A Future Filled with Hope

Jeremiah 29:1–14 CEB

1 The prophet Jeremiah sent a letter from Jerusalem to the few surviving elders among the exiles, to the priests and the prophets, and to all the people Nebuchadnezzar had taken to Babylon from Jerusalem. 2 The letter was sent after King Jeconiah, the queen mother, the court officials, the government leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, and the craftsmen and smiths had left Jerusalem. 3 It was delivered to Babylon by Elasah, Shaphan’s son, and Gemariah, Hilkiah’s son—two men dispatched to Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar by King Zedekiah. 4 The Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims to all the exiles I have carried off from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 Build houses and settle down; cultivate gardens and eat what they produce. 6 Get married and have children; then help your sons find wives and your daughters find husbands in order that they too may have children. Increase in number there so that you don’t dwindle away. 7 Promote the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because your future depends on its welfare. 8 The Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims: Don’t let the prophets and diviners in your midst mislead you. Don’t pay attention to your dreams. 9 They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I didn’t send them, declares the Lord. 10 The Lord proclaims: When Babylon’s seventy years are up, I will come and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. 11 I know the plans I have in mind for you, declares the Lord; they are plans for peace, not disaster, to give you a future filled with hope. 12 When you call me and come and pray to me, I will listen to you. 13 When you search for me, yes, search for me with all your heart, you will find me. 14 I will be present for you, declares the Lord, and I will end your captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have scattered you, and I will bring you home after your long exile, declares the Lord.

A Future Filled with Hope

There is an older song about “Looking for love in all the wrong places.” I run across people all the time who are looking for love, but they keep looking in all of the wrong places. I have people, men in particular, who tell me about the bad experiences that they have had with women in their lives. When I ask them about where they go to find female companionship. I here that a friend sets them up or they meet them at work, or they meet them at a bar. I often will tell them they may need to change where they are looking, because obviously what they have been doing is not working.

We can do the same thing with hope. I read a story this past week about an elderly man sat at North Port, where he sat each day for many years.

One day, a stranger came by and asked him what he was waiting for. “I’m waiting for my ship to come in,” replied the man. “I don’t see any ships round here,” exclaimed the man. “Why don’t you come back to town with us. What comes will come.” “I really couldn’t do that,” said the elderly man.

“If I leave this spot, that may just be the time my ship comes in.” The man looked worried, “Don’t you think you could come join us for dinner?” “No, I really cannot,” insisted the elderly man. I don’t want to miss my ship. One day, I know it’s coming.”

“How do you know it’s coming here,” the man asked. “Because this is where it came before,” said the elderly man. Shaking his head, the other man departed.

So, the elderly man sat, and sat, and sat, and sat, month after month, year after year, but his ship never came in.” Exhausted and discouraged, at last he got up and went into town dejected looking for something to eat. “There you are,” exclaimed his friends. While you were away, a ship came into South Port with your name on it. But we didn’t know where you were, so we divided the bounty among us, and it left again.” [1]

Hope is a very powerful emotion and feeling. I said a few weeks ago that we are to be purveyors of hope. The psalmist wrote

Psalm 62:5 NASB95

5 My soul, wait in silence for God only, For my hope is from Him.

Hope is more than wishful thinking. It is more than creating a list of wants. If you do a Google search for that word hope you will find over 4.5 billion hits. It is hard to distill all of that down.

Vaclav Havel, Czechoslovakian author and political leader, describes hope in the following way: “Hope is a state of mind, not of the world. Hope in this deep and powerful sense is…an ability to work for something because it is good.” [2]

The Wesleyan Bible Commentary, Volume 3: Isaiah–Malachi 2. First Letter to the Exiles (29:4–20)

How easy it is to let our desires and wishes set the pattern of our hopes, rather than to trust the promises of God! Wishful thinking must give way to the realities of the word of God

If a group of people needed hope, hope from God, it was the ones who were taken into exile in Babylon. Jeremiah is in Jerusalem and God inspires him to write a letter to those in exile.

There were some false prophets amongst the exiles. They were telling the people that Babylon was going to collapse and the people would return home in short order. The raising the people’s hopes with a false sense of hope. A false hope though is no hope.

One author wrote:

False hope is hope that is based on ignorance. Hope is justified when the hoping person knows and accepts experts’ judgement about the probability of hope fulfillment. Justification determines if hope is realistic. What matters for evaluating someone’s hope is not only whether it is realistic, but also whether it is reasonable. [3]

I tend to agree with him. That author was not writing from Christian point of view, but his definition of false hope aligns with a Christian view point.

These prophets were stating that God was going to intervene in a very short period of time. It was a false hope that they were creating. They were giving their opinion, they weren’t listening to God.

Jeremiah hears about what is being said to the people and he sends this inspired letter. In that short letter found in these 14 verses he has five things to say to them.

The first is to Build Jeremiah 29:5

Jeremiah 29:5 (CEB)

5 Build houses and settle down

If this was going to be a short lived situation, there would be no need to build houses. They could live in tents if they were only going to be there for a short period. We know from Jeremiah that God had established the period of exile was 70 years.

They need to build houses and settle down because they were in this situation for the long haul. There is a saying that we should “bloom where we are planted.” That is basically what Jeremiah is tell them.

A lot of people live with the distant future in mind. That’s all well and good, but you have to live today. As Christians, as a church we have to live today. What is God telling us to build today?

When this building was built it was built with at least two purposes. It was built with the immediate need of the congregation at that time. They had outgrown their present sanctuary so they needed a larger place to worship. The second purpose was future looking. In the plans that I found and are in my office this sanctuary was built so that it could almost be doubled in size in order to seat 400 plus people. If I understood the plans, there was the idea of building an addition that would be gym/fellowship building.

This building has been built, it is almost 30 years old now. I have heard people say that they know that we’re here, they just are to lazy to come to church.

The truth is that they do not even know that we are here. I know from talking with long time residents of Boswell that when they ask about the church I pastor that they look at me like I have two heads when I tell them. I have to describe where the church is. Some will tell me that they did not know there was a church there.

Houston, we have a problem! We’ve built, but does anyone know?

He next tells them

Jeremiah 29:5 (CEB)

cultivate gardens and eat what they produce.

They are to plant gardens. That is not a short term process. You have to invest time and energy to plant a garden and then tend to it until it begins to produce a crop.

As Christians and as a church we have to be about planting the seed of the Gospel. Paul wrote

1 Corinthians 3:6–7 CEB

6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God made it grow. 7 Because of this, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but the only one who is anything is God who makes it grow.

We are to plant and water, God is going to take care of the growing. When we plant something, we can only plant, fertilize, and water it. We can’t force it to grow.

If we are serious about a revival, we have to be as equally serious about planting and watering. We have to honestly ask ourselves when was the last time you shared Jesus with someone? Whether in word or deed, did you share Jesus with someone this past week, this past month, year, or in your lifetime?

Paul wrote

Colossians 3:17 CEB

17 Whatever you do, whether in speech or action, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus and give thanks to God the Father through him.

Whatever you do, whether you have to use words or if you do something, do it in the name of Jesus! That is part of the planting and watering. Some of the best sermons I have ever experienced were unspoken sermons, it was the life lived out by that other person to the glory of God.

The third thing that Jeremiah told them to do is there in verse 6.

Jeremiah 29:6 CEB

6 Get married and have children; then help your sons find wives and your daughters find husbands in order that they too may have children. Increase in number there so that you don’t dwindle away.

I know that I can be tempted to stretch this point, but I believe the principle applies to the church. He wrote “Increase in number there so that you don’t dwindle away.”

How many churches have simply dwindled away? The church building that Darlene and I purchased is an example. One Sunday it was just the pastor and 3 elderly ladies. They decided that that Sunday was their last Sunday. They had a service, took and offering, sang some songs, and then walked out and locked the door.

I remember a past District Superintendent who went to visit one of our district churches one Sunday morning. They went to the front door of the church and the doors were locked. There was a side door and it was locked. They went around the back and found another door and it was unlocked. They went in and mentioned that they had trouble getting in. They were told that everyone comes through the back door.

That might be well and good for the ones who attend regularly, but what if a visitor were to show up? I suspect that no visitors showed up there or if they did, they gave up and went home. How is a church to increase if the main entrance is locked.

We can unintentionally lock the door by how we treat people. If we tell people by our words or actions that they have to clean up their act before they come we’ve locked the door. If we tell the couple that is living together that they have to separate before they can come we’ve locked the door. If we tell the addicted that they have to stop their use before they can come we’ve locked the door.

How are we going to increase in number if we keep locking the door?

Matthew 11:28–29 CEB

28 “Come to me, all you who are struggling hard and carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest. 29 Put on my yoke, and learn from me. I’m gentle and humble. And you will find rest for yourselves.

Jesus was speaking to those who are out there! How are they going to hear that message if we don’t go out there.

The fourth thing that Jeremiah told the people was

Jeremiah 29:7 (CEB)

7 Promote the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile.

Promote the welfare or seek the welfare of the city. God through Jeremiah was telling the people to be involved in their communities. A lot of people complain about their community but when asked to get involved they say they are too busy.

I don’t know how many times over the years that I’ve had a person say “Pastor we need to be doing this.” “Pastor wouldn’t it be great if we could start doing that?” If I felt it was a good idea I’ve heard myself say, “you know what, that is a great idea, how about you help get the ball rolling.” I’ll be told, well, I don’t have time or I was only making a suggestion or what they were saying is that they wanted me to get the ball rolling.

This is our home for worship. Are you promoting the welfare of the church?

The final thing that he was inspired by God to say to the people was:

Jeremiah 29:7 (CEB)

7 Pray to the Lord for it, because your future depends on its welfare.

Pray. Easy to say. How often do people tell us about something they’re going through and we say we will pray for them. I remember a pastor who was preaching about this and he said, don’t just say you’ll pray for them, but pause right then and pray with them. Great advice.

If we’re concerned about our community, pray for it.

If we’re concerned about our state, pray for it.

If we’re concerned about our country, pray for it.

If we’re concerned about our church, pray for it.

I was thinking back to when I was a teenager. Wednesday night prayer meeting was a very well attended service. It wasn’t as well attended as Sunday Morning but it rivaled the Sunday Evening service which was well attended as well. We gathered in in the basement of that church building in the large room. Pastor Chew would give a short devotional, an offering would be taken, prayer requests would be shared and then we’d all kneel down on the cement floor by our chairs and we would pray. He would usually call on someone to start and then it went around that room as we sat in a large circle. Young and old alike would pray.

If we are to see a revival, we have to pray. Revival has to begin in the Church first before it will spill out into the community around.

Look at verse 11

Jeremiah 29:11 CEB

11 I know the plans I have in mind for you, declares the Lord; they are plans for peace, not disaster, to give you a future filled with hope.

God has a plan, a future filled with hope. Jeremiah goes on and writes about searching and praying.

Erwin W. Lutzer wrote in the Decision magazine:

Prayer is vital to revival, but personal obedience must follow. You’ve heard Christians say, “I’m praying for our country and for a revival,” but such prayer can become an excuse for complacency with personal sins of greed, anger and moral impurity. As one person put it, “Prayer for me was like an air raid shelter, a bunker where I could hide and not have to confront my own deceptions and darkness. I felt good because I was a praying Christian.” Prayer that does not include repentance is really not prayer at all. [4]

Do you believe that we have a hope filled future? If you do, are you willing to invest in the hard work of praying for a revival?

[1] Jeremiah 29:1-23 | God Has Not Forgotten You | Sermon and Worship Resources (sermons.com)

[2] Searching for Hope? You Might Be Looking in the Wrong Places. - Dominican Sisters of Hope (ophope.org)

[3] Musschenga, B. (2019). Is There a Problem With False Hope?. The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, 44(4), 423-441. https://doi.org/10.1093/jmp/jhz010

[4] Erwin W. Lutzer: Prayer—The Cost of Revival (decisionmagazine.com)