Last Sunday I had the privilege of being installed and preaching my first sermon as Pastor of Battle Creek First Church of the Nazarene. I chose to begin with a sermon series that acknowledges the problems and challenges that we face as part of everyday life now, and then asks, “What’s a Church to do?” 

My suggestion was that the church should commit to being faithful to what we’ve been called to be and called to do.   The Bible contains many instructions to Israel and the Church on how to live as the covenant people of God.  The first Sunday in this sermon series began by exploring a more general command that requires interpretation in order to obey it:

 “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.”   Jeremiah 29:7

Seeking the peace and prosperity of the city is not a specific command, but rather it is a vocation that orients Israel’s attitude and actions during their time of exile.  God gave them a command that was so large in scope that it is probably more accurate to speak about it in terms of a mission.  In the sermon, I suggested that God’s people are still called to seek the peace and prosperity of the city in which they find themselves. 

If you wish to see the entire service it can be found here: Watch Here

As I was preparing for this sermon I identified a major barrier to the church obeying this commandment.  For the purpose of clarity and focus of message, I chose not to address that barrier from the pulpit.  However, I do think it is a legitimate obstacle to the church’s faithful obedience. So I figured we could explore it together here on the blog page.

 “Us vs Them”

There are people who are not on our team or part of our tribe. They are not on our side of the issue. They are not part of our party. They do not share our school of thought or our values. They look different than we do; they come from a different culture, have different experiences, and set different goals for their lives.

 Does that mean that they are our enemies whom we must defeat or destroy?    

Sunday’s scripture text comes from a time in Israel’s history known as exile.  The people of Israel had been in a war with Babylon. The armies of Babylon invaded the land, destroyed their homes and other buildings, including the Temple, and then forcibly moved most of the population out of their homeland into the land of Babylon.  Babylon brought destruction, despair, and death to God’s people. 

And in the text we explored during the sermon on Sunday, the prophet Jeremiah instructed those same conquered and exiled people to seek the peace and prosperity for the city in which they now lived. These cities were the home of their pagan enemy that had conquered them. It was the home of the people who desecrated the temple and prevented them from living according to the traditions and teachings of their ancestors. 

Yet, the prophet Jeremiah boldly declares that God wants the exiled people to seek the peace and prosperity of these cities.  Jeremiah says to pray for them.  These people of Babylon, who were your enemies on the battlefield, who destroyed your way of life and took you from you homeland which God promised you, who worship pagan gods and idols… pray for those people. Seek peace and prosperity for them.

This was a shocking command to Jeremiah’s audience. And in a time of great divisiveness and antagonisms that we find ourselves in presently, I believe this is shocking word for us today as well.

Today, the default posture between dissimilar groups is one of “Us vs Them.”  They (whoever we designate they to be) are our enemies and our responsibility and duty is to fight them; the goal is to conquer those who hold different beliefs or identities than we do.

But Jeremiah’s command directs us to take a uniquely different posture: “Us for Them.” 

Seeking the peace and prosperity of those who have wronged us, those whom we fear, or those who are opposed to our ways seems so wrong.  But this is the command.  It reminds us that God cares about them too.  It reminds us that God’s Kingdom is not a Kingdom that rules by taking life, but by giving life. 

In Exodus 19:6 God tells Moses that the people of Israel will be a kingdom of priests; an entire nation of people who mediate grace, mercy, and forgiveness to the rest of the world.  Their primary concern is not their own well-being but the well-being of all of creation.   So we are to love our enemy like Jesus taught. We are to forgive our enemies, like Jesus modeled on the cross. 

We are not fighting against “them”.  We are fighting for them. God wants them to know peace and prosperity. And our “us vs them” approach to things will never bring the redemption and reconciliation that God wants for all of us.

I assume that many of you respond to this command the way that I did: If we quit fighting against our enemies and rather start seeking their peace and prosperity, won’t I be taken advantage of? Won’t I be defeated?  After all the reason I’m fighting an enemy is because they attacked me.  I have to stand up for myself and what I believe, right? 

This is where the most famous verse from Jeremiah 29 is meant to be heard; 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.

God tells his people that they weren’t moved into exile to be harmed or destroyed.  God sent them into the heart of Babylon to transform those people.  (The bible stories found in the book of Daniel are set during this time. Look at the impact that Daniel and the others have on the people of Babylon.) God announces through Jeremiah, that they are to love their enemies, work and pray to see “those people” receive the peace of God. 

Rather than desiring bad things to happen to them, seek prosperity for them.  And as you embrace your identity of being missionaries or ambassadors of God in this foreign land, you can trust that God did not put you in this situation to be harmed. God has a plan for God’s people.  There is a hope and a future for those who love their enemies and obey the commands of God. 

Our God is not a God who desires to conquer or destroy the world.  Rather God wants to redeem it. Be reconciled with it. To see it exist again in the manner it was created prior to the corruptive influence of sin.  And so to be part of God’s people is to be part of that grand mission of salvation and redemption.  As I said in service on Sunday, being a part of God’s people is an important vocation or calling.  It’s not an easy assignment, nor will we be faithful to it without a great deal of commitment and dedication. 

But Jeremiah reminds us that as the city around us prospers, so shall we.  As the world around us knows the peace and prosperity of God, the better life for everyone becomes, including our own lives. 

The predominant message in the world today is that everything is “us vs them.”  But the scriptures tell us that God is calling it to be “us for them”. And if we are faithful to that mission, if the world comes to know our God as its God, as the world comes to know Jesus as King and enemies are reconciled to one another, the “us and them” become “we”.

“There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:28

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