So what do we do to be the "body of Christ," to show him to our community this week? First, act with justice: "loose the chains of injustice" (v. 6). Act with justice in your business dealings, your finances, your personal ethics: "Do not deprive the alien or the fatherless of justice, or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge" (Deuteronomy 24:17); "The righteous detest the dishonest; the wicked detest the upright" (Proverbs 29:27).

Will someone see your moral example this week and ask if you are Jesus?

Second, care for the impoverished: "to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter" (v. 7); "when you see the naked, to clothe him" (v. 7b).

More than one tenth of Dallas County lives below the poverty level. One out of five Texans lives in poverty. One in ten children in our state is hungry today. By the time I finish this sentence, two people will have died from hunger-related causes worldwide, 24,000 by the end of this day. The number of homeless people in our city has nearly doubled in two years.

Scripture is clear on our subject: "If a man shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too will cry out and not be answered" (Proverbs 21:13); "'He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?' declares the Lord" (Jeremiah 22:16); "He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward him for what he has done" (Proverbs 19:17); "All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do" (Galatians 2:10).

Will someone receive your gift of compassion this week and ask if you are Jesus?

Third, speak the truth in love: "do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk" (v. 9).

The Bible is crystal clear in its condemnation of gossip, slander, and lies: "Do not go about spreading slander among your people" (Leviticus 19:16); "A gossip betrays a confidence, but a trustworthy man keeps a secret" (Proverbs 11.13); "He who covers over an offense promotes love, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends" (Proverbs 17:9); "The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to a man's inmost parts" (Proverbs 18:8); "Without wood a fire goes out; without gossip a quarrel dies down. As charcoal to embers and as wood to fire, so is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife" (Proverbs 26:20-21); "Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies" (Psalm 34:13); "He who guards his lips guards his life, but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin" (Proverbs 13:3); "Whoever slanders his neighbor in secret, him will I put to silence; whoever has haughty eyes and a proud heart, him will I not endure" (Psalm 101:5).

Will someone hear your words this week and ask if you are Jesus?

When we give the gifts of moral example, compassionate help, and loving speech, we define our lives by God's cause. We become the body of Christ, his hands and feet, giving his love in ours: "The holiest moment of the church service is the moment when God's people…go out of the church door into the world to be the Church. We don't go to church; we are the Church" (Ernest Southcott).