SERMON OF THE WEEK First Presbyterian Church of Honolulu March 8, 2009 Compassion (E-100 series) Rev. Dr. Dan Chun Here in America we are in danger. I m not talking about terrorism. I m not talking about gender issues. I m not talking about crime. I m not talk about drugs. I m talking about a love of money that breeds evil. Perhaps this comes as little surprise when we see what has happened in the last six months when we have seen the result of years of greed. Individuals or institutions have had such a love of money that it has created an economic tornado destroying and ripping families apart across the world. Jesus talked about money more than any other issue. He somehow knew that where our money is spent so lay our hearts. The Bible reportedly has more than 2,000 verses on money. But the killer passage is in 1 Timothy, a letter that the Apostle Paul wrote just before he died. These verses are part of our E-100 series, the essential 100 Bible passages that all Christians should know. 1Tim. 6:6 Of course, there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; 1Tim. 6:7 for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it; 1Tim. 6:8 but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. 1Tim. 6:9 But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 1Tim. 6:10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains. 1Tim. 6:11 But as for you [Timothy], man of God, shun all this; pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness. Money in and of itself is not evil, but the love for it causes tremendous evil in one s personal life and society. Why? Because a love for money makes us not content with what we have. A love for money pushes people away and makes us self-centered. A love for money pushes God away. Notice that our passage first talks about contentment. 1Tim. 6:6 Of course, there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; Contentment. Can we live a life where we, Americans, don t need more money because we are content with what we have? It is also a practical way to respond when we don t have as much money. 1 When we walk into a store and see that shirt or blouse, can we say, I am content with what I have? When we see that snazzy car drive by us, can we say, I am content with what I have? When we see that Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, can we say, I am content with the woman I have. Same for People Magazine s issue featuring the Sexiest Man Alive. When we see it, can we say, I am content with the pastor I have? My kids always thought that was such a funny title to bestow on someone. When you are the sexiest man alive, what do you do with that? It s not necessarily helpful to society. Do you says, Hey, lady, need help with that grocery bag or that tire that needs to be fixed? I can do it because I am the Sexiest Man Alive! Here s the deal. When we love money we really want to accumulate more and more and then we get discontent with the things we have or can buy. But hear this. The Bible says that a love for money will mean death for us on earth and eternal separation from God. God is dead serious about that especially when our love for money does not help the poor. You know some people think that God destroyed the city of Sodom in the Old Testament because they were into perverse sex or homosexuality.
People have often erroneously used the destruction of Sodom as a passage to show that God will destroy gay people. But that is not what the Bible says. God actually loves gays and lesbians. Here is why Sodom was really destroyed: Ezek. 16:49 This was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. The Sodomites did not help the poor and the needy and that really ticked off God to the point of destruction. Here s a big tip from Scripture: Prov. 14:31 Those who oppress the poor insult their Maker but those who are kind to the needy honor Him. The Bible says if we want to honor, glorify and praise God, then help the poor. If we want to insult God, then oppress the poor, says the Bible. Don t help them. Be apathetic. Turn a deaf ear to their cries. Pretend they don t exist. Don t do nothin for them, and we ll insult God daily. God wants the poor to be helped especially by those who have the resources to help. Psa. 72:12 For He delivers the needy when they call, the poor and those who have no helper. When God hears the cries of the poor, He promises that He will come to their aid. And how will He deliver them? When God hears the cries of the poor, He has decided in this world not to snap His fingers and make hunger disappear. God has decided that He will not use His angels to suddenly, instantly miraculously feed the poor. No, His Plan A is that we, yes we, will help the poor. His Plan A is that you and I must get involved. And hear this: there is no Plan B! We are God s sole plan to help the poor!!! Those who claim to follow Christ but who do not help the poor put their lives in jeopardy. I wish I could say it a different way, but here s the consequence according to the Bible: Prov. 21:13 If you close your ear to the cry of the poor, you will cry out and not be heard. Wow, pretty severe consequence. I turn a deaf ear to help the poor and God will turn a deaf ear for my cries of help in my need? Oh, cheer up, it gets worse than that! If we don t have a heart for the poor, Jesus seems to imply that He questions our commitment of faith, our salvation itself. It is incomprehensible and unbelievable to Him that if a person claims to be a Christfollower, that he or she doesn t have a heart for the poor or is not active in helping them, especially those like us who have the resources to help. You say, Pastor Dan, back off. You re coming on way too hard. That s not what Jesus would say, would he? Here are Jesus own words on how He will judge us in the last days. Hear what really counts to Him. Matt. 25:31 When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. 2 Matt. 25:32 All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, Matt. 25:33 and He will put the sheep at His right hand and the goats at the left. Matt. 25:34 Then the king will say to those at His right hand, Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; Matt. 25:35 for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, Matt. 25:36 I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me. Matt. 25:37 Then the righteous will answer Him, Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? Matt. 25:38 And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? Matt. 25:39 And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you? Matt. 25:40 And the king will answer them, Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me. Matt. 25:41 Then He will say to those at His left hand, You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels;
Matt. 25:42 for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, Matt. 25:43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me. Matt. 25:44 Then they also will answer, Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you? Matt. 25:45 Then He will answer them, Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me. Matt. 25:46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. Jesus could not have made it any clearer. When He says the phrase, the least of these, I say children in poverty surely qualify for the least of these for they are powerless unless they get some help. How can we release children from poverty in Jesus name? As many of you know, our church has chosen Compassion International as a prime vehicle to release children from poverty in the name of Jesus. Compassion International always ranks in the top 1% of all of the nonprofits of the world in terms of integrity by the group Charity Navigator. I have spent time in Compassion s global headquarters in Colorado Springs. I have traveled with its president Wess Stafford to a variety of countries, I have gone to many of their projects in Asia to see with my own eyes that what Compassion does is incredibly efficient in getting the help directly to a child in poverty and his or her family. Compassion bypasses the governments and work directly with churches. Why? No greedy governmental graft can take over their money, as even singer Bono discovered in his Red program. In every poverty area is a church, which already has a mandate in that community for integrity and compassion. Compassion starts with helping babies to make sure they survive. Their parents are taught, too, about hygiene, disease prevention and how to provide their babies with medical care. Compassion also shares the gospel with them. And then as the children get older, Compassion tries to find sponsors for them throughout the world. They look for sponsors who will donate one dollar a day to ensure that the child will have the food, medical and academic aid they need. And in addition, they encourage these sponsors to try to write the child at least every few months to encourage the child and to let the child know that someone believes in her or him. And, as I have discovered recently, when these children are unfairly arrested or get into trouble under an unjust law system, Compassion steps in to help them. Last month I went to the Philippines with 26 other pastors from Hawaii. We went into the poor areas of the island of Davao. We walked into areas that were so clustered. We walked down dark tunnels to see families of five living in a room measuring only 8 feet by 8 feet. Yes, put tape in your living 3 room to see how small 8 feet by 8 feet is. There s barely enough room to stick in two chairs. It s smaller than a prison cell. Some of our closets or bathrooms are even bigger. The father of this family makes only about one dollar a day. I told him that he was a good, hard-working father who is doing his best. And then he began to cry. People just need to be affirmed. Outside there were young girls who were not part of the Compassion project. They were asking us to sleep with them and take them away from the area. They were already pregnant from previous boyfriends who have left them. And then while we were talking with them, there came the hugest rats I have ever seen! There were probably five rats running near me. I asked the girls if they were scared of the rats and that maybe at night these would bite them. And they said to me, No, the rats are our friends. And at that instant I thought of my grandfather s favorite hymn, What a Friend We Have in Jesus. Who is going to tell these people that there is a friend in Jesus who is so far better than a street rat? Who is going to tell them that God loves them and there is a future and hope in Jesus? Sometimes we see the pictures of poverty, but they seem so far away and not that real. Sometimes we might wonder if an organization like Compassion really help and transform lives to tell the children there that there is a better life than just sleeping around, getting pregnant, being on drugs or having no hope due to poverty.
Here s how Compassion works. Let s watch this video. (The video Because of Compassion is shown.) Lets bring it home a little closer. One of those kids in the video is a young lady named Rafonzel Fazon, who grew up in a Compassion project as a young child. She is with us this morning. She is from the island of Mindanao and from the city of Butuan near Davao that I visited recently. I ve invited her to fly in from the Philippines and speak to us today so you can hear first hand how Compassion and Jesus Christ have helped her as a young child up through college. Please give a warm welcome and aloha to Rafonzel Fazon! (Rafonzel Fazon shares her story.) Prov 14:31 Those who are kind to the needy honor God. Today I want to give you the opportunity to support a child who, if he or she would get some help, could become like a Rafonzel. After seeing the areas of poverty, meeting children who have come out of those areas and have made it through elementary school, high school and college because of a sponsor, and they are studying to be a pharmacist, a teacher, a pastor, an accountant or a business person, then I know the cycle of poverty is being broken and their families are being blessed. Compassion serves more than 1 million children and their families in 25 countries. When I hear how more than 150,000 children (Not including their family members) have come to Christ last year due to Compassion s programs then I know that these kids are getting the physical, emotional and spiritual help they and their families need. Not just food, health and education but a step into eternity with Jesus. So here s the challenge. In the back of the sanctuary are more than 100 packets of children who need our help right now. They are from all over the world with smiles that will be a sign to you that maybe it is destiny that you two should be linked in some way. Some have disabilities and are waiting for someone to sponsor them. I ask you to consider sponsoring a child for a dollar a day or $32 a month. Some are from AIDS ravaged areas where they have lost their parents. Those are the ones with the AIDS ribbon on the packet. Some have not been sponsored by anyone for years. I know we are all facing hard economic times in America, but these kids have it harder. They don t even know if they will get a meal or even an apple the next day unless Compassion steps in. We Americans have a lot. Any time any day we can go to 7-11,or Zippy s or MacDonald s, if not our own refrigerator, for a snack or meal. If we cut back on one beverage a day, we can make a difference. For that $2 soda, or $4 glass of beer or $7 glass of wine or that $3 coffee every day, we can support a child. It comes down to priorities. For that book or CD that costs more than $15, can we be content enough not to buy that and help a child instead for two weeks? And more important, can you write the child? They cling to those letters, you know. They mean so much to them because it s a voice that believes in them, that they count, that they are important and that they are beautiful. When you 4 write a child you will be blessed. I could not believe that a child in poverty would write me to tell me that he was praying for me because my mother had lung cancer, or praying for me because I was sick. They who have so little are praying for me who has so much. When I met my sponsored child last year, she said she would never forget that day for the rest of her life. Mary Vinson who is a member of our church discovered that her sponsored family in India named their new baby after Mary s daughter Kathleen. That s real bonding with a sponsored child s family. The letters, I dare say, are more important than the money in many ways. Some of us are already sponsoring a child, but maybe God is saying, Hey, I have blessed you so much, you can sponsor one more. Maybe you want to sponsor one in the name of each of your children to thank God for your blessed kids. Maybe you want to sponsor one in the name of a loved one who has passed away. Find a packet with a birthday near yours or your loved ones. Pam and I sponsor a Compassion child for each of our three children to symbolize our gratefulness for our kids who live in America, and so we want to help another one somewhere else as a way of thanking God. And then we have two more for each of us. Some of you may feel called to sponsor a college student like Rafonzel, and that can be done for $300 a month, which is even more of a sacrifice to give a future to a college student.
Our elders support one college student as a group. Maybe your Small Group might want to support one and write to him or her. Some of you may be senior citizens and may be thinking, I don t want to sponsor a kid for the next 15 years. Then maybe you will find a child who is already 16 or 17 years old and has just a few more years in the program. It would make God happy and your pastor happy if every member or family of First Presbyterian was sponsoring at least one child. My dream for our members is: every one is in a small group, every one is in a ministry, and every family has a Compassion child. God would clap His hands. Psa. 72:12 For God delivers the needy when they call, the poor and those who have no helper. Who will tell these children that God loves them? God has said that Plan A is you and I, and that there is no Plan B. Let s pray. * * * * * * * * Sunday worship sermons can also be heard on Strength for the Journey, First Prez s weekly radio show. Sunday mornings at 10 on KGU 760 AM. You can also listen to the sermon at www.fpchawaii.org, or download it from itunes. 5