Is everything legal?

Brothers, we are going to the word of God, Romans Chapter 14, we are going to go to the second part of the Chapter. We are almost finishing this journey of the epistle to the Romans, which has taken us many months, but we give thanks to the Lord who has been very faithful and has brought us to this point, almost finishing the epistle. Chapter 15 is actually more of a Chapter on how to tie up loose ends and everyday things, but Chapter 14 still has some good meat here that we can still get a lot of use out of. I'm going to read starting with verse 13, Romans 14, starting with verse 13 all the way to the end, it says:

“So let us judge one another no longer, but rather well, decide not to trip or cause your brother to fall..."

And let me clarify something for what we are going to read because otherwise you will be reading perhaps without understanding or especially if you do not have the thread of what we have been preaching, and he does not know the context. I am going to explain it a little further, but the Apostle Paul is referring to customs that were typical of the time he wrote this epistle, two thousand years ago, where there were differences of opinion in the church regarding eating meat previously sacrificed to idols or not, and certain liberties or not, that the believers of that time allowed themselves. So, what I am going to read may sound a little foreign to you, but I am going to explain it later and I know that you will be able to have clarity, how that applies to our time today.

Then he says, “....but rather decide not to put a stumbling block or occasion for your brother to fall. Paul says, I know and I trust in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but for those who think that something is unclean, for him it is. But if your brother is grieved because of the food, you no longer walk according to love....”

There he is entering fully into the theme of this segment. “.... if your brother is saddened, you no longer walk according to love, do not make him lose the one for whom Christ died for your food. Therefore, do not be reproached, in other words blasphemed, your good, because the Kingdom of God is not food or drink, but justice, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For whoever serves Christ in this pleases God and is approved by men. So let's follow what contributes to peace and mutual edification. Don't destroy God's work because of food. All things indeed are clean, but it is bad for a man to cause others to stumble with what he eats. It is good not to eat meat, or drink wine, or anything in which your brother stumbles, or is offended or weakened. You have your faith, have it for yourself before God. Blessed is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves, but he who doubts about what he eats is condemned, because he does not do it with faith and everything that does not come from faith is sin..." < p>And we are going to continue because in reality the theme continues in Chapter 15. I am going to read only that first verse of Chapter 15, it says:

“So, those of us who are “strong” must endure the weaknesses of the weak and not pleasing ourselves.”

The Lord bless his holy word. What is the Apostle Paul talking about here? I think it's been about 3 weeks since we touched the book of Romans, because one was on Mother's Day; before that we had another issue that took us out of the rhythm we had. So it's been about 2, 3 weeks since we touched on this theme of Romans, and then I want to bring them up to date, and in any case, it's always good to review these great truths of God's word.

In Chapter 14 the Apostle Paul takes time to call believers to a life of harmony among themselves, not of conflict, but of mutual harmony and tolerance. Remember that he is speaking to a congregation that could be the Lion of Judah. It is as if right now we were reading a letter sent by the founding pastor of León de Judá where he gave certain advice to the brothers on how to get along, how to avoid conflicts on specific issues that have to do with that particular congregation.

In the Greco-Roman world in which the Apostle Paul was writing. Remember that he was writing to the churches in the city of Rome and throughout the pagan world in which the early Christians moved, there was a problem that had arisen, and it was the matter of what to do when a meal has previously been offered to idols. What should the Christian do in that case?

Let's do the example, we could put it in terms of today, let's say that you are invited to a baptism, to a baptism as the Catholic brothers say and there, let's say, they have prayed for the food and you You feel like, since you are an evangelical, maybe you shouldn't eat that food, you shouldn't be in that place. There are Christians who don't even want to step foot in a Catholic church because they think it's not from God and I think that's a mistake, personally, but I respect their points of view.

Maybe I can take something even more extreme than that. Maybe it's a little too tame an illustration, but let's say you go to a house where Santeria is practiced, let's take that example, and you're invited to eat, and you're not sure if that chicken that they're serving you there was first offered to one of those rare saints there, or not, and they put it there, a sancocho with good white rice, and all that. It looks like I'm hungry, it's already one thirty in the afternoon.

But you say, ummm, these people here who are santeros, I know if they slaughtered that hen and offered it to Santa Rosa or one of those saints, Lord rebuke them over there, and you don't want to eat , No? because he is afraid that this food is contaminated. But there is another brother there from another part of the church who says, hey, what is that about Santa Rosa or Santa Bárbara, in the name of Jesus I rebuke those demons and he takes a large ladle and serves his good amount of sancocho . I see that those are the majority of you and you eat it with great pleasure and give thanks to the Lord and neutralize any evil that may be in that food and go ahead, let's go back to where we came from.

So, there's the little brother who doesn't want to eat that food for reasons of conscience, looking at the brother there putting his spoonful of sancocho and looking at him judging him and saying, hm, if this man were a true evangelical You wouldn't do that because this and that is contaminating your stomach. And the other little brother, as he puts the spoon in his mouth, looks at the other and laughs at him saying, what a fool this is, missing out on such a good sancocho.

So, the Apostle Paul says, that should not be the way one sees the other, but rather what each one should do is respect the attitude of the other. And here there is a very great spiritual truth and it is that many times in the Bible there will be things that it will not be clear what we have to do, there is no word like that that is absolutely forceful and one hundred percent clear, and then in that case we have to learn to tolerate one another rather, and to give each other a certain freedom in the Lord and not put one another to a stumbling block.

So what we saw is that in the first part of Chapter 14, what the Apostle Paul recommends is rather that neither the one who feels free in the Lord to do certain things should belittle the one who does not feel book. And those who do not feel free should not judge the spirituality of those who have a little more freedom in the Lord, but each one should recognize the state the other is in and tolerate each other and give each other space, because after everything, both are servants of the Lord and the Lord will take care of them, each one.

So that's what we discussed last Sunday, the last time we discussed this issue. Now in verse 13, the portion that we have just read, Paul introduces another very important thing regarding the differences of opinion and spirituality among God's people. Because it's true, there is a lot of diversity in the churches, there are Christians who come from a legalistic background, let's say, and a very strict one, Pentecostal where sneezing in the service is a mortal sin. Others feel freer and they don't have a problem with it and they feel a little more space in the Lord and there are other things like that because everyone comes from a different culture, a different background. And in that case, we have to learn how to govern that diversity that is in the church.

Now, the Apostle Paul here in verse 13 says "...so that we no longer judge one another..."

Brother, nor your nor do I have the right to judge anyone. To judge means to put an X on a person and say, that person cannot be a Christian. You are getting into something that only God has the right to determine. There are things that seem to us to be a serious mistake, or a sin, and you don't know all the details behind it.

Look for example, when Jesus is talking to the Samaritan woman. He was preaching to that woman, he was evangelizing her, and when the disciples arrived and saw him talking to that woman, they were surprised because you would never catch a pious Jew, nor a rabbi, especially talking to a woman, especially a woman of bad faith. reputation like her, in a public place, just as Jesus was speaking. If they had started to make judgments and to judge how the Lord does this, this and that, they would not have understood that the Lord at that moment was opening the doors for the evangelization of an entire village, because all those Samaritan people he was converted through that particular woman.

Another example, when Mary poured the alabaster jar of perfume on the Lord's head and wiped the excess perfume with her own hair and her tears fell on the Lord, Simon the Pharisee was nearby. And what did Simon say? He says, this one, speaking of Jesus, if he were a prophet he would discern that this is a woman of bad repute and he would not allow her to come near him. But Simon did not understand that at this moment there was a mystery that was taking place as Bob Bakke explained the time he preached here, that this woman was preparing the body of Jesus Christ for burial in a symbolic and spiritual way.

In other words, brothers, sometimes there are things that God is doing in a life that if you put the spoon in before the time, you can damage what God has prepared and the believer has to be very careful , a lot of humility to let God complete his work and give time to time before going out to judge his brother.

So, the Bible says, let's not judge ourselves anymore, we have to stop that. In our church we are going to decide, we are not going to be judging each other. Amen, brothers. That is for another place, but not here, in the name of Jesus. Here there is no place for gossip, here there is no place for gossip, here there is no place for meddling in each other's lives. Let God take care of it. Refer that person to the Lord, pray for them, and may God take care of it. God is powerful.

I tell people sometimes, brothers, I tell them, I cannot be interfering in the private life of each one and solving every problem that there is in the church. I don't have the time, first of all, I don't have the energy, nor do I have the ability to be in more than one place at a time. So, as a pastor, I can pray, I can if possible and there are certain opportunities, I can confront, I can advise, but I cannot be every little fire or fleeing behind every mouse that appears in the church trying to put it back in its hole . It can't be done. But I refer my cause to the Lord, I pray for you, I pray for each one of my brothers, and in cases in which I say Lord, you know what you are doing, if that person belongs to you, keep him, if not take him in the name of Jesus. Either you light it up or you eliminate it, as we say, right?

But, one cannot be, sometimes the devil wants one to be continually looking through a little hole there to see what the brother is doing, and that this and that. So that? God is in charge, I know that in the end God is fair, God is faithful and if you do not behave in the way of life, the Lord will do his justice in your life. I live so confident in that, I know that no one can harm this congregation because Christ is its owner, Christ is its captain. This church is not going to get dirty, it is not going to be destroyed, it is not going to fall, because this church is founded on the rock, not on Roberto Miranda, the Holy Spirit is in charge of keeping it clean. From time to time there is a cleaning and God maintains... What we have to do is that, not be judging, nor do I myself have the right to be doing that in many cases.

Now, when there are obvious, gross violations that are hurting the unity of God's people, it is up to me to act. But after that there are so many little things that happen in any family that you have to give space. We cannot be judging each other, but what we have to do is refer the need to the Lord. He takes care.

It says, "... let us no longer judge one another, but rather decide not to put a stumbling block or occasion for our brother to fall."

That's where our energy should be invested. Rather that I am not a stumbling block for anyone in the church. Brothers, how many times do people come to church, look, recently I went to pray for a brother during intercession and when he turned to thank me an incredible smell of liquor came out. But, look, do you think that scandalizes me? I say glory to God because he is here. That's how I react at that moment. I say glory to God because this brother is a brand taken out of the fire, I know his life, and I am not going to criticize that little brother at that moment and put out, if he is a tiger that is there only by God's mercy I thank God that he came to church, and that he is looking for the Lord, because I know where he comes from, and what a miracle that he is there. I am going to pray for him, I am going to give him the floor, I am going to love him if I have the opportunity to speak, but I know that it is a project under construction. You see?

But there are churches where that happens and they take this little brother and criticize him and do another, they do the other. He's not even a member of the church, I mean, he's not a person, he's on the outskirts, he's trying to recover, to get into the ways of God. For me what comes out is a great desire for mercy, to cover it with the grace of God, rather. Elsewhere, what we do, as Jesus Christ says, we do double son of the devil, we scandalize him, we hit him and he leaves the church cursing and not wanting to return to one more church, to the arms of Satan. We cannot put stumbling blocks.

There are many people in the churches who put stumbling blocks for souls. The word of the Lord says that it is better that we take a millstone, tie it up and throw ourselves to the bottom of the sea, rather than be a stumbling block for a little one of them. Let's never attack anyone in a congregation. We can exhort ourselves, we can correct ourselves, we can give a wise word of advice, but always do it with humility, with meekness, with love, with patience, looking at yourself, lest you also fall, as the word says.

I think that if we looked at ourselves a little more first, listen to me, we would be more afraid of going around throwing darts left and right, right? That's the spirit of Jesus Christ and you know what? That spirit many times wins more people to the Gospel than the other spirit of judging, criticizing, disciplining all the time, throwing stones all the time. This is not of God.

Then Paul says, “....but rather decide not to put a stumbling block or occasion for your brother to fall. Paul says here, I know and I trust in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but for the one who thinks that something is unclean, for him it is...."

Look, brother, That is one of the deepest things in Scripture, so that whoever thinks that something is unclean, it is. You know what? Many times, in fact, the word of the Lord says in one part that if your eye is bad, it says that your whole body will be bad. If your mind is a guilty mind and it is a fearful mind, you are going to see the devil even in the soup, in everything you do, whatever you do, you are going to think that the devil is there, that you have already sinned, that God already sent you to hell, that you already committed the unforgivable sin. And there are brothers who live like this all the time, they think, our mind is full of fear, it is full of paranoia and we see sin in everything and we believe that God is a boring old man who is always looking through a telescope from heaven to see what is making people to throw lightning and sparks at them when they're wrong.

Brothers, the way you conceive God, that's how your life will be. If you conceive of God as that loving father, full of mercy, of love, who wants you to pass the exam, God is not trying to give you trick questions there to see if he will make you fail the exam. God makes it easy for you to pass the exam. I see God as God is on my side, that God is doing everything possible for me to reach the goal, rather, and he is the encourager, he is the comforter who is there saying, keep going, keep going, you you will arrive, you can arrive because you are with me. I'm going to take you to the end.

But for people who think that God is a harsh God and is always judging people, then their mind is going to be full of complicated thoughts. I always ask the Lord, Father, clean my mind, purify my mind and inform my mind through the word, that I can see the heart of Jesus and understand how Jesus wants to relate to me so that I know then what to fear and what not to fear

But I tell you one thing, brothers, that the essential position of the believer is a position of freedom, joy and peace. It is not a position of judgement, guilt or fear. And if there is fear in our life, if there is anguish in our life, if there is anxiety in our life, if there is condemnation in our hearts and in our minds, says the word of the Lord, that where fear is there is no love because the perfect love casts out fear.

So, I have to say, Lord, how is my mind, how is my psychic, psychological, mental, emotional foundation? How is my understanding of you? Because there is the root, I have to go, what God do I serve, how God sees me, how I see God, how I understand God because everything else will come from there. If I always think that everything is bad and that there is danger, then I am going to be full of anxiety. But if I think that God is my helper, my strengthener, that he has told me 'I will be with you every day until the end of the world', I can live confidently, I can live full of faith, I can dare to do new, different things, because God is my helper, my strengthener.

So, Paul is referring there, there are people who think that if they eat it's bad, if they don't eat it's bad, if they miss church one day, well, it's bad, if they don't come at 6 services is bad. I don't know, brothers, what I want to tell you is that you cannot live in condemnation. You have to ask the Lord to give you a positive attitude about the Kingdom of God to live in peace.

You don't see what it says here in verse 17, it says “...for the Kingdom of God is not food and drink, but what? righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit...” Hallelujah!

I want to say, always in my life that I have justice, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. I want these to be the values that govern my relationship with God, my life with God. I want the platform that I stand on to always be a platform of peace, joy, and justice.

Now, justice means that I am aligned with the values of the Kingdom of God, that my life proceeds according to the holiness of God, to the righteousness of God, to the divine commandments, to the values of the word of God. When I have alignment with the word of God then I have peace, joy and justice.

Now, what that verse also means is that sometimes we get lost in the details and forget the fundamentals. Sometimes for a little something a church is divided, because a battery is used, or because choruses are sung and not hymns, or because a keyboard is played instead of a 24-pipe organ or whatever, and the churches are divided . And there are brothers who make enemies of another brother over a little thing, over a meal or a drink, or whatever, and God says, 'That's not what it's about. It's not that you keep this or do that, little things like that, but it's big things, like peace, justice, love. That's what's important.'

Many times we divide a church over issues that don't really make sense, they don't have that much importance in the end. And many times what God says is, look, you better suffer the offense, you better pay the price and if that little brother was left owing you 50 dollars, don't go to the pastor and complain so that he puts that little brother in discipline and you're out there ruining his reputation, and antagonizing that little brother, and maybe kicking him out of the church. Look, you better lose the 50 dollars and entrust it to the Lord because God is powerful to give you back 50 and even 100, and he's going to collect it from him too at some point. You understand? Better retain peace if possible because in the Kingdom of God it is justice, peace and joy, that is what is important.

How many times, if we were wise instead of confronting small things out there, we would say, Lord, take care of that and that allows there to be peace in marriage, in the family, in friendship, at work. Don't worry, more was lost when Rome burned. So, live your life and know that the Lord is always your provider.

Many times, brothers, if we understood that we are anchored in the sufficiency of God, in Christ I am rich, in Christ I can be generous with others, I can forget things, I can forgive things , because I have a Father who supplies me and gives me and blesses me. It is the person who feels miserable and feels that they have little, the one who is always there, to be paid what is owed to them, whether speaking in emotional terms, or in financial terms or whatever. The generous person says, love, forget it, it's okay, may the Lord provide for me and then there is peace in the home.

Now why am I saying all that? Because it is that Paul says, look, the food, the drink, the days of celebrations that if they are kept or not, are small things, they are secondary. The important thing is the important thing. You have to put importance on the fundamental things in life.

Now, there is another thing, and with this I end, what Paul is saying, this is very fundamental, many times in the church there are people who are more liberal in their behavior than others. And interestingly, Paul says, those people who feel more confident, more comfortable, are the "strong" ones and the weak ones are the people who are finicky and more careful in terms of the matter of eating, drinking and all this. And Paul says, look, if you have the freedom to do something and your brother does not have that same freedom, be careful that because of your freedom you do not offend your brother and cause him problems, and cause him internal conflict, but make sure that always the mercy of Christ govern your actions, so that you take care of the sensitivity of the other.

Look, where it says here, verse 15 "... but if your brother is grieved because of food, you no longer walk according to love..."

What does that mean? Well, in the case that Pablo is referring to, it is the brother who feels free to eat, but we could say, the brother who feels free to have a glass of wine, or the brother who feels free to go to the movies, or the brother who feels free to dance with his wife at a party has to be careful that in doing so he does not harm others who are more sensitive to such things. And he shouldn't just do it because he can but he has to think, okay, the spirit of Jesus Christ what is it demanding of me at that moment.

The famous words of the Apostle Paul, “everything is lawful for me, but not everything suits me” were said in light of that theme. There are times when you can do things, and it's okay to do them, in absolute terms, but when you think about the consequences of what you're going to do for others around you, perhaps Christian maturity and Christian love that you better exempt yourself from doing what is legitimate for you.

How many times in the marriage does the husband say, for example, I can't arrive whenever I want because I'm the head of the house and I'm in charge here, etc., and I I don't have to account to anyone? And he arrives at the time he wants because he is the male in the home. Well, maybe in an absolute sense you have a right to do that, because maybe you're not doing anything wrong, etc., but the question one has to ask is, well, how does that affect my wife?

There are many marriages that would have fewer problems if both of you were more considerate of each other's sensibilities. There are times when you have to make adjustments in life, not because what you are doing is nothing wrong, but because in order for the relationship to work better, you have to make those adjustments.

And then one has to think, for example, children in the same way. The mom or dad says to the daughter, look, don't wear that dress because it's too tight or too revealing or whatever. And the daughter tells her, no mom, it's that you're out of fashion, you're old-fashioned. Today that is used, that was in your times, I don't know what, I don't know how much, and the girl goes there with her exact dress and there is the mother or father wounded in their sensitivity, because their mind it is working according to other patterns and according to other values, another interpretation of the word of the Lord.

What should a son or daughter do in that case? For the love of the mother, for the love of the father, for the love of his testimony at home, for the love of harmony, he must find a way to honor his father and mother, and perhaps obey a little and say, okay, It's not what I want to do, but so that there is harmony, so as not to hurt the conscience of my mother or my father, I'm going to adjust to that. Do you understand what I am saying, brothers?

Likewise, for example, many times let's say, for me personally it is not a problem and I say this with fear and trembling, having a glass of wine with a good meal. I don't do it all the time, but I can do it. Now, I am careful if I know that there is a brother who is offended, what is more, I should not even say it publicly, in a sense, but if there is a brother who is offended by the pastor while having a glass of wine because the pastor did not know he drank it, and at one point it caught him by surprise, or the brother was an alcoholic before and now when he sees the pastor having a glass of wine he's going to say, well, as soon as I get out of here I'm going to the liquor store, I I'm going to buy 6 beers, and those 6 beers end up being a case of 24 bottles, because he doesn't have the control that maybe the pastor has. So one has to be careful.

That is, the Christian's freedom is always conditioned by love for others. Say yes or no? amen. Never do things simply because you have the right to do them. Think that you are part of the body of Jesus Christ. Think about how your action affects others. Someone said, none of us is an island, we are all part of a continent.

Sometimes at work we do things and talk a certain way and sometimes we get upset and say anything, because we're sorry, but what about the little brother who isn't mature enough to understand that you're not here either? hating no one, but saying, wow, this is the brother who is a member of congregation so-and-so. Ah, well, if that's being a Christian, I'd better stay out on the street. Our testimony, right? How my actions, my words, my behavior affect the world around me, including the church.

The Apostle Paul in First Corinthians speaks to the Corinthians, by the way, I think it's worth reading, I'm almost landing, but these things are important because this is practical wisdom, brothers, the world would be much less violent if these truths of God's word were put into practice.

Look here, for example, in Chapter 6 of First Corinthians, it says "... Does any of you dare when he has something against another to go to trial before the unjust and not before the saints? ?”

Paul is criticizing the Corinthians, this congregation in the city of Corinth, that they were continually suing each other and taking each other to court. Taking people to court and suing them, by the way, is not something of the 20th century, the same thing happened in the 1st century. So, there were Christians who were taking other Christians from the same congregation to court for anything and giving the devil pleasure, so people said, look at those Christians, Christians who love each other in the Lord and look at them getting into the cut each other, right? The devil is always looking and people are always looking for excuses.

Then Paul wrote to them and said, why are you taking each other to court instead of doing it before the saints? In other words, let's wash our own dirty clothes at home, let's not be exposing our problems out into the world, so that people are not continually throwing rocks.

And Paul says, instead of looking for a secular judge to solve your problem, there isn't enough wisdom among you. Listen to me if we get married and in Christian friendship, and in the church we use that judgment, instead of me having to pay a lawyer or even a secular counselor, why not use the wisdom of the word of God to solve our problems at peace in the Lord. How many problems would be solved without minor consequences.

Verse 2 says, “....or do you not know that the saints are to judge the world and if the world is to be judged by you are you unworthy to judge very little things or do you not know that are we to judge angels?

In other words, look, we as Christians, brothers, one day are going to have the privilege of sitting down as a jury to determine the eternal destiny of the angels themselves. Wow! That blows my brains out just thinking about that. And Paul says, if you are going to judge such big and important things, can't you judge the smallest things among yourselves?

It says here, what I am going to at this point, verse 7 "... so by the way it is already a fault in you that you have lawsuits among yourselves - look at what it says - why don't you suffer rather the grievance? Why don't you rather suffer being defrauded?

In other words, what Paul is saying is why don't you rather pay the price so that there is no discord, rather absorb the problem and turn it over to God instead of always looking to work things out in the courts out there. There are times, brothers, that losing for love of the Lord is winning in the long term.

The Bible says that coals of fire mount up on his head. You know that there is a terrible power when one submits his case to the Lord, and says, Father, I am not going to sue or bring people to court, nor am I going to destroy my marriage, it is better to pour the Holy Spirit on that man who behaves so badly and take care of him, Lord, and I'm going to pray and I'm going to put coals of fire on his head until his hair burns. You understand?

Brother, that has tremendous power. When a woman of God says, I am going to refer my case to the Lord in the power of the Holy Spirit and commends a man to the judgment of God, that person better tremble, you know? A woman filled with the Holy Spirit or a worker against an unfair and exploitative boss, give it to the Lord, brother, give your cause to the Lord. As we were saying last Sunday in the 9 o'clock service, dare to believe.

If we fought less and got down on our knees more, the world would be transformed. Less shots would be fired, there would be less violence, there would be less discord in the world and in the church, let us not use our freedom to hurt others, but many times rather, let us refer our cause to the Lord, and say, Father, do you know what ? I am not going to use my freedom, if the brother is offended it is fine, I am going to get a little uncomfortable, but I know that you are going to bless me in the long term.

That is, there are many ways in the Christian life that out of love for others we have to pay the price in some way, but know that when you do it in the spirit of Jesus Christ, God says, that He is my son, my daughter, I am going to bless him.

I've always used an illustration, with that I end, the story of Abraham when he had his problem with his nephew, Lot. Lot was a selfish boy, interested in his own things only and there was a fight between the workers of both, because they had had a lot of property and one's cattle were having problems with the other's cattle. And Abraham, they both had a lot of money, they were rich, Abraham called his nephew Lot, who didn't have to because he was the oldest, but he called him and said, Lot, you know what? let's not have problems because we are brothers, we are family, you know what? We are going to do the following, look, the land is very big, we are going to a mountain and look at everything that is in front of you, and if you choose to go to the north, I will go to the south and if you go to the east, I'm going to the west, but let there be no problems between us.

Abraham was looking for peace, which is what we always have to look for, because the Kingdom of God is peace, justice, he says, and joy. And then you know, the story says, you know it well, Lot looked interestedly and saw the part that was for Sodom, he says it was the green part, it was the juiciest, best, richest real estate of all, and he said, that's where I'm going. It's fine like someone who doesn't want anything, he said, it's fine, Abraham, I'm going to take it over there. And Abraham said, amen, go away, no problem, brother. And Lot went away very happy and says that at that moment the voice of God came to Abraham, that he will finally be left alone and said: 'Abraham, Abraham, look at everything that is around you, look to the north, to the south, east and west,' including the part that Lot had chosen, and said to him 'all these I will give to you.'

And you know what? Lot, the poor man, suffered so much with that land. They've heard of Sodom and Gomorrah, he lost his wife, his daughters were a disaster. He lost all his money, God had to pull him out by the hair, because Sodom was completely destroyed. The person who is always looking for only what I have a right, my right, what I am, what I need, what I deserve, that person always fails. But the generous person, who thinks of the highest values of the Kingdom of God, that person is always blessed. God is in charge of defending his interests and he is a happy person, he is a person who in the long run prospers and is blessed.

There's nothing like believing in a God who is just and faithful. Brothers, if we could get into the mind of the Lord, we would know that nothing escapes God. Everything you do in the name of Jesus and for love of him, and for love of the Kingdom of God and to preserve the peace of the Kingdom of God, God will pay you back with interest. How many believe that this afternoon? Amen.

We are going to be people of love, we are going to be people of mercy. Hallelujah! It's so hard to live like this. Do not think that it is easy to live like this, the one who tells you so himself has to learn a lot from what he himself is preaching, but that is what the Lord calls us to be people of mercy, to be people of peace, to be people who are willing to lose so that others may grow and be blessed and people who know that above all that the Lord is always watching, making sure that their children are never deceived, never defeated, never end up losing.

If we live in the values of love of the one who emptied himself, who did not cling to his own rights being equal to God, if we live like this in the spirit of Jesus Christ, the same thing that Jesus Christ experienced that he was raised to the highest, we too will experience it in our lifetime. We will be lifted up to the highest and we will be able to sit next to Jesus as well as he is sitting. This is how we want to live.

Let's stand up. We are going to tell the Lord, Father, I embrace that rare value, different that the world cannot understand, tolerance, love, patience, compassion, putting myself in my brother's place, making myself uncomfortable so that another can growing and being comfortable, making myself a little smaller, diminishing myself so that others can grow, the value of the cross that has so much power to enrich those who become impoverished for love of Jesus and for love of others.

That is the value that we embrace today, Lord. And we tell you, help us to live at that height, so great that when we look from its top it gives us vertigo, Father. But there we want to be, at that height, oh God, of the spirit and attitude of Jesus, not judging one another, not belittling one another, but enduring each other's weaknesses and looking out for each other's interests, although it is difficult, but in the long run we will win and reflect the incomprehensibly sublime character of Christ Jesus.

Thank you, Lord, thank you for your word. We receive it, we receive it, we embrace it, we do not reject it, quite the contrary, Father. We know that although it is difficult to live it, it is the truth and in the truth there is freedom and there is life. Thank my Lord. Amen and amen. May the grace of the Lord be with you, my brothers.