Confessions of a Church: Differing Weights
The Psalm writer wrote: Open my eyes, that I may behold Wonderful things from Your law. As we come before a Holy God and hear his word, may we have eyes open to the wonderful and fearful things from his law. May it move us to repent and seek forgiveness, fear disobedience, and live in light of the grace we have received. This is the word of God. It is eternally true and applicable for all of life.
Deuteronomy 25:11-19 11 “If two men, a man and his countryman, are struggling together, and the wife of one comes near to deliver her husband from the hand of the one who is striking him, and puts out her hand and seizes his genitals, 12 then you shall cut off her hand; you shall not show pity. 13 “You shall not have in your bag differing weights, a large and a small. 14 You shall not have in your house differing measures, a large and a small. 15 You shall have a full and just weight; you shall have a full and just measure, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you. 16 For everyone who does these things, everyone who acts unjustly is an abomination to the Lord your God. 17 “Remember what Amalek did to you along the way when you came out from Egypt, 18 how he met you along the way and attacked among you all the stragglers at your rear when you were faint and weary; and he did not fear God. 19 Therefore it shall come about when the Lord your God has given you rest from all your surrounding enemies, in the land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you must not forget.
This is the Word of the Lord.
Just weights and measures will be our focus this morning.
Imagine going to a butcher to purchase 5lbs. of ground beef, only to later discover that you only received 4.25lbs. Not life ending, but definitely not what you paid for, and given the cost of food these days, this little discrepancy in weights and measures will add up.
Now think about the medication you take, measured in grams and milliliters. Too little one way and your medication may not have the full desired effect. Too much the other way, and you die.
What about when you go through the drive through at McDonald's, order a Big Mac, fries, and a coke, and wind up with an additional 6 piece nugget and hot apple pie? What's your first thought, "Oh no, they gave me more than I paid for! I must make this right! Just weights and measures after all!", or "This makes up for all those times they short changed me."?
Here's another thought: your employer pays you "x" amount of money to work a certain number of hours. Does he get what he paid for?
Moms and wives, does the time you spend working in your home, building your home with the strength supplied by God, with the precious arrows He has entrusted to you, using the resources He has blessed you with, does that match or surpass the time you spend grumbling, complaining, excuse making, and running around to and fro occupied with everything but what God has called you to?
Husbands and fathers, where is your balance? Are you all work?
Are you all play?
Do you take the measure of responsibility God has given to you, and push it off on your wife?
Do you have an unrealistic expectation of your wife's capacity, or that of your children?
In other words men, do you know your personal and household bandwidth, your ability to do, or are you so blind and out of balance that your wife and children are always on the verge of being frazzled and exasperated?
Where's the balance?
The Lord takes seriously the concept of just weights and measures. If our passage today doesn't make that clear enough, consider these:
“You shall have just balances, a just ephah and a just bath.
— Ezekiel 45:10
A false balance is an abomination to the Lord,
But a just weight is His delight.
— Proverbs 11:1
A just balance and scales belong to the Lord;
All the weights of the bag are His concern.
— Proverbs 16:11
‘You shall do no wrong in judgment, in measurement of weight, or capacity. You shall have just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin; I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from the land of Egypt. You shall thus observe all My statutes and all My ordinances and do them; I am the Lord.’”
— Leviticus 19:35-37
“Do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned. Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure—pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.”
— Luke 6:37-38
God Almighty has the most perfect set of scales in the universe, and when you and I are weighed in the balance, apart from His grace, we are found to be lacking. Because of our inherent deficiencies, He is perfectly just in giving us the full measure of what we deserve: death.
Thankfully, we have a Savior in Christ Jesus who took the full measure of God's wrath, and drank the whole cup of it down to the dregs.
If you are able, let us kneel and confess how we have sinned against God with our unequal weights and measures, our faulty scales.
Dear Heavenly Father,
We are oftentimes greedy, wanting more than the share we are due.
Sometimes we are on the receiving end of an unjust measure, and it leaves us burdened and bitter. Please forgive us for the crookedness of our hearts that tips the scales of our hearts towards inequity. Please grant us grace, that we may bear up under the injustice of unbalanced scales which seem to exist in every sphere of our lives.
Please help us to deal with those in our lives, at work, home, the marketplace, and in Church, with well balanced scales, that our days may be prolonged in the land.
In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.
Please stand and listen to the comforting assurance of the grace of God, promised in the gospel to his church:
Isaiah 53:5-6 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.
To all those who thus repent and seek Jesus Christ for their salvation, your sins are forgiven in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
Deuteronomy 25:11-19 11 “If two men, a man and his countryman, are struggling together, and the wife of one comes near to deliver her husband from the hand of the one who is striking him, and puts out her hand and seizes his genitals, 12 then you shall cut off her hand; you shall not show pity. 13 “You shall not have in your bag differing weights, a large and a small. 14 You shall not have in your house differing measures, a large and a small. 15 You shall have a full and just weight; you shall have a full and just measure, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you. 16 For everyone who does these things, everyone who acts unjustly is an abomination to the Lord your God. 17 “Remember what Amalek did to you along the way when you came out from Egypt, 18 how he met you along the way and attacked among you all the stragglers at your rear when you were faint and weary; and he did not fear God. 19 Therefore it shall come about when the Lord your God has given you rest from all your surrounding enemies, in the land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you must not forget.
This is the Word of the Lord.
Just weights and measures will be our focus this morning.
Imagine going to a butcher to purchase 5lbs. of ground beef, only to later discover that you only received 4.25lbs. Not life ending, but definitely not what you paid for, and given the cost of food these days, this little discrepancy in weights and measures will add up.
Now think about the medication you take, measured in grams and milliliters. Too little one way and your medication may not have the full desired effect. Too much the other way, and you die.
What about when you go through the drive through at McDonald's, order a Big Mac, fries, and a coke, and wind up with an additional 6 piece nugget and hot apple pie? What's your first thought, "Oh no, they gave me more than I paid for! I must make this right! Just weights and measures after all!", or "This makes up for all those times they short changed me."?
Here's another thought: your employer pays you "x" amount of money to work a certain number of hours. Does he get what he paid for?
Moms and wives, does the time you spend working in your home, building your home with the strength supplied by God, with the precious arrows He has entrusted to you, using the resources He has blessed you with, does that match or surpass the time you spend grumbling, complaining, excuse making, and running around to and fro occupied with everything but what God has called you to?
Husbands and fathers, where is your balance? Are you all work?
Are you all play?
Do you take the measure of responsibility God has given to you, and push it off on your wife?
Do you have an unrealistic expectation of your wife's capacity, or that of your children?
In other words men, do you know your personal and household bandwidth, your ability to do, or are you so blind and out of balance that your wife and children are always on the verge of being frazzled and exasperated?
Where's the balance?
The Lord takes seriously the concept of just weights and measures. If our passage today doesn't make that clear enough, consider these:
“You shall have just balances, a just ephah and a just bath.
— Ezekiel 45:10
A false balance is an abomination to the Lord,
But a just weight is His delight.
— Proverbs 11:1
A just balance and scales belong to the Lord;
All the weights of the bag are His concern.
— Proverbs 16:11
‘You shall do no wrong in judgment, in measurement of weight, or capacity. You shall have just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin; I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from the land of Egypt. You shall thus observe all My statutes and all My ordinances and do them; I am the Lord.’”
— Leviticus 19:35-37
“Do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned. Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure—pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.”
— Luke 6:37-38
God Almighty has the most perfect set of scales in the universe, and when you and I are weighed in the balance, apart from His grace, we are found to be lacking. Because of our inherent deficiencies, He is perfectly just in giving us the full measure of what we deserve: death.
Thankfully, we have a Savior in Christ Jesus who took the full measure of God's wrath, and drank the whole cup of it down to the dregs.
If you are able, let us kneel and confess how we have sinned against God with our unequal weights and measures, our faulty scales.
Dear Heavenly Father,
We are oftentimes greedy, wanting more than the share we are due.
Sometimes we are on the receiving end of an unjust measure, and it leaves us burdened and bitter. Please forgive us for the crookedness of our hearts that tips the scales of our hearts towards inequity. Please grant us grace, that we may bear up under the injustice of unbalanced scales which seem to exist in every sphere of our lives.
Please help us to deal with those in our lives, at work, home, the marketplace, and in Church, with well balanced scales, that our days may be prolonged in the land.
In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.
Please stand and listen to the comforting assurance of the grace of God, promised in the gospel to his church:
Isaiah 53:5-6 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.
To all those who thus repent and seek Jesus Christ for their salvation, your sins are forgiven in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen