Introduction
The Jewish people of the New Testament were commanded by God to be honest.  The 9^th of the 10 commandments says, “Do not false witness against your neighbor.” (Exodus 20:16) And throughout the Scriptures, God instructs people to be honest.  Just as God does not lie, we should not lie. 

And yet, how could Jews live under the oppression of the all Romans, and not lie?  Think about it.  Suppose you were in their shoes and some Romans soldiers came to arrest and execute your brother, who was hiding in your basement.  And they demanded, “Where is your brother?”  And you say, “I don’t know!  He isn’t here.”  Your lie may save his life.  And yet, in lying, you broke God’s command not to lie.

The Romans weren’t stupid.  They knew the Jews would lie for each other; who wouldn't in that situation?  But they also knew the Jews were religious and they feared God who told them not to lie.  So they might make the Jews swear a vow.  “Swear to God you don’t know where your brother is?”

An oath or vow like this was a very serious business to ancient people—especially the Jews.  Jews believed more than any other people that God was real and all powerful and all knowing.  Lying to God was a serious offense and He would punish you.  The Jews believed that wholeheartedly.

Now that’s a problem if you live in occupied territory.  What were the Jews supposed to do?  Well, Jewish religious leaders came up with some work arounds so Jews could lie to the Romans and not offend God.  We can deduce some of these from Matthew 23:16-22.  They could make a vow “by God’s Temple” as long as they didn’t make the vow on the “gold of the Temple”.  Or they could make a vow “by heaven” as long as it was not “by God in heaven”.  So these were ways Jews could use a vow to sound honest but actually lie. 

That’s convenient.  If we found ourselves in their shoes, we could probably all appreciate the practicality of being able to lie to the enemy like that.  Kids who live in abusive households often learn to lie for very similar reasons.  In order to avoid abuse and unfair punishment, they learn really quick it’s easier to lie and cover up than to be beaten.  It’s a coping mechanism and it often works.

The problem for many kids who learned to lie because they're abused is they grow into adults who are habitual liars.  Even though they are no longer in an abusive situation, they are still in the habit of lying because it’s more convenient.  Sometimes it’s just easier to lie than explain the truth.

The unfortunate Jews who lived under Roman occupation learned to be good liars.  They even learned to feel good about lying by using vows to cover it up with religious language.  But what was to stop them from using religious language to now lying to each other?  Nothing.

And into this world of lies and deception, Jesus speaks the Truth in His Sermon on the Mount.

Matthew 5:33-37
³³ “You have also heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not break your vows; you must carry out the vows you make to the Lord.’ ³⁴ But I say, do not make any vows! Do not say, ‘By heaven!’ because heaven is God’s throne. ³⁵ And do not say, ‘By the earth!’ because the earth is his footstool. And do not say, ‘By Jerusalem!’ for Jerusalem is the city of the great King. ³⁶ Do not even say, ‘By my head!’ for you can’t turn one hair white or black. ³⁷ Just say a simple, ‘Yes, I will,’ or ‘No, I won’t.’ Anything beyond this is from the evil one.

On Earth as it is in Heaven
Jesus came to bring the Kingdom of Heaven to earth.  His preaching often started with words like Matthew 3:2, “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.”  Now the people to who He preached (just like us) lived in the real world.  The real world is a place where people lie and cheat and steal.  The real world is a place where we must look at all the bad options available and pick the least evil one. Right?  You know what I mean.  We live in the real world, not some fantasy.

It’s ironic that we call the broken world we live in “The Real World”.  It’s real to us, because it’s all we’ve ever known. But Jesus came to show us this isn’t the way the world is supposes to be.  He met our broken world head on and challenged all its broken people and broken systems.  And Jesus refused to bow down to the way things work in our broken world.  It may be one of the main things that annoyed the religious and political leaders most about Jesus—that He refused to get with the program about the way things work in the “real world”.  And so, when Jesus refused to cave in and play along by the rules of the “real world”, they arrested and executed Him.  They said, see, this is what happens to people who don’t play by our rules, you die in shame and agony on a cross.

But then an amazing thing happened.  Jesus rose from the dead on the third day because He is Lord!  You see, in the “real world” honesty and integrity may get you rejected and killed.  But in the Kingdom of Heaven, those who follow Jesus rise to new life—eternal life.  And we all have to decide which is really the “real world”.  Is it this broken world of lies or is it the Kingdom of Heaven that Jesus preached?

Jesus challenged all His followers, “Pray like this:  Our Father in Heaven… Thy Kingdom come.  Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven…”  (Matthew 6:8-10)  Jesus came to overthrow our broken world and He calls all His believers to have faith to live as though His Kingdom is the true reality and this so called “real world” which we believe is reality is really a corruption and a lie that is passing away.  God’s Kingdom is coming, and we are called to live by the Kingdom’s principles.

And in God’s Kingdom, there’s no reason to lie.  There is no sin or abuse.  There is no Enemy.  We are called to live with honesty and integrity.  We’ve got to let go of our habits of lying.  We should be such honest people we no longer need vows to prove we’re telling the truth.  So the person who says, “Yes” is just as believable to as the person who says, “I swear to God, yes!”  In fact, the person who says yes may be more believable than the person who makes a vow.  Because why would you even need to say, “I swear to God…”?  If you have to swear to prove you’re telling the truth then it almost implies the possibility that you may have lied at other times when you didn’t swear to God.  In the Kingdom of Heaven, where Jesus is King, people are always honest.  Yes means yes and no means no.

Can Christians Make Vows or Swear Oaths?
Some Christian denominations interpret Jesus words about vows to mean Christians should not make vows or take oaths of any kind.  For instance, Quakers, Mennonites, and the Amish interpret Jesus’ words in Scripture to mean they should not make vows or swear oaths of any kind.  In fact, George Fox, the founder of the Quaker movement (officially called the Religious Society of Friends), was put in prison because he refused to swear on the Bible to tell the truth.  Ironically, Fox was a deeply religious man and argued the very Bible he was being compelled to swear upon required him not to swear an oath.

Was George Fox right?  Does the Bible forbid Christians from making vows or swearing oaths?  No.  I don’t believe it does.  That’s not the point of what Jesus is saying.  Besides, Jesus was involved in a trial where an oath were used.  When Jesus was on trial before the Jerusalem High Council (Matthew 26:63-64), the high priest said, “I demand in the name of the living God—tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.”  Jesus replied, “You have said it.”  That’s not much different than when the judge asks you in court, “Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?” and you respond “I do.”

Other Christian denomination may see it differently, but Methodists (and the vast majority of Christian denominations throughout history) have allowed and even encouraged Christians to make vows in certain situations—like when you get married and say, “I do” or when you become a Christian and join a church and are asked, “Do you confess Jesus Christ as Savior, put their whole trust in his grace, and promise to serve him as their Lord?” and you respond, “I do.”  So the point is not to prohibit vows.  The point is to uphold the high value of honesty and integrity in God’s people in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Conclusion
Jesus reveals once again that the demands of holiness in the Kingdom of Heaven are beyond the reach of our sinful hands.  We fall so far short of God’s glorious standards. We’re so accustomed to living in a broken and sinful world, we don’t even realize how much we sin.  Jesus points out our sin—not to shame us, but—to wake us up to our desperate need of salvation.

Do you struggle with honesty?  Are you a liar?  Before you deny it, reflect honestly and deeply.  Some of you learned to lie when you were in an abusive situation—maybe an abusive relationship or marriage, maybe even as a child who could not be honest with your parents and still survive.  Now you are free of that abuse, but you still cling to your habit of lying.  Maybe it’s just easier to lie than tell the truth.  Isn’t it time to ask God to heal you so you can start to value honesty as Jesus does?

Some of you think you are honest.  You may even be proud of how honest you are.  But think about it. 
Did you ever laugh at someone’s joke when everyone else laughed even though it wasn’t funny?  That was dishonest.  Why did you lie?  Were you trying not to look foolish?  We’re you just being polite?

Have you every smiled and pretended understand someone when you couldn’t really hear or understand them?  Have you ever covered up your physical flaws to make yourself look better than you really do?  Maybe put on a little makeup or dye in your hair or wore clothing that covered up your flaws.  Isn’t that in some sense dishonest?

Friends, we’ve all lied.  If we’re honest about it, we can all see it and admit it. It may be a small thing to us, but we’re talking about the absolutely perfect and holy standards of God.  You see?  We can’t fulfill it.  And when we’re proud of our honesty, we can see even our pride is misplaced and sinful.  We’ve nothing to be proud of.  Even our so-called righteousness is but filthy rags.

But with Jesus there is mercy and grace and forgiveness.  With Jesus, there is salvation.  We must lay down our false righteousness and throw ourselves upon the mercy of Christ.  Repent and turn to Him today and seek to live by the principles of His Kingdom.

For we all must decided what is real.  Is this world we see around us, with all its corrupt rules and customs, the “real world”?  Or is the real world the Kingdom of Heaven Jesus taught about and showed us with His life?  You must decide.  Make your choice today, right now, this very moment.

Christmas in July - The Wisemen

Introduction
One of our beloved Christmas traditions is the Three Wisemen bringing gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to baby Jesus as He lay in the manger.  I started praying about this message way back in April—seeking the Lord’s direction about what to say.  He led me to preach on the story of the Wisemen for Christmas in July at my church.  The story comes to us from Matthew 2:1-12. 

Now, I want you to try and read to this story as if you’ve never read it before.  We will find that our Christmas traditions have added quite a bit that the Bible doesn’t say.  See if you can detect the differences.

Matthew 2:1-12
¹ Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod. About that time some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking, ² “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him.”

³ King Herod was deeply disturbed when he heard this, as was everyone in Jerusalem. ⁴ He called a meeting of the leading priests and teachers of religious law and asked, “Where is the Messiah supposed to be born?”

⁵ “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they said, “for this is what the prophet wrote:

⁶ ‘And you, O Bethlehem in the land of Judah,
    are not least among the ruling cities of Judah,
for a ruler will come from you
    who will be the shepherd for my people Israel.’”

⁷ Then Herod called for a private meeting with the wise men, and he learned from them the time when the star first appeared. ⁸ Then he told them, “Go to Bethlehem and search carefully for the child. And when you find him, come back and tell me so that I can go and worship him, too!”

⁹ After this interview the wise men went their way. And the star they had seen in the east guided them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was. ¹⁰ When they saw the star, they were filled with joy! ¹¹ They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

¹² When it was time to leave, they returned to their own country by another route, for God had warned them in a dream not to return to Herod.

Jesus Born in Bethlehem in 4 BC
Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod around 4 BC (give or take 10 years).  Scholars can determine a fairly accurate date based on the verified dates of King Herod’s reign and death, and other verified dates from events in the Gospel of Luke.

However, we don’t know how old Jesus was when the Wisemen came.  Matthew doesn’t specifically say.  Matthew does tell us that Herod was mad the Wisemen didn’t come back and tell him where to find Jesus.  Herod had every male child in Bethlehem 2 years old and younger killed. (Matthew 2:16)  So we can assume Jesus was not older than two.  He could have been a baby, but He could also have been a toddler. 

These Wisemen were from the East.  In the original Greek they were called Magi.  Magi were Scientific theologians from the ancient Persian Empire who sought God.  These were men who devoted their lives to try and figure things out.  They studied religion, astronomy, and nature to find out divine truth.  The tried to figure stuff out.  

Are you tying to figure some stuff out?  Then you are a lot like the Wisemen in the story.  Guess what:  God loves people who are just trying to figure stuff out.  He loves people who search for Truth.  That's why Jesus said, "Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you." (Matthew 7:7)

The Magi were from Babylon in Persia.  Persia was once the greatest Empire on Earth.  We often think of the greeks or the Romans as the greatest empires.  However, before the Roman Empire, before Greece, there was Persia.  In fact, much of what we admire about the Greeks and Romans, they copied from the Persians.  

Because the Persian empire was so vast, officials needed to be able to travel from one side to the other quickly.  So, the Persians developed state roads that were safe and equipped with supply stations along the way.  They invented passports for officials to present at supply stations so they could be resupplied with a fresh horse and food and shelter so they could travel lighter and faster.  They worked out many of the important bureaucratic details of how to administer government.  And they were avid students of science and learning.  But in Persia, science was not divorced from religion as it so often is today.  The Persians used science and religion together.  And that's where the Magi come into the equation.  

The Magi in Matthew's Wisemen story followed a star.  They studied and used astrological signs to try and figure things out.  And these Magi discovered a sign in the heavens that foretold something world changing was taking place in Israel.  It was so important, they had to investigate.

Persia was often on friendly terms with the Jews in Israel.  The Babylonian Empire before Persia destroyed Jerusalem and took its citizens into captivity.  When the Persians conquered the Babylonians, ti was the Persian emperor Cyrus who set the Jewish captives free to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple.  The Persians even financed the project.  And the Jews and Persians maintained close relations and deep respect for each other after, until the Persian Empire was consumed by the Greek Empire under Alexander the Great.  

The Magi were the priests of Persia and they practiced a religion called Zoroastrianism, which taught God created a perfect world which is engaged in a war between good and evil that evil will be defeated at the end of time and a the world will be restored to its once perfect, original state.  It was very similar to the Judeo/Christian religious narrative.  It seems likely that the Persians and the Jews (and later Christians) influenced each other's religious thought.

These Magi who came seeking Jesus from Persia in the East, traveled around 800 miles to find Him.  It would have taken at least 4 months to travel Persia to find Jesus. We can assume from how far they traveled that they were serious about their mission.  How far would you go to find God’s Truth?

Unlike the Wisemen, the important, powerful people in Jerusalem who should have known and been paying attention to this stuff had no idea what God was doing in their own country.  And when someone from outside told them, all they wanted to do was stop it from happening.

But the Magi, from the East, were deeply interested in Jesus, the new King of the Jews.  They believed His arrival would change the world forever.  He was not only the King of the Jews, Jesus was these Persian Magi’s King too.  He was to be King of the whole world.  So the Wisemen brought Him gifts.

Three Gifts
it is tradition to say there were three Wisemen.  But the Scripture does not say that.  There were three gifts named, not three men.  There may have been three gift or there may have been more or less.  The text just says there were some Wisemen (Magi).  But we know there were three gifts.

What the three gifts actually mean is not exactly known.  People have often speculated about their meaning.  Gold is an obvious gift to give a king because people gave their very best as tribute to the ruling king.  You didn't give your second best.  And gold is the very best metal.  So you give King Jesus your very best or do you give Him what you have left over?

Frankincense is a fragrant and valuable incense used in worship  Myrrh is an anointing oil, often used for embalming the dead.  It’s not in the Bible, but a very old Christian tradition going all the way back about 200 AD to a very wise and devote church leader named Origen says Gold marked Jesus as a king.  Myrrh showed He was mortal and would day be buried.  Frankincense showed Jesus is God and would rise from the grave and be worshipped.

Who are You in the Story?

After the Wisemen—these Magi from Persia—found Jesus and worshipped Him, it says they returned to their own country.  I’m sure they went home preparing their people to receive Christ as Lord and Savior when the time came.  A few decades later, Christian missionaries started arriving to share the Good News that the baby Jesus grew up to become a great teacher and healer and worker of miracles.  He lived a perfect life, yet the religious leaders arrested and tortured Him and nailed Him to a cross.  He died and was buried, but on the third day He rose from the grave and has ascended to Heaven where He rules at the right hand of God.  One day, Jesus will return in glory to judge the living and the dead and to restore all creation to God's perfect plan.  And Jesus will rule as Lord forever.  And many Persians believed and became Christian.

 

But what about you?  Who are you in the story?  Who do you relate to the most?  Are you like the Wisemen—just trying desperately to figure some things out?  Jesus is the one with the answers.  Seek Him today and He will find you.

Maybe, you’re you like all those people in Jerusalem.  They were just going about their busy lives—trying to make ends meet, trying to take care of family, consumed with the ins and outs of life and the hot topics of the day, all the while oblivious to the eternity changing things God is doing.  Is that you?  Jesus is alive and actively working in the world all around you.  Are you too busy and distracted to see Him?  You better wake up!  You don't want to miss what He is doing!

Or maybe you’re like Herod--concerned only with protecting your hold on power and the security of your “little kingdom” at all costs.  You’ll do anything to protect your little world—even if it means fighting against God’s plan.  God's plans are so much better than yours and His Kingdom is so much better.  Why fight against Him?  You shouldn't even want to.  You better repent and turn from your selfish sin and turn to God!  God is going to triumph in the end.  Who's side are you going to be on?

 Take some time to honestly consider what God is saying to you today.  
Then, talk to God about it in prayer.

 

 

Imagine A Future Beyond Your Fears

Introduction
Fear is a universal emotion felt by people throughout all times and in every part of the world.  Fear serves a valuable purpose—to help keep us safe when threats arise by motivating us to cope with potential danger.

A fear of heights can be a good thing because if you fall from a great height, you could be injured or killed.  The fear of heights warns you to take care in that potentially dangerous situation.  Other common fears triggers are:

• Darkness or being unable to see your surroundings
• Social interaction or rejection
• Snakes, rodents, spiders and other animals
• Death and dying

Anxiety is a form of persistent fear where people feel constantly worried without knowing why.  It can be an especially crippling form of fear because the anxious person doesn’t know why they’re afraid and can’t address the cause of their fear.

The Grand Canyon
Though unpleasant, fear is not necessarily a bad thing.  We are told many times in Scripture to “Fear the Lord.”  Fear in this sense counsels us to be careful with God, to respect and revere God, for He is holy and awesome.  We should approach God with care, as one might approach the edge of the Grand Canyon because it is beautiful and inspiring, but a careless misstep could be the end of you.  Fear is useful, but when it rules you, controls you, incapacitates you, fear has exceeded its purpose.

The Bible also tells people again and again, “Do not be afraid.”  And this indicates we are often fearful in the wrong circumstances.  It is when there is a guardrail protecting us from the edge of the Grand Canyon, but we still cannot approach.  It is when the snake is securely behind the glass of a terrarium, but we still cannot look and admire the beauty of a creature God made.  Our fear is out of control and keeping us from the blessings God wants us to have.  

There is something wonderful waiting for you on the other side of your fears.  What is it?  Who will you be and what will your life be like if you overcome your fears?  On the other hand, who will you be and what will life be like if your fears conquer you?  The life God wanted to give Israel in the Promised Land was beautiful and prosperous, but they had to overcome their fears to enter it.  Listen to God’s Word to Israel as they were poised to enter the Promised Land.

Deuteronomy 6:10-13
¹⁰ “The Lord your God will soon bring you into the land he swore to give you when he made a vow to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It is a land with large, prosperous cities that you did not build. ¹¹ The houses will be richly stocked with goods you did not produce. You will draw water from cisterns you did not dig, and you will eat from vineyards and olive trees you did not plant. When you have eaten your fill in this land, ¹² be careful not to forget the Lord, who rescued you from slavery in the land of Egypt. ¹³ You must fear the Lord your God and serve him. When you take an oath, you must use only his name”

Who Should Fear and Who Should Trust?
There are two groups of people to consider in this story.  The first group is pretty obvious, because it's who the passage directly addresses.  The Israelites, had nothing to fear because God was with them.  They are told the blessings they will receive because they trust God.

The other group in the passage is less obvious.  It is the Canaanites.  God is about to take their land away and give it to the Israelites.  The Canaanites had every reason to fear because they rejected God.  They lived in Canaan for over 2,000 years.  Unfortunately, they rejected the one true God and devolved into evil, sexually immoral people who even sacrificed children as part of their religious rituals.  Furthermore, these evils had been ongoing for at least 400 years.  Finally, God was about to punish the Canaanites and give their land to the Israelites.

So the Canaanites who rejected God had everything to fear.  Their day of reckoning was at hand.  A Canaanite woman named Rahab revealed their fear in Joshua 2:9.  “I know the Lord has given you this land,” she told them. “We are all afraid of you. Everyone in the land is living in terror.”  When you reject God, you have reason for real fear.  That’s a dangerous situation.

The Israelites had nothing to fear because God was with them.  They put their faith in God.  He described the blessings Israel would receive as they conquered Canaan.  They would take possession of prosperous cities, homes already stocked with everything a person could need.  There would be wells, city infrastructure, and farmland already cultivated and producing fruit.  The towns God would give them were built by others and developed over decades and centuries.  Everything was ready for the Israelites to live in the Land.  God was with the Israelites.  They simply had to trust God more than their fear and enter the Promised Land.  

In verse 13, God reminds the Israelites “You must fear the Lord your God and serve him.”  In other words, don’t be afraid of the Canaanites.  Don’t be afraid to enter their land and conquer it.  Don’t be afraid of the scary things of this world.  Fear the Lord and obey Him.  For then you will be on God side and God’s side is always the winning side.

God’s Great Plan For You
God has a great plan for you too.  He wants you to live a life of confidence and faith.  He wants you to know He is with you and see His mighty hand at work.  Just as Jesus called His disciples, He calls you, “Come follow me.”  It is an amazing journey for all who answer the call to follow.  We see God’s power at work.  We see lives changed.  We see fearful people find confidence.  We see sinners transformed into saints.  We see the hopeless find hope.  And God supplies all the needs of His people as they embrace the mission of Christ. 

Among the blessings of those who follow Christ is a peace that passed all understanding.  You have peace in your heart.  You are at one with your Creator and His creation.  You know you have nothing to fear, nothing to hide, nothing to lose.  You trust God, not only with your own life, but with the lives of those you care about most.  You know you belong to God’s special family, for God adopts you as His own child.  Regardless of your social status in this world, in God’s sight you are a royal priest—kings and queens in the eternal Kingdom of God.   

There are still storms and trials and troubles.  There may be resistance.  (Look what they did to Jesus; they crucified Him.)  However, Christ is with His followers throughout all the trials of life.  Hebrews 13:6, “So we can say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?””

Because Christ died on the cross and rose from the grave, those who follow Jesus also follow Him through death to ressurection and eternal life.  That means we no longer even need to fear death.  We are free to live with incredible faith and and boldness and confidence! 

Choose Today Who You Will Serve
There is something wonderful waiting for you on the other side of your fears.  What is it?  Who will you be and what will your life be like if you overcome your fears?  On the other hand, who will you be and what will life be like if your fears conquer you?

Whether you live in fear or live in faith all comes down to your choices.  Will you be like the Canaanites who continually rejected God and chose to live for themselves?  Or will you be like the Israelites, whom God chose and they chose to serve and obey God?

If you continue to choose your own way, you are in great danger—eternal danger.  A day of reckoning is coming for you, for we all must face God’s judgment one day.  Those who reject Christ will be rejected by God and cast out of the Good Land into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

But if you repent of your selfish sin and chose to put your faith in Christ, God will save you.  There will be nothing to fear because Jesus has already paid the penalty for your sins.  Now you are free to live in God’s love and share His love with everyone around you.  You didn’t earn these blessings.  Christ earned them for you.  So live a life of grateful obedience.

Who will you choose to serve today?  Will you serve your fear and continue to miss out on the Promised Land God wants to give you?  Or will you choose to serve you own selfish ambitions and reap the wrath of God?  Or will you choose to serve the One True and Living God and be His chosen sons and daughters for eternity?  

As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.

Take time to pray and chose who you will trust and follow and obey.  Be clear with God and yourself about your decision today.

The Year of Jubilee - Freedom in Christ

Introduction
This is our last message in a series about the ancient Israelite Year of Jubilee.  Every 50th year on the Day of Atonement the ancient Israelites would blow a ram’s horn.  We get the name "Jubilee" from the Hebrew word for ram's horn, which is jubel or yobel.  Different kinds if horns can be used for the sacred Jewish trumpet (AKA shofar).  The prefered horn is a curved ram.  Next in line would be a curved from a sheep, followed by a curved horn from any other animal--like a

kudu, which have visually striking spiral horns.  The least preferred horns for a shofar would be a straight horn or a horn from a non-kosher animal.  Cow horns were not supposed to be used.

On the Year of Jubilee, slaves were freed, all debts were forgiven, land that had been sold was restored to the original owner.  There was also no agricultural work during the Year of Jubilee.

The Jubilee was every 50th year, but Israelites also got a year off every seventh year.  

Leviticus 25:18-22
¹⁸ “If you want to live securely in the land, follow my decrees and obey my regulations. ¹⁹ Then the land will yield large crops, and you will eat your fill and live securely in it. ²⁰ But you might ask, ‘What will we eat during the seventh year, since we are not allowed to plant or harvest crops that year?’ ²¹ Be assured that I will send my blessing for you in the sixth year, so the land will produce a crop large enough for three years. ²² When you plant your fields in the eighth year, you will still be eating from the large crop of the sixth year. In fact, you will still be eating from that large crop when the new crop is harvested in the ninth year. 

Israel was God’s Kingdom on Earth
Most people don’t understand how special was ancient Israel.  They were a very, very special people.  They had the opportunity to be God’s chosen nation on earth.  They were to be God’s royal priesthood who represent God to the whole world.  As such, they would enjoy many special benefits that other nations didn’t have that allowed the Israelites the freedom to concentrate on showing God to the whole world. 

One special blessing was a year off of work every seventh year.  This was huge—especially living in and agricultural economy.  Lev. 25:18-22 answers the obvious question: how can people who live by subsistence farming survive without farming for a year?

Verses 18-22 explain the Israelites would have normal harvests for five years. Then they would God would send a super abundant harvest in the sixth year.  They would eat what they wanted in the sixth year and store away all the surplus.  When the farmers took the seventh year off, they would eat some of their stores from the sixth year.  In the eighth year, they would plant they next crop, but they would have to wait until that crop matured and was harvested.  So they would still be eating the food they stored away on the sixth year and those stores would last all the way to the beginning of year ninth year when were back on track with the regular planting and harvesting cycle.  This was the blessing God promised the Israelites if they would be faithful.

God’s People Live By Faith
How could the Israelites live this way? They could only do it by trusting in their Lord.  The whole concept of Israel was based on faith in Yahweh, their God.  

Yahweh is the God who called Abraham to leave his homeland in Ur and go to a “Promised Land”.

Yahweh is the God who delivered the Hebrew slaves from Egypt—the most powerful empire in the world at the time.  Only God could defeat Egypt and win the Hebrew's freedom.

Yahweh is the God who provided mana from Heaven and water of life as the Hebrews wandered in the dessert for forty years.  There was no farming going on for those forty, but could provided.  If God can provide for forty year of wandering in the dessert, He can provide one or two years of food for the Israelite's sabbatical years.

Yahweh is the God who conquered the Canaanites for the Israelites. God did the fighting.  Take the battle of Jericho for instance.  Tha battle plan was ludicrous and designed to show everyone that it was only God who won the battle.  The Israelites marched around the city for seven days and then on the seventh day they blew trumpets.  They didn't use catapults of siege works. They blew ram's and the walls cam crumbling down!

What was required of the Israelites for all this to happen? Faith.  They had to trust God and obey.  Faith and obedience was what God required as they took possession and lived in the Promised Land.  They had to trust God to provide enough food for living—even if they took one day off per week, one year off every seven, and celebrated a Jubilee every 50th year.  This was the requirement and the blessing reserved specifically for God's people, Israel.

Unfortunately, Biblical scholars and historians say most evidence shows the ancient Israelites never fully followed the Sabbath cycle.  One of the main sins of which Biblical prophets accused Israelites is not observing the Sabbath.  They only occasionally took the seventh year off and there is little evidence that they every really fulfilled the stipulations of the Jubilee year.  They always found loopholes so they didn’t take the Jubilee year off from work.  They found ways to work around the law so they didn’t have to set all their slaves free, they didn't forgive debts, and they didn’t give land back to the original owners.  

Some religious scholars point out the seventy years the Jewish captives spent in Babylon after the fall of Jerusalem were to make up for all the Sabbath years the Israelites skipped. According to 2 Chronicles 36:20-21, “The land finally enjoyed its Sabbath rest, lying desolate until the seventy years were fulfilled, just as the prophet had said.”  Even though the Israelites disobeyed, God made sue the land had its rest.  God cares about the land, even if people don't.

That’s what people do. We don’t fully trust God.  We're disobedient.  When we don’t fully trust God, we try to work things out ourselves. We do it our own way.  We try to justify our disobedience and do what seems right in our own eyes.  

At first glance, this seems like normal behavior. It seems like we’re being prudent, like we’re only doing what makes sense.  Sin often seems to make sense when we look at it from a merely human perspective.  It’s what happened at the fall of humanity in the Garden of Eden.

God made the Garden and told Adam and Eve they could eat any fruit in the whole Garden, only don't eat the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  If they ate it, God said they would die.  Satan told Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:4-5, 4 “You won’t die! …God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.”

And it says in verses 6-7, “6 The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too.”

Thus, sin entered the world and we’ve been trying to do it all our own way ever since.  Look where it’s gotten us: a broken creation, a broken humanity, and we are stressed and a mess and slaves to our own sin.

You would think God had given up on us, but he hasn’t. God still loves us. John 3:16 says – “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

And so Christ came to save us.  He left the glory of Heaven to come to our broken world.  He didn’t come in glory as he deserved. Instead, he was born as a humble child to poor parents.  He lived as one of us—ordinary people. He was like us in every way—accept without sin, for He trust God and obeyed perfectly. Jesus fulfilled God’s law perfectly.  Jesus calls us to repent of our sin, to turn to God, to trust Him and obey.  

Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty of our sin. If we trust Him, we are no longer guilty.
We have eternal life in Him and we are called to be His people.

1 Peter 2:9 says, “…for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.”

Christians who trust in Jesus as Lord are now Israel.  We are God’s chosen people.  We are the captive Hebrew slaves who have been set free, but our freedom isn't just from Egyptian slave masters (or some other earthly power).  Our freedom is a freedom from the dark power of sin enforced by Satan.

Galatians 5:1 says,  “So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law.”

You have to choose freedom over slavery every day.  You see, whenever you choose to trust your own way more than God’s way, you are choosing slavery to sin.  

Think over your life. Think about how it was when you’re rejected God’s way and chosen your own path.  It may have felt good initially, but then it led to trouble, to stress and weariness and pain.  Soon you were enslaved, and it felt awful.   And the only way out is to repent and seek forgiveness.

Confession of Sin (adapted from UMH 893)
So now, let us repent and confess our sins to the Lord and receive His forgiveness.  Here is a prayer you can use.  Read this prayer of confession as your words to God today.  Adapted it and add to it according to your need.

Lord, I confess my day to day failure to be truly human.  I confess I often fail to love with all I have and am, often because I do not fully understand what loving means, often because I am afraid of the risk.  Lord, we confess to You.  I have cut myself off from others and erected barriers of division.  I confess that by silence and ill-considered word I have built up walls of prejudice.  Lord, I confess that by selfishness and lack of sympathy I have stifled generosity and left little time for others.  

Holy Spirit speak to me. Help me listen to Your word of forgiveness, for I am very deaf. Come, fill this moment and free me from my sin. Amen.

Forgiveness
My friend, with the authority God gives me, I say to you:  In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven.  Amen.

The Year of Jubilee - Nothing to Hide

Introduction
When I was a kid, we would sometimes have company over to the house.  Usually, it was relatives who were visiting from out of town.  (We had a lot of relatives who lived far away that would come visit once or twice a year.)  Now, there were four kids in my family and my mom was a single mom who worked full-time, so our home was usually quite “lived in”.  When we knew company was coming over, my mom made sure we all pitched in to clean the place up.  Sometimes our relatives would arrive and say something polite like “Oh, your house looks so nice!  I can never keep my place clean like this!”  (I often thought to myself, you should have been here and saw how it looked yesterday!  Oh, and don't open that closet door where we stuffed all our junk!)

We do that sometimes don’t we?  We try to clean ourselves up to look good for people and keep up appearances.  We don’t want people to see our problems, our faults, our mess.  And if we have any secrets, we want to keep them secret.  We might not want people to see who we really are on the inside.

Jesus came to set us free from all that and that’s what this blog is about .  In Jesus, we have nothing to hide.

Leviticus 25:14-17
14 “When you make an agreement with your neighbor to buy or sell property, you must not take advantage of each other. 15 When you buy land from your neighbor, the price you pay must be based on the number of years since the last jubilee. The seller must set the price by taking into account the number of years remaining until the next Year of Jubilee. 16 The more years until the next jubilee, the higher the price; the fewer years, the lower the price. After all, the person selling the land is actually selling you a certain number of harvests. 17 Show your fear of God by not taking advantage of each other. I am the Lord your God.

Real Estate in Ancient Israel
This is my third installment in a study of ancient Israelite laws for the Year of Jubilee.  Every 50 years on the Day of Atonement, the priest would blow a sacrificial ram's horn, in Hebrew a jubil (or yobel; AKA a shofar).  Everyone had a whole year off from agricultural work so they could celebrate, worship the Lord, and just enjoy life.  Furthermore, all slaves were set free, all debts were forgiven, and any family land that had been sold was returned to the original family.  It was a tremendously joyful occasion when everything and everyone  in society was renewed. People were made right with God and with each other.

The year of Jubilee is something that sounds both amazing, but also strange to people today.  It’s hard for us to understand some aspects of the Year of Jubilee, because Americans have different concepts of property ownership than the ancient Israelites in the Bible.  

For one, America is the Land of the Free.  We were founded on the principle that we are not bound to a king.  Most people throughout history, including the early settlers who came to America from Europe, understood that they were vassals of their homeland’s king.  They only came to America because their king granted them the right and granted them land in the New World to farm on behalf of their King.

The American Revolution was truly a revolution.  Our forefathers revolutionized the way people in our country think about freedom, individualism, and property ownership.  They declared that all men are created equal.  IE. the common man and woman is equal to the king and queen.  Furthermore, our founders declared people are free and not vassals who must serve a monarch as lord.  In this new world order, people may purchase and own their own property as individuals (and not merely hold property in trust on behalf of their king).  We take this idea for granted today.  If you purchase a home, you understand that the property belongs to you. It doesn’t belong to the king (or to the president or the government) who generously allows you to use it.  It’s truly yours to keep or to sell.  We don’t even think about this.  We just accept it.  However, this is truly something new that started with the American Revolution when our nation broke free from the king of England.  This was not the way most cultures thought of property for the vast majority of the world throughout history. 

In ancient Israel, they had a totally different concept of property ownership.  Ancient Israelites started as slaves in Egypt.  Then God delivered them from slavery and brought them to the land in Canaan.  God fought on behalf of the Israelites to conquer the Canaanites and gave the land to the Israelites.  The Israelites understood that they didn’t really own their land.  God owned it and granted it to the people of Israel.  God gave each tribe, clan, and family a certain piece of land to maintain.  Every Israelite family understood that their land did not really belong to them.  They were merely stewards of land that belonged to the Lord God of Israel.  They were to tend the land and live off the land and use it for the glory of God as they served as God’s representatives to the world. 

If the circumstances of life required an Israelite to sell part of his family’s land, there was a problem.  How can you sell land that doesn't really belong to you?  So, in the way ancient Israelites thought of their land, they were really only leasing the land for a set number of years–the number of years until the next Year of Jubilee when the land would revert to the original land holder.   

So, suppose there were still 40 years left until the next year of Jubilee, then the land might be worth $40,000.  But if there were only 10 year left until Jubilee, the land was only worth $10K.  Or if the Year of Jubilee was only 1 year away, the land might only be worth $1,000, because once the ram’s sounded on the Year of Jubilee, the land would have to return to the original owner.

People are people; they always have been–even thousands of years ago.  People will always try to take advantage of each other when it comes to business deals.  If you work in business or sales you probably experience this–whether you sell cars, sell houses, or other things.  You know how it works.  You see some really nice people, but  they will try to take advantage of you to work out a deal that’s better for them but not necessarily fair for you.  That’s the old sinful selfish nature inside us.  It’s been their since the fall of humanity way back in the Garden of Eden. 

God wants His people to be different.  He wants us to be holy as He is holy.  And so Leviticus 25:17 reminds us, “Show your fear of God by not taking advantage of each other. I am the Lord your God.”

For the ancient Israelites, this meant making sure their real estate deals were fair and honest.  Buyers shouldn’t take advantage of sellers.  And sellers should not take advantage of buyers.  Everything needs to be open and transparent.  This meant they must always consider the number of years remaining until the Year of Jubilee, because this affects the value of the property. 

John 8:31-32
31 Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. 32 And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Being a Christian
Christians follow Jesus' teachings.  We aren’t saved by being good people.  We are saved by God’s grace when we have faith in Jesus and choose to follow Him.  Following Jesus means being faithful to His teachings and Jesus taught us to be people who repent of sin and live lives of moral integrity.

Ironically, the people who opposed Jesus the most in the New Testament were the Pharisees–people who were seen as the most righteous people around.  Jesus said the Pharisees were like whitewashed tombs.  They were all bright and pretty on the outside, but inside they were like rotting corpses–full of filthy evil deceit.  The Pharisees claimed they were completely devoted to the God of Israel, but when God sent His Son, Jesus the Messiah, to save them, the Pharisees rejected Jesus.  They were even willing to kill the Son of God in order to protect their position and power.

Jesus and His followers shouldn't be like the Pharisees.  We should be people of integrity.  We don’t need to pretend we’re perfect.  Jesus didn’t come to save perfect people.  Jesus came to seek and save the lost.  So if you lost, He came to save you.  If you’ve got some flaws, it’s ok.  If you can admit your sins, you’re good; repent and believe in Jesus and He’ll forgive you and save you.

But if you’re sweeping your sins under the rug, pretending to be something you’re not, there’s a problem.  How can Jesus save someone who pretend they're already perfect and don't need forgiveness, healing, and salvation?  This is true spiritual blindness and hypocrisy.

It’s a heavy burden to live a lie.  You’ve got to keep up appearances.  You’ve got to guard your secrets.  You’ve got to always worry when someone might see you for who you really are.  It’s so much better to just come clean.  Then you have nothing to hide!  Sure, you lose the lie and maybe some people won’t think you're the hero they once thought you were, but there will be many more who respect and admire your honesty.  Most important of all, your heart will be right with God.  Jesus said, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”  You are truly free when you have nothing left to hide.

Jesus should know.  He is the trumpet that calls people to repentance and announces God’s Great Jubilee when all slaves to sin who answer the call to repentances are set free and every person is restored to a right relationship with God and their neighbors.

Invitation
Won’t you hear Jesus calling you to repent today?  Won’t you accept His invitation? 

 I invite you to use Psalm 51:1-10 as your prayer to God today.  This famous Psalm was a prayer written by David recalling his on repentance aft a serious sin.  David committed adultery with Bathsheba and then murdered her husband to cover up his sin.  God accepted David's repentance.  There were consequences for David's sin, but their was also healing and restoration.  Whatever sin you've committed, what ever mess you've made of your life, God can forgive you and restore you, but you've got to repent and believe.

Psalm 51:1-10
“Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment. Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me. You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me."

Amen.