Human flourishing is possible in and through the Church
READ TEXT: Nehemiah 5 and Luke 4:17-21
Sunday was the 7th sermon in our “{RE}BUILD, The Story of Nehemiah” series. Over these weeks we’ve seen the Lord call, prepare, send, and empower Nehemiah to organize the people of God to {RE}BUILD the city walls and gates so that the worship of God might be reestablished in Jerusalem. The building project was their primary focus because they knew God’s blessing flows from a right relationship with Him.
But that does not mean there wasn’t also a need for Nehemiah to deal with the longstanding injustices among the people that led to their great trouble and shame in the first place. In the 5th chapter of the book we see Nehemiah come face-to-face with grave injustices among the people. It was reported that there were affluent and influential Jews who were taking financial advantage of the poor to the point that families were forced to sell their children as slaves. In response, God led Nehemiah to rebuke the nobles and officials—calling them to repent and to make the injustices right.
The particular details of Nehemiah’s instructions to the guilty nobles and officials come from a set of laws found in Leviticus 25 concerning “The Year of Jubilee,” an event held every 50 years requiring the return of inherited land that was lost, and the release of indebted servants and slaves. This law and practice was meant to guard equity and inheritance among the people of God while they lived in the Promised Land. In response to Nehemiah's call the nobles and officials repented and committed to live and lead equitably. Nehemiah is the first and only OT leader to ever successfully execute on this set of OT laws.
But, unfortunately, the work of establishing and maintaining a flourishing community did not last. Years later, when Jesus arrived on the scene, the religious leaders were found to be weaponizing the laws of God to maintain power and exert control rather than promoting a flourishing community. Like Nehemiah, Jesus rebuked the religious leaders and through His death and resurrection established the Spirit led and empowered Church.
Today, by the Spirit, we’re empowered 1) to establish the worship of God among all peoples (make disciples), AND 2) to establish flourishing local faith communities marked by love, unity, joy, and equity. For the first time in human history, since the garden of Eden, human flourishing is possible because of the work of Christ and the Spirit in us.
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER
What inequities and injustices do you see in the world around us?
Which of these do you see maintained within the Church? Anchor Church?
What keeps us from working to eradicate these inequities and injustices among God’s people?
What sort of ministries could you see develop that might help?
PRAYER FOCUS
Take time to prayerfully examine your heart and the culture and practices of our Church. Ask the Lord to do what is needed to establish and maintain an equitable and just community at Anchor.
SCRIPTURE MEMORY — Nehemiah 5:15
