Leviticus 19:9–10; James 1:27

 “When you harvest your fields, do not go back through your vineyard to gather the grapes that were missed or to pick up the grapes that have fallen; leave them for poor people and foreigners. I am the Lord your God.”

This is a fascinating passage from the book of Leviticus, yet it offers a profound lesson on how we can actively build a more just society. Telling farmers to leave the edges of their fields unharvested was not just a random act of kindness. It was a divine rule to protect people. God commanded ancient Israel to build a safety net directly into their economy.

“When you harvest your fields, do not go back through your vineyard to gather the grapes that were missed or to pick up the grapes that have fallen; leave them for poor people and foreigners. I am the Lord your God.”

Some scholars still wonder if people had followed this ancient law to help the poor. Nevertheless, this ancient ethos still lives on in modern social welfare systems in many countries, including Australia. This system generally helps people who have very few resources, which works like leaving the edges of the field unharvested.

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Romans 12:1-2; Matthew 16:13-20

Today, I want to begin with a famous, yet deeply challenging instruction given by the Apostle Paul. In Romans 12:1, he wrote: “Offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to his service and pleasing to him. This is the true worship that you should offer.”

I want to pause right there and ask a very important question: What does it mean to be a “living” sacrifice? In the old Hebrew, it was ‘Olah’, which meant in English ‘something that goes up.’ The Olah was entirely consumed by fire on the altar, ascending to God as a pleasing aroma.

Whether it was consumed by fire or just killed to be offered, by definition, a sacrifice doesn’t survive the altar. Once it is offered, its life is over. It is given up completely, and that is why it is called ‘a sacrifice’.

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Matthew 14:13-21; Romans 9:1-5

In Romans 9:1–5, the Apostle Paul expresses a profound anguish for his fellow Jews that he even wishes himself cut off from Christ if it would save them. If you sometime had that kind of anguish for those around you, who don’t know Christ yet, I have a few questions for you to ponder today.

1: In an era where our lives are largely comfortable and secure, what would it cost us to care about the spiritual life and destiny of our families and friends the way Paul did?

2: If your loved ones were facing physical danger, I’m sure that you would drop everything to save and help them. By the same token, when you look at their spiritual lives, does your level of prayer and concern match that same urgency?

3. Paul was willing to be cut off from Christ to see his follow people come to Christ. In our daily routines, what are we genuinely willing to inconvenience—let alone sacrifice—so that those we love might know the grace of God?”

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Jesus said that the Kingdom of God is like that: a treasure hidden in a field that someone accidentally discovers. To secure this newly found wealth, the lucky man hides the treasure again in that same field, and then joyfully goes and sells everything he owns to buy the plot of land. Once the field is his, the treasure is his, too. His actions were entirely lawful; by purchasing the land, he gained legal ownership of the field and the treasure within it.

As if to emphasise His point, Jesus added, “The Kingdom is like a merchant in search of fine pearls. When he finds one of unmatched value, he too sells everything he owns to purchase that pearl. This is what the Kingdom of God is like—a hidden treasure, a pearl of great price.

These parables share one striking commonality: both individuals sold everything they possessed to claim the treasure they had found. Why? The answer is obvious. Their possessions simply could not compare in value to the treasure.

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Genesis 28: 10-22

It was winter. In the small village on the western side of the Blue Mountains, it seemed to get dark very early. The sun quickly disappeared behind a steep ridge that shaded the highway. It was cold and bleak and if it wasn’t raining and windy it was snowing. There was always the smell of burning coal fires in the air. I was a young school teacher in the little school there, (this was a long time ago) with just two teachers on the staff, and I was not happy.

That’s not quite true. In some ways I was very happy. But at that time, I was a long way from home. I was separated from my family, who I loved a lot. I was separated from my church family and my friends in Sydney. In that small village I felt lonely and homesick and out of step with the things that interested the local community. And cold!

I knew that I was not going to be there forever. I didn’t know where I would be going next and had no idea that in God’s plan my next home would be in Papua New Guinea. That cold lonely winter, I decided to use my spare time to study for the lay preacher’s exam, and that meant having my first attempts at preaching in small country churches. One of my first sermons was based on Genesis 28 and the story of Jacob and his dream.

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