Jeremiah 29:4-14

Introduction

This summer I was privileged to walk with our teens through a series we called “Bible.”

This series was about biblical interpretation. It was about taking the text that is in scripture and drawing out the meaning.

Through the series we learned the importance of drawing the meaning out of the text instead of inserting our own ideas, beliefs, and convictions.

To guide us we used a book called “Most Misused Verse in the Bible.” by Eric Bargerhuff.

So, this morning I thought that we could walk through one of these verses mentioned in this book and that verse is Jeremiah 29:11.

So if you have your Bibles we are going to be in Jeremiah chapter 29. And I think that what we are going to find is that when we misuse scripture it not only takes away from its intended meaning, but robs Gods people of the intended promise. A lot of times what happens when we misuse a scripture, we tend to make it about us. And when we make it about us we shift the focus off of Jesus.

If you have your Bibles this morning, I would like to invite you to turn to Jeremiah 29:11

“For I know the plans I have for you”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“plans for your well-being, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”

This is a text that most of us are familiar with. Right? I mean we see it on t shirts, coffee mugs, decorative signs in our homes and so on. And it should be! Its’s a wonderful verse about Gods promise and hope but it should always be taken in context.

When this verse is taken out of its context its often used to mean that God has a specific plan for you or me during a milestone event such as graduations, job promotions, or the birth of a child, you fill in the blank. It can be used to promote health, wealth and prosperity especially in Tulsa. Its no secret that Tulsa has a leaning towards what is often called the “prosperity gospel.”

If we are not careful, we can take this verse and decide that it means “this is what God is going to do for me.” Taking this approch Jeremiah 29:11 or any passage for that matter can be very problematic. Pastor Wes McAdams said in a sermon on this very text that:

“A promise taken out of context can be as deceiving as a lie.” - Pastor Wes McAdams

If I went down here to ____ and said, you know what? Im going to buy you lunch next week, I want you to meet me in the parking lot after church and we will go to lunch. Well that was something I said I would do for ____. But, if someone recored that and played it for a bunch of other people and they all show up in the parking lot expecting me to buy their lunch Im going to have something to say about it. I didn't say I would buy everyone lunch. That promise of lunch was for _______, during a specific place and time.

If my promise to take _____ to lunch was taken out of context it is then used to deceive people into thinking something else.

How many times do we takes scripture, this verse specifically and use it out of context to promote health, wealth, and prosperity?

And then when this promise fails pour understanding of what we think it should be, we are left asking questions and wondering why God didn't fulfil His promise.

Does Jeremiah 29:11 apply to us? Well the answer is yes, it does but we need to understand how it applies to us. To do that we need to back up a little bit and think about who Jeremiah is? Why he wrote this? And finally, what was happening that caused him to write this?

Background

Who wrote the book- Jeremiah was written by Jeremiah with the help of his scribe Baruch.

When was the book written- Most likely the book was written around 550 B.C.

Theme-

Why was it written-