Background Passage:  Leviticus 23:1–27:34
Lesson Passages:  Leviticus 25:10-22,35-38

LESSON PASSAGES OUTLINE
1. Share Freedom! (Lev. 25:10-12)
2. Exhibit Fairness! (Lev. 25:13-17)
3. Manage Blessings! (Lev. 25:18-22)
4. Extend Kindness! (Lev. 25:35-38)

BIBLICAL TRUTH
The Lord expects His people to treat one another graciously, remembering always the grace He showed in redeeming them.

LIFE GOAL
To help adults consistently treat others with godly grace

Genesis 14:20  and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” Abram gave him a tenth of all.
–NKJ

Stewardship is taking care of the things God has given us, and managing them well. Here Abraham gives money, a tythe back to God. OK, question time, but first read the entire chapter of Genesis 14.

What happened here? Abram is in conversation with a local priest of God named Melchisidek. The first phrase is the tale end of the words being spoken by this high priest. “blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” The short answer is that we give back to God not only for what he has given but also for the protection he offers to us.

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Deuteronomy 4:1-14

4:1. “Now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments which I teach you to observe, that you may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers is giving you.
4:2. “You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take anything from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.
–NKJ

Let’s look at some keywords in this passage. Listen, observe, live, possess, given, add, take, keep, and command. If you notice, these are all verbs. All but two are things that we humans are to do. The others are A promise from God and his command that this is true, and the right things he wants for us.

God is speaking to the nation of Israel as they are about to enter the promised land. They have been wandering in their sins in the desert, and are on the threshold of something good. It is a message that we can still experience in our own parallel lives. We get into a rut of daily drudgery, but that isn’t what God wants for us. At some point he gets our attention. Are you out there, blaming God, or going through thoughts of doubt. Good, that means that thoughts of God are going through your mind. He has blessings and promises he wants to give.

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Numbers 14:2
And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if only we had died in this wilderness!
–NKJ

The children of Israel were a bunch of complainers. It seems they they couldn’t be content if they didn’t have anything to complain about. They complained because they were in slavery to the Egyptians, but who wouldn’t complain about that? God saw fit to rescue them anyway.

God raised up Moses, who wasn’t entirely without complaint, but at least his desire for his nation, andfor God over rode any reluctance. Now think about this, Moses came to set them free, and the children of Israel complained about that too. God gave Moses certain signs to do, so that the people would know that Moses was the genuine article, and that freedom was at hand. Their work duties were increased and they complained.

In the desert, they complained there wasn’t enough water, and God gave them water. They complained about food and God sent mannah, which is bread from heaven. The whole time they were in the wilderness, God provided and gave them what they needed.

He was about to offer them the promised land within a short time of leaving Egypt. Spies were sent in, and gave good reports about the land. The people became afraid of the inhabitants and refused to follow God and let him fight this battle as well. God’s desire will be done, but nothing says that you, or anybody in particular has to be a part of it. God will raise up someone who is willing to get his job done.

In the second part of this verse, the children of Israel complained, and wished they had died in Egypt, or in the wilderness. They would get what they wished for. God made them to wander in the wilderness until that old, sinful generation died away. It would be the upcoming generation, one who could see how God cared and provided for them. , A generation who was willing to follow God and anticipated his promise.

That model still exists for us now. god has raised someone up to rescue us, Jesus. God’s plan to save us comes to us when we are a bunch of complainers who don’t deserve it. There’s a saying that says, “You can take a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.” Or another, “You can take the boy out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the boy.” Moses took the people out of Egypt, but they carried their sinful ways with them. Jesus offers a better deal than what Moses did, but we can carry our sins with us and keep ignoring his gift.

God leaves us to wander around in our own wilderness of sins. We are normally too busy complaining to see how he has provided for our needs despite ourselves. He won’t keep contending with us forever though. He’ll just allow us to die off. On an individual note God lets us wander around and live in our sin, but we do have the power to cast off those burdens and recieve the promise that awaits.

When we come to realize, like the young generation of the Israel people, that God really does what he says he does. We don’t have any room to gripe. Trust that there is no obstacle that God can’t pick us up and carry us through. That’s when we have made our old generation to die off. God works best when you let him into your sensitive innermost part. He can transform you from the inside out. Then there won’t be anything that you can’t handle. Once you have that trust in him, you’ll find that there isn’t anything that God can’t handle.