Last
Sunday, we began a new sermon series called “Better.”
There
are some things in life that are good, and there are some things in life that
are better, and to get a better life you have to let go of the good life.
In
a roundabout way, we will continue on with this series today, but we will be
going in a slightly different direction.
As we all know,
today is the day that is reserved for dad’s everywhere to sit on the couch and
enjoy a better game of sports—baseball—while the kids are in the basement
working on that honey-do- list, while our wives are cooking bacon on the BBQ!
Today
is the day that we shoot all men who think like this!!
As
you know, today is father’s day, and it is a day that most of us stop and thank
our fathers for the role that they have played in our lives.
Did
you know that the driving force behind Father’s Day was actually a woman by the
name of Sonora
Smart Dodd?
“While hearing a sermon about Mother's Day in 1910,
Sonora felt strongly that Fatherhood needed recognition as well, and after
several attempts—and several years-- Fathers’ day was finally established in 1972,
when then President Richard Nixon signed it into law.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Father%27s_day )
Father’s
day has been observed all over the world and as one company remarked “Father’s day has become a second Christmas for all the
men’s gift oriented industries” (Ibid)
So
to all the dads: may this father’s day be better than any day you’ve ever had
before!
I
have been thinking about what to say on this day for well over a month now.
The
challenge, of course, is having a word that all fathers can take home, because
most, if not all of us fathers, are at a different stage of life.
Some
of us have little kids running around at home. We need a relevant word.
Some
of you fathers have bigger kids running around at home; you need a relevant
word.
Still
other fathers have no kids running around at home; you need a relevant word.
Other
fathers in this room have grand-kids running around at home, and we all know
that you like your grand-kids just a little bit better, because you can pump
them full of sugar and send them home at the end of the day.
To
those father’s with grandkids; you need a relevant word as well.
All
of the fathers in this room today, are all at a different stage of life and we
all need a word for whatever stage of life that we are in.
What
could possibly be said to each father?
Well,
as I’ve said, I’ve thought about it for over a month now, and I’ve got nothing!
So, you might as well just go home now.
Hang
on!
I
might not have a word for fathers but God does. In fact this word is for
everyone in this room, parent or not.
Because
God’s Word is “…living and active…” (Heb. 4:12a, NIV); and because “All scripture is God breathed and is useful…” (2 Tim. 3:16a, NIV) God has a message for each person
in this room today, and that message comes to us from Jeremiah chapter 29.
If
you know your OT history at all, then you know that Jeremiah 29 is a letter
written to the Israelites who were sent into captivity in Babylon.
They
were sent into captivity because of their constant refusal to obey God’s
commands as given in His word and as spoken through His prophets.
A constant refusal of God’s word
will always take us where we don’t want to be, and this was the exact
place where God’s people wereà in a land that
wasn’t their own, living a life they never imagined they would be living.
This
describes some fathers. Living in a place they never thought they’d be living,
doing something they never expected they`d be doing.
It seems that we are not
that different from the Bible characters after all.
When
word arrived that Jeremiah had sent a letter to all the surviving people in
Exile, I imagine that they began to pack their bags, after all, they were
living in a foreign land, being ruled by a foreign king, but now, now was the
time to go home for God had sent a letter from His prophet Jeremiah.
As
they were packing their belongings, someone began reading this letter:
“This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of
Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:
5 "Build
houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce.
6 Marry and have
sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in
marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number
there; do not decrease.
7 Also, seek the
peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray
to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper."
8 Yes, this is what
the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: "Do not let the prophets and
diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them
to have.
9 They are
prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them," declares the
LORD.
10 This is what the
LORD says: "When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to
you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place.
11 For I know the
plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and
not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
12 Then you will
call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.
13 You will seek me
and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
14 I will be found
by you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back from captivity.
I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished
you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back to the place from
which I carried you into exile." (Jer. 29:4-14, NIV)
ILLUSTRATION- Have you ever visited a
place, and as soon as you arrived all you wanted to do next was leave?
Everywhere you
looked, you found fault with this particular place, and you wished, prayed,
hoped, and schemed to get out of that place, because you just couldn’t stand
being there. (It happens to me every time I go to school)
This
is how the exiles felt. They had been sent to the land of the enemy.
They were forced to learn the customs
of the enemy. They were forced to work at jobs they weren’t qualified to work
atà
life for them was terrible.
Then,
a word from God arrived, and told the people that they were staying put!
They
were to get comfortable where they were because this was going to be the new
normal for them.
They were going to be in this land for
an extended period of time.
They
were instructed to: “Build homes... Plant gardens, and eat the food they produce.
6 Marry and have
children. Then find spouses for them so that you may have many grandchildren.
Multiply! Do not dwindle away!” (Jer.
29:5-6, NLT2)
Instead of
asking His people to pack their bags and leave, God was telling His people to
unpack and get comfortable. They weren’t just to survive; God wanted them to
thrive in this new land.
They were even
instructed to pray for the city they were in, because if it did well, they
would do well.
This is
especially interesting seeing as the children of God hated being in this city,
they desipised being in this place, but if they didn’t pray for its well-being,
they wouldn’t do well either.
They were told
to thrive where they were. They weren’t told to dream of the good life, they
were told to enjoy the life they currently had.
This was the new normal, and
they were to get used to it.
For 70 years
they were to remain where they were, living the life they did not want to live.
There might be
some dad’s in this room—and others for that matter—who might need to take hold
of this letter.
Maybe life
hasn’t been what you had hoped it would be;
Maybe something
has happened and it has left you feeling hopeless;
Maybe your whole
world is broken and is falling to pieces;
Maybe your kids
are far from home, far from God and far from the better life you had been
praying for.
Maybe you are
living in a land that you don’t want to be living in, you are living a life
that you don’t want to be living.
I’m
here to tell you today that God has not forgotten you! God will not forget you!
Even if your life is not turning
out the way you had hoped it would, there is still hope.
This
hope is the same hope God gave the exiles.
Stay where you are; live where you are,
go to Wal-Mart and get things to plant a garden.
Go to Home Depot
and get the tools you’ll need to make a play ground for your kids and their
kids.
Live
right where you are, for after a time—maybe 70 years—maybe longer—God will come
for you.
As
you are living right where you are, you are instructed to do something;
something the exiles were instructed to do while they were in the land they
didn’t want to be in.
They—you, me, we---
are instructed to seek after God: “In those days—when
you are in exile---when you pray, I will listen.
13 If you look for
me wholeheartedly, you will find me.
14 I will be found
by you,” says the Lord. “I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes. I
will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and will bring you home
again to your own land.” (Jer. 29:12-14, NLT2)
Please remember
friends that God has not forgotten you. He is well aware of your current
situation; He is well aware that things may not have turned out the way you had
hoped they would.
What God is
asking you to do in these days is seek after Him with your whole heart,
because: “A
single day in your courts is better than a thousand anywhere else!”
(Psalm 84:10a, NLT2)
If your life hasn’t turned out the
way you had hoped it would, or if you are stuck in exile; God wants us to turn
to, and seek Him with our entire heart, because life with God is infinitely
better than life without God. Even if we are in exile.
Dads—and
everyone else: I want to encourage you to seek God with all you have because
God has the master plan for your life:
“For I know the
plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and
not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jer. 29:11, NIV)
I take comfort
in knowing that those words were written at a low time in the life of God’s
people.
When life didn’t
turn out the way they had imagined, God came to them with a message of hope.
If you’re life
hasn’t turned out the way you had hoped it would, know that God is still with
you, and He is inviting you to do life, life in exile, with Him.
The message that
God gave the exiles that day was live the life that they had been given.
Don’t neglect any responsibility. Look after
the land and look after your soul, for God is able to rescue and redeem any
situation.
I believe this
message is just as true today as it was then. God wants us to bloom where we
are planted, no matter the situation.
Dads, moms and
everyone in between: don’t check out from your current situation; don’t dream
of something else when you have been giving something better—a letter from God
that says if you seek Him, you will find Him.
If you need to
trust God with your life, or with this this current chapter of your life,
please come to the foot of the cross, for it’s at the foot of the cross that
you will find strength and mercy to help you in your time of need.
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