God’s Plan

Intro

Taking kids to CentriKid. Needed a detailed plan for the kids. Without it, it was chaos.

Youth trips. Detailed plans. Without it, it turned into chaos.

Leading meetings. Detailed plans. Without it, it turned into chaos.

Need: We naturally flow into chaos without structure. Without plans. We can flounder and wander without knowing plans. This is the state of our heart. Without proper plans, our hearts will worship other things. Thankfully, God’s plans are known plans.

Main Idea: God’s plans are known plans

Jeremiah 29:1-14

The people of Judah weren’t ready to agree with this yet. Babylon had sieged them. Removed most of them from Judah. Left the poorer ones. Nebbie has established kings. They are at the mercy of Babylon. Doesn’t feel like God’s plan.

App. You’ve probably felt this way. Period of waiting. Period of suffering. Period of questioning.

We can know his plan. We find out what his plan is in this passage.

Truth #1: His plan is for you to make your home here (1-7)

Exp. God plans for them to stay a while. Verse 4-5. Notice who has sent them to exile: God. Not Nebbie. Instructs them to build houses and live there. Plant gardens. Eat produce. Do as you would do in Judah. Verse 6. Marry and have children. Give your children away in marriage. Multiply. Like the original command in the Garden. Be there for 70 years. You ain’t at Air B&B.

Ill. Old adage: heaven is our home and we’re just passing through. While we are citizens of heaven, we aren’t just at a pitstop. Heaven is our eternal home, but this is our temporary home. The entire NT is how we live here.

Arg. We are not renting our lives here, we are missionaries with purpose. Our mandate is to also multiply. The Great Commission is our command to multiply. Make disciples, so that others will find citizenship in heaven.

Exp. Verse 7. Theologically speaking, you are living in Babylon. God tells them to pray for Babylon. Welfare = shalom. Build houses, pray for shalom. It will be good for you. Only OT passage to pray for enemies.

Christ - Our example is Christ. He came to earth and lived, worked, and had real friendships. He didn’t just complete a task and then left. Then after the cross, left to prepare a place for us. He will bring his bride back.

App. What do we do?

Be a missionary where you live. Mission statement. Don’t pass through, be rooted. Montreat students = get settled. Multiply disciples where you are.

Pray for your community. Intercede for “shalom.” Pray for flourishing. Pray for peace “of the city” not “in the city.” Find out the names of neighbors. Pray with them and for them. For leaders. Teachers. First responders.

Truth #2: His plan is to restore you (8-14)

Exp. He first calls out false prophets. Verse 8-9. Jeremiah went through it. Arrested. Sent to Egypt. Tried to be killed. Accused of false prophet. God calls us out the real false prophets by name later. They were teaching the restoration earlier than God intended. Verse 10. History proves it took 70 years. Verse 11. Welfare = shalom. Pray for shalom, he gives shalom. God makes plans, knows plans, fulfills plan. Plan is for the whole nation. Not just personal. Tough to wait and not complain.

Ill. “One of the dangers of grumbling about what God is doing that God probably is not finished doing it.” - Philip Ryken. The hardest part about God’s plan is not knowing when the fulfillment is. Proof his plan isn’t complete.

Exp. Notice the result of God’s plan. Verse 12-13. God will not intervene in these 70 years. But at the end, they will pray and he will answer. They will seek and find him. Verse 14. I will be found by you. How reassuring? What will he do?

Restore. Fortunes. Poverty will end. Restoration for us spiritual. Shalom.

Gather. From all nations. This is what Christ does for us. He builds his church from the nations.

Bring you back. Back to the promised land. Exile will end. Your waiting will end. His plan will be fulfilled.

Christ - God’s plan is the salvation for individual believers and the furtherance of his church in Christ. Salvation comes to individuals, but it builds the body. Being a part of the church is restoring to us. Godly community is what we are made for. We are searching for it even when we don’t know we are.

App. What do we do?

Beware of false teaching. They were listening to the wrong people. If it’s unbiblical, it’s wrong.

Raise your sails. Habits of grace. Spiritual disciplines don’t grow us, but they open our sails for the wind to catch. Pursue God’s revealed will. His restoration will occur.

Conclusion

1 Peter 2:11–12

Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

Keller in Prodigal God explains we long for our heavenly home.

Piper in Don’t Waste Your Life argues that we were put here by God to spread the kingdom. Let’s not waste it.

We know his plan. It’s to proclaim the good news of Jesus. Let’s do it.