Living as an exile in a world that was formerly Christian or learning to play as the visiting team.
In this episode, we confront our expectations about what kind of world we live in. Do we expect to live in a world that is predominantly Christian, or a world that is foreign to the kingdom of heaven?
1 Peter 2:11 and Hebrews 11:13 suggest that God’s people live as exiles in a world that is not their home.
We suggest that Exiles have assumptions that differ from people who are at home:
1. An exile does not have privilege or power or position, nor do they expect it. (No rights in Babylon)
2. An exile is acutely aware that home is not here! (A future and a hope)
3. An exile expects to be different from the inhabitants of his/her current land.
4. An exile seeks to understand the customs of their new world, but keeps alive aspects of the old life.
Russell Moore asks, “What happens when people reject the church because they think we reject Jesus and the gospel?” He continued, “What if people don’t leave the church because they disapprove of Jesus, but because they’ve read the Bible and have come to the conclusion that the church itself would disapprove of Jesus?”
Jeremiah 29:4-14 suggests several activities of people in exile:
1. Build — Houses, cultures, institutions. Community groups
2. Plant gardens. Get rooted. It takes a while to get the produce. Long term plans
3. Grow families. Yes, Babylon was probably a bad place to raise children.
4. Seek the welfare of the city. Ask what good can I do here? How can I influence the city toward welfare and flourishing?
5. Pray for the city. Don’t just gripe about the city.
6. Don’t let false prophets lie to you about your rescue. You will all die here (70 years). Disciple your children.
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Music:
Little Lily Swing, Tri-Tachyon, Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International, https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tri-Tachyon/the-kleptotonic-ep/little-lily-swing
Sorry, Comfort Fit, Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Germany (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 DE), https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Comfort_Fit/Forget_And_Remember/03_Sorry