Sermon: July 29, 2018-Tucson

Pastor Tim Patoka Build On The Rock, Week 9: July 29, 2018 Houses In Babylon Jeremiah 29:1-14 1) Peace In Trying Times 2) Hope For The Future This past week at Grace-Tucson, we had the privilege to welcome 60 plus children to our church for our annual Vacation Bible School. This year our theme was Space Station Salvation where we traveled to a different star every morning to learn God’s Word in word, song, and crafts. And I can confidently say on behalf of myself and the volunteers that we had a lot of fun jetting around the starry sky with all the children who came this past week. It was as rewarding and faith-building for us as it was for the kids I’m sure. But even though we had lots of fun, that doesn’t mean everything went according to plan. When it’s record-breaking heat and there’s a fun an exciting atmosphere, children don’t always listen to the adults. Thankfully I’ve learned a tip from an experienced teacher a while back about how to corral kids who don’t easily listen.

It’s that instead of giving the same command over and over to no effect, you instead phrase it as a challenge. Instead of saying to the Pre K student, “Sit still!” you phrase it as “Can you show me how a statue sits on the ground?” And suddenly it’s a game to see who can best imitate a statue. When you’re giving an agree/disagree question to a large group of older students, I’ve learned that instead of simply asking “What do you think?” and waiting for the answer to break the silence, I instead phrase it as “Who can come up with the best explanation for their agree or disagree?” Now it’s a challenge to come up with the best answer.

Those teaching tips don’t always work. Challenging a person doesn’t always mean that the person will correct their unwanted behavior and rise up to the occasion that the teacher gives. But usually it does. We all like a challenge, something or someone that pushes us to rise to the occasion. In our verses for this morning from Jeremiah chapter 29, we see a big challenge that the Israelites were rising up to meet. They were in exile in Babylon because of themselves, for their idolatry and unfaithful hearts in worship to the 1 true God. And so, God allowed them to be conquered and taken away to faraway Babylon. And it is while they are in Babylon for 70 years that they face a challenge that God has given to them – to build houses in Babylon.

Because it would be in those houses they built that they would find peace in trying times and they would find hope for the future.

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Peace In Trying Times

The year is shortly after 597 B.C. The Babylonians have taken the first group of exiles which included King Jehoiachin and other gems of Israelite society. In less than 10 years, the Babylonians would come back, completely conquer Israel, and bring everybody of value into exile in faraway Babylon. It’s in this historical setting that Jeremiah writes our verses for this morning where he includes some counter cultural advice from God. Just about everyone was 1

Pastor Tim Patoka Build On The Rock, Week 9: July 29, 2018 encouraging the Israelites to stoke the fires of rebellion and expect a short coming return to Jerusalem. But what was God’s directive for the exiles in Babylon? As Jeremiah writes, “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters…Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” (Jeremiah 29:5-7) Instead of rebelling against their captors, the exiles were to settle down and plant roots by building houses and creating memories. They were to seek the peace and prosperity of their exiled home so that they too might have peace and prosperity in their newly built homes.

What made Jeremiah’s message to the exiled believers so counter cultural is not simply that it was the opposite of what the false prophets of his time were saying. It also goes against how we normally react when we get pushed or shoved around. What is your natural reaction when someone mistreats you or does something you don’t agree with? Do you applaud them or encourage them to keep it up? I’m guessing not! Our natural reaction is to push back, to get even. When someone cuts you off in traffic or is riding your tail, how long does it take for your hand make its way towards your horn or foot to play with the brake pedal? So easily we give in to our sinful sense of satisfaction and push back on our daily commute. What about when someone wrongs you? Do you try to get even with them or do you humbly turn the other cheek?

In our verses this morning, Jeremiah writes some challenging instructions to the exiles in Babylon. The Babylonian army had recently forced their way into Israel and most likely killed the friends and family members of many exiles. And instead of getting even with Babylon, they were to settle down and pray for their oppressors? That would be difficult! Just as it would be difficult for you and me to walk away from those hurt us or wrong us in some way.

Yet there is a way to willingly endure those pushings and shovings without pushing or shoving back. And that is by understanding the peace that God alone gives in trying times. It is with us no matter where we go and no matter what hardships we may be going through – whether it be in exile in a foreign country or a bad hair day in Tucson. We have the peace that surpasses any peace or lack thereof we can find in this world. And what is this peace you’re wondering? It is the peace that comes with the forgiveness of sins, the peace that Jesus promises because of what he did on the cross hundreds of years after Jeremiah’s time and thousands of years before our time. It is a peace that came about by a perfect life that Jesus lived and an innocent death he suffered on the cross. It is a peace that says to you and to me that because Jesus has died for the punishment for our sins, we will not die or be punished by God above.

We have no reason to be afraid of God and his wrath. For there is only love and compassion for his believing children. Yes, it still hurts when people wrong us or take what is rightfully ours.

Yes, it still annoys us when people purposefully antagonize us or don’t follow the rules of the road. But we don’t need to push or shove back to make things right. He will make all things 2

Pastor Tim Patoka Build On The Rock, Week 9: July 29, 2018 right when he returns. He will continue to lovingly forgive us all our sins regardless of the good or bad times we’re going through in this world. He will give us his peace even when there is no peace on earth.

2)

Hope For The Future

And we know that God will always do this because he will always fulfill his promises. As he said to the Israelites in Babylon, “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” (Jeremiah 29:11) Could you imagine how Jeremiah’s first readers felt when they read these words? Here they were, exiled in Babylon. And not only is God telling them that they should settle down and plant roots, but that God has a plan to prosper them in the future? As impossible as that seemed, it was also that comforting. For in 70 years God would bring his people out of Babylon and back to Israel. We see that mentioned in the closing sentences of our verses for this morning.

Except this time when they returned to Israel, they would remained focused on the true God and have hope for the future ahead. Next week we’ll see that start with the building of the 2nd Temple under Ezra’s leadership.

But it’s not just for exiled Israel that God fulfills his promises to prosper them with a hopeful future. As you heard in the first verse of the song that the children sang to open our worship service, they mentioned stars that remind us how God has fulfilled his promises. This past week at Vacation Bible School we centered each day around a star that showed us something new about God’s Word. On Tuesday the children met Abraham who shared with them how God had promised to give Abraham a family that was as numerous as the stars in the night sky. And when we trace Abraham’s descendants, and include what the Apostle Paul mentions in Romans chapter 4 about believers being a part of Abraham’s family, we see how God indeed fulfilled his promise to Abraham. On Wednesday, the children learned about how the star on top of a Christmas tree reminds them of when God fulfilled the promise of a Savior given all the way back in the Garden of Eden. On Thursday, the children learned about when the star that gives light to our planet, the star that we call the sun, when it went dark in the middle of the day. That day it went dark for 3 hours was the day when Jesus died, the day when God won for us the forgiveness of our all sins and every other blessing that comes from that.

As God fulfilled the promises we learned in Vacation Bible School, so he will continue to fulfill his promises today. Promises for you and me that include us prospering and having hope for the future. And while we can’t be 100% sure of what that will look like, we can be sure about a few things. First of all, we will still face hardships. God’s people have always had low moments in life whether they be Jeremiah’s readers in Babylon or his people today. We live in a sinful world and we will suffer the effects of that. But, secondly, we know that God will give us his peace of sins forgiven and eternal love no matter what we are going through in this world.

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Pastor Tim Patoka Build On The Rock, Week 9: July 29, 2018 It’s because of that peace in trying times that we can endure those sufferings without needing to get even. God will make things all right in the end. And rather than push back at those who wrong us, we emulate what Jeremiah encouraged his readers to do – to pray for and seek the peace and prosperity of the city in which we live. Because if there is peace and prosperity here, it is safer for us to share the good news of God’s Word with those around us.

And finally, with hearts full of God’s peace for us today, we can look forward to the future with hope that God will continue to fulfill his promises for our eternal well-being. So that as we step out into new beginnings like a school year or work environment, we know that we go with God in every step we take. So that when our hearts are troubled because of upcoming problems or stressful situations, we can rest easy knowing that God has not abandoned us to our own devices. He knows what’s going on in our lives and using them to shape us into the children we knows us to be. And as a result, we can look with hope to future because we know that God will be with us in that future. May the Lord help us take to heart his peace in trying times so that we can always look forward to our future with hope. Amen.

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