Investing in the Kingdom
based on Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7
Randy L Quinn

These are the words of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the remaining elders among the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.

Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.

Jer. 29:1, 4-7

One of my favorite movies as a child was “The Great Escape” starring Steve McQueen and James Garner. How many of you remember that movie? It was based on the true story of an escape from a Nazi POW camp during World War II. It is a story of perseverance and persistence, but their perseverance relies upon hopes and dreams for the future. Life inside the POW camp was bearable only as long as they could see the possibility of leaving.

When the people of Israel arrive in Babylon after the fall of Jerusalem, there is evidence that they began planning an escape so they could return to their home. Some thought it would be God who would deliver them. Others were planning a revolt. But their focus was on the day when they would once again live in freedom, the day they would be home again.

Like the Allies in the Nazi POW camp, they didn’t like being where they were so they began to look forward to the day they would be home again, back where they belong. And while we may not have been in prison before, I suspect you have found yourself in places you didn’t want to be.

• Maybe you took a wrong turn off the freeway and ended in an unfamiliar place. It was a place you didn’t want to be.

• Maybe you were in the hospital emergency room after an accident.

• Maybe you were sent on an errand for your boss because the boss didn’t want to do it. It was a place you didn’t want to be, either.

• Maybe it was while you were sitting through a dry lecture for a required class trying to stay awake – or maybe one of my sermons. 

• Maybe you made a commitment to do something that turned out to be harder than you had anticipated.

If you’re like me, you’ve found yourself in those places on more than one occasion. And when we get in those situations we convince ourselves things are going to be OK because we know that it’s only for a short time. Soon we will be back where we belong.

And if we know there is a defined end to the ordeal we can put up with an enormous amount of stress and strain. It’s what gets some parents through the “terrible twos” and the “tumultuous teen years.” It’s that kind of hope that gets most POW’s through their time of imprisonment – or causes them to formulate plans to escape.

But what if you were told the end wouldn’t come in your lifetime? What if you were told the only hope of ever getting out is to raise a family so your children can escape?

Our text today is from a letter Jeremiah essentially telling the people there’s no going home. They may as well unpack and settle in. The only hope they have of ever seeing Jerusalem again is through the eyes of their grandchildren.

They may not like where they are, but they need to make the best of it.

And more than that, Jeremiah gives us a precursor of the admonition of Jesus them to pray for their enemies. “Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf” he says (Jer. 29:7).

This past week a few people from our church went to the Leadership Institute at the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas, along with a couple thousand other people from 46 different states. The theme of the conference was taken from this same letter of Jeremiah, where he tells the people a few verses later that God has a plan for them, a plan for the future, a future filled with hope (Jer. 29:11).

Among the speakers was Bob Johansen, a futurist. He and his company make annual forecasts of the world ten years out – these are forecasts, not predictions. I found it fascinating to imagine what that future might look like as he tried to help us see it. Some of what he said I could readily see. Other things he said came as a surprise to me.

And quite frankly, some of what he had to say was frightening. But the reality is the world will look different in ten years than it does now.

Think back ten years and you might get a sense of how much we can anticipate changing in the next ten years. How many of you have cell phones? How many of you use them to send text messages? You didn’t do that ten years ago. The only text messages sent were sent to pagers, not cell phones.

Look at this chart. It’s a depiction of the increase in cell phone usage among Americans since 1990. The top line is the total population of the U.S. The bottom line is the number of cell phone users. I know you can’t see the writing, but this projection goes out to 2015 – five years out.

There is no question the cell phone has changed the way we live and the way we communicate. But current trends indicate that “smart phones” are also changing the way we use computers.

There are some folks who are “Luddites.” They reject the use of any new technology. But the world changes with or without their participation, doesn’t it?

The future is always uncertain; but there are indications about what will transpire, and we can use those indications as clues about how God wants us to approach that future. Bob Johansen had some ideas for us to consider.

But Jeremiah was doing the same thing for the people of Israel 2,500 years ago.

His vision of the future didn’t match the vision of the people, though. They saw a quick end to the exile. They envisioned a short stay in Babylon, following which they would return to the land of their birth. So they planned to keep their bags packed, ready to leave on a moment’s notice. Their lives became temporary.

I grew up with a mindset that taught me everything is temporary. As a child, our family moved every two or three years – and sometimes more often than that. In fact, the longest I’ve ever lived in one house was a parsonage. The second longest I’ve lived in any particular place was also a parsonage. The third longest was a parsonage, too.

As a child, though, I longed to have a place to call home. But my life was temporary. I used to say “home is where my suitcase is.” I was always getting ready to leave.

It was only after moving into our first parsonage that for the first time in my life I literally unpacked every box. I gathered all of my possessions into the same house and settled in – including a piano my brother was storing for me and the old car my parents kept in their yard. That parsonage became my home. And we’ve done that in most of the places we’ve lived ever since. I see it as an important part of becoming the pastor in a new community – making that place my home rather than a temporary residence.

The difference between my experience and that of the exiles Jeremiah writes to is that I am glad to be in a place where I can settle in. The exiles were longing for the familiar surroundings of home. They didn’t want to be there. They were captives, held against their will.

Some of us feel that way about the future that is coming.

But for the people of Israel, finding themselves in a foreign land also created a challenge to their faith. If God made a promise to always have a descendent of David on the throne in Jerusalem, what did it mean for their king to be taken away? If God’s glory rested in the temple, where was God now that the temple had been destroyed? If God has promised to be with them always, where was God now?

You and I may have easy answers for them, but at the time this took place, it was devastating. Their kingdom, their religion, their way of life had been destroyed. It was a crisis of faith that accompanied their entry into captivity.

“How can we sing the songs of Zion in a foreign land?” they asked (Ps. 137:4).

But rather than dwelling on the past, Jeremiah encourages them to live in the present, to trust God in the midst of adversity. He has the audacity to suggest they invest in their new home, their new community. In doing so, he reminds them that God was with them during their extended stay in Egypt – and since they were able to live there from the time of Joseph to the time of Moses, they could trust God to restore them to the Promised Land again. Just not yet.

Some of us feel like captives in the digital age. We want to go home, back to a simpler life. Others are willing to embrace this digital age, to become immigrants. But the truth is our children are natives. In fact, today’s High School seniors have rarely seen a telephone with a cord attaching it to the wall. They learned to use a computer before they learned to type. (In fact, they don’t even think of it as typing – I mean, IBM stopped making typewriters before they were born!)

To us, I think Jeremiah would say what Bob Johansen invited us to do: invest in this new world so our children will one day see the Kingdom of God. Embrace the changes taking place and find ways to translate the Gospel into a new language and a new culture. Become settlers in this new world, not just captives.

Now, I have made occasional forays into this new world. I have a Facebook page, for example. But I don’t use it the way natives of the digital age do. I have tried to conduct on-line Bible Studies – but it was clear that my “accent,” if you will, was keeping me from being understood. We are beginning to use our church website to post information and inviting conversations in what is sometimes called the “virtual world”.

We’re not very effective at it, but that does not mean we should give up. We need to become proficient if we want to help our children and our grandchildren to experience, express, and convey their faith.

And what is exciting is that when we invest ourselves in the world in which we live, God is revealed in our midst. But perhaps just as importantly, we find ways to reveal God to the world – both now and in the future.

Thanks be to God. Amen.