Exile
We all know what it feels like to be home AND what it feels like to be lost.
Today we'll be talking about exile.
Exile is the deep groaning that we have a home that we were made for but aren't currently there.
- JT English, paraphrased
Sin leads to exile
In exile we build empires
In empires, God calls our exile
Sin Leads to Exile
Genesis 3:22-24 NIV
[22] And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” [23] So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. [24] After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
https://bible.com/bible/111/gen.3.22-24.NIV
punishment of exile
- exile can be a punishment, through which redemption can later be understood
- kind of like a timeout, but obviously much more severe
protection of exile
- God doesn't want us to further hurt ourselves by taking from the tree of life
pain of exile
- it's hard being away from home
Psalms 13:1-2 NIV
[1] How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? [2] How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?
https://bible.com/bible/111/psa.13.1-2.NIV
Ecclesiastes 1:2-8 NIV
[2] “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.” [3] What do people gain from all their labors at which they toil under the sun? [4] Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever. [5] The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises. [6] The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course. [7] All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again. [8] All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing.
https://bible.com/bible/111/ecc.1.2-8.NIV
in exile we build empires
Genesis 11:3-4 NIV
[3] They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. [4] Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.
https://bible.com/bible/111/gen.11.3-4.NIV
Social media reveals the problem that already exists in ourselves. It is a place where we seek to build our empires.
The ways of the empire are always contrary to the ways of God.
These are the patterns of this world.
It feels like empire gives us clear visions of a successful life while waiting on a patient savior who we can't see.
Romanticism: whatever I feel is true
Pragmatism: whatever works is true
Materialism: I need to get as much stuff as I can
^ these lies are louder when we are exiled from God
in empire, God calls out exiles
Moses is called toe experience the presence of the Lord
Jeremiah 29:5-11 NIV
[5] “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. [6] Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. [7] 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.” [8] Yes, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have. [9] They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them,” declares the Lord. [10] This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. [11] 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.
https://bible.com/bible/111/jer.29.5-11.NIV
- in this passage from Jeremiah we see many times back to Genesis. Garden. Be fruitful and multiply. Etc.
God's people are to do good work wherever they are, not just where they wish they were.
As exiles, we will always feel out of place.
Be cautious about getting too cozy in the culture you find yourself in.
1 Peter 2:11-12 NIV
[11] Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. [12] Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
https://bible.com/bible/111/1pe.2.11-12.NIV
- Daniel does what is described in 1 Peter. He refuses to bow to the Babylonian king. He is accused of wrongdoing. But others end up seeing that what he does is good and right.
Marks of those who are resilient disciples
- Intimacy with Jesus
- Do you argue and wrestle with Jesus? That's what we do with people we're close to.
- Cultural discernment
- Intergenerational relationships
- Vocational discipleship
- Counter-cultural mission
The saints of the OT leave their home and trust the Lord. ALL OF THEM died in faith, not having received what they heard God promise to his people.
Hebrews 11:13-16 NIV
[13] All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. [14] People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. [15] If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. [16] Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
https://bible.com/bible/111/heb.11.13-16.NIV
The voice of the snake wants us to believe that our situation is our identity. God wants our situation to remind us of our identity - that we are exiles here and our identity is in Christ and heaven.
Jesus was exiled from the presence of God so that we might be brought in. Jesus cries out "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?"
Questions to consider
As you find yourself in exile, what are you turning to?
Where are you finding your identity and comfort?