Southwest Community Church
November 16
  • Forever
  • Goodness Of God

  • Jeremiah: hope for the future…even in exile

    Have you ever been somewhere you didn’t choose to be? Been somewhere you’d rather not be?
    example?
    Political/geographical:
    External political exile (deportation, expulsion, or fleeing as a refugee)
    Internal exile (forced resettlement within the border’s of one’s own country)
    Emotional/psychological:
    emotional (feeling isolated, disconnected, or estranged from oneself, often due to trauma, grief, or mental health struggles)
    spiritual (feeling disconnected from one’s own spirituality or from God)
    cultural (feeling like a foreigner in one’s own culture, or a loss of connection to one’s own cultural identity)
    Relational - painful separation whether through estrangement, relational breakdown or death
    Financial - loss of financial security
    Health - by chronic illness or potentially terminal diagnosis
    Chronological - age and stage of life
    In our text today, we find the people of God - the tribe of Judah - the descendants of one fo those tribes of Israel or of Jacob - Abraham, Isaac & Jacob.
    Judah - the tribe of Judah have been separated from the Northern Kingdom - the other tribes - and now they have been taken into captivity. What we call the Babylonian exile, because Jerusalem is conquered by Babylon in 586 BCE and the temple is destroyed. But 11 years earlier in 597 BCE, the first exiles are taken to Babylon. They are wondering how long they need to hunker down. And in Jeremiah 28, a prophet is telling them “not too long now” but Jeremiah is warning them not to listen to voices that tell them what they want to hear.
    Instead, he writes a letter giving them instructions for the long haul. 70 years has been the prediction… which isn’t really about setting a date, it’s more the idea that this is not a short term thing.
    (I think immediately of people who buy homes on leased land… so long as that number is high enough, it feels like a good option, right?)
    Just after our text today, there are four chapters that outline a hope for Israel’s future - all the things that will happen AFTER the exile. Promises of a renewed covenant and transformed hearts. A return to their land and the arrival of the Messiah marked by all nations acknowledging the God of Abraham, Isaac & Jacob.
    But our text today, is nestled just before this. Written to people in exile, people who are not where they chose to be, nor where they want to be. What does the prophet have to say to them? If you’re able, would you stand and prepare you hearts to hear these words from Jeremiah 29?
    Jeremiah 29:4–14 NIV
    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.”
    This is the Word of the Lord.
    THANKS BE TO GOD.
    When the people of God, the tribe of Judah, in this instance, find themselves in exile - somewhere they don’t want to be and didn’t choose for themselves, what are they to do?
    RESIST?
    WAIT IT OUT?
    Or, settle in. Seek the shalom (the peace and flourishing) of the place you don’t want to be.
    Is there another option?
    Jeremiah, of all people, must be surprised when these are the words God speaks, for back in chapter 16, God told him NOT to marry or have kids… as a sign to those around him IN JERUSALEM - the city of God, the place of peace - that the future was not secure, that it was not safe.
    But here, in this foreign place, God wants the people to settle down, have kids, grandkids even. To seek the flourishing of the place they didn’t choose to be and don’t want to remain.
    Psalm 137 NIV
    1 By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. 2 There on the poplars we hung our harps, 3 for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” 4 How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land? 5 If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill. 6 May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy. 7 Remember, Lord, what the Edomites did on the day Jerusalem fell. “Tear it down,” they cried, “tear it down to its foundations!” 8 Daughter Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is the one who repays you according to what you have done to us. 9 Happy is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.
    Jerusalem is the place they want to be. But Jerusalem has been captured and the Temple has been (or shortly will be) destroyed.
    Babylon is not the place of peace. Babylon is where the captors are from. Why would we seek the peace of this place?
    Are you serious, God? Are you serious, Jeremiah?
    Jeremiah speaks of hope for the future, not because the exile will be over quickly, but because there is hope even in exile.
    Jeremiah 29:4 NIV
    4 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:
    To all those I CARRIED INTO EXILE.
    God carried them. They weren’t taken. They weren’t lost somehow when God wasn’t watching closely enough.
    God says, even this, I brought you here.
    Jeremiah 29:5–7 NIV
    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.”
    2. Hope for the future is acted on in the present. Hope can be anchored in the future with very practical actions in the present.
    Build houses and settle down. Plant gardens… whoa. That’s a commitment! Marry, have kids. Seek the peace and flourishing (Shalom) of Babylon - the place to which I carried you.
    Your prosperity - your flourishing is linked to THEIR flourishing. Those people you hate. The ones you blame. Work for their good.
    Jeremiah 29:8–9 NIV
    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.
    3. There ARE other messages - chapter 28 Hananaiah
    Sign up here for an easy return to Jerusalem! We will make everything just as it was (or, likely even better than it actually was, for now we remember it with nostalgia and very selective filters)
    Jeremiah 29:10–11 NIV
    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.
    4. God is faithful. I WILL COME TO YOU and FULFILL MY GOOD PROMISE TO BRING YOU BACK HOME. God is faithful to come to God’s people. (all the way through scripture!) And God keeps God’s promises.
    Flourishing then, but also now.
    My plans are good. My plans are hope and a future. Spoken to people who have had their hopes dashed and their futures wiped out. They had houses. They had gardens. They have lost so much.
    Jeremiah 29:12–14 NIV
    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.”
    5. God is faithful to hear and be found by God’s people. I WILL LISTEN and I WILL BE FOUND BY YOU
    God promises to listen and to be found. The question for the people of God is, will they call on God? Will they seek?
    God carried them.
    Hope is not just about the future.
    There are other messages.
    God is faithful - God comes and keeps promises.
    God is faithful - God listens and will be found.
    And so, what about us?
    Can we say any of these things for ourselves?
    God carried me. Even to this place.
    In what kind of exile do you find yourself this morning? (Political, Emotional, Relational, Financial, Chronological, Spiritual…)
    Hope can be anchored in the future and yet have very practical actions in the present. Seek the peace and flourishing of THIS PLACE.
    When we anchor our hope in the future - as we do - Come, Lord Jesus, make all things new.
    We are still called to live in the here and now. What does building houses and planting gardens look like in your context? Committing to where you are now. And then seeking to help the place you are now be a place of flourishing, not just for you, but for the people with whom you find yourself. I don’t know what your Babylon is. But I do know that God hasn’t abandoned you there. And that God loves the Babylonians… which means you will have to face your fierce hatred of them. Your anti-Babylonian stance… Your desire for their demise and your own opportunity for revenge.
    There are other messages - quick fixes, escape hatches, “live your best life now” sales pitches… or going all in on the fight … resist! Hunker down. See all those around you as enemies.
    Thankfully, this isn’t the posture God seems to take with us.
    God comes. Has always been coming to us.
    This is the story of Scripture. This is the story we tell again and again and again as we trace the big story of Creation, Covenant, CHRIST, the story of the Church, New Creation
    How does God come to us?
    God has always been coming to God’s people
    And as we prepare to enter the Advent season, where we focus in on the part of the story where God’s people LONG for the Messiah to come to them and then celebrate the Incarnation where Jesus DOES come… how might your prepare to enter into this season? How might you make space?
    Simple Advent Calendars - Wonder & Pray moments for each day - kid-friendly, but not just for kids
    Daily reflections from our friends at Jesus Collective - written by a variety of folks from within the Jesus Collective community - including me!
    What do you have to say to the God who promises to listen?
    What does seeking God look like for you right now? What does it mean that God promises that God will be found by us when we seek with all our hearts?

      • Jeremiah 29:4–14NRSVUE

      • Psalm 137NRSVUE

      • Jeremiah 29:4NRSVUE

      • Jeremiah 29:5–7NRSVUE

      • Jeremiah 29:8–9NRSVUE

      • Jeremiah 29:10–11NRSVUE

      • Jeremiah 29:12–14NRSVUE

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Southwest Community Church
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