Have you ever had the feeling that you aren’t quite at home where you are? Even though you are settled in your house, you have your routines, and you’re surrounded by family, you look around and everything you see around you just makes you not feel like this is really your home. Most of you have felt that at some point and I’ve heard many of you articulate it. God has made us for being in his presence and we aren’t at home till we fully rest in his presence. As Augustine once said, “Thou hast mad us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.”
The Bible has a major overarching theme that we often miss that communicates this another way. We are people of exile till God finally returns to reclaim this place as our home. This theme permeates all of scripture from the moment we were exiled from the garden in Genesis till the moment the garden is restored in the New Creation in Revelation.
In this short series, we will look at what the Prophets and Jesus say about how to live as exiles in the world. This overarching theme in scripture is also seen in the rhythm of the Christian calendar. As we go through this series, looking at what is means to be good citizens here and now, we are approaching Advent (Nov 29) and the anticipation of God returning to us in the coming of Christ. Keeping the coming of Christ in mind, we look forward in hope for what God is doing and will do to bring this world to back to his original intention for it.
The focus passage for Sunday’s lesson will be the story of the Towel of Babel in Genesis 11:1-9. This week we will focus on longing for Home. November 15, we will talk about what it means to be good citizens while keeping allegiance to God (Jeremiah 29 and Daniel). Finally, November 22 we will look at what Jesus says about being citizens who bless the nation where they live while being subversive for the Kingdom of God.
Dwelling in the Word this Sunday – Romans 8:28-39