Jeremiah 29:4-7 - Serve our City

Introduction: A Vision for Our City

Good morning, Well Community Church, and welcome to those of you joining us online. My name is Josh, and I’m one of the campus pastors here. It is a privilege to open God’s Word with you today. We are currently in the middle of a three-week mission-focused journey. Last week, Mike led us in looking at serving our world; today, we’re focusing on serving our city; and next week, we’ll talk about serving our church.

Speaking of serving our city, just a few weeks ago, we joined with eleven other churches to pour our hearts into twenty-five service projects across Fresno and Clovis. Over a thousand people participated in what has become known as “Serve Fresno,” an annual event where we tangibly put the love, the gospel, and the hope of Jesus Christ on display.

You know, the group I was with went to the Hidalgo neighborhood, just off First Street between Belmont and Kings Canyon. We partnered with World Impact—Manuel and Kim Contreras are part of our strategic partners in local mission there—and a group called Beautify Fresno. My job for the morning was picking up trash. On the surface, that might seem mundane, but we were given insight into the why. Beautify Fresno wants to bring neighborhoods together to clean up the streets so they are beautiful places to live, work, and play, instilling a sense of pride in the community.

Manuel shared his story with us—a story of being in a gang, coming to know Jesus, and now seeking the good of the city. In all of this, we were given a refreshing vision for the work we were called to do. I believe God wants us to have a renewed vision for why we are in our city. We want to take a 30,000-foot look and ask: What does it look like to view Fresno and Clovis through a kingdom lens? What does it mean to represent the Kingdom of God in the place where we live?

The City of God in the City of Man

One of the great leaders of the ancient church was a man named Augustine. Writing in the fifth century after the empire of Rome crumbled, he spent sixteen years writing a book called The City of God. In it, he explored the relationship between two cities: the “City of Man,” which does not value or represent God, and the “City of God,” the people of God living within that city. He asked: How does the City of God exist in the City of Man? Or, as Jesus would say, what does it look like to be in the world but not of the world?

Augustine laid out three potentially negative ways the church responds to its city. The first is indifference—the church on the corner that keeps to itself. If they left, nobody would miss them. The second is anger—railing against the evils of the city and simply desiring God’s judgment to fall. This is the “Jonah attitude,” sitting on a mountain pleading for destruction. The third is conformity—loving the city so much that you become just like it, bending the will of God to fit the values of the culture.

Each of these falls short. They fail to live as salt and light. But Augustine points to a fourth way: Engagement. Being for the city in the same way that God is for the city. To understand this, we’re going to look at Jeremiah chapter 29.

A Letter to the Exiles

Jeremiah’s ministry lasted about forty years, ending when Jerusalem fell and the temple was destroyed by the Babylonian Empire. His job was to pronounce judgment on the people because they had been disobedient to their covenant with God. It was a hard job. People hated him, mocked him, and threw him in prison. He’s known as the “weeping prophet” because while false prophets were saying, “Everything is fine! God isn’t going to judge you!” Jeremiah was telling the truth: judgment was coming, and it would last seventy years.

Jeremiah wrote a letter from Jerusalem to the people who had already been taken as captives to Babylon. The Babylonians were brutal. They killed, they destroyed, and then they deported the survivors 500 miles away to Iraq. Their goal was assimilation—to make the people of God lose their identity and become completely Babylonian within a generation.

Jeremiah 29:1-3 (NASB)

Now these are the words of the letter which Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the rest of the elders of the exile, the priests, the prophets and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. (This was after King Jeconiah and the queen mother, the court officials, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen and the smiths had departed from Jerusalem.) [The letter was sent] by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, saying,

So, what are the people of God supposed to do for seventy years in a place that flaunts idol worship and sexual immorality? Look at God’s instructions through Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 29:4-7 (NASB)

’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]; and plant gardens and eat their produce. ’Take wives and become the fathers of sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; and multiply there and do not decrease. ‘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 have welfare.’

Jeremiah writes a pastoral letter that gives us three clear instructions. First, make this place home and multiply. Build houses, plant gardens, and envision a generational future. Don’t just survive; increase. Second, seek the welfare of the city. The word for welfare here is Shalom—it means holistic health: spiritual, physical, and relational. God’s heart has always been to bless the world through His people. Even in Babylon, they were called to be a blessing. Third, pray for the city. God wanted their prayer to be structured into their lives, not just a generic “thoughts and prayers.” He tells them that in the welfare of the city, they will find their own welfare.

We Are Spiritual Exiles

Now, we might think, “Well, we aren’t exiles in Babylon.” But the New Testament actually says that as followers of Christ, we are spiritually considered exiles in this world.

1 Peter 2:11 (NASB)

Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul.

Peter even closes his letter by mentioning “she who is in Babylon,” referring to Rome. In the Bible, Babylon represents the systems and cultures of man that are often hostile or indifferent to God. If we are salt and light, and if we are ambassadors for Christ, then we are called to engage our city.

Matthew 5:16 (NASB)

’Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

2 Corinthians 5:20 (NASB)

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

So, what does this look like for us today in Fresno and Clovis? I want to ask three self-reflective questions.

Question 1: What does it look like to make this place home?

Where you live right now, what does it look like to settle in and envision a future? Some of us are here by choice, some feel stuck, and some are counting the days until they can move to Texas or Idaho. But regardless of how you got here, there is a negative narrative about Fresno—a history of “self-loathing.”

Recently, I was doing a wedding in the Bay Area, and my aunt asked how my oldest son was doing. I told her he had moved back to Fresno from Fremont. She said, “Oh, I’m so sorry. That’s so sad. There’s nothing to do there!” I found myself on my heels for a second, but then I realized: I love the community here. I love the people. This is where God has strategically placed me. And if you’re here, God has strategically placed you here, too. Let’s embrace this place.

Question 2: What does it look like to seek the welfare of my city?

Our mission at The Well is to help people connect to God and each other in every neighborhood. We believe that is good for the city. This starts right where you are: where you live, work, study, and play.

Do you speak kindly to your roommates? Do you pray for your neighbors? Can you invite a coworker to join you in a good cause, like our toy drive? Even your hobbies can be a place of connection. I love to run, and we have a low-key group called “Run Well.” Earlier this year, a guy named Mike parked next to me at a race. We started talking, I invited him to our run group, and eventually, I invited him to church.

Mike didn’t follow Christ, but he was spiritually open. He started coming to our campus, joined an equipping class, and began reading the Bible for the first time. This fall, he joined a life group, and during a prayer experience, he connected with God and embraced the gospel. He put his faith in Jesus! That happened because everyday life became a place to seek the welfare of our city.

Question 3: What does it look like to reach our “Samarias”?

We also need to seek the welfare of the neglected areas of our city—the places we might be indifferent toward. This is why we do Serve Fresno. I think about Manuel Contreras again.

Manuel was a gang leader who found Jesus in prison. When he was released, he told his gang he was done. They told him to meet them at Roding Park at 9:00 PM to be “jumped out.” As thirty guys surrounded him, Manuel prayed. But the gang leader started weeping. He said, “I can’t believe you’d let us do this for your faith. We see it’s real now. You’re free to go.” One member told him, “We’re going to watch you, and if this is fake, we’ll kill you.” Manuel calls that “extreme accountability!”

Today, the apartment complex where Manuel works—once a center for violence and drugs—is a community center, a food distribution hub, and a safe house for survivors of human trafficking. Even people who don’t know Jesus can agree that this is good for the city. But while we can lock arms with the city on good deeds, we know that good deeds alone don’t change a heart. We need the good news of the Gospel, because only Jesus can truly transform a life.

A Heart for the City

Finally, we must pray. Prayer is where this starts. Don’t just run out and try to do things; ask the Lord where He is leading you. Ask Him to give you His heart for the city.

Luke 19:41 (NASB)

When He approached [Jerusalem], He saw the city and wept over it,

Jesus saw the city and wept over it. If you feel indifferent, ask God to change your heart. It all comes back to the Gospel. Christ died and rose so that we might make Him known through our good words and our good deeds.

John Piper says it well: “The greatness of Christian exiles is not success but service. Whether we win or lose, we witness to the way of truth, beauty, and joy. We don’t own culture and we don’t rule it. We serve it with brokenhearted joy and long-suffering mercy for the good of man and the glory of Jesus Christ.”

Let’s pray. Father, we thank You that in Christ You have called us out of darkness and into Your marvelous light. Help us to recognize that we have been redeemed not to sit back or conform, but to engage. Help us to be for our city the way You are for our city. Give us compassionate hearts and lead us into the next steps You have for us. We pray this in Jesus’ name, Amen.