The Good of the City

“Work for the good of the city where I’ve taken you as captives, and pray to Yahweh for that city. When it prospers, you will also prosper.” Jeremiah 29:7

Do you feel out of place? As followers of Jesus, I suspect we will experience this more often than not. Most of the world’s values run counter to the teachings of Jesus. Notice I said “world” and not “our society”. I am actually weary of hearing constant complaints about how “our society” is becoming more and more ungodly.

I am not a cheerleader for the ways of contemporary thinking; but, I also don’t want to go back to the 50s when segregation was the law and many who held views counter the popular opinion were blacklisted as Communists. And, although many Christian were involved in bringing greater civil rights to minorities, it is sad to note that not a few churches encouraged the status quo. I remember one of my great-aunts telling me her church taught that “negroes are the cursed race”.

Yes, many of our current society’s views concern me greatly. But “society” is always going to reflect the normal sinful nature of man. Jesus came, not to enforce standard from outside, but to transform men and women from within. Even if every law of the landed reflected so-called “Biblical values”, it would do nothing to change people’s character. The gospel is the great announcement that we can be forgiven of our disobedience and disregard of God’s ways, and also be transformed by the same power that raised Christ from the dead.

So, do you feel out of place? You should. It would not matter if you lived in 1955 or now, every follower of Christ will discover that sin has infiltrated every generation, no matter the good intentions of those who may be in power. To borrow from the 60s, we are to be a counter-culture, a clear alternative to the ways of self-seeking and the idolatry of pleasure.

God had given His people Israel a “time-out”. They had been disobedient for so long and had let idolatry take such deep root within, that it was necessary to remove His blessing from them to get their attention. Long story short, Babylon invades, and most Jews become exiles under Babylonian rule.

One would imagine God should tell them to build synagogues to keep themselves pure, stay away from their Babylonian neighbors, and find ways to derail the ungodly government. One needs only read the book of Daniel to see that those close to God actually were able to live quite close to the seat of government, and even were trained by their captors’ schools!

How different that seems from some of the escapism Christians occasionally adopt. We tuck our children away in private Christian schools, allow only Christian media in the home, shop on Christian websites and vote for only Christian candidates. None of those things are wrong in themselves, but if they are the symptom of a closed system of faith, we may not be accomplishing God’s desires.

Jeremiah tells the exiles, on behalf of God, to work for the good of their captors! Far from distancing themselves from their pagan neighbors, God wants them involved, highly involved. He wants them to go to the Nineveh Council meetings and volunteer to help spruce up the Hanging Gardens. He encourages them to become good employees and good citizens. Again, in Daniel, we see a young exile becoming a confidant of the King. This does not happen by hiding oneself away.

Beyond that, they are told to pray for the city. “When it prospers, you prosper.” I wonder what would happen if every follower of Jesus looked out their window and began to pray for every home and every business within sight. What would change if we began to “work for good” for everyone on our block?

What is God asking of us as churches in our cities? This verse isn’t a simple “evangelistic” verse. We all would be happy to pray for our neighbor’s salvation. Yet, God doesn’t mention evangelism specifically. He says pray for their “good”. As a pastor, I struggle deeply with making church less about a meeting once a week and more about being a positive influence in our own city.

I wonder if Jesus, the Son of God, perfection of perfection, felt out of place walking around this dusty planet with this self-seeking bunch of humans. I do know that all He did was “for our good”.

It is a good question to consider as individuals and as churches: “What would it look like for me to “work for the good of the city”…especially when I may feel very out of place.