chaoticsoul

This post won’t be nearly as long or boring as yesterday’s, I promise. My wife got home last night and I asked if she had read the blog post, she just responded that it was “really long.” I’ll take the hint…

So, today for some reason I started looking into some writing by Tim Keller, a prominent pastor in New York City. I’ve never really heard his name come up much, but lately I’ve heard it a lot. In fact, Jonathan Bostic was talking about him the other day and it made me want to look up some information on God and the city.

Evidently, Keller is a huge voice for this idea that God has a heart for the cities of the world, and that Christians should be involved in shaping culture by investing in these places. I thought that sounded interesting, so I started googling him and found a bunch of stuff. If you have time, read through this one, for instance:

A Biblical Theology Of The City

It’s really fascinating stuff, the idea that God created man in the Garden of Eden, and that since the fall He’s been moving us continually toward Revelation’s new city, the new Jerusalem. Interesting, and I still don’t think it’s totally sunk in for me. I need to spend some more time on that.

But the thought that really caught my eye was a passage in Jeremiah 29 that he referenced. Jeremiah 29:11 has always been a verse I know and love (I’m singing the song in my head now…), but I’ve never heard this part of the chapter or what it’s really about. When Voddie Baucham was at our church he talked about Jeremiah 29:11 being a “multi-generational” promise. When God said “I know the plans I have for you…” he was talking to a generation that would never see those plans really come to fruition (see verse 10… seventy years would pass until the promise came true). So the promise isn’t just for us, selfishly, it’s a promise of good and hope that we are to pass down to our children and the generations after us.

Then, Keller pointed to verse 7, and it really jumped out at me. “Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because it prospers, you too will prosper.” I’ve never really seen such a direct command to involve myself in the city where I live, it’s a pretty down-to-earth bit of theology.

So that’s it, that’s what I’m stewing on now. What does it mean to “seek the peace and prosperity” of the city in which I live? How can I help this city prosper, and how will that affect the world and the way it views Jesus?