THE REFORMED WITNESS HOUR"Loving the Stranger"Rev. Jai Mahtani(e-mail: Rev. Carl Haak) |
Dear
radio friends,
I am glad to be back with you
today. It is my privilege to spend these
several weeks with you to give our radio minister, Rev. Carl Haak, a little break. It is a joy
for me to bring to you the Word of God.
Last week I indicated, in an
introductory way, that my purpose in these weeks is to show from the Scriptures the
calling of the child of God to exercise himself in love for the stranger, love for the
brother, and love for our children. I would
like to show from the Scriptures that this threefold aspect of our love is grounded, first
of all, in our love for God — really, ultimately, in God’s love for us. Even as we have been so greatly loved by God and
as we now in gratitude love God, He calls us to show that love to the stranger, to the
brother, and to our children. I hope that the
parents who are out there will find good instruction in this, even as I, as a fellow
parent, seek to raise up my eight covenant children with my dear wife Esther. In no way must the emphasis in the next few weeks
on the love for the stranger take away from the importance of covenant instruction in
godly Christian parenting.
I would like today (and in the
next couple of weeks) to show from Scripture the clear mandate that we have from God to
love the stranger. The Word of God in
Leviticus 19:33, 34 instructs us clearly. “And
if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him. But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be
unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers
in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”
I have decided to use this
passage out of the Old Testament Scriptures to begin our study on the love of strangers,
so that it will become abundantly clear that this has always been God’s instruction
for His people. Is that not striking? Even in the Old Testament, with all their
Levitical laws and all their restrictions, they were told never to forget this love for
strangers. In fact, I want to tell you right
away that the Greek word for “hospitality” in the New Testament is really the
translation of two words that should be translated as love for strangers. That is what hospitality means: love for strangers.
Not only are we to exercise hospitality one to another as brethren and to show love
to our children, but, as we will see today and in the next couple of weeks, we must show
that kind of love also to strangers.
God calls His people to love the
stranger, reminding them that they too were strangers.
That is what we read in Leviticus 19. “Thou
shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord
your God.” What a wonderful incentive
God gives to us, to show that love to strangers.
But, who is the stranger? And how should we show love to the stranger? We would like to consider those things together
for a few moments today.
We read in Leviticus 19:33,
“And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him.” The reference there is to foreigners, strangers,
people who came from outside the commonwealth of Israel.
They were not Jews. They were not part
and parcel of the manifestation of God’s beloved people in the Old Testament. They were from other nations, outcasts, Gentiles
who were not born in the line of the covenant. How
should Israel, according to God’s good pleasure, treat these strangers? Should they walk with their noses stuck high in
the sky and despise these unsaved ones sojourning among them? That was, you know, the temptation of the
self-righteous among the people of God. They
would say, “We are the people of God. Who
are these strangers who have come into our midst?”
And they would vex the stranger. Thus
this instruction and warning in the Word of God.
In the midst of the church of
Jesus Christ today we know one another as brothers and sisters in the Lord and perhaps
also we have our children and our families. Then
one day in God’s good providence, perhaps through our advertising or by invitation of
someone in our church, we find someone new, totally new, in our worship service. Perhaps a different kind of dress, or different
accent, or different background — and very clearly someone with different convictions
than we have, perhaps from a different denomination, or, perhaps even from a different
religion. How are we called to treat such a
one? And what if such a one then begins to
come regularly? And under the preaching of
the Word comes to repentance and faith and, perhaps, even joins the church? What is our calling? What is our attitude? Do we think, “Well, I had better sit on the
other side of aisle. I had better try to keep
myself so occupied so that I do not have time even to shake the person’s hand. Or, perhaps, if I do, well, I will try to be
cordial — but I am not going to have to welcome such a one into my home, am I?”
Hear the Word of God: “And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your
land, ye shall not vex him. But the stranger
that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as
thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt:
I am the Lord your God.”
Notice how that is repeated in
our text, emphasizing that such a one may come from without, he may be a stranger, but he
has come to sojourn with you in God’s providence.
Though, by and large, God’s covenant in the Old Testament was indeed with the
Jews, there were already then exceptions. We
know of them in the Scriptures. There was
Ruth the Moabitess, Rahab the harlot. There
were others whom God in His own good providence brought into the kingdom of Israel. Mighty deeds they had heard about Jehovah. And somehow, by the working of the Holy Spirit,
they were drawn to the people of God and confessed Jehovah.
What were the people of God to do with them? How
were they to treat them? Our text tells us
that such strangers should be treated as those born among you. They may have been naturally born outside the
kingdom of God. They were foreigners. But now that they have come to dwell in your
midst, you treat them as your own brethren, yes, even as part of your own family. You welcome them.
You make them feel at home. You treat
them with love and compassion.
You know, when I came from the
island of Singapore in 1983 to the seminary, I was a Hindu convert. I, with my wife, who was a Buddhist convert (I
being Indian, she being Chinese), came to reside, of all things, in Grand Rapids,
Michigan, among Dutch people. We had heard
all kinds of stories, you know, that the Dutch people are very reserved, and such things. But, you know, our experience was that we fell in
love with these Dutch people. To this day,
there is a place in our hearts for them. We
love them dearly. I will tell you why. They did not know us. They did not know who we were. They had, it is true, done mission work on the
island of Singapore. But I mean personally. We were stranges to them. You know, we kept our shoes outside the house. We ate differently — we like hot, spicy food. We said their food looks blah. Pretty soon we were in their homes. And they in our home. And we were able to share with one another the
things that God had given to us. All because
of that same precious faith that had drawn us together.
And I can testify that, indeed, though we were “strangers” sojourning
with them in those years at seminary, they did not vex me.
Oh, there were one or two who, I can say, maybe did not like us very much, but that
is alright. By and large, they opened their
homes and hearts to us and we dwelt among them as if we had been born among them. They loved us as they loved their own. That was a great joy and a great delight, and I
owe much of my ministry and much of my experience and instruction to the Protestant
Reformed Churches.
Now I bring that same word to
you over the Reformed Witness Hour. The Word
of God here gives to us practical instruction as to how we must love the stranger. Notice with me in our text that we are told
negatively that we must not vex the stranger. You
know what it means to vex. It means to treat
cruelly, to irritate, to make life loathsome and uncomfortable. How it grieves our hearts when we see our children
doing that with one another, when they are not kind to each other and when they make life
difficult for each other by ugly words and actions. That
just does not gender peace and harmony in the home but rather strife and all kinds of
difficulties.
Well, the Israelites knew
exactly what it meant to vex someone. Their
own souls, in fact their bodies, had been vexed in Egypt.
They were cruelly treated as bondmen in a foreign land. But God, in His mercy, delivered them and brought
them to the promised land. Now that they had
been delivered, they must not turn and vex the soul of strangers. They are warned in this Word of God and
everywhere that they must remember, and they must turn around and show that same mercy and
compassion to strangers.
Let us apply that to ourselves
today. Do we vex newcomers? We were ourselves in the darkness of sin and
unbelief. Whether we were plucked out of
heathendom, or even if we were brought up in the covenant, we know that it is only of
God’s mercies that we are not consumed. God
has graciously established His covenant with us and with our children. Are we careful, and do we instruct our children to
be careful, that we not vex the soul of strangers? We
must not make life uncomfortable for a newcomer.
Let us talk about that for a few
moments. So you have a new person come to
church. Instead of giving a warm handshake,
you kind of give a cold shrug, thinking that this is not very important. After all, there are fifty other people who can go
ahead and show kindness to this one. But you
know, even such a cold shoulder can (I’m not saying it should, but it can) bring
hurt. It can give a wrong impression to this
newcomer. On the other hand, all it takes is
a warm handshake and “Welcome! It is
good to have you with us.” That can go a
long ways. God can use that kind of
hospitality, that kind of friendliness, to draw such a one back, because he feels
comfortable in the midst of your church.
We should be thankful to God and
make it known, even in the hearing of the stranger, how thankful we are that God has
brought a visitor into our midst. Commend the
person who brought such a visitor. How
wonderful it is that our young people bring their friends to church today. That kind of spirit and attitude will indeed, I
assure you, be used by God to draw His people to Himself, because He mandates us to love
the stranger even as we love ourselves, to treat such a one even as one born among us.
So we look at it positively now. We are told to love him as ourselves. The immediate context, in this passage of
Leviticus 19, is that Moses is giving to the Israelites various instructions concerning
social life, concerning their calling to honor the neighbor and to walk honestly in
business dealings. For example, we read in
verse 35, “Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in meteyard, in weight, or in
measure.” Since God’s people were
brought out of Egypt, therefore, verse 37, “Ye shall observe all my statutes, and all
my judgments, and do them: I am the Lord.”
So, speaking to businessmen out
there who are Christians, how wonderful when you deal, as Christians, with people, even in
your business. They may be strangers to you,
but here is your opportunity to show a godly witness, not only by being honest, but by
being fair, just. Look at verse 32,
“Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man, and
fear thy God: I am the Lord.” We
ought not disrepect age. We ought to show
respect for authority. How wonderful will be
our testimony to strangers when, perhaps, we meet a policeman on the street or, perhaps,
we meet a soldier who has come back from Iraq. We
do not know them. But we show respect and
say, “Thank you for fighting in Iraq on behalf of our country.” Or we say to the policeman, “Appreciate the
work you do in protecting our community!” I
have done that, and I have found that that kind of attitude and conversation always leads
to all kinds of opportunities to speak the gospel of peace. And that kind of calling is rooted and grounded
in this Word of God. I have been told by
others that it is my personality — I am outgoing — I accept that. But I believe that it is rooted in this mandate
that I must love the stranger. I must not
only love my children and love my brethren, but I must love the stranger.
I know all of us are different. Not all of us are so outgoing. But I ask you to consider it and learn to do what
the Word of God commands us to do. We are
told that we must love the stranger as one born even among us. That means that we treat such a one as our own
family. There ought not be a double standard
here, where we love one another, we love our children, but when it comes to strangers we
are coldhearted. Did not Jesus tell us
clearly in Matthew 5:46-48 that if you love them that love you and you salute them who
salute you (just your own brethren), then are you no better than the publicans? The publicans know how to do that, one to another. But we must learn to love even those who are
strangers, even those who are our enemies. For
therein the world will know that we are the children of our heavenly Father. Did He not love us when we were strangers? Did He not love us when we were unjust and cruel
and unmerciful and sinners? He did! Well, then, out of gratitude and love we also
ought to love the stranger.
I would like to close that way,
because the text does that. In fact, it is as
an anchor to our text when it tells us that “ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord
your God.” In the Old Testament
Scriptures and here in the book of Leviticus, particularly in the 19th
chapter, you have this phrase: “I am the
Lord your God.” (Keep the Sabbath Day; I am the Lord your God.
Honor thy father and thy mother; I am the Lord
your God. Here, too: Love the stranger; I am the Lord your God.)
You see, we are to love the stranger because God commands us so to do.
What does hospitality mean? It means showing love to strangers. Is hospitality an option? Absolutely not.
Almighty God commands us to love the stranger as we love ourselves out of the love
for God. If we have ever been tempted to shun
the newcomer or to be unwelcoming to a guest in church or to turn the other way on the
highways and byways of life, we must repent. We
must learn to love the stranger because God so commands it.
I am the Lord your God. The word “Lord” there is in capital
letters. Whenever you find it in capitals,
remember that that is a reference to Jehovah. I
point it out for a specific reason in the closing now of our message. Jehovah is God’s covenant name, is it not? The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob — the
God who loves us and our children. It is
Jehovah God, the covenant God, who commands us also to love the stranger. We must know that God establishes His covenant, as
He did with Abraham, in the line of generations. But
we must also know that the same Abraham was told that he would be the father of many
nations. Now God is pleased in the New
Testament especially to cause the gospel to go to the nations. And we must be willing to go to the nations.
I am eastern home missionary. I encourage the Protestant Reformed Churches to do
mission work. I am from Singapore. I love it when we see missionaries sent out to the
Philippines and to Ghana and to Singapore, the Lord willing one day, and to Northern
Ireland. But I do want to sound this word out
to my own Protestant Reformed brethren and to all our radio listeners. We have these nations in our back yard. They are right here. They are here because God has brought them here in
His amazing providence. They are here from
all over the world — from all the different nations of the world. We can go and
reach the Filipinos and the Africans and the Chinese and the Indians right in New
York City and in Los Angeles and in Houston, Texas, and even in the Grand Rapids area. Let us love the stranger. Bring to them the gospel. And show that attitude of kindness.
So, to conclude today — not
only do we show hospitality to strangers because it is a command, beloved, but out of
gratitude. Our gracious Lord adds the
incentive in our text: for ye were strangers
in the land of Egypt. Notice that! God has taken us out of the house of bondage. By nature we are no different from the nations, by
nature we too were enemies of God, by nature we too are sinners. We now, out of gratitude and love, must show that
love to the stranger. It is out of that
gratitude that we must do mission work. No
other reason. Out of that gratitude to God
because He has so loved us, we with zeal and compassion go forth to bring the gospel to
the nations, to reach the nations with that gospel of grace. God has loved His people with an everlasting and
unconditional love. Of all people, God’s
people ought to be the ones who love. God has
shown His people His friendship in Jesus Christ. God’s
people ought to be the friendliest people on the face of the earth. Is that not true?
Our hearts should know better. Having
been strangers ourselves, let us show that love to strangers. Do you, dear radio listener?
Let us continue in the weeks to
come to learn this important truth of God’s Word as we contemplate the mandate to
love the stranger, to love the brethren, and to love our children.
Let us pray.