor possible towards the people around you. Be the safest driver you can. Finally, do not harbor hatred against your brother. Rebuke your neighbor directly, and you will not incur guilt because of him. Do not take revenge or bear a grudge against members of your community, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. This is an interesting set that we're concluding with, because you wouldn't expect them to go together. It says, Don't harbor hatred against your brother, rebuke him. In today's day and age, people think if you rebuke someone, that must mean you hate them. If you say they're wrong. But here the Lord says, don't harbor hatred, instead rebuke them. You've heard it said, the opposite of love is indifference. Well, the Lord says here, if you see someone doing something wrong, something dangerous that could hurt them or others, hurt their spiritual welfare, it's a sin against God. And you don't say anything, then you don't love them. Because if you love them, you would say something. If you don't say anything, you're probably just gonna harbor a grudge and hatred and go, that person is the worst. Instead of saying, I love that person and I want to help them, just like I would want someone else to help me. I call this the broccoli in the teeth principle. I've mentioned this one before. If you wake up in the I don't know why you're having broccoli for breakfast, but let's say you did. You have broccoli for breakfast and you've got this giant old tree sticking out of your teeth here, and you go through the whole day and you get home at the end of the day and you look in the mirror and you see that thing, you go, no, why didn't anyone tell me? We could have handled that at 8 a.m., but people were looking at that all day. Don't you wish someone would say something to help you? That's love. And that's what the Lord says we should do, especially as Christians. When we see a fellow Christian falling into sin, we tell them because we love them, we rebuke them because we want to forgive them and point them to their Savior. In conclusion, the summary: love your neighbor as yourself. There it is. When you go into the details. It sounds a lot harder. And notice the Lord isn't saying here, love your neighbor as yourself eventually or get better at it tomorrow. The standard of the law is be holy right now, be holy always, and never break a single one of these laws. That's why we need a savior. We're imprisoned under sin by these laws to show us that we need Jesus who came into the world and followed these. These laws absolutely perfectly in our place and gives us that holiness through faith. We need a savior like the Good Samaritan, who sees us on the side of the road beaten up by the law and our lack of love, and he comes to us and he spares no expense and he sacrifices his own life to nurse us back to health and give us the promise of heaven. And that's the Savior we have. And because Jesus has saved us. Because he's done all these good works for us, then in the freedom of the gospel, we want to follow these commands, not to earn heaven, but to show our gratitude. Second Timothy one nine says, Jesus saved us and called us with a holy calling, not because of our works, but because of his own purpose and grace. And so this is a good summary of God's purpose for us, saved by his grace. Jesus wants us to love our neighbor as ourselves. And when we hear that from our Savior who loves us so much, who's a good Samaritan to us, we say, okay, Jesus, let's get into the details. How can I show love to my neighbor this week? Amen.