1. Please pray with me. May the words of my mouth, and the meditation of our hearts, be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock, and our Redeemer. Amen. The message from God’s Word is taken from the Bible lessons for today. It’s entitled, “Managing God’s Gift of Other People,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2. In case you haven’t noticed, there are other people in this world. Some sources say the number is about 7.9 billion—yes, billion, with a “b.” In the United States there are probably over 333 million people. That’s a lot of people! And all of them are God’s gifts to you. But don’t let such statistics overwhelm you. Just focus on the people around you—where you live, where you worship, where you work, where you play. They are God’s gifts to you.
3. As we continue our stewardship series on Managing God’s Gifts, today we now focus on our neighbor. Remember that “stewardship” isn’t a dirty word. Nor is it a word that merely means “money” or “fund-raising” or “money sermon.” “Stewardship” describes how we believe and live as God’s children in all of life. All of our Christian faith and life is “stewardship.” If you want a better word than “stewardship,” think “management.” If you don’t know what a steward is, think “manager”—someone who manages what belongs to someone else. And that someone else is God Himself.
4. Last week, we focused on God’s gift of the world and how we can manage it according to His will—receiving it with thanksgiving, caring for it, and using physical things for the benefit of our neighbor. Today, we focus on God’s gift of other people. Yes, other people—all 7.9 billion of them around the globe, all 333 million of them in our nation, and every individual we have contact with—are God’s gifts. Being good managers in our relations with others leads us to love and serve them, especially as we bear witness to the love of God in Christ Jesus.
5. When we go back to God’s original plan for His creation, in Genesis 2, we see how God breathed life into Adam. Right after that, God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone” (Genesis 2:18). Not only did God then create woman and institute marriage, but He also showed that we human beings need other human beings. If you don’t believe that, then check to see if you have a belly button. If you do, then remember that you needed two other people to come into this world. Your belly button is your lifelong reminder that you need other people, and that God calls you to serve and love other people.
6. God created us to live in community. Other people, especially those closest to us in our families, are gifts from God. Just as God Himself is a community—three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in one divine Being—He creates us to live in community. It begins with man and woman in marriage. It also includes other people around us. God wants us to “manage” those other people around us with love and service to them. He gives us those other people in our marriages, in our families, in the church, and in society.
7. We see this in our First Reading, from Leviticus 19. This chapter begins with God telling His Old Testament people and us: “You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy” (Leviticus 19:2). What does that holiness entail? Things like honoring mother and father, keeping the Sabbath, and not turning to idols (Leviticus 19:3–4). Then, right on the heels of this command to be holy, God talks about loving our neighbor.
8. How do you manage God’s gifts of your neighbors? As God says, don’t worry about snipping every last head of grain when you harvest your field. Don’t worry about plucking every last grape when you harvest your vineyard. “Leave them for the poor and for the sojourner” (Leviticus 19:10). Why? Because the Lord is your holy God.
9. Don’t steal. Don’t deceive. Don’t lie. Don’t take false oaths using God’s name. Don’t make God’s name as common as dirt. Why? Because the Lord is your holy God. Don’t oppress your neighbor or rob him. Pay your workers a proper wage. Don’t spurn the deaf or the blind, or cause them to stumble. Why? Because the Lord is your holy God. Don’t take other people to court just to get the advantage over them. Don’t respect the rich and famous over the poor and unknown. Don’t tell tales about your neighbors or disrespect their life in any way. Why? Because the Lord is your holy God. Don’t hate or hold a grudge against your neighbor, but try to reconcile with him or her. Try to treat every other person as you would want to be treated. Why? Because the Lord is your holy God.
10. You see, your neighbor—in your marriage, in your family, in the church, and in society—is God’s gift to you. God has created that neighbor. He has loved that neighbor. He has redeemed that neighbor and covered that neighbor with the blood of Jesus, His Son. And He wants you to serve and love that neighbor just as He does—just as He has served and loved you.
11. A quick look around will establish that this is not the way that society operates, nor most people in society. We live in a world that teaches us how to win friends and influence people for our own benefit. Dale Carnegie’s book How to Win Friends and Influence People may certainly offer some helpful wisdom for interacting with our neighbors. But, the well-known goals of winning friends and influencing people include increasing your own popularity, increasing your own prestige, winning new clients or customers, and becoming a better salesperson or executive. There’s certainly nothing sinful with Christians being popular or Christian business people gaining clients or Christians being better salespeople or executives. The problem comes when we try to win friends and influence people for our own benefit.
12. Jesus didn’t say, “You shall love your neighbor so that your neighbor will love you more in return.” No, He said, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39). And, when He gave that 2nd greatest commandment, He didn’t mean that you should love yourself first and then figure out how to love your neighbor after that. He knew that you already love yourself—too much, in fact. As Martin Luther said, that’s what sin is: being curved in on yourself. St. Paul’s words clarify how we are to love our neighbors: “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves” (Philippians 2:3).
13. Isn’t this what we see in our Gospel? The man who fell among robbers needed someone, a neighbor, to love and help him. First, a priest happened by. And did nothing! Just passed on by. Next, a Levite happened to see him. Again, no help! Just passed on by. Finally, a Samaritan “came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion” (Luke 10:33). The Samaritan put his own needs on hold and actually put himself at risk. He bound the man’s wounds, carried him to the inn, and paid for him to stay there. This is a wonderful picture of managing God’s gift of other people, the people whom God puts in our path.
14. Not only is this a picture of God’s will for us to love and “manage” our neighbor, but it’s also a picture of how our gracious God loves and rescues us. Jesus Himself is our Good Samaritan. We have fallen among the robbers of sin and death. We’re left stripped, beaten, and half-dead in our own sins against other people and by sins that other people commit against us. But Jesus comes to our rescue. In His divine compassion, He comes to us and binds our wounds. He pours on the oil and wine of His healing forgiveness when He baptizes us, absolves us, and feeds us at His Table. He brings us into the church, where He continues to arrange for our ongoing healing and recovery from sin and death. And what price has He paid? He went to the cross to suffer our wounds and to die in our place, taking on our beatings from sin and death. Then He rose on the third day to bring life and immortality to light through the Gospel. Jesus is our greatest neighbor who has loved and helped each one of us.
15. Based on this compassion and healing from Jesus, you and I are set free to love and serve our neighbors. Now we’re ready to hear what St. Paul says in our Second Reading. First, he says, “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2). Then, he says, “As we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:10). How do we “manage,” or steward, the people around us who are God’s gifts to us? We love them and serve them for their benefit.
16. How can you manage, or steward, God’s gifts of the people around you? Focus on the people God has put closest to you in your life. Consider your family. How can you love and serve your spouse, your children, your parents, and your siblings—for their benefit? Consider your church. How can you love and serve your fellow Christians—for their benefit? Consider your place of employment. How can you love and serve your supervisor, and how can you love and serve your fellow employees—again, for their benefit?
17. Here’s the best way that you and I can “manage,” God’s gift of people. St. Paul says, “If anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness” (Galatians 6:1). If we truly love and want to serve the people that God has put on the path of our life, we will want to give them Jesus. We will want to warn them of their sins—sins of unbelief or self-centered actions or destructive lifestyles. We will want them to join us in the healing and compassion of Jesus. We will want them to rejoice that Jesus is their Good Samaritan too. The greatest and best way to love and serve our unbelieving neighbor is to bring the Gospel of Jesus to them and them into the Church. The greatest and best way to love and serve our Christian neighbor is to practice the love, forgiveness, and reconciliation of Jesus with them at all times and in all circumstances.
18. God wants us to live in community, and He gives other people to us as His gifts. He wants us to love and serve them as He has first loved and served us. That’s good stewardship—“management”—of people in our families, in our church, and in society. Amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus until life everlasting. Amen.
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