For Freedom

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Joseph Estes

First Baptist Church of Hoquiam

Deuteronomy: Changing Times and Our Unchanging God • Sermon • Submitted 7 months ago • Presented 7 months ago • 47:10

Deuteronomy 15:1–18

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For Freedom: Living in God’s Forgiveness

Please open your Bibles to Deuteronomy chapter 15.

The past few weeks we’ve been looking at more specific laws for Israel - Food laws, Tithing … and we’ve seen how they are actions which a person can do to bring worship and honor to the Lord. And I think there’s the bigger overarching picture that we need to remember here, the picture of the ten commandments used as a framework for the Law which Moses is giving. So far Moses has covered the first two commandments, “You shall have no other Gods before me” and “You shall not make for yourself any graven image.” Now, it’s definitely open to interpretation, but I believe the third commandment “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain” began back in chapter 14.

Often, we simplify this commandment to something in our brains along the lines of “You shouldn’t swear in God’s name”. But that’s not what the words say, and it leads me to believe that the third commandment, or at least the principle of the commandment, is broader than that. The third commandment is intrinsically connected to God’s holiness and witness in the earth, which is why its necessary for Moses to go into further detail with Israel here and now. Israel, as the people of God, were supposed to bring God’s holy name to others by showing their worship when they partook of things in their everyday life, from food to money. When they neglected maintaining their worship of the Lord in their blessing, they failed to attribute proper worship due to the Lord and failed at their duties as a holy people.

Our passage this morning works as to show that God’s law is tied together as a whole. This section incorporates aspects of the third commandment, maintaining the holiness of the Lord’s name, but it moves on and begins introducing us to the fourth commandment. The Fourth Commandment is “remember the sabbath day and keep it holy”. The sabbath day is a promise of rest and release from the Lord. It was a show of faith by the people of Israel that the Lord would bless them enough to survive a day of no work, in a world that taught them that work was necessary to livelihood and survival.

While the name of the Lord in the last chapter is tied to food and prosperity, the Lord’s name in this section is tied to freedom from financial debt and oppression. He establishes a system for Israel to be free from their debt and to be free from lasting slavery. Why would he do that?

Well, because the Lord is a liberator. He is not one to keep his people oppressed. Rather, he is the one who frees his people from the oppression of sin and from the burdens of this world.

And thinking about our title for the sermon series of the book of Deuteronomy, how God is unchanging … we can easily see how God is still the Liberator. He is still working to set people free from their spiritual bondage to death. And the commandment to not take the Lord’s name in vain is continued on in the life and mission of the church, firstly to live as people who are holy unto the Lord but also secondly, to proclaim who it is who has set us free.

So knowing that God’s law given to Israel is meant as a picture that is supposed to direct us to the freedom and rest we have received through Christ, let’s turn and look at our passage this morning and read it with that in mind. Please begin with me, Deuteronomy chapter 15 beginning in verse 1:

Deuteronomy 15:1–18 ESV

“At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release. And this is the manner of the release: every creditor shall release what he has lent to his neighbor. He shall not exact it of his neighbor, his brother, because the Lord’s release has been proclaimed. Of a foreigner you may exact it, but whatever of yours is with your brother your hand shall release. But there will be no poor among you; for the Lord will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess— if only you will strictly obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all this commandment that I command you today. For the Lord your God will bless you, as he promised you, and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow, and you shall rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over you. “If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be. Take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart and you say, ‘The seventh year, the year of release is near,’ and your eye look grudgingly on your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he cry to the Lord against you, and you be guilty of sin. You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’ “If your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you, he shall serve you six years, and in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. And when you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty-handed. You shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, out of your threshing floor, and out of your winepress. As the Lord your God has blessed you, you shall give to him. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this today. But if he says to you, ‘I will not go out from you,’ because he loves you and your household, since he is well-off with you, then you shall take an awl, and put it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your slave forever. And to your female slave you shall do the same. It shall not seem hard to you when you let him go free from you, for at half the cost of a hired worker he has served you six years. So the Lord your God will bless you in all that you do.

Let’s pray and then dive into the text. (Prays)

Well, I think its easy to see a thread that holds this entire passage together, that thread being the year of the Lord’s favor. Its an unusual construct, the release of debts, the release of servants, a blessing to the poor and indentured. And its something that communicates the heart of the Lord and teaches a lesson to his people.

And looking at this, I found two main points for us this morning:

The heart of the Lord is generous and forgiving.

We must be open-handed and forgive.

The Heart of the Lord is Both Generous and Forgiving

Verses 1-6 lay the groundwork of what is going on. The Lord is setting aside a specific year, the seventh year, as a year of release. During this time any debt that was taken out from one person lending to another, anything given out in a lease or in aid, would be forgiven. Funds lent to foreigners could still be exacted, but among Israel, among God’s people, these debts were to be freed. In fact, it is God’s intent for Israel that among them there should be no poor, if indeed they live according to God’s law. Why do you think this is? Why do you think that God wouldn’t want any poor in Israel?

Well, you can see the heart and care of the Lord for his chosen people, that all would prosper in the land and that no one would be lacking but that all would experience the blessing of the Lord. But also that they would be a people different from the nations around them. The other nations around them had a few that rose to prominence in society, and the kings would become rich and live luxurious lives built upon the fabric of slaves and oppressing their own people. And nothing’s really changed from that time until now.

Take a step back and look at the world. What society today doesn’t have any poor in it? Which nation works to forgive the debt of its citizens and make all equal? Even the nations which were founded upon the Biblical principles of justice and liberty have become corrupted by those who are in positions of power. You have authoritarian leaders like Kim Jong Un or Putin who abuse their own people in order that the autocrats might live in wealth and relative safety. Putin doesn’t care how many Russians die on the front lines of the battlefield, so long as his goals are maintained. Kim Jong Un doesn’t care how many of his own people are killed or sent to labor camps so long as he maintains a semblance of power and order and looking perfect. And as much as I would like to hope and believe in our own government, I’m afraid that there are politicians in places of power that are too entrenched in their own interests to represent the interests of the people they were voted to stand for. This all goes to say that in systems like the human governments we have, wealth tends to rise to the top, and those without wealth are oppressed, held in bondage to the whims of those whose wealth have gained them power and influence.

But when we look at God’s plan for Israel, we see something uniquely different. We see debts that are forgiven and wealth distributed … we see the Lord’s wisdom in governance. And there are two sides to this coin- you have the one who is freed from financial debt, and then you have the one who lets go of the money which they lent out.

Firstly, you have people who receive the generosity and whose debts are forgiven. What would happen if you made a terrible investment or series of life choices and you lost everything you valued: your home, your livelihood, the clothing off your back, and you had nowhere to turn and nowhere to go?

Well, in Israel’s day and age, you would go to a neighbor who was doing well, who could at least hire your services out for a time while you worked off your immense debt. Remember, the wisdom of the Lord in Proverbs is that if a man won’t work, he won’t eat. So the man must work in order to eat, so he turns to his neighbor who has food. And so we have a system where the rich provides for the poor in what we would call indentured servitude.

And I want you to note here— this is what our world likes to point at and label slavery. And once the word slavery is attached it brings up all sorts of ideas about how we exercised slavery in our nations’ past. This passage was even one that the early Southern Baptists used to argue for keeping slavery the way it was practiced in America, being born into slavery and using racism as a means of enacting oppression. But this system of indentured servitude, which God gives specifically to the nation of Israel, is not the same thing as slavery.

God’s system establishes a means of work and provision for the one who needs a way to maintain his or her livelihood. This most likely would not have been light work. Imagine working hard for six whole years, performing the most menial of tasks … churning butter, harvesting the field, moving rocks, always washing the dishes, drawing water from the well, running errands on behalf of someone else, being attentive at someone else’s bequest. It would become frustrating and tiring. It would seem like you were serving your debt more than anything else. Sure, you were provided for the entire time and you were able to make a living, but what if you had only just begun to pay off the debt you owed?

The seventh year, the year of the Lord’s favor, would have been a huge relief for those who were indebted. No longer would they have to live in someone else’s house, always be on the bottom of the ladder. They could start anew, afresh, with their own finances, their own home, their own new start to make things right. What joy there would be at this time! And note, who was this rejoicing that resulted from the forgiveness of debt supposed to be directed to? Was it supposed to be directed to the lender? No, it was to be directed to the Lord. Verse 2.

Deuteronomy 15:2 ESV

And this is the manner of the release: every creditor shall release what he has lent to his neighbor. He shall not exact it of his neighbor, his brother, because the Lord’s release has been proclaimed.

It is the year of the Lord’s release.

God, in his heart for those who are oppressed because of sin, whether its the choice of the individual or the circumstance of the world in which we live, grants freedom and release from debt and oppression. He desired that the people of Israel would be liberated from the bondage of mistakes that they might be free to worship Him.

And then there’s the other side of the coin, where God liberates not the one who needed to take out the debt, but the one who lent the money.

There’s a danger for those who have a lot of wealth, that they be not lovers of money or the things of this world more than they were of God. Money is enticing, and it if we let it, it can lead us away from God. Jesus said,

Matthew 6:24 ESV

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

It’s hard to witness someone who grew up in relative obscurity and who jumps to fame and popularity navigate the world of the wealthy. With wealth comes increased opportunities to buy all that your heart desires or to find “solutions” to your problems through the goods which you purchase, be they drugs or the enticement of materialism. And we’ve seen so many lives corrupted by the love of money.

But God, in his providence toward the people of Israel, taught them how to love God more than money.

In this system, in this plan of the year of the Lord’s release, creditors were supposed to let go of that money, of that loan, which they were holding in a closed fist. The temptation would be if you loved your money more than the person you lent it to, then you would become abusive toward that person. It might have been nice to have a servant around, doing everything at your beck and call, and you might have enjoyed doing less labor and still reaping the profits of hard work. But in your desire for the easy life and to enjoy the wealth and riches built upon the backs of others you may have missed the true nature of your worship and respect for the people who had helped bring you that wealth. And in your prosperity you would lose sight of God and his heart.

But the year of the Lord’s release set his people free from laziness, greed, and the love of money. Look at verses 7-11 again,

Deuteronomy 15:7–11 ESV

“If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be. Take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart and you say, ‘The seventh year, the year of release is near,’ and your eye look grudgingly on your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he cry to the Lord against you, and you be guilty of sin. You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’

The problem at hand is an issue of the heart. This passage addresses a reluctance to lend aid to someone when they knew the year of release was just around the corner. The choice for them was this: If you loved money more than you loved God, then you would decide in your heart not to give aid to someone who was in clear need. But if you loved God more than you loved money, then you would continue to love your neighbor by providing for the poor in the land, leading to the Lord’s blessing for all people. We see this same principle reiterated in verse 18.

Deuteronomy 15:18 ESV

It shall not seem hard to you when you let him go free from you, for at half the cost of a hired worker he has served you six years. So the Lord your God will bless you in all that you do.

If love of money were the driving principle behind Israel’s society, then it would have failed. But God’s law intended to reverse the corruption of sin and draw the hearts of his people toward the relationship and love that comes with knowing him, and the rest and blessing associated with his name.

The year of the Lord’s release was set to remind the people of God’s heart and his generosity. It didn’t matter who participated in this event every seven years, whether it was the lender or the borrower, both would experience blessing from the year of the Lord’s release.

We must be Open-Handed and Forgive

Deuteronomy 15:15 ESV

You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this today.

Israel had experienced God’s forgiveness and release from slavery. They were to extend it to others.

This is close to the principle which Jesus taught during the Sermon on the Mount:

Matthew 6:12 ESV

and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

Here you have the two sides of that coin again- the one whose debt is forgiven and the one who forgives the debt of others.

Why is it that Christians give so much back to society? They started hospitals and hostels and food banks and soup kitchens and so on and so forth. Christians give because our Generosity stems from our recognition of our debt to God, and the fact that he set us free and because of that we can give to others who are in the eyes of the world undeserving.

And there’s the temptation to be bitter in that, to harden our hearts toward other people and not to be open-handed with the gospel.

We face a reluctance to share the gospel because we believe someone doesn’t deserve the forgiveness of Christ or that they are beyond being able to experience it. But that’s not who God is. Jesus came for that person who belongs to the world. He freely offered his salvation with an open hand. He didn’t hold eternal life in a closed fist, hidden away from all of those who live in rebellion to him. And that’s the good news of Jesus … that he is the one who sets people free,

Luke 4:18–19 ESV

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Indeed, our Lord is the great Liberator.

There are many in our world today who feel trapped, constrained by the world, without purpose in their lives and oppressed by their own struggles and the struggles of those around them. This is the state of sin, the end result of man’s own choices and desires.

Were it not for Christ and his arrival, and the arrival of the Lord’s favor, the time of freedom, all mankind would remain captive to the bondage of the passions and pleasures which come to dominate us. But the good news is that Jesus came, defeated sin and death on the cross, and reigns victorious in heaven. All those who look to him and ask for freedom from sin and death shall be granted life. The chains of this world shall be loosened and liberty shall be proclaimed over those who were once held captive and the Lord’s great name shall be magnified because he and only he has set us free.

We as Christians have been given the task to proclaim the Lord’s liberty over those who are in willful bondage in hopes that some may turn and see the Lord, that he is there to save them and to bring them into new life. He invites us, as the church, to partake in his mission of establishing a people who are free.

So how do we as Christians live as people who are open-handed and generous?

Well, firstly, say who saved you.

Say who Saved you

Romans 1:16 ESV

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

Sometimes we think that the heart of a person is won through some persuasive argument or through eloquent words. And yet it is the Lord who saves. If we attribute a specific preacher or teacher with the salvation of those many who heard the word of Jesus and responded to the call of salvation of God upon their lives, then we have failed in not taking the Lord’s name in vain and we have falsely attributed the hope of salvation to man and not to God.

If we take credit for the holiness evident our lives, then we have broken the third commandment and have forgotten the name of the one who has brought us to holiness.

We must proclaim that it is the Lord who has saved us. It is the Lord who works salvation for those who were perishing. It is not man’s eloquence, but the working of the Spirit in the heart of man that draws them near to God. We must proclaim that it is God who sanctifies, the working of the Spirit bringing our hearts near to the loves of God and thus to an aroma of worship that is pleasing to him and sheds light to others.

Your life as a Christian is to be a signpost that points to the working of God, whether through your acts of righteousness or through your verbal proclamation of salvation. Christian, say who it is who saved you, that the Lord may be glorified in your actions and deeds and that his light may go out into a dark and weary world.

Secondly,

Remember your Holiness

1 Peter 2:9 ESV

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

How can a light that has been hidden under a basket of sin be a witness for the world? How can salt that has lost its saltiness be of any value? When we stain ourselves with sin and we fall into habits and practices which are not worthy of the name of Christ, then we pollute our witness. Israel, if they were to carry out the year of the Lord’s favor and follow his law perfectly, would have had no poor among them. But the thing that prevented this from happening was the corruption of sin in the hearts of man. We now have a situation that is greater than Israel— we have now been made holy and clean through the blood of Jesus Christ. There is now victory over sin in life where there was no victory before.

So remember that you are unblemished and stainless before the Lord. Remember the standard of holiness to which God has elevated you. Cast your burdens and sins aside. Remember that Christ has worked salvation for you, and that by trusting him he will lead you through temptation.

Galatians 5:1 ESV

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

Christ has called you forward to holiness and freedom. That freedom entails doing good things in this world. When you are freed from your own passions and you are able to see the heart of God and his love for people, your own actions will start to align with his goodwill toward mankind. And the warning is that you do not return to the yoke of slavery in which you once lived. Freedom, doing good things, is amazing!

When we turn again to old patterns of sin as a dog returns to its vomit, we hinder the effectiveness of our witness and we return to Egypt, to the bondage of sin. Let us strive to obtain the freedom of Christ which has been set before us through repentance and through fighting the good fight. Remember the holiness to which you are called, that you are no longer to be identified with darkness but rather you are called to be a reflection of the Lord’s great light.

Rejoice in Rest

We live in light of the fourth commandment by living in the sabbath rest that the Lord has provided through Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 4:9–11 ESV

So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.

Just as the creditor was to supply the indentured servant who was being set free with an abundance of goods, so God supplies us with an abundance of blessing when he forgives our debts.

Ephesians 1:3 ESV

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,

We have every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Isn’t that amazing?

Next week we will dive further into Moses’ sermon on the fourth commandment and on God’s divine rest.

But for today, let us remember what this passage taught:

That The heart of the Lord is both generous and forgiving and that because of that, we too must be generous and forgiving.

May we go into the world and practice that today in how we share the gospel and how we live because we too understand both sides of the coin- that our debts have been forgiven and that we too can now forgive others.