Strangers in a Strange Time
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SERMON OUTLINE, SESSION 1 Chapter 1, “Strangers in a Strange Time”
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Scripture reading: ,
Guiding theme: God is up to something in exile.
Introduction:
We have
**The last few week’s we have discussed some heavy topics. We looked at the persecuted church and in Sunday school that topic continues. In worship I moved from that topic to Lent which is also a heavy topic. At this time, I am moving into the topic of exile. Exile sounds like a heavy topic, but it is my hope that you will find that exile is not such, but instead holds hope and the promise of exciting things coming. Bow your heads with me as we open this topic with prayer.
Pray
Jonah is a popular story in the Bible. Let’s take a moment and revisit that story:
**Jonah is a prophet from the Northern Kingdom of Israel. God calls to him to go to the Ninevites who are apparently carrying on in such a wicked way that God has had enough. So Jonah is to go and tell them that they need to straighten up or God will bring judgement upon them. **Now the Ninevites were enemies of the Israelites. Jonah has no interest in offering them an option to clean up their act. He just wants God to wipe them out. Talk about lack of compassion. This is not an attitude we expect to see in one of God’s prophets, yet here it is.
Well Jonah jumps aboard a ship heading in a different direction. But God is not to be swayed by Jonah’s disobedience. A storm kicks up that is threatening the lives of all on board. They are all praying to their various gods and throwing all the cargo they can overboard, but to no avail. So they cast lots seeking why this disaster has come upon them and it falls on Jonah. Well Jonah fesses up why God is angry with him. The sailors ask what can be done to appease God and Jonah says to throw him overboard. Well these gents are obviously more compassionate than Jonah as they are reluctant to do that. They try other things, but when nothing works, they finally do as Jonah said.
Jonah is tossed into the deep blue sea. However, God is not done with Jonah. It is not God’s intent to kill Jonah, He just wants Jonah’s attention and obedience. So after three days in the stinking belly of a large fish, most likely a whale of sorts, Jonah cries out to God. Well, God answers Jonah’s prayer and Jonah is up chucked right onto dry land.
Well God then makes it clear that it is still His intent for Jonah to go to Ninevah. So Jonah obeys this time. Now Ninevah is a really large city. It is a three days walk to cross it. Jonah begins walking through town crying out that Ninevah has 40 days to repent before God destroys it. Word gets to the king and he immediately responds. Not only does he call for a fast of all the people, but of all the stock animals as well. They are all to fast from food and where sackcloth and ashes.
God responds by relenting and not destroying them. Jonah then goes into a pout. He declares this was what he was afraid of and why he did not want to come. God then uses a plant to show demonstrate to Jonah how he (Jonah) has more compassion for a plant which he did not even create or have any involvement with aside from the comfort it brought him and yet Jonah expected God to have no compassion for people he had created and interacted with.
And so ends the story of Jonah.
I share this story of Jonah as it is a good visual picture of the life of Judah. Before we get to far into that, I want us to look first at a key point in this story for our topic today. ** Look with me at
:-
Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish:
“I called out to the Lord in my distress,
and he answered me.
From the belly of the underworld
I cried out for help;
you have heard my voice.
You had cast me into the depths
in the heart of the seas,
and the flood surrounds me.
All your strong waves and rushing
water passed over me.
When my endurance was weakening,
I remembered the Lord,
and my prayer came to you,
to your holy temple.
Those deceived by worthless things
lose their chance for mercy.
But me, I will offer a sacrifice to you
with a voice of thanks.
That which I have promised,
I will pay.
Deliverance belongs to the Lord!”
Then the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto the dry land.
Jonah 2
The story if Israel moves in a linear fashion. It has a beginning and an end. However...
In 1972, Richard Adams finally found a publisher for his children’s story about a warren of rabbits, called Watership Down. A dozen or so publishers had turned him down, declining the opportunity to publish what would become one of the most widely read children’s books of all time. But, Watership Down isn’t just a children’s book. It’s a story as timeless as those of Homer and Virgil. It’s an epic involving rabbits and here’s how it begins.
Here's the way it went down. The season before, Cumberland’s baseball team humiliated the Yellow Jackets, beating them 22-0. So Tech coach John Heisman (yes, that Heisman), was looking for revenge. So he was determined to run up the score as much as possible. And he did. 32 touchdowns. They scored a touchdown every one minute and forty three seconds. 471 yards of offense, which if that doesn’t sound like very much for 222 points, that’s because 73% of the game was played in Cumberland’s red zone. Cumberland’s quarterback was carried off the field uncounscious THREE DIFFERENT TIMES. At one point, Georgia Tech’s kicker kicked off, ran down the field, and caught his own kick for a touchdown. At halftime, when the score was 126 to 0, Cumberland’s coach went to Coach Heisman and begged him to end the game. Heisman agreed to shorten the game by five minutes.
Fiver, born fifth in the litter, has a premonition that something terrible is going to happen to their little rabbit warren, Sandleford. So Fiver convinces his brother Hazel that all the rabbits must leave the warren to escape the coming danger. Hazel takes Fiver to see the Chief Rabbit to tell his story, only to no avail. Fiver and Hazel, and a ragtag band of rabbit brothers including Bigwig, Dandelion, Pipkin, Hawkbit, Blackberry, Buchkthorn, Speedwell, Acorn, and Silver finally head off, only to find out later that the entire warren has been destroyed by a housing developer’s bulldozer.
But there’s another part of the story that isn’t told as often. In 1916 Cumberland College was experiencing such financial difficulties that their president cut funding for all sports, including football. However, when Cumberland tried to back out, John Heisman demanded that they either play the game or pay a $3000 fine to forfeit. In order to pay that money (about $70000 today), Cumberland would have to not pay their professors, and the school would have closed. So Cumberland chose 13 members of the Kappa Sigma freaternity, some of whom didn’t know how to play football to go to Atlanta and sacrifice themselves in order to save the school.
In the Old Testament history of Israel we find it is not only linear but also circular. In that linear fashion, we find that life often repeats itself. It is what scholars call a hermeneutical circle. (Consider the story in Exodus. Walk through the history as you walk around the image displayed). The people move from exile to land to kingship to division to exile again as demonstrated in the picture above.
In their search for a new home, which they ultimately find at Watership Down, the band of rabbits face repeated danger, and have to find the courage to keep going in the face of overwhelming obstacles. They cross streams, a bean field and even an open road. What keeps them going, keeps them looking forward, are stories. They tell themselves the stories they were told as baby rabbits. Stories of the great rabbit hero, El-ahrairah.
Now, I ask you, how would you feel to have been chosen for that kind of assignment? Would you have looked at Tech’s record at the time (in the middle of a four year, 33 game winning streak) and opted out?
The story goes something like this — while Frith, the ancient god of the rabbits, was giving out gifts to each species — cunning to the fox, eyes that could see in the dark to the cat, and so on — El-ahrairah was eating, dancing, and generally having a great time. When Frith realized that El-ahrairah has missed out, he gives him strong hind legs for escaping and declares that all the world will be the enemy of rabbits. “But first they must catch you,” Frith tells El-ahrairah, “Be cunning and full of tricks and your people will never be destroyed.”
Let me put it this way: What if you knew that because of your actions, the school would be saved? Not only that, but eventually Cumberland College would become Cumberland University, whose alumni include 14 governors, more than 80 members of the United States Congress, two Supreme Court justices, three United States ambassadors, and the longest serving secretary of state in US history? Would you be willing to endure 55 minutes of football humiliation for something like that?
And so the little band of rabbits tells each other that story and others, until they finally arrive at Watership Down. There’s more to the story after their arrival there, but the point was, the rabbits found hope in an ancient story they told over and over.
As Christians we can relate to this tale. The Bible is God’s story. It is often taught to us as children. However, it is not just a tale. It is a reality. As we study the Old Testament, we find realities we can relate to in our own lives.
We often look at the story as a linear one. It has a beginning and moves forward until the end. For us we see the end as that time when we enter into eternity, which in truth is not an end, but the real beginning. However, as we look at…
The Old Testament history of Israel we find it is not only linear but also circular. It is what scholars call a hermeneutical circle. The people move from exile to land to kingship to division to exile again as demonstrated in the picture above.
Exile
Land Division
David Solomon
Hezekiah Josiah
Isaiah Jeremiah Ezekiel Daniel
Moses Joshua
Deborah Gideon Samuel
587 BC
Exile is an important time, and people wonder several things;
• Is everything over?
• Is everything over?
• How did we get in exile?
• Has God deserted us?
Prophets and their messages become important now.
• Daniel’s message is about staying as God’s unique people in exile.
• Ezekiel’s message is about whether these dry bones will ever live again.
• Isaiah speaks about the hope that God is not done with the people.
• Jeremiah invites people to lament—to let go of the past to receive the new thing God is doing.
Prophets are not always welcome and it is not a position people generally aspire to be, however, their message of hope is important and helps people to keep moving forward in times of exile.
Now let us return to the story of Jonah.
Jonah: God calls Jonah to go to Nineveh, but Jonah, instead of getting up to fulfill his mission, goes down—down to the bottom of a ship sailing to Tarshish. But a storm goes up, and Jonah, confessing his fault, is tossed into the sea and gobbled up by a fish. He is later spewed out of the fish and resentfully goes to Nineveh, and Nineveh repents. Jonah then converses with God. For some scholars, Jonah’s story is a way for Judah to retell its own story—the whole exile story.
• As Jonah had a call on his life, so, too, the people of Judah had a call on their life.
• As Jonah ran from his call, so, too, the people ran from their call.
• As Jonah was swallowed by a fish, so, too, the people were swallowed up into exile.
• As Jonah should have died in the fish, so, too, the people should have ended in exile.
• As God gave grace to Jonah and the fish spewed him out, so, too, the people were spewed back into the rubble of Jerusalem to rebuild it.
• As God was not done with Jonah, so, too, God was not done with the people of Judah.
So for the writers of the Bible, the story of Jonah is a great way to demonstrate their own path as a nation. I am not saying that the story of Jonah did not happen. I am just saying that for the people of Israel, Jonah’s story was a great way to share their story as a nation. Jonah’s experience was identified by them as a nation.
We are much the same are we not? When we hear a story we identify with, it has that much more meaning for us and we tend to hold on to it.
Now let us look back at Jonah’s prayer a moment. Jonah reveals something really incredible in his prayers. Look with me at verse 3.
:
You had cast me into the depths in the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounds me. All your strong waves and rushing water passed over me.
“You had cast me into the depths. . . . All your strong waves . . .” (CEB, emphasis added).
Jonah didn’t get himself into his situation by himself. God is up to something in all that happened to Jonah—even when Jonah is in the belly of the fish. God let him get into the fish’s belly as an act of grace. Likewise, for Judah God is up to something in exile; it, too, is an act of grace.
Exile is not the last word in life:
• Sin doesn’t get the last word, but grace does.
• Evil doesn’t get the last word, but good does.
• Death doesn’t get the last word, but life does.
Look back with me at the hermeneutical cycle. Just think for a moment, where do you think we, as a nation, are on this cycle? Do you think we have hit the 587 place yet? That being the point of no return? Some do and some do not. Some have declared it to be the night when the movie houses began showing movies on Sunday nights. Some say it was when the Supreme courts made gay marriage legal. Opinions differ regarding the 587 point, however most agree that...
Look back with me at the hermeneutical cycle. Just think for a moment, where do you think we, as a nation, are on this cycle? Do you think we have hit the 587 place yet? That being the point of no return? Some do and some do not. Some have declared it to be the night when the movie houses began showing movies on Sunday nights. Some say it was when the Supreme courts made gay marriage legal. Opinions differ regarding the 587 point, however most agree that...
Western Christianity perhaps fits between division and exile on the hermeneutical circle. In many ways we identify with the feelings of exile. The world we once knew does not seem to be the same. Where the church and Christianity once had respect and influence, it does not seem to so much anymore. Where once upon a time all kids had some Sunday school, we now have few who have ever been in Sunday school. Many adults now were never in Sunday school. This is a complete flip from just a couple generations back.
However, exile is a little different for us. Unlike the people of Judah, who were moved to a new culture, the culture has moved around us. You may, like me, feel like Dorothy who says to Toto, “I don’t think we are in Kansas any more!” In this post-Christian age, where our Christian influence has waned, exile helps us think about our life. However, we need not despair, for like Jonah, we can discover that God is present and up to something—much like the conversion of Nineveh. God is not through with us yet. If He was, He would have raptured us by now.
Another thing we need to remember as we consider this idea of exile is that we still do not have it so bad. Yes, we do not have the same influence we once had in this nation, however, we still do not compare with those we have been studying. We are not facing prison and torture for our faith. We still have influence far beyond many nations.
It is not a time to berate ourselves or to stand up and fight harder. Instead, it is a time to take inventory. What attitudes helped to get us in this mess? How is God calling us to be change to be the people He called us to be? Where is God in this? What is He up to? How can we jump on board with what God is doing? Part of the reason we are in this mess is the church was too busy doing what it thought it was to do and not listening enough to God and watching what He was leading us to do. By looking back, we can take note of what went wrong and allow it to instruct us in what to do right. It is not about fighting harder, but about drawing closer to God. Just as Jonah discovered in the fish, God is up to something. He has a plan. He is actively involved and we just need to see what new thing God is up to.
Dr. Daniels who wrote this book, Embracing Exile directs us to Zechariah who uses the phrase “prisoners of hope” in reference to the exiles of Babylon and he encourages us that we should see ourselves as “prisoners of hope” also. As I shared last week, we are a resurrected community. Unlike Jonah and the exiles of Israel, we have so much more hope going for us. Jesus has risen from the dead! He has conquered death and given us the ability to do the same! We should never lose sight of that!
Look back with me again at the circle:
Look back with me again at the circle:
If we place a line across the circle dividing it in half we would be dividing what people would call the best of times and the worst of times. However, is this truly the case? In the times people would call the best of times, the height of the kingship things may have felt good, but were they really? The truth is, the people were most devout to God in the worst of times. What drove them into the worst of times was their poor relationship with God during the good times. However, in the worst of times, they tended to draw closer to God which in turn often lead them to the better times.
Think back to king David. His best times with God and David’s best accomplishments were when he was in exile. However, in his better times when he was king, we find
He becomes an adulterer
He becomes a murderer
He is a poor father
The truth is...
People are at their best in the bottom half of the hermeneutical circle—the exilic part. That is where we find hope that God is up to something really powerful, that God is doing something new among us. It is during those times, that we allow God to work in us and through us.
These next few weeks, we will continue to look at this idea of exile. We need to take time to lament what we have lost in our nation; our influence and the respect we once had. But then we need to embrace this time and look for the new opportunities that God is offering us in this time. God placed each of us in this time span for a purpose. We each have a unique place here in this period of time. We have something to offer the new culture around us. Let us pray and seek together as a church to find our place here in 2019 in Elgin, OR. What can we offer those around us. If we do, I believe we will become “prisoners of hope.”
Let me close with this song by...
Madame de la Mothe Guyon, that notable prisoner for Christ's sake in the Chateau de Chillon, sang:
Nor exile I nor prison fear;
Love makes my courage great;
I find a Saviour everywhere,
His grace in every state.
Nor castle walls, nor dungeon deep,
Exclude His quickening beams;
There I can sit and sing and weep,
And dwell on heavenly themes.
There, sorrow for His sake is found
A joy beyond compare;
There no presumptuous thoughts abound,
Nor pride can enter there.
© 2017 Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City. Per copyright guidelines, permission is granted upon purchase to print and copy this PDF text file. All permissions granted for noncommercial use within the local church. Publisher must be contacted for any other use. All rights reserved. Scriptures marked CEB are from the Common English Bible. Copyright © 2011 by the Common English Bible. All rights reserved. Used by permission. (www.CommonEnglishBible.com).