OUR
NATION SUNDAY
July
5-7, 2014
Pastor
Timothy J. Spaude
Text:
Jeremiah 29:1-14
“A CHRISTIAN RESPONSE TO THE STATE OF
THE NATION”
1.
Understand
that God has a plan.
2.
Bloom
where you are planted.
3.
Rejoice
in the wisdom, love and power of God!
Jeremiah 29:1-14
(NIV 1984) “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 craftsmen 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 gracious 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
upon 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."
God’s
people have often felt themselves feeling like fish out of water, strangers in
a strange land, people who don’t fit in. Abram experienced it when God called
him to leave his family and his people and go to a place God would show him, a
placed filled with people that did not worship the only Savior God. Jacob and
his family felt it when God used a famine to move them to Egypt. Jacob’s
descendants, the Israelites, felt it when God led them out of Egypt to the Promised Land. Yes, it was a
land flowing with milk and honey but it was also filled with peoples that
worshiped idols in weird and perverted ways. At the time God had Jeremiah serve
as prophet God’s people felt it again. They were strangers in a strange land,
exiles from Judah carried off to Babylon. What should they do? What should we
do? Are you feeling it? Are you starting to feel like a stranger living in a
strange land? As followers of Christ who are committed to Him and His word
above all we can’t help but feel it. What’s going on here? Things are changing
so rapidly. Members of the greatest generation, that’s you WWII era saints, you
know there was sin, shameful sin around at your time. But at least it was
called sin and spoken of with shame. Did you shed a tear a 4th of
July parade because you love your country and it’s not what it used to be? Did
you think of other parades in our country where people march for the right to
murder their own babies or to sin sexually in ways that God calls unnatural and
a perversion? What should we do? Run to the word of God of course! The words
God has given to provide comfort and peace for His dearly loved people who find
themselves living as strangers in a strange land.
The
first truth we find is that God has a plan. Now you heard the history in the
opening verses. This was part of a letter God had Jeremiah send to Jewish
believers who had be exiled to Babylon. They were taken from their homes, the
land they knew and were now stuck in a city not of their choosing. Can you imagine
how they felt, their hurt, their sadness, their lack of understanding, their
ache to be somewhere else, their longing for home? What should they do?
Understand that God has a plan. “This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of
Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.”
Did you hear that? Did you pick it out? “I carried.” “I carried!” said the LORD
almighty, the God of Israel. It looked like the Babylonians had force marched
these people of God but it wasn’t true. God carried them into exile. And it
wasn’t done on a whim. Later God would say, “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.” God
had a plan for His people. An “I love you this is for your good plan.” And He
does for us too. You more senior saints have a much better perspective of this
than I do but I have seen candidates elected and re-elected who should never
have made it by every standard of human reason. I have seen judges legislate
from the bench and get away with it despite the checks and balances our
forefathers tried to put in. I have seen Supreme Court decisions uphold what
people on both sides of issues have agreed were unconstitutional laws. Is it
not possible that we are seeing the hand of God at work? God has said He will
work all things for our good. The highest honor that we can give Him is simply
to believe what He says, take Him at His word. On the flip side there is no
greater disservice to God, no greater insult or slap in His face than to
disbelieve Him and label Him a liar. God has a plan.
So
bloom where you are planted. That’s a phrase wise people have told others who
were always looking over the fence and wishing themselves elsewhere. Bloom
where you are planted means to do your best and be your best where you are at
for the glory of God. Let’s see how Jeremiah put it. "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."
No wallowing in self pity. No angry resentment leading to a resistance movement
and acts of sabotage. Bloom where you are planted. Live there. Have children so
there are more of you. Seek the good and prosperity. Pray for the city so that
you prosper.
Godly
wisdom for us too. We might feel like
giving up. We can have righteous anger against advancing wickedness. But
remember who we are: the people of God, chosen by Him and dearly loved. Our
nation needs us. We are God’s representatives here, His face of what real love
looks like, His hands to help others, His mouth to speak His truth. So bloom
where He has planted you. When we Christians work hard at our jobs, are the
most helpful of neighbors we mute the slander of the Christ and Christian
haters. “Well I know a Christian and she’s really nice.” Have you heard this?
“I’d be afraid to bring a child into this world!” Nonsense! Is God dead? If we
Christians stop having kids then what? God’s still in control and there is this
thing called “Obstetrical Evangelism,” growing the Church by having babies!
Seeking the peace and prosperity brings blessings for us too. How good it is to
have Christians working in government, police, military, fire, healthcare and
public education. The peace and prosperity of our nation depend on it. Pray.
Pray for the nation and its leaders. Even the ones we don’t like and did not
vote for. Bloom where you are planted.
And
rejoice in the wisdom, love and power of God. God told His people not to listen
to the false prophets who were telling the people they were going home the next
day. They would have to wait seventy
years. During these 70 years God would preserve His people and refine them,
helping them live God dependent lives. Then He would bring them back. He would
do that because this was all part of God’s bigger plan to give the world a
Savior, Jesus Christ. How often do you think they asked for this verse to be
read? “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.” What a memory treasure! For us too!
It reminds us of God’s tender love that is combined with His ultimate wisdom
and His power to do anything that is at work in our lives too.
Strangers
in a strange land? Absolutely! It’s what we are because Christ called us. Maybe
it’s good for us to see that a little more. I don’t know the details of God’s
plan is for our nation, for us as Christians, for myself or my family. He has
not chosen to reveal that exactly like He did with the people of Jeremiah’s time. I do know that God is loving
wise and powerful. I know that He has a plan to prosper not harm us. You know
that too. So let’s put away the gloom and doom, plant those smiles on our faces
and as the dearly loved children of God that we are, leave here to be the best
of American citizens who mean it and are heard when we pray, “God bless the
USA!” Amen.
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