Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Today, we are going to look at a text that is fairly popular and often quoted.

You’ve probably heard the eleventh verse of this passage quoted many times.

You may have seen it on a decorative pillow or displayed as wall art.

Today, though, we are going to look at the beginning of , and explore how God offers encouragement through this scripture, but how that encouragement may not come in the form we think it ought to.

We are going to primarily deal with verses 4-14, but it is important that we understand exactly what is going on as Jeremiah is writing this letter.

Context

As we approach , we are entering into a scene where Nebuchadnezzar had deported significant amounts of people from Jerusalem to Babylon.

There are people who’ve been left in Jerusalem and there are those who’ve been taken captive into Babylon.

Perhaps those who have been left behind in Jerusalem believe that they’ve received some sort of favor from God, and if they believe that, it’s likely that those who have been taken see themselves to be under the curse of God.

When we get down to it, however, this news isn’t all that good for anyone who hears it.

God is bringing judgement on the people of Israel, and everyone is going to feel it in some way.

So, Jeremiah writes to those who have been deported, and as a prophet, writes from God to the people.

vv. 4 - 7

God is responsible for the deportation of the people.

In verse 4, The Lord is clear that he is responsible for the deportation of his people to Babylon.

He planned the exile and he put it into motion.

To clarify, God didn’t deport them for his own entertainment, nor is God a tyrant.

In this situation, the people of Israel got themselves into this predicament.

They opted for disobedience and God has opted to discipline them.

We know that suffering comes as a consequence of sin, but that still isn’t to say that if you are experiencing suffering that it’s a direct result of some sin.

So, don’t get caught up in tracking your trespasses in an effort to figure out why you are where you are.

Do, however, take time to reflect on what your contribution could be.

Sometimes, you will find an answer and other times, you may not.

Either way, self-reflection is an important part of this life.

Regardless of what you find, though, the rest of this text still remains relevant.

You can bake a cake, or one can show up at your doorstep.

Either way, you still have to decide what to do with it.

It doesn’t matter how you landed where you landed, you now have to figure out how you’re going to live in light of your circumstances.

God tells the exiles to make themselves at home.

The Lord is preparing these Israelites for an extended stay in Babylon, and even tells them to set up shop there.

In his instructions to them, the Lord further reiterates the longevity of their stay.

For people to marry and then to have children who will marry points to a significant amount of time.

We know later in this text that it will be 70 years.

We aren’t to imagine that the Israeli exiles were suddenly pleased and excited to be in Babylon.

It isn’t as if the Lord gave these instructions and everything immediately changed for them.

Absolutely not.

There was work to be done.

So what do you do when you’re in a place you didn’t expect to be in?

How do you respond?

Some of us are inclined to react by curling up and retreating.

Others of us are inclined to fight against the circumstance in which we’ve been placed.

Others are compelled to try and find a way out of their situation.

None of those things, though, are what God commands of these Israelites.

He tells them to cultivate their circumstance.

If I can give you a simplistic example: It’s no secret to most people that I absolutely despise snow.

It’s nice when it falls, but awful when it sticks.

Where I am from, we get a little more snow that what this area typically does, but since it’s still North Carolina, even an inch can shut everything down.

So, when it begins to fall, I know that it won’t be long before I can’t get out of the house or go to the store.

I know that I am about to lose some freedom, and I don’t much care for it.

Even so, when the snow begins to fall, I can’t stop it.

It’s a reminder of my powerlessness, and I have to figure out what to do.

Am I going to hunker down for days and complain about the weather?

Am I going to somehow think I can stop it by my grievances?

Both of those would be absurd.

Instead, I am tasked with figuring out how I might brave the cold and live with it.

After I come to grips with the weather, I may venture outdoors to play in the snow with my family.

I may enjoy a bowl of snow cream.

Perhaps I begin to see beauty in something that I don’t really like that much.

That’s where the Israelites are, and that is what God is commanding them to do.

Their complaints or worries about exile won’t remove them from it.

To sit and mope won’t, either.

We can get so caught up in trying to find a way out of our circumstances that we fail to flourish in them.

How are you responding to your circumstances today?

Are you fighting them?

Are you so focused on getting out of them that you can’t focus on honoring God in them?

Let it not be said that we were so intent on moving ourselves that we wasted days, months, years, or even a lifetime neglecting our relationship with our Creator God.

I don’t want to look back in ten years and see all the opportunities I missed to know God better because I was so focused on the things around me that I lost site of who he is.

I don’t want to look back and have to come face to face with the fact that people didn’t hear the gospel, because I was so caught up in my own perceived misery that their eternity took a back seat.

Stop waiting for your circumstances to subside, and start living for Jesus in them.

Your joy isn’t determined by your circumstances, anyway.

Pray continuously for your situation, and for the environments that you wish you weren’t in.

When those environments thrive, you will, too.

vv. 8 - 9

Do not seek answers from man.

As the Israelites are dealing with this exile, there are individuals among them who claim that they prophesy in the name of the Lord, and they’re telling them that it will all be over soon.

Hold on just a little longer and all will be well.

These diviners are offering that they have the answers.

Answers to the questions of how they might get out of their situation.

Answers to how much longer they might be in their situation.

They are false prophets and they aren’t offering godly advice.

This certainly nips the bud of the prosperity gospel, doesn’t it?

It kills American folk religion that offers a way out of our circumstances if we just do the right things.

What’s more is that the Israelites are seeking this kind of advice from these false prophets.

We all like to hear what we like to hear, don’t we?

When someone offers advice or counsel that makes us feel good, we tend to return to them for more.

When we don’t hear what we want to hear, we don’t always react kindly.

The Israelites are hearing something that they like from these prophets, but it isn’t the truth.

If what others are telling doesn’t match up with what God is telling you, don’t listen, even if it sounds good.

Further, God will never lead you in a direction that is contrary to his Word.

vv. 10 - 14

God has a good purpose.

Here is where the rubber meets the road, so to speak.

We’ve made it down to verse 11, which is one of the most commonly misquoted verses in scripture.

Unfortunately, this verse has been used for quite some time to push the idea of American folk religion and Moralistic Therapeutic Deism, which ultimately boils down to the idea that God’s ultimate goal is to make you happy here on the earth.

(can elaborate if time allows).

Too many people are buying the lie that God exists only that we may never suffer, or that we may always be delivered from the situations we find ourselves in because of the curse of sin.

That’s not it.

When we read with that mentality, we are in effect ignoring the rest of the book.

Jeremiah is a book that is all about God uprooting the plans of his people.