DEALING WITH INJUSTICE- MURDER IN THE VINEYARD
1 Kings 21:1-16
We have looked at dealing with desperate situations
And dealing with disappointments of life.
Today we want to look injustice.
Murder in the vineyard.
Injustice defined implies unjust treatment of another or a violation of one’s rights
Some years ago in Albany Ga,
when the river overflowed and flooded the countryside and the city.
It swept through two cemeteries, one white and one black.
In the black cemetery it washed up the caskets,
Caskets and bodies were floating all over.
The bodies, telling the tale of racism and injustice.
For the city required the graves be six feet deep for whites,
But they only had dug two feet deep to bury the black folks.
And the flooded river told the story.
There have been floods of injustice that have crossed this land.
The flood of racism, gambling,
the flood of improper marketing,
The flood of disparities in wages,
the flood of power and dealings in high places.
Of CEO who have gotten wealthy stealing from their shareholders.
God has called the church to be proactive
in defending the innocent.
Standing up against big business or bad government that victimizes people..
Proactive in feeding the hungry,
Seeking release for those falsely imprisoned
To fight for Justice among all.
We had a discussion in our mens group about
“Eminent domain,” -land condemnation,
Eminent domain defined is the ability of government to convert
privately owned land into public land, subject to reasonable compensation
South Dakota uses eminent domain for highways and construction projects.
Some of which occurred on the road between Aberdeen and Webster.
Nearly 3,000 years ago two of the most wicked leaders
who ever lived seemed to use a process very similar to eminent domain
because someone wanted a vineyard owned by a man named Naboth
I. INJUSTICE IS A PART OF OUR EVIL WORLD
King Ahab decides he wants to plant a garden
and since he wants it to be “close to home”,
he decides he will buy or trade for Naboth’s land.
I Kings 21:2 “Let me have your vineyard to use for a vegetable garden, since it is close to my palace. In exchange I will give you a better vineyard or, if you prefer, I will pay you whatever it is worth.
To often the rich and powerful,
Live believing that everything has a price.
That if they want something it can be bought.
Ahab, being the king, could’ve simply annexed his neighbor’s property
by royal decree. Like the government deciding to build a new highway right
smack in the middle of your pumpkin patch.
Sure, they’re obliged to pay you something, small potatoes usually,
Ahab had that power.
But he chose not to use it.
Instead, he went to Naboth’s place and rang the doorbell.
Naboth came out promptly and Ahab said:
I want your vineyard.
I will pay or exchange it for what you choose.
Naboth said:
“The Lord forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my fathers.”
I Kings 21:3
King Ahab was shocked.
How could he reject the Kings offer?
Naboth could ask for anything in the kingdom
Retirement home on the lake.
A Villa or castle.
But he refused it.
What King Ahab didn’t understand was
Naboth’s decision was not based upon a business decision
but by Biblical principles.
When God gave the land of Canaan to Israel,
He divided it among the tribes and said
No one can own the land outside the tribe to which it was given.
That is why Naboth said, “the Lord forbids it”.
I Kings 21:4
((((So Ahab went home, sullen and angry because Naboth the Jezreelite had said “I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers”. He lay on his bed sulking and refused to eat. I Kings 21:4))))
Ahab began pouting like a big baby.
Lay on his be sulking and refused to eat.
Oh when you have a Self pity party it affects everyone.
His wife Jezebel came in and asked him,
“Why are you so sullen? Why won’t you eat? I Kings 21:5
Notice how self-pity and sin breaks down our resistant and leads to more sin?
We have to be careful who we listen to.
Not long ago I happened to switch on Dr. Phil. doing his Life Strategies show.
This Texan Counseling guru is a fascinating speaker
A master communicator.
He’s funny, a straight shooter
He’s a better communicator than most preachers.
He motivates and connect with people.
But I clicked the remote
The next stop I find Charles Stanley preaching.
And for some reason as I listen
He may not be as funny, or as fascinating,
But I sense a deeper truth, a confidence and peace I did not find with Dr. Phil.
I wondered what is the difference? In these two gifted men?
Dr. Phil is a “Self-Help” advocate;
Dr. Stanley is a “Savior-Help” advocate.
Dr. Phil sends people out on their own,
but a good preacher sends people out with Jesus.
Who are you listening to?
Ahab only tells half the story.
Look at this scripture: I Kings 21:6
(((“Because I said to Naboth the Jezreelite, “Sell me your vineyard; or if you prefer, I will give you another vineyard in its place. But he said, “I will not give you my vineyard.’ I Kings 21:6)))
He doesn’t say anything about Gods command
And Naboth’s obedience.
He conceals that fact.
And Wicked Jezebel takes over.
“Is this how you act as king over Israel? Get up and eat! Cheer up, I’ll get you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.”I Kings 21:7
When were rich and powerful
We tend to be more unjust
When were with our peer group, or zoo croud, or mob.
We tend to lean toward more prejudice and racism.
Jezebel has been hunting for Elijah.
She has already killed all the prophets of God
Elijah’s God had defeated her gods on Mt Carmel
and he had slain all her prophets of Baal.
She was still bruised from that encounter and
Awaiting for another chance to strike at the BELIEVERS
NOW here was FAITHFUL GODLY NABOTH.
Friends the world loves to get back at God through his children.
We have a world full of prejudice
In the middle east down in Egypt
The persecution of Christian is ongoing such that
You can’t get a job if you’re a Christian.
Your overlook. Don’t get the interview.
You don’t get into the university and school.
You may be disowned by your family.
You are relegated to a lower cast of people.
You may be subject to violence.
Egypt: Police officer murders three Christians--- drove a truck into a canal drowning five bound Christian prisoners including an elderly church leaders.
Other headlines I just read:
Iranian Police arrest Christian Pastor
Four Indonesian Churches Targeted in “Coordinated Attack”
Anti Christian Violence Continues in Sri Lanka
Christian Churches burned in IRAQ
Do your own research -Go to Christianpersecution.Info
and you can see the injustice for yourself.
My friend Nippy Toe Jackson from Liberia,
Was beaten and almost left for dead because he was a Christian feeding the starving people of Liberia. Working for UMCOR and delivering the foods that you and I had sent.
I haven’t began to deal with the way Christian are treated in our own country.
In Los Angeles, the county seal is about to change. ACLU’s demands that the small cross be removed from the seal. Los Angeles director Ramona Richardson says the cross makes some Angelinos feel "unwelcome." Yet the cross signifies the historical founding of Los Angeles by Catholic missionaries.
While their removing the cross. Just north in LA
Federal Judge Phyllis Hamilton recently ruled that seventh graders at a Contra Costa County school could be forced to say Muslim prayers in a history class for the sake of history.
Someone asked me when is the world going to return to normal?
I said –“It is normal.”
This is normal for the world.
Its never going back.
You can get that little glass ball with the snow and
you can shake it and then it settles back down.
The world isn’t going to settle back down.
You might as well get used to it.
You as a Christian are not going to be taken of the hit list.
The challenge of the church is to be light in a world of increasing darkness.
And good in a world of increasing evil.
Now before we get too smug about persecution and injustice
against Christians in this country and around the world.
Let me ask you to examine your heart about your own
racism and injustice that might be creeping in.
I don’t even want to began to talk about the injustice of the church
Stand against the unborn.
But let me ask you this?
Are you guilty of racism and being suspect that all Indians are drunk Indians?”
Do you deny Native Americans the respect that is due them?
Are you guilty of being suspect that “all” Hutterties might be shoplifters.
Have you found yourself surprise that African Americans are followed around in stores or profiled by our local citizens.
God help us with the tendencies of injustice toward others
Because of their race, sexual orientation, gender, and income level.
Christ died for all
Gods loves all and so must we
QUEEN Jezebel missed the warning signs.
She had been waiting for an excuse
To kill Elijah and his believers again.
And when she found her husband pouting and crying like a baby
It pushed her over the edge.
Act like a king.
So she takes his
Ahab’s name and Seal and Send letter to the elders and nobles who lived in Naboth’s city with him. I Kings 21:8
She tells them to
(((Proclaim a day of fasting and seat Naboth in a prominent place among the people. But seat two scoundrels opposite him and have them testify that he has cursed both God and the king. Then take him out and stone him to death.” I Kings 21:9-10))))
Proclaim a day of fasting
Get some trumped up charges against him.
And take him out and put him to death for blasphemy.
Oh We watched it with horror in the “Passion of the Christ”
The evil patterns of the world do not change.
Vs. 13-14 They took him outside the city and stoned him to death. Then they sent word to Jezebel: “Naboth has been stoned and is dead.”
As soon as Jezebel knew that Naboth was dead she told her husband to take his new land.
15 Get up and take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite that he refused to sell you. He is no longer alive, but dead.” I Kings 21: 15
Does Ahab question Jezebel on what happened.
How Naboth died.
About his poor family.
His widowed wife?
His orphaned children.
Where is the community in protest?
Where is the local synagogue in protest?
How many piles of bones and mass graves does it take
for us to intercede for our neighbor?
How many furnaces
And firing squads.
Torture chambers.
Queen Jezebels had her own mass grave of prophets bones.
Ahab his chamber of horrors.
God calls the church to speak up and step up.
God calls this nation and the nation of the world.
Not just to Sanction but to act in strength
against those who would main and destroy.
Because no one else will.
16 When Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, he got up and went down to take possession of Naboth’s vineyard.
He’s thinking “I’ll put my tomatoes over here and my peppers over there,”
When all of a sudden appears Elijah.
((((I Kings 21:17 “Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite. “Go down to meet Ahab Kind of Israel, who rules in Samaria. He is now in Naboth’s vineyard, where he has gone to tak possession of it.”))))
How did Elijah find out about the dirty deal?
God told him and sent him.
God is not the silent uninvolved creator.
His Justice demands justice.
Ahah had made an enemy of
1. God’s Person
2. God’s Precepts
3. God’s Prophet
Elijah delivers the message of God’s judgment.
I Kings 21: 21-24
He will consume your descendants and cut off every male in Israel.
He will make you house barren.
And For your Queenly wife.
She will be devoured by dog by the wall of Jezreel.
Ironic that Naboth was a Jezreelite.
Queen would die in the city wall of Jezreel.
Now something surprising happens.
Vs. 27
When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and fasted. He lay in sackcloth and went around meekly. I Kings 21:27
Wicked King Ahab repents.
Does God accept this wicked Kings confession?
Does he give pardon when he seeks forgiveness?
29 Have you noticed how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself, I will not bring this disaster in his day, but I will bring it on his house in the days of his son.
I kings 21:28-29
We have become use to Ahab pouting,
And Jezebel killing
And Ahabs taking.
YET
God forgives Ahab when he repents?
Oh Friends You may have been involved in the injustice of this world.
you may recognize your racist thoughts and actions.
Your business may have cheated people.
You group at school may have slander others.
Or taken advantage of some young person vulnerability and use him or her.
But God mercy is for all.
And we can repent.
And we can like Ahab find Gods forgiveness.
Jezebel never repented.
Her hardened heart was incapable.
God tells Ahab
I will not bring this disaster in his day, but I will bring it on his house in the days of his son. Vs. 29
How does this tragic story end?
Ahab is killed when in battle when is shot with a random arrow.
When the blood is washed from his chariot the dogs licked up his blood
Just as the word of the lord had declared.
II Kings 9 30
When King Jehu entered the city.
Jezebel looked out of the window at him.
32 “Jehu looked up and called out “Who is on my side?
Who? Two or three eunuchs looked down at him.
33 Throw her down! So they threw her down and some of her blood spattered the wall and the horses as they trampled her underfoot.
King Jehu went in and eat and drank.
“Take care of that cursed woman and bury her, for she was a kings’ daughter. 35“But when they went out to bury her, they found nothing except her skull, her feet and her hands. Just as the lord had said the Dogs will devour Jezebel’s flesh and her body 37 will be like refuse on the ground in the plot at Jezreel, so that no will be able to say: “This is Jezebel.” II Kings 9:30-37
What do we learn MURDER IN THE VINEYARD
And injustice
1. “Payday is written into the constitution of God’s universe
2. The devil always pays in counterfeit money.
3. God mercy is not limited by our evil.
4. The forgiveness of the cross is always available.
I trust you will pause and make your soul right with God.
Seek his forgiveness for your acts of injustice
And receive the mercy and grace of God available to all.
