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Tuesday
Jeremiah 29 v 1 – 14
We will be continuing with the three remaining “attitudes” today:
Attitude 3 — Despising the City
Christians respond to the prevailing culture with superiority and hostility. They feel
polluted by the presence of the unbelieving schools, entertainment, and arts. Some take a
more passive approach and withdraw from any real interaction, just denouncing and
bewailing the moral decay, while others aim to acquire cultural power. Psalm 137 gives us
a picture of people who are more angry than repentant over their new powerless
situation, and who cannot envision how they can worship outside of the land where they
had sovereignty.
Attitude 4 — Ignoring the City
Christians respond not with too much pessimism but too much optimism. They expect a
miraculous, sweeping intervention by God, which will convert many or most, and
explosively transform the culture. Consequently, instead of becoming deeply engaged
with the society and people around them, working with others to help with the troubles
and problems, Christians concentrate completely on building up the church and their own
numbers. Christians are pressed to go into ministry, but not to become playwrights,
artists, lawyers, or business people. They are just “passing through,” and not becoming
involved. The prophet Hananiah in Jeremiah 28 is a great example of this kind of approach.
Attitude 5— Loving the City
Christians engage with the dominant culture, but in ways that reveal thedistinctiveness of
the values of the kingdom of God. They are at their core verydifferent in the way they
understand money, relationships, human life, sex, andso on. Christians are truly residents
of the city, yet not seeking power over orthe approval of the dominant culture. Rather,
they show the world an alternativeway of living and of being a human community. For
example, they are activelyinvolved in serving those around them and in deeds of mercy
and justice.Jeremiah’s letter to the exiles in chapter 29 is a good example of this.
Note
Today, a city is typically defined almost exclusively in terms of population size.
Larger population centres are called “cities,” smaller ones “towns,” and thesmallest are
“villages.” However, the main Hebrew word for city, ‘iyr, means anyhuman settlement