Day 18 - The Best Community

Jeremiah 31:33 (ESV) - For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
(READ JEREMIAH 31)

The idea of a perfect society is called “utopia,” a term coined by Sir Thomas More in his fictional book Utopia (1516), which described an island where a community lived with perfect law, justice, and politics. In the late 1700s, a religious group known as the Shakers attempted to form a utopia. They held to common ownership of all property, pacifism, celibacy, and confession of sins. 

Communism aimed for a utopia. North Korea claims to be a utopia—though living there is more like living in hell. 

The word “utopia,” by the way, literally means “no place.” 

The best kind of human society or community we can hope for on earth is one God forges—a “covenant community.” He calls us to live in the covenant. 

Jeremiah 31 describes the best community, one based on the “new covenant.” God makes this happen because we, mankind, are not capable of creating true civilization, much less a utopia.
“The days are coming when I will make a new covenant [with my people]. I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the LORD. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” Jeremiah 31:31–34

The best community begins with an internalization of God’s law, written on our hearts. Most people think that God makes rules, tells us the rules, and then we’d better follow them—or else. That does not work. After the coming of the Holy Spirit, we can know God’s law internally. We can obey God instinctually. When we do the right thing, it is because it is right and because we want to do it.
“I will be their God, and they will be my people.” God asserts this. He will do it. We cannot create it. God’s love and power make it happen. 

“They will all know me, from the least to the greatest,” means that the knowledge of God, and a relationship with God, are available to everyone, not just the priests. All made possible because of God’s total forgiveness. 

There is no utopia. But we are called to something better: God’s new covenant community.

PONDER:  What are the benefits of God’s law being written on our hearts? 

REFLECTION or DISCUSSION:
Jeremiah was a prophet who gave us a glimpse of what our relationship with God would look like once Jesus came and established the new covenant. In Jeremiah 31:31-34, we read about our new place with God through Jesus. Through the sacrifice Jesus made for us on the cross, God looks at us and sees Jesus’ righteousness. To understand how much Jesus gave up for us we need to understand that we sin. Use the following verses to have a conversation about sin and God’s forgiveness.
 
Read these verses on sin: Jeremiah 31:34, Romans 6:23, Romans 3:23, & James 4:17. What does sin mean? Look at God’s forgiveness in these passages: 1 John 1:9 and John 3:16-17. How does God’s forgiveness make you feel?