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Volume 67 Number 9 Lubbock, Texas 79493 Copyright $12.00 Per Year September 1999 |
God Looked Down Grace that Bringeth Salvation The Throne of Grace The Way God Works Resisting the Call His Train Filled the Temple The Best is Yet to Come Regarding West Texas Assn. Picking Peas Tour Through The Bible Obituaries
Psalm 14:2- "The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God." God condescends to speak to us in language we can relate to, and we are familiar with the term "looked down to see." When we want to make a determination about something many times, we want to see for ourselves. If it is something that isn't clear we look to make sure. This is not the case with God; He never has to look in order to make a discovery.
God is all-knowing, and to perceive Him as having to acquire knowledge is wrong. However, we understand the language; we also understand His conclusion in the next verse, "...there is none that doeth good, no, not one." This is God's statement and no matter how man may package and present a contradictory statement, it will not change the fact.
There is none by their own will and volition who seek after God. I might add that as unsavory as this truth is, and contrary to man's natural perception of himself, it has been and still is being preached from the pulpits of our Primitive Baptists today.
Without some degree of understanding of the absolute sovereignty of God and the depravity of man, we will linger in a wilderness journey, a never-ending trip that leads nowhere. Paul said so much and covered it all when he said, "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God," Romans 6:23.
If we take each word in this text, repeat it very slowly and think of each word, it is very sobering. All have sinned, no matter how well-defined and worthy our walk and intentions. We all sinned in Adam, and as a consequence we are bearing his nature today, and the sentence of corporal death hangs over the fairest infant as well as the hoary head of the oldest saint.
"And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." 1 Cor. 15:49. Thanks be unto God we shall bear the image of the heavenly. God looked down, and what a horrible scene He describes to us. So, dear friends, we are by nature scattered and ruined. It is by His grace alone that He did not leave us there. "Grace, grace, wonderful grace." We will never outgrow our need of it.
May we never take it for granted. There is no place in life we can occupy that we don't need grace. In the valley we need it, and realize it, but no mountain of accomplishment is high enough to replace grace. May His sweet grace and mercy follow us all the days of our lives.
On numerous occasions in the scriptures, God relates to us His intervention in the feeble and erroneous attempts of man. A good example of this is recorded in the 11th chapter of Genesis, when the whole earth was of one language and one speech. Whenever a human being met another human being, they could talk, carry on a conversation, but as a consequence of what God saw, we have confusion of tongues.
Perhaps, we have experienced the frustration of not being able to communicate with others because of a language barrier. This curse still rests upon the human race today. "And God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth." Genesis 6:12. He saw the violence and iniquity that filled the earth and in His righteous indignation destroyed it. But, there was hope. The waters abated and the mountains appeared and the olive tree sent forth her message of hope in the mouth of a dove.
God also looked upon His fallen family and saw it plunged into darkness, a void greater than that which covered the earth. It would require that the Son of God come down. "For I cam down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me." John 6:38. "For I came down." Think of the meaning embraced in this statement. He came down. He descended. He stepped down from the heights of heaven in Him complacent, eternal glory, ever His Father's delight. He stepped down. In His stepping down, or coming down, we are made glad and rejoice in this eternal truth.
He did not cease to be God, neither did His birth in a stable in Bethlehem mark the beginning of His Sonship. He is the eternal Son of God. Contrary to he printed revisions of the Bible which refer to Him as "a god," in John 1:1, the King James translation correctly refers to Him as God.
He did not cease to be God; He truly was very God and very man. He came down to a world full of sin; He walked in a world where He has hated by many [John 15:18]. "If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you," [John 15:25] "But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law They hated me without a cause." [Matthew 27:30] "And they spit upon Him, and took the reed and smote Him on the head." These were the lowest forms of indignities, yet, He was untainted in any way by sin. He truly was the Lamb without blemish or spot.
He descended. He stepped down, but He also ascended back to His Father, having accomplished His purpose. [John 6:39] "And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which He hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day." He came down to do a work, hard work, work no man or angel could do.
On the cross He bowed His head and said, "It is finished." Let heaven and earth rejoice, it is finished. The red heifers can stop burning, cattle and sheep can stop bleeding, spiritual Israel can now rest in peace. Mothers and fathers with their children can now sit under their own vine and fig tree.
Let the message of deliverance be proclaimed throughout the land. Let the preacher who desires to lead God's people back under bondage hang his head in shame. It is finished-that should be the anthem of every preacher of the gospel. This should be one of the sweetest notes in a song of deliverance. It is well to note His total accomplishment in the redemption of His family, but His accomplishments didn't stop there. He kept the law of God to the jot and tittle. When He finished the work, He ascended and SAT DOWN [Hebrews 10:12], "But this man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God."
After the looking down, He came down, and now in glory HE sat down in regal splendor no earthly king can ever know. Just the thought of Him there makes us want to sing, "All hail the power of Jesus' name, let angels prostrate fall; bring forth the royal diadem and crown Him Lord of all."
By Elder Charles A. Walker
Middleton, Tenn.
"For the grace of God that bringeth salvation have appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and Godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope. And the glorious appearing of the Great God and our Lord Jesus Christ; who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purity unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." Titus 2:11-14.
Let me put my own thoughts before you as to what the grace of God is in the connection of scripture. There can be no doubt that none of us deserves any mercy or pity from the Lord God. There is no need to go into a long discussion of how depraved we are by nature. I personally believe that the only ones that are thankful for his grace are the ones that I know that they are sinful and vile.
There are three things that we must take into our thinking for the right understanding of these verses from the Bible.
1. Is that, the grace is the forgiving mercy of God toward sinners. 2. Is that, it must be in a form of a person capable of giving this mercy. 3. Is that, which can meet the demands of law broken by man. When all three of these principals are met in one person, then we can say with the apostle Paul, "That the grace of God have appeared unto all men."
The word 'appeared' here means to shine or become known. This means to me that the person of Christ and His death was not done in secret. His death would have been just as effectual if it had been done in secret, but the Lord had more than this in mind when He was put to death in a public way. This was a public display of His grace and therefore it was done in public, using public officials to put Him to death.
It was not done in some corner in secret for these two reasons. 1. The gospel of Israel had been looking for the event for 1600 years, fore-told time and again by the prophets God had sent to them. There was no great disaster that happened to them that the word of the Lord did not speak comforting words to them about the one that was to come from among them. If this grace had not been a public coming, the people could not have known that He had come. 2. The other reason is that God used the ruling nation of the world to have a hand in His being put to death.
These two reasons are the things that declare His appearing as being a public one. Let me throw this in for good measure. The book called "Shadows from Caesar's Court" gives an account of both Pontius Pilate and the Jewish High Priest of that year, as to why they had the Lord put to death. This book is still in print. So, the term, 'all men' means that it was done with public knowledge. Both private and public people were in the know concerning the appearance and the death of the Grace of God.
We must also take into consideration the preaching of the gospel of our Lord, Paul spoke of His death and resurrection as being public knowledge. Thirty years later he refers to it, saying that Christ was seen of more than 500 people, with many of them being yet alive. 'There could be no successful preaching of the gospel if there could be no proof that a man named Jesus Christ had not both lived and died in Palestine. This is only dealing with the public manner of the coming of our Lord.
If the Lord Jesus had only lived and died two thousand years ago without being raised from the dead, no lesson could be derived that would teach us to live godly in this world. This is a public preaching of the word of God to people in all nations in the world. The public preaching of the death and the resurrection of the Lord has had a profound effect upon the world. Not only have men's lives have turned around, but nations also. Whole geographical areas of the world have been turned around to another direction as the results of the gospel being preached to them. The scriptures under consideration has to do with us being taught. I can well remember the preaching the night that I was converted to the right way of the Lord. I can look back now and see how the Lord worked His will in me. Sin is a terrible thing in a person and it is a terrible thing to practice in a life. It is more terrible to a person after the Lord has revealed to the soul the exceeding sinfulness of those sins.
When the Lord causes Mt. Sinai to smoke and to thunder in the soul, sin is seem for what it is and that there is no forgiveness or any means of forgiveness in yourself. No one has been taught to live holy and righteous in this present world that have not had Sinai to tremble in his being having seen himself as worthy of eternal separation from God. Most of us need to return to Sinai from time to time to feel the ground tremble and to hear the thunder roar as the black smoke erupts from its' top. his sinfulness in us has an important purpose for us. Or shall I say, God uses it to bring us to Him to know the free forgiveness of our sins by the Lord Jesus.
Having the indwelling knowledge of sin in us causes us to tremble before the Lord God, confessing our sins. This would not happen if there was no knowledge of who and what the Lord Jesus Christ is and what He has done for us. I asked a man, that was looked upon as being a 'can't helpeth,' how he felt about sin. He confessed to me that he had always hated sin and was afraid of it. He told me my feelings about that horrible monster that dwells within me and shows his mean head from time to time.
I truthfully say to you, I hate sin and I want to live a holy life before men and God. But I must say at the same time that I do not know how to do that which I would." Little fearful one, is this not your testimony as you sit weeping before the Lord? I want to, but sin is so strong and it overwhelms me all the time. Fearful sinner, carry your case to Jesus and He will help you all the way. Teaching us to deny worldly lust and to live godly is the subject before us.
But why should I struggle with this sin problem? Is there no hope for total and final deliverance from the presence of this many headed monster called sin? "Turn your face toward heaven from whence cometh your help." The Lord that died and rose from the dead is about to arise from beside His Father to come for you to give you final deliverance from your enemy. "Looking for that blessed Hope and appearing of our Great God from heaven," you will behold the Lord throw the wicked one, your great enemy, into the lake of fire that burns forever and forever. The final day or as it is called, the great day of the Lord.
In Hebrews chapter 4, and verse 16. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
The first thing I want to point out, is that this is the last verse in the fourth chapter of Hebrews. He says, “Let us therefore come.” In the third chapter, he deals with a people that was abiding in unbelief that departed from the living God. He says that they saw my works and tempted me for forty years, and I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart, and they have not known my ways. So, I sware in my wrath. They shall not enter into my rest.
Oh, what a sad condition that children of God can get their selves into such a fix, that they cannot enter into God’s rest, because of unbelief.
In the first verse of chapter four, he tells us that he has promised us a rest and we ought to fear lest we should come short of it. Then, in verse three, he says, For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said. As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. This rest is to those that believe in the finished work of Jesus Christ.
Then in verse nine: There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. The rest in this verse denotes a repose of Christianity as to rest in confidence or assurance. We can have full assurance and confidence in the finished work of Jesus Christ.
Then in verse 10: For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. What he is saying, is that he that has that full assurance of faith and that his confidence is in Christ has entered into the very abode of God, and that his own labors have ceased just as God ceased from his work on the seventh day.
Then in verse 14, he says Seeing then that we have, or that we possess such a great or mighty high priest, one that is passed into the heavens, one that has finished his work, one that has sat down at the right hand of God, one that makes intercessions and pleads our case to God. He is the Son of God. He is our Saviour, He is our Deliverer.
Then in verse 15 he says, He is one that is touched with the feelings of our infirmities because he was in all points tempted like as we are, that is He was tested, examined and proved and yet, He was without sin. Oh! what Grace this is, to believe in a Saviour, which is Christ, the Lord. The one that laid down his life, that we might live for evermore.
This now, brings us back to where we started. Let us therefore, come boldly unto the Throne of Grace. Do you not love the word, us, in this text? Let us, that makes me feel that I am, and that you are a partaker of this wonderful Grace, that this invitation is to us, that we are invited to come to the Throne of God. This Throne is God’s Throne. It is a place of power, a place that we can obtain mercy, a place that we can find grace. It is a place that we will not get what we rightfully deserve, but we will receive manifold blessings from God. Blessings that we do not deserve. Let us therefore, come boldly, let us come with confidence and full assurance trusting in the King of Kings and Lord of Lords that not only is he able to help in time of need, but that he will help in time of need.
Have you ever needed to obtain mercy and find grace? Are you tired of fighting life’s battles alone? Have you got to the point in your life that you realize that you just can’t handle life’s problems on your own, to obtain and Grace to find at the Throne of Grace.
It does not matter how small or how great that problem may seem, God is able to help in time of need. Whatever may be your case today; it may be grief, sickness, family problems, depression, pain, or it may be sin dwelling in your life.
Let us therefore come boldly unto the Throne of Grace. Let us lay it at the feet of Jesus Christ There is a rest for us There is a peace that passeth all understanding Our rest is not in what we can achieve of ourselves, but our rest can only be found at God’s Throne, and that is found in Jesus Christ AMEN
WE BOTH ENJOYED THE BANNER OF LOVE
Enclosed is my check to renew my subscription for another year. My late mother, Tennie McMillon, always enjoyed The Banner of Love, and now I, too, look forward to receiving it.
God bless you and all who contribute to it.
Betty Jo McMillon Rankin
Fort Worth, Texas
EXTRA COPIES
Please send me three extra copies of the Banner for July 1999. May God bless each and every one of you as you endeavor to do God's will.
Darlene McDonald - Houston, Texas
CARD OF THANKS
We wish to thank all our dear friends for their prayers in our behalf during our great loss of Weldon.
He died exactly three weeks after his mother. He was still very healthy. He died suddenly as his mother did and the way he wanted to go.
Thanks for all your calls, cards, visits, and everything you did.
Love,
Arlee Walker and Family
It is so precious the way our Dear Lord works in the experiences in our lives. Thanks be unto Him, He always makes us able to overcome.
My oldest nephew and his wife came to tell us about my middle nephew, Henry, passing from this life.
My dear Lord led me to look outside; also to see them crying. and to hurry to see what was troubling them. It was a shock to me. I thought my nephew was getting along all right. Had talked to him a day or two before and he had told me he was scheduled to have out-patient tests. He talked more about working if he had to have surgery on his arm. Due to the fact, my dad was not feeling well, I hadn't told him about the out-patient tests.
We decided it would be best to tell my dad the following morning. It was 8:00 p.m.
After my nephew and his wife left I told my dad about talking to my nephew about the tests. Our dear Lord made me able to tell him a little at a time so he wouldn't be so shocked when we had to tell him. The phone rang the next morning.
He asked who called and I told him it was my nephew's wife. He said, what did she say? I told him she said my sister plans to come. He said, How is Henry? They said, they think they need to come. My dad was much more prepared so, that the shock was much more mild than it would have been sooner.
Gen. 21:17-19; also John 14:26. is really encouraging.
Our Dear Lord always proves to us, that no matter what we experience in this time world that He will see us through.
Thanks so much for praying for us. My nephew had a heart attack. He was 39 years old. 1 Thes. 4:13 is real encouraging.
With Love,
Sister Loretta Lilly
Akron, Ohio
Rom. 11:29 - "For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance."
First observation is that the gifts are plural, and the calling singular. Next, can the calling be resisted? The answer is a clearly resounding yes. I, myself did this very thing, but not to the extent, I hope, as did Jonah. I "exercised" for way too many years, before submitting to the church's desire for the ordination ceremony. My disobedience is still a thorn in my side.
My resisting was because this "call" was a hindrance to various endeavors, which I pursued with much vigor. I would not leave the casting or mending of the nets [Matt 4:18-21]. I had my priorities mixed. I intellectually knew the text, "Seek ye first..." [Matt. 6:33] but ignored it. This story really is a separate entry altogether.
Now, can the call be subdued or eliminated? Absolutely not. The context of the Rom 11:29 is found in verse 28- which is a "Gospel Call." However, I must also advise that when God calls in any category, it will be effective . God does not repent of any call, because of a lack of cooperation with or by the one called. God's calling is without repentance. Repentance in this verse is - Strong's Greek #278 - AMETAMELETOS: meaning Irrevocable, unchangeable, Without Repentance; not to be repented of.
Repentance - Rom. 11:29- [by god] [God is active] [Passive upon man]. There is no choice either direction, on God's or man's parts. When God calls, he never changes, reduces or delays the call.
Next, I desire establishing the following scriptural premise, that, as the Ethiopian Eunuch declared to Philip - Acts 8:31 - How can I, except some man should guide me? Philip had just asked the Eunuch "I understandeth thou what thou readest?" V. 30. So we need instruction and guidance, especially if the gift is in a younger vessel. A Father in the Ministry is a must, even his years of experience not only in just living in this corrupt mundane evil world, but also as being in the ministry.
The lesson we learn from the first God-Called ministers were the Apostles, which established another most important, vital and necessary point of foundation to the N. T. Church ministry, and that we will refer to as "Apostolic Mode."
Observe the Apostolic Mode- Matt. 4:18-20. Jesus walked by the sea of Galilee, and saw two brethren, and noticed they were busy at their occupation, minding their own business, as they were casting their nets. Next, He calls unto them, [Did you catch that "Call"] and told them to follow Him, and they straightway left their nets and followed Him. V. 21-22 - Then Jesus going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, and they were in the ship mending their nets, and He called them [did you catch that "call" and they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed Him. First notice that Jesus came to and called them. They did not go to Jesus and ask or state that they would like to follow Him and be preachers.
Please observe the first call resulted in their "straightway" following Him. the second call resulted in their "immediately" following Him. Both words mean the same. When He calls there is no immediate response. Jesus did not ask them if they would consider changing jobs, leaving their home, parents [notice they also left their father] and taking up a new employment.
He did not give them a time of preponderance to evaluate, as a political candidate does [George Bush right now] This calling does not make the recipient of the call a "candidate" but a "gift" from the Lord. Further observe the very next verse 23 shows that these new gifts Jesus called are now following Him and observing Him in His Ministerial Office, as He sets the example before them by going about all Galilee, teaching and preaching the gospel of the Kingdom.
This proves that every God-called man needs a "Father in the ministry." The first father in the N. T. Ministry was Jesus Himself, and that establishes the "Apostolic Mode." We should never forget or stray from this benchmark.
Obedience to the call- Saul of Tarsus was struck down on the road to Damascus ended his ungodly rampage against the Lord Jesus Christ and His Church-Acts 9:1-20. He had letters of authority from the high priest to execute his tyranny, and when called he resisted not. He had no choice. He was arrested and became the prisoner of the Lord, which he acknowledged later. Eph. 4:1. The results of the obedience was greatly manifested by his dedication the remainder of his life to the cause of Christ and was divinely inspired to wrote over 50% of the N. T. - 14 of 27 books. This is a clear extreme case. Gal. 1:11-12 - "But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after men. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. V. 15:16- "But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace. to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the heathen, immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood."
One more 2nd Tim 1:11 - Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles." I find no recorded incident of Paul's resistance, from the point of his calling to the ministry until now. Before the call he stated to King Agrippa in Acts 26:9- "I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth." Afterward. none. No resisting ever again, but a life spent suffering for the Cause until His death. Again, clearly an extreme case of obedience.
Discouragement - Jeremiah was called from the womb- Jer. 1:5, "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations."
V. 10 "See I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant." First, he was called to as a demolition engineer, and then to become a construction engineer. He was to preach to the gainsaying, idolatrous Israelites who were perpetually back sliding and ignoring God's commandments, statutes, testimonies and ordinances. He was assigned, in his ministerial calling, to warn Israel that they would go into 70 years of captivity as Babylon if they did not turn back to the Lord and His Laws. He wrote 52 chapters of warnings and then 5 chapters lamenting their going. What a sad commentary.
TO BE CONCLUDED........(October 1999)
By Elder Z. Stallings
"And his train filled the temple." Isaiah 6:1
I have thought the prophet saw Heaven by faith, and that he saw God's train or redeemed family all happily associated around the great throne of God, with no vacant places there. His train filled the places. Picture Christ appearing in Heaven before His Father, saying, "Behold I and a part of the redeemed family," Picture Him saying, "Father, here are only a part of them, here are all that I could get saved."
Picture the Father's disappointment in His Son. Picture Heaven blushing because of vacant seats prepared for the covenant people of God; seats prepared for those Jesus died for and yet they are not there: that is, if what is being taught all over the country is true, thousands of places will be vacant and out. These people for whom these places were prepared were redeemed by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
But, I have a vision of quite a different picture of Heaven. Methinks I can picture Jesus and His redeemed and hear Him saying with much joy, "Father, behold, behold I and the children thou hast given me, without the loss of a single one. Thine they were thou hast given them to me. I have redeemed them out of every nation, kindred, tongue and people, and here they are, the train filling the Temples."
Blessed thought, glorious day. When we awake with His likeness as David has said, then will we be satisfied. I like to believe that the "Circle will be unbroken bye and bye."
September 15, 1934
I thank you God for everything,
You've gladly given me
It seems the longer that I live,
More beauty that I see.
The air I breathe, the flowers that I see
And all the joys given,
I know you've held me in your hands
And will take me on to Heaven.
I've been blessed so much to have my family, my friends and
Ones so true.
I've had total strangers to help me Lord
And it's all because of you.
People praying for me when times were down and out,
The Spirit of your Love so strong,
Just makes me want to shout.
My pets, I love, my gifts I've had, are so meaningful to me.
My music, my poems, my songs and guitar,
Oh, I sing so joyfully.
I'll keep on loving and thanking you, God
For all the things you've gladly given
And I know, the best is yet to come
When you take me home to heaven.
Wilma Darlene McDonald
Houston, Texas
A SURPRISE GIFT
Wow! What a surprise! This is a picture of a car that was a gift of love from the Lubbock Church to Sister Jamie and me. It is a new 1991 Chevrolet Caprice. Can you believe an eight year old car with only 14,000 miles on it?
I want to thank the church for its generosity to an undeserving sinner. It is like a new car. We are so thankful to God and the Church for this blessing.
May God bless you is our prayer.
Elder George Johnson, pastor
Lubbock Primitive Baptist Church
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ: It was decided at the West Texas Association that the Churches of the Association should have a meeting to discuss the declining nature and what can be done to improve our attendance.
The Lubbock church voted to hold the next fifth Sunday Meeting, which is in October, to discuss this. The meeting will start on Saturday morning with regular services, and the time has been set for 2:30 that afternoon for the discussion on the Association.
All the churches in the West Texas Association should be in full attendance, not just a representative from a church. Any ideas or questions need to be written down and bring them with you to the meeting. All suggestions will be considered. We need to decide what can be done to better the association with more attendance, or decide to discontinue having it.
Let us all pray about the matter and hope the Lord will lead us in the right direction. We ask that this letter be read to your church body and encourage all, who can, to attend this meeting.
Written by request from the West Texas Association, in full approval of the Lubbock Primitive Baptist Church.
Your Brother in Christ,
Cecil Richardson Clerk/Treasurer of Assn.
I recently accompanied my son and his Scout unit on a field trip to assist a local food bank. We have a local organization that serves as a central point for people to donate food items, which are in turn distributed directly to those in need.
These scouts were volunteering their time to provide weekend help with the collection and distribution of food.
Usually, assistance is needed sorting out the variety of canned food items so that a nutritional assortment can then be provided to those who need the food. However, the food bank was running low on supply and they requested assistance from the scouts in another way.
A local couple had donated a small portion of land for the food bank to raise fresh vegetables. The crops were ready to harvest recently, and the food bank was using this fresh food to supplement its current low supply of canned goods.
We took the scouts to this farm on the edge of town, and the lady in charge gave quick instruction in the art of "pea picking". A few of us adults then joined in with about 15 of the 7-11 year old scouts in wading into the blackeyed pea patch to harvest the crop. The lady had told us that what we picked on that day (Saturday) would be cleaned and distributed Monday morning and would probably be eaten before the day was out. She encouraged us that we were indeed helping to feed the poor on an immediate basis.
As we waded through the field of vegetables, we listened to the conversations of the young "city" boys talking about helping to put food immediately in poor people’s mouths. Many of them had never been in a farm field and seen actual vegetables growing. Many had not previously known that peas came from such ugly and sticky stalks. It was a good self-taught lesson in duty to help the poor and a clear recognition of the need of the poor.
I was reminded of the lesson and duty given in the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy. The lord gives us instruction in the harvesting of our own crops, to also care for the poor. At Deuteronomy chapter 24, we are told that we should leave a portion of the harvest to be gathered by the poor and needy and fatherless who need nit for survival.
The lord instructs us in our harvest to leave some remains for the "stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow: that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the works of thine hands." Deut. 24:19.
The Lord tells us whether in the harvesting of crops in the field, or olives beat from the trees, or grapes from the vine, we are not to attempt to go back to recover every fruit or vegetable. We are to leave the last portions of the harvest for the poor. The Lord reminds us that once we all were ‘bondsmen in Egypt" and he commands us in duty to care for the poor with a portion of our harvest.
It is the time of season upcoming when this becomes very important. Forget the government’s welfare program. Look to ways you can help the poor and needy in your community. The result will be that the Lord will "bless thee in all the works of thine hands."
Look to Jesus’s teaching in the Sermon on the Mount as to the procedure for helping the poor: Matt. 6:1-4. Do not do your alms before men, to be seen and bragged upon by men. Help the poor by not "sounding the trumpet" as the hypocrites do in the streets.
Instead, do your charity work for the poor quietly, and secretly. "Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly." Matt 6:3-4.
Would you hare your peas with Jesus? If Jesus appeared at your door, would you feed him, clothe him and take him in? Pick some "peas" for the poor and needy in your community. You know who they are, or you can find them easily.
What you do for the "least" among your brethren, you have also done it to Christ. Matt. 25:40.