WEBVTT 00:00:06.480 --> 00:00:08.880 Hello everyone, this is Pastor Benjamin. 00:00:08.880 --> 00:00:12.000 You're listening to Sermon Audio from New City Orlando. 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:15.439 At New City, we long to see our Father answer the Lord's Prayer. 00:00:15.439 --> 00:00:20.000 For more resources, visit our website at Newcity Orlando.com. 00:00:20.480 --> 00:00:22.000 Please pray with me. 00:00:22.000 --> 00:00:27.280 Eternal God, in the reading of Scripture, may your word be heard. 00:00:27.280 --> 00:00:31.519 In the meditation of our hearts, may your word be known. 00:00:31.519 --> 00:00:36.240 And in the faithfulness of our lives, may your word be displayed. 00:00:36.240 --> 00:00:38.560 Through Jesus Christ our Lord. 00:00:38.560 --> 00:00:39.439 Amen. 00:00:39.439 --> 00:00:43.359 Our scripture reading is Jeremiah twenty-nine, one through fourteen. 00:00:43.359 --> 00:00:45.920 Please remain standing if you are able. 00:00:45.920 --> 00:01:02.479 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. 00:01:02.479 --> 00:01:13.120 This was after King Jechaniah and the Queen Mother, the eunuchs, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen and the metal workers had departed from Jerusalem. 00:01:13.120 --> 00:01:24.799 The letter was sent by the hand of Elassa the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah, King of Judah, sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon. 00:01:24.799 --> 00:01:36.560 It said, Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. 00:01:36.560 --> 00:01:40.319 Build houses and live in them. 00:01:40.319 --> 00:01:43.040 Plant gardens and eat their produce. 00:01:43.040 --> 00:01:46.079 Take wives and have sons and daughters. 00:01:46.079 --> 00:01:52.239 Take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters. 00:01:52.239 --> 00:02:04.719 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. 00:02:04.719 --> 00:02:21.520 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, for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name. 00:02:21.520 --> 00:02:25.039 I did not send them, declares the Lord. 00:02:25.039 --> 00:02:36.479 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. 00:02:36.479 --> 00:02:46.479 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. 00:02:46.479 --> 00:02:52.240 Then you will call upon me, and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. 00:02:52.240 --> 00:02:56.800 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 00:02:56.800 --> 00:03:13.599 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. 00:03:13.599 --> 00:03:15.120 This is God's word. 00:03:15.599 --> 00:03:16.560 Thanks be to God. 00:03:16.800 --> 00:03:18.080 You may be seated. 00:03:30.080 --> 00:03:31.280 Why am I here now? 00:03:31.280 --> 00:03:36.479 It's the question on the heart and mind of an adventurer who's charting out into new territory among a foreign people. 00:03:36.479 --> 00:03:39.199 They don't even speak the language, they go, Why am I here now? 00:03:39.199 --> 00:03:45.759 Hopefully, it's not the question on the mind of a bride as the as the song is playing for them to walk down the aisle. 00:03:45.759 --> 00:03:47.199 Why am I here now? 00:03:47.199 --> 00:03:50.560 But this is a core question at the heart of human existence. 00:03:50.560 --> 00:03:52.400 Why am I here now? 00:03:52.400 --> 00:03:54.159 It's a question of purpose. 00:03:54.159 --> 00:03:54.800 Why? 00:03:54.800 --> 00:03:56.560 What is my purpose? 00:03:56.560 --> 00:03:58.639 It's a question that's deeply personal. 00:03:58.639 --> 00:03:59.840 Why am I? 00:03:59.840 --> 00:04:02.000 Why am I, Lord? 00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:05.039 It's a question of place, why am I here? 00:04:05.039 --> 00:04:07.120 And it's a question of the present moment. 00:04:07.120 --> 00:04:09.280 Why am I here right now? 00:04:09.280 --> 00:04:13.360 And this is a question that is on the hearts and minds of all of us. 00:04:13.360 --> 00:04:22.720 In fact, uh, longing for purpose is only on the increase as we live in a secular age that has stripped purpose and meaning out of our existence. 00:04:22.720 --> 00:04:26.800 People are wondering and asking this question, why am I here now? 00:04:26.800 --> 00:04:31.439 And ultimately, the answer to that question will not be found by looking within. 00:04:31.439 --> 00:04:35.439 It will not be found even by looking outside of you to the society around you. 00:04:35.439 --> 00:04:41.199 It will only be found when you turn that question vertical and begin to ask it to the Lord, Lord, why am I here now? 00:04:41.199 --> 00:04:46.560 And we have an answer to that question in Jeremiah 29, this letter to the exiles. 00:04:46.560 --> 00:04:54.639 And so as we conclude our series, this vision series through our disciple to find, uh, we are ending with co-mission. 00:04:54.639 --> 00:05:04.480 Now, our definition of a disciple around here is that disciples are united to Jesus in communion with God, community with one another, and co-mission for the world. 00:05:04.480 --> 00:05:10.800 And you'll see in the next slide, these kind of concentric circles, if you will, that there is an outward movement to this. 00:05:10.800 --> 00:05:23.600 The heart of communion with God, we talked about on January 4th, how we're called into union with Christ, and then we share in that union, we enjoy it through receiving and responding moment by moment, day by day, season by season. 00:05:23.600 --> 00:05:29.920 And last week we looked at how in community is a place where we are known and loved, and we know and love. 00:05:29.920 --> 00:05:36.800 And I just want to commend you, New City, because last week was uh a sermon, a sermon on confession. 00:05:36.800 --> 00:05:39.199 Um, people responded profoundly. 00:05:39.199 --> 00:05:44.480 I heard stories of confession to their spouses, to their friends, the roommates, coworkers, things like that. 00:05:44.480 --> 00:05:51.680 And there's this saying that um soft sermons produce hard hearts, but hard sermons produce soft hearts. 00:05:51.680 --> 00:06:01.600 And the tender-heartedness that's indicative of a congregation that's responsive to the Word of God is it's such a joy for me to witness that. 00:06:01.600 --> 00:06:10.240 And so this week we tackle the third and final piece here, which is co-mission, how we are sent on co-mission for the sake of our world. 00:06:10.240 --> 00:06:14.480 And in order to do that, we're gonna take up what is a familiar text here at New City. 00:06:14.480 --> 00:06:18.959 It's been preached by my count seven times before today is the seventh time. 00:06:18.959 --> 00:06:20.560 Uh, Jeremiah 29. 00:06:20.560 --> 00:06:27.439 This is a uh it's a text that has become core to the identity and vocation of New City, Orlando. 00:06:27.439 --> 00:06:32.720 And so if you have a Bible or device or the worship God, go ahead and get Jeremiah 29 in front of you. 00:06:32.720 --> 00:06:35.360 Let's look at verse 1 together. 00:06:35.360 --> 00:06:52.720 Verse 1 says, this 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. 00:06:52.720 --> 00:06:53.759 Pause for a moment. 00:06:53.759 --> 00:07:04.319 In in at the end of this book, Jeremiah 52, it says that about 3,000 people were brought from Jerusalem into exile in Babylon in 597 BC. 00:07:04.319 --> 00:07:05.519 All right, that's important. 00:07:05.519 --> 00:07:09.680 Because the Babylonian strategy was cultural assimilation. 00:07:09.680 --> 00:07:14.240 So they chose the best and the brightest, the elite of the civilization. 00:07:14.240 --> 00:07:27.120 They brought them into Babylon, and then they tried to train them up, teach them, enculturate them in all of the literature and the language of the Babylonians in order then to begin to have an assimilating effect on the rest of their people. 00:07:27.120 --> 00:07:30.160 This is the story if you read Daniel 1 through 6. 00:07:30.160 --> 00:07:32.879 That's the conflict of Daniel 1 through 6. 00:07:32.879 --> 00:07:39.120 This contesting with cultural assimilation that Daniel and his friends are experiencing in Babylon. 00:07:39.120 --> 00:07:41.360 Okay, look at verse 2. 00:07:41.360 --> 00:07:43.040 You'll see some of these elite. 00:07:43.040 --> 00:07:51.279 This was after King Jeconiah and the Queen Mother, the eunuchs, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen and the metalworkers had departed from Jerusalem. 00:07:51.279 --> 00:07:59.199 So here's a question: What relevance does a letter that was written 2,600 years ago have for us today? 00:07:59.199 --> 00:08:01.040 Oh, in every way. 00:08:01.040 --> 00:08:03.600 Listen, here's my two top reasons. 00:08:03.600 --> 00:08:08.399 Number one, Babylon in the Bible becomes an archetype. 00:08:08.399 --> 00:08:14.480 It becomes this pattern that begins to be recognized since Genesis 11 with the Tower of Babel. 00:08:14.480 --> 00:08:16.639 Babylon grows out of there. 00:08:16.639 --> 00:08:20.399 It's an archetype of a people who have rejected God. 00:08:20.399 --> 00:08:33.120 Now, this is important for us because I think it's a greater temptation for Americans than, say, Iranians, to forget that America is Babylon, not Jerusalem. 00:08:33.120 --> 00:08:37.200 That's super important for us to get, especially in our cultural moment right now. 00:08:37.200 --> 00:08:39.039 So that's the first reason why this is relevant. 00:08:39.039 --> 00:08:48.720 The second reason is that the New Testament calls Christians exiles more than it calls us Christians, which only happens three times. 00:08:48.720 --> 00:08:53.759 In fact, exilic language, by my count, was at least five times in the New Testament. 00:08:53.759 --> 00:09:02.960 This exilic identity is so core to discipleship to Jesus, and it's really important that that's the posture we have in the world. 00:09:02.960 --> 00:09:04.320 We are exiles. 00:09:04.320 --> 00:09:05.919 This is not our home. 00:09:05.919 --> 00:09:10.480 Here's why it will shape the kind of disciples you make. 00:09:10.480 --> 00:09:13.440 Because expectations alter experience. 00:09:13.440 --> 00:09:19.039 If you think as a disciple of Jesus you should feel at home here, you're gonna be deeply disappointed. 00:09:19.039 --> 00:09:32.799 In fact, not only disappointed, but somebody with what I'm just gonna call a Jerusalem mindset is more likely to think that we should be dominant culture rather than an exilic mindset believes that we're a creative minority. 00:09:32.799 --> 00:09:41.759 If you believe in a Jerusalem mindset that this should be, we need a, we this is our home, this is where we belong, you're gonna take your identity for granted. 00:09:41.759 --> 00:09:44.799 Which actually makes it really easy to compromise. 00:09:44.799 --> 00:09:49.039 Because American values become synonymous with Christian values. 00:09:49.039 --> 00:09:54.960 Whereas if you're an exilic mindset, you expect your identity to be challenged on the daily. 00:09:54.960 --> 00:10:04.240 Third, and and maybe most important right now is if you have a Jerusalem mindset, you will have a triumphalistic attitude toward the surrounding culture. 00:10:04.240 --> 00:10:09.840 If you have an exilic mindset, you're gonna have a servant attitude toward the surrounding culture. 00:10:09.840 --> 00:10:13.840 You see what difference this makes for disciples of Jesus in our cultural moment? 00:10:13.840 --> 00:10:19.919 So with that in mind, look with me at verse one again. 00:10:19.919 --> 00:10:26.720 It says this at the end of verse one, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. 00:10:26.720 --> 00:10:28.480 Now look at verse 4 with me. 00:10:28.480 --> 00:10:35.360 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. 00:10:35.360 --> 00:10:36.159 Do you notice that? 00:10:36.159 --> 00:10:38.720 You see, the Holy Spirit doesn't waste his breath. 00:10:38.720 --> 00:10:40.559 There's something significant here. 00:10:40.559 --> 00:10:42.559 So which one is it? 00:10:42.559 --> 00:10:49.039 Did Nebuchadnezzar take these captives and bring them against their will from Jerusalem to Babylon? 00:10:49.039 --> 00:10:51.039 Or did Yahweh send them? 00:10:51.039 --> 00:10:52.559 Yes. 00:10:52.559 --> 00:10:54.960 The answer is yes. 00:10:54.960 --> 00:10:59.840 Are you here in Orlando for social for because of social forces? 00:10:59.840 --> 00:11:03.919 Because you're a student or you got family here, or you're married into Orlando, or you moved here for a job? 00:11:03.919 --> 00:11:05.039 Is that the reason? 00:11:05.039 --> 00:11:05.919 Sure. 00:11:05.919 --> 00:11:10.000 Is it also because the hand of God is at work in your life? 00:11:10.000 --> 00:11:11.919 Sending you here now? 00:11:11.919 --> 00:11:14.480 Yes, of course. 00:11:14.480 --> 00:11:20.159 You see, the providence of God is the seedbed for the purpose of man. 00:11:20.159 --> 00:11:22.159 Why am I here now? 00:11:22.159 --> 00:11:24.399 Because Yahweh has sent you here. 00:11:24.399 --> 00:11:27.600 He has you here with a purpose for a reason. 00:11:27.600 --> 00:11:30.080 He has a purpose for your life in this generation. 00:11:30.080 --> 00:11:31.200 It's really important. 00:11:31.200 --> 00:11:37.039 Now, it's so important because from earth's perspective, we just see social forces. 00:11:37.039 --> 00:11:38.159 We just see social causes. 00:11:38.159 --> 00:11:41.279 Nebuchadnezzar, you know, with the bigger army, just conquers all this stuff. 00:11:41.279 --> 00:11:46.240 But from heaven's perspective, we see the hand of God at work in our lives. 00:11:46.240 --> 00:11:50.320 It's so important that the Lord has to repeat this four times in the text. 00:11:50.320 --> 00:11:53.039 Verse 4, he says, uh, I have sent you into exile. 00:11:53.039 --> 00:11:56.320 Verse 7, he says, the city to which I have sent you into exile. 00:11:56.320 --> 00:11:57.840 Verse 14, it's repeated twice. 00:11:57.840 --> 00:12:01.919 He says this I will gather you from where I have driven you. 00:12:01.919 --> 00:12:05.039 And then he ends by saying, From which I sent you into exile. 00:12:05.039 --> 00:12:11.039 Four times he's got to reinforce because he knows the temptation to walk by sight and not by faith. 00:12:11.039 --> 00:12:13.120 Nebuchadnezzar dragged us here. 00:12:13.120 --> 00:12:16.320 He's like, Yes, but I sent you there. 00:12:16.320 --> 00:12:22.399 And that is so important to the answer to the question of why am I here now? 00:12:22.399 --> 00:12:24.399 But there's temptations. 00:12:24.399 --> 00:12:26.080 There's always temptations. 00:12:26.080 --> 00:12:33.440 We want plausible explanations that will make sense of our reality, so much so that the Lord has to warn his people in this letter. 00:12:33.440 --> 00:12:35.120 Look at verse 8 with me. 00:12:35.120 --> 00:12:43.759 Verse 8 says this 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. 00:12:43.759 --> 00:12:51.039 Do not listen to the dreams that they dream, for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name. 00:12:51.039 --> 00:12:53.600 I did not send them, declares Yahweh. 00:12:53.600 --> 00:13:02.639 Now, as far as my count, when I when I look at the prophetic literature and see what the different temptations were, these lies, there's at least three. 00:13:02.639 --> 00:13:11.200 The first lie is probably the most reasonable, to be honest, which is in exile we might believe the Lord has deserted us. 00:13:11.200 --> 00:13:16.879 Israel might think we've sinned so bad, which is true, that the Lord finally has had enough. 00:13:16.879 --> 00:13:17.759 He's deserted us. 00:13:17.759 --> 00:13:20.799 And that would, the temptation there is to despair. 00:13:20.799 --> 00:13:29.440 Another temptation, which we see in Jeremiah 44 at towards the end of the book, is that Yahweh was defeated by the gods of Babylon. 00:13:29.440 --> 00:13:37.120 This was the cultural consensus of the moment that whoever was victorious among the nations, that's whose God was bigger, badder, and stronger. 00:13:37.120 --> 00:13:42.240 Yahweh just might be getting old and doesn't have what he used to when he was rocking it in Egypt. 00:13:42.240 --> 00:13:47.120 Yahweh was defeated, which would lead to idolatry. 00:13:47.120 --> 00:13:52.480 If our gods defeated, we should probably look to the gods of the nations, which was a real temptation. 00:13:52.480 --> 00:14:01.279 The third temptation, the third lie was Yahweh is gonna destroy Babylon and He's gonna come and bring us home soon. 00:14:01.279 --> 00:14:07.759 Which we actually see at the end of this chapter in verse 28, is this temptation to escapism. 00:14:07.759 --> 00:14:12.799 Just just circle the wagons, hold on, hold fast. 00:14:12.799 --> 00:14:15.600 God's gonna come through, he's gonna rescue his people. 00:14:15.600 --> 00:14:20.559 To all three of those lies, the Lord gives us one verse, verse 10. 00:14:20.559 --> 00:14:31.759 He says, This, for thus says the Lord, when seventy years, it's not gonna be soon, when seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you. 00:14:31.759 --> 00:14:34.240 In fact, I haven't forsaken you. 00:14:34.240 --> 00:14:36.480 Don't despair, because I will visit you. 00:14:36.480 --> 00:14:42.159 And when I do, this is what he goes on to say, I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. 00:14:42.159 --> 00:14:45.840 In fact, the gods of the nations got nothing on me. 00:14:45.840 --> 00:14:48.480 This is actually more about my timing. 00:14:48.480 --> 00:14:53.519 And when I want to, I'm gonna visit you, fulfill my promise, and bring you home. 00:14:53.519 --> 00:14:57.200 Because this is the true and living God of Israel. 00:14:57.200 --> 00:15:07.120 And so, if you were gonna write a letter to some exiles in Babylon who are asking the question, why are we here now? 00:15:07.120 --> 00:15:08.639 What would you say? 00:15:08.639 --> 00:15:13.919 Well, what Yahweh says is, build houses and make babies. 00:15:13.919 --> 00:15:15.679 If you don't believe me, look at the text. 00:15:15.679 --> 00:15:16.639 Look at verse 5. 00:15:16.639 --> 00:15:22.480 It says this build houses and live in them, plant gardens and eat their produce. 00:15:22.480 --> 00:15:29.360 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. 00:15:29.360 --> 00:15:32.240 Multiply there and do not decrease. 00:15:32.240 --> 00:15:44.000 You see, as we are sent on commission for the world, one of the primary ways we live out our commission for the world is through our work, through our ordinary occupations. 00:15:44.000 --> 00:15:48.639 Work isn't just what you do for compensation, it's all of your forms of contribution. 00:15:48.639 --> 00:15:50.879 This is why parenting is core here. 00:15:50.879 --> 00:15:57.440 I don't know of anybody in this room that gets paid to be a parent, but it's a calling and it's part of the good work that God's given you to do. 00:15:57.440 --> 00:15:59.519 This is essential for us to recognize. 00:15:59.519 --> 00:16:01.919 But at the top, I need to address something here. 00:16:01.919 --> 00:16:09.360 I need to speak to the question of what about the unmarried, the infertile, and the underemployed? 00:16:09.360 --> 00:16:15.840 Listen, any good Christian community knows how to rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. 00:16:15.840 --> 00:16:26.480 If you're in this room and you feel in one of those categories, unmarried, infertile, underemployed, what you're experiencing is the felt sense of exile. 00:16:26.480 --> 00:16:36.080 Since our expulsion from Eden in Genesis 3, the Lord told us that core to our experience of exile in this world will be pain and childbearing. 00:16:36.080 --> 00:16:38.399 It'll be the pain of infertility and bareness. 00:16:38.399 --> 00:16:46.720 It'll be the pain of putting your hands to the plow by the sweat of your brow, reaping thorns and thistles rather than fig trees and grapes, right? 00:16:46.720 --> 00:16:49.759 This is core to our experience of human exile. 00:16:49.759 --> 00:16:52.480 You're not crazy, you're just human. 00:16:52.480 --> 00:16:59.279 And in fact, the the fact that those three categories are so painful. 00:16:59.279 --> 00:17:04.079 I've gotten to weep with plenty of you in this room over these things and pray for you. 00:17:04.079 --> 00:17:21.039 That God would give you a baby or a spouse or a job or a the fact that we feel the pain of exile so acutely actually, I think, underscores the fact that since Genesis 1.28, God said, Work and womb are the primary ways I'm gonna bring my goodness into this world. 00:17:21.039 --> 00:17:26.079 Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth. 00:17:26.079 --> 00:17:27.119 That's womb. 00:17:27.119 --> 00:17:30.960 Have dominion, subdue it, work and keep. 00:17:30.960 --> 00:17:31.680 That's work. 00:17:31.680 --> 00:17:32.720 Do you see? 00:17:32.720 --> 00:17:37.200 This is core to our human vocation, made in the image of God. 00:17:37.200 --> 00:17:42.079 It's why we feel the pain when those are disruptive, when we feel the curse of it. 00:17:42.079 --> 00:17:43.839 It's why we feel it so acutely. 00:17:43.839 --> 00:17:48.880 And so as we look at verse five together, I want you to keep that in mind. 00:17:48.880 --> 00:17:57.920 I want you to keep in mind the fact that there's a signature scene throughout scripture of God bringing life out of barrenness, whether the barren womb or the barren work. 00:17:57.920 --> 00:17:59.759 Look at verse five with me. 00:17:59.759 --> 00:18:05.599 It says this build houses and live in them, plant gardens and eat their produce. 00:18:05.599 --> 00:18:14.480 What this means is one of the primary ways you're going to serve the city of Orlando is through your occupation, through the work that God has given you to do. 00:18:14.480 --> 00:18:15.759 That's so important. 00:18:15.759 --> 00:18:19.599 In fact, there's a you can just track with some characters throughout scripture. 00:18:19.599 --> 00:18:24.720 Joseph, Daniel, Nehemiah, Esther, they were all civil servants. 00:18:24.720 --> 00:18:26.319 They were all in government. 00:18:26.319 --> 00:18:30.960 Such a strong theme in Scripture that John Calvin says it like this. 00:18:30.960 --> 00:18:40.000 He believed that the calling to be a public servant was, quote, the most sacred and by far the most honorable of all stations in mortal life. 00:18:40.000 --> 00:18:41.680 Does that surprise you? 00:18:41.680 --> 00:18:44.559 He's not talking about being a pastor or a missionary. 00:18:44.559 --> 00:18:51.599 He's talking about working for the government, the most sacred and most honorable of all stations in mortal life. 00:18:51.599 --> 00:18:55.759 He's getting that, I believe, from reflection on the storyline of Scripture. 00:18:55.759 --> 00:19:08.960 You see, it's important to note that Ephesians 2.10 says that God has, that we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God has prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. 00:19:08.960 --> 00:19:14.240 And I believe that most of your good works are going to come through your good work. 00:19:14.240 --> 00:19:25.279 That your vocation really matters, that your calling to work in the world is a significant part of what it means to be on mission with the Spirit and with God's people in our city. 00:19:25.279 --> 00:19:43.359 Paul, maybe reading Jeremiah's letter in 1 Thessalonians 4 9, says it like this: Aspire to live quietly and to mind your own affairs and to work with your hands as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one. 00:19:43.359 --> 00:19:45.839 That's an exilic letter. 00:19:45.839 --> 00:19:49.039 Walk properly before outsiders, the well thought of. 00:19:49.039 --> 00:19:53.680 Work with your hands, be quiet and just do the good work that God's put in front of you to do. 00:19:53.680 --> 00:19:57.440 That's what it means to be on mission with the Holy Spirit. 00:19:57.440 --> 00:20:02.240 But here's the problem in our Cultural moment we idolize work. 00:20:02.240 --> 00:20:06.559 The question, what do you do, is actually often a question of status. 00:20:06.559 --> 00:20:07.920 Just think about it. 00:20:07.920 --> 00:20:13.279 Do you ever get uncomfortable when somebody asks you that because you either have a high status or a low status job? 00:20:13.279 --> 00:20:20.160 Or when somebody answers that question with either a high status or a low status job, does it affect the way you relate to them? 00:20:20.160 --> 00:20:24.000 This is the idolatry of work in our present cultural moment. 00:20:24.000 --> 00:20:26.079 But it was a problem back then too. 00:20:26.079 --> 00:20:29.519 Why 70 years in exile? 00:20:29.519 --> 00:20:39.279 Well, in 2 Chronicles 36, 21, it says that they will be in exile, quote, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. 00:20:39.279 --> 00:20:44.000 All the days that it lay desolate, it kept Sabbath to fulfill 70 years. 00:20:44.000 --> 00:20:45.759 Why are they in exile for 70 years? 00:20:45.759 --> 00:20:47.680 One word, workaholism. 00:20:47.680 --> 00:20:52.640 Workaholism, God judged his people for workaholism. 00:20:52.640 --> 00:20:53.680 Here's what I mean. 00:20:53.680 --> 00:21:02.640 There was a command in Scripture that the land that God gave to Israel, they can work it for six years, but they have to let it rest for one year. 00:21:02.640 --> 00:21:09.200 It modeled the pattern of God working six days and resting one, and the Sabbath command to work six days and to rest one. 00:21:09.200 --> 00:21:12.960 But they never did it for 490 years. 00:21:12.960 --> 00:21:14.480 So guess what God did? 00:21:14.480 --> 00:21:16.720 He's got a long-term memory. 00:21:16.720 --> 00:21:28.079 He backlogged all 70 years worth of Sabbaths that the land didn't get because of the workaholism of Israel, and he kicked them out so that the land could rest. 00:21:28.079 --> 00:21:34.640 A holy God takes the holy Sabbath very seriously. 00:21:34.640 --> 00:21:36.400 And so should we. 00:21:36.400 --> 00:21:37.839 It's a gift. 00:21:37.839 --> 00:21:41.200 It's not just the burden of a command, although it's one of the big ten. 00:21:41.200 --> 00:21:47.039 It's a gift to remind you that you are not a human doing, but a human being. 00:21:47.039 --> 00:21:56.799 So listen, when you take one day out of seven that you do nothing that you know to be work, you are being restored in the image of God more and more. 00:21:56.799 --> 00:21:59.039 You're being reminded I'm a human being. 00:21:59.039 --> 00:22:05.599 When you avoid email and studying if you're a student or children's kids' sports. 00:22:05.599 --> 00:22:06.559 Uh-oh. 00:22:06.559 --> 00:22:11.519 Speaking of kids, look with me at verse 6. 00:22:11.519 --> 00:22:20.880 It says this 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. 00:22:20.880 --> 00:22:24.160 Multiply there and do not decrease. 00:22:24.160 --> 00:22:26.559 Can I be provocative for a moment? 00:22:26.559 --> 00:22:28.480 Some of you are like, you just took on kids' sports, dude. 00:22:28.480 --> 00:22:30.000 It doesn't get worse than that. 00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:32.079 All right, here we go. 00:22:32.079 --> 00:22:35.200 There's a song that I think could be taken from verse six here. 00:22:35.200 --> 00:22:36.240 Here it goes. 00:22:36.240 --> 00:22:43.119 First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes the baby in the baby carriage, right? 00:22:43.119 --> 00:22:43.519 Here we go. 00:22:43.519 --> 00:22:44.960 This is a good countercultural song. 00:22:44.960 --> 00:22:45.519 Here's why. 00:22:45.519 --> 00:22:47.680 First reason why it's countercultural. 00:22:47.680 --> 00:22:50.960 First comes marriage, then baby making. 00:22:50.960 --> 00:22:52.480 That's super important, okay? 00:22:52.480 --> 00:22:55.920 Marriage is first, then making babies, okay? 00:22:55.920 --> 00:22:57.759 Gotta can't get that flipped up. 00:22:57.759 --> 00:23:01.839 But here's the one that I think we gotta press in here in our cultural moment a little bit more. 00:23:01.839 --> 00:23:04.960 After marriage comes babies. 00:23:04.960 --> 00:23:14.559 You see, when I sit down with newlyweds or people who are getting engaged, rather, and they're wondering how do I know if this person is the one? 00:23:14.559 --> 00:23:16.400 First of all, I say the one is a lie. 00:23:16.400 --> 00:23:17.279 Don't buy into that. 00:23:17.279 --> 00:23:20.160 Do you know the one because you wear this ring and they got the other one? 00:23:20.160 --> 00:23:21.440 That's how you know the one. 00:23:21.440 --> 00:23:29.359 But then we talk a little bit about values and sharing things and compatibility and all these things, which is also a little nonsensical. 00:23:29.359 --> 00:23:36.319 And I say, hey, listen, one of the things I ask is, have you talked to your future fiance about their openness to having children? 00:23:36.319 --> 00:23:43.279 And if the answer is, I don't think they want to have children, I say, hey, you have some hard conversations ahead of you. 00:23:43.279 --> 00:24:02.559 Because in our cultural moment, one of the ways in which the ideolatries of individualism, feminism, careerism attack is we think we have a choice whether or not we should have children or not if we're married. 00:24:02.559 --> 00:24:10.240 We have a choice to open ourselves to God, and God allows us, if it's his gift, to open the womb and give us children. 00:24:10.240 --> 00:24:14.079 That's the choice of scripture throughout the storyline of scripture. 00:24:14.079 --> 00:24:21.039 And so, so much so, that I think there's this incredible call to being a father and a mother in the world. 00:24:21.039 --> 00:24:22.160 It's an incredible call. 00:24:22.160 --> 00:24:27.920 One of my favorite books on this topic was written by Ray and Janie Ortland called To the Tenth Generation. 00:24:27.920 --> 00:24:32.799 And they talk about this the do not decrease but multiply at the end of verse six. 00:24:32.799 --> 00:24:34.240 And this is what they say. 00:24:34.240 --> 00:24:37.200 Remember, 70 years is three generations. 00:24:37.200 --> 00:24:38.799 They talk about themselves. 00:24:38.799 --> 00:24:41.759 They say, hey, in generation one, it was just two of us. 00:24:41.759 --> 00:24:48.880 In generation two, there were four children, and then those children married often had spouses, so now there's ten of us in generation two. 00:24:48.880 --> 00:24:57.680 Then they said they've had 15 grandchildren plus their spouses, if they get married, they will in three generations be a family of 40. 00:24:57.680 --> 00:24:58.799 Three generations. 00:24:58.799 --> 00:25:01.279 That's all that they're going to be in exile in Babylon. 00:25:01.279 --> 00:25:04.000 That's three generations, a family of 40. 00:25:04.000 --> 00:25:07.519 Now their book is called to the tenth generation, now you know why. 00:25:07.519 --> 00:25:19.920 And they say, hey, if we continue growing at this rate, by the time we get to generation 10, we will have 55,000 people, which is about the size of the city of Sarasota, Florida. 00:25:19.920 --> 00:25:23.599 And Ray ends it by saying, and it's all our fault. 00:25:23.599 --> 00:25:44.880 Do you see the call to the ordinary work of planting and eating, of building and living, of marrying and having children, and how this actually does have this countercultural subversive nature by which you can seek the flourishing of the place where God has sent you into exile. 00:25:44.880 --> 00:25:48.079 This is a significant call that God has on our life. 00:25:48.079 --> 00:25:50.480 So when we say, why am I here now? 00:25:50.480 --> 00:25:52.960 I think verse 7 is my favorite summary. 00:25:52.960 --> 00:25:54.720 Look at verse 7 with me. 00:25:54.720 --> 00:26:05.440 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. 00:26:05.440 --> 00:26:06.559 Two things. 00:26:06.559 --> 00:26:07.599 Why am I here now? 00:26:07.599 --> 00:26:14.880 One, to seek the shalom, the flourishing, the peace and prosperity of the city where God has you. 00:26:14.880 --> 00:26:19.279 And two, to pray to the Lord on its behalf. 00:26:19.279 --> 00:26:23.920 Those are the, those are, that's that's the core of what we're being called to do here. 00:26:23.920 --> 00:26:29.680 Now, this language of multiplication, you don't actually have to have, get married and have children. 00:26:29.680 --> 00:26:31.039 You could be like Jesus and Paul. 00:26:31.039 --> 00:26:34.559 You could multiply rather than through baby making, but through disciple making. 00:26:34.559 --> 00:26:43.680 How do we do that except for by recognizing that we've been sent to a people in a city that we get to seek the shalom of our neighbors? 00:26:43.680 --> 00:26:55.680 In fact, um in Acts 17, one of my favorite texts in Scripture, it says this, verse 26, and God made from one man, that's Adam, every nation of mankind to live on the face of the earth. 00:26:55.680 --> 00:27:02.240 Here's the key part about the providence of God, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place. 00:27:02.240 --> 00:27:09.359 In other words, the here and the now is determined by God for every single human being on planet earth. 00:27:09.359 --> 00:27:11.839 Goes on in verse 27. 00:27:11.839 --> 00:27:16.319 Why does God determine our boundary places and our dwelling, the here and now? 00:27:16.319 --> 00:27:26.720 Here's the word that they should seek God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him, yet he's not actually far from each one of us. 00:27:26.720 --> 00:27:32.480 Listen, something remarkable is happening in your neighborhood. 00:27:32.480 --> 00:27:33.759 Do you know how I know? 00:27:33.759 --> 00:27:35.519 Because you are there. 00:27:35.519 --> 00:27:43.680 How do your neighbors seek and feel their way to God and even find him because he's not very far from any one of them? 00:27:43.680 --> 00:27:49.519 Because his people are there in those neighborhoods and networks and workplaces. 00:27:49.519 --> 00:27:50.720 You are there. 00:27:50.720 --> 00:27:56.240 And you're there to seek the flourishing, the peace, the prosperity of the people around you. 00:27:56.240 --> 00:27:58.559 God has called us to engage in this. 00:27:58.559 --> 00:28:08.960 It's amazing how God in his providence uses Nebuchadnezzar like Bob Ross uses a paintbrush, but he doesn't use us. 00:28:08.960 --> 00:28:14.319 He invites us to join him in his work in the world willingly. 00:28:14.319 --> 00:28:26.640 Like our hope for Orlando to flourish is when people, ordinary, everyday people, begin to submit and surrender and align their will with God's will in every sphere and sector of society. 00:28:26.640 --> 00:28:29.680 That only happens through discipleship. 00:28:29.680 --> 00:28:32.000 It's the only place you can learn to do that. 00:28:32.000 --> 00:28:37.119 And so as we as we're going out, we want to intercede on behalf of our neighbors. 00:28:37.119 --> 00:28:40.000 We want to seek the flourishing of our neighbors. 00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:47.039 And one way to do that is to pray, to seek, to pray for it, our neighbors on the Lord's beh on their behalf to the Lord. 00:28:47.039 --> 00:28:57.839 Um, we did seek first on December 31 and seek week, which was 168 hours of unbroken prayer and praise to see everyone enjoy the king in Orlando. 00:28:57.839 --> 00:29:03.200 We devoted, we consecrated 2026 to the Lord on behalf of Orlando, though. 00:29:03.200 --> 00:29:07.119 And we filled 168 hours, except for one that I could tell. 00:29:07.119 --> 00:29:14.160 And so I subbed in there, I wrote Romans 8, 28, because I was basically saying the Holy Spirit got us on that one. 00:29:14.160 --> 00:29:17.599 We needed groanings too deep for words, apparently, on that one hour. 00:29:17.599 --> 00:29:18.880 But why do we do this? 00:29:18.880 --> 00:29:20.400 Why do we have Seek Orlando? 00:29:20.400 --> 00:29:24.319 By the way, verse 7 is one of the core texts for Seek Orlando. 00:29:24.319 --> 00:29:36.960 Because we believe we're called as the church to join together outside of just New City, but other churches in our city to pray, to intercede on behalf of Orlando to the true and living God. 00:29:36.960 --> 00:29:42.240 Let me give you a quote from a study of the early church by a guy named Peter Brown. 00:29:42.240 --> 00:29:53.920 He says it like this the silent flow of intercessory prayer wrapped even the most low-profile Christian community in a perpetual flicker of divine power. 00:29:53.920 --> 00:29:56.559 Ooh, what a way with words. 00:29:56.559 --> 00:30:01.920 God, I want you to wrap New City in a perpetual flicker of divine power. 00:30:01.920 --> 00:30:04.559 And he says, pray for Orlando. 00:30:04.559 --> 00:30:06.319 Pray for Orlando. 00:30:06.319 --> 00:30:13.039 Somebody else says it like this: history belongs to the intercessors who believe the future into being. 00:30:13.039 --> 00:30:19.359 By means of our intercessions, we cast fire upon the earth and trumpet the future into being. 00:30:19.359 --> 00:30:23.200 If you love your neighbors, you will pray for them. 00:30:23.200 --> 00:30:26.720 You will grab fistfuls of heaven on their behalf. 00:30:26.720 --> 00:30:27.680 Why? 00:30:27.680 --> 00:30:33.440 Because you want more for them than you can get, than you can give to them on your own. 00:30:33.440 --> 00:30:34.240 That's it. 00:30:34.240 --> 00:30:35.839 That's true in all of your relationships. 00:30:35.839 --> 00:30:39.839 If you love somebody, you're going to want more for them than you can give them on your own. 00:30:39.839 --> 00:30:41.680 So you give yourself to prayer. 00:30:41.680 --> 00:30:46.720 Intercessory prayer is an act of love on behalf of our neighbors. 00:30:46.720 --> 00:30:50.559 And so we seek the flourishing of the city. 00:30:50.559 --> 00:30:52.240 And look at the end of verse 7. 00:30:52.240 --> 00:30:54.160 Here's the root why. 00:30:54.160 --> 00:30:58.000 For in its welfare, you will find your welfare. 00:30:58.000 --> 00:31:03.519 We are inextricably linked with the people of Orlando. 00:31:03.519 --> 00:31:08.319 The flourishing of this city is our flourishing, and vice versa. 00:31:08.319 --> 00:31:10.880 Tomorrow is Martin Luther King Jr. 00:31:10.880 --> 00:31:14.400 Day, and he says it like this in his letter from a Birmingham jail. 00:31:14.400 --> 00:31:19.599 I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. 00:31:19.599 --> 00:31:25.680 I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. 00:31:25.680 --> 00:31:33.599 We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. 00:31:33.599 --> 00:31:38.720 Whatever affects one directly affects all of us indirectly. 00:31:38.720 --> 00:31:40.240 Do you see? 00:31:40.240 --> 00:31:50.160 MLK knew that, as verse 7 says, in Orlando's welfare, you will find your welfare because we are inextricably linked with one another. 00:31:50.160 --> 00:31:58.880 Let me close where the text closes and basically say, um, I've often gotten this question, which is, hey, it's a good question. 00:31:58.880 --> 00:32:00.559 It's a missional church question. 00:32:00.559 --> 00:32:05.359 If if New City were to close its doors tomorrow, would Orlando even notice? 00:32:05.359 --> 00:32:06.400 It's a great question. 00:32:06.400 --> 00:32:09.680 To which I reply, what do you mean? 00:32:09.680 --> 00:32:16.079 If you mean we lose our nonprofit status and we don't do this anymore, I don't really know, to be honest. 00:32:16.079 --> 00:32:18.160 I don't know if Orlando would notice. 00:32:18.160 --> 00:32:24.240 But if what you mean is these 600 people vanish overnight, you better believe the city would notice. 00:32:24.240 --> 00:32:27.279 Because you are salt and light. 00:32:27.279 --> 00:32:37.039 You are sent every day, every Sunday, we we say you are sent because you are sent out into this world to arrest decay and to dispel darkness. 00:32:37.039 --> 00:32:39.680 You are a people sent into our city. 00:32:39.680 --> 00:32:46.559 And I believe that there is real influence for the kingdom of God through the witness and work of you in this room. 00:32:46.559 --> 00:32:49.200