Strangers in a Strange Time
Notes
Transcript
Have you ever found yourself longing for the “good ole days?” Or thinking back at how good things were at some point in the past and you’re wishing they could be like that again? I think we’ve all probably had those thoughts or discussions with each other. We humans are really good about looking back at the good times in the past, particularly when things are not going so well in the present. Maybe you’ve been wondering how we ended up where we are, not sure how circumstances or the culture got to this point.
Why don’t we look as fondly to what may come in the future once we come out of the trial or circumstance that we are currently enduring? What if we did? I bet it would completely change our outlook and maybe even change the way we react to the situation.
There have been many times in my life where I find myself thinking back to when things were simpler or things were going really well. But I almost always find myself realizing that I don’t want to go back. I realize often that if I had not gone through those times I would not be the person that I am today. Our experiences shape us.
One of the times that I found myself thinking back was while I was going through my divorce. It would have been so much easier and less painful to have not gone through that. Looking back now - I wouldn’t go back. God used that situation to help shape me into who I am today.
You know something, we are not the first people to do look back fondly to the “good ole days.” The people of God throughout Scripture did the same thing. Turn with me for a moment to
1 That night all the members of the community raised their voices and wept aloud.
2 All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this wilderness!
3 Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?”
4 And they said to each other, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”
Let’s think about this for a moment. God had just delivered the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, and since they have been wandering in the desert they now want to go back? That sounds crazy to us. However, they were growing impatient and started to think back to how “good” they thought they had it compared to this nomadic existence in the desert. They were doing exactly what we tend to do in the church today - look back and reminisce the “good ole days.”
Sometime after this, the people inherited the land that God had promised. And things got good again and stayed good for some time. Then they saw other nations with kings and got the itch to have a king. Even after God warned they would regret earthly kings, we see God appoint earthly kings over the people. After a while, things started to go down hill. The kings were not as good as they were at first - in fact they were evil - and it eventually led to division. After the division of the tribes into the Northern and Southern Kingdoms, we see something happen. First the Northern Kingdom overtaken by the Assyrians driving the people into exile. Then the Babylonians conquered the southern kingdom and drove them into exile.
Exile. A word that doesn’t sound pleasant. To be in exile means to be forced away from one's home (i.e. village, town, city, state, province, territory or even country) and unable to return. People (or corporations and even governments) may be in exile for legal or other reasons.
For a moment, let’s look at what the prophets had to say about this exile:
Daniel’s message is about staying as God’s unique people in exile.
Ezekiel’s message is about whether these dry bones will ever live again.
Isaiah speaks about the hope that God is not done with the people.
Jeremiah invites people to lament—to let go of the past to receive the new thing God is doing.
The people were scattered - their homes in ruin - it makes sense that they would look back at the “good ole days” doesn’t it? However, as we think about the messages from the prophets, there is a theme that is emerging from their time in exile. God is up to something - they are to remain faithful and hope for what is to come. Jeremiah reminds us it is ok to lament what used to be, however, they are not to get stuck there - they are to let go of the past and be ready for the new thing God is doing!
That is exciting! However, that’s not the way we tend to look at things.
If you have your Bibles, turn with me to:
1 From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God.
2 He said: “In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me. From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you listened to my cry.
3 You hurled me into the depths, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me.
7 “When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, Lord, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple.
8 “Those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God’s love for them.
9 But I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the Lord.’ ”
10 And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.
Many of us know the story of Jonah - GIVE BRIEF OVERVIEW OF JONAH’S STORY
For some scholars, Jonah’s story is a way for Judah to retell its own story—the whole exile story.
As Jonah had a call on his life, so, too, the people of Judah had a call on their life.
As Jonah ran from his call, so, too, the people ran from their call.
As Jonah was swallowed by a fish, so, too, the people were swallowed up into exile.
As Jonah should have died in the fish, so, too, the people should have ended in exile.
As God gave grace to Jonah and the fish spewed him out, so, too, the people were spewed back into the rubble of Jerusalem to rebuild it.
As God was not done with Jonah, so, too, God was not done with the people of Judah.
Jonah 2:3: “You had cast me into the depths. . . . All your strong waves . . .” (CEB, emphasis added). Jonah didn’t get himself into his situation by himself. God is up to something in all that happened to Jonah—even when Jonah is in the belly of the fish. God let him get into the fish’s belly as an act of grace. Likewise, for Judah God is up to something in exile; it, too, is an act of grace. Exile is not the last word in life.
• Sin doesn’t get the last word, but grace does.
• Evil doesn’t get the last word, but good does.
• Death doesn’t get the last word, but life does.
People tend to be their best in exile, they are more driven, more dedicated, more focused. It is much harder to be complacent when in exile versus the good days when everything was going their way.
Walter Brueggeman wrote, “exile is the way to new life in new land.” I believe this idea of exile can be helpful for us today. Sure, we’ve not been forced from our land, but I think we can all agree that things have changed and following Jesus seems even more disjointed from our culture. People in exile feel:
displaced
resident aliens
people who have to live counterculturally
As disciples of Jesus in this world, we probably should feel a bit out of place. However, that shouldn’t discourage us or cause us to fight or retain the church’s former position of power - whether real or imagined. We haven’t been picked up and forced to move somewhere else, but Scott Daniels used this metaphor. The culture has changed around us just like the frog in a bot of water slowly coming to a boil. By the time it realizes what has happened, there is already a sense of being out of place or out of control.
However, there are many of our brothers and sisters around the world that are living in exile - forced from their lands - forced to hide to practice their faith. Think about many of the Afghan Christians that we have heard so much about in recent weeks. We do not want our thinking about exile to go too far, we are not in as bad of shape in the west as we might think sometimes.
This idea of exile is important though from the standpoint of that we are experiencing a culture that in many cases no longer values the church, I want to tell you this morning that there is hope in exile. While our tendency is to look back, there is hope because God often uses exile to prepare us for the new thing he wants to do. I think this is the most important message for us to keep in mind throughout the next seven weeks.
The old testament history of Israel is both linear and circular - it goes from exile to land to kingship to division and back to exile. Western Christianity perhaps fits between division and exile on the hermeneutical circle. Unlike the people of Judah, who were moved to a new culture, the culture has moved around us. In this post-Christian age, where our Christian influence has waned, exile helps us think about our life and, like Jonah, discover God is present and up to something—even the conversion of Nineveh.
God is up to something new - and it is often when things get difficult that we are at our best. It is often when things are tough that we are more willing to rely on God to do those God sized things. When things are good, we can so easily slip into complacency and doing things that we frankly can do ourselves.
One of the questions Scott Daniels uses in his book is “how can we live as God’s unique people in the midst of this place that lives so contrary to his purposes?” (pg 18)
Walter Brueggeman (an Old Testament scholar) implies in his work that almost the whole of Scripture is speaking to the people of God in times of exile:
God asks Abraham and Sarah to leave and go to unfamiliar places
In Egypt the Israelites were mistreated and abused.
In the promised land they were surrounded by foreign violent nations.
Invasion and exile at the hands of the Assyrians.
Invasion and exile at the hands of the Babylonians.
Living under the authority of Rome in the first century.
As we work through the next several weeks, please keep open to the idea that exile provides hope looking forward to the new thing that God wants to do. I believe this time where the church seems to be losing influence, where we seem to be more divided than ever, Satan would have us stay there. Instead, I believe that we need to look forward with hopeful anticipation to what new thing God is going to do. He has proved this over and over throughout Scripture, let’s believe that he is still working that way today!
REMIND ABOUT SMALL GROUP
Closing Question - “how can we live as God’s unique people in the midst of this place that lives so contrary to his purposes?” (pg 18)
SING - O Come to the Altar
COMMUNION
RITUAL
The Communion Supper, instituted by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is a sacrament, which proclaims His life, His sufferings, His sacrificial death, and resurrection, and the hope of His coming again. It shows forth the Lord’s death until His return.
The Supper is a means of grace in which Christ is present by the Spirit. It is to be received in reverent appreciation and gratefulness for the work of Christ.
All those who are truly repentant, forsaking their sins, and believing in Christ for salvation are invited to participate in the death and resurrection of Christ. We come to the table that we may be renewed in life and salvation and be made one by the Spirit.
In unity with the Church, we confess our faith: Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. And so we pray:
PRAYER OF CONFESSION AND SUPPLICATION:
Holy God,
We gather at this, your table, in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, who by your Spirit was anointed to preach good news to the poor, proclaim release to the captives, set at liberty those who are oppressed. Christ healed the sick, fed the hungry, ate with sinners, and established the new covenant for forgiveness of sins. We live in the hope of His coming again.
On the night in which He was betrayed, He took bread, gave thanks, broke the bread, gave it to His disciples, and said: “This is my body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”
Likewise, when the supper was over, He took the cup, gave thanks, gave it to His disciples, and said: “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in remembrance of me.” Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
And so, we gather as the Body of Christ to offer ourselves to you in praise and thanksgiving. Pour out your Holy Spirit on us and on these your gifts. Make them by the power of your Spirit to be for us the body and blood of Christ, that we may be for the world the Body of Christ, redeemed by His blood.
By your Spirit make us one in Christ, one with each other, and one in the ministry of Christ to all the world, until Christ comes in final victory. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen.
EXPLAIN ELEMENTS
The body of our Lord Jesus Christ, broken for you, preserve you blameless, unto everlasting life. Eat this in remembrance that Christ died for you, and be thankful.
The blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, shed for you, preserve you blameless unto everlasting life. Drink this in remembrance that Christ died for you, and be thankful.
CONCLUDING PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING AND COMMITMENT
And now, as our Savior Christ has taught us, let us pray:
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.