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Text: Jeremiah 29:1-14 ● Admittedly, it’s hard to live in the tension of “exile”: if we remain unwilling to confront the issue of our unfaithfulness [determination to live independent of God and the inevitable ‘disorder’ our lives experience], we risk becoming unresponsive--- hard-hearted: failing to experience the repentance and restoration desires; if we become too closely identified with our failure, we’ll find no reason to hope. If we find ourselves too closely associated with the culture, we become absorbed by it; too isolated from it, we become unsympathetic [too cooperative and the culture defines us: too resistant and we become apathetic… ‘without passion’]. Jeremiah advised the people that… ►Exile provides the context for mission. By using words such as “build” and “plant”, he is suggesting some form of decisive action on our part which signals an acceptance of “place” and “time” and our commitment to God in it. ~‘build homes and plan to say’- see this place (although not ideal) as the context of mission; see your current circumstance as consequential; as the context of life-formation. Develop homes which are informed and formed by the story of God. Know that mission will require a commitment to longevity and community. Often our ‘transient nature’ (tendency to roam) seems to limit our ability to experience authentic community. ~‘plant gardens and eat the food they produce’- become part of the rhythm of the culture; invest time and energy in your community; contribute to the welfare of the local economy. Be conscious of the many ways that your resources can be shared to inspire worship and meet needs. ~‘marry and have children… don’t dwindle away’- know that the lives you live and the decisions you make now are impacting generations to come. Don’t lose your influence; don’t become ineffective as a result of failing to multiply [not just about biological reproduction, but reproducing the story]. To experience ‘shalom’ (wholeness; health) in your home and marriage you can’t be telling (2) different stories! [I have discovered this to be the biggest challenge facing marriages and families today]. ~‘work for the peace and prosperity of the city where I sent you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, for its welfare will determine your welfare’- let’s face it, the shalom of the city is of mutual interest; stop thinking only of yourself and desire what’s best for your neighbor. “work for” and “pray for”… When we work for peace without praying for it, we become frustrated with the pace of peace; it doesn’t happen as quickly as we had hoped. We also experience the inevitable fatigue that sets in as we see ourselves solely responsible for establishing peace. Conversely, if we pray for peace without working toward it, our faith loses its incarnational value; it becomes irrelevant. Praying for peace prevents us from becoming resentful as we experience God’s heart for the culture. ● Jeremiah was attempting to emphasize that exile had not “forfeited” their identity, but would actually be the place they might become the most “distinguishable”… “recognizable”. It’s where in our righteousness, we become ‘great oaks that the Lord has planted for his glory’ (Isaiah 61:3) and where ‘the nations will see our righteousness’ (Isaiah 62:2). ►The exiles were to find mission in the rhythms of life. The ordinariness of their day was to become ‘sacred’ because it was filled with God. It connected the ordinary to something deeper to ensure that our faith would become relevant and sustainable. They were to see all of life as opportunities to “restore order”! ►God calls us to accept our role as “advocates”. Our exodus would not simply come at their expense--- that God allowed me to be here so that I might ‘gloat’ about his deliverance and apparent ‘disdain’ for the culture. God’s hope is that exile might actually awaken us to his concern for the Babylonians (prevailing culture). ● An advocate, by definition, is one who intervenes to restore peace; one who speaks or acts on behalf of another [1 Timothy 2:5 “There is only one God and one mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus”.] Advocacy… to speak for God and the weakest segments of our society, both of which having seemingly lost their voice in our culture (their ability to speak and be heard). Advocacy is one of the purest expressions of Godliness because it actually allows us to “join God” in his passions because you are not only speaking on behalf of others, but of God! ● In chapter 32 Jeremiah makes an unusual financial decision: with the real estate market around Jerusalem having “tanked” due to the Babylonian invasion, it was definitely a “buyer’s market”. So, Jeremiah purchases a piece of property from his cousin which is located right in the heart of the devastation [‘location, location, location’]. This symbolic act was Jeremiah’s way of investing in the culture. It’s a declaration of our belief in a God who is all about redemption and restoration. Jeremiah was declaring, “There’s value here!” ● There are (2) basic biblical ways of viewing God’s work in the world. Both of them include a firm conviction about an expected future (“eschatological” in nature) in which God will, in ‘concrete’ fashion, establish his Kingdom (set the world right) on earth in such a way that will demonstrate both that God is “right” and “true” and that people were right for trusting him (justified). ♦ In one view, God’s desire is to work ‘within’ human history to accomplish his purposes (the messianic vision is an example of such: expressed in the incarnation). It willingly acknowledges the presence of evil, but also emphasizes God’s desire to restore our present situation as he works with and through us as agents of such transformation. ● The basis of this approach concedes that evil is not just ‘out there’, but ‘right here’. The solution, then, is for God’s people to repent and begin to glorify God (love and value the things he loves and values) and rightly-order our lives accordingly (righteousness). ● This first view is prevalent in times of relative stability and prosperity where God is usually escorted to the margins [we don’t need a Savior, maybe just a life-coach!] Historically, the most glaring symptoms of such seasons are: injustice, neglect of the “weakest” in society and pseudo-religious expressions [not a total abandonment of God, but a god of our own design; one which represents the “best” of all competing gods: one more accommodating, less demanding]. ♦ The other view also holds that God is at work in the world to accomplish his purposes for his creation, but it perceives the evil to have become so prevalent that it is essentially ‘unredeemable’; it can’t be salvaged so it must be destroyed so that God can start all over again with something different. ● The assumption in this view is that the problem of evil is basically the ‘enemy of God’s people’; the issue is the culture in which they live which is making it virtually impossible to live faithfully. The only solution is for God to ‘take down’ or ‘overthrow’ the empire so that his people can live and flourish free of the oppressive nature of the world’s systems. ● There are places in the world where such a posture is a legitimate expression of faith. In such times, there is a great deal of uncertainty and pessimism; the people are the ones now being marginalized and they cry out for God to deliver them (a view which was pervasive in the first century under Roman occupation). ● Jesus’ teaching, you might notice, was centered on the kingdom of God as being here; available. His emphasis was not on the ‘overthrow of the prevailing empire’, but on the faithfulness of God’s people to live out Torah (instructions). He talked about loving God and loving neighbor; he talked about loving our enemies and turning the other cheek; giving to Caesar what is Caesar’s and being willing to go beyond what was expected in order to fulfill not just the ‘laws’, but the ‘law of love’ (rule of love). ►Hope seems to always requires some practical response in our current life-situation; some way of acting now as if the future has already arrived. Such practices reveal a vision of hope; a means of seeing beyond the limitations of the current damage and dysfuntionality toward a ‘shalom’ that God longs to establish through his Kingdom as it is incarnated in and through us. Our lives actually provide a “foretaste” of the life that God has planned for us. ►The outcome of exile will be determined by how we choose to respond to and with the prevailing culture (engage or resist). Exile is about discovering what it means to live as God’s people in an often ‘not-so-accommodating’ environment; often hostile, but mostly indifferent, easily ignored.
If we engage, we
will likely get to experience the ‘messy’ side of our faith; if we resist, we
will grow increasingly indifferent and apathetic (without heart). |
