While the coming of Jesus marks the end of exile, those who have followed Him out of exile are in another sense exiles. Denis Haack uses the analogy of being in Babylon. The language of the Gospel of John is of being in the world but not of the world. Paul speaks of the reality that our citizenship is in heaven. Thus, as the people of GOD, we are exiles in the culture in which we live. The late Richard John Neuhaus wrote of this in his last book American Babylon: Notes of a Christian Exile. What is to be our response to that which surrounds us? How are we to live in relation to the surrounding culture? Richard Niebuhr outlined five possibilities: opposition or separation; accommodation; synthesis; dualism; conversion or reformation.
In Jeremiah 29, we find the letter Jeremiah wrote to those already in exile in Babylon. They had been told by false prophets that their situation was temporary and they would be back in Jerusalem and Judah shortly. The LORD through Jeremiah informs them that this is not the case. Instead, Jeremiah gives them five (5) instructions regarding their situation. These should serve as guidelines for us, people who are in Babylon. First, they are told to be faithful in the ordinary things of life. As Denis Haack put it, “We need far fewer activists and many more thoughtful reformers.” Second, they were to engage the culture and not withdraw from it. Third, they were to be discerning, not primarily about the surrounding culture (although that would certainly be the case), but rather within their own circles. Fourth, they were to be a people of hope. Lastly, they were to remember that although circumstances might indicate otherwise, things were not out of control. These instructions/guidelines should inform the way we live our lives as people living in exile.
For more on living in Babylon, please check out the Babylon Series at Ransom Fellowship: http://www.ransomfellowship.org/.