Journey and Sojourn
Rev. Desmond Martin
Dr. Steven J. Daniels Sr., Pastor
#ForgivenessUnityLove
This class runs
on participation!
Ecclesiastes 3:1 - 8
1 For everything there is a season,
a time for every activity under heaven.
2 A time to be born and a time to die.
A time to plant and a time to harvest.
3 A time to kill and a time to heal.
A time to tear down and a time to build up.
4 A time to cry and a time to laugh.
A time to grieve and a time to dance.
Ecclesiastes 3:1 - 8
5 A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.
A time to embrace and a time to turn away.
6 A time to search and a time to quit searching.
A time to keep and a time to throw away.
7 A time to tear and a time to mend.
A time to be quiet and a time to speak.
8 A time to love and a time to hate.
A time for war and a time for peace.
Redemptive History tells us
that that there are often
dualities to our lives on
earth.
What do we mean by dualities?
Ecclesiastes 3:1 - 8 (Dualities In Detail)
Season
Corresponding Season
1. Time to be born
1. Time to die
2. Time to plant
2. Time to harvest
3. Time to kill
3. Time to heal
4. Time to tear down
4. Time to build up
5. Time to cry
5. Time to laugh
6. Time to scatter stones
6. Time to gather stones
7. Etc…
7. Etc…
“a time for every
activity under
heaven.”
(Ecclesiastes
3:1b)
The contrasting seasons we want
to focus on today:
Journey and Sojourn
What do these
words actually
mean?
Defining a term: Journey
Journey: an act of traveling from one place to another.
Defining a term: Sojourn
Sojourn: a temporary stay.
A ha! The words
that mean travel
and to stay some
place have the
same root!
Times of progression
and times of pause
are 2 sides of the
same coin for
Christians.
How do we know
that? (Yay!
Participation!)
Challenge #1: Scripturally, what’s
the reason for a journeys to
begin?
Genesis 3:22 - 24
22 Then the LORD God said, “Look, the human beings
have become like us, knowing both good and evil. What if
they reach out, take fruit from the tree of life, and eat it?
Then they will live forever!” 23 So the LORD God
banished them from the Garden of Eden, and he sent
Adam out to cultivate the ground from which he had been
made. 24 After sending them out, the LORD God
stationed mighty cherubim to the east of the Garden of
Eden. And he placed a flaming sword that flashed back
and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
Journey Out of Eden
V. 23 - Adam (and Eve by extension) had to take a journey
outside of Eden. They were in a place and because of the
judgement of God, were sent on a journey to someplace
else.
And they weren’t the even the only one’s of their eventual
nuclear family that ended up on a journey.
Genesis 4: 9 - 16
9 Afterward the LORD asked Cain, “Where is your brother?
Where is Abel?”
“I don’t know,” Cain responded. “Am I my brother’s guardian?”
10 But the LORD said, “What have you done? Listen! Your
brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground! 11 Now you
are cursed and banished from the ground, which has
swallowed your brother’s blood. 12 No longer will the ground
yield good crops for you, no matter how hard you work! From
now on you will be a homeless wanderer on the earth.”
Genesis 4:9 - 16
13 Cain replied to the LORD, “My punishment is too great for
me to bear! 14 You have banished me from the land and from
your presence; you have made me a homeless wanderer.
Anyone who finds me will kill me!”
15 The LORD replied, “No, for I will give a sevenfold
punishment to anyone who kills you.” Then the LORD put a
mark on Cain to warn anyone who might try to kill him. 16 So
Cain left the LORD’s presence and settled in the land of Nod,
east of Eden.
Cain’s Punishment
V. 14 - Again, God’s judgement has resulted in Cain having
to take a journey to another place.
The movement and journey’s of God’s people has
something to with God’s judgement in some capacity.
Something interesting about Cain’s situation...
Why did Cain receive
judgement? There
wasn’t any command
not to kill Abel right?
Romans 5:12 - 15
12 When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin
brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone
sinned. 13 Yes, people sinned even before the law was given.
But it was not counted as sin because there was not yet any law
to break. 14 Still, everyone died—from the time of Adam to the
time of Moses—even those who did not disobey an explicit
commandment of God, as Adam did. Now Adam is a symbol, a
representation of Christ, who was yet to come.
Romans 5:12 - 15
15 But there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s
gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death
to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift
of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ.
Remember Sin’s Context
It’s important to understand and remember 2 things as it pertains
to sin…
1. Adam’s sin made sin the initial state of being for everyone
that came after him. The only way we get past that is through
Christ. (Romans 5:12 - 15)
2.For God’s people, all unrighteousness is sin regardless of
whether or not there are eternal repercussions. (1 John 5:17)
1 John 5:17
17 All wicked actions are sin, but not every sin leads to death.
Annnddddd…
Cain got a
warning!
Genesis 4:3 - 7
3 When it was time for the harvest, Cain presented some of
his crops as a gift to the LORD. 4 Abel also brought a gift—the
best of the firstborn lambs from his flock. The LORD accepted
Abel and his gift, 5 but he did not accept Cain and his gift. This
made Cain very angry, and he looked dejected.
6 “Why are you so angry?” the LORD asked Cain. “Why do
you look so dejected? 7 You will be accepted if you do what is
right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is
crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must
subdue it and be its master.”
AM I MY BROTHER’S KEEPER?!?!
Yes, my brothers and sisters. Yes you are.
Cain’s judgement,
and the journey
that resulted, are
more than
justified.
Challenge #2: If the journey is
significant because it’s starts with
God’s judgement, is the sojourn
the same way?
Remember the definition of Sojourn.
Sojourn: a temporary stay.
Genesis 15:12 - 16
12 As the sun was going down, Abram fell into a deep sleep,
and a terrifying darkness came down over him. 13 Then the
LORD said to Abram, “You can be sure that your descendants
will be strangers in a foreign land, where they will be oppressed
as slaves for 400 years. 14 But I will punish the nation that
enslaves them, and in the end they will come away with great
wealth. 15 (As for you, you will die in peace and be buried at a
ripe old age.) 16 After four generations your descendants will
return here to this land, for the sins of the Amorites do not yet
warrant their destruction.”
The Promise of a Temporary Stay
God makes a prophetic promise to Abram that the
descendants he will have will be oppressed as foreigners in
another country. But the promise is one that says that’s it’s
a sojourn. Their stay is temporary.
Their stay is also explained as have a larger impact on the
judgement of other people that will come later in
Redemptive History.
The nature of
journey and
sojourn is
prophetic!
The judgment of
others isn’t the
only result of a
sojourn...
Micah 4:10
10 Writhe and groan like a woman in labor,
you people of Jerusalem,
for now you must leave this city
to live in the open country.
You will soon be sent in exile
to distant Babylon.
But the LORD will rescue you there;
he will redeem you from the grip of your enemies.
Exile...For A While
The Babylonian Exile, was a direct result of the righteous
judgement that came against Israel because of continued
disobedience. Even during that time however we see God
make promises that it’s a sojourn. It’s a season. It’s
temporary.
Challenge #3: What does journey
and sojourn point towards?
Jeremiah 29:4 - 14
4 This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of
Israel, says to all the captives he has exiled to Babylon from
Jerusalem: 5 “Build homes, and plan to stay. 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!
Jeremiah 29:4 - 14
7 And work for the peace and prosperity of the city where I
sent you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, for its welfare will
determine your welfare.”
8 This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of
Israel, says: “Do not let your prophets and fortune-tellers who
are with you in the land of Babylon trick you. Do not listen to
their dreams, 9 because they are telling you lies in my name. I
have not sent them,” says the LORD.
Jeremiah 29:4 - 14
10 This is what the LORD says: “You will be in Babylon for
seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good
things I have promised, and I will bring you home again. 11 For
I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are
plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a
hope. 12 In those days when you pray, I will listen. 13 If you
look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.
Jeremiah 29:4 - 14
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.”
An Expected End
God makes another prophetic promise as it pertains to the
journey away from sojourn:
1. The plans in journey away from a temporary stay are to
give a future and a hope.
* This should resonate with us because the understanding
of the end is different for a Believer than for the rest of the
world.
Hebrews 13:14 - 15
14 For this world is not our permanent home; we are looking
forward to a home yet to come.
15 Therefore, let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of
praise to God, proclaiming our allegiance to his name.
Our time on this
world is
temporary. It’s a
sojourn.
2 Corinthians 5:1 - 10
1 For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken
down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will
have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God
himself and not by human hands. 2 We grow weary in our
present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like
new clothing. 3 For we will put on heavenly bodies; we will not
be spirits without bodies.
2 Corinthians 5:1 - 10
4 While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but
it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that
clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that
these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life.5 God himself
has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us
his Holy Spirit.
2 Corinthians 5:1 - 10
6 So we are always confident, even though we know that as
long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the
Lord. 7 For we live by believing and not by seeing.8 Yes, we
are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these
earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord. 9 So
whether we are here in this body or away from this body, our
goal is to please him.
2 Corinthians 5:1 - 10
10 For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will
each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have
done in this earthly body.
We don’t have to
take Paul’s word
for it. Christ says
it Himself...
John 14:1 - 4
1 “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also
in me. 2 There is more than enough room in my Father’s home.
If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to
prepare a place for you? 3 When everything is ready, I will
come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I
am. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.”
Final Thought: Would we Follow?
Are we willing journey with Christ,
on our way to our final home, if
the way of Christ is difficult or
controversial, or foreign to us?
Q&A
Journey and Sojourn
Rev. Desmond Martin
Rev. Dr. Steven J. Daniels Sr., Pastor
#ForgivenessUnityLove