Caring for the Vulnerable - Proverbs 24 - The Wise Family

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I guess his widow. But there was a rejection. My name is a reject the privilege of being in the student ministries working as due to missing students in the building. Students in the building but I have the honor of being a pro stays but I first want to give honor where honor is due. To pastor Andrew and Anna Harper leadership believed in this church and how much they love it. Love you all and love me and loved the whole torso.

Can we get them around Paul's think of them wants out of my parents set out to my mom, my dad, my brother, I would not be here without them.

Somehow my kids that like how the world is your brother have anything to do with that what he does not slide the pleasure of continuing this sermon series.

This sermon series called the wise okay Littlejohn at a gym like we have some coffee. I will continue to service it is called the wise there we go now you're with me now you with me if you want to Susan for okay so it's not sold Ryan last week, Ryan Leslie, do you have a good time visiting that Justin thought about adjusting a urologist at all, but I guess it we're in the next installment of the wise family today. Sold since these young communicators we can look at this this sermon as a report sermon series or succumb to something you know what I'm saying three-part so would Aldo take different aspects and pulls him out of it and it will have a good somebody dies a little be improper set of 24% to 24 verses 10 through 12 Proverbs 724/10 312. Do I have any paper Bible people in the building. Nice all my friends you have let John about was I can't trust you can trust you house on this planet. I got a lot of RBIs up around a lot of Palazzo, but limited series so will be in Proverbs 724 verse 10 through 12 in this notice is if you faint in the day of adversity. Strength is small. Rescue those who are being taken away to death hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, behold, we did not know this is not does not he who weighs the heart perceive it does not he who keeps watch over our souls know it and will he not repay man according to his work according to his work. So far, no takers in the building. The main idea of of of today is going to be wise families care for the vulnerable wise families care for the vulnerable someone to turn to your neighbor as you turns your neighbor and say neighbor okay. Currently, there was a neighbor careful horrible currency other neighbor that you completely ignored as a neighbor. I don't know about you but I want to carefully vulnerable nice as well talk to my list price was right. Lord help us to be a people at first to have a heart and cares deeply for all people, especially those that are the vulnerable afraid you move me out of the way and allow me to be instrument and speak through me afraid eyes can see, ears will be open and hearts will be Sultan Jesus never prayed a man and man of MSO, requesting that I just might not be a sunny side up tight question, but I got a lot of times out to get to high school who in here has been through a difficult time anybody here been through difficult time. But what's her day meds hello legs that were coming out of over 19 and stuff like that are still coming out of it so I know that was a difficult time for a lot of us, but heads as I see here in the room. A lot of us raise her hand but I will tell you and Tom were where I have gone through difficult time, but before we do that is safe to say that by sold hands.

We've all been guilty with being call adversity adversity advice adversity adversity adversity so this is what adversity is this what adversity is. Adversity is situations or things in life that brings you hardships and challenges or misfortunes.

Adversity is situations or things in life that brings you hardships, challenges or misfortunes try to fit say by the time I faced a lot of adversity, but one that has impacted my life. The most one has impacted my life the most is living a life with severe asthma, severe asthma is anybody can relate to the inability to have asthma here anybody yet you raise your hand.

How could I have it in his is to it is totes but no severe asthma.

So what I mean. But at how that has given me adversity is you play a sports ice play basketball just coach and train announce out to the people in the room that some teams but I used to play basketball and I would play for like a minute and I had to come out. The game because I had an asthma attack and I would sit and watch everybody play on a gestalt another time as we are at school you have asthma attack and a you realize you have asthma attacks yet to go inside you. I want everybody play so that you don't have fluency at the sit there with debris missing and look like you're about dead and in which you can have fun and play outside. Another Tom.

Worse of all is when you have asthma attack or your plan sports anything like that you start wheezing start wheezing NAP is looking at you but I have crazy and then I start making fun of you because it wheezing like what is so that desk asthma has saved my life. It is adversity a been through right did make fun of walking through adverse I can't play will mop my friends right. I got a low play basketball with and I can only play for minute and have to leave in a week then I'll have to go work out as all the way it is. A lot of things happen. A lot of things happen because of my asthma right so so that leads me to my first point. That leads me to my first point. My first point. Only point is our strength is tested through adversity.

Our strength is tested through adversity or strength is tested through adversity, but I want to add another layer on top of that, because this passage is present in China. So was to not only look at our own personal adversity, but is calling us, but it is calling us to take care and rescue others in the midst of the mist of their adversity. I so that's what the passes yes is one thing to look at our own, but this passage is clearly calling us to to jump in and and and rescue those that are going through their own adversity was read verses 10 and 11 again if you faint in the day of adversity, you strike the small rescue those who are being taken away to death. There is rescue those who were being taken away to death hold back those who are stumbling to be slaughtered all the translators say if you do nothing and difficult time you strength is limited. Like I mentioned earlier today, it seems like all of us have been through difficult times have been through adversity.

But think about is if we be honest in the room if we can be honest in a room or phrase. What adversity. Our tendency is to look at it and be like, I'm good is adversity over there, or or or we sit there we look at the adversity, which is faint, which is a lot I can do this no more I'm done, I'm done or or or we sit down look.

Adversity over here and is hopeless of Mr. somebody's missing look at a viola fructose that Ms. get too dirty so that's like sometimes we look adversity like that. But what would this passage. This is its owners is probably China.

So was that we need something outside of ourselves to strengthen us when going through adversity that we need something outside of ourselves to strengthen us all through adversity.

Just like when I do my asthma. There is nothing I can do is not my mom can do.

There is not my dad can do is nothing anybody can do for me except for this little thing called inhaler and I hope you see warm going with this, because in Psalms 27. Davises, the Lord is my strength and my shield my heart. Trust him and he helps me. The Lord is my strength and my shield my heart trusts in him and he helps me. My heart leapt for joy and with my song I praise him.

The Lord is my strength he is and I'm here to incur somewhat he is your strength is your strength and the reason we can rely on Jesus because he entered cases he enter into our adversity. He entered into our adversity and he endured the cross, so we can freely call upon his great name for the joy that lay before him for the joy that lay before him for the that lay before them. I know it sounds crazy. I know it sounds crazy, but she is had joy when he entered into our adversity. He had joy when he incidents our adversity for the joy that lay before him. He endured the cross, despising the same and sat down at the right hand of God.

For consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, so that you won't grow weary and give up.

That's why that's why we can go to him as a source of strength, but he only kill a straight he only can only give us right but he holds us there he holds is that those one thing for we go 20s on the straight appreciate it. See you later. None of we go to all he give the straight and we get to sit there we get to see any holds those he holds as their nestle. We need guzzling need Sony to praise God when you take some time this week or even right now to praise God that we have a Savior that feels what we feel and he gives us the strength that we need to know how to rollout ourselves.

We don't have real money will have to rely on our family will have to rely on our best friends even though those things are good.

Those things are great things right. I got family. I got friends. I got money sometimes money gives me a situation that give you right out of it, but I feel like we rely almost feel that we rely on those things too much.

But with this China so was his.

Those things are good, but is not to hold you does not hold you and watch because of that now our perspective just to change our perspective changes. Now it we get to look and see how can I not, how can I not enter in to your adversity to help you because I know somebody that has my side. Jesus is right here with me now to enter in your adversity with you as you need me to be the hands and feet of Jesus for you is good. The Lord won't he do it while you do it. I thought, Tom, Tom, so, so mama, bring Michael up to the states and in my prayer. My prayer is that that that you and I and all of us will call upon the Lord to strengthen those to strengthen us to enter in to other people's adversity so we could be his if he did use for them. And like you said earlier, is not what Jesus gives us a straight but yes we need to hear that some was need to hit up an awesome list.

Also need to hear. He holds us in that strength. He holds in that strength. So Max Michael to come up and talk about who who are the vulnerable people in this world, said Murphy Murphy.

What a joy it is to be here today.

My name is Michael nine on the executive pastor at redemption church, absolutely. Some of you may remember just a couple years ago they were sent out for mercy.

Hill and now me and God is doing things he's moving. It is amazing to see we been there.

I've been there the last week just started this past week so it's amazing to see informally just last weekend I was on staffing to step office staff and I was the guest experience associate director at the Clifton Road 3815 Clinton Rd. as pastor Nico so eloquently says, and so Clifton. I miss you guys. I love you and so everyone to go ahead and go in now to everyone in here at some time or another has experienced the joys of moving and of course when I say joys.

I mean absolute nightmares right no matter whether you hire someone to do it you do it yourself man. It is abysmal.

It is a nightmare.

Every single time beyond comprehension and my wife and I just moved. We know this very well.

We just moved last week to Roanoke and of course it was awful again but we we agree we we realized it is one of the easiest ways to procrastinate.

It reminded me also of a time when I moved while living in Vermont I was moving from a second-story apartment into a one story house and I was working a full-time job a part-time job during that season, and I was single, but I remember being so excited that I can finally move into a house and I was dating my now wife and thinking one day when we get married she's going to move into this place and it's good to be amazing and thinking about creating a family and building that in all the things that come with having a home and so but I was so busy I kept procrastinating on tagteam and I kept putting it off. Then I remember when moving day came finally came around I found found myself there at 12 AM by myself for like I said, second-story apartment, it's Sunday night workday is coming somebody lives underneath me and I remember just been worn out and wondering why in the world that I wait this long answer but I remember me, and when there is one piece of furniture left it's 12 AM and it's a Kmart nightstand. I don't know if you've had the experience of owning any Kmart furniture.

But I feel like in the building process there pretty much like this a lot. You know what nails screws that kind of stuff would you new technologies that lets you some Elmers glue Elmers glue. That's awesome. Let's hold this thing together and so I remember picking up his nightstand. 12 AM second-story and taking one step down the steps in this thing implodes and shoots down the stairs in his boom boom boom just being mortified it Monday I might my downstairs neighbor is trying to sleep. She's it's Monday morning the next day and I was just like what in the world. And so, but it reminded me also mean that I was just so passionate about this because of moving in getting to a new house, but I never did anything to prepare for it and it reminds me of our culture and how everyone is passionate about a cause, but when it comes down to it, do you actually do anything to support it.

See we live in a time where there is 620 million Facebook groups that you can join many of them cause oriented but you can update your profile picture with the banner but you can actually never do anything to physically support that calls it's all about that outward appearance and it's not about the physical fruit is produced and so we tell ourselves things like one day I'll serve in our church one day I would help the venerable. This task seems so overwhelming where I even start caring for the venerable we live in a culture that is cause oriented but there is a lack of fortitude and perseverance into his Avery has already stated our big idea for today is wise. Families care for the vulnerable and to do that. I believe that we need to see who the venerable is in our context and so let's go ahead and read verse 11. Again, it says this rescue those who were being taken away to death hold back those who were stumbling to the slaughter, so if you look at this. I believe this verse really breaks up the vulnerable into two different groups of people. The first one is this the first part of that verse. It says rescue those who were being taken away to death. This verse is showing us here that there's a group of people in our society today who are being taken away to death against their will, and there is nothing you can do there's nothing that they can do to stop it there being forcibly taken to death. It says so I want you to think for a second doing our context.

Could this be who might this be that this verse is speaking about and I think me there is multiple applications here that we can apply this to you probably have multiple you that your thinking through right now in your mind, but I think one of them has to be the unborn. Those that are made in the image of God and loved by him. Those that have intrinsic and eternal value. We must rescue those that can't rescue themselves that we have to do that and so secondly, though, and that verse, I think we need to turn our attention to the second part of verse 11 where it says hold back those who were stumbling into this suggest that there's a second group of people who were stumbling towards the slaughter, and this shows that they're not being forced to death. Like the first group, but that they are unknowingly going there going this way, so this is like you think about it. To illustrate this, you think about somebody I don't know if using this in your neighborhood downtown Greensboro other places some money glue to their cell phone as they're walking down the street. I don't know if you've ever seen any of those YouTube videos or other things where you see people looking at her phone in the running at the polls and they just this keep going and have no idea what's going on in's and it's it's funny to us that way but this is what this passage is showing us that these people are unknowing about the dangers around them that they're going haphazardly that they don't know what they're going into the slaughter and so I want you again to think about who this might be in our context as well. Who might this be and I believe this one. One group that we can apply this to is the unreached that they have no idea that people around the world that have never heard the name of Jesus Christ have no idea that there is a Savior that came there like for him that loved them and that right now they are stumbling into an eternity apart from Jesus and apart from the God that loved and died for them since it from the triad to the nations that we need to rescue those that are being taken off to the slaughter by sending our best around the world. We know that God is forming a people from every tribe, every tongue and every nation and we want to see people come to know Jesus Christ and step from the slaughter to the Savior.

So God is calling us to care for the vulnerable because he cares for the venerable. He sees the widow he sees the hurting he sees the oppressed, apart from Christ. We are all vulnerable.

We have to really realize that is a replay we are helpless and hopeless without a Savior, but praise God.

Jesus secured your rescue through his vulnerability.

Amen. Lastly, what I want you all to see. Today is this that ignorance is not an excuse, and this ignorance is not an excuse for us. Verse 12 says if you say, behold, we did not know this is not he who weighs the heart perceive it is not he who keeps watch over your soul know it and will he not repay man according to his work.

Verse 12 anticipates an objection that some people might raise who didn't know the word tried to explain that they didn't know that people were being taken away and so people are going to say why did know that people are unjustly since were taking place in our world that I didn't know that about the unborn that I didn't know about these things and so and we it's it's really easy for us to get caught up in our own little world that we go to work we come home we play with our family and we hang out with them and then we do the same thing over and over and over again and we never we get so caught up in that we never engage the venerable. We never pray for the nations we never go because were so caught up in this little world.

But we have to realize that ignorance is not an excuse, especially in the information age.

Social media inundates us with opportunities for more than 20 years ago when you saw the occasional save the Wells bumper stickers or saw hurts all be Sarah McLachlan commercials in the arms of an angel playing in the background thinking about puppies and so we are asked like this hashtag that like this put this badge on your profile picture in about a million different things and in the information age. Ignorance is a choice, we are far more aware of social injustices, homelessness, criminal reform, so much so that we become numb to all these important issues, or even if we aren't numb by it.

We are so overwhelmed to the point that we turn inward and we focus only on our family but church we must remember that God he's not ignorant to the venerable man throughout Scripture in Exodus we see the cries of God's people.

They cry out to him and what is God do. He rescues them. He loves them. He supports them into throughout Scripture we see this in your own line in your own lives.

I hope that you seen this myth that God responds to our cries and that he is not ignorant ignorance of the suffering going on in our world today and he is not ignorant to the suffering in your life or my life. And so I love this quote in the ESV study Bible it says this the one who embraces wisdom can never be content with merely seeking the well-being of himself or of his family. He will also seek justice as widely as he can someone ask you today church is this the heart is this your heart is a family. Are these the kind of things that you were thinking about.

Are your kids growing up ignorant to the vulnerable around them are your kids watching you engage your neighbors are your kids watching watching you, pray for the nations. Are your kids watching you go on mission trips together and serve together in our community or are they watching you set up comfort for them and comfort for yourselves if we are to be wise families. We must seek justice and care for the venerable if we believe as we talked about in this series that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, then we must want be wise and care for those that his heart is bound to and so we have seen that God's heart is bound to the venerable, we've seen that it got to the vulnerable might be in our context, and now we should be asking the next question is how do we help them appropriately and so only go ahead and pass this off to Josiah to talk about how do we help them let me start by saying a huge thank you to Avery and Michael and a huge thank you to you mercy will church for allowing me the opportunity to bring the conclusion of today's passage to you. It is an honor to share the stage with these men and it's an honor to be able to bring the word of God to for just a few minutes.

Just a quick intro of myself. My name is Josiah Rothfuss Burger pronounced fancy okay Burger not Berger, but if you know me you know that I respond anything this close in the ballpark and I know what you're out there thinking sheesh that is a mouthful is a mouthful and this is one way that I know my wife loves me very much and she was willing to take on my last name. We got married just a year ago so Avery and Michael have done most of the legwork for us. Avery has talked about why we step in and care for the vulnerable. Michael has shared with us who they are and I have the opportunity to share how we care for the vulnerable. So we go back to verse 10 verse 10. If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small and we do live in a day of adversity, knowing there is adversity all around us we see brokenness all over our world. And as we've already heard, we tend to be a culture we we really do who likes to talk the talk but were not so great. It walking the walk right. We are a culture with many causes, yet without fortitude, or as the great theologian Mike Tyson once put it, everyone has a game plan until they get punched in the face. Yet in the middle of so much adversity. This passage calls us as God's people to step in and strength and to care for the vulnerable we are to rescue those who are being taken away to death and we are to hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter, we see two groups of people. Here we see those who are being taken away to an unjustified death. As we heard from Michael and there are more categories here but certainly the unborn right those who need our care and protection. As we step in and care for them and we also see those who through foolish behavior are stumbling to destruction. Proverbs 7 gives us a picture of what this looks like it, and shows us a young man who is enticed by sexual activity. He shouldn't be involved in and it says this and said he goes as an ox goes to the slaughter. He does not know that it will cost him his life. So we are called as the people of God to recognize were foolish behaviors happening and step in and hold those people back from destruction and and Michael pointed out the unreached earlier and and I want to camp out here for for one moment, because in in our day and in 2022. There are still over to billion people without access to the gospel talk about people who just don't know Jesus as their Savior or don't want to go to church were talking about people who couldn't hear the gospel if they wanted to.

And there's a story I want to share with you. Remember a time where I was I was backpacking through some villages in the mountains of South Asia and him and we came to a village in and everyone in the village gathered together and we started to have a conversation about the gospel with them. We started asking them what they knew about Jesus and the leader of the village, possibly, and he said hold on hold what Jesus he said what Jesus did you catch that he didn't say who is Jesus.

He said watch Jesus as if we were there to sell him their village a product or something and know that Jesus was a person he was God who became man to lay down his life for them.

Billions of people living in this reality and you as we as we look at these two groups of people.

Those who are are being taken away to an unjustified death, and those who through foolish behavior or ignorance are stumbling to the slaughter.

We inherently know in our hearts that were supposed to do something right.

We know this, you know, I know this is because there are so many causes championed by people who don't even know God fighting for things like food insecurity, criminal reform K orphans addiction and substance abuse. We see it all over yet. Here's what we know.

We know that these causes are so so hard to address.

We see something our hearts break and rightfully so we we launch into action.

But as soon as we do. We realize that's tough. That's tough.

We hit bureaucracy and red tape, and many times we are revealed for our strengthening small our strengthening limited and we faint when we hit adversity and God's Word gives us the tools that we need to fight adversity when we hit it as we care for the vulnerable.

But here's my fear. Even with a passage like this, as we step in the application. Here's my fear that there is such a clear application point to this test text to rescue and to hold back that will immediately jumped into action and we will only apply this proverb to our actions before we apply to our hearts. And when we do that we are revealed to be the same as our culture culture the cause without fortitude because we shrink we hit adversity. So, were you to be a culture with a cause and fortitude. Here's how we do it the first thing we do is we turn first to Jesus for our strength and adversity.

How do we do that, we pause and we remember that before we knew Jesus as our Savior. We were the vulnerable.

We were those who needed to be rescued and held back from walking into the slaughter to destruction. And as we pause and as we remember as we remember that we remember that then we and the strength that Jesus provides because he what he did for us.

Can step into carrying properly for the vulnerable. We have to become weak so that Jesus can be strong in us. Second Corinthians 1210 tells us is for when I am weak, then I am strong houses possible. How can we be weak and then strong is because when we become weak and were stripped of the things that we think make a strong like maybe our physical strength. Maybe it is our intelligence or wisdom or charisma will whatever it may be, we are stripped of that then we can rely on the true strength that Jesus provides. And this doesn't it doesn't just happen. This comes through our daily rhythms of Bible reading and prayer, and engaging with community so that when adversity comes. We rely on the strength Jesus provides an fax to go back to what Mike Tyson said this is our game plan for when we do get punched in the face, and our second application point is this.

We walk with Jesus and caring for the vulnerable. We walk with Jesus and caring for the vulnerable and where we talked about it, we we look at our world and we see brokenness all over the place that we think – I don't even know where to start. I don't even know where I would begin and end. Let me say this.

If you're if you're in this room and you feel this pool on your heart to step off the sidelines and into the game of caring for the vulnerable. Let me encourage you to dive fool in at this church at Mercy Hill and here's why there are families all across this church who are bucking the stereotype of fainting when adversity comes and they are caring for the unborn and they are involved in adoption and foster care and taking the gospel to the nations. If you want to step off the sidelines and into the game of caring for the vulnerable. This is a place where you learn how to do it. So maybe your next step is to attend the weekender this coming up or to get plugged into a community because whenever you're plugged into community.

You can rely on the strength that Jesus provides and you can be buoyed by the people of God around you in order to step in and care for the vote for the vulnerable and let me take a moment to conclude like this I I am aware that across all our campuses and locations that that there are people here this weekend who do not yet know Jesus as their Savior. I know that's true unless people across all our campuses. Locations that don't know Jesus yet and you may have grown up in a religious environment or you may be a church for the first time and you hear a message like this and you say all right to do it to jump in to care for the vulnerable and to rescue those who need rescuing to help. What I would say to you is you need to take a step back and realize that you yourself need to be rescued yourself need to recognize that you've never repented of your sin and put your faith in Jesus as your Savior and you can step in and rescue others until you've allowed Jesus to rescue you and so across all campuses and locations.

If that's you that's the position you're in, let me plead with you to make this the weekend that you place your faith in Jesus and you can do that through a simple prayer that you say in your heart. You can even walk through this with me right now. It's very simple. The first thing you do is you admit to Jesus that that your center and there is nothing you can do to save yourself and then you believe you believe that that Jesus has done everything necessary to save and you confess him as the Lord of your life to live with him forever. If that's you this weekend and you've maybe done that in your heart or your feeling the pull to do that. Let me encourage you. We are going to have a prayer team up front at all of our campuses.

There will be a prayer team up front. You can come up to and say that I said that in my heart or feel like God's working on me and I need to repent of my sin and put my faith in Jesus.

Someone will be here to counsel you to pray with you and if you're here with us in your life. I need to jump off the sidelines and into the game of caring for the vulnerable. Your action step is the same. Come forward. Talk with someone would love to help you get plugged into the ways that you can serve the vulnerable right here in our church value. Hence improving me as I close Jesus, thank you thank you that though we were vulnerable.

You stepped into our brokenness and endured the cross, despise despising the shame for our salvation and you bought salvation for us. I pray across all of our campuses locations for those who need to repent of their sin. For the first time that they would put their faith in you this weekend. I pray across the triad that you would raise up families to serve the vulnerable in our city and around the world in Jesus name