Did you expect to be where you are today? Was this in your plans? I mean, I guess you can answer that question in a number of ways. Some of you are like, "No, I didn’t expect to be at a church that meets in a basement." (Only 3 more weeks, my friend!)

Others of you are like, "I never expected or planned to be living in San Francisco." Or, "I never thought that I would be doing the kind of work that I am doing."

And then there’s others of you for whom the question hits much harder. You never planned or expected to be divorced. Or to be single still. Or to be unemployed for this long. Or to not be a mom or dad yet. Or to be struggling financially. Or to be dealing with a health issue. None of that was in the plans.

So here’s the question that I have for us this morning: What do you do when life doesn’t turn out the way you planned? When you don’t find yourself in the place you hoped to be – whether that’s geographically or circumstantially?

And I’m asking that question in the context of this series that we have been in for the past two weeks. For the past two weeks Pastor Ben has been talking to us about how we’ve been called to be a city on the hills – called to be a people that recognize that we are blessed in order to be a blessing; that we are a people called to make life more than just about ourselves but we are to make it about others, which is awesome and true!

But if I’m being honest, when life is not going the way I hoped it would, all of that can easily go out the window. My temptation in those moments is to turn inward. My temptation is to become consumed by my problems and focused on just getting through whatever rough patch I’m going through. In those moments I can easily lose focus of the bigger picture.

How about you? When life isn’t going your way, are you still letting your light shine? Being that city on a hill? Or are you covering it – snuffing it out – because you are so inwardly focused?

Now hear me, I’m not telling you to neglect your issues. Not at all. What I’m saying today is that our issues don’t disqualify us from the call in our lives to make a difference in the lives of others.

(By the way, do you realize the context in which Jesus tells us that we are to be a city on a hill? He says that right after he says that we are blessed when we are insulted and persecuted for being his follower. You are to be a light even when life gets hard. In fact, that’s when your light might shine in this world even more – when hurting people watch you go through difficulties – not alone, but with God.)

So I’m not telling you to neglect your issues. Nor am I going to tell you what the world is prescribing – which is for us to just focus on ourselves. But what you will hear me say today is that what you and your circumstances may need most is to turn outward. For several reasons.

1) I’m not going to speak unilaterally, but I do believe many times that that is the invitation from God.

2) You will find that the moment you start to help others is the moment that you find yourself being helped in incredible ways.

It seems counterintuitive, but this is what we find throughout the Scriptures. For today we are going to look at a specific period of time for the people of Israel when they did not find themselves where they planned or hoped to be. What they were going through was not in the cards whatsoever. And they had different people telling them how they should live during this unplanned and even unfortunate period of time. But God had something to say about that – another way for them to live. Let’s take a look.

Jeremiah 29:1, 4-9

1 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. … 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.”

This was a dark time for the nation of Israel. They had been captured by a much more powerful nation – the Babylonians. And many of the cultural elites (the priests, the elders, and many others) of Israel were sent to live in Babylon. So think about this: these men and women were taken from their land – a land that God had given them – to be exiles under an oppressive regime.

Let me ask you. How would you feel? How would you feel towards the Babylonians? How would you approach life in this new land?

Before we fully go there, let me complicate things a little bit more about how you might feel. Here’s something that I find fascinating about this situation. In verse 1 it mentions that Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, carried the Israelites to Babylon as exiles. (“This is the… letter… to… all the… people Nebuchadnezzar had carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon”) But in verse 4 it says that God carried them. (“This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon”)

When I was in seminary my preaching professor taught us that when teaching through a passage of scripture we should ask and answer three questions: 1) What does it say? 2) What does it mean? 3) What does it mean for me?

I just showed you what it says. It says that the King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon carried the Israelites into exile. But then a few sentences later it says that God was the one that carried them into exile. But how can that be? And what does it mean?

Well, it doesn’t mean that God is evil. It doesn’t mean that Nebuchadnezzar and God are one in the same. No. What it means is that God is never caught by surprise. It means that God can use unfortunate things that happen in this world and in our lives and use them for his purpose.

This might sound strange to some of you, but when something bad happens, the best thing for you to hear is for God to say that he allowed it. Hear me: he didn’t cause it. Many times bad things happen because we live in a fallen and broken world; and sometimes it is our own sin and disobedience that brings about consequences – which was the case for the Israelites in this scenario.

But listen, when bad things happen it brings me peace to know that God is involved. Because God is good. This is what Paul is declaring in Romans 8:28 – And we know that IN ALL THINGS God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. This is why we need to hold onto passages of scripture like Genesis 50:20, where Joseph says to his brothers that sold him into slavery, "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives." (Genesis 50:20)

So, I’ve told you what the passage says. I’ve told you what it means biblically and theologically. But what does it mean for us?

Well, let’s go back to the question that I opened with: Did you expect to be where you are today? Now that’s an important question. But based on what I just covered, in a way, it kind of doesn’t matter why you think you are where you are. Is it possible that the Lord is using whatever those circumstances were to bring you here to San Francisco for a purpose – for His purpose? Is it possible that God wants to use your difficult circumstances for a greater purpose?

Listen, let’s just talk about place. Do you believe and understand that you might be here for reasons beyond the fact that this is where the tech jobs are? That you are here not only because your parents immigrated here 30 or 40 years ago? That you are here not only for your recovery; or because this is where they assigned you to transition from prison back to society? Yes, that’s part of it. That’s the earthly or surface level reasons. In essence, that’s Nebuchadnezzar in this whole exile thing with the Israelites.

But hear me, you are here because of a much greater reason. You are here because – dare I say – God planned it (or to use a Bible word, he ordained) for you to be here. And what he wants to do in you and through you is beyond what you can hope or imagine.

Look at what Paul says in the book of Acts: From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. (Acts 17:26) While we think that we or others are the ones making all these plans for us, God is the one who decides ultimately where and when we live. So you have to see your time here as not just a coincidence. As Mordecai told his niece Esther when she was in a position to save and do something for the people of Israel: "For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?" (Esther 4:14)

You are not here – in this city, in this year – simply to make money or go to school. You are not here because God is punishing you. No. Quite the opposite. He wants to prosper you and give you peace. But it’s going to come as you desire those things for others – as you pray and do the work necessary for the sake of others. That’s what he tells the people through the prophet Jeremiah.

Look again at what God is calling the Israelites to do: “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.” (vv.5-7)

Probably about 10 years ago Julia Roberts made a movie called Eat. Pray. Love. I never watched the movie, so this is not an endorsement. I’m sure it is completely different from the plot of Jeremiah 29. But I bring it up because instead of telling the Israelites that it’s okay to hate the Babylonians, or to isolate from them, or to plot revenge, he tells them to do the unexpected. He literally tells them to Eat. Pray. Love.

Now, for the rest of our time I’m mainly going to focus on the Eat portion of those three instructions; because it’s the one we hear about the least.

So let’s talk about Eat. God makes several statements that indicate he wants the Israelites to think long-term about their time in Babylon. Some of the Israelites believed that they would only be in Babylon for two years (but in fact, it’s going to be seventy). So he says, "Build houses and settle down", which is clearly about longevity.

But then he says, "Plant gardens and eat what they produce." I don’t have a green thumb, but I’ve been told that it takes time, intentionality, care, and patience to plant a garden. You can’t rush the process. And you can’t make it all about yourself.

I first heard this from Dave Lomas at Reality. But there is a difference between a miner and a gardener. A miner has a different mentality than a gardener. A miner takes from the land – until he can’t take any more – and then moves on. But a gardener cultivates the land. While they are harvesting from the land, and eating from the land, they are also sowing into it.

During the 1849 gold rush, people (mainly men) were coming from all over to get into the mining trade. They were looking to take from the land whatever it would give them – they were looking to get rich, and then move on.

Has anything changed?

San Francisco needs more gardeners and less miners. Hear me: God has not brought you here for what you can get but for what you can give. Too many of us have come to San Francisco with a miner’s mentality--what’s in it for me? But Jesus never used a miner in his illustrations. No. He tells the parable of the sower – which is a gardener – because he’s calling men and women who will invest and take care of the land. He tells parables about shepherding – because he calls men and women to take care and feed his people.

Now there are some of you that are here for literally a short period of time because of an internship or school. But others of you came with a period of time in mind. Your thinking has been, I’m going to be in SF for 3 years and then go back home; or something like that. Tim Keller, who pastored a church in NYC (a place just as transient as San Francisco, used to tell his congregation to consider doubling whatever timeframe they had in mind when they moved to the city. So if it was 1 year, stay for two. If it was 5, stay for 10. And so on.

But here’s the thing, I love this line I’ve heard Pastor Ben say: "It’s not how long you live in a place, but how you live while you are there." I don’t know how long you are here for. Unless you have a moving truck scheduled, you don’t even know how long you are here for. But while you are here, how are you going to live?

Eat. Enjoy the blessing that comes from cultivating and investing in the people of this city.

Pray. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper. (v.7b) Our blessing – not just material; but soul blessing – is tied to the people of the city. And that can only come from God. So we pray.

But lastly, we Love. Prayer is an act of love. We should start there. But the first part of verse 7 takes it further. It tells us to seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. It’s saying to do something for the city. Do something for the people of the city. Seek their wholeness – that they would prosper in soul, mind, body, and spirit.

This is what Jesus did for us. First of all, in Hebrews it says that Jesus is interceding for us right now at the right hand of the Father. He’s praying for us. But he also just didn’t hope we got better. He came to seek and save the lost. We would all agree that there are countless in our city who are lost. And the lost are not only in the Tenderloin. But it’s the person in the workstation next to you. It’s the person in the multi-million dollar home across the street. God has placed YOU specifically around those individuals for you to pray for them and for you to look for ways to help them find peace – wholeness – in every area of life through Christ.

Listen, I know what we are being called to is not easy. Our flesh is not leaping for joy. Our world (the news and our family back home) is telling us the opposite of what we have heard today. People think you are crazy for living here. But the Lord is saying to most of you, "You are right where I want you. For such a time as this I have brought you here with a plan and purpose that is beyond yourself." How will you respond?