The Year of Jubilee

Now we're going to turn to God's Word. We're going to turn to a book that we don't often read from, the book of Leviticus.

The words will come up on the screen if you've got a Bible you might like to turn to us. Leviticus chapter 25.

Leviticus 25 · chapter mention

Now Leviticus is in many ways quite a scary book for lots of people.

It is where God gives the detailed regulations about sacrifice and about how the people should live before him.

But I thought chapter 25 is particularly appropriate to think about today because it is about the year of Jubilee.

The idea of Jubilee, as so many other things, is something that comes from the Bible.

And the year of Jubilee was every 50th year that the people particularly celebrated and remembered God's goodness to them.

So we're going to spend a little while this morning thinking about the year of Jubilee

and thinking about some of the lessons perhaps we can learn as a church as we go into our Jubilee year this year.

So we're going to read not the whole chapter, we're going to read a few verses from Leviticus 25

and then see what God has to say to us.

So start at verse 8, Leviticus 25 and verse 8.

And God says,

In this year of Jubilee, everyone is to return to his own property.

If you sell land to one of your countrymen or buy any from him, do not take advantage of each other.

You are to buy from your countrymen on the basis of the number of years since the Jubilee.

And he is to sell to you on the basis of the number of years left for harvesting crops.

When the years are many, you are to increase the price.

And when the years are few, you are to decrease the price.

Because what he is really selling you is the number of crops.

Do not take advantage of each other.

But fear your God.

I am the Lord your God.

And then we're moving down a bit in the chapter to verse 35.

Verse 35.

And God again says,

If one of your countrymen becomes poor and is unable to support himself among you,

help him as you would an alien or a temporary resident, so that he can continue to live among you.

Do not take interest of any kind from him, but fear your God, so that your countrymen may continue to live among you.

You must not lend him money at interest or selling food at a profit.

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.

And God, I'm sure, will bless his word as we consider it together.

If you move back 50 years from 2017, it's not very difficult to work out you get back to 1967.

I can only remember clearly two things that happened in 1967.

And one of them was that it was probably the best year ever for Scottish football.

In May, we went down to Wembley, and the Wembley Wizards hammered the world champions English.

Say they hammered, we won 3-2, but it felt like we hammered them.

And we then obviously became world champions because we beat the previous champions.

So great, great for Scottish Scotland.

And then the event I really remember well from the football is the following month, the month of June, Celtic became the first British team to win the European Cup.

They went out to Lisbon, the Lisbon Lions, and they won the European Cup.

I have quite a strong memory of that.

As a result of that, I had my first sporting hero, who was this guy here, who was called Bobby Lennox.

A kind of speedy winger for Celtic.

I'm not sure why I chose him, but he quickly became my sporting hero in 1967.

So that's the first memory, nothing to do with church.

Second memory very much is to do with church.

It is of moving up into this church here.

Up until 1967, the church, the people of the church, we worshipped down in a hall in Lauriston Place.

And you can maybe just make out, we're looking towards to across here,

and our hall is where the flats were on the far right of that picture.

We were up a stairs, it wasn't a ground floor, but it was a stancho hall that we used to meet in there.

But very much a hall rather than a church.

And I can remember some of the excitement, certainly among us youngsters,

at the thought of coming to a real church.

And a real church building, and quite grand it was too.

These are the decorative pipe organs.

They're actually still there.

If you can go up above that screen there, if you can see through,

these pipes are still there.

There's no organ, obviously, now attached to them.

You can see if you go up in one of the storage areas up in the gallery today.

Very good if you're getting a bit bored at one of the services.

You could try and count the number of pipes that were in the organ.

But it was an exciting time for the church.

It was a real step of faith for those who were in leadership at the time

to move from a relatively small hall upstairs into this big church

and to think that we could use it and that we could continue to worship God here.

And we've been here now for just about 50 years.

The anniversary is actually in July.

And they've been good years on the whole.

There have been difficult times.

We've gone through times when the church has struggled in many different ways.

But as I said at the start, God has been faithful to us.

And as we look back, we do so with thanksgiving.

I'm sure a lot of us who have been here for a long time

will get a bit nostalgic over the course of the year.

Please forgive us for that.

And we will also be trying to look forward

and to look at what God is continuing to do among us.

There's also, of course, as church members will know,

a year of a new start for the church.

John Gemmo, our pastor, for the last seven and a bit years,

has now moved on to further Christian service.

And certainly for the first half of the year,

we won't have a pastor leading us,

but we will have Graham Shanks, our assistant pastor,

and Peter and the interns who will be still very active.

But we're very much depending on God

and looking forward to what God has to do for us over the year.

But I thought it would be good this morning

to look at this year of jubilee

that the Israelites were instructed by God to celebrate

and to think, what does it say to us

as we enter our 50th year?

What lessons can we learn from God's instruction to Israel

that will be of help to us as we look back

and as we look forward this year?

Year of Jubilee, the name probably came from the trumpet

that was sounded at the beginning.

The Jubal was the name of the trumpet.

It was probably the year of the trumpet.

And of course, over time,

jubilee has become something particularly associated with marriage,

but also with other things as well.

It's not entirely clear how often the year of jubilee

actually was celebrated by the Israelites.

You don't read about it a lot in the Bible.

So whether they actually did as God had instructed them

over the years, we're not sure.

But what God gave them was something which was very important.

For most people, once in their lifetime,

they had this special year.

Once in their lifetime,

they had this year which was set apart for God

and was to be holy before him.

And it was a time when they were supposed to recognise

the goodness of God to them,

recognise their dependence on God,

and also to recognise that they were the people of God.

That they weren't just like any other nation round about

and that they would have a real care

and a real concern for each other

and particularly for those who were disadvantaged.

We'll think about some of these things

as we go along this morning.

But it was a special year.

Three points, three very simple points.

They all begin with F,

so hopefully relatively straightforward to remember.

The first thing was,

it was a year of faith.

We read about that at the beginning of our reading.

This was to be a year

when the people depended on God

to provide for them.

Now the Jubilee year wasn't unique in that sense.

Because God had said that every seventh year

was to be special

in that they depended on God.

As every week had a Sabbath day,

a day of rest,

so every seventh year

was to be a Sabbath year,

a year of rest.

A year of rest particularly for the land,

that the land could renew itself

and be able to produce a bigger crop

in subsequent years.

And a year of rest in that sense

for the people too,

they wouldn't be sowing the crop

and so on.

It was a year of rest

every seventh year,

but every 50th year

you had an even more special year of rest.

And the seventh year

and the 50th years

were years of faith.

You can imagine the people

getting to the end of the sixth year

in the seven-year cycle

and saying we've had a good crop this year

just as God promised we would,

but is it really going to be enough

to see us through the next two years

until we have our next harvest?

Is there enough in our barns

to see us through?

And they then had to trust God

and say,

yes, we believe in God.

We know that God is faithful.

We're not going to plant our crops next year.

We don't need to

because God has promised

we'll have the Sabbath year

and God will provide.

The 50th year

might have been doubly so.

Now it's not entirely clear,

at least to me,

exactly how the 50th year works.

So it might have been

you had the 49 years

and then you had the 50th year.

So in fact,

we had two years

when there was no planting.

Some people think

the 50th year,

the Jubilee year of each cycle

was actually treated

as the first year

of the next cycle.

So it was a Sabbath year,

also a Jubilee year.

It was year one

and then year 50

would also fall

on a Sabbath year.

Don't know the answer to that,

but quite possible

that the people of Israel

were being asked

to trust God

for two years

in this case.

One year for the normal

Sabbath year

and another year

for their Jubilee year.

And what a temptation

there may have been

to say,

let's just hedge our bets a bit.

Let's just plant a bit of crop.

Let's just make sure

for ourselves

that we'll be okay.

And God says,

no,

this is a year

when you have to depend

on me.

You have to have faith.

I will provide.

I will give you

what you need.

And I'm sure God,

if the people did indeed

celebrate the Jubilee year,

God certainly would have been

faithful to his promises.

And for us too,

we're entering a year

where we need to have faith.

We need to depend on God.

As I said,

we enter it without a pastor.

We have six months at least

and possibly longer

when it's going to be

all hands on deck

and we're going to have to cover

for the enormous amount

that John has done

over recent years.

But we can't go into it

thinking we will need

to make all these plans

and we will do it.

We need to go in saying

we are dependent

entirely on God

and he is the one

who will see us

through this Jubilee year.

He is the one

who will be with us

and will help us

and will guide us

and will ensure

that the church continues

to enjoy growth

and spiritual blessing

over the coming months.

I put in a picture

for this point

the words Jehovah Jireh

God provides.

Many of you will know

that recognize

that these words

are associated with

Abraham from the Old Testament.

Abraham who had

one son Isaac

in his very, very old age

and God asked him

to go and to take Isaac

and to offer him

as a sacrifice to God.

And as Abraham is going

out the mountain

with Isaac

and Isaac said

well, father there is no ram

how are we going

to make the sacrifice?

Abraham just says to him

the Lord will provide.

And of course

at the end of the day

the Lord does provide the ram

Isaac is spared

and Abraham names that place

Jehovah Jireh

God provides.

Let's go into this year

of Jubilee

and see it as being a year

when our faith in God

can be strong

when we can really depend

on him

and know that

whatever lies before us

whatever may face us

in the year ahead

if we have our trust in God

our confidence in him

rather than in ourselves

then we can know

that he will provide.

It is to be for us

a year of faith.

Second thing I suggest

is it is a year of fellowship.

Let's look for a moment

at the picture on the right

the lower right

the reset button.

The year of Jubilee

was very much a year

when you pressed

the reset button

in Israel.

Now we didn't read

all the detail of it

we read a little bit

about how the land

was restored

to its original owner

and so on

but the way it worked

was on the 50th year

everything was restored

to what it should have been

in the beginning.

And so you had a situation

that would straightforward

when we read about

where you sell land to someone

you can't sell it forever

you're only selling

at least on a certain

number of harvests

and on the 50th year

you go back to the land

and you take possession of it.

Later in the chapter

God envisages the situation

which undoubtedly arose

where some of the people

of Israel got into

financial difficulties

where they were struggling

to make ends meet.

And in that circumstance

the first thing you might do

would be sell off your land

so you could get some money

from that and God says

yes you can do that

but if you do that

it's restored to its original owner

on the 50th year.

If someone got really

really desperate

then they might say

well I've not got anything

to give

I've got no possessions left

all I've got is myself.

And they might offer themselves

to whoever they owed money to

and said

I will work for you

to pay off my debt.

And again God said

yes you can do that

it's not like the slavery

that we were familiar to

within America

a couple hundred years ago

and so on

it's people voluntarily

offering to work for others

God said

yes you can do that

but on the 50th year

you're released from it.

The 50th year

is when everyone

goes back

to their people

and the reset button

is pressed.

If you own land

you get it back

if you've even given up

your liberty

you get that back

as well.

It's a time to press

the reset button.

And why was that?

Fundamentally

it was because

God was saying

to the people of Israel

everything you have

and everything you are

belongs to me.

It's not really yours.

I've provided it.

I've been there

to give it to you.

I've blessed you

with so many things

and I want it to be

a reminder

these things belong to me

and even if you

both have a bit of wealth

over the years

you bought land off people

you're not to just go ahead

and to keep that land

you need to give it back

you need to restore it

to its original owner

because the land

and the people

belong to me.

One of the effects of that

was that all the tribes of Israel

and all the clans

within the tribes

they would get their

ancestral land back

and they could resettle again

in the 50th year.

Now this wasn't

just letting people

off with their debts

for nothing.

This was God saying

there is an accountability

for what you do.

If through unwise decisions

or through things

that happen to you

you get into some kind

of financial difficulty

there are consequences

in that

but along with the accountability

comes grace

and you will be

you will suffer

your consequence

of what you've done

for a while

but then at the end

of the day

you will get back

what belongs

to you.

And for the people

of God

the reason why

I've called this

a year of fellowship

it was a reminder

of what they had

in common

through God.

That they were

the people of God

they were all

the people of God

who he'd called

to himself

and who were

accountable to him

and they were

to live together

in the land

and not one

become very wealthy

another become

very poor

they were to care

for each other

they were to

enjoy fellowship

and focus on

what they had

in common.

However this year

we will enjoy

really good fellowship.

We'll have people

coming back

probably particularly

the first weekend

in September

when we have

our big celebration

who were here

perhaps 50 years ago

or 20 years ago

or whatever

people who have

been in the church

in the past

and we'll be able

to share with them

something of what

God was doing

in their time here

something of what

God is doing now

among us

we will enjoy

fellowship together

and we will

recognise that

as those who know

and love the Lord

Jesus

we are the people

of God

and God is good

to us

and we really

care for each

other.

The year of

fellowship

and a year

too when we

should have

care for those

who aren't

as well off

as we may be.

Those who don't

enjoy all the

blessings

that we do.

It's very easy

for Christian

church

practically evangelical

churches

to lose sight

of the fact

that there is

so much poverty

and suffering

around us.

God wouldn't

let his people

in the Old Testament

do that.

So let's this year

have a concern

too for those

who have little

in our land

in our city.

We do it every week

through the basics

bank and other

opportunities

in the church

to work a very well

working among

those who are

in many ways

disadvantaged.

Opportunities to give

to those

overseas who are

suffering in

terrible ways.

Let's remember

that people of God

are one

in the Lord Jesus.

us.

We need to

have a real

care and

concern for

everyone.

Because ultimately

what we're about

as a church

is not glorifying

ourselves,

is not getting

rich ourselves

in any kind

of way.

What we're about

as a church

is bringing glory

to God

and we do that

as together

in fellowship.

We worship

him and we

serve him

and we think

the thoughts

of God

and we have

that concern

that God

has and the

Lord Jesus

had for those

who are in

difficult circumstances.

Let it be a year

of fellowship,

a year of

caring for us.

Finally,

the third F,

it's a year

of freedom.

That was right

at the beginning

of our reading

that God

talked about

to consecrate

the 50th year

and proclaim

liberty

throughout the

land

to all

its

inhabitants.

The year of

Jubilee as

such,

the word

isn't used

in the rest

of the Bible.

But there is

a fairly clear

reference to it

in the book

of Isaiah

in chapter 61

which was taken

up by the Lord

Jesus when he

preached in the

synagogue

at Capernaum.

They didn't

call it the

year of Jubilee,

they called it

the year

of the Lord's

favour.

Here are the words

that the Lord

Jesus quoted

in the synagogue.

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

to proclaim

the year

of the

Lord's

favour.

To proclaim

the year

of the

Lord's

favour

or the

year

of

Jubilee.

And the

Lord Jesus

saw in

his coming

to the

earth

the first

time

also in

his coming

when he

comes again

that he

was the

one who

truly brought

about the

year of

Jubilee

and who

brought

freedom

to those

who were

in

captivity

of

whatever

kind.

So the

Jubilee

while it

emphasises

that we

belong to

God

while it

emphasises

that we

are

accountable

to

God

and

that

we're

accountable

to

each

other

in

the

way

that

we

treat

one

another.

It

also

emphasises

that we

are of

real value

of real

worth

to God.

That is

what the

Lord is

bringing

out.

He talks

about those

who have

nothing,

those who

are poor,

those who

are prisoners,

those who

are blind,

and in

those days

to be

blind,

almost

inevitably

meant you

are a

beggar.

Those who

were in

many ways

the very

dregs or

considered

the very

dregs of

society.

And the

Lord Jesus

says,

these people

are important

to God.

These are

the people

who I've

come for

and to

whom I

proclaim

the year

of the

Lord's

favour,

the year

of

Jubilee.

The year

of Jubilee

is something

which gives

hope to

all of

us if

we are

going

through

difficult

times or

if we

feel we

are of

little

worth in

this

world.

It is

the year

when God

can say

to us,

you

really,

really

matter

to me.

I

sent my

son into

the world

to give

you freedom,

to give

you riches

more than

you could

ever imagine,

to set

you free

from the

oppression,

from the

bondage

that comes

from the

sin that

is in

this world.

The year

of Jubilee

is a

year of

hope.

It's a

year of

hope that

God will

truly bless

into the

future.

As I said,

it's a year

of hope,

particularly as

we look

forward to

the return

of the

Lord Jesus

to take

his people

to be

with him.

And why

do we

know that

there is

hope for

us?

We know

there is

hope because

God's

son came

and he

died on

a cross,

he took

the

punishment

that was

due to

us for

all the

wrong we've

done.

So that if

we trust

in him,

we can

have

forgiveness,

we can

be released

from the

debt,

not the

physical

debt that's

talked about

in the

year of

Jubilee in

the Old

Testament,

the spiritual

debt,

the fact that

we have

failed God

and that we

deserve to

face the

consequences

of that.

Our God

is a God

of grace

and a

God of

mercy and

he wants

us to

free us

from that

and to

give us

hope for

the future.

So if you

come to

2017 and

perhaps look

back on

2016,

it's been

difficult and

there have

been hard

times,

come with

hope and

come with

faith,

knowing that

there is

true freedom

in the

Lord Jesus

and true

forgiveness

and the

new start,

the reset

button if you

like,

the opportunity

as we

trust in

him to

move forward

with him

and to

have

confidence

in him

for the

future.

I'm sure

this will

be a

great year.

In many

ways I'm

quite excited

about the

year that

is to

come.

Let's

make it a

year where

we recognise

that God

is among

us,

that God

is holy,

that God

is awesome,

but also

that God

cares for

us and

that God

wants to

truly bless

us.

Let's

come in

faith,

not knowing

what the

future holds,

but knowing

the one who

holds the

future and

with our

trust fully

in him.

I pray for

all of us,

this may be a

year when we

grow closer

to the

Lord Jesus,

perhaps come

to know him

for the first

time or come

to know him

better,

and when we

are able to

go on with

confidence that

the Lord is

with us,

and as we

trust him,

he will

bless us.

Let's pray

together.

Father, we

thank you for

your word to

us this

morning.

We thank

you for

this year

of jubilee

that you

graciously

instituted

for your

people.

We thank

you it was

a year of

faith for

them,

a year of

fellowship as

they celebrate

what they

had in you,

and a year

of freedom

too, as

those who

were in

bondage,

in debt,

were fully

released.

Thank you for

our year of

jubilee.

We pray it

may be a

real year

of blessing,

that we

pray it

may be

a year of

faith,

when we

trust in

the Lord

Jesus,

and look

to him

for all

our help.

That it

may be a

year of

fellowship,

when we

have a

real concern

for each

other,

and we

can enjoy

together

what we

have in

the Lord

Jesus.

And it

may be a

year of

freedom,

when the

things that

perhaps burden

us and

threaten to

overpower us

at present,

that as we

trust them

to your

hands,

that we

may be able

to leave

them with

you and

enjoy the

freedom that

can only

come through

the Lord

Jesus.

We thank you

for our time

together,

we commit

ourselves to

you,

we pray for

your presence

with us for

the rest of

the day,

as we

continue to

celebrate the

new year,

and we give

you our

thanks in

Jesus' name.

Amen.