Evening guys! I want to thank all of you so much for being here this evening. You have given up a Saturday night and $20 to be here tonight, and I want you to know how much I appreciate that. I also want to thank Melissa Cantley’s small group and my small group for supporting this both financially and with massive investments of time. Thank you especially to my wonderful mother who gave up her weekend to drive down here and prepare all of this food. So, why are you here? If I could sum it up in one word, it would be this: Jubilee. It’s a great word, isn’t it? It evokes some wonderful images even if we don’t quite know exactly what it originally meant. Let me back up a bit, though. Last November, I had the opportunity to go to India for a short term mission trip. It was a glorious trip, and I would highly recommend that all of you take a trip somewhere soon. At any rate, on the very last day of the trip we took a trip to a Muslim community in Dehli. Now, to be Muslim in India places you in a unique position. On the one hand, there are around 160 million Muslims in India, so you are not exactly alone. On the other hand, you face a type of passive oppression from the mainly Hindu government that leaves you very poor and with very few opportunities. Speaking in broad generalities, the Hindus around you do not like you and the Christians around you are afraid of you. The community that we visited on that day fit all of these realities. It was poor-so poor that our guide, VJ said it was the only real slum we had visited all week. Friends, let me tell you-I thought that we had seen slums. Apparently, we hadn’t. I’m not going to describe the community, because my description would fall flat. Suffice it to say, I left shaken. I left wanting to do something but unsure of what I could do. Thankfully, God had a plan, and you are it, my friends. You and I are going to declare a year of Jubilee for those people. So, what does that word actually mean? It means, “the blast of a horn” and “the signal of the silver trumpets.” You see, God instructed Moses to build two silver trumpets, and these were the trumpets that would be blown to signal the beginning of the Jubilee. If you were a poor Israelite, that horn was a very good sound. Let’s see how this year of Jubilee came about. If you have a bible with you, open it up to Leviticus chapter 25. Be honest, you weren’t expecting to get read to out of Leviticus tonight were you? For our closing act, we’re going to read all of the genealogies in 1st and 2nd Chronicles. We know how to party. Ok, this is what Leviticus Chapter 25 says,
8 “‘Count off seven sabbath years—seven times seven years—so that the seven sabbath years amount to a period of forty-nine years. 9 Then have the trumpet sounded everywhere on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement sound the trumpet throughout your land. 10 Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each of you is to return to your family property and to your own clan. 11 The fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; do not sow and do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the untended vines.12 For it is a jubilee and is to be holy for you; eat only what is taken directly from the fields.
13 “‘In this Year of Jubilee everyone is to return to their own property.
18 “‘Follow my decrees and be careful to obey my laws, and you will live safely in the land. 19 Then the land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill and live there in safety.
To quote my father, clear as mud? Let’s give a little context. The Israelites have been freed from slavery in Egypt and they are now receiving the law. When we hear this passage and others like it, we tend to hear it through the lens of eradicating poverty and the evils of slavery. That’s all well and good, but if we’re not careful and if we stop right there, we’re going to miss the real impact of this passage. To get at what’s really going on, let’s start with something we don’t often think about in this day and age: Land. In the NIV translation of the bible, the word “land” is used over 1300 times. Of those 1300 uses, 1260 of them occur in the Old Testament. Simply put, the people of Israel thought about land a lot. Why did they think about it that much? Because land was the sign of God’s favor. It’s right there in the passage we read. Look again at verse 18, “Follow my decrees and be careful to obey my laws, and you will live safely in the land. 19 Then the land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill and live there in safety.” In other words, obey me, and you get land. Disobey me, and you will be driven out of the land. Proverbs 10:30 says “The righteous will never be uprooted, but the wicked will not remain in the land.” In fact, if we went to the very beginning of the Jewish people, we would find God making a covenant with Abraham in Genesis 12 and 15 and telling him over and over, “I am with you, and I will give you this land.” Unfortunately, if God’s favor was shown in his giving land to His people, his wrath was shown in just the opposite fashion. How did God, ultimately, punish both the northern and southern kingdoms? He exiled them. He removed them from the land and His favor. Almost all of the O.T. prophets issued warnings to the people that their refusal to obey God’s laws would result in them being driven from the land. How did God, ultimately, show his faithfulness to the people of Israel? He brought them back to the land. Isaiah 60 gives a beautiful picture of this restoration. It says, “10 “Foreigners will rebuild your walls,
and their kings will serve you.
Though in anger I struck you,
in favor I will show you compassion.
11 Your gates will always stand open,
they will never be shut, day or night,
so that people may bring you the wealth of the nations—
their kings led in triumphal procession.
Then you will know that I, the Lord, am your Savior,
your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.
17 Instead of bronze I will bring you gold,
and silver in place of iron.
Instead of wood I will bring you bronze,
and iron in place of stones.
I will make peace your governor
and well-being your ruler.
18 No longer will violence be heard in your land,
nor ruin or destruction within your borders,
but you will call your walls Salvation
and your gates Praise.
So, that’s what the word Jubilee meant in an Old Testament context and why it was important to the Israelites, but why is it important to us tonight? Because, although you may not realize it, we all have a real estate problem of our own. We were all born cut off from God’s favor. Genesis 3 shows us the start of it all. After God pronounces judgment on the serpent, Adam, and Eve, the Bible records this, “And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” 23 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side[e] of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.” From that day, every human being born has been born separated from the favor of God. God is holy-there is no one like Him. God is just-he punishes the wicked and he rewards the righteous. Unfortunately, on our own, none of us are righteous. On our own we are all sinners whose best efforts can only be described as “filthy rags.” But fortunately for us, God is gracious-He made a way for his favor to be given to all of us. He sent His only Son, Jesus Christ to die on a Roman cross, to be buried in a rich man’s grave, and to rise victorious over death, hell, and sin on the third day. God did all of that so that no one gets to boast that he earned his own way to God. Only those who humble themselves, repent of their sin, and trust in Jesus as their Lord can enter the presence of God. That presence, once entered, is enjoyed forever. This, my friends, is good news indeed. God gives us a picture of what that presence is going to be like in five of the most beautiful, triumphant verses in the Bible, Revelation 22:1-5. John describes it like this, “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.” There’s that tree again. God is going to solve our real estate problem.
So, we now know where we started from, and we know where it’s all heading, but how in the world do we get there? And how am I going to bring it all back to the word Jubilee? I’ll show you how in the last passage we’re going to turn to tonight: Luke 4:14-21records this story about the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, “14 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. 15 He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.
16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”[f]
20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Did you hear that? Jesus came to declare the year of the Lord’s favor-Jesus came to declare the year of Jubilee. Because of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection the way to God is open to any and all who will come to Him. Before we go any further, I just want to ask every person in this room to thank about their own lives. Where are you living right now? Are you living in the presence of God? Are you living in the favor of God? Are you enjoying the Year of Jubilee and have been restored to God? Or are you still cut off and exiled from God? If you are still cut off from God, please don’t wait another instant to put your trust in Him. If you have any questions about what that means or how to do that, grab me after I’m done, grab someone, don’t wait another instant. Now, when it comes to this community in India and all of the people that we see every day, we don’t have silver trumpets anymore, but we have our voices. There’s another, deeper meaning to the word Jubilee; it comes from a root word that means, “to flow” and “to bring forth.” So, this word meant not only a blast of a trumpet, but a trumpet blast that brought forth good news. God has allowed us to join with Him in this most important task by telling everyone we can that they are now free. Our enemies are defeated. He has put His Spirit inside of us so that we can proclaim this wonderful gospel to everyone around us. That’s whattonight is all about. We are not raising money so that we can build some poor people a school and give them a better life. We are not raising money so that we can give it to some Christians in another country so that we don’t have to feel guilty anymore. We are partnering with our brothers and sisters in Christ and providing them with the means to go to this Muslim community with the Gospel. This money we are raising tonight WILL allow COI to build a beauty school in this community, but, more importantly, this money will allow COI to train and equip the local church to reach out to these people who so desperately need the gospel. Remember, we are not the heroes of this story, and our friends at COI are not the heroes of this story. GOD is the hero of this story. We are not proclaiming the year of our favor; we are proclaiming the year of the Lord’s favor. So, as we enjoy this meal and each other’s company, let’s give thanks to our Father in heaven that someone took the time to tell us this good news once upon a time. Let’s take a moment and praise God for his indescribable love and mercy that he poured down on us when he saved us. Let’s take a moment and dedicate ourselves to proclaiming the year of the Lord’s favor to our neighbors, co-workers, and friends. Not out of duty, but out of love for our king. Let’s pray.
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