When The Promise Takes Time

When The Promise Takes Time
Jeremiah 29

Tonight, we are going to be in Jeremiah 29.

The title of my message is: When the Promise Takes Time

PRAYER

So tonight we are going to look at Jeremiah chapter 29.

If you have been around church, you have probably heard a message on Jeremiah 29. To be clearer, you probably have heard only one verse from this chapter.

Jeremiah 29:11– For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

STORY: My college chaplain would invite guest speakers, and oftentimes he would not coordinate with the speakers that came every week, and so lo and behold, the pastor would get up to speak to a chapel full of college students, begin quoting Jeremiah 29:11, and we would all sigh and immediately have a sinking feeling in our stomachs. The pastor would for sure give us the “Hey, college students, God has an amazing plan for your life. Don’t be afraid of the future, for God’s plans are always good. You have hope and a future.”

Now, is this right or wrong?

Tonight I hope to read Jeremiah 29:11 in its context to help us see a clearer picture of what is actually going on here.

Cause while it is, of course, true that we have a hope and a future. That hope and future go far beyond our earthly experience and do not always guarantee that we will have a life of abundance and comfort here.

So Yes

God is sovereign (meaning he is in control) and he has plans for your life. God has a purpose for every single one of you, so you do not need to be afraid about your future because he will be with you and will never leave you nor forsake you if you submit to his ways.

But No

God’s plans are not always full of prosperity, with no hardship or pain. The belief that God’s plans for your life will always be easy is simply not biblical. It is actually counter to the gospel to say that because you are a Christian, you will always be healthy and wealthy.

Matthew 16:24-26– Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?

• It is those who will lose their life that will find it
• It is those who take up their cross (a symbol of shame, torment, and death to self) who will be able to be called followers of Jesus.

STORY: WILLIAM TYNDALE— In the 1400’s in Europe most people did not have access to the Bible in common English. Priests and church leaders would read from the Bible in Latin and most of the average people couldn’t even speak Latin. William Tyndale had a dream to translate the Bible from the original Greek/Hebrew into common English. This was illegal as the church of England did not want the average person to translate their own bible out of fear of doctrinal difference with the church of England.

Tyndale’s life mission was to create this translation and distribute it to common folk. Because of this calling his life was horrible. He as homeless and a fugitive for most of his life.

He lived in immense poverty, and most of his family abandoned him. Many of his manuscripts and attempted translations were confiscated and burned before he could ever release them. He constantly lived in fear until eventually he was arrested and imprisoned in a castle for more than a year. He sent a letter from jail to a friend asking only for a warm coat, blanket, and a Hebrew bible so he could continue his studies.

He was then executed.

He was tied to a stake. Strangled and then burned alive.

His reported final words were a prayer:

“Lord, open the King of England’s eyes.”

Tyndale’s Bible would fall into the hands of Henry VIII only a few years later. The King would then authorize common English Bibles to be created. Decades later, the King James Version of the Bible (relying heavily on Tyndale’s translation work) would become the most common English translation ever created.

Now imagine saying to William Tyndale: God’s plan for your life is to prosper you and give you an amazing future.

Imagine saying that to the millions of Christians who to this day experience persecution and death for their faith.

• Just this year in Nigeria, over 40,000 people have been killed by Islamic extremists for the simple fact that they believe in Jesus and won’t convert to Islam.
• I saw a video online of a baby who was found alive in a house full of people who had been pulled from their home in the middle of the night and executed in the streets. The baby that had been hidden was the only one who survived.

Now, does God have an amazing future and plan for that baby’s life? Is it God’s desire for that baby to follow Him and to know his love?

But that is not what Jeremiah 29:11 is talking about.

So let’s actually look at Jeremiah 29:11 in its context. Let’s read more than just a bible verse. Let’s read all that surrounds this famous verse and gain a greater understanding of the truths.

Jeremiah 29:1-3—This is the text of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders among the exiles and to the priests, the prophets and all the other people Nebuchadnezzar had carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. 2 (This was after King Jehoiachin and the queen mother, the court officials and the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the skilled workers and the artisans had gone into exile from Jerusalem.) 3 He entrusted the letter to Elasah son of Shaphan and to Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to King Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon.

Who is writing this?

• Jeremiah is a prophet to the southern kingdom of Judah.
• He is known as the weeping prophet because, for 40 years, he prophesied to the people of Judah that Babylon was on the horizon and that God would use Babylon to judge them for their unfaithfulness to his covenant.
• He suffered greatly for this message, and the people refused to listen. Instead, they gathered around themselves prophets who would tell them what they wanted to hear.

Who is it written to?

• The surviving people in exile that Nebuchadnezzar had carried into exile in Babylon.
• Now it is important to understand the history here.
• The first phase of the deportation took place before this, in 605 BC, when Babylon defeated Egypt (which Judah had aligned with) and took Judeans captive. Daniel and his companions are traditionally associated with this deportation. Judah then became a Babylonian vassal.
• King Jehoiachin rebelled against Babylon and was then taken captive.
• Nebuchadnezzar places a puppet king, Zedekiah, on Judah’s throne.
• The Jehoiachin, royal family, officials, soldiers, craftsmen, and many Judeans are then taken in the second deportation. If you are familiar with the prophet Ezekiel, this is where we find him in a convoy of Judeans leaving.

When was this written?

• This is when we find Jeremiah prophesying according to the passage we just read.
• This is a dark time, but worse is on the horizon. Jerusalem will fall with its walls, the temple will be destroyed, and horrific destruction will come to the people of Judah soon.
• The Jews in exile are at a low point.
• The throne is has been taken over by a puppet king.
• All of the beauty, strength, and intelligence have been exported to Babylon. Judah has become a joke.
• These exiles were hurting, and so Jeremiah’s message is clear to those who are now dispersed throughout:

Jeremiah 29:4-9— It said: 4 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 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. 7 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.” 8 Yes, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have. 9 They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them,” declares the Lord.

• What is the Lord’s message: Those who are in exile should not give up on having families. They should prioritize being godly amongst the Babylonians. They need to pray that the Lord would prosper the nation of Babylon so that they can continue to prosper as a people!
• Jeremiah is literally tell them to pray for the prosperity of their enemies and those who have taken them captive.

Jeremiah 29:10-14—This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”

• Verse 11 makes a lot more sense in context now doesn’t it.
• Jeremiah was prophesying that after 70 years of exile, God would bring the people back.
• God’s people would have been assuming at this point that because they were in exile, God had abandoned them. That God would allow for their downfall and leave them.
• But that’s what makes this so beautiful. Jeremiah reminds the people that if they seek Him, He will be found by them. That the condition of their heart needs to return to seek the Lord.
• God is going to bring them back to the land again. This is not the end of the nations’ They are to go on having families, and there is a promise that a future generation will experience the blessed return!

Jeremiah 29:15-18— You may say, “The Lord has raised up prophets for us in Babylon,” 16 but this is what the Lord says about the king who sits on David’s throne and all the people who remain in this city, your fellow citizens who did not go with you into exile— 17 yes, this is what the Lord Almighty says: “I will send the sword, famine and plague against them and I will make them like figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten. 18 I will pursue them with the sword, famine and plague and will make them abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth, a curse and an object of horror, of scorn and reproach, among all the nations where I drive them. 

Jeremiah 29:19-23— For they have not listened to my words,” declares the Lord, “words that I sent to them again and again by my servants the prophets. And you exiles have not listened either,” declares the Lord. 20 Therefore, hear the word of the Lord, all you exiles whom I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon. 21 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says about Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying lies to you in my name: “I will deliver them into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will put them to death before your very eyes. 

• Doesn’t sound to much like the sermons you have heard on Jeremiah 29:11 does it.
• What is the future of the generation currently in Judah?
• Jerusalem will be destroyed.
• Jeremiah is going to continue to preach against Judah for the remainder of his time as a prophet.
• He is going to tell Zedekiah to surrender to Babylon, which will lead to him being accused of treason. Jeremiah will eventually after the fall of Jerusalem, that he is present for, be taken into captivity and executed in Egypt.
• What Jeremiah prophesies does come to pass! Zedekiah, the prophet king of Judah, will rebel against Nebuchadnezzar, and then his sons will be killed in front of him. His eyes were then gouged out and he was taken into captivity in Babylon. They wanted the last thing for him to see was his lineage killed in front of him.
• What about the exiles? Well, their hope and future were not short-lived. Jeremiah prophesied correctly that they would be in captivity for 70 long years.

So what is the application of this chapter for us. If not the typical application we here when talking about Jeremiah 29:11.

1. We need to trust God’s plan even when we don’t understand God’s timing.

• The exiles expected it immediately, but Jeremiah wanted them to be aware that it was going to be decades until they even had the chance to return home.
• Those in Judah loved to listen to false prophets who offered shortcuts in the plan of God.
• Jeremiah says, “God hasn’t forgotten you, but he is punishing you for your sin, and it is going to be longer than you think.”
• Sometimes in life, we wish we could fast-forward.
• But a SKIP AHEAD button does not exist in your story.
• We see that in Scripture with Abraham. God promised him he would be the father of a great nation and have children as numerous as the stars. He had faith, but then he doubted and tried his own way.
• David was anointed king as a young shepherd boy, but for years he experience persecution, being on the run from Saul, living in caves, and struggling as he waited for his rightful day to be on the throne.
• Are you wishing you could skip ahead?
• PERSONAL: Our family is in a season where I have been tempted to pray for a skip-ahead button. But God has convicted me time and time again that his timing is far better than mine. There is no shortcut.

Scripture helps us understand how we should interpret our present and future.

Matthew 6:34— “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

James 4:13-15—Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”

So Matthew tells us not to WORRY about tomorrow

James tells us not to PRESUME about tomorrow

Jeremiah tells us not to WASTE today waiting for tomorrow

2. Do not waste today waiting for tomorrow- thrive in Babylon.

• We can be so anxious for tomorrow that we miss the opportunity to truly honor God today.
• For the exiles who were being taken into Babylon, Jeremiah instructed them to continue to thrive in Babylon and to pray for the prosperity of Babylon while they are there.
• You and I find ourselves in our very own Babylon here today.
• If you have received Jesus then you are not a citizen of this world but a citizen of heaven.
• Philippians 3:18-19—I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven. 
• 1 Peter 2:11-17— Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. 12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.13 Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, 14 or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. 15 For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. 16 Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. 17 Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.

What Paul and Peter wrote instructs us on what it looks like to thrive in our current Babylon.

• Jesus instructed us to pray, “Your kingdom come here as it is in heaven.” We are called to live in such a way that when others are with us, they experience a bit of heaven.
• We should be different from the world but we should not be isolated from the world.
• We should desire our community to prosper. We should desire for God’s goodness, love, and mercy to be poured out over our schools, businesses, and neighbors.
• For you who do not find yourself in a season of struggle… are you living in a way that uplifts and cares for those around you who are struggling?
• Live as the hands and feet of Jesus. You have no idea how much small acts of faithfulness can impact.

3. Be faithful where God has placed you.

• STORY- A family that was faithful to bless my family as a child.
• God told the exiles to be faithful while they waited.
• Don’t get distracted with all of the earthly things but instead be those who seek first the kingdom.
• Don’t put life on hold while you wait for your circumstances to change.
• God wants you to bring him glory in the waiting.
• Stop waiting for someday, but instead choose to honor God today.
• You have everything you need in Christ, according to the Scriptures, to live a godly life today.
• If you don’t agree with me, then look at the long history of Christians who suffered under far worse conditions than we have here.

4. Where are you investing your hope? 

• He says you have a hope and future for a nation whose near future was destruction and struggle.
• God was judging Babylon for their sin. And not every time that we sin is God tossing hardship our way in order to judge us. If you are in Christ, you are no longer condemned.
• Hard circumstances are sometimes exactly what God knows we need for our heart to change.
• Hebrews 12:10–11 — “He disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.
• Romans 5:3-5—Suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope
• He wants to refine your faith like gold, and so sometimes challenges are before you not as a punishment but as an opportunity to call upon the name of the Lord.
• If you will remember right, those exiles were not alone when they went into Babylon. God went with them. He protected Daniel and his friends from lions and fire. He provided what was needed for Ezra and Nehemiah to come back.
• Your story isn’t over. The question is: What are you going to hope in today?
• Place your hope in Jesus. Place your trust in Him
• As 1 Peter tell us: 

1 Peter 1:3-4— Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.

Place your hope in the right thing!