The Welfare of the City

Auto-generated from the audio — may contain errors.

0:00 Okay. What's the far list away from this? From here. I'm curious. LA. Anyway, the farther away than LA before. Yeah? You have to talk to someone from one time here. Yeah. For how long? For how long? Longer than a month. Okay.

0:30 Six weeks. Six weeks in India. Okay. That counts? India wins. Yeah. India wins. India, not a like, you got a, you got a, you got a, that's pretty different. You got a reactor mate coming back from India, right? Yeah. I had a friend that lived in India for a month and it said it's boughs or never the same. And it got a few different from India. I think the story I've got, cities will come into the scripture this morning.

1:02 But before we do that, I want to give us a call to worship. And I'm going to use Psalm 46 for that this morning. God is our refuge and strength of very precious health and trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth gives way. Though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, at which waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble and it's slowing.

1:32 There is a river whose streams make glad city of God. There will hold the habitation of the most time. God is in the midst of her. He shall not be moved. God will help her when morning dawns. The nations rage. The kingdoms talk her. He utters his voice and the earth melts. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God in Jacob is our fortress.

2:02 Come. The whole works of the Lord. How he has brought desolations on the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear. He burns the cherries of fire. Be still and know that I am God. There will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God in Jacob is our fortress. Let's pray together. Hey Lord.

2:34 Thank you for your protection and your provision for us. Be with us this morning. Open our eyes and ears and the hearts to you. To your concern, to your love, to your conviction. Be with us this morning.

3:05 Jesus made it for his sake. Amen. We have been thinking over several weeks of what it means that Christ rose, ascended and dispatched the spirit of God into our ministry. We celebrated the resurrection with Easter for a whole season and then that season culminates with Pentecost where Jesus sends that original spirit of God out of the world.

3:36 And what we've been thinking is how then do we live? We have this original life-giving divine spirit in dwelling. What do we do with that spirit? How then do we live? What should we put our hands to and our hearts to? How should we leverage our creativity and our life? Having been given this gift. The first thing we talked about is that the strategy of God in the world has been the same from the beginning all the way through.

4:10 That He is setting out priests in the world to carry His holiness out to the world. Carry His presence out to the world. We saw that strategy in Exodus 19 and He tells us that it is realized because the whole earth is mine, because the whole earth belongs to me, I'll make you a kingdom of priests and a holy nation and your life will look different and look like these ten words. Then we saw in Peter that Peter understands that what Christ has done by giving us the spirit is make us, all of us, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

4:48 That once we were not a nation we were just people separated around the world, but now He has turned us into a nation of priests. The question for me is what is our job as the priests of God in the world, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation? What are we supposed to be doing with our cycle? If we said first that God puts us in families, we wonder what should we do?

5:23 How do we build a life consistent with who we are that would be something that we love and enjoy? How do we build a life that we like and the first thing we look at is that God puts us in families? So if you're wondering what to do with yourself, it's very simple, we don't have to try and wonder what God's call alone in calling on our life is. He has put you in families to love and serve love.

5:53 And we said that the tragedy in some of our families are broken beyond repair, but the beauty of being the priests of God is that He allows you to love in a way, a substantial love that creates families. If your family that has put you in is beyond repair, we make families around us and type of people that we are. So if you are starting to wonder what should I do with my life, how should I live? The first place is where is my family and how am I loving them well?

6:26 The next thing we talked about last week was that God then puts families in churches. That He has put us in churches. If you look at His flesh, it would be in my mind a little bit. It was in Ephesians 3 and 4, but it says that God had given you the great spirit, the shorthand version. In order that church in Ephesus, you would be able to put up with each other.

7:03 It says, it takes the great spirit of God to move in you in such a way that you would be able to put up with each other. That God gave you, that it will take supernatural patience and persistence for you to move into the church of God, but that supernatural patience and persistence is available. In what we saw in Ephesus 3 and 4, these communities of families and churches are the closest thing that we will get this side of the grave to the community that we will live in forever.

7:38 We get some glimpse here among people that agree on some things and disagree on others, among people that are broken and striving to love. We get some glimpse here, the community that we will live in forever. If you're wondering where to put your energy, what do I do with my life? Who am I called to be? Start first with your family. Make a family around you and love them well. Take that family with supernatural patience and persistence and put it into the church.

8:09 Today I want to talk about the fact that churches and families are in cities and not by accident. I have been given the great spirit of God, descended from Pentecost itself. Come down through the kingdom of Christ's waiting for Christ's return. I have the capacity to love in a way that creates families around me. I move those families into a glimpse of the heavenly community at the city of the church, and my church is found in a city.

8:48 This is the same. God has had just like with people and with families. The strategy of putting churches in cities has been the same throughout the whole story of scripture. The first text I want to look at is in Jeremiah, the prophet of Jeremiah. It's Aaron Feynis, passage who talked about it for a while, a couple years ago. Jeremiah is in the larger books, the Old Testament, so if you have a paper copy, it won't be that hard to find. Go to the middle, you find Psalms or Isaiah, you go to the right.

9:18 Jeremiah comes right after Isaiah. It's long enough and it's hard to miss it, but if you get to Ezekiel, go back to the left. I'm looking at Jeremiah chapter 29 right now. There's a lot that could be said about this passage because it says a lot about the nature and character of God. The short version is that God had intended for Israel to be a city on a hill, a light to the world.

9:49 He had intended because he brought his presence close proximity to them that they would be a kingdom of priests, that all the world would see what life looked like in the presence of God, that their life should be different than what you described by the 10 words, and so that all the world would be drawn back to the God of Abraham, and Isaac and Jacob through the people of Israel, but the problem is that just like us, Israel had trouble letting God be God, and they kept trying to control things themselves and pull it other God so that the payoff of the proximity of God,

10:23 life described by the 10 words did not happen, so that no one was finding their way to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob through Israel. As a matter of fact, because of the life of Israel, people were getting a misrepresentation of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and so he said, I'm going to take you out of Israel. You don't get to represent me to the world anymore. And so he allowed them to be conquered by the Babylonians, and carried off into exile, and Jeremiah was part of the remnant that was left in Israel.

10:57 He didn't go into exile, but he wrote a letter to the Israelites in exile. And, fortunate for us, we had to copy up the letters, and Jeremiah chapter 29. 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 who Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.

11:27 This was after Cain, Jack and Ia, and the Queen Mother, the units the official of the Judah and Jerusalem, the class of the Mother workers had departed from Jerusalem. He's trying to date it for us so that you know it's real, and it happened. Verse 3, the letter was sent by the hand of Elisa, the son of Shaphon, and Gemoriah, the son of Kilt'Hire, who is that a king of Judah, sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, Paul.

11:58 These are not fictional characters. I love that. Like, there is a time when this was written down that people knew, oh, right, right, right, a Hilt'Hire's King carried this. What was that called, Christ, through the desert on the unsafe roads, carrying a message of Jeremiah, the rogue remnant to the leaders trying to perpetuate the way of Israel under Cain of the commiser.

12:31 Just the mention of the names brings reality to the story that is fun to imagine what it would have been like to know that reality. And so, then here's what it says in verse 4, Thus says the Lord of Host, Jeremiah is speaking for God, to Israel. Thus says the Lord of Host and God of Israel, to all the exiles who might have sent him to exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.

13:04 Verse 5, build houses and another living. Plant garments beneath their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters. Take wives to be sons and give your daughters a marriage. If they may bear sons and daughters, multiply their and do not do peace. But, seek the welfare of a 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. For that says the Lord of Host and Israel.

13:37 He tells us, hey guys, don't just sit around and wait for me to come back and bring me back to Israel. Do what the people of God do in places. Before, if you were going to talk about this longer, I would pull out for you the connection between Adam and Eve and the people of Babylon. That the call to the first one was to be fruitful and multiply and bear your image of God out into the world.

14:15 And when our people are in exile, even though they are in exile, away in Babylon, it says the call for you is the same. Be fruitful and multiply and represent me out into the city. You will have to pay for the welfare of the city. But I want to remind you or point your eyes to one little pause in there. He says, for the dust says the Lord of Host and Israel, do not go to another. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you and pray to the Lord on its behalf.

14:48 For in its welfare, you will find your welfare. That is the yes. Another translation says seek the peace and prosperity of the city for as the city prosters you will cross between. And I feel like God is trying to tell them, cared about the people that you are around.

15:18 And then he has to put the city in there because if you care about the little girl, welcome it. Make the city a better place to live because as the city is a better place to live, your lives will improve. I mean I think that is true. And I think that is like, he could just say use everybody to make your life better.

15:50 Make the whole city better and as the whole city improves, your life will improve. And it is Babylon, I do not know why. Well I do know why. Okay so notice that God cares about Babylon. And he doesn't say that you have to make Babylon Israel.

16:27 I don't think that God would hate if Babylon came to faith. Matter of fact I think God would like it. If Babylon gave up the Babylonian gods and found life with God Abraham, I shouldn't take it. It is interesting to me that as he commissioned them for 70 years in Babylon, he tells them just work for the welfare of the city.

17:04 Just improve the living conditions of the people. They are build houses, plant gardens, make families, multiply and bear my image. And my image is one that cares for the welfare of all the people. Not just because you like, he doesn't tell them build a wall inside of Babylon and live inside of it. And care for your own. He says care for the whole place. But he's got to put that little caveat on him.

17:34 Care for the whole place because as he's careful the whole place, also you can have a better life yourself. And the reason I put that out is because of this passage in Matthew, do you want to look there with me? Something changes with Christ. Jeremiah is the prophet that speaks for God and says there's coming a day where I'm just going to write my law on their hearts. And I'll take out their heart of stone and I'll get them a heart of flesh.

18:04 Jeremiah is the one who sees a God's vision that says I'm going to allow people to actually embody my vision. Have hearts that take in my motivations, my perspectives, even my emotions. I'm going to have to give them hearts of flesh that can grow and live and change. Something happens with the person of Christ.

18:40 There's a lot of places you can look to see that change. But this verse, it took me forever to find it. It's like this little section has elevated in my mind to mythic. I had this like viewpoint shift about almost ten years ago reading this passage. I love what it's like to talk about scripture.

19:11 I love what it's like to talk about a diamond that every time you look at it, you can turn a little bit, you can see something different. It took me forever to find this passage because I've extended it in my memory to weigh more than what it is. Because I looked at it once and saw way more in it. It's in Matthew 14. It's like really small. My head is like a really big passage. But it's this one little mention that has stuck with me and changed my notion of what it means to live in a city.

19:46 Matthew 14, we're going to set it in context. This first joke in Matthew 14 talks about the death of John Bapas. Remember, John Bapas is Jesus' cousin. Remember they met first when they were each in the womb and John Bapas leaves inside the living room at the presence of his cousin Jesus.

20:16 And then it's like they didn't cross paths a lot growing up. But Jesus comes to John Bapas and has John Bapas in the river Jordan. And this is like a critical moment in the life of Jesus. John doesn't want to do it. Jesus says, but you're the one. And then the God Father acknowledges Jesus publicly in front of people and says, this is my son who I love. And then he goes out and prepared by that and only came in and goes out and does a contemptation.

20:48 John Bapas is that this critical point. Jesus submits it in a way so no one else can then he says publicly when they disappoint. John Bapas' disciples come to say, I really want Jesus says, you know what? There has been no one greater born among women than John the Baptist. John is the best. He says, John is the greatest human this side of the incarnation. Like prior to the incarnation, John the Baptist is the greatest.

21:21 And then he like gets the heading by like some puppet king who's embarrassed and doesn't want to look weak in front of his terms. You read this story, you see this little hair cut hair puppet king because they're an occupied country and they want a jean running king so that they can say they left. But they need a weak woman who won't stand up and fight against the Romans so they put hair there.

21:51 He's a puppet king who pays all the taxes and gets the ego boost of being in charge of people. He's got a puppet king who then says that he doesn't want to kill John the Baptist but his wife in front of all his friends asked, Herod for John the Baptist's head. And so he said, I can't look weak in front of him. So for this reason, the greatest human pre-incarnation gets his head cut off. It's a real bummer.

22:23 It's a death that is not worthy of John the Baptist. Right? Okay. And it says, we'll give verse 9 to chapter 14. And the king was sorry but because of his oath and his guess he commanded to be given. And he said and had John beheaded in prison and his head was brought in a quadrant and given to the girl and she brought it to her mother. And his disciples came and took the body and buried it. And then they went and told Jesus.

22:56 That's heavy news. Verse 13. When Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. Verse 13. His cousin, great assuming pre-incarnation just got beheaded by a puppet king to defend his weak little ego. The world is a messed up place and not as a lot to be.

23:29 It would be hard to be Jesus in that moment. You would feel like you were alone. When now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot for the towns. This goes into then where the people come and they're there for him on the side of the river and he feeds the 4000. And the 5000.

24:00 But look at this sentence right before the people. I mean the few in the 5000's is an amazing miracle. Like loads and fishes, feet people, there's 12 baskets left over the show complete for all of Israel. Number 12 of the disciples. Like everybody can do fact and Jesus. It's very much the little bit you have. The miracle in the 5000 is amazing. But what got me and has stuck with me is the phrase right before the. In verse 14.

24:30 Jesus is just by the death of his cousin. He goes to the other side of the lake to be by himself. Like explicit. I just found out my cousin died. Works going to get harder from here on out. There are killing people for silly reasons. They're going to kill me. He was through from there in a boat to a dust that place by himself. But when the crowd sort of thing followed him on foot from the town and when he went to shore he saw a great crowd. And he had compassion on them.

25:00 And he healed their sick. And then there. This is what got me. In that moment I know what it feels like to be overwhelming with life. I know it feels like to for everything. One thing is to stop like for just a minute.

25:35 And then come into a situation and then have a pick you again. And the people were there waiting for him when he got off the boat. They were there. And it said in that moment he was not frustrated or disappointed. He had compassion on them. The reason it stuck with me is because I realized Jesus actually cares about the people of the world. And it cut me when I was 10 years ago.

26:13 Because I tried to think about who I actually cared about. And it was a hard-earned feeling, a small number. The guy had kind of narrowed my life and was darting back and forth across links to avoid people.

26:46 Because so they were sick. I could not care. And something happened when I read this passage 10 years ago where I saw Jesus actually cared about his people. That instead of feeling the feeling that I like glimpse a moment and said it. Oh my gosh. That because Jesus actually cares about his people. I have the capacity inside of me to care deeply for people.

27:19 I don't care about people right now. But I know that I can be a person like Jesus. The same spirit that raised me from the dead is alive in me. And if I would like to care about the welfare of my city, I can. And so can you. You wonder what you're calling in life is? Build families around you with your capacity to love.

27:51 Take those families into churches. Be present in church with supernatural patience and persistence. And then realize that together as a church of people, you are located in a city. Not by accident, to care deeply about the welfare of the city. And you can. You can care about the welfare of the city. The first thing I realized is that when Jesus looked at him,

28:22 Jack 14 verse 14, when he went to shore, he saw a great crowd in the eye, compassionate, and he healed their sick. And he won. He saw them. I want to be a person like Jesus that had genuine care and concern for the people around me. And I realized I was doing what I could to avoid other people's heartbreak. So I did not see heartbreak in justice, poverty.

28:56 I went down to my way to avoid ugly things, to avoid other people suffering, to avoid other people's experiences. I purposely did not look at it. Or I was just caught up in my own little world and happened to avoid it. But either way, I would have to go out of my way to see the people in the city. Like, I mean, physically, I started driving up and down Para-Moor instead of bumping.

29:28 Because there's poverty in Para-Moor, more than uncomfortable. And I just wanted to see it. Because I thought maybe if I saw it, the spirit in me would build compassion. It would awaken concern for somebody besides myself. So he saw it. When he went to shore, he had a great crowd, he could pass on him and he healed their sick. He saw them, they could pass on him, and he healed their sick.

30:02 He was like, oh, that's cool, man. Like, Jesus healed their sick. I think that's super cool. He, you know, we know when he heals a blind guy. Remember the time when they dropped a blind guy through the roof and he forgives their sins? Forgive the blind guy he sins. Or the lame guy forgives the lame guy who sins and the Pharisees are like, you don't get to forgive sins. And Jesus is like, look, I do. But if you're thinking that I don't have enough power to forgive sins, get up and walk.

30:33 The greater thing is that I can forgive sins, but I can also make him get up and walk, and maybe he walks you'll believe you. We know that it would be a bigger deal for Jesus to look at these folks, right? And forgive them their sins. But he knows they're not going to receive it, and they don't care about their sins at the moment. But they do care about being sick and he can fix that. And this is when the surgery occurred to me, like, I would have to get everybody all the way to the end, but genuine compassion means that I love them in a way they can receive.

31:05 I move them one notch towards the life they remain for. And so I started to realize, I'm spiritually get the feeling does not rest in me. So I'm not going to be the guy that goes to the hospitals, though some of you might consider it, and ask the chaplain, who can I pray for here? We have whole buildings of people assembled together that are sick and healing. And we drive by them every day, and we avoid going to hospitals because they're anxious and comfortable.

31:35 But maybe if we went there, our compassion would be awakened. Maybe some of you are up to go to the hospitals and pray for the sick. I felt like I need to move people towards places of poverty and invite them to come with me. What are the pieces that I can do with what I'm good at and what I care about? How can I see people allow the spirit to awaken compassion and then love them in a way that they can receive?

32:11 That was like my impetus and motivation for starting down in Toronto, which takes up all my time. And I spend my half-hertz in Orlando for the last almost 10 years now. But it started because I tried to say, I'm not pulling up on a bank and feeling all the sick people, but I am learning to awaken compassion for my city. And I can see brokenness among the affluent and the lack of access.

32:44 And I can move people towards life and meaning and compassion for me. That's what I can do. I'm going to take seriously the cause of being a person in the city. You see how this is like a little passage? I mean, just a little verse 14. When he went to shore, he saw a great crowd and he had compassion on them and he had their sick. I just want to finish this next little section because it shows you like the humanity of Jesus.

33:14 Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, hey, this is a desperate place Jesus. And the day's over, really great job. You know, we got him above. We were hoping to be by ourselves and all these judges came to him with sick people. But you handled it. But it's evening now. And we should probably get him out of here. You should probably send a drink and it's nuts. But if you tell him to go home, they'll go home. Right? Now it's evening, it's time to stay. So this is a desperate place for the days now.

33:44 We're sending crowds around, go to the villages and buy food for themselves. But Jesus said, what? Yo, it's hard again. You don't have compassion on these folks? You see? This is a desperate place for the days over at the center of the council. But Jesus said, they may not go away. You give him something to do. Hello there. Jesus is like, yeah, yeah. Oh, oh. You still want to be by yourself?

34:16 You don't see they're all here and we can address their need. You don't see that they all need to be loved and cared for. And we have the capacity to do it and you would rather avoid it because it's easier or feels easier. Away from compassion and stuff. You feel it, you said. Oh, there's no way we can just give it to me, you said. Just give me what you have and I will show you. Praise to the five boys and put your hands aside. And you got, now go pick up what's up, 12 basketballs, right?

34:50 And then verse 21 and those, oh, verse 20. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up 12 basketball and broken pieces left over. Verse 21. And those who ate were about 5,000 men besides women and children. Verse 22. And now he's done it. Verse 22. Immediately, maybe the night is getting the ball and go before him the other side.

35:21 And then he dismissed the crime. How many of you did? For a basketball school, leave that your game and get out of there. Right? They dismissed everyone else. Hey guys, have a good night. We love you. Be welcome. Then he gets his time by himself. Jesus is not something like a robot. You don't have to be a robot.

35:51 You don't have to be devoid of emotion as though you didn't take care of yourself. But have the expectation that the priesthood of believers, that the kingdom of God in the world has the capacity to care deeply. And the agency to increase the welfare of the cities where we are put you are the ones.

36:22 Given the great original spirit of God who makes cities better, you're the ones who make cities better. You increase the welfare of the places where you live. Always have. You just led the way. But not as some kind of robot. Immediately, you may decide to get into the boat and go before him to the other side. Well, he dismissed the crowds. And after he dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray.

36:58 And he became his errand. But the boat by this time is a long way off for the land. He can buy the waves for the windows against them. And before the watch of the night, he came to them walk you out the sea. Jesus like, he's like praying by himself up on the mountain, gets to the east. And he looks down on the lake. He's like, I know the children are out there. And he's like, I know the people are out there.

37:28 And he's like, I know the people are out there. And he's like, I know the people are out there. And he's like, I know the people are out there. Because it became so aspirational to me. I want to be a person like that.

37:58 Like, I want to be a person like him. I want people to know that I care, that I love and will serve. I love them when they are trying to figure out how to make things work. One of the people they think about is, let's go see what the venue will do. Because we know we'll do what we can.

38:30 Those folks were sick. They heard Jesus was going to be on the other side of the lake. And so they went, they didn't know what was going to happen. But they knew he would do what he could. I want to be a person like that. I want to be a person who sees the folks in front of him, has compassion on their brokenness and does what I can't. I think that's the sort of people we will make to do. And I think God has given us supernatural help to be those people.

39:06 When I started wondering what I was supposed to do with my life, I wasn't my calling. I took seriously the responsibility to love the family well and make family around you. I took seriously the invitation to be a part of the kingdom of God on earth manifested in his people with supernatural patience and persistence in the apartment church. And I started to take seriously the fact that I was amongst a whole city of people who needed to be loved.

39:36 And I had the capacity to love them. Given to me by the way it's clear that I so do you. You have the capacity to love your city. Christ died, rose, ascended, in order to send you the spirit with capacity. To love the people around you God. To see brokenness and to move in towards it and increase the welfare of your city.