Hope and a future. Maintaining a sense of hope ---- and imagining a better future must have been quite a challenge for the Israelites.

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Beryl Nicholson
6 years ago
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1 1 Scripture: Jeremiah 29:4-14 Hebrews 13:1-3 Hope and a future. For I know the plans that I have for you --- declares the Lord ---- plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future verse 11 from our Old Testament passage today. Maintaining a sense of hope ---- and imagining a better future must have been quite a challenge for the Israelites. They have been ---- kicked out of Jerusalem and are being held like hostages in Babylon --- exiled from their home land. And the message that God has for them ---- picking it up at verse 5 from our reading today ---- Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper. And then skipping along to verse When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. In other words ---- settle in ---- build houses and settle down. Get married ---- build a life where you are and under the current conditions - -- marry and have sons and daughters --- find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage. And this is perhaps the hardest one of all be at peace --- don t expect any changes or improvement of conditions just yet seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you in exile.

2 2 And also very difficult to understand --- the last set of instructions when 70 years are over I will come and rescue you. In other words this is it --- for the rest of your lives --- the next 70 years this is it exile. Imagine ---- the Israelites have been kicked out of Jerusalem by force and relocated by force to Babylon. And God comes and says to them through the prophet --- Settle in folks --- settle down --- this is your new reality for the rest of your lives years. Be at peace with this --- don t fight back --- don t argue ---- don t lash out rebuild your lives under these less than ideal circumstances. Leave things in my hands and sometime later on --- in this case God specifies 70 years ---- later on --- not in your lifetime but in that of your children ---- all will be well and you will prosper once again. Some might consider these words less than hopeful --- and find them instead discouraging more years of this. For I know the plans that I have for you --- declares the Lord ---- plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. Imagine saying this to those in Syria right now --- go and live somewhere else for 70 years ---- settle down and build homes for yourself --- get married --- and have your children get married. Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you. And when some years have passed ---- say give or take something like 70 years then I will come and rescue you and help you out --- until then settle down and settle in --- this is your new reality. These would hardly seem to be words of comfort --- stick it out for a lifetime --- and then I ll come to help you.

3 3 That s what God says to the Israelites as they are exiled --- kicked out of Jerusalem. How might this passage relate --- and shed light upon the world in which we live today? Does this apply to Syria today? Does this apply to IS today? Does it apply to us in any way? And if so to any or all of these --- how? Are we to come to understand that perhaps Christianity will remain pushed off to the side ---- on the periphery for 70 or so years before Jesus is taken seriously and respected? What if when we read this passage today we hear God is saying something like Hey folks at St. Andrew s in Whitby. Most of you will not see what I am going to do about Christians being pushed off to the side for a while --- exiled ---- because it will be another 70 or so years before I change things ---- and most of you will be gone by then. But some of your children will still be around children like young Benjamin Gorman for example ---- he ll still be around in 70 years and he ll see what beautiful and peaceful things I have in mind and this is key ---- beautiful and peaceful things ---- God is the God of peace and prosperity. Imagine God saying ---- You may not experience plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future but your children and grandchildren will --- and isn t that amazing. That is the kind of hope Jeremiah is talking about the hope that people who plant trees that they will never sit under the shade of poses.

4 4 And of course the possibilities of what exactly this passage says to us today go well beyond just this. The gospel is always just a bit more beautiful and all encompassing than we can ever imagine. We but see in part --- if at all sometimes whereas God sees all --- and all of the time. This is a powerful passage about hope in the most challenging of circumstances. Live your lives --- buy houses ---- make homes --- by the way sad is the day that houses cease to be turned into homes --- there s a difference between a house and a home but I digress. Get married --- have families --- have your children get married and have families seek the peace where you live ---- make the city where you live peaceful and prosperous God says --- in verse 7. As for the rest --- I will look after all of the rest --- For I know the plans that I have for you --- declares the Lord ---- plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. Part of what this means is when you come to a place --- or a Facebook post - -- or a conversation ---- or a tweet ---- or an interaction where there is no grace you be the grace --- you bring the grace where otherwise their may not ever be any grace. Don t wait for someone else to bring the grace --- bring it yourself --- thanks to God providing it to you in the first place. God didn t say to the Israelites after they had been evicted from their homes in Jerusalem go and huddle up and speak to no one --- keep to yourselves. He didn t say be fearful or anxious --- He didn t say lash out ---- or retaliate ---- what He did say was seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.

5 5 Seek peace and prosperity where you are and pray. Seek peace and prosperity where you are and pray that just may be God s message to God s troubled world today. That is certainly part of what we are called to do in times like this. Times where we may feel exiled from our Christian roots --- being treated in our home land like outsiders times where in numerous places around the world people are being thrown out of their homes times where some people are being treated more like animals than human beings. Seek peace and prosperity where you are and pray..seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper. For I know the plans that I have for you --- declares the Lord ---- plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. This is what God said in a very difficult time. This is what God said ---- and still says. Let this settle in a bit ---- because it s prophecy it s Jeremiah s prophecy it s God s word to a struggling world and it s still relevant today. Seek peace and prosperity and pray. I have plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. And then about 700 years later ---- more words from God about times of great challenge. Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. Continue to remember those in prison as if you

6 6 were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering our reading from Hebrews today. Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and remember those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering. Also prophecy also God s word to a troubled people. Also relevant today. Keep on loving one another. Show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. Continue to remember those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering. These are powerful words ---- and these are still relevant today ---- globally and personally. Love --- show hospitality ---- remember those who are mistreated. God is in control. God is in control --- just as He was when the Israelites were kicked out of Jerusalem and forced to live in Babylon. God is in control --- don t panic. Wouldn t it be something if when young Benjamin Gorman and jack and Tristan --- and Jeremiah and Ellianna ---- Noah Jillian and so on. Wouldn t it be something that when they grow up they can look back and say Wow Christians really stepped up and showed a Christ centered way in a very confusing and challenging time. Imagine people --- the world looking back ---- the way we look back on the Good Samaritan ---- saying Look at how much Christians loved

7 7 and showed hospitality they truly cared and remembered those who were mistreated. Isn t that what we re called to do --- not diagnose --- or solve the problems -- - or figure it all out from a comfy couch far off ---- but love --- and be gracious and hospitable ---- caring. Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering. I don t pretend to fully understand all that is happening in places like Paris -- - Beirut --- and Syria --- and so many more other places as well --- too long to ever list them all here today --- so don t get your knickers in a knot because I didn t mention them all --- I know there s more than just 3 or 4 places in difficulty just now. None of us fully understands all this violence in fact on a certain level I don t even want to try to understand it all ---- it s far too evil to seriously dive into. What I do know is people are suffering unnecessarily ---- and people are suffering not because of anything that they have done. And what I do know is that as Christians we are called to shine --- and respond differently. To shine like Jesus did ---- doing the unexpected and welcoming the stranger. Jesus was killed because of who He sat with ---- specifically who He ate with the outcast and the sinners --- the one s no one else wanted to eat with. And what I do know is that as Christians we are called to keep on loving one another. --- as the book of Hebrews says today.

8 8 And that as Christians we are called to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. And what I do know is that as Christians we are called to Continue to remember those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering. Isn t that second verse powerful Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. Doesn t that sum up the gospel for today. Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. --- isn t this just another way of saying love your neighbour as yourself --- and by the way everyone is your neighbour. Leonard Sweet in his latest book ---- From tablet to table --- shares the story about a beautiful act of hospitality in Europe when the Free Churches were being persecuted. And how one day an old Mennonite minister in Emmenthal in the heart of Switzerland practiced the literal meaning of Hebrews 13 verse hospitality. And the story goes like this. Early one morning the minister heard men on the roof of his house --- in fact they were tearing off the tiles of his roof and throwing them to the ground in an attempt to drive him out of town. Arising from bed the man asked his wife to prepare a good breakfast for the men. Then he went outside and invited them in for breakfast --- insisting that they come in to eat as they had been working so hard and must surely be hungry. Shamefacedly they came in and sat at the table and ate.

9 9 He prayed for them and their families and then served them breakfast --- they ate together. After they had eaten they went out and put the tiles back on his roof --- and went on their way. Radical hospitality changes things. Simple hospitality changes things too. Demonizing get us no where in life. Othering ---- get us nowhere in life. Hospitality is the sure mark of a follower of Jesus Christ. Sometimes where there is little or no grace to be found --- we are to be the agents of grace instead of simply walking away and waiting for someone else to bring grace. As we sang together ---- sometimes it only takes a spark to get a fire going. Sometimes one act of kindness is all it takes to turn the tide of hostility --- fear --- and othering. The gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ for today For I know the plans that I have for you --- declares the Lord ---- plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. And Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. Continue to remember those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering. Amen.

We ve all wondered why we are here on earth, what God s plan is for us here. I In fact we probably wonder about this quite often.

I know the plans I have for You We ve all wondered why we are here on earth, what God s plan is for us here. I In fact we probably wonder about this quite often. This morning I want to look at 2 areas: