Let's just pray, first of all. Lord, thank you for the eternal truth of your word. And we are, if excited is an appropriate word, we're excited to hear it. In Jesus' name, amen. On the very last page of your handout, There's a little diagram of the passage for this morning. I really struggled with whether to divide this into three messages or do it in one. We're doing it in one. And I think that was needful because of the beauty of the whole message. So I want you to see one thing on that diagram on the back. What does it look like to you? A sandwich, yes. They're all over the place. But in particular, notice that this morning we come to verse 21, which says, "...you shall not wrong a sojourner, or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt." Now then we go through a bunch of stuff in the middle and look what happens when we get to chapter 23 verse 9. You shall not oppress a sojourner. You know the heart of a sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. So, the people explain that repetition in different ways. I believe it's pretty obviously another sandwich. And we're going to see, you see the middle. We'll have the horizontal section after the first verse. Then we have that middle where it's vertical, our relationship with God. And then we're going to come back to horizontal, our relationships to other people. So with that roadmap in mind, and good job on the... I kind of just went crazy there, so good job on the PowerPoint. Let's begin with verse 21, Exodus 22, and our first slice of bread here. So, if you've not been here with us at all, I'm going to use sandwich terminology, okay? So, we're in the first slice of bread, and there's a reason for this. You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. Now, there's a couple things we have to do to set the stage. Who's God talking to? Israel yeah, and Israel is a group Okay, we're gonna have to see that this morning So notice the the plurals you singular You, one, you, singular, shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you all, each one of you, plural, were sojourners in the land of Egypt. We're gonna see this over and over, but what the singulars and the plurals, they remind us that when God speaks to you, singular, he's speaking to the group. That's gonna be desperately important this morning. What he has in mind is how we live our lives, how we conduct ourselves as his people, specifically here, specifically with each other, okay, group, inside the group, particularly. The point now isn't that God doesn't care about anyone outside of the group. It's not like God says, well, everyone else I don't care about, just care about you. That's not the point. The point is that God's absolute priority is what goes on inside. It's what happens inside this community that should then be a light and an attraction to the surrounding nations so that they want to come and be a part of this, what? This group. so that they can be inside, like we're inside, so they can experience life in the group. What happens in your handout, what happens inside, ultimately blesses others when they come themselves to be incorporated into the group. So what's a sojourner? Now that's important, we'll come back to that. But now what's the sojourner? A sojourner is someone who's left their home and gone to live in another land. Usually they left their home because they were forced to. There was famine or war or poverty. And so now they're not in their home territory. You know, even living in America, I go to any other place in America, when I'm living in Morris, I'm like, this is my home territory. Don't mess with me in Morris, right? Because this is where I live. When I first moved here, I felt like everyone was out to get me because this wasn't my home territory. Not really, but there's that sense of, I'm out of my element. And this is what magnified a thousand times the sojourner felt like. The sojourner was indeed vulnerable, open to being easily oppressed. And so, it's in light of how, it's specifically in light of how easy it would be to wrong a sojourner or oppress him that God specifically gives this command, you shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him. But notice the reason God gives for this command for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. In other words, you know what it's like. You've been there before, right? You lived in Egypt for how many years being oppressed and taken advantage of because you were easy targets. Now I struggled with that for a little bit, not fully, but what does that have to do with what's right and wrong? It's just wrong to oppress people. But God says, you know what it was like. Where is he going with that? It's interesting to me, he says, you were sojourners. And so if I'm hearing that, I'm like, well, I'm not anymore though, am I? That's good news. And why am I not a sojourner anymore? Why am I not oppressed anymore? Why am I not being exploited and taken advantage of anymore? The answer is emphasized over and over and over again in Exodus. Exodus chapter 2. The people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God and God heard their groaning and God saw the people of Israel and God knew. Then the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings. And I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians. The cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Let me just ask you this question, and you think about it. Why is Israel's experience as sojourners in Egypt. Why is that such a powerful argument? Why is that such a powerful warning against treating other sojourners in the same way? Well, on the one hand, I didn't like it. So I shouldn't treat you the way I didn't like to be treated. But there's something else going on here. Israel's experience in Egypt has proved, in your handout, God's own deep concern for the sojourner. Say, I was a sojourner angel. I'm not anymore. Why am I not anymore? Because God heard my groaning. Because God saw, and He cared, and He knew, and He wasn't happy about it. And He came and heard my cry and rescued me. That's why I'm not a sojourner anymore. I was, but I'm not. What does this tell me then about God? Israel's experience as oppressed sojourners helps them to identify wholeheartedly, not with just their own feelings. This isn't just about human beings who feel bad. This is about me saying, I want to identify with how God feels about this. With God's own concern and compassion. for those who are treated unjustly just because they're vulnerable, just because people can. Israel's experience as sojourners enables them to be, in your handout, this is an important word, wholehearted imitators of the God who heard their groaning. God is not just saying to Israel, don't do that to them, because you didn't like it when they did that to you. God is saying to Israel, don't do that to them because you know how I take that. And you know how I heard your cry. You be like me, be like me. Why is Israel to avoid wronging the sojourner? It's because this is not what their God is like and they are to be imitators of him. Okay, we come to verses 22 to 24. You, plural, shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. If you, singular, do mistreat them and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry, and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you, plural, with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless. Okay, again, who's God talking to? He's talking to the group. He's talking about what happens inside the group. Notice, who are these widows and orphans? These are widows and orphans who cry out to who? God, Yahweh, as their own covenant God. It says, if they cry out to me. So who are these widows and orphans? They're widows and orphans in the group. That's who we're talking about. We're not talking about widows and orphans just anywhere in any nation. We're talking about widows and orphans in the group, within the covenant community. What happens again, what happens in here, is meant to be attraction to others, so they want to share in what happens in here. Just like sojourners, we can see widows and orphans are also easy targets, right? You know, who do the bullies pick on? They don't pick on people their own size, do they? God cares about this. So it's especially in light of how easy it would be to go take advantage of a widow or a fatherless child, that God says, you shall not do that. He knows how easy it is, and that's why he says, don't do it. Why? Look, why? Because if you do, and they cry to me, I will surely hear their cry and my wrath will burn and I will kill you with the sword. See, I wanna just hear, this just isn't a rule that God said, well, this is a holy and righteous rule. Well, it is. But where does the rule come from? It comes from what God is like. The rule isn't based on our own ideas of, oh, I feel sorry for that or I feel bad for that. The rule comes from what God is like. So if you mistreat them and they cry to me, I'll surely hear the cry. The point is that what God is like and that His people are not ever to contradict by their lives any part of who He is or what He is like. Think about that. My life is, I am never to contradict by my life any part of who God is or what He is like. Well, that raises it up above our traditional idea of laws and rules, doesn't it? To the contrary, our lives are to be lived in imitation of Him. There is an imitation that's flattery. This is an imitation that gives glory to the only true God of the universe. We are to be His imitators. That's why we don't oppress the widow and the orphan, because it's not what God is like. We go on to read in verses 25 to 27, if you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, You shall not be like a money lender to him, and you shall not exact interest from him. If ever you take your neighbor's cloak and pledge, you shall return it to him before the sun goes down. For that is his only covering, and it is his cloak for his body. In what else shall he sleep? And if he cries to me, I will hear." Notice again, we're moving inside the group. If you lend money to any of who? to any of my people. This isn't about poor outside of the group. This isn't about poor in any of the other nations. This is about poor in the group. If you lend money to any of my people, and then he says later, and if he cries to me, Yahweh, what happens inside is to be an attraction to outside. So, what do the sojourner and the widow and the fatherless child and the poor all have in common? Obviously, they're easy targets. They're defenseless. They're vulnerable. But more than that, they all have in common that when they cry to God, what does he do? He hears. The point is that we know that's what God does. That's what God is like. How dare we then contradict by our lives what He is like? By the way, two, the point isn't that God doesn't want the poor to no longer be poor. To be poor is not an evil. To be rich is not an evil. The point is not that God expects his people to give free handouts to the poor or show favoritism to the poor, as we'll see in a moment. It's not wrong to lend to the poor and expect repayment. when they're able to repay. What it is wrong to do is collect interest from the poor in the group. In the group, that's what we're talking about. Who have borrowed only so they can sustain their lives and meet their daily needs. It's not wrong to charge interest for all the other things that go on in today's culture. It's not even wrong to accept a form of collateral from the poor. Like their garment or their cloak. So long as I give it back to them when they need it to stay warm at night. If ever you take your neighbor's cloak and pledge, you shall return it to him before the sun goes down. Listen to the Lord, our God. Just brothers and sisters, listen to what he says. For that is his only covering, and it is his cloak for his body. In what else shall he sleep? What tender compassion. And once again, can't you see that this is not just about rules and obeying rules? Can't we see it so much more than that? What God is showing us here is Himself. What He is like. So the point is that we as His people are not ever, ever to contradict by our lives any part of what He is like. Instead, our lives are to be lived in imitation of Him. Our lives are to be exact copies of His own nature and character. So the very first slice of bread in our sandwich, we're still in the first slice of bread, we're coming to its close right now, and it ends with words that, okay, they cut right to the heart of all seven of these verses. Verse 27, the second half says, If you oppress a poor person among my covenant people, and he cries to me, I will hear. And then what does he say? For I am compassionate. See, what this is about is what God is like, and we are called to imitate what He is like. That's why we cannot oppress. And so much more than that. Brothers and sisters, do we approach our lives with the goal not just of getting this and that and this and putting all of them in the rules and order, but saying, my life, I want it to look like Him and be like Him and think like Him and talk like Him. God's law, God's rules, they are all rooted. Whatever rule you ever read in this book, it is rooted in His own character and nature. It didn't just come out of the blue. God didn't say, well, here's a law and it's outside of me. No, the law flows from who God is, what He's like. So the point of His law is that we look like Him. When God then calls you and me to obey, and he does call us to obey, he's not ultimately calling us to conform to an isolated set of rules, but rather to have reproduced in me his own likeness. It's not just about learning what he wants and doing it. It's about learning who he is and being like him. Will we get this? So, now keeping all that in the front of our thinking, let's skip ahead to the second slice of bread, after which we'll come back to the filling, okay? So, if you've got that on the back side of your handout, if you ever want to refer to that, that's fine. We'll come to the second slice of bread now and then fill it. Exodus 23, 1 to 3 and 6 to 9, which by the way, if you look on that last page, you'll see that the second slice of bread is itself a blatant sandwich. I'm not inventing this. It blatantly a sandwich. So that's why we're going to do this a little differently. You shall not spread a false report. You shall not join hands with a wicked man to be a malicious witness. You shall not fall in with the many to do evil, nor shall you bear witness in a lawsuit siding with the many so as to pervert justice, nor shall you be partial to a poor man in his lawsuit. You shall not pervert the justice due to your poor in his lawsuit. See how we just repeated where we left off? So there's the sandwich. I skipped to the second slice of bread. Keep far from a false charge and you shall take no bribe. For a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of those who are in the right. You shall not oppress a sojourner. You know the heart of a sojourner. For you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. All right. Who's he talking to? He's talking to the group. And all this has to do with what happens inside the group. except for the last verse, the yous are all singular. Then suddenly we come to verse 9 and the singulars are plurals. You, singular, shall not oppress a sojourner. You, plural, know the heart of a sojourner. So, again, the point of this is that God is still speaking to the individuals only as members of the group. I have been convicted about how individualistic I am, and I'm not just saying that. I truly have been. God speaks to me as an individual in so many places in Scripture. I don't exist as this individual unless it's in connection with His Bride, the Church. It's powerful. So he speaks to us in light of our relationships with others living inside this group. So we read in verse six, you shall not pervert the justice due to, to whose poor? Your poor. He's not talking about the poor anywhere else, but in the group right now. Does this mean that God doesn't care about the poor anywhere else? No, certainly not. Once again, it's what happens in here. that says, hey, if you want your poor taken care of, you need to repent, worship the true God, and find out what happens in his group. Notice that this second slice of bread itself is a mini sandwich, as I pointed out. So, the message of the bookends is clear. Here it is. Let me just sum up all those verses we just read. Under no circumstance, in no conceivable situation, Is any judge or any witness ever to show favoritism to any one person over another in the group? Let's spell it out. You must never be swayed by the majority. Just because everyone else is doing it doesn't mean that you're free to show favoritism or partiality. You must never be blinded by a bribe. You must never favor the poor man just because he's poor. He must never discriminate against the poor just because he's poor. He must never spread a false report, but rather keep far away from any false charge. There must be zero favoritism, absolute impartiality in doing justice in the group. And why is this such a massively big deal? Do we know the answer? Because what's God like? We read in verse seven, which I left out until now. And you do not kill the innocent and righteous for I will not make the wicked righteous. Whoa, oh, did you just see it? You shall not do that because this is what I'm like. And I've called you to be imitators of me. We could paraphrase the verse like this. When he says, you shall not kill, that doesn't mean, well, you can do everything else but kill. It means, you shall not condemn. That's the point. You shall not condemn the innocent because I will not justify the guilty. That's the point. That's a good paraphrase of it. Or we could say the reverse. You shall not justify the wicked because I will not condemn. the innocent. This isn't just a rule. This isn't, okay, make sure everything's fair and equal and you don't show partiality because that's a rule. God didn't look out and find a rule somewhere and say, okay, that's a good rule. That's who God is. It's what He's like and we're to look like Him. In all these verses, God's still doing the same thing He's always been doing. When God calls us to obey in your handout, he's not calling us to just conform to some outward set of rules, but to have reproduced in us his very own image and likeness. So what are we to make of the filling in our mini sandwich? All right, the filling in the mini sandwich is this, verses four to five. If you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey going astray, you shall bring it back to him. If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying down under its burden, you shall refrain from leaving him with it. You shall rescue it with him. Now, I just wanna say, okay, this is, I think, helpful maybe. What better way to help someone, something be remembered Like everyone who's ever spoken wants people to remember what he says, right? What better way to help something be remembered than by saying it once, then saying something else, and then saying the same thing all over again, but from a slightly different angle, just slightly different angle. That's what we did in the two slices of bread just now in the mini sandwich. I guess the only better way to make something be remembered might be to put it right smack dab in the middle of something else with which it has apparently absolutely nothing to do. A lot of times that's a sandwich. Not always. But sometimes you just stick something in the middle and you put it there because this is important and I'm going to put it right in the middle so you remember it and then come back and say what I said before all over again. A lot of this is about memory for people who would hear Okay, now in this case, the filling might be unrelated to the bread, but there's still an underlying truth that ties it together. And what is that underlying truth? Well, let me ask you this question. If God commands us to go out of our way to bless our enemy and to help the one who hates us, then what must this be telling us about what he is like? he himself actively, purposefully causes. his son to rise on the evil and on the good. But you know, God could cause the sun to rise and only his people, only his righteous, obedient people ever feel the warmth. And everyone else would be in darkness and cold. Could God do that? Yes. The fact that the bad people, quote unquote, still feel the warmth of the sun and its light is not because it just happened and God couldn't help it. Look at what God is like. He sends his reign on the just and on the unjust. Not only that, but he himself will send his own son to suffer and to die for who? For people who are his enemies. What's he like? His rules arise from in his own being. Therefore, when we obey his rules, we're simply being imitators of him. to become like him in your handout. So far, in all that we've been looking at, even in both the bread and the filling of our mini sandwich, there's this emphasis on our relationships with each other in the group. But now we come to the filling in our big sandwich. And what we're gonna find is that inserted, inserted between these two slices of bread with the horizontal focus towards each other, we have a section that focuses entirely on the vertical. This is gonna be amazing. On our responsibilities as a group to our covenant God. So let's read beginning of the filling in verse 28. You shall not revile God, nor curse a ruler of your people. Okay, first of all, notice the group. Nor curse a ruler of who? Of your people. We're not talking here about the President of the United States. I'm not saying we can revile the President of the United States. We've got to go to Romans for that. But the point here is not our state leaders, it's not our elected government officials, the point is the leaders in the group. The point is that to curse and speak evil of any leader inside the group is the same thing as cursing and speaking evil of the covenant God that this leader represents. applied this to the high priest in his day who ordered that Paul be struck on the face because he spoke the truth. So Paul even applied this to a leader in the group who was being unjust but still by his position represented God. So you shall not curse a ruler of your people. Why? Because that's to revile God. You shall not revile God then because why? He's the supreme ruler. and leader, and sovereign, and rightful king. That's who he is. Therefore, because he is the supreme leader and sovereign ruler, because that's who he is, the king requires, the king requires of all his covenant people, his group, verses 29 to 30, you shall not delay, because he knows how we are. We would delay or we would quibble about it or we would think maybe not quite all, maybe not the best or maybe not the first. You shall not delay to offer from the fullness of your harvest and from the outflow of your presses. The firstborn of your sons you shall give to me. You shall do the same with your oxen and with your sheep. Seven days it shall be with its mother. On the eighth day you shall give it to me." And we talked about some of this before, the firstborn of the sons, back in Exodus 13. So we're not going to talk about it now. But here's the point. We are to give to God not from the very first. Not from the very best. We're to give to God the first and the very best of all that we have. There's a difference. We're to give to God the very first and the very best. Why? only because he has sovereign rights to all that we have. He has absolute claims on all that we are. So we can ask ourselves, are the sovereign rights and claims of our covenant Lord fully acknowledged in our bank statements, in our time? and ultimately in all that we are. All right, so now we're ready. We are ready for the heart and the soul of this entire sandwich. I don't know how you talk about a heart and soul of a sandwich, but it's just it. It's the gut. It's the inner working of this whole thing. And it's found, not surprisingly, at the climax of its center. We've just heard the words twice, you shall give to me, you shall give it to me, and now we read in verse 31, you shall be people of holiness to me. Therefore, You shall not eat any flesh that is torn by beasts in the field. You shall throw it to the dogs." Now, at this point, if I'm getting this, I don't really care. You don't have to explain to me about not eating flesh torn by the beasts in the field. I don't care. You just said it. I'm not going to do it. There is a logic to those instructions, a biblical logic about not eating any animal that was killed by wild beasts, but the actual logic is less important to us right now. The point is that this command, like all the others, where does this command come from? Why do we even have it? Why do we have rules? Why do we have laws? Because in the end it's rooted in God's calling us as a group to be holy, consecrated to Him. Consecrated is what our ESV translates it as. Notice again for the last time, last time I want to point it out, we're still moving in the world of the group. We haven't left it. We never walked outside. After all singulars so far in the filling, all singulars. In verse 31, God suddenly changes to plurals. Not an accident. You, plural, shall be my people, plural. People of holiness to me. That's what it says literally. And we should really read this phrase almost as one long word. So I want to teach you one word. It's a new word. It's a word that God coined and it's this word. People of holiness to me. That's who we are. That's our title. And what does this people of holiness to me look like? It's not just a people who stays away from something. It's not just a people who knows the rules to follow. This is it. It is, and I bolded this in your handout. It is the offering up of our lives to Him. There's the filling in our sandwich, the vertical. In order, in order. See, some of us, we're like, okay, I'm gonna offer up my life to Him, and that sounds all good to us. We're like, yes, that's what I'm gonna do. We never get to the second part. The whole reason for that is to have His very image and likeness wholly reproduced in us. There's the two slices of bread in our sandwich with the horizontal focus. Is that our mindset? Is that my goal, my desire from day to day? And so now I want to be explicit and clear, because God's Word has been explicit and clear. Here it is. To be a people of holiness to God, is to offer up our lives to Him uniquely, and especially in the context of the group. In order to have His image and His likeness wholly reproduced in Timothy, in each one of you, in us, plural, living together in the covenant community. You see, there's no such thing as holiness. Are you seeing what this sandwich shows us? The sandwich shows us that there's no such thing as holiness outside of the group. It doesn't exist. There's a lot of people who try to be holy, they think they're being holy, but they're outside the group. I tell you, that's not holiness. It can't be. True holiness only ever exists. Now I'm not saying if you're on an isolated, deserted island, this is where we all go, right? You mean I can't be holy if I'm stuck on an island? Yes, but you cannot be holy if the church is available and you're not there because that's where holiness happens. True holiness only ever exists in the covenant community and in the context of our relationships with one another. So the monks, the monks who pursued holiness through solitude and isolation were pursuing something that does not exist. True holiness is social justice. But, and a big but, it is not the social justice being promoted by the majority of the church today. Let me ask you this question. You've heard about social justice, right? We've all heard about social justice. The church says the church's mission is to go out and feed the poor and clothe the poor. And that sounds good. I'm not saying that's a bad thing to do or that people shouldn't do that. But what's the mission of the church? That's the question. And the Bible explicitly, clearly, pervasively teaches this reality. Let me ask you then. In the context of the Bible, the word social must refer to which society? Social justice refers to justice in society, right? But which society? What society are we talking about? It must in the Bible refer, in the context of the Bible, refer to the society of the covenant community. The society, this is a society, of all who through repentance, repenting of their sin and faith in the Lord Jesus have been born again into the kingdom of God. It's a new society in which we have social justice. True biblical social justice is what happens right here, in our midst, right here in these relationships, from day to day and from week to week. And the point of all this is to be reproducing in the context of these relationships. What's the point of social justice? Looking like God. And what is looking like God? That's called what? Holiness. Holiness is social justice. Understood biblically. So in order to understand biblical social justice, because you're gonna hear that, you hear that word a lot today, a lot, lot, lot. In order to understand biblical social justice, we have to think in terms of a distinction between the covenant community and the world community. A distinction between the covenant community and the secular state. Does God care about social justice in the world community? Does he care about making good laws? Yes. But what's the role of the church? Here's the point. How long has the world been trying for a utopia of social justice? It doesn't happen, does it? Where does the utopia of social justice happen? Where is it supposed to happen? In the church. In the group. It's only in the society of the covenant community. that social justice can ever be truly and fully practiced. So I think, you know, we have got all this healthcare stuff going on. How are we gonna take care of the poor? And I think, well, the church should be showing the world how it's done, right? That's why I love Samaritan Ministries. look up, Samaritan Ministries shows the world how it's done. Now, the thing about Samaritan Ministries is it's not the church, but it is Christians at the very least. What about in this body? When James says that religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this, is to visit orphans and widows in their affliction. How many times have we heard that quoted by people who don't have any idea what true biblical social justice is? James is referring here to the orphans and widows in the covenant community. A covenant community defined by the very things that these people deny, which is repentance of sin and trust and faith in Christ. Listen again in James chapter two, and then John. James says, if a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, go in peace, be warmed and filled, and without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? See, James understood what social justice looked like in the Old Testament, now he applies it in the context of this community. So faith by itself, if it doesn't have works, is dead. 1 John chapter 3, by this we know love, that he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers and the sisters. But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother, this is all in the group, in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk, but in deed and in truth. This is social justice. 1 Corinthians 6, Paul even talks about how all of the disputes between brothers. Well, we have disputes, yes, but social justice. So the disputes between brothers are to be righteously judged and settled inside the group, not going outside. Now these are just the most elementary examples of social justice. They're just elementary. But if you want to know what social justice looks like, if you want to know what social justice looks like in its purest, most powerful form in the New Covenant community. All you've got to do is read Paul's letter to the Ephesians. Let me read to you about social justice. Here it is. And notice that it's holiness in the context of our relationships. You have heard about Him and were taught in Him as the truth is in Jesus. to put off your old self which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires. And you, the group, have been taught to be renewed in the spirit of your mind and to put on the new self created after the likeness of God. in true righteousness and holiness. What does that holiness look like? What does looking like God look like? Well, it's social justice. Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each of you speak the truth with his neighbor. For we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger with any other part of the body. And give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor doing honest work with his own hands so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. See, why is the thief no longer a thief? Because he got saved. Because he's in the group now. And so now instead of stealing, what's he doing? He's working and laboring so he can share with anyone else in the group who's in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up as fits the occasion that it may give grace to those who hear. Clearly, we're talking about the group. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, here's social justice in its purest, most powerful form, let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you. Along with all malice, be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you. Therefore be imitators of God, there it is, be imitators of God as beloved children and walk in love. because that's what God is like. As Christ loved us, His love is not a sentimental, emotional kind of love. It's a love that unconditionally chose us before the foundation of the world and came and then died for us to make us His group, His bride. Walk in love as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us. a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Can you see now that if you want to be holy, you've got to learn social justice? There is no holiness apart from it. It is only in the context of our relationships with one another that we're to be not simply obeying rules, but having the very likeness and image of God reproduced in us. Is that what's happening? I just want to ask and think about it. Is that what's happening here at Living Word Bible Church? Is that what's going on? Young people, are you contributing to this? This is not just for any one part of the group. It's for the whole group. And if you count yourself a part of the group, this matters to you. Does God care about social justice? I want to ask this once more. Does He care about social justice out in the world? Yes, He does. But see, what happens is the church, when we forget what social justice really is in the Bible, it's what happens in here, when we start thinking that the church's mission is to do social justice in the rest of the world community, We got it all wrong. The church's mission is to bring the gospel. Not saying that we just turn a blind eye to when people are suffering, but it's not our mission. Our mission, insofar as that stuff may play a part, that's fine, but our mission is to bring the gospel so that as people are transformed by the gospel, they then can join the group where social justice happens. where people love one another because they look like God in true holiness. I think of the passage when Jesus said, there is no one who has left houses and lands and family and brothers and sisters and fathers and mothers for my sake who will not Not only in the age to come, but in this age, be given many times as much. Why? Because, yeah, I left it all, but in leaving it all, I became part of this. And now in this group, I see the character of God in His care and love for me. So, I've said it all, you just need the blanks maybe. Part and sharing. It's what's happening inside Living Word Bible Church. Something that would cause someone who through repentance and faith comes to Christ to know, I want to be a part of that. That's where holiness and social justice happens, John chapter 13. Jesus said, a new commandment I give to you, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for, he doesn't say here for the world, for everyone else outside. I'm not saying that that excludes it, but there's a special love here. It's the love for one another. 1 Peter 2 comes to the world. That's so everyone will know you're my disciples. 1 Peter 2 says, you are a chosen race. You are a royal priesthood, a holy nation. A people holy to me. A people of holiness to me. A people for his own possession. that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, you were not a group, now you are God's people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Dear Heavenly Father, I pray Lord that you would forgive us for the ways that we have thought we could be holy without learning true social justice. For the ways that we have thought we could be holy without having your likeness reproduced in us in the context of this, of one another. Pray that you would forgive us for whatever hypocrisy we have had. And yet on the other hand, we also thank you and praise you for this place in which true and pure and powerful and beautiful social justice is practiced in a way the world will never and can never achieve. Lord, I pray that in light of what we've learned this morning, you would truly cause us as a group at Living Word Bible Church to be a people of holiness to you. Help me to start with me. And then with each one here. I pray that every single one of us would be asking ourselves now, do I consider myself a part of the group, a part of the covenant community. And if I do, and if I am, what does that mean? What does holiness look like? I say these things, Lord, in Jesus' name, amen.