Living In Exile - Ordinary Life

Dennis Tuuri

Outline: Jeremiah 20:1-7 Living In Exile Ordinary Life Sermon Outline by Pastor Dennis Tuuri , July 13, 2008 Introduction America - Israel or Egypt or Babylon or Rome ? Why Exile? Hypocrisy and Apostasy, Christianity and Pluralism/Secularism Cognitive Minority; 1 Tim. 2:1-4 Timeline 721 Death of Israel Fall of Samaria (2 Kings 17) 701 Sennacherib and Zion (Isa. 36,37; 2Kg 18,19) Hezekiahs Temple Prayer Isa. 37:15 639 Josiah becomes King (7/8 yrs old) 632 Josiah (15/16 yrs old) seeks Yah 627 Jeremiah prophesies 623 Daniel, Ezekiel born, Zephaniah prophesies 608 Josiah dies. Habakkuk prophesies, Babylon rising 605 Chapter 1 of Daniel, Neb. takes Daniel to Babylon. 70 yrs. begins 603 Ch. 2. Graduation of Daniel 601 Cyrus born 600 Ch. 3 598 1,038 Jews captured, taken to Babylon 597 10,000 Jews captured, taken to Babylon, including Ezekiel, Mordecai 593 Ch. 4. Nebs insanity leaves a power vacuum; Jeremiah wears a yoke to convocation of rebels in Jerusalem. The rebels feel empowered by Nebs absence from the throne, but Jeremiah is against their rebellion . 588/587 Slavery repented of by Jews, but then they take slaves back 587/6 Death of Judah Fall of Jerusalem. Jeremiah taken to Egypt . 553 Ch. 7, 8. 539 Ch. 5,6. Cyrus (Darius the Mede, same as Cyrus the Persian) 538 Ch. 9. Daniel prays, 70 Weeks to start. 537 Resurrection of Judah (Israel) Cyrus Decree - Temple to be rebuilt 535 Ch. 10-12. Temple opposition 522 Darius the Great 520 Hag., Zach . prophecy 519 Book of Esther. Vashti and Darius 516,5 Esther becomes Queen. Ezra goes to Jerusalem 503 Nehemiah hears of troubles of Jerusalem 489 Events of Nehemiah 13, his return to Jerusalem, end of 49 years Lessons on Life in Exile from Jeremiah 29 I. Exile is from the Lord II. Ordinary life is what exile is all about A. Obeying in the Simple Things 1. Building and Planting Jer. 1:10 2. Avoiding Perfectionism and Legalism 2 Kings 5:18,19 3. Avoiding Titanism B. Believing Blessing is Present in Exile Gen. 1:28; Ex. 1:7; Jer. 30:19 C. Serving the City Ezek, 3:15 1. Working for the Citys Peace Avoiding the Siren Song of Retreatism and the Ghetto 2. Praying for the City Avoiding the Siren song of Syncretism and the Problem of Glamour 3. Having A Goal of Conversion for the City Ps. 122:6-9; Jer. 37:3, 7 No Year of Exclusion for this War! Dt. 20:5-10; 28:30-32; Isa. 65:21-23 III . Ordinary life means putting God first, seeking and listening attentively to Him. = Isa. 48:11; 43:7, Isa. 42:10-12; 43:20,21 IV. Ordinary Life Starts Here and Now, and on this Lords Day Jeremiah 29 1 These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders of the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. 2 This was after King Jeconiah and the queen mother, the eunuchs, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metal workers had departed from Jerusalem. 3 The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. It said: 4 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. 6 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. 7 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. 8 For 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, 9 for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the Lord . 10 For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord , plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. 13 You will seek me and find me. When you seek me with all your heart, 14 I will be found by you, declares the Lord , and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord , and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile. 15 Because you have said, The Lord has raised up prophets for us in Babylon, 16 thus says the Lord concerning the king who sits on the throne of David, and concerning all the people who dwell in this city, your kinsmen who did not go out with you into exile: 17 Thus says the Lord of hosts, behold, I am sending on them sword, famine, and pestilence, and I will make them like vile figs that are so rotten they cannot be eaten . 18 I will pursue them with sword, famine, and pestilence, and will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, a terror, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them, 19 because they did not pay attention to my words, declares the Lord , that I persistently sent to you by my servants the prophets, but you would not listen, declares the Lord . 20 Hear the word of the Lord , all you exiles whom I sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon: 21 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying a lie to you in my name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall strike them down before your eyes. 22 Because of them this curse shall be used by all the exiles from Judah in Babylon: The Lord make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire, 23 because they have done an outrageous thing in Israel, they have committed adultery with their neighbors wives, and they have spoken in my name lying words that I did not command them. I am the one who knows, and I am witness, declares the Lord . 24 To Shemaiah of Nehelam you shall say: 25 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: You have sent letters in your name to all the people who are in Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests, saying, 26 The Lord has made you priest instead of Jehoiada the priest, to have charge in the house of the Lord over every madman who prophesies, to put him in the stocks and neck irons. 27 Now why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth who is prophesying to you? 28 For he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, Your exile will be long; build houses and live in them, and plant gardens and eat their produce. 29 Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the hearing of Jeremiah the prophet. 30 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 31 Send to all the exiles, saying, Thus says the Lord concerning Shemaiah of Nehelam: Because Shemaiah had prophesied to you when I did not send him, and has made you trust in a lie, 32 therefore thus says the Lord: Behold, I will punish Shemaiah of Nehelam and his descendants. He shall not have anyone living among this people, and he shall not see the good that I will do to my people, declares the Lord , for he has spoken rebellion against the Lord .