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2 | P a g e Building Hope Seeking the Shalom of Newport Jeremiah 29:7 • Nehemiah 1–3 • Isaiah 58:12 When people think about the Bible, they probably don't think it has much to say about cities. But actually, cities are everywhere in Scripture. And particularly in the Old Testament accounts of Jeremiah and Nehemiah – these belong together. Jeremiah tells God's people to seek the welfare of the city where God has placed them. Nehemiah shows us how to do it. Jeremiah gives the calling. Nehemiah gives the example. And all the way through, God keeps showing us something remarkable. He doesn't give up on places. • He rebuilds them. • He restores them. • He fills them with hope again. Our reading comes from Jeremiah when the prophet is telling the displaced people what God is calling them to do That matters because we live in a city. Newport is not just where we happen to live. It is where God has placed us.
3 | P a g e This is our cynefin [cun-eh-vin] our place, our community, the place where we belong and where God has called us to follow Jesus. And the question this morning is very simple. What does God want for Newport? God wants the city to flourish Listen again to Jeremiah. "Seek the peace and prosperity of the city... Pray to the Lord for it." That word "prosperity" is the Hebrew word shalom. It means much more than peace. It means wellbeing. • Wholeness. • Justice. • Hope. • Communities where people flourish. God says to his people, "I want you to care about the place where I've put you." Not because it is perfect. But because I love it.
4 | P a g e Imagine if every Christian in Newport woke up every morning asking one question: How can I help this city flourish today? • Not just my life. • Not just my church. • Not just my family. • But this city. • Its schools. • Its businesses. • Its young people. • Its older people. • Its families. • Its streets. • Its future. That is God's heart. If Jeremiah tells us what to do, Nehemiah shows us how. When Nehemiah heard about Jerusalem, he discovered the city was broken. • The walls had fallen down. • The gates had been burned. • People were discouraged. • The city had lost confidence in itself. Sound familiar?
5 | P a g e Many cities today know what that feels like. • Communities change. • Industries disappear. • People lose hope. • It's easy to criticise. • Easy to complain. • Easy to say, "Someone ought to do something." Nehemiah did something different. He wept. I love that. • Before he organised. • Before he planned. • Before he rebuilt. He cared. The city broke his heart because it mattered to God. I wonder... When was the last time we looked at Newport through God's eyes? Not asking, "What's wrong with this place?" But asking, "What breaks God's heart here?" • The lonely? • The homeless? • Families under pressure? • Young people searching for meaning? • People who have never heard that they are loved by Christ?
6 | P a g e Before God rebuilds cities, he often begins by changing the hearts of his people. Nehemiah prayed before he built Nehemiah's first response wasn't action. It was prayer. • For days he fasted. • He prayed. • He confessed the sins of God's people. • He asked God to act. Sometimes we think prayer delays the work. But the bible tells us that it is prayer begins the work. If we long to see Newport renewed, then our first calling is to pray for Newport. • Pray for its schools. • Pray for its leaders. • Pray for its businesses. • Pray for its hospitals. • Pray for its neighbourhoods. • Pray for the people who have never walked through the doors of a church. Because every movement of God begins with people who pray.
7 | P a g e Tonight we have an opportunity to come together again, to listen to what God is saying to us in Newport and to pray, One of my favourite chapters in the whole Bible is Nehemiah 3. It's a chapter many people skip. It's full of names. • Families. • Builders. • Goldsmiths. • Merchants. • Priests. • People rebuilding one section after another. It doesn't seem very exciting. Until you notice something. Nobody rebuilt the whole city. Everyone rebuilt the bit nearest to them. Everybody built the bit in front of them
8 | P a g e What a wonderful picture of the Church. God isn't asking you to solve every problem in Newport. He's asking you to be faithful where he has placed you. Maybe your bit of the wall is your workplace. Maybe it's your street. Maybe it's your grandchildren. Maybe it's your neighbours. Maybe it's your school. Maybe it's a community group. Maybe it's one person who needs to know somebody cares. You don't have to rebuild the whole city. You simply build where God has placed you. Imagine what would happen if every Christian rebuilt the bit of Newport nearest to them.
9 | P a g e Repairers of broken walls Isaiah says, "You will be called Repairers of Broken Walls." That's a wonderful description of the Church. Because there are still broken walls today. Not walls made of stone. Walls of loneliness. • Walls of mistrust. • Walls between generations. • Walls between communities. • Walls between people and God. Jesus spent his whole ministry repairing what sin had broken. • Broken bodies. • Broken hearts. • Broken lives. And through the cross he repaired the greatest brokenness of all—our relationship with God.
10 | P a g e So every act of repair we undertake reflects the work of Christ himself. When we encourage a young person... When we support a struggling family... When we welcome a stranger... When we visit someone who is lonely... When we forgive someone... When we share the good news of Jesus... We are laying another stone in God's rebuilding project. We are builders of hope The Church is not called simply to maintain itself. We are builders. • Builders of faith. • Builders of hope. • Builders of community. • Builders of peace. • Builders of places where people encounter the love of Christ. Not because we think we can fix everything. We can't. Only Jesus can make all things new. But every act of faithfulness points towards the day when he will.
11 | P a g e The Bible ends with another city. The New Jerusalem. • A city with no tears. • No fear. • No injustice. • No death. That is where history is going. Every prayer we pray. Every person we love. Every life transformed by the Gospel. Every act of kindness. Every broken relationship restored. These are signs of that coming Kingdom.
12 | P a g e So where do we begin? • Not with a strategy. • Not with a committee. • Not with a programme. • We begin where Nehemiah began. We pray. We allow God to break our hearts for what breaks his. Then we look around and ask, "What is the piece of the wall God has placed in front of me?" And then, together, we begin to build. • One life. • One family. • One conversation. • One act of kindness. • One invitation to follow Jesus. • One street at a time. • One neighbourhood at a time. Because this is our city. This is our cynefin. [cun-eh-vin] And by God's grace, we are called to help build places where people can flourish until the day when Christ himself brings the New Jerusalem and makes all things new. Amen.