Release (Social Restoration I)
The Way • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 4 viewsOften we talk about restoration in a spiritual, and miraculously in a physical, sense but it also exists in the social sense. God does not desire for us to be alone. Being social with one another is built into the church. It is built into our DNA . God has given us helpers and communities to aid in the work we are called to do. Because we recognize the importance of this social connection, we should be driven towards restoration of others to us such that the body of Christ can be complete. As we scan across the Bible, we would be remiss to ignore the many examples we have of Christ instilling a deep sense of community in Creation and in His church. Come to find out, God wants us to be more than isolated participants in a faith; He wants us to be as One.
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Theme Summary
Theme Summary
Often we talk about restoration in a spiritual, and miraculously in a physical, sense but it also exists in the social sense. God does not desire for us to be alone. Being social with one another is built into the church (reference the importance of the body). It is built into our DNA (reference God saying it was not good for Adam to be alone). God has given us helpers (Jonathan to David or Aaron to Moses) and communities (Hebrew nation) to aid in the work we are called to do. Because we recognize the importance of this social connection, we should be driven towards restoration of others to us such that the body of Christ can be complete. In Part 1, focus on the ceremonies of restoration and how they point to the emotionally arbitrary nature of restoration. Those days were based on a calendar so it didn't predicate restoration on how you "feel" or if you "want to". In Part 2, focus on how many were physically restored, but only one returned back to the root of their restoration. His restoration wasn't to friends and family, but to the body of Christ. Part of what our social connection to others in the church is so important is because even when the secular world struggled to accept you, the body should strive to act just as the head (that is Christ) acted. We desire restoration of the lost, the hurting, and the rejected.
We Are Social
We Are Social
The fact that we are social creatures is built into our identity as Christians and our very existence as products of God’s divine nature.
Social nature evidence...
By Design
18 to rule the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good.
By Heart
10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us work for the good of all, especially for those who belong to the household of faith.
By Heritage
43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and signs were being performed through the apostles. 44 Now all the believers were together and held all things in common. 45 They sold their possessions and property and distributed the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple, and broke bread from house to house. They ate their food with joyful and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. Every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.
By Right
28 There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female; since you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to the promise.
It is undeniable that we are not only “allowed to be social”; we are built and redeemed for it. To live life as a professing Christian and to reject our social nature would be to reject the benefit for which Christ died: a deep bond with His body which, here on earth, manifests itself in the church!
Division expressly denounced!
17 Now I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who create divisions and obstacles contrary to the teaching that you learned. Avoid them, 18 because such people do not serve our Lord Christ but their own appetites. They deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting with smooth talk and flattering words.
These are convicting words. They highlight that even if we flatter ourselves as “unconventional” and “seeking the real heart of the church”, we should be cautious against using our own convictions or practices to denounce another. This is why I always say it is important to separate what you know you know, what you think you know, what you might know, and what you don’t know. I would hate to be guilty of being a divisive person for arguing against a perspective which isn’t something I “know I know”.
God desires for communion with us, and if He desires it with all of us He also desires it between us. We are one. We can have societal and cultural discussions regarding how we engage our oneness, but what can’t be denied is that we are not on this walk alone.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Read examples of our social nature in Genesis 1:18, Galatians 6:10, Acts 2:43-47, and Galatians 3:28-29. Do you ever think about your engagement with the body of Christ as a critical component to your faith? Some are in the habit of treating it as optional or a lesser-component of faith. How does avoiding the ‘body of Christ’ compromise the relationship you have with a savior?
Think of an example in your own life where someone wanted a relationship with you, but didn’t like someone in your household. How did this complicate things? What elements of “self” or “ego” exist when we regulate our relationship with someone based on an unwillingness to associate with that person’s closest family and friends?
Perpetual Jubilee
Perpetual Jubilee
As social creatures, we should acknowledge OUR desire to have a relationship with others, but also our responsibility to OTHERS in restoring their status amongst the household of the faithful.
To say the quiet part out loud: Christ redeemed us for sinning against the glory of the most high; what qualifies us to hold back redemption against someone who desires to be a part of our lives?
Levitical Jubilee
Word “Jubilee” comes from a ram’s horn… the name for the horn/trumpet became the name for the who celebration.
Every 50 years: FREEDOM!
Seven x Seven.… seven “sabbatical years” = 49…
Celebrate on the 50th.
Marked a time for all to return back “home” regardless of where they were in life… master, slave… didn’t matter
Combines Multiple Concepts (from Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible)
Lordship —> Recognize God’s sovereignty over the earth
Redemption —> God redeemed us so we redeem others
Rest —> Redemption correlates to rest, especially the ultimate and divine rest we all crave
Faith —> God desires that you not lean on your own labor but have faith in His providence
Obedience —> As with many Levitical traditions, it is a display of your obedience
Return to “Your Clan”
8 “You are to count seven sabbatical years, seven times seven years, so that the time period of the seven sabbatical years amounts to forty-nine. 9 Then you are to sound a trumpet loudly in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month; you will sound it throughout your land on the Day of Atonement. 10 You are to consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim freedom in the land for all its inhabitants. It will be your Jubilee, when each of you is to return to his property and each of you to his clan. 11 The fiftieth year will be your Jubilee; you are not to sow, reap what grows by itself, or harvest its untended vines. 12 It is to be holy to you because it is the Jubilee; you may only eat its produce directly from the field.
Practice: if someone can not repay you for what you are owed, they can sell themselves to you
BUT… it is important not to profit off someone’s struggles…
39 “If your brother among you becomes destitute and sells himself to you, you must not force him to do slave labor. 40 Let him stay with you as a hired worker or temporary resident; he may work for you until the Year of Jubilee. 41 Then he and his children are to be released from you, and he may return to his clan and his ancestral property. 42 They are not to be sold as slaves, because they are my servants that I brought out of the land of Egypt.
Our actions must always be rooted in what Christ first did for us.
God redeemed His people from Egypt’s slavery, so He wants His people to not make slaves
How much more should we be driven to afford love, grace, and compassion because of the love, grace, and compassion Christ has shown us?!
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Read the excerpt about Israel’s Jubilee in Leviticus 25:8-12 and then instruction on freeing servants in Leviticus 25:39-42. God clearly wants us to base our redemptive tendencies on the example we have been shown. Have you ever wronged someone in the church or with a strong faith and felt they held it against you? How did that make you feel and what impression did it make on you regarding God or the church? Is it fair for you to hold the actions of a person against God or the church writ large?
Consider your own impact on others. Have you ever done anything that you felt may have left a bitter taste in someone’s mouth? How do you think that reflected on groups or ideas you are associated with?
Being Social and Allowing Social
Being Social and Allowing Social
The concept of social reconciliation has two elements: our participation in being social and our participation in enabling it.
Both are critical.
Most of us struggle with one of the two.
God loves us and showed us that through the life of Christ; how can we claim to love Jesus yet hate the ones He came to die for? (WHOA!)
Search your heart. Do you struggle with being socially restored or maybe with socially restoring another? Take notes from Christ, because He was able to restore everyone from the sinner to the liar, to the pompous hypocrites and even those who jeered while He died on the cross. He didn’t do that so His body could exist in isolation. Embrace Christ by embracing those He died for.
