MAY 14 2023 | How to Live in Babylon

Sea Change Church · MAY 14 2023 | How to Live in Babylon
Jeremiah 29:4-13
Automated transcript. Not reviewed for accuracy.

Plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters. Take wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage that they may bear sons and daughters. Multiply there and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile and pray to the Lord on its behalf. For in its welfare, you will find your welfare.

And thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you. And do not listen to the dreams that they dream. For it is a lie that they have, that they are prophesying to you in my name. I do not send them, declares the Lord. For thus says the Lord, when 70 years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place.

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all of your heart. The word of the Lord. All right. Thank you, Stat Millers. Hey, I'm super, I just want to say really briefly, I'm super encouraged and really excited about this new role.

I'm excited to work with families and parents on a closer level. I've got to work with parents for the last eight years. But to get to really work with parents closer, to get to partner with Kim and Vinny and just oversee so much of family ministries. I'm honored. I'm excited. I want to say thank you to you guys as well. Because, yeah, I've been here for eight years.

I came here at 21 years old as just like this little tyke. You know, I still look like a little tyke, I know. But I just came as this little tyke, 21 years old, and I look back at photos and like I'm preaching up here in a tie, like 22, 23, and like you guys are, most of you still here. Like that's so kind of you. You guys have been so kind to me as a congregation and so supportive.

Our staff, Pastor Adam, Drea, our whole staff has been so kind to me. So just want to start with a very sincere thank you to you guys. Thank you to our team. And I'm looking forward to this new role. And happy Mother's Day to moms. Part of the new role, I think. Oh, that's me and my mom right there. Pretty cute baby, if we're being honest. If we're just, be honest for a second.

That's a cute baby. Might have went downhill, but it was cute. Happy Mother's Day to moms. Happy Mother's Day to my mom. Happy Mother's Day, Leslie. Leslie, my mother-in-law, on Mother's Day, she chose to drive an hour to be here today. She's super cool. So shout outs to moms. Part of, I think, this new role and maybe part of the reason I got chosen for it is my wife's also pregnant.

And so, yeah, thank you. We never made any sort of official announcement about that. We just thought we'd show our work, you know. And so, that's what they tell you to do in school, right? Show your work. And so, we're showing our work. She's over there working with the little kids right now. And she's got her baby bump rocking. So, you can go rub her belly after the service.

Don't do that. She would not like that. But, yeah. So, you know, that's a part of it. So, moving into new seasons here. Moving into new seasons in my life. And I'm excited. I didn't know that the command to be fruitful and multiply could also get you a job. But, you know, only in the church, right? That's awesome. So, my assignment today is to speak on the subject of family.

As we move into this role and it's Mother's Day to talk about family. Now that I have a baby in the womb, I know all about family and parenting. And so, you're in good hands today. And so, I decided we'd look at this passage in Jeremiah. It's one of my favorite passages. I love this passage. And what we're going to look at is what God thinks of the family unit.

Just how important is the family unit, is the structure of the family to God? Because there's all sorts of debates about that in our culture. How important is the family unit? So, that's what we're going to look at in this passage. And the context, just a quick context before we jump in. Israel at this time has been conquered by Babylon. They've been sent into Babylonian exile.

And what Babylon did is anyone of influence, affluence, or status, they sent away into exile. Okay? And then they left behind the poor. They left behind the lower class. They left behind anyone they deemed unimportant. And the thinking behind that is simply that if you can take out all the leaders from a society. And you take them away, well then the society has no leadership or wealth to be able to have an uprising.

So, they take all of them out without having to adopt all of Israel's poor into Babylon. So, that's the thinking, right? And one of the people left behind was the prophet Jeremiah. Which, that shows just how little Israel really listened to Jeremiah. Not much, right? They didn't listen to him so much that Babylon did not even deem Jeremiah worthy of exile.

They just left him there. Instead, other prophets were taken. Ahab, Zedekiah, Shemaiah, all taken. And these prophets in Babylon, in exile, started to prophesy. And started to talk about, this is what the Lord's saying. These are the dreams we're having. And they started to say to the people of Israel in exile, don't get too comfortable here. Our God is going to rescue us.

Our God is going to save us. Our God is going to defeat our enemy. So, don't get too comfortable here in Babylon. Well, the word came to Jeremiah. And Jeremiah decides to write a letter. I love the persistence of Jeremiah because they did not listen to him when they were all together in Israel. And now, he had warned them of everything to come. Now, they've been sent out, right?

And he could finally, like, wipe his hands with it and be done. And instead, he, like, writes a strongly worded letter, right? He's like, he's not going to just stay out of this. And he tells them, no, this is what the word of the Lord is to the exiles. This is what God actually says. So, let's find out. Let's read verse 4 together. It says, Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I've sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.

Let's just pause there. I just want us to see one thing. Notice who sends them into exile. Who sends Israel to exile? It's not Babylon, right? God is letting them know right away, you have not been sent to exile because of big, bad Babylon. You haven't been sent to exile because you lost a war. You haven't been sent to exile because the Babylonian gods are greater than me, Yahweh.

That's not why. You're in exile because I sent you there. I put you there. And in fact, I have plans for you even in the midst of exile. Even in the midst of Babylon, I have plans for you. And so, what are God's plans? Let's keep reading. Chapter, or verse 5 says, this is his plan. Build houses and live in them. Plant gardens and eat their produce.

Take wives and have sons and daughters. Take wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage that they may bear sons and daughters. Multiply there and do not decrease. So, what is God's plan for a generation of displaced people suffering from loss, suffering from a corrupt government, suffering from anxiety, broken dreams? What's God's plan for those people?

Build homes. Plant gardens. Get married. Have sons and daughters. And let your children do the same. First off, what's God saying? You're going to be here a while. This is not a short exile. This is not a short detour from my plan. This is part of the plan. But it's also not just this passive thing. Right? It's also not just this thing that you're going to be here a while, so just wait it out.

No. God's calling them to participate here. To take up responsibility to plant roots here in Babylon. Don't just be displaced and longing for your home, but increase your responsibility. You go build a home. And you notice with each of these commands, as he gives them this list of things to do, they increase in responsibility. Right? First thing's what?

Take responsibility for who? It's you. Right? It's build a house and live in it. What's that saying? Sustain and care for yourself. And maybe, if you can sustain and care for yourself, well, maybe you can sustain and care for a garden. And that garden will give back to you and help you, again, continue to care for yourself. And if you can sustain and care for a garden and keep those plants alive, well, maybe you can sustain and care for a spouse.

And if you can sustain and care for a spouse, maybe you can sustain and care for a child. It's build homes, plant gardens. Like, it's an increasing responsibility to the people in exile. That's God's solution to Babylon. Take on responsibility of where you are. Don't mope around, wait around, but take on the highest responsibility that you can.

And there's not a lot higher responsibility than the building of a family. And this, as I put in your notes, is God's antidote to living in Babylon. Babylon represents all tyranny, captivity, corruption, paganism. That's Babylon. But God's antidote to living in Babylon is the building and the strengthening of the family unit. It's not run to a different city.

It's not wait around for rescue. It's build homes, plant gardens, get married, have kids. And if you look, I love this because this is some of my favorite things when it goes back to the garden. If you look, it's all Eden language. It all goes back to the garden of Eden. God gives Adam what? God, in Genesis, he gives Adam a garden to care for. Right?

That's what he's supposed to do. He's supposed to care for the garden while he's there. Our text says plant gardens. Right? Then God gives Adam a spouse. He gives him Eve. And Adam takes Eve as his wife. And our text says take wives. And God says to Adam and Eve, be fruitful and multiply. And our text says multiply there and do not decrease. And God says to them, take dominion.

In Genesis, he says take dominion over the world. Our text in verse 7, which we haven't read yet, says seek the welfare of the city. Do you see? It's all pointing back and going back to what? To the garden of Eden. Because God is saying to his people, here's how you turn Babylon into Eden. I have a plan for you here. And you're so focused on wanting to get back to Israel.

Wanting to get back to this old place of old things. And you want to get back to Israel. But I'm trying to get you back to Eden. You're trying to get back to a place. I'm trying to get you back to me. Right? To the garden where I walked amongst you. Where man and God were in great unity. I'm trying to get you back, not to a place, but to me. And in fact, the only reason Israel is in exile is because they had fallen away from the Lord.

They had one of the worst periods, if you read the book of Jeremiah, and some of the things they did. Some of it's like, it's pretty horrific what they were doing. And they had one of the worst periods of falling away from God in Israel's history. And so finally, just like God did with Adam and Eve, God exiled them. Exiled Adam and Eve from the garden.

He exiles Israel. But the beautiful thing about God is there is no moment where it's too late. Right? There's no moment where it's too late. There's no moment where God's given up. God still has plans even in the midst of exile. And so he's telling them, this is how you do it. This is how you make Babylon into Eden. I'll show you how to take a corrupt, wicked, broken place and turn it into a garden.

And that's going to take time. It's not going to happen immediately. It's going to take time. It takes time to change a culture. It takes time to build habits. They had their own culture that needed shifting and changing. And now they live into a corrupt place that they're supposed to seek the welfare of. And it takes time. And it takes, I think, the family unit to change a culture.

And you have to change culture from the inside out. You can't go in and change a culture. You've got to change culture from the inside out. I learned this a little bit when I got to go to Africa. There was this opportunity we had to go speak to a bunch of boys at a school. And so we got to go speak at this local school. It was a public school, so it was free.

So tons of kids were there. And they had separated the boys and girls by classrooms. And I was supposed to go talk to the boys. And the subject to talk about, a very light subject, was the issues that were going on in their culture when it concerned to the value of women. Women were being raped, abused. This was culturally accepted. As they were, they are being raped and abused and neglected and abandoned and viewed as lesser.

And so part of our thinking was, hey, let's go talk to the next generation about the value of women, about what God thinks about women. And, in fact, about what God thinks about the partnership of men and women. Right? So that's what I was there to do to these boys. Super light pastoral work. I've been talking to middle school and high school boys for a long time.

This was different, right? It felt a little different. Had a translator there. It was wild. And so I didn't know. I wanted to obviously use scripture. I'm supposed to talk about what God thinks of men and women. Right? But I was wondering, well, do they know the Bible? Like, do they even know if I say the Bible says, like, will they have any idea what that means or what that is?

And so I asked because I don't know. And I said, hey, who here can tell me what is the Bible? And I start scanning all these sweet faces. And I'm looking and I'm looking. And all these faces are just blank. Like, no idea. And I get to the far corner of the room. And there's this little boy wearing this long cross necklace. And he raises his hand. I call on him.

I say, yeah, what's the Bible? And he says, it's God's word to us. It's God's word to us. I said, man, that's absolutely right. You can actually see that little boy. If you squint a lot. He's the one on the far right going like this. And you can see the little cross hanging from his neck. He was one of the smallest boys in there. It was such a cool moment.

But the reason I bring that up is because who's going to change the culture in that area? It's not Harry flying back to Africa once a year. That's cool. That's awesome. And we're going to keep doing it. And that's part of my hope with this family ministry, too. Part of the things we're going to do is bring you guys to Africa. If you guys want to go to Africa, we have a lot.

We're really excited. I'm continuing to partner with Graceful Warrior Project. I got a lot of details to tell you about that. That's for another time. But I'm excited to bring you back to Africa. I'm going back next June. It's going to be sweet. So we want to partner with Africa. But I want to partner with little boys like that. Because who's going to change the culture?

It's not really me. It's boys like that who are going to change the culture if he takes up responsibility in his area. Right? If he builds homes, plants gardens, takes a spouse. Right? And all of a sudden, you've got more and more people, generations of people, who are learning to know God, know the word of God in that area. And all of a sudden, the culture begins to shift.

That's how you shift and change a culture. So it matters. The family unit matters. That's why I put in your notes that even in the midst of exile, the Eden model remains God's plan A for humanity. Right? God didn't move on to plan B after Eden. This is still plan A. It just involves reconciliation. And so if that's plan A, we've got to contend in our society.

We've got to contend for families. We've got to contend for kids. We've got to fight for marriages for the sake of the family in a culture that is increasingly valuing family less. That's the reality of our culture. Increasingly valuing. I looked at, like, ten different studies this week as I was looking at all these stats. And I was going to talk through all these stats.

And I'm not going to do that. I just included one. And this one just shows the rapid decline of people getting married in the United States. Right? It shows that the marriage rate since the 90s is dropping and has dropped nearly 40%. That there's this massive decline in people getting married. And as there's a decline in people getting married, there's also a decline in people having children.

And all of a sudden in the country, we're not doing as good at this build homes, plant gardens, take spouses business. And so, you know, there's a lot of things you could argue. I think people would argue, well, that's because marriage doesn't work. Stop getting married because marriage doesn't work. That's not it. Right? That's not true. Marriage still works.

Again, a lot of the studies I looked at show that marriage is still the best option for kids. A hundred percent. Marriage, a family that is married, it's still the best option for kids. One of the studies I looked at that showed, like, if you are only cohabitating and you never get married, you just cohabitate, never get married, and you start having kids, the likelihood that you break up is exponentially higher than a married couple who starts to have kids.

It's just, it's the best solution for kids is still marriage. That's it, man. It's still, so we, I want to contend for marriages. Again, God is a God. Nothing's ever too late. That's not, that's not to harp on anybody or anything like that. God is a God of redemption in all things, but we got to contend for marriages. And I know this because I, like, my parents were divorced, right?

I grew up and I was raised by a single mom, and my mom could not have given me more love and care. Like, my mom totally loved me for two parents. Like, she just did. Like, she was my biggest supporter. She's still my rock. She's still my hero. Like, I love my mom. I can't emphasize that enough. She was so amazing in my childhood. And yet, still growing up, just this longing for a father.

Just this longing to have a dad come alongside me and care for me and encourage me. Just longing and aching. And then getting, you know, being confused growing into, you know, high school and young adulthood and trying to look at what does a good godly man look like? I don't even know what that looks like. And just having way less guidance because I didn't have a dad in the home.

And so, it's, I know that marriages, that's the solution for kids. It doesn't mean things are impossible. I turned out okay. But that's the solution for kids, right? Let's keep reading. Let's go to verse 7. I love verse 7. This is a great verse. It says this. We talked about it a little. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile and pray to the Lord on its behalf.

For in its welfare, you will find your welfare. That word for welfare in Hebrew is shalom. And shalom is a familiar Hebrew word, right? I put in your notes it means peace. It means prosperity. It can mean success, welfare, health, friendliness, deliverance, salvation. It's one of those Hebrew words that has just so much depth to it. Seek the shalom of the city.

For in its shalom or in its welfare, you will find your welfare, right? It's so good. So, if you're going to seek the peace of the city, though. Seek the peace of the city. Seek the deliverance of the city. You'll find your peace. You'll find your deliverance. But if you're going to seek the peace of the city, it's pretty hard to seek the peace of the city if you don't have peace in your home.

Right? It's hard to seek the peace of the city if you don't have peace in your home. I know this because it's, I think it's, one, it's kind of obvious. And, two, I remember I was recently, like, I was out. I go to an MMA gym and jujitsu and, like, all that stuff. I've been doing martial arts my whole life. And so, been on MMA teams and fight teams and all that stuff.

And it's awesome. And it's really, there's amazing people there. But I was having some conversations and hearing, and there's just a lot of, like, gossip going around with one of my old teammates. And my team, this other teammate was talking to me, and he was just talking all this trash about this other teammate. And there's just all this gossip happening.

I was just hearing all of it. And then one of them was happening towards my friend. And I, like, was kind of, like, trying to defend my friend. And it just was one of those situations and conversations. Like, you ever have conversations where you just leave and you're just like, I feel gross. Right? You're just like, I just felt gross. I walked out.

I was like, that was gross. I just didn't feel good. And then I walk into my home. So, I go into my home, my little apartment. Walk in. And my wife is sitting at the table. And she is, she's got her baby bump, right? And on top of her baby bump is a ukulele, like, resting on top of it. And she's singing and strumming. And she's singing worship songs.

Right? So, I walk into my pregnant wife, ukulele on her belly, singing worship songs. As my, like, two wiener dog children, like, gallop to meet me. Right? And I'm just like, I have, like, this home is, I have the most wholesome home. You know? Like, this home is so wholesome. Like, I live in a cartoon. Right? It's just so, it's just so cute. Right?

And I walk into this, and I was just like, oh, my gosh. And all of a sudden, it was like peace. Like, all that, all that stuff that just felt gross, I just felt peace. Because I got peace in my home. You know? And that's a, that's a huge blessing. And so, when you seek the welfare of the city, don't forget to, it starts with build a home. Right? That's first.

Seek the welfare of the city, but seek the peace in your home. And as you do that, then seek the welfare of those around you. Seek the welfare of your family, of your neighbors, of your enemy, of your government. Seek the welfare of your city. And that's part of the role as Christians, man. No matter your status. Married status, single, whatever it is.

Seek the welfare of those around you. For in their welfare, you'll find yours. I love this quote. My mom sent me this quote yesterday. So, shout out to her. And I think it's fitting. It says this. It's not in your notes, but it'll be on the screen. It says, a society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit.

A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit. See, some things are just worth doing. Just not for your sake. Some sufferings are worth going through. Not even for your sake, but for the sake of who comes next. Like, sometimes that's where the mindset needs to be. To be, God is generationally minded.

Right? He thinks not just about us. I know he thinks about us and he loves us, but he thinks generations ahead. That's seeking the welfare of the city right there. And the problem with Israel in this passage is they just wanted to be somewhere else so bad. They just wanted to be home. They're just like, dude, take me home. I don't want to be here.

We got to always stop always wanting to be somewhere else. They wanted to be somewhere else so bad. I put in your notes that the enemy would love to distract us with desires of elsewhere. So that we disregard God's call for us here. God's got a calling for us here. Right now. So we can't just fantasize about elsewhere, but take up the responsibility of where we're at.

And seek God where we're at. Let's read verses 10 through 13 together. I just want you to know, I can't help but say it. Verse 10, there's an awesome, awesome, like, gospel metaphor there about God restoring us at the perfect time and how he does that through Jesus. And it's like a whole different sermon, and I can't preach it, but I want you to know it's there.

Okay. So it's there. But let's read 10 through 13 together. For thus says the Lord, when 70 years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you. And I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans for welfare and not for evil. To give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you.

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I love, man. Verse 11 is so good. For I know the plans I have for you. Plans not for evil. Plans to give you hope in a future. It's one of those Christian verses that, like, everyone knows. Jeremiah 29, 11. Like, it's just that's in your brain, right, if you've been in the church a long time.

Because it's just such a great verse. It's also been so consistently ripped. Kicking and screaming out of context. To say that God is only going to give you amazing, perfect riches and prosperity and good things. He's only got beautiful, perfect, good plans for you. And yeah, his plans are perfect. But don't forget, this is written to a people in the midst of exile.

The same God who sent them into exile is the same God who plans to give them a hope and a future. Right? So we can't expect that exile at times, hardship at times, and suffering at times isn't part of it. Our hope is not one of escapism. It's not trying to escape suffering. Our hope is not trying to escape suffering. It's in spite of suffering. Right?

Our hope happens in spite of suffering, in spite of hardship. And in spite of suffering and hardship, guess what? God has beautiful plans for you in the midst of those things. And that's what the case was for Israel. Israel ended up being exiled for 70 years. It's not a short exile. 70 years. That's what we know historically. But many scholars think that even though this exile was 70 years, it ended up being one of the richest times in Hebrew history.

Now this is debated a little bit. You talk to Pastor Jim to get the debate notes. But many, many scholars think that this is a period of time where the Jewish people started writing and recording their scriptures. Writing, recording, and making copies and passing down their scriptures and switching from, not totally switching, but going from an oral tradition where a lot of scriptures would have been through this strict oral tradition and now moving into writing as they fought to preserve their culture and the word of God and what God had done throughout history.

And so this ended up being this rich time in Hebrew literature. Why? Because he knows the plans he has for you. Even in the midst of suffering, plans to give you hope, plans to give you a future. And I've said this before, but if I need to know the plan, we're human beings, we always want to know the plan, right? But I've said this before, I don't need to know the plan, I need to know the planner, right?

Because if I know the planner, then I know whatever he's planning, it's good. See, it doesn't say, it says, seek me and you'll find me when you seek me with all your heart. It doesn't say, seek the plan and you'll find the plan. So I don't spend a lot of time wondering what God's will is for me, trying to find God's perfect plan for me. I seek him.

If we seek him, we'll find him. And so I don't need to know the plan. You only need to know the plan if the planner is inadequate, right? Which is why my wife always will ask me for like the itinerary if I planned anything, right? Because the planner is inadequate. But our God's not inadequate, right? He's God. And so I don't need to know the plan, I just need to know him.

And if I know him, then I know what he's planned is good. Amen? Amen. Let's pray. I'll invite you to stand as we bless you. We love to bless you here in this church. If you want to extend your hands, and we'll pray together. Father God, you are a God who has great plans for us. In the midst of sorrow and in the midst of joy, God, your plan remains good.

And so we ask right now, we pray a blessing of peace, Lord. I pray for peace in our homes, peace in our city, peace in our families, peace with our children. And let us trust you, God. As you lead us, Lord, as you know the plans you have for us, let us trust you in the midst. We love you, Jesus, in your name. Amen. Amen. Well, we love you guys. Happy Mother's Day.

We'll see you next week.