was called New Colossus,
which reads,
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
In 1903, these words were placed on a bronze plaque that sits outside
the Statue of Liberty. “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses
yearning to breathe free…Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me.” Would
you agree with that statement? Would agree with that statement when it was
written in 1883 as a sign of welcome for the rejected and homeless seeking
refuge? Would you agree with that statement today, with over 11 million illegal
immigrants?
Immigration is
confusing, complex and convoluted. The
only thing that appears certain about immigration is that there is no
certainty. The response to the issue is as diverse as our American landscape.
Opinions shift depending on one’s geography. From southern Florida to central
California, the immigration issue has become particularly heated. Regardless of
which side of the immigration fence one finds himself, it is clear that the
system is not working. We all want change, but no one can agree on the change.
How
are we as Christians supposed to respond? How should we engage in this
debate? It is not my place to give my
opinions on border policy and deportation and work permits, or the Dream Act.
My concern as your pastor is that you look at this issue with biblical lenses.
Does God have anything to say that should govern how we interact with the
stranger and foreigner among us? I
believe that God has a word for how he expects his people to engage in this
debate. And I will say again my goal is
not to give definite answers regarding this issue, but I hope that I will raise
some questions on how we can be more faithful to Christ in our thinking and
treatment of the stranger among us.
Circumcise the
Heart
We
must begin with our relationship with God. Our main allegiance is primarily to
God and only secondarily to the United States of America. Deuteronomy 10:12-16
“And now, Israel,
what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to
walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your
heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the
LORD, which I am commanding you today for your good? Behold, to the LORD your
God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it.
Yet the LORD set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring
after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day. Circumcise therefore
the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn.
God lays out a list of requirements
for God’s people in verse 12 and 13: fear the Lord, walk in his ways, love him,
serve the Lord with all your heart and all your soul and keep his
commandments. Many people when they
encounter the Old Testament tend to think of it as one long lists of dos and
don’ts, but this is a mistake. Notice the last three words of verse 13, “for
your good.” The commands and rules that God gives his people are for our
good. They are to bless us and protect
us.
And
right after God gives his good rules to obey, he reminds his people of who is
giving the commands. Verse 14, “Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and
the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it.” Everything in the
entire universe belongs to the Lord. There is no one above the Lord. He could
have anything in the Lord and verse 15, “Yet the LORD set his heart in love on
your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as
you are this day.” The Lord set his heart in love on the people of Israel not because
they were desirably, righteous, strong, numerous, but simply by his grace. Deut
7:6-7 says,
“For you are a
people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a
people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face
of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people
that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all
peoples.
God chose Israel freely by his
grace. Israel did not have to earn God’s love, but only had to receive it.
God’s
undeserved, gracious love extended to an unworthy people is the foundation and
the motivation for our response to him.
It is only after the Lord reminds us of the free grace He has given us
that he says, “Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no
longer stubborn.” God gave Israel circumcision as a sign that they were his
covenant people, but outward circumcision was an external sign of an internal
change. The Apostle Paul mentions this
in Romans,
For no one is a
Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But
a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the
Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God. (Romans
2:28-29)
The Jews were never to trust in
their works, but to rest in God’s grace and mercy. Their works shows their belief. A true Jew is
one who has a circumcised heart, who gladly submits to the Lord. This is Old
Testament language for repentance and faith. The only response of a true Jew to
the unmerited love of the Lord is repentance and belief.
What
does all this have to do with immigration? The Lord wants us to see how kind
and gracious he has been to us when we did not deserve it. He wants us to work
on our vertical relationship with Him before we can have the right horizontal
relationship with our fellow man. We have to see His grace first. We need to
see how He has loved us so profoundly when we did not deserve it. Like Israel,
we were chosen by the unmerited favor of God.
For consider your
calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards,
not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is
foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to
shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things
that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might
boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who
became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption,
so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (1
Corinthians 1:26-31)
We have no reason to boast. We were sinners deserving of eternal hell for
our sins, but God sent his Son, Jesus, to die in our place paying for the full
penalty of our sin. And he rose on the third day as the firstborn among many
brothers so that now if anyone would circumcise their heart in repentance and
faith, God would welcome you as one of his people. It is all grace. It is all God’s amazing
grace.
Serve the Stranger
Caring
for the immigrant is close to the heart of God. God delights to show special
love to those who are oppressed and downtrodden. The powerful and awesome God loves to show
his kindness to the least of these, Verse 17-19,
For the LORD your
God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome
God, who is not partial and takes no bribe. He executes justice for the
fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and
clothing. Love the sojourner (Deuteronomy 10:17-19)
Sojourner here is referring to the
foreigner or traveler or stranger; someone who is not in their home land. The Lord delights to shower the least of
these with his love. We have already seen how He has done this to his own
people, why would He not do it to others?
The
reason we must care for the immigrant is because it mirrors the heart of God.
There are political ramifications when we think about immigration, but there
are also missional ramifications. God has told us to love and serve the
stranger. We are called to help those in need.
Imagine I was with my three children at a park and one of my children
slips off the playground equipment and twists his ankle. I am going to turn my eyes away from my other
children and focus on the one who is hurting.
My care for my hurt child in no way diminishes my love for my other two
children, but one needs more special attention.
God loves all, but pays special attention to those who need it the most:
strangers, widows and orphans.
We
have the opportunity to show the kindness and love of God to those who need it
most. God does not qualify his love by only telling us to help a certain kind
of sojourner. He simply says love. Our
love shows we have a circumcised heart. As our love shows we believe, our lack
of love may reveal we don’t believe. Hear the words of Jesus speaking to those
who do not love those in need,
Then he will say
to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire
prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no
food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not
welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not
visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you
hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not
minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as
you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And
these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal
life. (Matthew 25:41-46)
Jesus believes our care for the
stranger is so important that it reveals if we truly believe. I am not going to answer the how we can love the sojourner, but simply want to stress that we need to love the sojourner.
Strive for Justice
God
cares about love, but he also cares about justice. It was very common for widows and orphans to
be mistreated because they had no power. The powerless are those who need
people to stand up for them and fight on their behalf (like we looked at last
week with abortion). And yet, I believe we can extend this principle in
striving for justice in the enforcement of our country laws. Ecclesiastes 8:11,
“Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the heart
of the children of man is fully set to do evil.” (Ecclesiastes 8:11) When laws
are not enforced, the people will be emboldened to continue to break the law.
The flesh of man will do what it is allowed to
do. If the police allow a person to go 5 miles over the speed limit, they will travel
5 miles over the speed limit. If an employer is allowed to hire and pay workers
under the table, then they probably will hire and pay workers under the table.
Scripture is clear that as Christians we should obey the laws of the state. Paul
writes in Romans 13:1, “Let every person be subject to the governing
authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist
have been instituted by God.” Christians should submit to the governing
authorities because God has placed those authorities over us. We know from 1
Peter 2:14 that God designed governments “to punish those who do evil and to
praise those who do good.”
We submit to the
laws of the land because we believe in the sovereign hand of God. We trust that God has the power to set up
kings and to remove them (Daniel 2:20). We believe that God has the power of
kings and presidents. We should strive
for laws that promote justice and peace and elect officials who strive to
enforce those laws. Is it ok to break the law if you have a really good reason
to break the law? If someone was starving would it be wrong from them to steal
a loaf of bread? Yes it would be wrong
for God says, “Thou shall not steal (Ex. 20:15). You may steal the bread and face
the consequence for breaking the law, but having a good reason is never
justification for breaking the law.
Beloved, there may
be laws that are passed in our country that restrict pastors from preaching the
gospel. Since I am bound to God’s law first, I will choose to knowingly break
that law and submit myself to the governing authorities. If I am fined, I pay
the fine. Remember the goal of the Christian is to be faithful to Christ. We
must trust him. When we circumcise our hearts we are called to no longer be
stubborn. We no longer have the right to follow our own way, but to be faithful
to Christ. As a church, we have to help each other think through how we can be
faithful to Christ.
I remember reading
of a church that had a member who was an illegal immigrant. He was lying to his
employer of his status. The elders of the church met with the man and convinced
him that he had to share his status with his employer because it was a sin to
lie. God’s children are called to walk
in the truth. The man was hesitant
because he was afraid he was going to lose his job. The man eventually confessed to his employer,
lost his job and was deported. At first, the man was upset with the church for
encouraging him to confess, but after several months in his home country he
wrote back to the church thanking them for encouraging him to be faithful to
Christ. He realized after being home
that God wanted him in his home country to reach his family and friends with
the gospel. Striving for justice is a matter of Christian discipleship.
Every situation
may be different, but we are not in control of human history. God is sovereign. He is in control. He places
his people exactly where they are supposed to be when they are supposed to be
there. We are not all knowing. We see
with human eyes, God sees for eternity.
There are many things that do not appear fair from a human perspective,
but God’s justice is right and will be proven true in eternity. We do not have
ability to say what is going to happen to people’s lives if they are deported,
or how our economy is going suffer or the impact that amnesty will have on our
social security system. We can make
logical assumptions based on the evidence, but ultimately only God knows. Yet
we do know that God values justice so we have to enforce the laws on record or
work to change the laws if we consider them unjust in the eyes of God.
Share in their
Story
The
story of the immigrant is the story of America. The only “native” Americans
were the Indians who were here before there even were colonies and states. And
yet the story of the immigrant is also the story of God’s people.
Love the
sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. You shall
fear the LORD your God. You shall serve him and hold fast to him, and by his
name you shall swear. He is your praise. He is your God, who has done for you
these great and terrifying things that your eyes have seen. Your fathers went
down to Egypt seventy persons, and now the LORD your God has made you as
numerous as the stars of heaven. (Deuteronomy 10:19-22)
The history of God’s people is a
history of a people looking for their homeland.
Our forefathers were sojourners in Egypt waiting for God to set them
free to enter their homeland. Even the verse before our text this morning says,
“And the LORD said to me, ‘Arise, go on your journey at the head of the people,
so that they may go in and possess the land, which I swore to their fathers to
give them.’ (Deuteronomy 10:11) God has promised us a land, but our land is not
on this earth. We are citizens of the heavenly city. We are sojourners and exiles waiting for God
to call us home.
What
to do to solve the immigration problem in our country may be complex. But it is
not complex how we treat the immigrant; we love them. It is not complex how we
view our laws. We strive for justice by enforcing our laws and working to pass
laws that are keeping with God’s law. We
of all people should be able to relate to those who are not in their homeland,
for our allegiance is primarily not to any nation, but to the Lord our God, the
great, the mighty and the awesome God and to our Savior who has purchased it
with his blood. Beloved, one day let us
hear those words from our King, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of
the least of these, strangers, my brothers, you did it to me” (Matthew 25:40).
We
must view our lives with dual citizenship.
We primary citizenship is in heaven, and yet we are still called to live
responsibly as citizens of the United States of America. We have the responsibility to think
thoughtful about how we engage in the immigration debate holding those twin
truths of God’s love and God’s justice together. God loves the sojourner, thus so should we!!
And God loves justice, thus so should we!! We live for God’s glory to be seen
in our land and over the whole earth. We must avoid harmful characterizations
and prayerfully consider how we can be faithful citizens of our Lord Christ
while we strive for God’s glory to be manifested on our shores.
_______________________
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