Show Notes
When the world feels broken and cultural divisions seem insurmountable, God calls us to respond with faithfulness. Jeremiah reminds us to seek the welfare of our cities and communities, to hope in God’s transformative power, and to act boldly even when it’s difficult. In this episode, you’ll explore how Christians can live out their faith in the public square, renewing neighborhoods and lives through service and vision.
Discover how the Bible calls us to engage the world with hope, courage, and practical action. Learn the power of manifesting God’s love through community work, collaborating with leaders for the common good, and trusting that faithful, Spirit-filled efforts can create lasting impact—even in broken places.
Nuance’s Formed for Faithfulness is a weekly liturgy to encourage all of us to be faithful to Christ in the public square. Join Case Thorp as he follows the Church calendar through the reading of Scripture, prayer, and short reflections on faith in all facets of public life.
For more on being faithful in the public square, make sure to subscribe for Nuance’s bi-weekly interviews with Christian leaders as they discuss everything from policy making to difficult conversations across worldviews at work to Christian art-creation.
Nuance’s podcasts are presented by The Collaborative, which provides diverse Christian media and collaboration services to equip industry/sector Christian leaders for effective contribution to the common good.
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Episode Transcript
While salvation is an individual miracle, it has community-wide implications and possibilities as we live out our new life in Christ in our everyday worlds. We celebrate and affirm this wonderful dynamic in this 18th week of normal time.
The word of the Lord found in Jeremiah chapter 29.
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.
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.”
If a single passage of scripture captures the essence of what we’re all about at Formed for Faithfulness, it’s probably this week’s reading from Jeremiah. Our desire to see Christians living out their faith in the public square in a way that helps renew the culture, experientially and economically, echoes the prophets’ adoration to the people of God carried away in exile. To see the welfare of the city means to look beyond its failings and fallenness with eyes of hope and expectancy and the belief that God can transform communities just as He does the lives of the individuals that form them. This isn’t always an easy posture, especially in times like ours that are so culturally divided. It’s understandable that some Christians believe it’s best to separate themselves from such a broken world. But at Formed for Faithfulness, we contend that such a response is short-sighted and misses the heartbeat of the Great Commission, that we are to go into all the world, not retreat from it. I think of Christian friends who are doing the former in my Orlando hometown, not proclaiming the gospel through their words, but manifesting it through their actions. They’re part of a nonprofit, Lift Orlando, which is helping revitalize historically underserved and unserved neighborhoods. Collaborating with businesses and cultural and civic leaders, they have over the last several years helped bring about more than $100 million in investment in housing, education, health and economic development projects. As a result, per capita income in those areas has increased by 75 percent, and child poverty rates have dropped 16 times faster than the county average. God’s people anchored in hope and bold vision have led a big audacious spirit-filled advance for the common good and they’ve done it all to the glory of God. I suspect Jeremiah would nod in approval.
Psalm 66 verses 1 through 11.
Shout for joy to God, all the earth!
Sing the glory of his name;
make his praise glorious.
Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds!
So great is your power
that your enemies cringe before you.
All the earth bows down to you;
they sing praise to you,
they sing the praises of your name.”
Come and see what God has done,
his awesome deeds for mankind!
He turned the sea into dry land,
they passed through the waters on foot—
come, let us rejoice in him.
He rules forever by his power,
his eyes watch the nations—
let not the rebellious rise up against him.
Praise our God, all peoples,
let the sound of his praise be heard;
he has preserved our lives
and kept our feet from slipping.
For you, God, tested us;
you refined us like silver.
You brought us into prison
and laid burdens on our backs.
Let’s join King David in praying from Psalm 122 verses 6 through 9, not just for Jerusalem, but for wherever we may live.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
“May those who love you be secure.
May there be peace within your walls
and security within your towers.”
For my brothers and companions’ sake,
I will say, “Peace be within you.”
For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,
I will seek your good.
In Jesus’ name. Amen.
And finally, from Paul’s second letter to Timothy chapter 2 beginning in verse 8.
8 Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, 9 for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained. 10 Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.
11 Here is a trustworthy saying:
If we died with him,
we will also live with him;
12
if we endure,
we will also reign with him.
If we disown him,
he will also disown us;
13
if we are faithless,
he remains faithful,
for he cannot disown himself.
14 Keep reminding God’s people of these things. Warn them before God against quarreling about words; it is of no value, and only ruins those who listen. 15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.
