LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH
SERMON NOTES FROM SUNDAY 5 JUNE 2022
LEVITICUS 25 VERSES 1 – 14
This certainly has been a big and long weekend. Many have been giving thanks as they remember the platinum jubilee in street parties. Many have been out and about celebrating. Remembering the Queen, 70 years as has reigned on the throne. The biblical jubilee we have been reading about is a time of rest. In conjunction with the jubilee today I want to think of the jubilee we read about in Leviticus.
Firstly the communication. That was the first thing that jumped out as
read these verses – verse 1 “and the Lord spoke”. Isn’t it wonderful to know we have a God that
speaks? The God of heaven who speaks to
us. “God spoke to Moses in the mount
Sinai saying ...” This was a wonderful
event that was going to take place in the lives of Israel. Commentators over the jubilee weekend say
that the queen never makes speeches unless there is an important issue to be
spoken about. Here we find God takes
Moses to one side and spoke into this situation. This great event of the jubilee that would be
taken God’s word is so important. As we
listen to God’s word it is important we listen to it correctly but we also need
to be careful of what we hear and how we hear.
“How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?” (Hebrews 2
verse 3) We miss out on the greatest
thing that God has ever done for this world.
Days and numbers are so important to the Lord. Think of the number seven. In creation God created the world in six days
and on the seventh day he rested. How important
that day was in his calendar. He had
finished everything in those 6 days. One
day we set aside for a day of rest.
Genesis 2 verse 2, 3 “And on the seventh day God ended his work which he
had made and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day and
sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God
created and made.” How important that
seventh day it but sadly it is being forgotten about today. For many it is a day for sporting events,
when most of the big cup finals are held.
The Jewish sabbath day was a Saturday but on the first day of the week Jesus
rose from the dead. A day set aside for
the Lord according to the word of God. It
is a day for socialising according to the world. God said “Remember the sabbath day to keep it
holy. Six days shalt thou labour and do
all thy work. But the seventh day is the
sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy
son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor
thy stranger that is within thy gates.” (Exodus 20 verses 8, 9 and 10) This is the one who created everything around
us, breathed into man and man became a living soul. He looked down on man and said “it is not
good for man to be alone.” This is how
God has spoken to us. A day sanctified. He
rested. Then we read verse in “Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six
years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof. But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of
rest unto the land, a sabbath for the Lord: thou shalt neither sow thy field,
nor prune thy vineyard.” How important
it is to let the land rest. All those
important nutrients the ground has used in past years needs to be rested. The Lord knows best in our life and in our
land. Then we see the multiples of 7 in verses
8 and 9 “And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times
seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee
forty and nine years. Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound
on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make
the trumpet sound throughout all your land.”
The fiftieth year important year in the Jewish calendar. We see the communication – the jubilee was of
God.
It was to be a celebration. This has
been the Queen’s jubilee celebration, what she has done for the nation and for
her people and the witness and testimony she has had throughout the world. It has been marked by street parties and
festivities. It would have been the
crowing feature if she had had no parties on the Sunday but instead had a day
of prayer. Those holding these street
parties have no thought of God. THe Lord’s
jubilee is a celebration for what he has done for his people. People are celebrating what the Queen has
done for her people. Verse 2 “when ye
come into the land … then shall the land keep a sabbath unto the Lord.” God called Abraham out of Ur of the
Chaldees. God called and separated
him. God still looks down and separates people
for his purpose. Abraham was open to the
call of God. God told him he would give him
a land of his own. God allowed them to
be carried down to Egypt and 400 years later he brought them out. From a few souls to a million and a half
people. Then they were redeemed through
the blood of a lamb. God heard their
cries of afflictions down in Egypt. God said
to Moses “I want you to go down and tell Pharaoh that he must let my people go.” The blood of the lamb was poured into a basin
and then applied to the lintels of the doors of their houses. God redeemed them that night. He brought them out of Egypt. He opened the Red Sea and brought them
out. He kept them by his great power
through the wilderness, then brought them across the Jordan River into
Canaan. Now God says I want you to keep the
50th year of rest. One day
Christ will come to the air, will separate the clouds, the trumpet will sound
and the archangel will come down. We will
be caught up in the air to meet God. The
jubilee start for we will rest from our labours. Deuteronomy 6 verses 10 to 12 “And it shall
be, when the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware
unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob, to give thee great and
goodly cities, which thou buildedst not.
And houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells
digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive tress, which thou
plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full. Then beware lest thou
forget the Lord, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the
house of bondage.” Is it possible as a
Christian to forget what God has done for us? The Christian can get very complacent, very
careless, go thought the motions. Attend
the Sunday services, prayer meetings, read the bible. Can forget what God has done. When we see the reality of what God has
lifted us from. How he has opened our
eyes to Calvary, shown us his son dying to redeem a lost mankind. The Children of Israel were to keep the festivals
for the good of the land and for the people themselves.
A time of consecration. In the fiftieth year no work was to be done
on the fields. The farmer was not to use
their implements. There was to be no
sowing or harvesting. God wanted to
bring them back to their grassroots, to trust him completely. Remember when Elijah was at the brook
Cherith. God provided the ravens to give
him meat each day. Remember when the
disciples questioned how God could provide for them. Jesus pointed to the birds of the air. This is the love and care your heavenly
father has for you. We hear about the
financial crisis today and are starting to feel it now. Like the people in this jubilee year we need
to get our eyes off what we can do and place them on him who has done so much
for us. He will never let us down.
A time of consideration. If we read verses 11 to 15 it would mean we
have to get our eyes off our business transactions and consider one
another. The land was to be unworked for
that year. That meant the rich were down
at the same level as the poor. Each had
to look out for one another, to make sure everyone was ok. We are to consider others, to make sure cared
for. Imagine 6 months into that year
when there were no crops in the field.
Totally depending on God. The
widow woman in Elijah’s day had to make sure Elijah was cared for before she
and her son could eat. God has allowed
us to have so many gifts and use them for him.
This was the time to consider others.
The bible says we are not to think of ourselves more highly than we
ought. Maybe God needs to bring us
down. Here is the opportunity to
consider others. There are so many ways
of reaching people today. Make sure it
is uplifting and encouraging. Looking out
for one another. That is what jubilee
is all about.
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