Yesterday’s sermon …
- Rescued Jeremiah 29:11 from its exile into the land without context;
- Reminded people that while the books of the bible were written FOR them, none of them were written TO them;
- Joined with 75 other churches in continuing the “For Charlotte” series;
- Let the people of the church know that because of their ongoing generosity, we have already sent $30,000 to Samaritan’s Purse for use in Hurricane Recovery efforts;
- Landed here: We will only inherit the promise as we invest in the present.
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Well, today will be kind of cool, in part because we get to rescue ONE VERSE from its exile into a land devoid of CONTEXT and also because we get to see how the promise at the end of a passage is only possible when the beginning is actually lived out. And and and, along the way of all that, we get to see how we can be FOR the city of Charlotte and the region it encompasses.
The verse we’re gonna rescue? Jeremiah 29:11. Now: if you’re a normal person and don’t have much church experience, you might not get this, and that’s OK. But if you have spent time in church circles for the last 20 years or so, you’ve heard the song (PLAY CLIP), you’ve received the card, you’ve bought the Precious Moments, you have the License Plate (AV) and the bravest, most committed among you have even …. GOTTEN THE INK!! (AV). And those words …. no wonder why so many people like them so much:
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.
Ahhh. Except …. You DO know, don’t you, that these words may be FOR you but they were not TO you? Like the rest of the bible? TO someone else, FOR you. And who was the original TO? Exiles. Slaves. Refugees. A collection of thoroughly demoralized, completely traumatized Jews living in 597 BC.
See, Jerusalem had been under siege at the hands of the Babylonians (modern day Iraq) for years. While under siege, the situation in Jerusalem had become so desperate that the residents resorted to cannibalism. Finally, the siege ended, the Babs invaded and ransacked the city, put the best and the brightest in chains, and then marched them across the desert to Babylon where they were put to work as human tools. That’s the historic context. And then look how Jeremiah 29 starts in verse 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.
Uh, you see where it says “surviving elders” there? That means a whole lot of them DIDN’T SURVIVE! So Jeremiah is writing to a collection of traumatized survivors of an ancient, desert version of the Bataan Death March! And from where is he writing? Jerusalem! Which is what? A city in ruins. With the shadow of death and cannibalism hovering over it. Death, destruction, trauma, exile … and this is license plate material? Sweet song fodder? Get well card inspiration? Not really. Context is everything. And more. I’d much rather you understand what the bible really means than what you hope it means. Or want it to mean.
So, given that I have now burst the sentimental bubble of many a long time Xn AND we now know the promise of 29:11 is not quite a saccharine sweet & suburban as we thought, let’s DO look at the other promises at the end of our reading. Check 29:12-14:
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.[b] 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.”
So, there’s a lot of pain in the journey, but the promise at the end is pretty thrilling for these ancient Jews. They WILL be able to return from exile. The chains WILL come off, they WILL be set free, and they WILL return home to J-town. We’re exiles, refugees, illegals but we are coming back. Our city may be in ruins but it’s our city. We know, historically, that that happened about 70 years later.
And given that that is a good post-trauma promise, you’d think the FIRST part of the letter here would be to start packing your bags! Like Born To Run: Babylon (or New Jersey) is a death trap, a suicide rap, you better get out while you’re young!! It would seem that would be the logical prolog to the painful yet thrilling promise of 29:11-14.
But nope. Look at the first part of this letter and remember that the last part is filled with the verbs of God:
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.”
What?! In Babylon? In enemy territory. No nostalgia for what they had, no anticipation of what they’ll have, but a settling in to where they are. Including the ludicrous command to pray for the city of their captors and its prosperity. Just look at that barrage of verbs: build, settle, marry, find, plant, REPRODUCE, pray. In that city, be for that city. The city you want to make a city of ruins make it instead a beacon of peace. Babylon. Gulp. You won’t return unless you first settle in. You’ll never escape unless you first engage.
This astonishing symmetry between human initiative and divine response when it comes to our present, our future, and even our cities makes me realize this: We will only inherit the promise as we invest in the present. You want Metrolina to be a great place to live? Don’t long for how good it used to be. Don’t skip ahead to what you want it to be. Churches here and churches everywhere will never get back to the Promised Land if they don’t first dig roots in Babylon.
You know why this matters? For us individually and as a congregation? Because I remember Steele Creek … before RiverGate. There WAS such a thing!! I remember when South Tryon was just two lanes. I remember before an onslaught of subdivisions and apartment complexes and new schools. When the drive from my house to this church was EASY. So it is quite tempting to be nostalgic, and not just for old Steele Creek but even for the days when all that was involved in growing a church in Charlotte was opening y our doors. I know some Methodist preachers who couldn’t preach their way out of a paper bag and yet the church grew because people thought going to church was what you did on Sundays. They just didn’t know any better! So easy to be nostalgic. But you know what? You glorify the past when the future dries up. If you REALLY want the good ole days … turn off your AC. That will show you.
But on the flip side, so many people only think of what will be, what can be, what should be. If we only get the right leaders. If we only have the right president. If we only get the newest schools. So wrapped up in the should be that we don’t live in the here and now.
But instead of nostalgia or impatience, we want to collaborate with churches and Xns to invest in this region. Digging roots. Sinking deep. Living into our verbs so that we can lay hold of those deep promises of 29:12-14. We are not returning to Jerusalem but we ARE part of a historic network of Charlotte area churches that is truly for our city. And here’s how we are doing it … always remembering that THIS CHURCH is a teller of good news before it is ever a do-er of good deeds. We do both, but that priority is essential. Doing good deeds in our community must never become a substitute for telling good news: Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.
And with that sense of priority, as we seek to address issues like the mobility gap and the racial divides in our city, we are not going to try to do a lot of things. We try to do a few things well. More like Chick Fil A – ever ordered a hamburger there? – than a Luby’s Cafeteria. And one of those good things, one of those ways we are REFRAIN is through our commitment to RECOVERY.
Two years ago we launched a partnership with LWES in which I shared that I’m not good at fixing or building stuff but I can read. And I could become a Reading Buddy. And I invited you to join me. Miraculously, over 50 volunteers did just that. Now we have expanded from LWES to SCES and this year, for the first time, to Tega Cay Elementary. Because, hello!, York County kids need help in reading as well! And we KNOW in this place that the better we do at getting kids to read at or above grade level, the better able they’ll be able to read Scripture when the time comes. Oh, and graduate high school, go to college, get a job … that kind of thing as well!
This past year my 2nd grade reading buddy was a little boy. And at the beginning of the year, I didn’t think he liked me very much. Because I can be weird. But then I missed a couple of our days due to travel and funerals, and when I showed up the next time, he just glommed on to me. Teacher said, “I think he missed you.” Whoa. That’s digging roots; not pining for what was or clamoring for what should be. We will only inherit the promise as we invest in the present.
So there’s LITERACY. And there’s RECOVERY. We’re lunching at the Charlotte Rescue Mission. We’re hosting at the Zoar Road Club. We’re making space at Moss Road. For addicts and those who love them alike, we love being a place where people in recovery feel loved, welcomed, and comfortable. Because as I have said a million times before, we are all powerless over something. It’s just that some get forced to admit it a bit earlier than others. So instead of longing for those days that NEVER WERE, when no one was addicted and instead of complaining that addicts surround us, we’re settling in, soldiering on, helping folks get sober and then serene. We will only inherit the promise as we invest in the present.
And then another way we’re for the city – again, not a million ways, just a few – is HOUSING. My gosh, even around here where there doesn’t seem to be a housing insecurity issue so much, we are blessing houses all over the place. Over 300 of you had your first encounter with this church when someone knocked on a door, gave you a World Famous Refrigerator Magnet, and prayed a blessing over you. We are so FOR THIS CITY that we’re delighted you’re here.
But beyond blessing houses, we want to be about helping people move out of dependency into housing. With the chronically homeless, there’s RITI, a HOUSING FIRST mentality. But we have an equal partnership with CFH which helps families move from housing insecurity – the verge of homelessness – into a stable apartment. That happens when a Hope Team surrounds a family with what they call “social capital”: living skills, budgeting, social support, and most of all the good news of Jesus. We will only inherit the promise as we invest in the present.
And then there’s LITERACY.
Two years ago we launched a partnership with Lake Wylie Elementary School in which I shared that I’m not good at fixing or building stuff but I can read. And I could become a Reading Buddy. And I invited you to join me. Miraculously, over 50 volunteers did just that. Now we have expanded from LWES to SCES and this year, for the first time, to Tega Cay Elementary. Because, hello!, York County kids need help in reading as well! And we KNOW in this place that the better we do at getting kids to read at or above grade level, the better able they’ll be able to read Scripture when the time comes. Oh, and graduate high school, go to college, get a job … that kind of thing as well!
This past year my 2nd grade reading buddy was a little boy. And at the beginning of the year, I didn’t think he liked me very much. Because I can be weird. But then I missed a couple of our days due to travel and funerals, and when I showed up the next time, he just glommed on to me. Teacher said, “I think he missed you.” Whoa. That’s digging roots; not pining for what was or clamoring for what should be. We will only inherit the promise as we invest in the present.
And here’s the video that closed it out and prepped the appeal: