Jubilee

Jason Worf

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Introduction

Scripture Reading: ,

Opening Hymn: 565 — For the Beauty of the Earth

Closing Hymn: 27 — Rejoice Ye Pure In Heart

Congregational Reading: 704 — If I lift UP My Eyes to the Hills

Brainstorming

Jubilee = celebration because we have been redeemed (consider kinsman redeemer angle)

Jubilee = celebration because we are faithfully trusting in God to provide for 3 years between harvests and He is providing

Questions:

How do we measure success? Subsequently, how do we measure what we should be grateful for, or how much celebration we should be doing?

Rough outline

Introduction:

Intro: The Bible vs “the rich just keep on getting richer”

Summary of the Year of Jubilee concept and how the Israelites kept it

The jubilee in

The principles behind the jubilee

The gospel in the jubilee: Jesus is our redeemer and liberator, HE is our jubilee (see )

An attitude of gratitude

Being content with what God has given is the beginning of personal peace.

Thankfulness comes from recognizing that all that we have and are comes from God and belongs to God.

and applying the year of jubilee to our culture

No jubilee economy means to experience the blessings we need to embrace the principles and include them in our personal and church culture

Thanksgiving leads to generosity—there is always more where you got your blessings, might as well pass them on.

Conclusion: ways that you can practice gratitude and generosity

Being content with what God has given is the beginning of personal peace.

Get a gratefulness journal (moleskin are great), and every night write down two or three things you are grateful for

Thankfulness comes from recognizing that all that we have and are comes from God and belongs to God.

Generosity...

Introduction

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F. Scott Fitzgerald, the author of The Great Gatsby, wrote, “The rich get richer and the poor get — children.”

I think many of us would argue that children are the greatest wealth, but the statement that “the rich get richer” seems to hold true.

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According to Wikipedia, “The net worth of U.S. households and non-profit organizations was $94.7 trillion in the first quarter of 2017, a record level… If divided equally among 124 million U.S. households, this would be $760,000 per family; however, the bottom 50% of families, representing 62 million American households, average $11,000 net worth.”

“The gap between the top 10% and the middle class is over 1,000%; that increases another 1,000% for the top 1%. The average employee ‘needs to work more than a month to earn what the CEO earns in one hour.’”

“According to a June 2017 report by the Boston Consulting Group, around 70% of the nation's wealth will be in the hands of millionaires and billionaires by 2021.”

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There is also a gender pay gap in wealth. According to CNBC.com, “Women earn just 79 cents for every dollar men make in 2019.”

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Inequality is something that irks many in society, and it’s something that Christians should have some concern with, too.

I’m not talking about the kind of inequality that results from one person prioritizing a diligent work life and another person prioritizing their social and recreational life. I’m talking about the financial realities of intergenerational inequality.

That’s the ”‘raw’ gender pay gap, which looks at the median salary for all men and women regardless of job type or worker seniority,”

A family that passes along advanced education, a variety of employment opportunities, and generational wealth to their children will set their child on an upward mobile path where each generation can end wealthier then the previous generation.

On the other hand, a family that passes along limited education, few employment opportunities, and little wealth gives their children stagnant or even a downward moving lifestyle. Even a hardworking person will have a hard time picking themselves up from the ditch of poor education and poor opportunities.

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This type of inequality in intergenerational wealth is seen most starkly in the research that has been done between white and black Americans—something we call the “race gap.”

According to CNBC.com, “On every rung of the income ladder, black children have worse prospects of the American Dream than white children...”

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God did not intend for everyone to have the same experiences in life, nor did He plan for us to share everything equally. There is no Biblical mandate to distribute wealth from the hard-working, successful businessperson to the poor. In fact, one of the hallmarks of heaven is that we will “build houses and inhabit them” and “plant vineyards and eat their fruit” (). God wants us to enjoy the fruit our our own labor. But where the world gets it wrong in unregulated, free-market capitalism, God gets it right. He set up an economy that would work for all mankind. Unfortunately they messed it up and we don’t get to live in that kind of an economy, but there are still principles that we can adopt that will help our society today and bring us more wholeness and joy as a community.

Today we’re going to be exploring God’s plan for the Israelites to observe a sabbath of rest for the land that culminated every 50th year in the year of Jubilee.

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A Jubilee is a special anniversary celebration. England celebrated Queen Elizabeth’s 25th year of reign as her Silver Jubilee in 1977. In 2002 they celebrated her 50th year as her Golden Jubilee, and in 2012 they celebrated her 60th year as her Diamond Jubilee. These are fantastic celebrations that honor the monarch and rejoice in the prosperity of their nation.

The word Jubilee is closely related to the word “jubilation” which is a word for a feeling of great happiness and triumph. You may be jubilant when you’re celebrating with your friends after your football team won the Super Bowl. Or you could be jubilant when your company passed a key milestone or met a big sales goal. [next slide] You may be jubilant after paying off your school debt—I saw a facebook event for a friend who paid off Fanny Mae recently. You might be jubilant when you’ve paid off your mortgage and you hold the deed to your property free and clear.

As we look at the biblical history behind the year of jubilee I think you’ll start to recognize some reasons for jubilation in its principles.

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Turn with me to Leviticus 25 where we’ll find the Biblical mandate for a Jubilee.

History of the Year of Jubilee

The book of Leviticus records the civil and religious laws for Israel under God’s theocratic rule. A theocracy is a government system where God is in control and gives the laws. If they were to follow God’s laws they would be healthy, understand the gospel, and experience harmony among themselves and peace with the surrounding nations. These laws included everything from what to eat to where to go to the bathroom to how to wash after touching someone with a contagious disease or after touching the dead. They talked about how to interact with God in the sanctuary and what Israel’s corporate worship should look like. They even discussed labor laws and laws of war.

Much of what Leviticus describes applied prior to Jesus’ death on the cross and ministry in heaven because they were types of Jesus, illustrating His work in the plan of salvation. So those things stopped being observed after Jesus’s first coming to earth. Other things only applied while they were in a theocracy, but no longer applied when they didn’t have control over their entire economy. The Year of Jubilee is one such law that can’t work unless the entire civil government is on board—so it’s probably not a good idea to try to replicate this today.

Jubilee is one such

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In we read about the feasts of the tabernacle. Each year an Israelite was required to get together with other Israelites from all over the country on a few occasions, and if they chose to they could come to the tabernacle roughly every other month for a feast. Some of these feasts were serious occasions of repentance and religious fervor, but others were primarily social events. In God’s eyes, the social aspect of religion is equally important to the worship aspect of religion. You might remember Jesus saying that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind, and a similarly important law is to love your neighbor as yourself. God created a financial economy and social calendar that matched these two foundational laws. God set it up so that Israelites were required to get together and build loving relationships between each other.

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In we find another idea that was foundational to the economic plan in God’s government—a Sabbath Year. The first few verses of chapter 25 describe a practice where the people were to work the land—plant, prune and harvest—for six years and then on the seventh year they were to leave the land idle. They weren’t supposed to till the ground, plant, prune or harvest that year. During the seventh year any plants that grew on their own could be picked for daily food by anyone—a servant, someone passing through, a townsperson, or you. You couldn’t pick to sell it or preserve it for later sale, but you could use it to provide food for your family.

It’s obvious from the laws in that God expected the Israelites to own property and raise food. In a time when there were no freezers or railroads or container ships to take goods overseas, most of the food you would eat was grown locally. One farmer might have a vineyard, another would raise sheep, another would have grain and vegetables, and everyone would barter and share. There were some people who would live permanently in the cities and work as laborers or craftsmen or hold administrative or civil offices. But these people would be a minority in God’s economy—mostly just the Levites—and most of the people who lived in town would also have a plot of land outside the town for a family garden, a crop to sell, or some livestock.

Many years after the laws were written in Leviticus, Joshua led the people of Israel into the land of Canaan and they began dividing it up according to God’s design. Each tribe got a large tract of land, and each family in the tribe got a smaller, but significant portion of land for their family to own. The land would be passed down from the father to his sons and then their sons.

So, lets say that you inherited a piece of land from your father, and you decided to plant a crop of huckleberries. They’re quite expensive if you buy them in the store, and most people don’t want to go to the woods to pick them, so why not capitalize on a profitable market? You go all in. You take out a short-term business loan from a successful farmer nearby and you purchase all the equipment you’ll need. You put up a greenhouse. You buy some oxen to plow the field and have the blacksmith make you a plow. You hire a bunch of workers to clear the rocks out of your field so you plow it. You hire more workers to dig a canal that will go past your land so you will have water for your crop. Then, as soon as the weather permits you go up into the woods and selectively dig up the bushes that you think will grow best, and then transplant them into your field.

A few weeks go by where you are carefully watering the transplants. Half of them of them take root, and the other half die off. You’ve planned for this. No problem.

A few more weeks go by and you’re expecting the first berries soon, but there aren’t any flowers yet. The huckleberry season comes and goes and the pickers in the mountains make their profit, but you have only expenses to report and not a single huckleberry to sell. Your short-term loan is due in full, but you don’t have anything to pay it. So, the farmer who lent you the money will take your field in payment for the loan, and you start to hire yourself out for labor jobs as often as they come up so that you can make enough money for your family to survive. It’s a meager lifestyle and often your wife is seen gleaning the edges of someone’s field or picking up the fruit that has fallen to the ground around the fruit trees. And, in a farmer’s economy, the farmer who took ownership of your field will have more leverage the next year than he did this year. In a few years, if he’s diligent and willing to take some risks, he might own the largest tract of land in that area. Meanwhile, you have nothing to pass on to your children. No land, no money, no income opportunities other than being a day-laborer.

You can see how this could easily become the “rich get richer” scenario that we see today, but God recognized that possibility, and so He created built-in relief valves called the Sabbath Year and the Year of Jubilee.

The Sabbath Year slowed down the economy and put the wealthy and the poor on an equal plane. Everyone shared everything that year. Can you imagine how fun that could be to invite everyone over to pick the apples from your orchard or take home the naturally growing grapes or have a grain gleaning party? There would be no fear of it cutting into your margins, and no deadlines and quotas to reach. No workers to pay and no worries if it didn’t produce as much as you expected. You’d have cookouts and parties and games and just a really relaxed year spent with everyone else who were also having a really relaxed year. You’d be free to go to every religious and social gathering. You wouldn’t be getting up so early or going to be so late because you wouldn’t have to work your fields. As a result, your family would get a lot more of your time than they usually get, and your body would get some time to recuperate from the strenuous work of farming. Maybe you’d go camping or spend a month visiting your sister who moved down south several years ago. Maybe you’d take the spring-time to train in a new horse for your grandkids to ride. The possibilities would be endless, and the results would be a more loving, close family, and a stronger community bond.

But after the Sabbath Year the man who lost his field in the huckleberry gamble would still not have that field, and the family who now owned it would be able to keep earning and building their wealth. So, God designed the Year of Jubilee to even things out a bit.

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Leviticus 25:10 ESV

10 And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, when each of you shall return to his property and each of you shall return to his clan.

Leviticus 25:

This was a year where all land was restored to the family that God had originally given it to in Joshua’s time, and everyone who had to work off their debt was released to become their own master again.

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Let’s go back to the huckleberry gamble. If you inherited that property from your dad with 25 more years to go until the Year of Jubilee and you went to a neighbor farmer to ask for a loan, he might be willing to give you $250,000 because he knows that if you can’t pay that loan back, he’ll get the property and all its proceeds for the next 25 years. But if you only had 12 years until the Year of Jubilee, he might only be willing to lend you $75,000 because he knows he’ll have less time to recuperate his money if you default on the loan. If this cycle of the 50th year jubilee was observed every half-century then no Israelite family would ever be stuck in a generational wealth cycle of prosperity or hardship. Every 50th year would reset the market for everyone. There could never be the kind of lending in Israel’s economy that made our 2008 recession possible. No one would want to be stuck lending a bunch of money that the law required them to forgive. This would keep the poor from bankrupting themselves, and keep the well-to-do from taking advantage.

Can you imagine the joy of that would-be huckleberry farmer to have his land back in the Year of Jubilee? He could now give it to his sons, and they would be able to plant something other than huckleberries and make a good living for their families. That’s a reason for jubilation. That’s a time for celebrating a renewed season of life. And, like the royal jubilees of England which celebrate the beginning of that monarchy, the Biblical jubilee was a time to remember the origin of their inheritance and that God was the one who gave them the land, and the one who provides for them every year since.

The Year of Jubilee was just like the Sabbath Year every 7th year, but this time it was two Sabbath years back to back. Everyone relying on what God had provided in the 48th year and whatever came up wild to supply their needs for the 49th, 50th, and the 1st year of the next Jubilee cycle. Not only was this a time to level the playing field, reset the economy, and create space for family and friendships to flourish, this was a time where every Israelite recognized who it was that provided for their daily needs. Can you imagine living for two years in an agrarian society with no one producing and storing any new food? That’s going to build some trust in your provider. That’s nearly back to the wilderness where God provided mana every day.

Jesus taught us to pray, “give us this day our daily bread,” and the Israelite’s economy was designed to create that same kind of attitude of trusting in God for their daily needs.

Can you imagine the temptation to go out and plant your fields if the cellar was running empty? What if you weren’t on speaking terms with the neighbor who had the orchards? The Israelites had to exercise faith in God and love for each other or else everyone would abandon these methods and pursue some type of free-market system in its place. Everyone had to be on board, or no one would be.

And that’s exactly what seems to have happened—no one was on board.

In fact, I can’t find one instance in the Bible where the Year of Jubilee is recorded as being kept. Except perhaps the 3 years of where there was no rain during the time of Elijah, but that wasn’t a purposeful year of jubilee. If you can find an occasion where Isreal intentionally observed the year of jubilee, please let me know.

The Israelites failed to trust God, failed to build loving community and as a result they stopped worshiping God. They worshiped the gods of the nations around them, and they demanded to have a monarchy in place of the theocracy.

I’d like you to turn in your Bibles to where we’ll find some of the principles of the Year of Jubilee applied in a society who had rejected God’s original economy.

Principles of the Year of Jubilee

God intended for his family on earth to live in unity and harmony and love. He didn’t ask them to give away every penny they earned, but they were always to make a space at their table for the poor, and leave some in the fields for the needy to glean. No one should go hungry in God’s economy. But the people had rejected God’s plan and moved to a system where the rich were getting richer and the poor were begging for their rights. Those who had the means were lending to those in need in a way that would bind their family in generational indebtedness. And they were doing all of this while going to the synagogue, fasting and praying regularly, and going to the yearly feasts. They thought they were acting religious, but God looked at their community in disgust.

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Isaiah 58:1–4 ESV

1 “Cry aloud; do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins. 2 Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God. 3 ‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’ Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers. 4 Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high.

Isaiah 58:1–5 ESV

Isaiah 58:1-

God responded to this fake religiosity by reminding them of the principles of the jubilee:

Isaiah 58:1-

Loose the bonds and let the oppressed go free

Live generously by sharing your food and your clothes with those in need

Open your home to unite your family in loving relationship

Speak with grace and kindness about your neighbors and develop a loving relationship with them

Isaiah goes on to tell about the result of living like this:

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Isaiah 58:10–11 ESV

10 if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. 11 And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.

Isaiah 58:10-

In verse 13 we find that every week is to be a reminder of the Jubilee—a Sabbath of rest. Not trying to pursue my own selfish interests, but doing God’s will—following these jubilee principles.

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Isaiah 58:13 ESV

Isaiah 58:13–14 ESV

13 “If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly; 14 then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

In this weekly reminder God doesn’t call us to be stern and exacting, but to be delighted. The Sabbath is a day for jubilation. In the Sabbath we remember the creator of our world and the redeemer of our souls. If we really trust God then truly keeping the Sabbath must include a recognition that all we own comes from Him. We might not have a Sabbath Year or a Year of Jubilee in our economy, but Christians should live out these same principles of sharing with our neighbors; not hoarding wealth to ourselves, but giving generously from what God has provided for us.

Conclusion

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When we recognize that God has given us everything we have, and if we are content with what He has provided, then we won’t be worried about holding on to our things. Did you know the most generous givers aren’t the wealthy, but the poor? Jesus recognized this when he said about the woman with two mites that she had given more than the rest. Even in her poverty, she gave. Somehow it seems easier to give everything you have when you don’t have much. The wealthy young man who came to Jesus asking about how he could be saved went away sorrowful when Jesus told him to “sell all that you have, give the money to the poor and come follow me.” If he only had two mites, that would have been a simple task for him, but his great wealth was a barrier to surrendering to Jesus.

What if we saw our possessions more like the widow with two mites than the rich young ruler? In a sense, Christians are called to have an “easy come, easy go” mentality about our possessions. Not that we mistreat them or don’t value them—God has called us to be good stewards of what He has given us. But because our stuff came to us as a gift from God and as soon as He needs it for someone else, it’s not hard to give it back to Him.

Easy come, easy go.

Generosity flows naturally out of a grateful heart.

Our first responsibility of generosity is to our own family. God designed an economy where the children were provided for through the inheritance their parents passed down to them. Today, we should model trusting God to our families by being good stewards of what God has given us, and by setting up our children for successful lives in this world and the next.

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But our responsibility doesn’t end with our family. Those in our community that have needs are a gift to us from God to give us opportunities to show God’s selfless love to others. They might have a disability that requires your physical assistance, a crisis that demands a short-term intervention to keep their family afloat, or a generational problem that needs your mentorship and input so the kids can have a better life than their parents could set them up for. Whether it’s clothes, food, shelter, safety, education or an apprenticeship opportunity, God is inviting us to generously share with others.

One of the outcomes of the New Testament church was that it rekindled an authentic trust in God, gratitude for His provision, and lives of generosity.

Some people are in a

This Thanksgiving season, while you sit down with family and friends, and eat what will hopefully be a delicious meal, take some time to recognize where all your blessings come from. And then take a moment and pray to God and ask Him how He would like you to show your gratitude. Is there a way He wants you to generously give so that others can be fed, and clothed and sheltered and experience the gospel?

We should be grateful for our possessions and that God has provided for our physical needs, but trusting God goes much deeper than our stuff.

God wants us to recognize that He is involved with every need that we have, emotional, physical, social and spiritual.

When our spirits are full and satisfied, we can turn to God with gratitude, and when we feel empty and barren, we can turn to God and remind Him that He has promised to provide all that we need.

When we have friendships and loved ones in our lives we can be grateful that God has provided for our social and emotional needs. And when we feel lonely and abandoned we can recognized that God has not abandoned us, and that soon we’ll have a Sabbath Year in our lives where God will provide more than we need.

When our gas tanks and our refrigerators are full and all our bill are paid, we can turn to God with gratitude. And when we don’t have enough money to fill our gas tank this week or provide fresh food for our table or pay the utilities we can turn to God with a smile in our heart and say, “I’m excited to see how you’re going to solve this one!”

When our family members are all getting along and satisfied, our hearts should be filled with gratitude that God has given us peace. And when our children are fighting or our spouses are dissatisfied, we can still trust that God has a beautiful future—a Jubilee is coming.

In Hebrews Paul puts this attitude of trust in God in the context of contentment:

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Hebrews 13:5 ESV

5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

In Paul expressed his personal trust in God to provide for Him:

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Philippians 4:11–13 ESV

11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. 12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. 13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

It’s not always easy to trust in God. We don’t see Him at work as soon as we see our problems mounting, so we doubt. Maybe God has left us to our own devices. Maybe we need to defend ourselves. Maybe we need to run out to our fields and plant something so we can get by this year, even though God has told us to wait and trust and rest in Him.

It’s so easy for us to get ahead of God.

As a church we’ve laid out some plans for 2020, and it would be easy for us to start working on these things as if building God’s church was our job. I was talking to the elders yesterday and we discussed taking some time in 2020 to do a five year strategic plan and think through all our visions and needs and goals. We could figure out what we need to accomplish all these plans—funding and facilities. Then one of the elders reminded us that we can easily get ahead of God—trusting in our plans rather than in the Holy Spirit. That’s not to say we shouldn’t make plans, but that we should never let our plans replace the basic trust in God’s leading.

We need to be a praying church—seeking God’s continual guidance.

We need to be a church that listens to God’s Spirit—letting Him convict us and lead us.

We need to be a church that boldly follows the convictions and leadings of God’s Spirit.

It’s not too difficult to take a minute out of your celebration to share your gratitude and praise God for your blessings, but Thanksgiving only comes once a year while God provides for every breath you take all year long. For this reason Christians need to cultivate an attitude of gratitude. There are many ways you can do this. One idea is to keep a journal and every night write down something you learned that day and something you are grateful for.

This Holiday season it won’t be too difficult to take a minute out of your celebration to share your gratitude and praise God for your blessings. But Thanksgiving only comes once a year, while God provides for every breath you take all year long.

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Christians need to cultivate an attitude of gratitude, not just at Thanksgiving time, but all throughout the year. That’s why I want to challenge you to form the habit of gratitude. For the next five days, I’d like you to take five minutes each night and write down two or three things you are grateful for. No one else needs to see it but you. I have a feeling that you’ll find your outlook on life will improve, and your generosity will grow too. And why stop at Thanksgiving day, why not make a habit of gratitude go throughout the year. And you don’t have to keep a journal to express your gratefulness. If you’re a child, tell your parent or a sibling one or two things you’re grateful for each evening. If you’re married, tell your spouse. There is no right or wrong way to have a habit of gratitude, it’s only important that you make it a regular part of your life.

As Sabbath-keeping Christians we have the opportunity to make every week a Jubilee—remembering how God has provided, and generously sharing His resources with those in need.

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It doesn’t matter what method or system you choose as long as you are intentional about cultivating an attitude of gratitude and a life of generosity. Let’s make every week an opportunity for jubilation—remembering how God has provided, and generously sharing His resources with those in need.

As we close lets remember the most significant way that God has provided for us. While we were slaves, sold out to sin, Christ died for us. Christ is our Jubilee. His first coming freed us from the power of sin and soon He’ll return again to remove us from the presence of sin to live with Him forever.

Since God has shown us such mercy, let us be grateful, and let’s show our trust in God by our generosity with our time, our relationships and our possessions.

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