Excerpts from: 'Funeral Urns and Treasure Chests'
9/19/04
Text: Jeremiah 29:1-14

I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out--plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.
When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I'll listen.
When you come looking for me, you'll find me. Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I'11 make sure you won't be disappointed. I'll turn things around for you. I'll bring you back from all the countries into which I drove you"--GOD's Decree--bring you home to the place from which I sent you off into exile. You can count on it.
Jeremiah 29:11-14

If you're in a foreign place today-a spiritual Babylon, call upon God-he says he'll listen. When you come looking for him, you'll find him. How serious are we about finding what God is up to in our lives, in our worship. The Lord says that when we are serious-and want him more than anything, we won't be disappointed-dissatisfied, but restored, renewed and revived.

Real change doesn't start with a beginning, but with an ending. This morning want us to look at ancient Israel, modern business and the contemporary church.

I shared with you last week that I sincerely believe the Lord wants to prepare us for a new season, a new time here at The Sanctuary. I feel in my spirit that as a people, and that you as an individual, are ready to embark on a new journey, ready to write a new chapter in our histories.

Stop for a moment. Think about where you are in your life. It doesn't matter if you're young or old...a youth or ready to enter the twilight years.

Maybe middle age or young adult--- What new thing are you being called to? But, again, new life comes only when we say goodbye to the old life. Ann and I want more for you. We want you walk closer with the Lord, closer with each other. We want you be aware of what the Lord desires to do in your life-in our lives together.

We think in linear patterns, like everything has a beginning and an end, a start and a finish, life and death. That's the way we usually look at things, isn't it? First you live, then you die. Life comes first, followed by death. Your birthday is the starting point, and your 'deathday' the end point. This order makes sense to us, because we are finite creatures.. from the time of Adam we are born of the dust of the earth, and we return to the dust of the earth. But according to God's order-his kingdom economy it's the exact opposite. You have to die before you can live.

In Jeremiah 29 we find the people journeyed from Jerusalem to Babylon...from traditions to change, from the familiar to the strange, from the beloved to the be-loathed.

Their old life was as dead and in a time of deregulation, but there were a good many Israelites who simply didn't want to let go. Many of them, longing for their former ways, wept by the rivers of Babylon and wailed the anguished question, "How could we sing the LORD'S song in a foreign land?" (Psalm 137:1-4).

They wouldn't release their grip. Although God had sentenced them to 70 years in exile, they refused to face facts.

In a letter to these homesick exiles, Jeremiah delivers this word from the Lord:

Build houses and make yourselves at home. Put in gardens and eat what grows in that country. Marry and have children. Encourage your children to marry and have children so that you'll thrive in that country and not waste away. Make yourselves at home there and work for the country's welfare.
Pray for Babylon's well-being. If things go well for Babylon, things will go well for you. (Jeremiah 29:5-7).

Your old life is dead, says the Lord; your new life is to be found in Babylon. Deal with it. Get ready to settle down for several generations. The challenge for them as well as for us today is to find peace in a time of anxiety, and to build homes and farms and families in a strange and foreign land.

Most surprising of all...they are to pray not for the peace of Jerusalem, but for the peace of Babylon, for "in its welfare," promises God, "you will find your welfare".

This represented suffering terrible losses for the Israelites, and it makes perfect sense that they would mourn. But at the very same time, God is promising them that they do not have to be destroyed by this time of exile. They will have "fertility" ..."friends and family" ... "food and shelter" ... "well-being and productivity" ... "faith in God."

All of these things are going to be possible for them in the land of Babylon, and God encourages them to carry these blessings with them into the years that lie ahead.

This is the process of 'out with the old and in with the new'. Transition. Death. Life. There are two things I want us to apply. this morning, corporately and personally.

First of all this is a lesson that we need to apply when assessing the future of the church. One of the most daunting and difficult challenges we face in the church today is the transition from institution ... to mission movement.

"Most Protestant congregations are stuck in the muck and mire of their institutions," writes Bill Easum in his book UnFreezing Moves. He says, "Members of these churches define faithfulness as support for their church, and their focus is on programs, structures, budgets and institutional survival. We all know how things go in the life of such an institution: The end result is a lifeless church and a dying institution."

The time has come to schedule its funeral. If we let the institution die, we'll find that the church will discover new life as a mission movement. Like the Israelites in Babylon, we can experience life and growth and spiritual health in a strange new land, especially if we work hard to make strong connections with the outside world.

Churches that see themselves as mission movements are in a constant state of innovation, trying new styles of worship and education and fellowship in an ongoing attempt to connect people to God. These congregations have broken free of their slavery to institutions and, in the words of Bill Easum, are "joining Jesus on the mission field."

An example of a church leaving institution for mission is The Church Under the Bridge.

Institution….or mission movement? What are we, and what do we want to be? One is going to have to die in order for the other to have a chance at life. Think about it; in reality, we are living today in a culture that feels as strange to us as Babylon did to the Israelites in exile. But the key to our welfare is not to curse the world around us, but instead to "pray to the LORD on its behalf," for in its welfare we will find our welfare (v. 7).

The time has come for us to put the church as an institution in the funeral urn, and to say goodbye to some of our old ways so that we can be reborn as a mission community.

Now here's the personal application part. The experience of the Hebrew children in Babylon might also be a lesson that we need to apply when assessing our own personal future. How many of you are mired in a rut, a disappointment, a pattern of behavior, an unhealthy circumstance, are stuck in a foreign land and just can't seem to move on? Perhaps God is telling you that, whatever it is, you need to dig a hole, bury it, stick a flower on it, and move on.

How serious are we about finding what God is up to in our lives, in our worship. The Lord says that when we are serious-and want him more than anything, we won't be disappointed or dissatisfied, but restored, renewed and revived. You have to release what's dead....what's no longer of use. And firmly grasp what's worth holding on to.... What is important...what is of value to others and God.

We have to die before we can live. This is the story of Israel, the story of our crucified and risen Lord and of vibrant believers. New life can come only after we say goodbye to the old.

Remember God said: I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out--plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I'll listen.

When you come looking for me, you'll find me. Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I'11 make sure you won't be disappointed. I'll turn things around for you. I'll bring you back from all the countries into which I drove you"--GOD's Decree--bring you home to the place from which I sent you off into exile.

You can count on it. Jeremiah 29:11-14