THE HANDWRITING ON THE WALL
MIKE CUNNINGHAM
JUNE 9, 2013

I’m delighted every week as I witness “The Parable of The Good Samaritan” being emulated in the lives of each of you folks. I’m sure it pleases Jesus too. I’ll explain in detail after we read the parable and some other Scriptures concerning God’s definition of love.

Luke 10:25-37 (TLB) 25 One day an expert on Moses’ laws came to test Jesus’ orthodoxy by asking him this question: “Teacher, what does a man need to do to live forever in heaven?” 26 Jesus replied, “What does Moses’ law say about it?” 27 “It says,” he replied, “that you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind. And you must love your neighbor just as much as you love yourself.” 28 “Right!” Jesus told him. “Do this and you shall live!”

29 The man wanted to justify (his lack of love for some kinds of people), so he asked, “Which neighbors?” 30 Jesus replied with an illustration: “A Jew going on a trip from Jerusalem to Jericho was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes and money, and beat him up and left him lying half dead beside the road. 31 “By chance a Jewish priest came along; and when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. 32 A Jewish Temple-assistant walked over and looked at him lying there, but then went on. 33 “But a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw him, he felt deep pity. 34 Kneeling beside him the Samaritan soothed his wounds with medicine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his donkey and walked along beside him till they came to an inn, where he nursed him through the night. 35 The next day he handed the innkeeper two twenty-dollar bills and told him to take care of the man. ’If his bill runs higher than that,’ he said, ’I’ll pay the difference the next time I am here.’

36 “Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the bandits’ victim?” 37 The man replied, “The one who showed him some pity.” Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.”

The Living Bible renders the 27th verse as follows.

Luke 10:27 (TLB) 27 “It says,” he replied, “that you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind. And you must love your neighbor just as much as you love yourself.”

Most of us wouldn’t be here this morning if it wasn’t for the selfless love of the folks who drive the rest of us to church throughout the year. They do it out of the goodness of their heart without any expectation of receiving something in return. Their love is genuine and those of us on the receiving end know it, unlike all too many politicians who do both good and bad things in exchange for votes. Those so called benevolent acts are satanic inspired counterfeits masquerading as the real thing.

There are many other acts of love that we do for one another; acts such as changing the oil on someone else’s car, dropping off a delicious casserole for a mother who has just brought home a new born baby sister for her and her three sons to enjoy eating, while her husband is out of town taking care of an occupational emergency. It may be by providing a listening ear to one of us who is grieving over the loss of a loved one or someone who has just received bad news. It could be providing dental care for a person who hasn’t the means to pay for it. A friendly visit, telephone call, greeting card or email, are wonderful examples of love in action. And of course, relentless fervent prayer! Such acts of love are compelling evidence that a person is a true follower of Jesus. That’s the reason why genuine love is the greatest evangelistic instrument that the followers of Jesus possess. Consider what He told His disciples:

John 13:34-35 (MSG) 34 “Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. 35 This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other.”

The Apostle Paul provided the definition of love in his first letter to the Corinthian Christians. He explained that:

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (MSG) 4 Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have. Love doesn’t strut, Doesn’t have a swelled head, 5 Doesn’t force itself on others, Isn’t always “me first,” Doesn’t fly off the handle, Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others, 6 Doesn’t revel when others grovel, Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, 7 Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end. 8 Love never dies.

In his outstanding book, “The Practice of Godliness,” Jerry Bridges paraphrases these passages saying:

 

• I am patient with you, because I love you and want to forgive you.
• I am kind to you, because I love you and want to help you.
• I do not envy your possessions or your gifts, because I love you and want you to have the best.
• I do not boast about my attainments, because I love you and want to esteem you before myself.
• I am not rude, because I love and care about your feelings. I am not self seeking because I love you and want to meet your needs.
• I am not easily angered by you, because I love you and want to overlook your offenses.
• I do not keep a record of your wrongs, because I love you, and “love covers a multitude of sins.”

Now let’s consider what the Lord God spoke to Moses from “the Tent of Meeting” thousands of years ago.

Leviticus 19:9-18 (MSG) 9 “When you harvest your land, don’t harvest right up to the edges of your field or gather the gleanings from the harvest. 10 Don’t strip your vineyard bare or go back and pick up the fallen grapes. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am GOD, your God.

11 “Don’t steal.”Don’t lie. “Don’t deceive anyone. 12 “Don’t swear falsely using my name, violating the name of your God. I am GOD.

13 “Don’t exploit your friend or rob him. “Don’t hold back the wages of a hired hand overnight. 14 “Don’t curse the deaf; don’t put a stumbling block in front of the blind; fear your God. I am GOD. 15 “Don’t pervert justice. Don’t show favoritism to either the poor or the great. Judge on the basis of what is right. 16 “Don’t spread gossip and rumors. “Don’t just stand by when your neighbor’s life is in danger. I am GOD.

17 “Don’t secretly hate your neighbor. If you have something against him, get it out into the open; otherwise you are an accomplice in his guilt. 18 “Don’t seek revenge or carry a grudge against any of your people.”Love your neighbor as yourself. I am GOD.”

At this point I hope you folks don’t think that I switching gears because I’m not. Let’s consider the following Bible passages, and please read them carefully.

Daniel 5:1-31 (MSG) 1 King Belshazzar held a great feast for his one thousand nobles. The wine flowed freely. 2 Belshazzar, heady with the wine, ordered that the gold and silver chalices his father Nebuchadnezzar had stolen from God’s Temple of Jerusalem be brought in so that he and his nobles, his wives and concubines, could drink from them. 3 When the gold and silver chalices were brought in, the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines, drank wine from them. 4 They drank the wine and drunkenly praised their gods made of gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone.

5 At that very moment, the fingers of a human hand appeared and began writing on the lamp-illumined, whitewashed wall of the palace. When the king saw the disembodied hand writing away, 6 he went white as a ghost, scared out of his wits. His legs went limp and his knees knocked. 7 He yelled out for the enchanters, the fortunetellers, and the diviners to come. He told these Babylonian magi, “Anyone who can read this writing on the wall and tell me what it means will be famous and rich—purple robe, the great gold chain—and be third-in-command in the kingdom.”

8 One after the other they tried, but could make no sense of it. They could neither read what was written nor interpret it to the king. 9 So now the king was really frightened. All the blood drained from his face. The nobles were in a panic. 10 The queen heard of the hysteria among the king and his nobles and came to the banquet hall. She said, “Long live the king! Don’t be upset. Don’t sit around looking like ghosts. 11 There is a man in your kingdom who is full of the divine Holy Spirit. During your father’s time he was well known for his intellectual brilliance and spiritual wisdom. He was so good that your father, King Nebuchadnezzar, made

him the head of all the magicians, enchanters, fortunetellers, and diviners. 12 There was no one quite like him. He could do anything—interpret dreams, solve mysteries, explain puzzles. His name is Daniel, but he was renamed Belshazzar by the king. Have Daniel called in. He’ll tell you what is going on here.”

13 So Daniel was called in. The king asked him, “Are you the Daniel who was one of the Jewish exiles my father brought here from Judah? 14 I’ve heard about you—that you’re full of the Holy Spirit, that you’ve got a brilliant mind, that you are incredibly wise. 15 The wise men and enchanters were brought in here to read this writing on the wall and interpret it for me. They couldn’t figure it out—not a word, not a syllable. 16 But I’ve heard that you interpret dreams and solve mysteries. So—if you can read the writing and interpret it for me, you’ll be rich and famous—a purple robe, the great gold chain around your neck—and third-in-command in the kingdom.”

17 Daniel answered the king, “You can keep your gifts, or give them to someone else. But I will read the writing for the king and tell him what it means. 18 “Listen, O king! The High God gave your father Nebuchadnezzar a great kingdom and a glorious reputation. 19 Because God made him so famous, people from everywhere, whatever their race, color, and creed, were totally intimidated by him. He killed or spared people on whim. He promoted or humiliated people capriciously. 20 He developed a big head and a hard spirit. Then God knocked him off his high horse and stripped him of his fame. 21 He was thrown out of human company, lost his mind, and lived like a wild animal. He ate grass like an ox and was soaked by heaven’s dew until he learned his lesson: that the High God rules human kingdoms and puts anyone he wants in charge. 22

“You are his son and have known all this, yet you’re as arrogant as he ever was. 23 Look at you, setting yourself up in competition against the Master of heaven! You had the sacred chalices from his Temple brought into your drunken party so that you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines, could drink from them. You used the sacred chalices to toast your gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone—blind, deaf, and imbecile gods. But you treat with contempt the living God who holds your entire life from birth to death in his hand.

24 “God sent the hand that wrote on the wall, 25 and this is what is written: MENE, TEQEL, and PERES. 26 This is what the words mean: “Mene: God has numbered the days of your rule and they don’t add up. 27 “Teqel: You have been weighed on the scales and you don’t weigh much. 28 “Peres: Your kingdom has been divided up and handed over to the Medes and Persians.” 29 Belshazzar did what he had promised. He robed Daniel in purple, draped the great gold chain around his neck, and promoted him to third-in-charge in the kingdom. 30 That same night the Babylonian king Belshazzar was murdered. 31 He was sixty-two years old. Darius the Mede succeeded him as king.

Now I would like to explain what I’ve been leading up to. I believe with all of my heart that in the Providence of God He has exercised His sovereignty in such a way so as to bring about a series of events which has placed our church in a unique position to publicly demonstrate our love for Jesus by giving us an awe-inspiring opportunity to love our neighbors as we do ourselves.

After intense fervent prayer I arrived at the conclusion several weeks ago that God has enabled me to see “The Handwriting on The Wall” as far as it pertains to our church. And remember; when I say church I mean you and me serving the Lord together under the banner of New Covenant Baptist Church.

Consider the reality of our present dilemma: We only have eleven members and none of us are wealthy. Our old buildings are in serious need of thousands of dollars for repairs. I can’t imagine any lending institution giving us a loan. Year after year, we haven’t been able to rely on our apartment house tenants to pay the rent on time. Getting them to do so is very time consuming and takes away from our responsibility of spreading the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in this area.

It’s time to ask ourselves this question: “does it really make sense to spend so much time, energy and money and, except for an occasional wedding or funeral; do all this just to keep our doors open for three hours a week?” Think about it and let that thought sink in.

The Lord has brought us together as members of this particular body of Christ and He will provide the means for you and me to continue serving Him. In fact, He will give us thousands of dollars more than we need to pay our bills. And we won’t have to hold yard sales as fund-raisers unless we want to have some fun.

In selling these buildings the Lord has entrusted to us, they will eventually be demolished and replaced by a desperately needed affordable living facility named: “New Covenant Housing.” Folks in the community will say: “Wow! That church really loves people.” The quality of life for a number of people will be greatly improved just as it has been for the severely disabled folks who live in the congregate housing facility in back of our church building on land which we previously owned.

Of course, we won’t sell this property for half its market value as we did years ago. We should adamantly insist that we receive top dollar. Then we will be able to donate thousands of dollars to wonderful life saving organizations such as CareNet and Vermont Right to Life.

Through them we will be able to drop a spiritual bomb on an industry with offices located on St. Paul Street in Burlington and Talcott Road in Williston. It’s been my prayerful hope that our Commander-in-Chief will add His blessing to their efforts and convince the folks in our community that, as my daughter-in-law Veronica’s latest posting on my blog said: “How bad and sinful it is for mothers to kill the innocent babies that live inside their belly.”

I see it and so do those evil cosmic forces of darkness; and they’re furious! They hate it when we honor God and bring glory to His holy name by loving ALL of our neighbors including precious yet to be born babies; love them just as we do ourselves. It’s been my prayerful hope that every one of you folks will also be able to see; The Handwriting on The Wall. It’s a matter of life and death! God has given you folks the freedom to choose. Please choose life!

Lord willing, next week ….