1 September 2018 | Belgrade, Serbia [Widar Ursett]
Dr Jeff Brown has many accomplishments to his name. Some of which were listed as he entered the pulpit for the Friday night sermon at the European Pastors’ Council in Belgrade: Pastor, author, leader, and much-loved friend. The list goes on…
His message and delivery on this occasion bears testimony to a large pastoral heart, and will surely be remembered.
It was a call and admonition to stay in Babylon. If we were to uproot and leave, we, our families and our friends in Babylon, might indeed be lost.
This was made clear from reading a portion of the prophet Jeremiah: “This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: ‘Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 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. 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’” (Jer 29:4-7).
The doctor was very persuasive, and his honest and heartfelt appeal was not lost on the assembly. Clair was one of many, who responded wholeheartedly.
– It was amazing. I was crying.
And she was surely not alone.
By now, you might feel incensed that such an entrusted Adventist leader would attempt to have us stay in Babylon. Therefore, you need to know that whenever Dr. Brown mentioned Babylon, he wasn’t really talking about Babylon in the prophetic sense.
He used that name as a metaphor for the world – or rather society, our cities, our secular surroundings, our neighbourhoods and all the people there. He was on good authority, and he made sure that no one had any cause to misunderstand his intentions: “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one” (John 17:15).
– Should we come out of Babylon, or move in to Babylon? … Move into Babylon, but do not let Babylon move into you!
Watch the full Friday evening service
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_jMzLs7IXo&feature=youtu
Dr. Brown guided the Council through a three-point journey, where he clarified that we must 1. Expect God’s pain in Babylon, 2. Explore God’s pleasure in Babylon, 3. And Experience God’s promise in Babylon. There will be pain as we come out of our comfort zones in order to connect with people we are uncomfortable with. God’s pleasure is all about rubbing shoulders with people in society, in ways that will benefit them and represent God in the most attractive manner. The promise is, at last, that if we aide our communities to prosper, so will we.
The cheers, applause, and verbal confirmations that rippled through the hall, made it blatantly obvious that the message resonated with the thoughts and feelings of the pastors present. Branko voiced it eloquently.
– This is the only way we can move forward. We cannot fulfil our mission by isolating ourselves.
Ending his address, he clothed his appeal in a series of paradoxical allusions for each to glean their own conclusions and resolutions.
“I know that you read: Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. But I’m so glad you turned the page and read: For God so loved the world…
I know that you read: Friendship of the world is enmity with God. But I’m so glad you turned the page and read: For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world…
I know that you sang: This world is not my home. But I’m so glad you turned the page and sang: This is my Father’s world…
I know that you preach: Come out of Babylon. But I’m so glad you turned the page and moved in to Babylon.”
Have you turned any pages? That’s the challenge. Let us keep turning those pages. And never stop.
tedNEWS Staff: Victor Hulbert, editor; Sajitha Forde-Ralph, associate editor
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tedNEWS is an information bulletin issued by the communication department of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Trans-European Division. Readers are free to republish or share this article with appropriate credit including an active hyperlink to the original article.
