Seeking the Good of the City
Text: Jeremiah 29:1-14
Core Idea: Jesus Christ is the Prince of peace – the One who brings us shalom. Then knowing that our citizenship is secure with Him, let us live to bring peace and prosperity to the people around us. Let’s continue to immerse ourselves in the gospel truth so that we would have the power to live this way.
INTRODUCTION
Good afternoon, Lighthouse. It is delightful to see you. I want to welcome all of you but especially our Tugboat and Anchor friends knowing that it really is a privilege to be able to worship together. Now, I understand that having a joint service can still be difficult at times because let’s be honest – the children may feel bored and the adults may be distracted. But let me tell you something really important. Children, if you feel bored, if you want to stand up and stretch, if you want to ask your parents something, it’s completely okay to feel like that. I’m sure some of the adults here feel that way too. In fact, I give you permission to do that – but if you do, please try your best to be quiet so that you don’t distract too many people around you. Now, we’ve been thinking of ways to help our children feel more engaged – which is why we’ve been showing videos, having a child read the passage, providing an activity sheet so that they can interact a little more, and intentionally addressing them in my sermons. But I also decided to take a break from our sermon series whenever we have our joint services and preach from the passage that the Tugboat curriculum is scheduled for that Sunday. I’m not sure if this will make a whole lot of difference but I want to try this for two reasons. One, the children might be a little more familiar with the passage. And two, it’s an opportunity for the parents to know what the children have been learning – hoping that it will lead to more conversations later. Then today, we’ll take a break from the Book of James, and we’ll look at the Book of Jeremiah. So, let’s turn our Bibles to Jeremiah 29:1-14. And I’m going to invite Jeremy to the front – and he will read the passage for us.
1 This is the text of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders among the exiles and to the priests, the prophets and all the other people Nebuchadnezzar had carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. 2 (This was after King Jehoiachin and the queen mother, the court officials and the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the skilled workers and the artisans had gone into exile from Jerusalem.) 3 He entrusted the letter to Elasah son of Shaphan and to Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to King Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon. It said: 4 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 good 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 on 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.”
Thank you, Jeremy, for reading the passage for us. And children, I hope you enjoyed the video – I think it gave us a good summary of the book but let me actually help you apply this text to your life. So, children, this portion is specifically for you, but we’ll let the adults listen in. Verse 1 says, “This is the text of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders among the exiles.” Now, does anyone know what it means to be in exile? Put it very simply, exile means being forced to be where you don’t want to be. That sounds horrible but that’s exactly what happened to the Israelites. The nation of Babylon attacked Israel and the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, decided to take the Israelites out of their homes and forced them to live in Babylon. Then if you were one of the Israelites, how would you feel? (Sad, scared, angry.) Now, the Israelites were faced with two choices – either run away and fight against the Babylonians or stay there and become like the Babylonians. They could try to take back the land from the Babylonians or just live with them – speaking their language, eating their food, and worshiping their gods. What would you choose? Now, even though the Israelites thought that these were the only options they had, Jeremiah was telling them that there was a third option. He basically said, “Settle down in Babylon. Build houses to live in. Plant gardens. Get married. And make Babylon a great place to live not just for yourself but for everyone there. In fact, pray for them that God would bless them. But at the same time, don’t be like them. Remember who you are. Remember who God is. And remain faithful to God because one day, when the right time comes, God will take you back to Israel.” In other words, they were called to stay there but remain different from them – to be in the world but not of the world. Let me illustrate this point with this pitcher of water and this rock. Now, I’m going to put the rock in here. Watch what happens. Did anything happen? Yeah, the rock looks like it’s not doing much. But whether you believe it or not, something changed here. Can anybody tell me what changed? The level of water changed. We can’t see through certain parts of it because the rock is in the way. The pitcher is heavier. Is the rock doing anything? Not really. But like I said, something did change. I know – the changes weren’t big. The rock didn’t change the color of the water. The rock didn’t break the pitcher. The rock didn’t make the water dirty. The rock didn’t dissolve and become part of the water. That would’ve been cool. But just by being there, the rock definitely brought some changes to the pitcher. Then children, in the same way, you and I are called to be like this rock – be in the world but remain different from them. Now, you might think, “What can I do?” But just by being there, just by loving God and loving people in your own way, you can make a huge difference. So, for example, it could mean that you pray for your teacher or your friends at school. Or it could mean that when someone mistreats you, you forgive them instead of yelling at them. Or it could mean that you help someone who’s in need. Or it could mean that you encourage someone who may be sad. Children, even if it’s small, when you choose to love God and love people, you’ll be able to make a difference wherever you are – just like this rock did. And that’s what God is calling you to do. Then knowing that you are loved by God, share that love with others around you because that’s what Jeremiah is teaching us here.
Well, that’s all I have for you. Children, thank you for paying attention. You can of course continue to listen in but let me address the rest of us here. What I’ll do is basically turn this 10-minute message into a 20-minute sermon just because I like to make simple things more complicated. So, let me share three things from this text:
· A NEW PERSPECTIVE
· A NEW POSTURE
· A NEW POWER
1) A NEW PERSPECTIVE
Jeremiah was a prophet who was warning Israel about the severe consequences of breaking their covenant with God through their idolatry and injustice. In fact, he predicted that if they don’t repent, God would use the Empire of Babylon to bring this judgment against them by destroying Jerusalem. And sadly, his words became reality – which is what this chapter is about. Now, verse 1 says that the Babylonians took all the priests, all the prophets, all the court officials, all the leaders, all the skilled workers, all the artists, all the scholars, and even the queen mother, and the king himself to Babylon. Why? Because the Babylonians didn’t just want to destroy their lands but their culture as well. They knew that scattering the Israelites was not enough since they could re-gather themselves and become a resistance movement. At the same time, they knew that enslaving them could also be dangerous since that could lead to an uprising. So, they decided to take the most influential people back to their country and assimilate them into their own culture by giving them new names, teaching them their language, and forcing them to wear their clothes and eat their food. In other words, they wanted the Israelites to forget who they were and begin to pursue the way of the Babylonians – they wanted the Israelites to become like them. More on this in our next point.
But the point I want to make here is this. Witnessing this horrific tragedy being done against them, the Israelites must have asked the question that any of us would’ve asked if we were in that situation – “Where is God in all this?” As they see their homes destroyed, as they see violence done against their communities, as they see their leaders being taken away, the question that must have been burning in their hearts would’ve been, “Where is God? Has God abandoned us? Has He deserted us? Has He turned away? Why is God so painfully absent and silent in the midst of this devastating moment of our lives? And if He hasn’t left us, does this just mean that our God is weak? Does this prove that He is weaker than all the other gods in Babylon?” And yet in the midst of their sorrow, fear, and doubt, Jeremiah says something remarkable in verse 4, “This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.” Again, in verse 14, “I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you… and [I] will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.” In the midst of all their suffering and pain, in the midst of all their concerns, God reminds them that He has never lost control. In fact, He tells them that He was the One who carried them there – that He was the One who sovereignly, wisely, and lovingly orchestrated all things to fulfill His purpose and give them this unshakable peace. Then what this means for us is that though it may feel like God is hidden in our lives, He has never left us. It may feel like God is powerless in our situations but He’s in fact powerfully working to bring all things together for the good of His people. It may feel like God is distant but He’s in fact intimately close to us. And He’s telling us, “Persevere. Your suffering, your trials will not be wasted. There’s a purpose to all these things – it’s a plan to prosper you and not to harm you, a plan to give you hope and a future (Jer. 29:11). It’s not by chance that you’re there – I carried you there for a reason.”
Now, how does this truth give us a new perspective? Because it reminds us that wherever we are in our lives right now is exactly where God wants us to be. Then think about your context. The family you’re part of. The neighborhood you’re in. The school that you attend. The friends that you hang out with. The job that you have and the people you work with. Then in light of those places, God is telling you, “I sent you there.” Whether the job you have is temporary or your dream job, whether the house you’re in is just a one-year lease or a place you know you’ll be at for a long time, God is telling you, “I’ve sent you to those places because I have plans for you there.” Now, can you imagine how your daily interactions in those places could change if you believe these truths for yourself – that you’re not where you are just by chance or merely because of circumstantial things but all because God wanted you to be there? It definitely did for me. As many of you know, our family was thinking of moving to India for missions. But there were many circumstantial things that led us to question, “Is God calling us to go or stay?” This was not easy to discern because we didn’t want to go or stay for the wrong reasons. So, Alicia and I spent 3-4 months praying almost every day together asking for His guidance – and at the end, we both felt that God was calling us to stay for now. At that time, we didn’t know why. But in hindsight, we understand why He was calling us to stay – He wanted to use us to help this community come together. I don’t know why He chose me, but He did because He wanted my family to be blessed and to be a blessing to all of you here – and this has changed the way I approach ministry. Knowing that God has sent me here, there’s this overflowing joy in what I do, there’s this weightiness that keeps me on my knees, there’s this godly ambition to do great things for the Lord, and most importantly, there’s this deep love that I have for every single one of you. Just because I believe that God has sent me here, my perspective toward you and ministry changed radically. Friends, in the same way, I hope you know that God has also sent you here to Lighthouse for a purpose. In fact, that’s the case for all of our lives – God has sent you to be where you are for a purpose. Then let me ask you, “Are you working to discover that purpose today? Are you living out that purpose? Or are you mindlessly just going through the motions?” Brothers and sisters, Jeremiah is reminding us that there’s a way for us to break out of our apathy and discontentment in life – it’s to remember that God has sent us here. We don’t just happen to be wherever we are – God carried us there. Then may this truth transform your perspective on life today. So, that’s the first point.
2) A NEW POSTURE
So, how are the Israelites to live in Babylon? Verse 5, “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.” This would not have been the answer that the Israelites were expecting. Think about it. They were refugees in this foreign country. This was not their home – which means that they must have been longing to go back home. They must have wanted their stay in Babylon to be as short as possible. Now, if that was their perspective of the city, what would be their posture toward the city? They certainly wouldn’t have invested in the city. In fact, they would’ve found every possible way to exploit and consume without giving up too much. So, for example, they wouldn’t have done the hard work of building a home – instead, they would’ve lived in tents so that they can quickly pack up and leave when the time comes. They wouldn’t have planted gardens knowing that it takes time to see the fruit of their work – instead, they would’ve foraged for food. They wouldn’t have gotten married knowing that their family could be tied down to the lifestyle in Babylon – instead, they would’ve kept their number small knowing that going back with children and more possessions would make the journey back to Jerusalem a lot more challenging. All this to say, there must have been no desire to settle down in Babylon – it was the enemy’s territory. And yet that’s exactly what God commanded them to do. He was basically saying, “Don’t just consume but commit. Don’t ask yourself, ‘What can I take from this neighborhood?’ Instead, ask yourself, ‘What can I give to this neighborhood?’”
But the most shocking command is found in verse 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.” God was basically saying, “In fact, it’s not enough just to settle down. You should intentionally seek the peace and prosperity of the city. Pray for them.” Now, even though the English translation uses two words, “Peace and prosperity,” Jeremiah actually uses only one Hebrew word – it’s the word “shalom” which basically means “completeness, wholeness, or harmony.” Then to seek the shalom of the city was to say, “Work for the good of the city. Live in such a way so that you would bless the city and the people around you. Don’t just think about yourself and your family – think about the well-being of others around you. Pray for their flourishing.” So, for example, when you pray for your gardens, pray for the harvest of other gardens as well. When you pray for your marriage, pray for other marriages in the city. When you work, work to benefit others. In one sense, tie your fate to your neighbors so that when you prosper, they’ll prosper. Don’t approach them with the posture of ‘me first’ but ‘you first.’ Don’t enter places with the desire to achieve only your advancement and your happiness but with this willingness to sacrifice and serve others so that you can bless them.” This is the kind of posture that God commanded the Israelites to have in Babylon.
Then what does this mean for us today? What does it mean for us to seek the shalom of the city that we live in? Now, just like I said to the children, don’t try to accomplish everything at once. Don’t try to change the world. Take small baby steps toward it. So, for example, if you’re leasing a house, you could choose to stay there a little longer and live with a clear purpose (to be a blessing to the people living in that neighborhood or the roommates you have) instead of quickly moving to the next most affordable rent. It could mean that you’re a little more attentive to what’s happening in your neighborhood. The neighborhood I live in has a Facebook group that I joined. To be fair, there are a lot of posts about lost dogs and lost cats but there are all these other posts that share different news or concerns that pertain to our community – which are the things that I could pray for. But this could be something you can do as well – if there’s a Facebook group for your neighborhood, join, so that it will increase your awareness toward the place that you live in. Remember that your neighborhood isn’t just a place where you happen to be – God has sent you there. He has sent you there to seek shalom. So, grow in love for the people in your community. And of course, pray for them. In fact, one of the things you can do is, on your morning commute, just look around and pray for everything that you see. When was the last time you’ve done that? Maybe that’s what you need to do. Maybe you need to cover your neighborhood with prayer. So, all this to say, whatever it is, we must live with purpose and intentionality knowing that God has sent us to be where we are to bring shalom.
Now, some of you’re thinking, “That sounds inspiring. That sounds good. But that sounds impossible. How can anyone live like that? In fact, how can God expect the Israelites to treat these cruel, violent Babylonians with such grace and compassion? These people killed many of the Israelites. They’re godless, corrupt, and despicable in so many ways. Then how could God ask them to do such a thing?” These are good questions. But remember that our God isn’t just wise, but He’s also loving – which is why He has provided the power to make it possible for us to live this way. And that leads to our last point.
3) A NEW POWER
God says in verse 10, “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill My good promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you… plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart. I will be found by you… and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you… and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.” Here, He offers them a new promise – a message of hope. He was basically saying, “I understand that what you want for these Babylonians is nothing but curse and poverty. But live to bring peace and prosperity because I have set you apart. You are not to be like them. You ought to be a people of mercy, grace, and love because that’s how I served you. But I know that this kind of lifestyle is not easy. So, I’ll give you a promise that will give you the power and strength to live this way. I promise you that I will bring you back after 70 years. You will be home soon. Remember that I am with you, that I am working behind the scenes, and that I will never leave you. Remember that I will listen to your prayers, and I will be found by you. Remember how much you are loved – how much you mean to me. And out of that reality, out of the love that you received, be a blessing to all nations. That’s why I sent you there. Work for the shalom of the city.”
Then how does this relate to us today? To make sense of this, we must first remember that all Christians are called exiles. 1 Peter 2:11 says, “Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul.” And Philippians 3:20 says, “Our citizenship is in heaven” – which implies that our ultimate home is in heaven. Here’s what this means for us. Just as the Israelites were exiles in Babylon, we are exiles here on Earth. Just as the Israelites were given the promise to return home, we have been given the promise to return Home. And just as the Israelites were carried back home after 70 years, we will be carried back home at the right time. Now, the promise to the Israelites was fulfilled after 70 years when Ezra and Nehemiah led God’s people back to Jerusalem and rebuilt the temple. Then what about the promise that was given to us? When will we be Home? Well, the Bible tells us that the fulfillment of that promise is set in motion when Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, uprooted Himself from His home in heaven to dwell among us. He came to bring us shalom – to bring us this ultimate peace with God. But how did we respond to Him? We rejected Him. We betrayed Him. And on the cross, Jesus Christ experienced everything that was opposite to shalom. He was torn apart and abandoned. God the Father turned His face away from Him. But Jesus Christ persevered. He didn’t give up – He didn’t abandon this call even though it would cost Him His very life. Why? Because this was the only way to secure this unshakable shalom between God and us. He did this to secure us citizenship into the Kingdom of God – He did this to bring us home. But most importantly, He did this out of His love for us. Then knowing that we are loved by the King, that our worth is found not in the things that we do but in the work of Christ on the cross, we can now turn to our city, our neighborhood, our workplace, our school, our homes and begin to serve it – to seek its peace, its prosperity, its shalom all because of what Christ has done for us. Brothers and sisters, this is the call that God has given to us individually and as a church. Then are we ready to do that? Are we preparing the next generation to do that?
CONCLUSION
Lighthouse family, Jesus Christ is the Prince of peace – the One who brings us shalom. Then knowing that our citizenship is secure with Him, knowing that our God has sent us to be wherever we are, let us live to bring peace and prosperity to those around us. Let’s continue to immerse ourselves in the gospel truth so that we would have the power to live this way.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1) Read verses 4 and 14. How can this truth change your perspective on the city you live in today? (Reflect on the fact that God carried the Israelites into exile.)
2) How can you practically seek the peace and prosperity of the city you live in today?
3) How does the gospel help us be a blessing to the city and not just a consumer?
4) Spend some time praying for your homes, schools, workplaces, neighborhoods, and the city that you live in.