Love the City

We're in Jeremiah 29, 4 through 7.

Now, if you're uh any type of basic person, right, that's grown up in Christianity, you probably have Jeremiah 29, 11 somewhere.

You probably have it like on a t-shirt or a coffee mug.

You've definitely Instagrammed it in some way or form about God has the plan that He knows that it the plans that He has for you to prosper you and give.

And yes, that is true.

That is a true statement, but we got to look at it in its context so that we can be faithful to understand it clearly in what God's actually saying.

Because that context is not in the midst of this bounty and beauty and comfort and security.

That context is in the middle of exile, oppression, captivity, where they find themselves in a wicked nation with wicked rulers.

So we're looking at Jeremiah 29, 4 through 7, and what I see here is that actually there's a strong parallel with this Old Testament passage and this narrative of the people of Israel and what we are experiencing today as Christians.

In fact, it isn't even new to us, it is the reality of New Testament Christianity ever since the resurrection of Christ, and that people have been ransomed by his blood, filled with his spirit, and been made exiles in a foreign land.

And here's the rub, right?

Me and you constantly try to understand our place in this story.

We try to find our place in society and in this culture.

And we start to kind of go in between the two of this reality that we are of a new king and a new kingdom because we've been bought with the blood of Christ.

We've been made new, and we've been from death to life.

Have we been risen with him?

But then we also find ourselves in a natural reality of living in this world, living in this city, under these rulers, in this culture, with this worldview, right?

And so these tensions we find ourselves in constantly.

And I believe that Jeremiah 29, 4 through 7 helps us to understand our posture with the city, with the world around us, and what God expects for us as Christians and believers in today's culture.

Now, here's what we have to understand.

In verse 4, what we see at the opening of this passage is that the Lord establishes our city.

The Lord establishes our city.

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But the Lord establishes our city.

So in this opening passage, late into the book of Jeremiah, chapter 29, Jeremiah a prophet, comes out before the people of Israel and he declares on behalf of the Lord, thus saith the Lord.

Jeremiah 29 · chapter mention

So there's this already notion of authority that's taking place when Jeremiah opens his mouth to speak.

And here's what he's letting them know.

They are where they are because of God.

It's actually the sovereignty of God, the providence of God that the Israel finds themselves where they are.

You see, they could have been all kinds of like hurt and tore up and worked out over because they're now underneath the rule of a wicked king named Nebuchadnezzar.

They were taken into captivity and they were brought into a foreign land where they now had to reside and live and be a part of this wicked nation with wicked rulers.

And so they could have thought, oh man, if only we would have fought harder, we could have prevented this.

If only we knew that it was coming, we could have done something beforehand.

If if only, if only, right?

And what Jeremiah does in this opening passage is he says, from the Lord authoritatively, you are where you are because of me.

It is the providence and sovereignty of God that they had found themselves under the rule of Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon.

This was according to the will of God for his people.

God's people are now inhabitants of a foreign land under the rule of a godless leader.

And the Lord's message is addressed here in this opening passage to all the exiles.

So he's telling Israel, You're here in Babylon because of my will, because of my sovereignty that has placed you here in this city.

And he refers to them as these exiles, these ones who have been taken out of their homeland and find themselves in a foreign country.

You see, what we see in the New Testament parallel to this is that you and I have actually been made to be exiles.

In Christ Jesus, you and I are known and made to be exiles.

We are aliens in a foreign land.

We see this in 1 Peter 1.17.

He actually kind of brings this to light.

He says, And if you call on him as Father, who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile.

What he's doing is he's paralleling now the reality of what the Israelites were experiencing in this Old Testament passage to the New Testament life now in Christ.

For those of us who have been saved, for those of us who have been brought into the family of God, we now find ourselves as exiles, aliens in a foreign land, because our citizenship does not belong here.

Our citizenship belongs in heaven.

We are citizens of another kingdom that is ruled by another king than this of this world.

Philippians 3:20, Paul says this but our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Philippians 3:20

Now, because of Jesus, we find ourselves as exiles whose citizenship is in Jerusalem, but we are residing in Babylon, a foreign land ruled by godliness or by godlessness.

You see, in the letter of uh 1 Peter, he really goes to work at bookending his letter to help parallel our reality with that of the Israelites in the Old Testament passage that we're reading this morning.

Exiles in a foreign land.

We find ourselves underneath wicked rulers, godlessness.

Many of you can probably relate to that.

You probably look at the cultural events and you're wondering what's going on.

I'm now this Christian who finds themselves in a land with godless wicked rulers, and I don't know what to do here.

I don't know how to conduct myself.

There's all kinds of different ways that we could approach this truth that we find ourselves in.

And what Peter is allowing us to understand is that this is our truth because it is the story of God's people.

He says in the first opening part of his letter to those who are elect exiles.

That's how Peter actually addresses the opening of his letter, to you who are elect exiles.

I'm writing this to you.

And then look at how he actually closes the letter of his statement.

He says, This She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings, and so does Mark, my son.

So he addresses us in the opening letter as exiles.

And then in the closing of his letter, he he makes remarks about Babylon.

This story of Israel is our story.

The Apostle Peter is placing in parallel the story of Israel's 70-year exile into Babylon with the new reality of those who are in Christ.

It is in Jesus that we find ourselves as exiles, foreigners and sojourners, residing in our own Babylon, with a longing in our hearts for the new Jerusalem.

Yet we find ourselves here on purpose, according to the will and providence of God.

It is the Lord who establishes our city of residence for the glory of his name and the good of his people.

And so as we look at the very opening part of Jeremiah 29, 4, what I want you to hear is this where you are is the providence and sovereignty of God.

He has placed you here, and he has placed you here for a purpose.

Yes, you feel like a foreigner.

Yes, you feel like an alien.

You feel like you don't belong, and your heart longs for your home.

And many of us get this confused because we want heaven now.

We want heaven here.

And we might even understand the kingdom of heaven as something that we could manifest on earth.

Maybe we can manifest it through voting and legislation.

Maybe if we could just put the right leaders and rulers in place, we could have heaven now.

But that's not the truth for us.

The truth for us is that we are exiles in a foreign land who long for heaven yet to come.

Y'all ready for this?

That's also an early 2000s hip-hop type song that starts.

There we go.

It was funny.

We were watching a uh Nate Bargatzi uh comedy thing the other night, and he kept having helicopters come over, and he had to stop every time.

I feel his pain this morning.

Anyway, we find ourselves as exiles in a foreign land, but the truth is that God has placed you here on purpose for a reason, according to his will and sovereignty.

When we look at summary of verses five through six, what we see is what we're supposed to be doing.

We're supposed to be fruitful and flourish in our city.

We are to be fruitful and flourish in our city.

Now the Lord's gonna bring us into the desires that he has for us as we reside in a foreign land as exiles.

So the Lord's gonna reveal to his people, okay, look, you're here in Babylon, you're here in this foreign land as exiles, but you're here because I've placed you here.

And now that I have placed you here, here's what I'm gonna unpack those my desires for you while you are here.

And we're gonna see it in kind of three scenes.

Build and live, plant and eat, be fruitful and multiply.

Build and live, plant and eat, be fruitful and multiply.

Let's look at build and live.

God tells his people to build houses and live in them.

Build houses and live in them.

What is he talking about?

He's commanding his people to settle in, establish roots, construct whatever it means to have a home.

The people of Israel, they were actually tempted to believe false prophets that were coming in and saying that this exile that they were experiencing was only gonna last about two years.

You see, they had this longing to be out of the place where they were.

And so these false prophets were coming in and saying, listen, Israel, no big deal, don't sweat it out.

This is only gonna last about a couple years.

Jeremiah comes in on the back end of that as the true prophet of the Lord, and he says, Look, don't believe these false prophets that this is only gonna last a couple of years.

This is gonna last 70 years.

Two versus 70 is quite a long time difference, right?

Between the two.

Many of us we might be tempted to believe that, hey, in only a couple years, all this is gonna pass.

If we just ride this out, right?

Especially in the culture that we have ourselves find ourselves in today, in a predominantly conservative context, y'all might be waiting for two years to pass so the red wave can redeem us out of our exile.

Well, let me tell you something.

No matter who we elect into office, they will be wicked rulers compared to our King.

Compared to God Almighty, creator of heaven and earth, who we submit ourselves to as citizens of his kingdom, no matter who you put in that office will be a wicked ruler.

Our hope is not in our elections, our hope is in Jesus alone.

So let me tell you something.

It's not just gonna be over in two years.

Buckle up, it's gonna be a while.

We need to build houses and we need to live in them.

Jeremiah was sent to rebuke those false prophets and declare the true message of the Lord.

And we see this in Jeremiah 29, 10.

He says, This 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.

So the Lord had promised his people, Israel, that he was gonna redeem them.

He promised that he was going to deliver them out of exile and bring them back into Jerusalem.

But it wasn't gonna be in two years, it was gonna be in 70 years.

And so his command to them is hey, establish roots, build houses and live within them, settle in.

We can be tempted to believe our own cultural exile will only last a short while.

So maybe we can just wait it out.

Maybe we can just sit here passively and wait to see what happens on the short end of this horrible condition and cultural experience that we find ourselves in.

But the Lord has placed us here with a purpose and is commanding us to build houses and live in them, settle into the city that I've placed you in, establish roots here.

Second, he tells them to plant and eat.

The word to God's people is plant gardens and eat their produce.

This exile will be long.

You see, for us as New Testament Christians, this exile is until death.

You will not see the unless we see the return of the Lord.

Our exile is unto death.

There is nothing in this world that's going to cultivate or manifest the kingdom of God in its fullness here in this world.

This world will be burnt up.

This world will pass away.

But the new Jerusalem, the city of God, will descend from heaven and us, we will be its inhabitants.

We don't wait for something that is here to be made better.

We wait for something that is ultimately better to come here.

You see, our exiles for a long time, Christian, we should work with our hands and discover ways to sustain our residency.

To cultivate the land is actually to improve and develop what is there.

There's a strong sense here that as Israel finds themselves in Babylon, they bring with them different skill sets, different trades, different talents and strengths and other cultural realities with them into the exile.

God's challenging them, don't be lazy.

Don't just wait around for your redemption, but get busy in the work where they find themselves.

Then lastly, he says, be fruitful and multiply.

Be fruitful and multiply.

This is actually the first command God ever gave to his image bearers, and we see it echoed in the reality of this exile that they experienced themselves in.

It's fortified, it's not dismissed, it's doubled down on.

No, he's calling his people to fill the land with his image, to establish generations and see expansion of his presence take place.

Their situation was not dictating the validity of the mission of God.

He charges them, do not decrease, even though they reside in a wicked and godless nation, because their multiplication should be a witness to their surrounding nation.

It's funny, uh, I loved my mamma so much.

And uh she passed away a handful of years ago.

But I remember with our last two children, when we called with all this excitement to tell her uh that we were pregnant with another child, she would respond on the phone on the other line of, oh, sweetheart, you're bringing another child into this world.

And I just was like super defeated and frustrated, like, well, Mama, I'm never gonna call you again.

No, um uh.

But but what should what is her heart was filled with despair.

She was a person who really understood she was an exile in a foreign land.

Now she didn't understand it in the fullness of the context of the gospel.

She didn't have ultimately her hope in Christ, uh, but she felt that reality.

Why would we bring children into such a circumstance?

You know, it's actually fact and uh supported that uh we are having children less and less as a culture.

We're not reproducing in the ways that we once were.

In fact, uh global studies show uh that Islam, in just a 25-year period, Islamic faith will beat Christianity, uh, making up an over 50% deficit just in the fact of the number of children they're having compared to Christians.

We are not having children, and I think that some of the reasons that we would find is that why would we want to bring a child into this?

You can put selfishness like in a category, right, and and all these other things, but there's a reality where we're asking ourselves, this isn't gonna get any better.

Why would we bring kids into this?

Why would we make a home?

Why would we multiply?

God says, No, you don't understand, do you?

I I called you to be fruitful and multiply, to not decrease, but to increase, because my image is supposed to fill this earth.

With every child that Katie and I had, it was another opportunity to see an image bearer be born, discipled in the gospel, come to faith in Jesus, and see the image of God continue to expand in this culture and society.

Children are a blessing from the Lord, they're not a curse.

We should be joyous in our reproducing, we should be joyous in our multiplying.

You see, in the midst of their exile, God has called his people to be fruitful and to flourish, to play offense, not defense, to get to work, to not be lazy and waiting, to cultivate life in a land of death.

That's God's will for his people, exiles who find themselves in a foreign land.

But then verse 7.

Our welfare is discovered in the welfare of the city.

Our welfare is discovered in the welfare of the city.

So, so this right here, this statement, is the will of God for his people distilled down to its most simplest form.

Our welfare is discovered in the welfare of the city, to seek the welfare of the city where God has placed us.

Here again, we see the sovereignty and providence of God's hand in our relationship to place.

If we've ever wondered why we are here, if we ever thought about, you know, what why do I live in this area, in this time, in this culture, well, it's for a purpose.

God has placed you here, and he desires for you to be fruitful and to flourish, and in your seeking the welfare of the city, you find your own welfare.

It is he who has caused us to dwell here, not simply to wait out our days, but to get busy, to labor, to work to see the city's welfare flourish.

Though we are exiles, we are exiles with both purpose and mission.

You see, the temptation as an exile is to wonder if God's promises to his people are gonna come up empty.

God, are you really who you say that you are?

Are the promises that you've made to us gonna be true?

Have you forgotten us?

And if we're honest, as we find ourselves as these exiles in a foreign land, those same questions arise in our heart.

Where is God?

Where is his righteous rule?

Where is his judgment against wickedness?

Where is his justice?

Where is his redemption?

And we might tend we might be tempted to believe that God will not fulfill his promises.

But even as he spoke to Israel back through Jeremiah, it's not gonna be two years, my people, my children.

It's gonna be 70 years.

But you better believe on the end of that 70 years, everything I ever promised I would do for you is going to come true.

Why?

Because you're not here by mistake.

You're not here because I was too weak to rescue you out of oppression.

You're not here because I was slumbering and they caught me off guard.

You're here because my sovereignty and providence has placed you here.

Now be fruitful and flourish.

Don't imagine for one second, God says, that I've forgotten you.

Or the promises that I've made to you.

I have you here for purpose.

The Lord also instructs his people to pray for the city where they reside.

He says, But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile and pray to the Lord on its behalf.

You see, we We need to not just labor in our own strength, but labor to see His manifested in our work.

It is insufficient to just get to work without dependence upon the Lord, to build and bless in our own efforts.

Psalm 127, 1A says, unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.

We cannot get to work in just our own talents and skill sets and strengths.

We have to pray for the city.

We have to pray for the Lord to bless the city in our striving and working.

We are called as New Testament believers to pray for the rulers of our city, to pray for its inhabitants, its industries, its prosperity, its peace.

And down the line it goes.

We should be a people who pray that the city is blessed, that the welfare of the city is known and realized and experienced upon its inhabitants.

But it's not just in the labor of prayer, it's synergistic with the labor of our hands also.

Pray for its rulers.

Pray for those godless wicked leaders that they might know the gospel.

Imagine, imagine the cultural shift that would take place if the leaders of our city submitted their lives to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

Imagine if they got saved and filled with the Holy Ghost.

Imagine if they had a burning fire in their heart for the holiness of God and to submit to his command and will.

Man, that would change things.

That would radically change things.

As much as we're called to labor with our hands, we're called to labor in prayer.

Ultimately, the welfare of the city comes from the Lord, and we are called to petition him to see it materialize.

Now, why does all of this matter?

This is the key phrase.

For in its the city's welfare, you will find your welfare.

How contradictive is that statement to the ways we tend to think.

In you working for the welfare of the city, you will find your welfare.

You see, we all long for welfare.

That's just a reality of us.

We have the propensity, though, to think that the city should provide our welfare in spite of our own actions or efforts.

Something we have a right to, and that they have an obligation to fulfill for us.

But the very welfare we desire and seek is not to be found in selfish pursuits or in self-righteous demands.

It's to be found in the emptying of self for the very welfare of the city we find ourselves as exiles in.

It is there.

It is there in the pursuit of the city's welfare, our welfare will be found.

And there's four characteristics of welfare: there's safety, health, prosperity, and peace.

These are things that we long for.

As citizens of a city, these are things that we want.

These are things that we desire.

And you and I expect the city to provide that for us.

No matter what we do, no matter what efforts we make or how passive we are, we just demand, hey, city, provide this welfare for us.

But God's saying, no, that's not how I have created things to be.

That's not how I have called you to be as a people.

How I have called you is the very things you desire to have, you seek to be made manifested in the place where I have set you.

Safety.

We all desire to be safe, don't we?

We move into the burbs and into certain neighborhoods.

We might purchase security systems, we might buy land that's removed from everybody else.

We might get our CCW.

Hey, hey.

All because what?

We desire to be safe.

That's why we do these things.

We want to be safe.

It's intrinsic to our human existence to be safe.

It's intrinsic to our being, to remove ourselves from harm, and to defend ourselves against the possibility of violence.

But, church, what we desire for ourselves, we should work to see in our city.

We desire health.

Health doesn't just reside in personal fitness, but also in community, in leadership, in the building of values, in placing effective tools in the hands of its citizens.

A healthy city is one where a genuine community is developed, where hospitality is practiced, where generosity is extended, and where values are instilled and contended for.

We all desire to be prosperous, to have enough, to see development happen, to have life without concern for tomorrow.

The prosperity of the city is realized in the sum of its individuals, people who start businesses, create charities, sow into the future of the generations yet to come.

A prosperous city is one of bounty, not scarcity.

It takes a collective effort of its residents to work hard to see it have and not want.

Peace.

We all desire peace, right?

Peace is more than just the absence of conflict.

It's taking action to restore brokenness.

It's a state of wholeness and completeness.

It is the shalom of God.

As the people of God who find ourselves in broken cities, we need to work to bring restoration to these areas.

This is a holistic effort.

It seeks out the dark places and it shines light into them.

It discovers the wounds of a society and it applies the healing balm of the gospel to it.

It pursues to see on earth as it is in heaven.

Are we working to that end?

Are we working, Father?

Let us see in our city as it is in heaven.

You see, our welfare is not owed to us.

It's not a right that we can demand to be given to us.

It's not something that will be handed down in spite of our absence of effort.

Church, our welfare is found in the grime and grit of seeking the welfare of our city.

It is built upon the foundation of responsibility, not found in blame shifting.

It is cultivated in the working of our hands, not in the idleness of our entitlement.

And so, what does God call us to do?

God calls us to love the city.

God calls us to love the city.

Even as exiles who find ourselves in a foreign land under wicked, godless rulers, God calls us to love the city.

How kingdom contradictive is that?

Here in the midst of exile, finding ourselves in a wicked and godless Babylon, God calls us out to his people.

Love the city.

He doesn't call us to hunker down and just try to survive.

He doesn't call us to retreat in despair.

He doesn't call us to rise up in militia and overthrow.

Shocker.

He calls us to love the city, to seek its welfare.

He calls us to be still, to be placed, to love in action the city He has placed us in.

To build and live, to plant and eat, to be fruitful and multiply.

We are here as exiles.

That truth is something that we have to live in the tension of.

Because of the work of Christ, the transforming resurrection power of the gospel, we are aliens in a foreign land.

This is not our home.

But what do we do here while we're here?

We love the city.

Yes, our citizenship has been transferred to heaven.

This is not our home, and we feel that every day of our lives, we feel that.

We feel the foreignness of our surrounding.

But God doesn't just save us and then leave us.

God saves us and then empowers us for mission.

A mission to see the welfare of the city cultivated by the labor of our hands.

A mission to see the realization of his kingdom be experienced and known in this city.

As Israel was being called by Jeremiah to see their own identity as God's people be spread throughout Babylon, so God calls us to see our identity as his people spread throughout the cities that we reside in.

The land where he has placed us.

Jesus has made us cultural exiles by bringing us into his kingdom.

And so often our response is found in assimilating into the culture or retreating as far as we can from it.

You see, but God calls us to do neither.

This is that reality of be in the world, but not of the world.

You see, we're able to go into culture, engage with the culture that we find ourselves in, and still be recognized and known and identified as distinctly belonging to Jesus.

I don't have to go all into where you can't tell the difference between me and an unbeliever within our culture, and I don't have to retreat into the woods and build up my storehouse so that no one can mar me or stain me or deteriorate the reality of who I am.

No, I am so filled with the Spirit of God that I can walk into culture and engage on their turf, on their terms, while remaining distinctly His.

We are not called to run away or run in, but to stay put in love.

Some of us, though, were gripped by infatuation and assimilate into the city.

We are gripped by infatuation and assimilate into the city.

Some of us don't have a love for the city while staying distinct as God's people.

Instead, we fall in love with the city and become indistinct from the culture.

We assimilate into its values, into its worldview, into its ideology.

We don't have any anchor in the gospel and our identity in Christ.

And so, in this infatuation with what the city has, we start assimilating into it and we lose our distinctiveness.

We tend to be a people who lose a value for what makes us God's people in the first place.

A love for his truth, a submission to his commands, an upholding of his values, a reflection of his character.

In return, in place, we embrace the things of the world.

We embrace its self-declared truth.

We embrace its poor and pathetic values.

We embrace its lawlessness.

All of these things become a part of who we are.

In our infatuation and shallow roots, we assimilate into the culture and we forsake our citizenship in heaven for a temporal one of this world.

1 John 2, 15 through 17 says this: do not love the world or the things in the world.

If anyone loves the world, listen to this.

This is truth.

The love of the Father is not in him.

For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life is not from the Father, but is from the world.

And the world is passing away along with its desires.

But whoever does the will of God abides forever.

This is why I use the language of infatuation.

Infatuation is short-lived, it has no real roots.

It doesn't last or sustain.

It's here and it goes.

You see, a lot of us are trading our citizenship for heaven, an eternal one, for a temporal one of this world, which is passing away.

Because we don't love the world.

We are in love with the world.

We don't love the world in the way the gospel calls us to, in the way that God calls us to love them.

We fall in love with it.

In this, we cripple our ability to actually love it, to actually have any love that empowers change in the culture that we find ourselves in.

We cripple our ability to be missional, to have any kingdom impact when we fall in love with the world.

Because we love the city in a way that cripples our ability to bring any true change.

Instead, the gospel calls us to love the city in a way that blesses, seeks its welfare, and in the end realizes transformation.

To truly have welfare, the city needs a counterculture to come and begin cultivating and expanding within it.

Intrinsically, the city is insufficient to provide its own welfare.

That's why God is calling his children to seek it out.

It's the breaking through of the kingdom in our hearts so that we can have the breakthrough of the kingdom in our city.

We're called not to assimilate in the culture of this world, we're called to assimilate into the culture of the kingdom.

As its citizens, we should not be found in short-lived infatuation, but grow in eternal affection for our home and the king who reigns over it.

When we assimilate into the culture, we show where our true citizenship resides, and we become incapable of bringing any true welfare to its inhabitants.

Some of us, though, we're not gripped by infatuation and assimilate, we are gripped by despair and we retreat.

We are gripped by despair and we retreat.

Some of us see ourselves as exiles who have been forgotten, abandoned, and left to our own ruin.

If I'm going to be protected, I'm going to have to protect myself.

If I'm going to be safe, I'm going to have to ensure my own safety.

Our hearts are gripped by despair rather than the peace and joy that Jesus promises to his people.

It is true that we find ourselves in a wicked and lawless city.

There's no denying that truth.

But we're not there because we have been forgotten by God.

Our hearts are filled with despair because we have forgotten God's promises.

You see, we we let me say that again.

We sense this despair, not because we've been forgotten by God.

We sense this despair because we have forgotten God's promises to his people.

We are not called to retreat.

We are called to build and live, plant and eat, be fruitful and multiply where God has placed us.

Because why?

He is with us.

He hasn't left us, he hasn't forsaken us.

He hasn't abandoned us nor forgotten his promises.

God is with us and his spirit is with you.

Did you hear that?

He's here in this place.

I feel that, Lord.

Y'all good?

Potty breaks?

Some of you went potty.

Some of you literally just went potty in your chair.

And that's okay.

That's okay.

We'll baptize you later.

No one will ever know.

Anyway, uh where was I?

I was on a roll too, I felt like.

God promises.

He promises stuff that you'll be saved.

God hasn't left us, He's filled us with His Spirit.

He's placed us in a city and He's empowered us for mission so that we can see the kingdom that broke into our hearts break into the culture.

And every single one of His promises are yes and amen.

To retreat from culture exposes how little we actually trust God.

It exposes how little we actually believe his promises.

Promises that he will never leave us or forsake us.

That he will walk with us through the fiery trials, that he will fill us with all joy and peace.

That he has conquered over our enemy.

That he is the light that pushes back the darkness, and that he has made us to be light also.

You see, there's a whole book full of his promises.

That should give way to confidence.

It should give way to courage.

It should give way to hope, even in the midst of a godless culture.

Yes, we are exiles.

Yes, we find ourselves in a foreign land.

But, church, we should be the ones that have hope and joy and peace.

And it should be the world who is gripped with despair and fear.

And what should we do?

We should get to work.

We should get our hands dirty in the grit and grime of seeing the welfare of the city cultivated where God has placed us.

As God's people, we don't retreat, we press in.

We aren't absent, we're present.

We don't hide, we reveal.

And what we reveal is the glory of God, our King, and the splendor of his kingdom.

The beauty of the gospel is this church, Jesus rescues us from our exile.

Jesus rescues us from our exile.

This is the promise of God to Israel that He will redeem them, that He will rescue them, that He has not forgotten His promises to them.

And then we see this fulfilled in its reality in Jesus alone for two reasons.

Number one, we were rescued from spiritual exile by Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection.

You see, we were cut off from God.

We were exiled from his presence.

We had no ability to receive his favor and blessing.

We were a people without hope in a land of death.

And what does Christ do?

He comes and he engages with us.

He gets his hands dirty in the work of seeing redemption cultivated in our lives.

He doesn't pull back, he doesn't retreat and run away.

He puts on flesh and he enters into our experience and he dines and has meals with and drinks with the lowly of society amongst the wicked and godless people.

And what does he do?

And for you and I, he we he has rescued us from our spiritual exile by his finished work.

Let's look at 1 Peter 2.10.

Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people.

Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

You see, this is the finished work of Christ on your behalf.

You didn't have an identity, you were an exile to the nth degree.

You had no home, you had no place, and Jesus comes in, he says, I will make you my people.

I will redeem you from the land of death.

I will rescue you.

I will bring life.

Ultimately, I will seek your welfare.

Your prosperity, your health, your peace, your safety.

Jesus came and he sought our welfare.

And he rescued us.

But not only that, church, we have been rescued, and we will be rescued.

We will be rescued from our cultural exile when he returns.

Revelation 21, 2 through 3 says this, and I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, where our citizenship resides, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man, he will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.

God places us in a city by his sovereignty and providence as exiles in a foreign land.

But in the glorious return of Christ, he places us in a city, not as exiles in a foreign land, but as citizens in an eternal home where our welfare is known and celebrated and realized forever, because the Lamb who is seated on the throne.

Reigns.

That's the hope that we have.

So we should not be filled with despair because of what we see in our culture.

We should be looking forward with hope.

And we should not assimilate into this wicked culture that we find ourselves either because this world is not our home.

We've lost sight of something better.

In a way, it's like a husband who would look at pornography when his wife resides in the bedroom near him.

Are you so short, so short-sighted that you would sacrifice the beauty of something greater for something so shallow and momentary now?

No.

This is not our home.

Heaven is our home.

So what should we do?

Three things.

Number one, we should be praying for the city.

Folks, we should, church, we should be a community who prays for the city.

I can guarantee you this because I know it's true about myself.

You complain more than you pray.

Can we be honest?

Anyone want to raise your hand?

Just be honest.

That's okay.

We're not trusting community of people.

You can be safe here.

I know you do.

You complain more than you pray.

You complain about the leaders of our city, you complain about the economy, you complain about all these other things more than you pray.

What are we communicating as true in our lives?

That we serve a God who is too far from us to do anything about it, who's too weak to actually make any significant transformation and change, whose promises might come true.

We'll see next election.

I mean, is that not, isn't that not really the posture of our heart when we complain more than we pray?

What should we do?

Not only should we, you and I, get busy in doing, we should get busy in praying for the welfare of our city, for it to be prosperous, for it to be safe, for it to have health, for it to have peace, for its industries to be blessed, for its economy to be blessed, for all the to see the kingdom of God impact the city where God has placed us.

We should be a praying people.

Our hope is in the launch of our next sermon series to roll out a very dedicated plan for us to be a praying church together for a season.

We've been talking with Pastor Jordan about this, about uh the culture that we want to create at Sacred Mission Church.

And Pastor Rick and Tim, they have hearts for prayer to be a praying people.

And so I hope that that's an identity that we're known by.

Right?

As much as we are known for boldly and faithfully proclaiming the gospel of truth, let us be known as a people who gets on their knees and seeks God's face.

Number two, we need to be present in the city.

Be present in the city.

Are we hiding?

Are we retreating?

Are we pulling back?

Or are we being present in the city?

Are we making relationships with our neighbors?

Are we making relationships with families in our school systems?

Are we making relationships with the people of where God has placed us?

Or are we being like every other suburban person and just pulling into the garage, closing the door, walking inside, not engaging with society, then getting back into our garage, opening it, pulling out, closing it, and then we come back eight hours later and do the same thing.

A lot of the society has moved to the burbs to retreat.

But we have to be counter-cultural in the way that we engage ourselves.

We need to be present in the city.

That means when your kid is on a sport, uh sports team like baseball or soccer, you're like, hey, look, Johnny, you're doing good.

I trust the coach, you can kick the ball.

Hey, parents, I'm gonna build a relationship with you.

I'm gonna talk with you, I'm gonna invite you over to my house.

I'm gonna make sure that I'm present in this time.

I'm not just gonna check out with headphones on, listening to some podcast, waiting for this practice to be over because I just can't wait to get home.

No, you're gonna be talking with parents and other families.

You're gonna invite them over for play days.

You're gonna be present.

You're gonna be present in the community, in school systems, you're gonna be present in businesses, you're gonna be present in this city.

Lastly, we need to be participating in the city.

I hope that we impact this even more throughout Nehemiah as we understand our place in the city in a bigger picture.

But let me tell you something.

Let's think about this.

How are we participating in the city?

Let's talk about the seeking the welfare of our city.

Are you gonna continue to complain about your school system, or are you gonna join the PTO?

Are you gonna continue to complain about things that are happening in your neighborhoods, or are you gonna set up a community of people who have each other's back?

Are you gonna continue to be a person who sits idly by waiting for rescue?

Or are you gonna work to see the very things you desire in your heart cultivated in the city where you reside?

I mean, imagine, imagine if every single parent that was in uh Mason or Lakota school systems in this church joined the PTO and was actively a part of the things that were happening within our school systems.

I can tell you this, I have a relationship with one of the principals at Mason City Schools, and she will tell you without blinking an eye that the most active parents who have her ear and pursues her attention is the Muslim community residing here in Mason.

It's not Christians.

It's not us who are filled with the hope of Christ and the truth of the gospel.

What are we doing?

God only knows.

Complaining?

Watching Tucker Carlson.

I don't know what the heck we're doing.

Are we engaging?

Are we engaging?

Imagine if the dads in this room said Westchester Soccer League is gonna be completely influenced by us coaching and being a part.

We're gonna step up and we're gonna overtake this.

We're gonna be a people who influence the next generation to come.

We're gonna love these kids and we're gonna show what gospel love looks like to these parents.

Imagine all of the different ways that you and I could engage rather than retreat.

Imagine all the ways that we could impact and transform and influence rather than pull back and just wait for this all to be over.

Church, I understand the context that we find ourselves in, and I understand the last couple of years of society that we've been in.

Let me tell you this.

I believe without any hesitancy that if a Jeremiah walked into our cultural context today, he would say the same thing: build and live, plant and eat, be fruitful and multiply.

Don't hide in fear, don't just sit there and wait for this to be over.

Don't pull back in defeat.

Press in, be present, participate.

The same kingdom that broke into your heart will break into this city.

Amen.

Let's pray.