https://youtu.be/cb10vU7m55s
1 Peter 3:13 Now who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good?
Who will harm us if we do good?
I hope that we know how dangerous it is to take one verse out of the bible and hold it up out of context. If you’ve ever been to a Christian book store, there is a whole industry that thrives on this. You can find cups and t-shirts, bookmarks, framed photos, bracelets… you name it. If its big enough to print a bible verse on, they’ll do it.
Jeremiah 29:11 is one of the most abused verses in this genre. See if this sounds familiar: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
It sounds great, right? God wants to prosper us and give us a future! It’s a great Hallmark moment. Here’s the thing, though. If you read the context of that passage, its not as great as it sounds. The Jewish people have been carried off to Babylon and God tells them in v. 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 is not what they wanted to hear! They wanted to go home. And God is telling them, settle in and and help prosper the nation that enslaved them. And – to get comfy because in v. 10 – the verse just before the happy Hallmark verse, he tells them that he would bring them home “after seventy years are completed” in Babylon. 70 years! That’s his plan for them. That is their hope and future. 70 years in captivity.
Now, here’s the other side of that. It’s not all terrible, because God is promising to prosper them and tells them they have a hope and a future. Like many of God’s promises, this one is conditional. He’s not telling them just to sit tight and he’ll come rescue them someday. Listen to the whole thing.
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.” 8 Yes, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have. 9 They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them,” declares the Lord.
10 This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place.11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity.[b] I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.
He will gather them up and take them back after all that is done. God has a plan for us, but we have a part to play in it.
So, we’ve come a long way from 1 Peter.
Sure, that verse sounds good. Who will harm us if we do good? The problem is that its an unanswered question if taken all by itself. And my brain can come up with lots of answers, a lot of them not good ones. The bible doesn’t really give us an answer either but the next verse heavily implies that someonemight.
But even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed.
Ah, awesome. So I might suffer, but I’m blessed. I’m not feeling encouraged here.
But just like the passage in Jeremiah, we have to look at the whole picture here. The overall message is one of encouragement. It would be nice to be able to say that if we just follow God that bad things won’t happen to us, but the Bible makes it clear that that just isn’t the way things work.
However, it does tell us that when we suffer, God is there with us, helping us to bear it. For, as the verse just before this one we started with tells us,
“The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous
and his ears are attentive to their prayer”
And that, my friends, is good news.
1 Peter 3:13 Now who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good?
Who will harm us if we do good?
I hope that we know how dangerous it is to take one verse out of the bible and hold it up out of context. If you’ve ever been to a Christian book store, there is a whole industry that thrives on this. You can find cups and t-shirts, bookmarks, framed photos, bracelets… you name it. If its big enough to print a bible verse on, they’ll do it.
Jeremiah 29:11 is one of the most abused verses in this genre. See if this sounds familiar: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
It sounds great, right? God wants to prosper us and give us a future! It’s a great Hallmark moment. Here’s the thing, though. If you read the context of that passage, its not as great as it sounds. The Jewish people have been carried off to Babylon and God tells them in v. 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 is not what they wanted to hear! They wanted to go home. And God is telling them, settle in and and help prosper the nation that enslaved them. And – to get comfy because in v. 10 – the verse just before the happy Hallmark verse, he tells them that he would bring them home “after seventy years are completed” in Babylon. 70 years! That’s his plan for them. That is their hope and future. 70 years in captivity.Now, here’s the other side of that. It’s not all terrible, because God is promising to prosper them and tells them they have a hope and a future. Like many of God’s promises, this one is conditional. He’s not telling them just to sit tight and he’ll come rescue them someday. Listen to the whole thing.
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.” 8 Yes, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have. 9 They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them,” declares the Lord.
10 This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place.11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity.[b] I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.
He will gather them up and take them back after all that is done. God has a plan for us, but we have a part to play in it.
So, we’ve come a long way from 1 Peter.
Sure, that verse sounds good. Who will harm us if we do good? The problem is that its an unanswered question if taken all by itself. And my brain can come up with lots of answers, a lot of them not good ones. The bible doesn’t really give us an answer either but the next verse heavily implies that someonemight.
But even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed.
Ah, awesome. So I might suffer, but I’m blessed. I’m not feeling encouraged here.
But just like the passage in Jeremiah, we have to look at the whole picture here. The overall message is one of encouragement. It would be nice to be able to say that if we just follow God that bad things won’t happen to us, but the Bible makes it clear that that just isn’t the way things work.
However, it does tell us that when we suffer, God is there with us, helping us to bear it. For, as the verse just before this one we started with tells us,
“The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous
and his ears are attentive to their prayer”
And that, my friends, is good news.
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