Getting Ready to Exit Captivity
Notes
Transcript
How do we claim our mistakes?
Apparetment cover ups
We did icicle wars
We painted a giant taco costume and got paint all over the floor
We painted glow in the dark messages all over the room- we didn’t hide that one
And today we are continuing this series in the book of Daniel called in the fire
and If you have been with us you know that throughout this series the nation of Jeruselum has been in exile (and its been largely because of how the people at large was living that led to exile)
and we have been looking at 4 men and how they remained faithful to God even in thsi period where they were taken from their country.
And today in the second to last week of this series and Daniel (one of these men) relizes they are getting ready to move out of exile.
And I want to jump into the first 3 verses because this sets the tone for us today.
Because tells us what is getting ready to happen. It says this in Daniel 9:1-3:
1 In the first year of Darius son of Xerxes (a Mede by descent), who was made ruler over the Babylonian kingdom—2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years. 3 So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.
So before anything Daniel mentions that he was reading through Jeremiah (another book of the Bible) and this book was written right before they were sent to exile and a large part of this book was how they were to live in exile.
and he is reading this book and in verse 2 we are told he realized this book said that this exile would last 70 years.
And last week we talked about how Daniel was taken as a young man and now he is most likely in his 80s and he is reading this and you can picture him going it has almost been 70 years.
And realizing that Jeruselam (the city that was captured) would be exiting its current situation.
And here is what I am hoping for us to get out of today, because all of us have times where we make mistakes, and those mistakes can be decisions that cause a lot of heart ache,
In fact they can lead us to a place of exile, or really in our context a place where there is this tension in our family, we can say one wrong thing and a friendship is over, we can post somthing on Social media and those words can’t come back.
But what I love about where we are today is because while we make mistakes, how we react in our mistakes makes a big difference in the end result.
And the bulk of what we are looking at today is actually a prayer that Daniel has.
And so it starts on verse 4 and I want you to notice the very first part because it says this:
4 I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed: “Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments,
So notice here that Daniel does not start on himself or others, but before anything he starts with recognizing the character of God
And he actually says “great and awsome” are you God!
Because you have kept this covenant of stedfast love.
I love the word for covenant because there is a big difference between a covenant relationship and a contractual relatioshinship.
A contract is you agree to do this and I agree to do this and if either of us steps out of line and its over
but a covenant is so relational and Daniel is saying God you have this covenant of stedfast love that is so loyal and somehow even though we are caught in a mistake, you love is still pursuing us.
If you have kids, its probably safe to assume they have made mistakes before right?
Finn the other day brought a cup of juice with him to bed.
And I saw this happening and said Finn this not a good idea, you should leave that on a table of somthing and not sleep with it,
Well he listend for a second, but the juice ended up in the bed and spilled everywhere.
He got him into a little bit of a rough situation, because now their is juice on the bed, he needs to sleep on a towel and then theirs a stain in his bed.
But you know what never crossed my mind?
Finn I am done with you, get out of the house I am done with you.
Because situation was effected by his mistake, but my love for him was not.
And when we make mistakes, our life is effected, there are heartaches, but God’s love for you stays the same,
He is going this is my child that I love, how could I not pursue them!
And look at this big chunk because he starts with the character of God, but then he moves to understanding his mistake. It look how his prayer continues in verses 5-11
5 we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws. 6 We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our ancestors, and to all the people of the land. 7 “Lord, you are righteous, but this day we are covered with shame—the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far, in all the countries where you have scattered us because of our unfaithfulness to you. 8 We and our kings, our princes and our ancestors are covered with shame, Lord, because we have sinned against you. 9 The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him; 10 we have not obeyed the Lord our God or kept the laws he gave us through his servants the prophets. 11 All Israel has transgressed your law and turned away, refusing to obey you. “Therefore the curses and sworn judgments written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against you.
You know there are two things I want us to see here,
First, We need to recognize our mistakes,
Some of you know this but I used to be a part of a program where I would get to go into a prison and get to talk with inmates and build relationships, get to know them, and do Bible studies.
And I would never bring this up but the inmates would eventually always tell me what they were in for.
And it was interesting because they would tell me and maybe 25% of the time it would be I messed up and this is my fault.
But then the majority of the time they would say well maybe I messed up, but it was because this person said this…
I messed up, but it was not my responsibility.
or even just denying it.
And I think while maybe in the prison system its a little clearer to see because their is a legal system and if you get convicted then theres a pretty good chance you did something wrong.
But I think in our lives we are really good at justifying our mistakes.
And we are good at shifting the blame, lessoning what we did, and even just flat out denying what we did.
And I think the only difference is that a lot of times we do not have others to call us out so its easier to deflect.
Its really important to recongnize our individual mistakes.
But you might have also noticed during Daniels prayer something a little odd because Daniel was just a kid or young adult when they were taken from Jeruselum,
And from what we can tell he was actually one of the most faithful people in Jeruselum, because he is never painted in a bad light in the Bible.
I mean I don’t see Daniel causing to many issues.
But in his prayer we seem him praying in a way where he is saying we did this,
We have been wicked,
we have not listend
We have not obeyed
We have turned away
But I think what Daniel understands and realizes just how engraved sin is in the brokenness of of our world.
I mean we see this even in our families.
There was a study that recently showed that whenever there is a traumatic event that occurs in persons life if the effects of that trauma are not addressed
it will usually be carried at least 7 generations into a person family.
So if anger is an issue in a family, it will get passed down until someone says I want to stop the cycle and get help
If anxiety is a thing that anxiety will find its way into a family until someone says I want to get help for this.
And its so much bigger then just our family
Because to often we do not realize just how engraved sin is in the lives of our family, community and even the world.
And I think to often whether it’s out of pride or out of denial that we refuse to recognize the way corporate sin can make us think, act or even view others.
Can I just say there has been a lot of a lot of harm when we are to proud to recognize how sin is in their life,
but I have rarely ever seen someone (cause harm) who has humbled themselves where they say search me God for any tendency, any bad thought, habbit whatever it is, because I know tht I live in a world that is broken .
And the brokeness of this world has a real effect on me.
I would say when we do that its amazing the things that God brings to our attention.
Can I just say this pastorally? My prayer is we will never be too proud or prideful to aknowledge the affect of corporate sin in our lives.
Whether it is from ways we have made idols, whether it’s from groups or people that have been harmed from the church, whether it’s racism, or things that have been passed down from our family.
Can I just say these are real things we need to bring to God and repent in the ways that we have played a role in it.
Humbling ourselves to see the ways we have been effected by corporate sin.
And you might say well Pastor that seems like a big burden to bear! How can I do that?
But let me close on this because we get to the end of Daniels prayer and He says this in verse 19
Daniel 9:19 (ESV)
19 O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name.”
You know Daniel says something at the end here that brings us back into focus, because he is repenting and its a big confession that hes giving.
I mean he says we have chased after idols, we have be wicked and this huge list and it ends with him saying forgive us because now we are called by your name.
Another possible translation could be now we are calling out to your name,
You know if we bear these things we are in trouble, because they are to much to bear.
But when we call to out to God, he is saying I was to bear it.
Not because of how good we are, but because of his steadfast love.
A love that cannot be altered.
And in fact when Jesus died on the cross He beared all of our sin.
And we just need to call out to God.
And so as we close I don’t know about you but sometimes I get prideful.
And I will catch myself doing a bad job at recognizing the sometimes abrupt, sometimes subtle ways that I can running from God,
This morning I just wonder what it would look like for us to humble ourselves to a place where we are crying out to God.
Because I think thats the place where God meets us. Will you pray with me?