Presence Weekly 4/01/2024

[The DEVO] The "Bloom Where You Are Planted" Mission

Jeremiah 29:1–14 (ESV): 29 These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders of the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. 2 This was after King Jeconiah and the queen mother, the eunuchs, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metal workers had departed from Jerusalem. 3 The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. It said: 4 "Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. 6 Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. 7 But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. 8 For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, 9 for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the LORD. 

10 "For thus says the LORD: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear 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 I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

Our mission statement for this week is one of the most recognizable to many Christians with a developed notion of living out our lives in the context of the public square. Especially verse 7, "But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare."

Within the same narrative act, we find another prominent verse often part of many Bible memory programs, "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."  

What's interesting, and possibly devastating to the process of whole-life discipleship, is how much of present evangelicalism has divorced these two statements from each other as though they have no bearing on one another.

Consider the context

Jeremiah is writing a letter to the people of Judah (the southern kingdom) who have been conquered and taken away to live in Babylon. Ezekiel and Daniel are already there. Jeremiah has stayed behind to pastor those who have not yet moved into captivity. Scripture will record his lamentations over the eventual destruction of the city in a separate work. 

What got the people of God moved from the center of international land trade routes that brought them into contact with people of every tongue, tribe, and nation to the Las Vegas of the ancient Near East? Isaiah and Micah had repeatedly told the people that they were failing to worship the LORD properly. According to Leviticus 19, the worship of the Lord included interactions with our neighbors, fair trade, care for the poor, protection for the disabled, and proper payment of hired workers. It also included sexual interactions (Leviticus 18). Micah's message was clear: God's people were in trouble because they had not done justice, loved mercy, and walked humbly with their God.

The LORD sent his chosen and rescued people into exile with the intent that they would reflect upon their sins, repent, and start living differently. In modern parlance, they were being given a "time out." The purpose of a timeout is to help you focus on what you did wrong and how you should properly live. As everyone knows, there are two ways that can go. 

Consider the options

So, how should these chosen, royal, and holy people of God act in a place that has no intention of worshiping the LORD in the manner he requires?  

One option is to wait around in a kind of "passive resistance" mode for the duration of their exile. In this perspective, one concludes that since the surrounding culture is hell-bent on disregarding the ways of God, it's best to simply ride it out until the LORD returns to set things right and, of course, destroy all those nasty people who don't love the LORD the way they should. 

The problem with this perspective is that it overlooks the glaring fact that the people of God are in exile because they are the people who were living in a manner that was disregarding the ways of God. Swing and a miss!

Option two is to live in "active resistance" mode, undermining and opposing the kingdom and culture at every opportunity. They could stage small insurrections around the city and kingdom to disrupt the social and economic order or even fully armed rebellions in the hope of toppling their oppressors. 

The problem with this perspective is that, again, it overlooks the reality that the LORD used the army of Babylon to destroy Jerusalem and bring the people of God into captivity. In essence, they would be fighting against the LORD. Swing and a miss! 

Consider the instruction

God calls and equips his people to serve the whole world, not as an instrument of accidental blessing but as intentional blessing! Even in exile, the LORD called his people to use their diverse job skills to serve the surrounding community. "Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile" (Jer. 29:7). One might argue that this passage doesn't prove that God has any genuine care for the Babylonians. He simply knows that as captives, the Israelites cannot prosper unless their captors do, too. But as we have seen, caring for those beyond the people of God is an inherent element of the Covenant, and it is the overwhelming narrative theme of Scripture so far. In the beginning, God called his people to "be fruitful and multiply" and "to fill the earth and subdue it." 

When he calls Abram in Genesis 12, the LORD tells him, 

Now the Lord said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

Once again, the purpose of God's people as an instrument of blessing to those around them is clear and cannot be divorced from their parallel call to "be Holy as I am Holy" (Exodus 19, Leviticus 21). 

In directing the efforts of craftsmen, metalworkers, gardeners, and farmers to work for the welfare of the city, God was instructing them to do what they were created to do. A longer and more culturally appropriate list might have included legislative assistants, patent reviewers, data analysts, senior counsels, communication directors, and policy advisors (like Daniel). 

To rephrase Milton Friedman, "The social responsibility of a Christian is to seek the welfare of the city."

Consider the implications

This immediately calls into doubt any scheme designed for the special benefit of Christians. Any trade organization, preferred supplier relationship, hiring preference, tax or regulatory advantage, or other system designed to benefit only Christians is not blessing the city as a whole. 

The purpose of God's chosen people (the elect) had never been to set up an exclusive community where they sought to limit the blessings only to themselves, but that others would come in contact with them and desire the fullness of the blessings of the people of God. 

We are dissuaded from the notion that they were supposed to turn Babylon into Jerusalem, any more than we are under the impression that we are going to turn this world, or even America, into Eden. However, our work is not passive or active resistance; instead, it is actively seeking the city's welfare. 

The word welfare may trigger some in the free-market world. It should not. The word translated welfare is the Hebrew word - shalom. That word is a bit tricky to condense into a single word because it is a POWER word, a word so central to the mission of God that reducing it to a single concept is a disservice and damaging to whole-life discipleship. Shalom seeking is a pursuit of economic and cultural flourishing, peace, prosperity, wholeness, and even salvation.   

What Jeremiah is instructing the elect exiles of Jerusalem in Babylon to do is a hugely important aspect of our lives as elect exiles. Peter makes this facet of our identity clear when he writes to the Christians of Asia Minor, living under the rule of Rome,

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you. (1 Peter 1:1-2)

Here, the people of God are living, once again, on the wrong side of a power differential that shows no signs of changing any time soon.

Of course, the mission of God is not just about seeking the welfare of others but also about God seeking and providing our shalom.  

We shall consider that next week and connect the two ideas!

Last Things...

He is risen!