Gentrification

Scripture has a position on gentrification. This is a long held practice that is not an advent of the 20th century but it actually goes back much further than that. If you'd like to know what scripture has to say about gentrification as well as God's response to the, take a listen.

Transcript

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O Yup, it's in there. Gentrification will be our topic today. And I just really want to make clear on what gentrification is. Gentrification is a process of changing the character of a neighborhood through the influx of more affluent residents and businesses. This is a common and controversial topic in politics and in urban planning. This practice, the practice of raising taxes or on property owners who can't afford to pay the taxes, thereby leaves the property and homeowner in an indebted situation for something that they've already paid for, and in many situations require the relinquishing of the property. Well, many of us are unaware that God takes a position on gentrification and that very practice. And so what I'd like for you to do is I'd like for you to turn with me in your Bibles to 1 Kings 21, and I am we're going to cover verses 1 through 29. And in covering verses 1 through 29, we are going to see God's visceral response to someone who practiced gentrification. And so, gentrif, yes, gentrification is not something that is new, that is not 21st century, but it goes back even to the beginning of times. And so I'm going to start with 1 Kings 21, and I am going to read verses 1 through 29. And this will be in the New King James Version. And it reads, And it came to pass after these things that Naboth, the Jezreelite, had a vineyard which was in Jezreel, next to the palace of Ahab, King of Samaria. So Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying, Give me your vineyard that I may have it for a vegetable garden, because it is near next to my house, and for it I will give you a vineyard better than it. Or if it seems good to you, I will give you its worth in money. But Naboth said to Ahab, The Lord forbid that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to you. So Ahab went into his house sullen and displeased because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite has spoken to him, for he had said, I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers. And he lay down on his bed and turned away his face and would eat no food. But Jezebel, his wife, came to him and said to him, Why is your spirit so sullen that you eat no food? He said to her, Because I spoke to Nabuk the Jezebelite, and said he said to me, I said to him, Give me your vineyard for money, I give me your vineyard for money, or else, if it pleases you, I will give you another vineyard for it. And he answered, I will not give you my vineyard. Then Jezebel, his wife, said to him, You now exercise authority over Israel. Arise, eat food, and let your heart be cheerful. I will give you the vineyard. Naboth, I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite. And she wrote letters in Ahab's name, sealed them with his seal, and sent letters to the elders and the nobles who were dwelling in the city with Naboth. She wrote in the letter saying, Proclaim a fast and seat Naboth with high honor among the people, and seat two men, stone rolls before him, to bear witness against him, saying, You have blasphemed God and the king. Then take him out and stone him that he may die. So the men of his city, the elders and nobles who were inhabitants of his city, did as Jezebel had sent to them. As it was written in the letters which she had sent to them, they proclaimed a fast and seated Naboth with high honor among the people, and two men, scoundrels, came in and sat before him. And the scoundrels witnessed against him, against Naboth in the presence of the people, saying, Naboth has blasphemed God and the king. Then they took him outside the city and stoned him with stones, so that he died. Then they sent to Jezebel, saying, Naboth has been stoned and is dead. And it came to pass when Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned and was dead, that Jezebel said to Ahab, Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Nabal, Naboth, the Jezreelite, which he refused to give you for money. For Naboth is not alive but dead. So it was when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, that Ahab got up and went down to take possession of the vineyard. Naboth the Jezreelite. Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah, the Tishbite, saying, Arise, go down to meet Ahab, king of Israel, who lives in Samaria. There he is in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone down to take possession of it. You shall speak to him, saying, Thus says the Lord, have you murdered and also taken possession? And you shall speak to him, saying, Thus says the Lord, in the place where dogs lick the blood of Naboth, dogs shall lick your blood, even yours. So Ahab said to Elijah, Have you found me, O my enemy? And he answered, I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do evil in the sight of the Lord. Behold, I will bring calamity on you. I will take away your posterity, and will cut off from Ahab every male in Israel, both bond and free. I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, and like the house of Basha, the son of Ahijah. Because of the provocation with which you have provoked me to anger and made Israel sin concerning Jezebel, the Lord also spoke, saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel. The dogs shall eat whoever belongs to Ahab and dies in the city, and the birds of the air shall eat whoever dies in the field. But there was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do wickedness in the sight of the Lord, because Jezebel his wife stirred him up. And he behaved very abominably in following idols, according to all that the Amorites had done, whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel. So it was when Ahab heard those words that he tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his body and fasted and lay in sackcloth, and when went about mourning. And the word of the Lord came to Elijah, the Tishbabite, saying, See how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring the calamity in his days. In the days of his son, I will bring the calamity on his house. And I want us to take personal note with regard to the anger of the Lord and what spurned the Lord. We live in a day where they hail capitalism and almost claim that God endorses capitalism. And capitalism in the way that it was done, even as it relates to this man and his property, was condemned by God. And we're now going to go to 2 Kings 9, verses 30 through the end of the chapter. And the word of the Lord reads, and it is a continuation of what the Lord promised Ahab would happen to his household. And the word of the Lord reads, Now when Jehu had come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it, and she put paint on her eyes and adorned her head and looked through a window. Then as Jehu entered the gate, she said, Is it peace, Zimri, murderer of your master? And he looked up at the window and said, Who is on my side? Who? So two or three eunuchs looked out at him, and then he said, Throw her down. So they threw her down, and some of her blood spattered on the wall and on the horses, and he trampled her underfoot. And when he had gone in, he ate and drank. Then he said, Go now, see to this accursed woman, and bury her, for she was a king's daughter. So they went to bury her, but they found no more of her than the skull and the feet and the palms of her hands. Therefore they came back and told him, and he said, This is the word of the Lord, which he spoke by his servant Elijah, the Tishbite, saying, On the plot of ground at Jezreel, dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel, and the corpse of Jezebel shall be as refuse, and on the surface of the field, in the plot at Jezreel, so that they shall not say, Her here lies Jezebel. And so I wanted you all to hear, see, know, and understand God's position on gentrification. The word of the Lord in 1 Kings 21 clearly pointed out that it was an abomination, that it was abominable to do such a thing. And for those reasons, Jezebel was condemned to die in the way that she did. And Ahab brought a curse on his household. And so we in the 20th and 21st century have been led to believe that the practice of gentrification and capitalism is somehow endorsed and preferred by God. When in fact the very idea is an idolatrous. And so I want us to be very clear on the positions that God has taken uh concerning the uh injustices. And so this, my friend, is another episode of Yup, it's in there. I am Bobby Simpson, your host.