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Rez is a community where Jesus welcomes, shapes, and sends disciples for the good of our neighborhood. No matter where you are in life, this is a place for you.
Life Together In The Goodness Of God
res community welcome welcome welcome you may not know this but on our staff and in our leadership culture here as we have kind of an odd leadership value that I felt like just needed to be named years ago and so we named it and it was weird and here's what I mean by this it is eat last and do the dishes is a value that we have at rest part of the reason this value has come to the surface for us for so long is my grandfather Ollie Gerald he was passed away unfortunately the year I was born I never got to meet him but he was this if you can imagine six foot four probably really good-looking I mean I know he is guys seen pictures of him man he's a he's a white West Texas blue collar pipeline worker and he had a huge laugh he's one of those kinds of people you walk into the room I'm told and you can just feel the the energy the joy bubbling out of him this was Ollie Gerald and his nickname was Rip he was this big brawny dude and everybody called him Rip I love it and legend has it that to put him in his casket they had like step on his shoulders that's how broad his shoulders were this is the kind so I get him from I think we have a lot in common I think he always ate last in his family he had seven kids so we do have a lot in common he would wait for his entire family to go through and eat and then he would come in after mind you a long day of manual labor probably very hungry and scrape the edges of the pots and take the leftovers from the plates and prepare his meal he would eat last I've always found this like really moving very selfless very sacrificial out of love for his family prioritizing their needs before his own and so for us when we have things like the chili cook-off next week you'll notice our staff will eat last they will wait tables this is the value that Ollie Gerald has been working through even me and in this church and our team I'm reminded of my grandfather when I see this text in Leviticus 19 and in our gospel readings this morning Leviticus 19 opens with this command you shall be holy for I the Lord your God am holy this is the chapter where we get the phrase love your neighbor as yourself it's where it comes from but many don't realize that the context for this command within this vision of holiness there's this command to love your neighbor as yourself many don't realize that that command is actually within a context of an economic reality we skipped over verse 9 we skipped over a few verses in the lectionary just so we can all get home in time for whatever game you got going on today the real game happened last night and we won praise the Lord so nothing else matters but it for brevity's sake we skip Austin FC is what I'm talking about right we know this on the road to we won you know all right verse 9 is skipped over in the readings from from Leviticus 19 this morning and it says when you're when you harvest your field don't reap all the way to the edge leave it for the poor and the immigrant verse 9 13 says don't hold a worker's wages overnight and then verse 18 summarizes a bunch of these commands about honestly economic choices right of justice and fairness verse 18 sums all of this up in the phrase that we understand love your neighbor as yourself holiness with a field loving your neighbor with our wealth is what Leviticus 19 is actually concerned with it looks like the owner stopping short of the fence on purpose the farmer leaving some remainder around the edge intentionally with his neighbor in mind with especially those who are in need in mind a widow an immigrant walking by with a basket and going home with food because of this farmers choice the owner sleeps the workers paid before dark the stranger eats this is you see the picture that God is painting here for us that's what holiness with a field looks like that's what holiness with wealth looks like and Leviticus love isn't just a feeling love is a an intentional economic decision with other people in mind kind of like rip kind of like Ollie Gerald my grandfather who would eat last so when a lawyer tests Jesus in front of everyone in our gospel reading asking which command is the greatest isn't it super interesting that Jesus goes to Leviticus 19 to summarize all of the law on the prophets Jesus answers love God and love your neighbor as yourself and when he says that on these two commandments hang all the law on the prophets he's hanging really the entire vision of what we are seeing in scripture on these two commands his commands with this image of holiness with economic realities and with justice with farmers giving to their neighbors that's what Jesus has in view when he references Leviticus 19 so when you and I get on our knees and we will in just a moment to do our confession as we do every Sunday when we say we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves we might keep in mind or wonder how we have used our fields of wealth or whatever we have for the sake of others that's what we're confessing have I used my farm to feed those in need have I used my wealth to benefit those near me God I have not in fact done that I have not loved my neighbor as myself does that make sense there's some depth in that commit in that confession how would we know as well I don't know about you but when I confess I have this sort of not intentionally but this picture of myself this pretty decent right as I come to the Lord to confess sin I'm like yeah I got a few things I got to get off my chest here but like it could be worse I'm not too bad right how would we know how would we self assess honestly honestly knowing that we have actually loved our neighbors is how would we tell how do we know well I'm reading a book no name in the streets by James Baldwin I love James Baldwin and I happen to be reading this and this sentence struck me as maybe a bit of a flashlight to help us not just self assess but to allow our neighbors to assess us in some way he wrote if one really wishes to know how justice is administered in a country one does not question the policeman the lawyer the judges or the protected members of the protected those precisely who need the laws protection most and listens to their testimony in that in that good what a flashlight what would happen if I went to your neighbors and said they loved you I could ask you you could ask me it would be like you know you know I've done pretty well but what would happen if we went to those near us in our lives who are in need or we would happen to those sitting next to you in the pew that our giving benefits and ministers to and said have have I loved you as myself I wonder what then we would confess when we kneel what would we hear in Leviticus 19 the real test of our generosity isn't our self view don't ask the owner of the field how it's going go and stand at the edge of the field and ask who's there and how it's going you'll get something more in touch with reality I think what gets in the way of this vision I think what makes this really difficult of this vision of of not reaping to the absolute edge but leaving some remainder isn't that I think we don't wake up and go I'm gonna be super greedy today I'm gonna be just a total punk super selfish it's all mine me right I don't think any of us wake up that way I think it's actually a little bit more nuanced it's a little bit more delicate more complicated I think that oftentimes we tell ourselves a story that we're just not gonna have enough for ourselves we really deep down in our stomach we know this we believe this we have this gnawing sense we're not gonna have enough and that fear in us untended to not healed it actually blocks our ability to love God to love our neighbor and honestly to love ourselves that fear it blocks our ability to love it gets in the way you can't love God while treating your field as your own you can't love God while treating God's field as yours I could say you can't love your neighbor if you've left nothing for them and you can't love yourself while you're out at the fence running the numbers because you you're sure you're not gonna have enough that's not really kind even to yourself beloved I know that the year that we're in that moment we're in the field feels really small for everybody for a lot of people I know this costs are up seems like the world is burning down and costs keep going up while wages stay the same or even get cut people are laid off it's tough it's really tough out there I know so many of you even looking for work this is a really tough reality I I don't mean to share any of this as if I'm out of touch with our real need and where we're at those feelings of scarcity are real and some of you that I'm talking about are the unprotected that James Baldwin is pointing out some of you are those strangers the widow or those in need that that Leviticus 19 image is to benefit those who would actually reap from the edges who are walking by and needing a basket full of food and to I want to say this is what the church is giving is for if you're in that place I don't need you to like give more to the church or something that's not what this is about what this is about at the church actually being there for you and giving to you leaving some on the edge for you benefiting you please come talk to me if that's who you are if you need help in that way but the rest of us many of us just need to be reminded to leave a little bit on the edge of our field we have enough we have enough we can leave a little bit on the edge of our field instead of consuming all that we have overspending even what we get in we can actually stop short of the fence we can budget for less we can make space for our neighbor and friends I think this is more than just like good business sense I think when we actually do this well and we leave some on the edge we find God there we always find God at the margins and at the edge don't we this is where we find God we find holiness there at the edge we find love in new ways there at the edge this is what I saw this morning I'm gonna celebrate you guys we're doing our pledge drive everybody knows we're doing our pledge campaign season right now and at res we talk about money very freely and openly because our whole life is something that's following Jesus not just like our head and our heart but also our wallets too this is what I saw this morning when I checked in on our pledge campaign last week we had like nine pledges which if you did you were like an early adopter you did it I'm so glad thank you for leading last week this week 20 more of you made submitted your pledge that's amazing thank you so much for submitting your pledge it's 29 in whole and friends because of this we are almost halfway to our goal for this pledging season and if you have not we need you to jump in submit your pledge be a part of what we're doing be a part of this work and I know when I see that it's not just a number to me I see a list of names of people I love and I care about and I know many of your stories some of you this year your field is smaller and yet you are saving more on the edge you've pledged even more sacrificially it's it's incredible it's a great cost you have left in that commitment more for your community more for your neighbor more for the work that we're doing here in South Austin it's it's holy it's profound it's really beautiful and I think it's the power of generosity that's moving in us by the power of the spirit to love God and find new ways of loving our neighbor again and again that's the life we're building that's why we're here right we're building something a community that is going to demand something of us because we're actually a part of it we're not just spectators we're not just consumers consuming spiritual goods and services as we would like we're actually laborers in this farm this field and we need you to labor with us there are so many people this is like the age-old story of church stuff right 10% of people are doing 90% of the work don't do that to your neighbor we need you we need you we need you you are part of this you want to feel welcomed and connected to this join us in the field please the work that we do together is unlike any other work you'll ever do in your life and it will bleed over into every other aspect of your life the person you become when you serve and when you give is someone that is like my my grandfather Ollie Gerald who will eat last and do so joyfully beautifully it's a person whose life begins to look like Jesus of Nazareth that's the point and friends can you imagine a people a community known for that kind of love of neighbor compared to the reputations that fairly enough Christians have in this world of judgment and casting people aside and violence can you imagine the people that actually look like Jesus of Nazareth that doesn't just start in our heads in our hearts it also involves our hands it's gonna cost us something and that's the invitation that I'm issuing to us today we have to find ways to leave something on the edge of we will find God when we do we'll find our neighbor when we do we'll find new ways to love them when we do in Christ friends we have the greatest self sacrifice given to us right when we were the stranger when we were in need when we were held captive by sin and cast aside in this life Jesus didn't just the Lord gave us the whole field he gave us an inheritance that will never spoil nor fade and that is what we are given when we come to this table we're given freely the bread of life and the cup of salvation our sins are forgiven we are made new we are incorporated into a community a body that is living and active in this world out of love God started all of this and we are different because of it no matter where you are in your faith journey when love comes in contact with you it does something to you and the love of God has changed us so therefore friends act as if you've been changed not with every other aspect in your life but this but also with this and I know it's hard but find something leave some edge try to find a way to be generous to leave some for your neighbor to love them as God has commanded us to love them this morning my question to you is what is that invitation that God is making to you there is a custom one for you doesn't all one size fits all God is God knows where you're at he knows your need he knows what's in your heart he knows the calculations when you're running the numbers in your head God is pretty smart he knows God knows what is the invitation that God is whispering to you in the place that you find yourself this morning as gleaners of God's kingdom and recipients of this great inheritance friends you are set free to ask God that question and then we're to respond with joy this morning let's take a moment of silence and invite just that God's invitation to us this morning