Awesome. Well, great to see you all this morning. My name is John. I get to serve as one of the pastors here at Peace Church. Welcome. Whether you're in the worship center, over in the chapel, downstairs in the family venue, or joining us online, great to be together this morning. We're continuing our series called Calling Out Cultural Lies. We've been talking about popular and witty slogans, sayings, things you might hear out in the world. And as Christians identifying where's the truth, where's the lie, and how are we supposed to live as a result? And this morning, we get to address a very important topic, calling out the lie, Christians should not speak into politics. You may have heard this before. I think it's really no surprise that some of us have heard this before. What are the two things you're not supposed to talk about at family dinner, religion and politics. And here we are today, we're going to talk about both.

Bonus. It also shouldn't surprise us when we consider some of the things that our own politicians have said about politics. In the words of Ronald Reagan, the most terrifying words in the English language are, I'm from the government and I'm here to help.

P.J. O'Rourke, journalist, said, giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. Some pretty negative things our leaders have had to say about their own profession. Finally, Mark Twain, of course, politicians and diapers must be changed often and for the same reason. If you don't know what that reason is, maybe ask a young parent somewhere near you, they could explain that to you. But we at Peace Church are not people of popular and witty mantras and slogans. We are people of the Bible. Amen?

And throughout this series, we've been going to God's Word and considering where is the truth, where is the lie in each of these mantras that we hear in the world? And today we're going to consider the world of politics and a Christian's role in it as we look at our passage, Jeremiah chapter 29. If you've got a Bible, would you please grab that open to it? If you don't have a Bible, we've got some on the shelves or a table somewhere near you. Jeremiah 29. I also want to say, as we launch into this, I am not a political professional or expert. I am simply a man with a Bible And that's what we're gonna get into this morning and talk about what God's Word has to say about this world That we live in a world of politics. So here we go. Jeremiah 29. I'm gonna read verses 1 through 9 then we'll pray Then we'll get to work Jeremiah 29 starting in verse 1

Jeremiah 29:1-9

These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders of the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. 2 This was after King Jeconiah and the queen mother, the eunuchs, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metal workers had departed from Jerusalem. 3 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. It said: 4 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. 6 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. 7 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.8 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream,[a] 9 for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the Lord.

This is God's word. Let's pray. We'll get to it. Father in heaven, I pray that you would please be with us. Open up our minds, our ears, our hearts to hear what you would have to say to us to be challenged, convicted, encouraged by it. God, I pray that you would fill me with your Holy Spirit. I'm up here as a broken man to bring your perfect word to your people. God, I pray that you would take it and bring it to your people that we would all learn and grow as a result. Father, thank you. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Awesome. Well, hey, our main idea this morning is this Christians should seek the welfare of whatever place God sends them. We're gonna look at that main idea in three points as we walk through our passage this morning. First point is this. Number one, you and I are part of this community. Christians, we are a part of this community. I want to unpack for you the first couple of verses, give you some context for what's going on in Jeremiah 29. There's a lot of Hebrew names in there. You might have gotten lost as we said some of those. So let me just give you a sense of what's going on in Jeremiah 29. All right, so in the Old Testament, the people of God are the nation of Israel. And at a certain point, the nation of Israel gets divided into two kingdoms the northern kingdom of Israel the southern kingdom of Judah The northern kingdom of Israel at this point has already been conquered The southern king of Judah has just recently been conquered by the most powerful nation in the world Babylon and now the nation of Babylon has taken people from Jerusalem the capital city of Judah and Exiled them brought them away to Babylon, you know when you were an ancient country and you conquered somebody else You had to kind of minimize their power, right?

You didn't want them to rebel against you. So you carried some people into slavery, you relocated some people, you didn't want the hometown heroes to rise up and come back against you. And so a bunch of people, God's people have been taken from Jerusalem and moved over to Babylon and they are now living as what we would call exiles, that our home is in God's heavenly kingdom, and yet you and I are called to live on this earth in earthly kingdoms until we are either called home or until our king comes and rules the earth. And so we share something in common with Jeremiah 29, and so we're gonna hear what this word, what this letter from Jeremiah has to say to us exiles, as well as these people who are in exile.

All right, here we go. Starting in verse four, 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 their 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.

Recently, my wife and I had a good friend of ours, a good friend of mine from college, he's a pastor over in Vermont. Every couple of years, they come over and visit and stay with us. And they came to our house recently and they got there before I did, I was at work. And so I came home and they had been kind of touring our property a little bit already. And it's one of the first things that he said to me when he came up to me is he said, he said, John, I see that you got a garden,

you got chickens, you got turkeys you got goats.

You got a bunch of kids You must plan on staying here a while. I said you bet I do I plan on being here a while This is my home. I love it here. This is my Community, I think the exact same thing is being said here by Jeremiah build houses and live in them plant gardens Eat their produce have a whole bunch of kids and grandkids settle in Jeremiah selling these people you're in exile. You've been taken away from your home. You've been sent by God somewhere But this is now your home the place where God has sent you. This is your community You are a part of it and that is critically important. He uses a key word here, the word multiply in this verse. It should remind us of the passage going back to the very beginning of the Bible. I think of Genesis chapter one. God created a man in his own image, in the image of God he created him. Male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, subdue and have dominion over it. God's original plan for human beings was that there would be a lot of us. That we would make a bunch of babies, that we would fill the whole earth, that we would cultivate it, that we would shape it after the image of the Garden of Eden, that we would make the whole world settled, a society according to God's good design. That was our purpose as human beings. Now, as believers, we also have the Great Commission, go therefore and make disciples. But as human beings, we also have a call from God to fill this earth and to shape it according to his good design.

Let me point you at one more thing here before we move on from this point. Jeremiah 29, the second half of verse 7, we're going to talk about the first half of verse 7 in just a minute. Second half of verse 7, it says, For in its welfare, you will find your welfare. The community that you live in, you are a part of it. You are not or at least should not be in isolation. When good things happen to the community that you're a part of, that will be good for you. When bad things happen to the community that you're a part of, that will be bad for you because you are a part of it. You are not separate, you are a part of this community, of the human race, of this world. Christians over the years have come up with a phrase to talk about this interesting situation we find ourselves in. In the world, but not of the world. You and I live on a spectrum of sameness and separateness.

On the one hand, we're not just like the rest of the world. Right, we follow Jesus, and so our behaviors, our thoughts, our actions, who we worship what we believe the truth we stand on is different You and I have an eternal perspective from God our creator and yet we're also Still a part of this community You and I are not supposed to look the same as the world. I could as your pastor

I think we push you in different directions at different times Sometimes we're telling you you got to look more different from the rest of the world. You shouldn't live the way that they're living. But sometimes, and this morning is one of those times, I wanna remind us that we are a part of this world, that we're supposed to reject both of the extremes here, that we should be just like the world, and that we should be totally separate. Instead, you and I are called to be right in the middle, in but not of the world. Let me ask you a question If we as Christians in this world are the people

Who have this book? the blueprint from the Creator For what human life is supposed to look like for what is good for what is true for what is just if you and I are those people that have this and we say Hands off not gonna participate not gonna be part of this y'all are on your own. What do you think will happen?

What will happen to our world if the people who have the good book, if the people who know what is truly objectively, absolutely from the creator is good, if we step back and say, you're on your own, what will happen?

I want to give you a reference that's pretty nerdy, I'm going to warn you ahead of time. It's from a great story called Lord of the Rings, books, movies. In that story, the whole earth, called Middle Earth, is at war. People fighting back and forth, good versus evil. And in the midst of it, a little hobbit goes to a great people, the tree people, have been around for years and years and years. They're very wise. They've seen things come and go.

They're very strong. They've got a lot of power to them. There's a lot of them. They're great in number. And a wee little man, a wee little hobbit named Mary, asks them to be part of the war of this world. And at first they say no. But then Mary poses the question again. But you're a part

of this world, aren't you? Christians, you and I have the wisdom of this book. You and I are filled with God's Holy Spirit. We've been given power to do something in this world. But I got to ask you a question. You're a part of this world, aren't you? If we won't stand for what is good and right and true and just, who will? The answer is no one. You and I are God's people sent to this earth to seek the welfare of other human beings.

Let's take a look at that very verse in verse seven. Number two, point, says this, we must seek their welfare. Take a look at verse seven. It says, 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. Key word in our text this morning, the word welfare. What does that mean? Where does it come from? I want to talk about the root Hebrew word here.

It's the word shalom. You've probably heard this word before. Some different synonyms for this word. Peace, welfare, completeness, safety, soundness, health, prosperity, contentment. The word shalom is a powerful, encapsulating word. It means total well-being, physical and spiritual.

Now it's absolutely true, and we talk about it all the time here at Peace Church, that you and I are called to preach the gospel of Jesus. We care first and foremost about the souls, about the hearts of human beings. You might ask the question, what could we do to bring about the peace, to bring about the shalom, the welfare of our community? How do we do that? That's the first thing that we go for, isn't it? The Great Commission. You and I are called to make disciples of Jesus.

If we want to change the world, we've got to change human hearts. And you know what changes human hearts? It's when people find Jesus, they realize that they have sinned and they put their faith in their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen? We want to change the world. We want to see people's hearts turn to our Savior through the gospel. You and I are also called to live as disciples of Jesus, to live as godly examples in our world. But I want to pose another question to you. Is there anything else that God also calls us to do? Is there any other way that you and I might be called to seek the good, the welfare, the peace of our community.

This is where I want to bring in an important word and a question. What in the world is this thing that we call politics? What is it? Before we write it off, before we decide, hey, it's dirty, it's bad, it's evil, it's awful, we don't want any part of it, we've got to decide what in the world is this thing? I want to pose to you a couple of definitions If you were to look this word up today on the internet

You'd find this politics are the activities associated with the governance of a country or other area Especially the debate or conflict among individuals or parties having or hoping to achieve power a little on a cynical side Right about the struggle for power you and I view it that way you and I have struggles with this word couple other definitions Very simple one from Merriam-Webster the art or science of government. Fair enough. Another definition, it's from the Greek poly, meaning many,

and tics, meaning blood-sucking parasites. That's not a real definition, but it belongs in the conversation. Sometimes to get a good definition, you gotta go to the really old stuff. 1828 Webster's says, "'The science of government, that part of ethics "'which consists in the regulation and government "'of a nation or state for the preservation of its safety, peace and prosperity, comprehending the defense of its existence and rights against foreign control or conquest, the augmentation of its strength and resources and the protection of its citizens in their

rights with the preservation and improvement of their morals. Politics as a science or an art is a subject of vast extent and importance. Long, old, but helpful. I want to go a little bit older. Let's go to the root of this word politics. If we go to the ancient Greek, you got a couple of words

that are at the root of this word politics. The polis. The polis was the city, the place where people lived. The polites were the citizens, the people who lived in the city.

The politika was simply the affairs of the city. If you live amongst a group of people, if you're a citizen with them, and if you ever try to do anything together, then you've been a part of politics. Let me give you an example. Have you ever tried to order a pizza with a group of friends? First you have to decide how are we gonna make this decision, right? Right, you want pepperoni, I want sausage, who gets to decide? Well, I'm paying for the pizza, so maybe it's me who gets to decide. Who gets how much money? You know, if you're paying more money than I'm paying, then maybe you get more of both than I get. In my house, it's not so much about who pays for the pizza, it's about who's gonna whine the most about what was on the pizza. And so in my house, my four kids get to decide what goes on the pizza, even though I'm paying for it. Okay, I've seen amongst them some things that we might commonly see in politics, I've seen some lobbying, right? Some, hey, some negotiating. Hey, I want all pepperoni. If this time you vote for all pepperoni, the next time I'll vote with you for all sausage. Okay? They're making deals.

Or they're trying to, they're doing like some under the table kind of things that don't actually have anything to do with the decision, but making some deals to try to swing things their way in the decision. Hey, if you vote with me on all cheese this time, then after dinner you can play with my Batman toy. Anytime you and I try to work with another group of people to decide something or do something, you and I are involved in something called politics.

If you're a parent in the room, you might not realize how much you play politics, but if you've ever tried to get your toddler to eat vegetables, then you have played politics, right? If you want your toddler to eat their broccoli, you say, I will give you a dollar to eat your broccoli. And I will give you $5 if you don't tell your mom that I give you a dollar to eat your broccoli.

All of us try to work with other people to get something done. We get involved in negotiating, lobbying, trying to decide something. How are we gonna make the decision, what kind of deals are we gonna make to get the decision done, all of us in some way, shape, or form are involved in what we would define as politics. Last point I got for us this morning. So politics is the affairs simply of a group of people. Last point I got for us this morning is this, number three, do not be deceived. Do not be deceived. I wanna take you to the last couple of verses of our passage, verses eight and nine. For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, do not let your prophets and your diviners

who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name. I did not send them, declares the Lord. In Jeremiah's day, there was false teachers among the people. Jeremiah's still in Jerusalem.

He's God's prophet. He writes a letter on God's behalf and sends it to them. But amongst the people there in Babylon, they've got other voices saying, you don't need to settle in. You don't need to love these people around you. You don't need to be a part of this community. These are people that God is against. You and I are going to go back to Jerusalem real quick. It's coming soon. If you read the rest of the chapter, you find out that's not true. It's gonna be years, it's gonna be generations until they get back to Jerusalem. There were people saying the opposite of what Jeremiah is saying and they were wrong. Brothers and sisters, we can't be deceived. As Christians, you and I absolutely believe that the time is short. Jesus could come this afternoon, Jesus could come tomorrow, Jesus could come a hundred years from now. You and I always have to have a fourth quarter mentality, right? the time is short the time is now it's time to make a difference and Scripture also tells us That we have to plan for generations of faithfulness for generations of impact on the world We have to train up kids. We have to care about civilization civilization and society. We have to love our neighbor. So you and I have to have a time is the time is now mentality and at the same time have a long-term mentality. Jesus gave us a mission to make disciples.

But the question is, once you've made a disciple, what is that disciple supposed to do? What do you do in the world? I wanna just run a few passages by you that we as disciples of Jesus would encounter in scripture and just consider How might they impact our actions in a world of politics?

Couple of passages Matthew chapter 22 famous passage. Jesus said to Jesus asked teacher Which is the greatest commandment in the law? Jesus says to them you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul with all your mind This is the great and first commandment a second is like it you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend the whole law and the prophets. Jesus says you and I are supposed to love our neighbor.

If we are called to love our neighbor, which means that we desire God's best for them and we pursue it, do you think that might mean that we might be called to lend our voice, to maybe lend a vote, to issues that matter. When something comes before us at the ballot, for example, in 2022, you and I, as Michiganders, had the chance to vote on Proposal 3, which was an amendment to the state of Michigan Constitution to enshrine abortion as a right. You think we as Christians, who are called to love our neighbors, who know that life begins at conception, that God cares deeply about the lives of unborn people, that our society will be healthier and better if those lives are protected, do you think that you and I are called to just sit back and say, no, you guys are on your own, I'm just going to stay out of it? Or do you think that we might have a role, have to speak to an issue like that? If we love our neighbor, might we have to get involved in a conversation like that? Let me point you to another passage, Micah 6a, Amos 524, a couple of just example passages from the prophets talking about our call to justice.

He has told you, O man, what is good and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God, but let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. God says that His people are supposed to be marked by justice, doing what's right, standing up for what's good, protecting the innocent. You and I stand right now, one day away from the one-year anniversary of Israel was attacked, people were murdered, raped, kidnapped, tortured? Do you think that when you and I have a chance to speak, to vote on rules, laws, representatives, do you think that we might need to care about the justice of an issue like that? And then we might bring that into the public square and it might affect how we vote or how we speak or how we participate. Are we just supposed to stand back and just say, no, I'm good, y'all figure it out. Or do we need to have a voice because we are the people that have God's truth, that we know what is good and right and just. One more passage I wanna look at this morning. It's a passage that you can't help but talk about when you talk about politics. Prominent passage in the Bible on how Christians relate to the government. Romans 13.1, let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. God is sovereign. He is the King of Kings. Nothing happens in this world apart from his involvement. Everybody who has power in this world, they have it because of God. And some have taken this passage and said, well, what this means then is that Christians, you're supposed to be subject.

You shouldn't speak, you shouldn't do anything, you should just do what your leaders tell you. Now, I've got some questions. I think we've got to think about the words that we're talking about. Let me just take you to the Greek word for be subject. Let every person be subject. The Greek word is hupotasso.

You want to speak some Greek this morning, you can say hupotasso with me on three. One, two, three, hupotasso. There you go. Y'all spoke Greek this morning. Beautiful. Well done. That word hupotasso is there in Romans 13.1, used for the word be subject. There's another place that it exists in scripture. We have to take into account multiple passages and think about what this word might mean. Another place that it's used in scripture is Ephesians chapter five. It says, wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. Hupotasso. So if in Romans 13, 1 we're going to say Christians, the Bible says that you're supposed to be subject, Hupotasso, to the government, which means that you need to be quiet and to say nothing and to not have a voice and just do what you're told. Man, if you go home and talk about that with your wives over lunch, I don't think that's what scripture says.

When we at Peace Church talk about Ephesians 5 or other passages that talk about God's call for leadership in the home, God has called men to that role in the home. And what do we believe about those who submit? We believe that wives are not called to have no voice or to not speak. We

believe in fact that wives are called to take all of their talents, all of their wisdom, all of their voice, and come alongside of their husbands and help them as they lead their home. Christians, we must do the same when it comes to our government. You and I are called to take all of our talent, all of our wisdom, all of our voice to come alongside of our leaders and to help them lead according to God's good design. And if we won't, to God's good design. And if we won't, who will?

I wanna address a couple of objections I think people might have in your minds as you're hearing some of this. Couple of things you might be thinking as a Christian considering what is our role in the world of politics. You might think politics are a distraction from the real mission. Jesus gave us the great commission, go therefore and make disciples of all nations. Absolutely. That is our primary calling and mission. And you hear about it time and again here at Peace Church. And what is a disciple supposed to do when they live in the world? We make these disciples followers of Jesus. You and I are those disciples, followers of Jesus. How do we live in the world? When we have a chance to speak to an issue, as a disciple of Jesus, are we supposed to just say, no thanks, I don't want to be a part of that, or are we supposed to be involved and say something?

Another objection, politics are divisive. They certainly can be. Unfortunately, I think in our country we've lost the ability to have a good discussion where we disagree and yet treat each other with respect. I think that's something that we as Christians could lead the way in regaining, that we can actually talk with people, disagree with people, and yet have respect for each other. I think that's something that we could lead the way in doing. You and I certainly shouldn't imitate the political commentators that we see on TV, the people yelling and screaming and red in the face. By the way, Christians, that's not how we go out there and talk about political issues. Don't take your cues from those people, take your cues from Jesus instead. But sometimes, over the truth, there might be division. There might be disagreement. I think you and I have seen time and again that we must stand for the truth, even when it is hard, even when it does lead to disagreement. Another objection you might hear from people is that politics is a dirty game, that it's full of corruption, that's full of underhanded, terrible things. That might be true. But is the answer for you and I to have no involvement, or is the answer for you and I to try to get in there and fix it?

Last one, I've heard people sometimes say, I don't want to have any involvement in politics. We're not needed because God's in control anyway. I would just put this idea before you. When you go and get in your car after service this morning, get ready to go home, and you think, am I gonna put on my seat belt or not? And you think to yourself, maybe I don't need a seat belt because God's in control anyway. I would just encourage you to remember that there are ends and there are means, and God ordains both the ends and the means. If God wants you to survive your car trip home this morning, one of the means that he might use to do that is your seatbelt. Just because God's in control doesn't mean that your actions don't mean anything. They do mean something. You and I have choices and actions and they matter in this world.

The disciples of Jesus live in a world that we can't help. It is a political world, a world where people are trying to work together to do some stuff, to get some stuff done, to shape society. How will disciples of Jesus engage in this world? Yes, you and I have a primary calling, and yes, you and I are disciples called to live as a part of this world. That's our main idea this morning, that Christians should seek the welfare of whatever place God sends them. Friends, you and I live in a unique time and place in history.

We gotta realize that in Jeremiah 29, the Jews in Babylon, they didn't have a vote. They didn't have a voice. They didn't get to protest or say something or call a representative. They had no voice in the system. In the early New Testament, the Roman Empire, those guys didn't have a voice or a vote. But you and I live in a constitutional representative republic. We do have a voice and a vote. As followers of Jesus, who love our neighbor, who want what's good for society, how could we not use it? How can we not get involved? How could we watch our community decay and do nothing about it? I want to leave you real quickly with a couple of steps that you can practically take today, this week, in the near future. What do you do now as a follower of Jesus? Number one, you and I are called to pray. You and I are called to pray. I think of passages like 1 Timothy chapter 2. Paul says, First of all, then I urge supplications, prayers, intercessions, thanksgivings bemade for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet, godly and dignified in every way type of life. God calls us to pray for our leaders, all of them, whether we agree with them or not. Number two, you can get involved by voting. In the United States of America, you and I have been given the privilege, the right to speak. If we are the people who have this book, who know what is good and true and right and just, how can we not speak?

How can we not use our vote? The data, the numbers, on the number of Christians that don't vote in every election year is staggering. Brothers and sisters, we're a part of this world and we have to use our voice.

Another step you can take, maybe, consider running for office. Now, not all of us in this room should probably run for office, but I think there's some in this room who should definitely run for office. Peace Church is a place that's full of godly, faithful, Bible-believing Christians who are wise, who want what's good for the world. How much better and healthier could our community be if more of the people in this room were serving in public office? Another one, you can volunteer. Every election year, there's an opportunity to serve, to work the polls. You can contact your county clerk, you can contact your township office, get involved, be able to participate and help the process of our society run and operate well. A couple more. You and I can start earlier. One of the complaints that I've heard in 2024, one of the complaints that I've made myself is how can this be the best two candidates that we have in our country?

I've heard many people say that time and again, but here's the deal. What if you and I started earlier so that we had more of a voice in who those two final candidates ended up being? This is something that I'm learning and growing in. I think there's something that all of us can learn and grow. If we complain about who the final two candidates are, maybe we need to get involved sooner to have more of a voice in who ends up as those final two choices in the race. Last but not least, you and I can learn more. You and I can keep growing. In the last couple of weeks, we taught a class here at Peace Shares called Christianity and Politics.

You can find it at resoundmedia.cc. Five videos, there's a link right on the homepage of Resound Media. You can go there and I wanna encourage you to check that out. It's a great resource.

We answered questions like, should Christians have anything to do at all with politics? What would a perfect government look like? Are we a Christian nation? Where do we go from here? We took some live Q&A. I would encourage you to check out that resource.