WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.160 Now we're going to read Scripture together and then look at that passage in relation 00:00:06.160 --> 00:00:11.759 to our topic this evening, which I'll say more about in a moment. 00:00:11.759 --> 00:00:17.559 And our reading is from Jeremiah chapter 29 in the Old Testament. 00:00:17.559 --> 00:00:26.839 Jeremiah is a difficult book and it's mainly a book of Jeremiah the prophet bringing a 00:00:26.839 --> 00:00:33.840 message of judgment to the Old Testament people of God who had really rebelled against God 00:00:33.840 --> 00:00:39.359 and broken the covenant and were taken into exile to Babylon. 00:00:39.359 --> 00:00:44.480 And this is part of the message that he brings from God to them while they're in Babylon. 00:00:44.480 --> 00:00:48.000 Jeremiah 29 will read verses 1 to 14. 00:00:48.000 --> 00:00:52.000 So well-known chapter, you'll definitely know at least one or two of the verses in 00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:56.799 this chapter and we'll be mentioning them probably. 00:00:56.799 --> 00:01:01.879 These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the surviving 00:01:01.879 --> 00:01:08.239 elders of the exiles and to the priests, the prophets and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar 00:01:08.239 --> 00:01:12.399 had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. 00:01:12.399 --> 00:01:18.560 This was after King Jechoniah and the Queen Mother, the eunuchs, the officials of Judah 00:01:18.560 --> 00:01:24.120 and Jerusalem, the craftsmen and the metal workers had departed from Jerusalem. 00:01:24.120 --> 00:01:30.920 The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah, the son of Shaffan and Gamaria, the son of 00:01:30.920 --> 00:01:37.480 Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah, king of Judah, sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. 00:01:37.480 --> 00:01:44.000 It said, Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have 00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:48.280 sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. 00:01:48.280 --> 00:01:50.200 Build houses and live in them. 00:01:50.200 --> 00:01:53.320 Plant gardens and eat their produce. 00:01:53.319 --> 00:01:56.239 Take wives and have sons and daughters. 00:01:56.239 --> 00:02:02.599 Take wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage that they may bear sons and daughters. 00:02:02.599 --> 00:02:05.280 Multiply these and do not decrease. 00:02:05.280 --> 00:02:10.159 But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile and pray to the Lord on 00:02:10.159 --> 00:02:11.719 its behalf. 00:02:11.719 --> 00:02:14.680 For in its welfare you will find your welfare. 00:02:14.680 --> 00:02:20.479 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, do not let your prophets and your 00:02:20.479 --> 00:02:25.319 diviners who are among you deceive you and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, 00:02:25.319 --> 00:02:28.839 for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name. 00:02:28.839 --> 00:02:32.159 I did not send them, declares the Lord. 00:02:32.159 --> 00:02:39.079 For thus says the Lord, when seventy years are accomplished for, are completed for Babylon, 00:02:39.079 --> 00:02:44.319 I will visit you and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. 00:02:44.319 --> 00:02:47.719 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. 00:02:47.719 --> 00:02:52.800 Plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. 00:02:52.800 --> 00:02:57.120 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me and I will hear you. 00:02:57.120 --> 00:03:00.919 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 00:03:00.919 --> 00:03:03.479 I will be found by you, declares the Lord. 00:03:03.479 --> 00:03:08.079 And I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places 00:03:08.079 --> 00:03:10.120 where I have driven you, declares the Lord. 00:03:10.120 --> 00:03:18.039 And I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile. 00:03:18.039 --> 00:03:23.120 So as Thomas mentioned this morning, Thomas was doing a series in the evening about the 00:03:23.120 --> 00:03:30.080 church and the various pictures of the church, and he did that picture this morning in church. 00:03:30.080 --> 00:03:35.280 So I am doing what we have been doing in the morning, this evening, just for this one week. 00:03:35.280 --> 00:03:41.039 And we have been looking at really about planning and prayer. 00:03:41.039 --> 00:03:46.159 And we have looked at different subjects and topics related to that both with regard to 00:03:46.159 --> 00:03:51.800 our own personal spiritual lives and to our lives in the church, and generally to the 00:03:51.800 --> 00:03:57.080 importance of planning our lives and committing what we plan to the Lord. 00:03:57.080 --> 00:04:01.680 And I think last week I got it wrong in telling you the order of what was happening next. 00:04:01.680 --> 00:04:09.319 So, but anyway, this evening we are looking at our lives, our gospel lives in the city 00:04:09.319 --> 00:04:18.560 here in Edinburgh, and praying for that, and planning to pray in our lives for Edinburgh, 00:04:18.560 --> 00:04:20.399 the city we are part of. 00:04:20.399 --> 00:04:24.160 And then next Sunday, hopefully, and this will be the correction from last week, next 00:04:24.160 --> 00:04:28.840 Sunday morning we are looking at the subject of praying, planning to pray about the whole 00:04:28.839 --> 00:04:34.000 issue of abortion in our society and the world we live in, and then the following week looking 00:04:34.000 --> 00:04:41.239 at planning and praying that the gospel would break into the LGBT community and how we can 00:04:41.239 --> 00:04:48.879 pray for that and love that community with the gospel and prayerfully consider the way 00:04:48.879 --> 00:04:50.719 forward there. 00:04:50.719 --> 00:04:56.199 But this evening I want to look at the theme of my city for Christ. 00:04:56.199 --> 00:05:00.719 And I am going to use this passage in Jeremiah. 00:05:00.719 --> 00:05:06.680 Depending on your point of view, this place is blessed or cursed, and in the years I have 00:05:06.680 --> 00:05:13.279 lived here I have seen the best and worst, an air of sordid passion, a look of dirty 00:05:13.279 --> 00:05:17.599 grace, but not right in your face. 00:05:17.599 --> 00:05:20.519 It is not that kind of place. 00:05:20.519 --> 00:05:27.199 That is the Proclaimers song, one of the verses of the Proclaimers song about Edinburgh, 00:05:27.199 --> 00:05:33.719 the streets of Edinburgh, and I think it is a magnificent description of the city of 00:05:33.719 --> 00:05:43.560 Edinburgh, an air of sordid passion, a look of dirty grace, but not right in your face. 00:05:43.560 --> 00:05:47.120 It is not that kind of place. 00:05:47.120 --> 00:05:50.959 The album is The Angry Cyclist. 00:05:50.959 --> 00:05:54.720 And one way or another, this is where we are. 00:05:54.720 --> 00:05:57.600 This is where God has called us to live. 00:05:57.600 --> 00:05:59.160 We are in Edinburgh. 00:05:59.160 --> 00:06:05.959 We are right in the middle of Edinburgh here, in the city centre in the shadow of the castle. 00:06:05.959 --> 00:06:14.120 And we are not, and you are not here individually or all of us together randomly. 00:06:14.120 --> 00:06:17.680 God has brought us here, this is where we are. 00:06:17.680 --> 00:06:21.920 Now Edinburgh has been the capital of Scotland since the 15th century. 00:06:21.920 --> 00:06:25.840 It has got roughly half a million inhabitants, although it is growing all the time. 00:06:25.840 --> 00:06:28.040 It is a cultural and art centre. 00:06:28.040 --> 00:06:31.040 We know that, don't we, especially at this time of year. 00:06:31.040 --> 00:06:34.000 It has a powerful and intriguing history. 00:06:34.000 --> 00:06:40.680 This itself is a world heritage site because of its significance, not the church specifically, 00:06:40.680 --> 00:06:44.199 but the church is on this whole area as a world heritage site. 00:06:44.199 --> 00:06:47.000 It is called the Athens of the North. 00:06:47.000 --> 00:06:52.960 It is a centre for commerce, for health, for politics and for tourism. 00:06:52.960 --> 00:06:59.199 Even for education, there is around 150,000 students and pupils in the city of Edinburgh. 00:06:59.199 --> 00:07:05.360 35% of its population are in their 20s and 30s here in Edinburgh. 00:07:05.360 --> 00:07:12.040 The Spanish and Polish make up the most overseas residents in this city. 00:07:12.040 --> 00:07:17.759 There are 20,000 new businesses registered in Edinburgh every year. 00:07:17.759 --> 00:07:24.040 Well, that was in 2017, I think probably about 19,000 of them close each year. 00:07:24.040 --> 00:07:27.720 Well, the food shops seem to be certainly around here. 00:07:27.720 --> 00:07:32.040 And Leith Walk, there are just under 20,000 domestic properties. 00:07:32.040 --> 00:07:37.360 The busiest and most intensely inhabited part of the city. 00:07:37.360 --> 00:07:42.800 Yet there are 3,500 homeless applications last year. 00:07:42.800 --> 00:07:48.600 18% of all households live in material deprivation. 00:07:48.600 --> 00:07:54.360 17,500 children in low income households. 00:07:54.360 --> 00:07:57.879 There's an underbelly to the city of Edinburgh 00:07:57.879 --> 00:08:02.800 that the city of Edinburgh doesn't often want to consider. 00:08:02.800 --> 00:08:05.399 And it has an amazing spiritual history. 00:08:05.399 --> 00:08:12.360 You only need to look around you at the display that Christian heritage Edinburgh put on here. 00:08:12.360 --> 00:08:20.319 Or to go on one of Paul's tours to learn about the spiritual history of the city and what God has done. 00:08:20.319 --> 00:08:27.319 But today, probably only between 4% and 5% of the population go to any church. 00:08:27.319 --> 00:08:38.600 And as part of Scotland, we recognise that since 2002, 300 new churches have been opened. 00:08:38.600 --> 00:08:42.799 But 1,680 have closed. 00:08:42.799 --> 00:08:52.919 And we recognise therefore that the capital city is part of a nation that is in spiritual decline in many ways. 00:08:52.919 --> 00:08:56.759 So my question, I have one question and one statement to make. 00:08:56.759 --> 00:09:02.919 The question is, does God have a plan for us in Edinburgh? 00:09:02.919 --> 00:09:11.039 And I want to look at that question by looking at this chapter in Jeremiah chapter 29. 00:09:11.039 --> 00:09:14.559 Where it speaks about another city, this city of Babylon. 00:09:14.559 --> 00:09:18.679 And it speaks about the people who are in exile in that city. 00:09:18.679 --> 00:09:22.439 And I think it's a much misunderstood passage. 00:09:22.440 --> 00:09:36.880 And I wouldn't pretend to be able to explain all the differences and similarities between being the people of God in Babylon in the Old Testament and us as the people of God in Edinburgh in 2019. 00:09:36.880 --> 00:09:41.840 But I can guarantee that there are some misunderstandings that we will unpack a little bit today. 00:09:41.840 --> 00:09:50.400 Probably verse 11 is the most misunderstood verse, at least one of the most misunderstood verses in the text. 00:09:50.399 --> 00:10:00.600 Where we all know that the text, I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil to give you a future and a hope. 00:10:00.600 --> 00:10:05.720 Or plans to prosper you as in other translations also. 00:10:05.720 --> 00:10:13.600 It's the text that's on a thousand pastel shaded memes and sunrise posters, isn't it? 00:10:13.600 --> 00:10:21.000 Without realising necessarily the context within its scriptural position. 00:10:21.000 --> 00:10:25.399 Is this chapter a theology for us, for living in the city? 00:10:25.399 --> 00:10:28.920 Well, I think there's parallels and comparisons. 00:10:28.920 --> 00:10:35.920 But it's not a straight interpretation between what happened to the God's people in the Old Testament and our position in the New. 00:10:35.920 --> 00:10:39.360 It's not a yes and no answer, I don't think. 00:10:39.360 --> 00:10:43.800 Edinburgh is not Babylon, we recognise that. 00:10:43.800 --> 00:10:52.560 Nor do we have here, as some have taken it to be an exhaustive theology of the city and God's amazing plans for the city. 00:10:52.560 --> 00:10:59.039 Verse 7 is a very significant verse for many theologians today, but seek the welfare of the city. 00:10:59.039 --> 00:11:10.519 I have sent you into exile and pray to the Lord on its behalf for if you prosper, if it prospers, you will prosper. 00:11:10.519 --> 00:11:20.240 And verse 11, the one we've looked at is certainly not a sugarcoated promise about God promising His green light to all our plans. 00:11:20.240 --> 00:11:27.480 I think it's rather more nuanced and maybe a little more uncomfortable than that, but it is good. 00:11:27.480 --> 00:11:31.440 And these are great verses, and this is a great passage. 00:11:31.440 --> 00:11:41.000 And there are clearly principles within it that help us to understand our place in Edinburgh as Christians. 00:11:41.000 --> 00:11:46.759 But can I just mention the main difference between this passage and our own situation? 00:11:46.759 --> 00:11:53.360 The main difference being that the Old Testament people of God here, as it's recorded in Jeremiah 29, 00:11:53.360 --> 00:12:00.240 they were in exile in Babylon as a judgment for their sin, okay? 00:12:00.240 --> 00:12:08.840 They had been taken out of the promised land, and they were in exile under God's discipline and judgment for their sin, 00:12:08.840 --> 00:12:12.639 for their idolatry, for turning their back on the living God. 00:12:12.639 --> 00:12:20.519 We also are called exiles, I'll mention that a little bit more later, but we are no longer under God's judgment, 00:12:20.519 --> 00:12:24.840 and we're not in the city because we're under God's judgment. 00:12:24.840 --> 00:12:28.600 Our exile status is different to theirs. 00:12:28.600 --> 00:12:31.000 We are not exiles under judgment. 00:12:31.000 --> 00:12:39.199 We are exiles because judgment has already taken place in Jesus Christ. 00:12:39.199 --> 00:12:43.159 Their hope was built on what God was still to do in Christ. 00:12:43.159 --> 00:12:50.079 Our hope is built on what Christ has already done, and it gives us a different, therefore, angle and thought process 00:12:50.080 --> 00:12:52.639 as we look at the Old Testament. 00:12:52.639 --> 00:12:57.280 But what are some of the principles we can take out of this chapter that you can apply, 00:12:57.280 --> 00:13:04.840 and I can apply in my own life, and in our own, both corporate and individual lives, of being in the city? 00:13:04.840 --> 00:13:12.600 I think the first thing is that we can recognise that his plans are focused on shalom, on peace. 00:13:12.600 --> 00:13:18.640 In verse 7, it speaks about seeking the welfare of the city where I've sent you into exile, 00:13:18.639 --> 00:13:25.840 and pray to the Lord on its behalf for in its welfare, you will also find your welfare. 00:13:25.840 --> 00:13:29.799 And then verse 11, that famous verse says, I know the plans I have for you. 00:13:29.799 --> 00:13:34.960 Plans, declares that plans for welfare and not for evil. 00:13:34.960 --> 00:13:42.360 Now, the word for welfare that's used in these verses is the word of shalom, is the word of peace. 00:13:42.360 --> 00:13:49.560 And God was wanting peace on Babylon, and God was promising peace to his own people. 00:13:49.560 --> 00:13:53.840 And we know that his own plans moving forward into the New Testament, 00:13:53.840 --> 00:14:01.840 into the gospel and into grace, are all based around his shalom, his peace. 00:14:01.840 --> 00:14:07.480 It is translated prosperity, and I think sometimes that has been taken as material prosperity. 00:14:07.480 --> 00:14:14.680 Well, welfare is probably not a bad interpretation. It's a very deep, wide-ranging word, 00:14:14.680 --> 00:14:18.639 but it really speaks of wholeness, completeness. 00:14:18.639 --> 00:14:25.200 It comes when our broken and sinful hearts are healed, and we're reconciled to God. 00:14:25.200 --> 00:14:29.159 That's the core of shalom, that's the core of peace, 00:14:29.159 --> 00:14:34.039 as being right with God through the Redeemer, through Jesus Christ. 00:14:34.039 --> 00:14:42.799 It's the spiritual blessings with all the life consequences of knowing Him and knowing His shalom. 00:14:42.799 --> 00:14:47.839 And all His plans are focused around that reconciliation and that peace. 00:14:47.839 --> 00:14:50.559 That's how we are meant to be in Jesus Christ. 00:14:50.559 --> 00:14:56.240 In John chapter 14 verse 27, we have these words, peace. 00:14:56.240 --> 00:14:58.959 He speaks so much about this, shalom. 00:14:58.959 --> 00:15:01.719 I leave you my peace, my shalom. 00:15:01.720 --> 00:15:05.279 I give you not as the world gives, do I give you, let not your hearts be troubled, 00:15:05.279 --> 00:15:08.680 neither let them be afraid just before Christ goes to the cross. 00:15:08.680 --> 00:15:13.360 He says this to His disciples, I give you my shalom, I give you my peace. 00:15:13.360 --> 00:15:19.040 And it's not simply to be equated with the absence of war, 00:15:19.040 --> 00:15:22.560 or as it's often translated, material prosperity. 00:15:22.560 --> 00:15:28.279 It's not as the world gives, the peace of the Lord Jesus Christ is found 00:15:28.279 --> 00:15:36.079 because of the maelstrom of Calvary, the dis-peace that He experienced in Calvary. 00:15:36.079 --> 00:15:47.120 And the separation and the dis-unification of Christ from the Father and the Spirit on the cross, 00:15:47.120 --> 00:15:52.159 with all the mystery of that, as He was working out our salvation 00:15:52.159 --> 00:16:01.559 so that we can know peace as we come to trust in Him, no refuge, no belonging, no home. 00:16:01.559 --> 00:16:06.480 No as in K-N-O-W, no home rather than no home. 00:16:06.480 --> 00:16:12.399 So we can know what it is to be home, to know what it is to belong as it were in this city, 00:16:12.399 --> 00:16:16.159 and to know that peace and the family of peace that He brings. 00:16:16.159 --> 00:16:23.639 So His plans for us in our lives and for this city are His shalom or spiritual. 00:16:23.639 --> 00:16:30.079 It's the gospel, it is the great commission, the good news of Jesus. 00:16:30.079 --> 00:16:37.679 But His plans, secondly, will also be plans that bring tension into your life and into my life. 00:16:37.679 --> 00:16:44.600 Luke 12, 51 reminds us of that kind of paradox that He says, 00:16:44.600 --> 00:16:47.840 when He says He brings peace, do you think that I have come to bring peace on earth? 00:16:47.840 --> 00:16:49.840 No, I tell you about rather divisions. 00:16:49.840 --> 00:16:53.600 So there's this paradox, isn't there, between the peace that He brings 00:16:53.600 --> 00:17:00.240 and the tension that His peace brings into our experience. 00:17:00.240 --> 00:17:05.640 Now we can see that if we look at the context in which He gives the promise of verse 11, 00:17:05.640 --> 00:17:08.200 for I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, 00:17:08.200 --> 00:17:12.240 plans for welfare, not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. 00:17:12.240 --> 00:17:20.200 I almost guarantee that this verse is not as simple or as comfortable as we want it to be. 00:17:20.200 --> 00:17:31.880 It's a brilliant kind of anthemic verse, but it's not a personal life career guarantee of blessing, 00:17:31.880 --> 00:17:37.680 a life of ease or prosperity financially or unbridled comfort. 00:17:37.680 --> 00:17:41.279 He says, I know the plans I have for you. 00:17:41.279 --> 00:17:47.079 So what we have here is God saying, I have plans for you, and I know what these plans are. 00:17:47.079 --> 00:17:53.920 And for us, when He offers us His shalom, we know it's not the same kind of peace as the world offers, 00:17:53.920 --> 00:17:57.039 that there is tension within His shalom. 00:17:57.039 --> 00:18:00.279 It involves suffering. 00:18:00.279 --> 00:18:03.559 Now how can we unpack that from this? 00:18:03.559 --> 00:18:13.000 Well, if we recognize the context, He is giving this promise in the context of God's people being in exile 00:18:13.000 --> 00:18:18.240 and saying, they're going to be in exile for the next 70 years. 00:18:18.240 --> 00:18:24.679 They're going to be slaves to the Babylonian oppressors for the next 70 years. 00:18:24.679 --> 00:18:26.759 This is where God wants you. 00:18:26.759 --> 00:18:28.679 This is where He plans for you. 00:18:28.679 --> 00:18:31.879 This is the plans He has to prosper you, to give you His peace. 00:18:31.880 --> 00:18:34.760 And that's what He's saying to the people here. 00:18:34.760 --> 00:18:41.760 Now it's given, this promise is given in the light of false prophecy that is mentioned in the previous chapter, 00:18:41.760 --> 00:18:47.360 in chapter 28, verses 2 and 3, Hananiah, who is a false prophet, 00:18:47.360 --> 00:18:51.480 he comes to the people and he says, thus sees the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel. 00:18:51.480 --> 00:18:54.120 I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. 00:18:54.120 --> 00:18:57.720 Within two years, you will be back. 00:18:57.720 --> 00:19:02.640 I will bring you back to this place and all the vessels of the Lord's house, while Nebuchadnezzar, 00:19:02.640 --> 00:19:06.519 king of Babylon, took away from this place and carried into Babylon. 00:19:06.519 --> 00:19:13.160 So there was a false prophecy that the people had their hope on, oh, two years, we'll be back in two years. 00:19:13.160 --> 00:19:14.559 Oh, isn't God great? 00:19:14.559 --> 00:19:15.960 It's going to be easy for us. 00:19:15.960 --> 00:19:22.319 We're only going to be in exile a couple of years and then we'll be back in our beloved home in Jerusalem. 00:19:22.319 --> 00:19:31.279 But God gives them this promise, this promise of Shalom and this promise of settling down in Babylon, 00:19:31.279 --> 00:19:37.879 of building their homes and building their families and staying put for seventy years. 00:19:37.879 --> 00:19:40.839 It's not what they wanted. 00:19:40.839 --> 00:19:45.399 It's not what they planned. 00:19:45.399 --> 00:19:51.079 It meant suffering and it meant they weren't in their beloved Jerusalem. 00:19:51.079 --> 00:19:56.960 And God's plans, God's Shalom for us also brings with it war. 00:19:56.960 --> 00:19:59.399 It brings war against sin. 00:19:59.399 --> 00:20:04.879 It brings war against selfishness and pride and doing our own thing and going our own way. 00:20:04.879 --> 00:20:06.000 It means opposition. 00:20:06.000 --> 00:20:12.439 Sometimes it means tremendous difficulty and it will mean persecution. 00:20:12.439 --> 00:20:14.960 It involves waiting on God. 00:20:14.960 --> 00:20:18.839 There's tension within God's plans for us. 00:20:18.839 --> 00:20:27.439 And it does involve, therefore, accepting where God has us today. 00:20:27.439 --> 00:20:34.399 You know, the people of exile in Babylon, they had to confess, this is where God has us. 00:20:34.399 --> 00:20:37.039 This is where He has us for the next seventy years. 00:20:37.039 --> 00:20:38.439 It's not where we want to be. 00:20:38.439 --> 00:20:39.759 It's not part of our plans. 00:20:39.759 --> 00:20:42.879 It wasn't in my CV, but this is where He has me. 00:20:42.880 --> 00:20:51.960 And for us, often knowing God's Shalom in our lives also means accepting where He's placed us. 00:20:51.960 --> 00:20:57.560 And here is where God is placed us, in Edinburgh. 00:20:57.560 --> 00:20:58.600 Now, we might not always be here. 00:20:58.600 --> 00:21:00.520 We know that because God does move us on. 00:21:00.520 --> 00:21:05.040 But it is where He's called us currently to be. 00:21:05.040 --> 00:21:12.560 Now, sometimes I think many of us in our lives, physically and spiritually, we just long to be somewhere else. 00:21:12.559 --> 00:21:15.960 I can't be bothered with Edinburgh, it's particularly during the festival. 00:21:15.960 --> 00:21:19.319 And we can't really, we don't want to stay here. 00:21:19.319 --> 00:21:21.960 And maybe we don't want to be part of this church anymore. 00:21:21.960 --> 00:21:25.759 It's so dull and boring and we really want to move on. 00:21:25.759 --> 00:21:32.079 We can always be, we can find it easy in our Christian lives, always to be longing for something else, 00:21:32.079 --> 00:21:35.639 longing to be somewhere else, for things to be different. 00:21:35.639 --> 00:21:41.000 And yet He's calling us and He's saying to us, not in some kind of fatalistic way, 00:21:41.000 --> 00:21:45.079 always looking for His guidance and wisdom in all that we do, He's saying to us, 00:21:45.079 --> 00:21:46.799 this is what I have you. 00:21:46.799 --> 00:21:48.559 This is where you're called. 00:21:48.559 --> 00:21:55.759 This is where I want you to serve and to seek, to build the kingdom of God and to grow the kingdom of God 00:21:55.759 --> 00:22:00.119 and to love the city of which you're a part. 00:22:00.119 --> 00:22:01.039 This is what I have you. 00:22:01.039 --> 00:22:06.839 That's where my plans are for you in your life. 00:22:06.839 --> 00:22:11.399 So as plans are focused on Shalom, they often will bring tension into our lives. 00:22:11.399 --> 00:22:15.639 But also we see His plan involves an exile mentality. 00:22:15.639 --> 00:22:24.159 And that's where there's parallels, but also for a different reason between this and our own situation. 00:22:24.159 --> 00:22:31.919 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 11 says, beloved, I urge you, and Peter would have known this kind of old testament background, 00:22:31.920 --> 00:22:37.519 sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh which wage war against your soul. 00:22:37.519 --> 00:22:45.240 And also Hebrews 11 and then Hebrews 30, for He was looking forward to the city that is foundation, 00:22:45.240 --> 00:22:48.440 whose designer and builder is God, speaking of Abraham. 00:22:48.440 --> 00:22:55.160 And then in Hebrews 13, again, it says, here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. 00:22:55.160 --> 00:23:04.720 So there's a sense in which here we are exiles also, Peter calls us as Christians, those who are in exiles, 00:23:04.720 --> 00:23:07.240 because we have another city that we're looking forward to. 00:23:07.240 --> 00:23:09.240 There's always a future hope for us. 00:23:09.240 --> 00:23:11.960 This is not ultimately our home. 00:23:11.960 --> 00:23:13.759 We're citizens of heaven. 00:23:13.759 --> 00:23:17.080 And that's what we're looking forward to in our Christian lives. 00:23:17.080 --> 00:23:22.759 We are here for the shortest of times before in the light of eternity. 00:23:22.759 --> 00:23:30.000 And therefore, like God's Old Testament people, we are also called to be different. 00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:36.839 And we are always called to be different, to be exiles within the city, within our communities. 00:23:36.839 --> 00:23:44.920 And the danger sometimes for us is that there's a danger of us wanting to be so much part of the city 00:23:44.920 --> 00:23:48.839 and all its blessings, so integrated, so belonging to the city. 00:23:48.839 --> 00:23:53.439 They were just like everyone else in the city, we're indistinguishable. 00:23:53.439 --> 00:23:59.359 A huge challenge for us is to live as exiles in the city and in the community in which we live. 00:23:59.359 --> 00:24:02.839 The courage to be God's ordinary people. 00:24:02.839 --> 00:24:07.439 There's always that tension, therefore, in the way we live as Christians. 00:24:07.439 --> 00:24:14.000 But that tension, and as we live out that tension, will always be best for Edinburgh. 00:24:14.000 --> 00:24:17.879 It will always be the best thing for Edinburgh when we live that way. 00:24:17.880 --> 00:24:21.440 It will be best for this city. 00:24:21.440 --> 00:24:29.640 You know, within God's city, within our city here, we, like them, are to seek its welfare. 00:24:29.640 --> 00:24:37.000 The city of Sentient Exile pray to the Lord on its behalf for in its welfare, you will find welfare. 00:24:37.000 --> 00:24:42.840 Take wives and sons and daughters, get married, bear sons and daughters, multiply, do not decrease, increase. 00:24:42.840 --> 00:24:47.320 We are, that was given to the Old Testament covenant people. 00:24:47.319 --> 00:24:49.759 We are God's New Testament covenant people. 00:24:49.759 --> 00:24:55.159 We are to seek growth and distinctiveness. 00:24:55.159 --> 00:25:00.679 We're to grow as Christians with an individually, a corporately. 00:25:00.679 --> 00:25:05.599 We're to grow by people coming to faith. 00:25:05.599 --> 00:25:11.319 And we are, therefore, in the same way seeking the good of the city and the world around us. 00:25:11.319 --> 00:25:13.720 Because we love that city. 00:25:13.720 --> 00:25:15.679 We serve the city. 00:25:15.680 --> 00:25:18.920 We love our neighbors and we love our enemies. 00:25:18.920 --> 00:25:23.000 That's the extent of the New Testament command. 00:25:23.000 --> 00:25:26.680 That's what God wants us to do, to live like Jesus did. 00:25:26.680 --> 00:25:31.920 And this, in this city, people need Jesus. 00:25:31.920 --> 00:25:35.039 People need the shalom of Jesus. 00:25:35.039 --> 00:25:37.000 They need the hope of the gospel. 00:25:37.000 --> 00:25:41.120 And we can bring that to them as we live our lives with a genuine commitment. 00:25:41.119 --> 00:25:48.000 We're not asked to be monastic or isolated or disinterested in people or in culture. 00:25:48.000 --> 00:25:53.919 We're to be living out our lives among the people with the shalom of Jesus and seeking 00:25:53.919 --> 00:25:57.719 to bring that into their lives. 00:25:57.719 --> 00:26:01.039 So it involves an exile mentality. 00:26:01.039 --> 00:26:06.599 As plans bring tension and as plans are focused on shalom. 00:26:06.599 --> 00:26:12.959 The second point I want to make relates to the theme of these sermons, which is planning 00:26:12.959 --> 00:26:14.119 and prayer. 00:26:14.119 --> 00:26:17.679 God's plan ignites prayer. 00:26:17.679 --> 00:26:23.079 Knowing God's plans, knowing God's will, knowing God's call on us in our lives, each 00:26:23.079 --> 00:26:26.119 of us have God's calling in our lives in this city. 00:26:26.119 --> 00:26:35.599 And whatever way and wherever we are, we're called by God to live out the shalom of God 00:26:35.599 --> 00:26:38.319 in this place. 00:26:38.319 --> 00:26:40.199 God's plan invites prayer. 00:26:40.199 --> 00:26:44.279 Verse 12, he talks about the promise in verse 11. 00:26:44.279 --> 00:26:48.159 And he says, then you will call on me and come and pray to me and I will hear you. 00:26:48.159 --> 00:26:51.599 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 00:26:51.599 --> 00:26:53.480 I will be found by you. 00:26:53.480 --> 00:26:59.719 And then he also says earlier on that they are to pray for the city and seek its welfare. 00:26:59.719 --> 00:27:04.359 Pray to the Lord on its behalf for in its welfare you will find your welfare. 00:27:04.359 --> 00:27:14.479 I think there's a great, there's a great truth there that reminds us that our lives 00:27:14.479 --> 00:27:21.639 and the life of this city, our lives as Christians and our church life is intertwined with this 00:27:21.639 --> 00:27:24.559 city and the life of this city. 00:27:24.559 --> 00:27:28.839 God's plan invites, ignites prayer. 00:27:28.839 --> 00:27:33.639 He knows that he is hope and a future for this people. 00:27:33.640 --> 00:27:35.160 It's not what they expect. 00:27:35.160 --> 00:27:39.800 It's not in the time that they expect, it's not in the way that they expect, but they 00:27:39.800 --> 00:27:44.759 entrust themselves to God and pray to him for his will to be done. 00:27:44.759 --> 00:27:51.240 And prayer for us, it always motivated by knowing that God is a purpose and a plan for 00:27:51.240 --> 00:27:54.320 us and that we are part of his sovereign plan. 00:27:54.320 --> 00:27:57.240 We are driven to pray to the great plan in God. 00:27:57.240 --> 00:27:59.560 It doesn't make us prayerless. 00:27:59.560 --> 00:28:03.600 It doesn't make us sit back and say, well, let's see God unfold his plans. 00:28:03.599 --> 00:28:10.079 It drives us to pray because we pray about the calling we have and part of the call for 00:28:10.079 --> 00:28:16.919 me for us all over these days and as we enter this year, academic year, whatever you call 00:28:16.919 --> 00:28:23.159 it, semester, to pray as exiles in Edinburgh and to pray for the city, to live out his 00:28:23.159 --> 00:28:29.279 shalom within the city in our lives, to pray with a kingdom perspective, to pray for the 00:28:29.279 --> 00:28:34.480 church in the city, for St. Columba's, to pray for the covenant family that is the church 00:28:34.480 --> 00:28:40.639 here that we might grow and plan and develop and know God's will and do God's will, that 00:28:40.639 --> 00:28:46.160 you would see your part in that as called under God and by God as Thomas was saying 00:28:46.160 --> 00:28:51.399 this morning with the specific gifts that you have, that we would be looking to make 00:28:51.399 --> 00:28:58.160 disciples longing for his kingdom to come through our life and our work in the kingdom 00:28:58.160 --> 00:29:06.400 to plead for a conversions that he would turn the most unlikely people to himself in 00:29:06.400 --> 00:29:07.400 Salvation. 00:29:07.400 --> 00:29:12.160 I was thinking about that this morning and I was thinking about the women of Samaria 00:29:12.160 --> 00:29:16.960 and I was thinking about Zacchaeus and thinking that they were probably the two of the most 00:29:16.960 --> 00:29:21.680 unlikely people that anyone would have chosen in that time to become believers. 00:29:21.680 --> 00:29:28.320 Who are the people that are most unlikely to become believers in your own mind and your 00:29:28.320 --> 00:29:33.120 neighbors, your colleagues, your friends? 00:29:33.120 --> 00:29:34.279 Who is it? 00:29:34.279 --> 00:29:40.160 And seek God and know that as we seek Him and as we pray to Him, He says, you know, I 00:29:40.160 --> 00:29:45.320 will listen, I will hear you, I will hear you. 00:29:45.320 --> 00:29:50.840 He longs for us to be praying because He hears us and we plead for people to return to Him 00:29:50.839 --> 00:29:58.559 and to come to Him and recognize our well-being and His and our well-being and the well-being 00:29:58.559 --> 00:30:04.740 of the city are intertwined as we seek Him and as we long for Him. 00:30:04.740 --> 00:30:10.079 We recognize as believers that it is only grace that separates us from those who don't 00:30:10.079 --> 00:30:14.480 believe in the city. 00:30:14.480 --> 00:30:19.639 People we think might never become Christians who have at the moment no desire to know Him. 00:30:19.640 --> 00:30:23.920 Pray for Shalom, that they would come to know the Shalom, the peace, the wholeness, the 00:30:23.920 --> 00:30:26.759 forgiveness, the grace of God in their lives. 00:30:26.759 --> 00:30:28.020 Witness to them. 00:30:28.020 --> 00:30:30.240 Remember your calling among them. 00:30:30.240 --> 00:30:34.840 Your calling, where you are placed, the people you know. 00:30:34.840 --> 00:30:37.320 Name them before God in prayer. 00:30:37.320 --> 00:30:41.480 Pray for them before God, our neighbors, our enemies, our civic leaders, our colleagues, 00:30:41.480 --> 00:30:44.160 our fellow students. 00:30:44.160 --> 00:30:50.160 Remember there's one hope, there's one guaranteed future as we call in Him. 00:30:50.160 --> 00:30:55.680 Pray about our calling and pray through our suffering. 00:30:55.680 --> 00:30:58.759 That's what He was calling the people to do in the Old Testament. 00:30:58.759 --> 00:31:02.640 They certainly didn't expect to be there for 70 years. 00:31:02.640 --> 00:31:04.960 Remember that His ways are not our ways. 00:31:04.960 --> 00:31:10.440 We wouldn't choose the path we live ordinarily, most of us I suspect. 00:31:10.440 --> 00:31:13.240 His plans are not our plans. 00:31:13.240 --> 00:31:19.519 His plans do involve for us a degree of suffering in our lives, one way or another, developing 00:31:19.519 --> 00:31:27.839 grace, patience, reliance, dealing with the sinful, selfish desires that we often have. 00:31:27.839 --> 00:31:34.200 Allow Him to mold our hearts through the difficult experiences that we go through, knowing that 00:31:34.200 --> 00:31:38.000 they are part of His plans for our welfare. 00:31:38.000 --> 00:31:43.799 Not for evil, but to give us future and a hope. 00:31:43.799 --> 00:31:50.440 Maybe it isn't promising the glitzy career for us, the promotion, the job satisfaction, 00:31:50.440 --> 00:31:51.440 the dream life. 00:31:51.440 --> 00:31:57.400 You may be of a rubbish job, you may be always of a rubbish job, but do your rubbish job 00:31:57.400 --> 00:32:08.920 to the glory of God and recognize Him through it, the patience and grace and the prayer. 00:32:08.920 --> 00:32:14.720 And prayer because He loves the city, praying for the city. 00:32:14.720 --> 00:32:20.360 I don't know if it's a theology of the city and how God regards cities, but I do know 00:32:20.360 --> 00:32:24.480 He loves where the people are, urban or rural. 00:32:24.480 --> 00:32:27.519 I know that and He wants us to reach out to them. 00:32:27.519 --> 00:32:34.799 I like Jonah's verse, Jonah 11, 4, 11, should I not pity Nineveh, God says to Jonah and 00:32:34.799 --> 00:32:40.160 his grumpiness, that great city which are more than 120,000 people who do not know their 00:32:40.160 --> 00:32:46.720 right hand from their left and also much cattle, what a magnificent verse. 00:32:46.720 --> 00:32:56.160 For Matthew 23, 27, or Jesus, over that city to which the people returned from Babylonian 00:32:56.160 --> 00:33:00.839 exile, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are 00:33:00.839 --> 00:33:04.839 sent, how often I would have gathered your children together as a hen, gather your brethren 00:33:04.839 --> 00:33:12.680 and the wings, and you would not pay us and love and astonishing desire for that city that 00:33:12.680 --> 00:33:14.600 rejected Him. 00:33:14.599 --> 00:33:20.119 And also Paul's promise, which those in the congregation will have heard me ad nauseam 00:33:20.119 --> 00:33:27.839 speaking about, I have many people in this city promise that it was God's guidance, one 00:33:27.839 --> 00:33:35.439 of a very significant part of God's guidance to bring in me here in 2001, many people in 00:33:35.439 --> 00:33:36.439 this city. 00:33:36.439 --> 00:33:44.319 So it's just a rallying call this evening today to make a fresh life of prayer as you 00:33:44.319 --> 00:33:49.839 plan your life, as you plan your individual life, as you plan your life in this city, 00:33:49.839 --> 00:33:56.159 that the gospel plays a central part, that sharing the shalom of Jesus matters to you, 00:33:56.159 --> 00:34:01.279 that you look at people and say they need Jesus, they really need Jesus, because I really 00:34:01.279 --> 00:34:03.559 need Jesus. 00:34:03.559 --> 00:34:10.199 And see yourself as part of this covenant community growing, developing, maturing and 00:34:10.199 --> 00:34:16.159 waiting prayerfully on God and acting on His behalf. 00:34:16.159 --> 00:34:22.199 An air of sordid passion, a look of dirty grace, but not right in your face, it's not 00:34:22.199 --> 00:34:24.639 that kind of place. 00:34:24.639 --> 00:34:32.559 Let's pray that beautiful and generous grace, not dirty grace, will mark our lives and be 00:34:32.559 --> 00:34:39.719 a characteristic of the city that we love, and may we pray your will be done in Edinburgh 00:34:39.719 --> 00:34:41.279 as it is in heaven. 00:34:41.279 --> 00:34:43.480 Amen, let's pray. 00:34:43.480 --> 00:34:47.879 Father God, we ask and pray that you would help us to know your shalom. 00:34:47.879 --> 00:34:52.759 We pray if there's anyone in church here this evening who doesn't know the peace of forgiveness 00:34:52.759 --> 00:34:57.279 and the grace of God in their hearts, that they would come to see their need of Jesus 00:34:57.279 --> 00:35:06.199 even at this moment, and would call on you as the living Savior, the Redeemer, and the 00:35:06.199 --> 00:35:10.839 one who loves to hear our cries for mercy. 00:35:10.839 --> 00:35:15.199 We pray that you would give us courage and boldness to remind people of their need for 00:35:15.199 --> 00:35:16.199 Jesus. 00:35:16.199 --> 00:35:19.519 May we be able to keep it as simple as that. 00:35:19.519 --> 00:35:26.599 And give us a great love and a prayerful concern for this city, and for our neighbors, for our 00:35:26.599 --> 00:35:28.839 colleagues, for the people we work alongside. 00:35:28.840 --> 00:35:36.559 Help us to name them before you, and plead for opportunities to both live out the shalom 00:35:36.559 --> 00:35:45.120 of Jesus Christ, and also the message of the good news, sharing it with them in a respectful 00:35:45.120 --> 00:35:49.640 and gracious and courageous way. 00:35:49.640 --> 00:35:56.120 Help us Lord to do so, independence on you, and with great prayerful concern and love. 00:35:56.119 --> 00:35:59.400 In Jesus' name, Amen.