Greg’s
Prayer Requests and Praises
March, 2008
Praises
1. Psalm 42:11 – “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.”
2. I was able to re-write a major part of my rough draft for my research paper for seminary. I have more work to do, but it was a major accomplishment.
3. Our Honor Our Servants program on February 10th went very well, as we recognized everyone who serves here at Grace.
4. Our constitution revision is ready to go to our people for a vote (March 30)
5. My meetings with men on Wednesday mornings have been a great encouragement to me, as we meet for breakfast and discuss a book.
Requests
1.That I will be able to finish my final draft on my paper and be able to graduate this May.
2. For Phil Dawson and I, as we travel to Michigan to speak for a spiritual emphasis week at Freedom Baptist Academy in Hudsonville.
3. Wisdom for the next steps we need to take as a church ministry.
4. For our Easter services (an “early morning” joint service with another church) and our regular service (where we expect to have more visiting non-believers than usual)
5. Upcoming messages: March
2 – WHAT? – Habakkuk 2:2-17
9 – Habakkuk 2:18- 3:16
16 – Habakkuk 3:17 -19
23 – Easter – Resurrection on Trial
30 – Mark 1:1-8 – beginning of Mark series
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Monday, February 25, 2008
WHY
WHY?
Habakkuk 1:12-2:1
Please turn in your Bible to Habakkuk, chapter 1.
Have you ever asked the question: WHY? There are many things that don’t make sense aren’t there? I read some questions recently that people have of common things in our lives:
· Why do we drive on parkways and park on driveways?
· Why do fat chance and slim chance mean the same thing?
· If a black box in a plane is indestructible, why can't they make the whole plane out of it?
· Isn't it a bit unnerving that doctors call what they do "practice"?
· If a cow laughed real hard, would milk come out her nose?
· Why does your nose run and your feet smell?
· Why do they put Braille dots on the keypad of the drive-up ATM?
· Why is it that when you're driving and looking for an address, you turn down the volume on the radio? [I do that, and have no idea why!]
· If a man is standing in the middle of the forest speaking and there is no woman around to hear him, is he still wrong?
· Why is abbreviated such a long word?
Those are why questions that really don’t mean very much to us, although they are fun to think about for a second or two. But, there are other why questions that might be a little more personal:
· Why do we all have the same inspired Word of God and yet there are disagreements among believers about almost every passage and issue addressed in the Scriptures?
· Why do we talk about having a special fellowship with other people and churches and yet we never actually get together to have some?
· Why are we expected to win a war across the seas, when we cannot see the enemy?
· Why do so many people that are obviously guilty not get convicted?
· Why do so many that are convicted not have to serve the full prison term?
· Why did God choose to put men and women together in a marriage relationship when He purposely made us so completely different?
· Why are children one of the greatest joys that can take place in life and one of the things that bring the greatest frustrations at the same time?
· Why is life so much shorter than it was in the Old Testament, when there are so many things we would love to do, including good things for the glory of God?
· Why do I have the desire to work hard and yet cannot find a good paying job that I can enjoy?
And there are yet even more serious, difficult to answer questions – ones we might ask of God:
· Why are so many babies aborted before they have the opportunity to live outside the womb? Why can’t science prove that life begins at conception?
· Why do so many children die in so many, tragic ways?
· Why do people die when hit by a drunk driver, and yet the one intoxicated seems to end up unharmed?
· Why do you allow school shootings?
· Why did you allow 9-11 to happen?
· Why do people who love you get cancer or some other disease that will take life too soon?
· Why did you bring me a spouse, knowing that we wouldn’t be able to last, having to go through a difficult divorce? Why didn’t you spare us the pain?
· Why don’t you seem to hear me when I call out to you in desperation?
· Why don’t you answer me?
· Why don’t you do something?
And then, when God does do something, we might ask: WHY did you do that God? I don’t understand!
Some of these are very personal, very difficult questions that we or others we know struggle with. People who have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ have them, and those who do not. If you can relate to some of these questions, perhaps you can relate to the questions Habakkuk the prophet was asking here in the book with his name.
Last week, I introduced to you a theme of Habakkuk: Living By Faith. We will see our theme verse next week, but this theme is seen throughout this prophecy. Habakkuk has questions for God, based on what he is experiencing. He has a dialogue with God, and a main message that will be seen more clearly is that God asks us, even in the midst of confusing circumstances, to live by faith.
Let me also remind you of the background for this particular book of Habakkuk. He was a prophet to the Southern Kingdom of God’s people called Judah. Israel was already in captivity and Judah was headed there in the future. But, for that present time, Habakkuk was experiencing incredible frustration with God over the fact that the terrible sins of His people were not being dwelt with. His first question was:
When are You going to bring true justice? Your people are sinning and you have done nothing about it. Well, last week, we also heard God’s answer: I am about to judge my people for their sin, and I have chosen the Chaldeans to do it. The Chaldeans (also called Babylonians) had taken over Babylon in Assyria, and they had a terrible reputation for being a cruel people, opposed to God and His ways.
Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1784: “I tremble for my country, when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever.” Habakkuk and Judah were about to experience God’s justice; but it was not in the form that they would have chosen.
That brings us to our passage this morning, beginning in chapter 1 and verse 12. Let’s go ahead and read the whole passage, going through verse 1 of chapter 2:
Habakkuk 1:12 – “Are you not from everlasting, O LORD my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O LORD, you have ordained them as a judgment, and you, O Rock, have established them for reproof.”
Habakkuk 1:13 – “You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you idly look at traitors and are silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he?”
Habakkuk 1:14,15 – “You make mankind like the fish of the sea, like crawling things that have no ruler. He brings all of them up with a hook; he drags them out with his net; he gathers them in his dragnet; so he rejoices and is glad.”
Habakkuk 1:16,17 – “Therefore he sacrifices to his net and makes offerings to his dragnet; for by them he lives in luxury, and his food is rich. Is he then to keep on emptying his net and mercilessly killing nations forever?”
Habakkuk 2:1 – “I will take my stand at my watchpost and station myself on the tower, and look out to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint.”
Habakkuk is still struggling, but he is now struggling with another question, another complaint, something else that he just does not understand.
This is great, because Habakkuk was like most of us. He asked God to do something, and then when God said what He was going to do, Habakkuk asked why in the world He would do it that way. It is like the experience many of us as parents have had. Our children will complain about something (yes, even the pastor’s kids do that!); and we will give them our solution, thinking that that should take care of the complaining. Only then, to hear them complain about how we were answering their original complaint. Doesn’t that just fill us with joy as parents? No. And yet, it is what Habakkuk was doing to God; and if we are honest, we have done it as well. Let’s take a closer look at Habakkuk’s specific complaint.
Habakkuk began his first complaint with a rhetorical question, and he does the same thing here with his second complaint:
Habakkuk 1:12 – “Are you not from everlasting, O LORD my God, my Holy One?..” This is a rhetorical question because the answer is so obvious, that it needs no answer. The answer, of course, is: Yes, God is everlasting, with no beginning and no ending.
1. Habakkuk was confident in God’s character:
· God is eternal
That is important in this discussion. Because God is eternal, He has seen it all and will last through eternity, as generations come and go. The fact that He is eternal should boost confidence that God can handle anything – including the cycle of human sin that continues.
· God is holy
Habakkuk uses significant terms for God. Using Yahweh (which most of us have translated LORD, in all capital letters), he refers to the name of God that reminds us how this is Israel’s God, the faithful God who called His people, protects His people, and sometimes punishes His people. He also uses a term translated God that refers to God’s supremacy. He also makes it personal: You are my God, my Holy One.
Habakkuk 1:13 – “You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong…”
Habakkuk’s confidence was that with a holy God, He would not excuse sin. This is what he was concerned about at the beginning of the chapter. But, God’s holiness also boosts confidence that God will never do anything that is wrong, even if His decisions are difficult to understand.
Habakkuk exclamation: “we shall not die” (verse 12) is hard to interpret; but the best guess is probably this. That he was talking about God’s people not passing away or being completely destroyed, because the everlasting God is Yahweh, Israel’s covenant keeping God. He was confident God would keep His promises and God’s people would never be extinguished.
This is the trust that a young child has in his parents. When he disobeys, he should know that he will be lovingly disciplined. However, that discipline is sometimes disagreeable and sometimes very painful. In fact, it could seem to the young child that his parents, because of their discipline, may not truly care for him. Yet, he must come back to the basic belief he has about the character of his parents. That they love him, even though they discipline him. And, although they may, in a moment of weakness, talk about selling their disobedient child to some foreign agency, he knows his parents are in it for the long haul, and plan to always be there for him (keeping their promises). I think that is the spirit in which Habakkuk is addressing God. He is holding onto the belief of what he knows to be true of God’s character.
Look at the second half of verse 12:
Habakkuk 1:12 – “…O LORD, you have ordained them as a judgment, and you , O Rock, have established them for reproof.”
· God is sovereign
This means that God is the creator of all, king of all, the one and only true God, and can do whatever He pleases. He is in control. Therefore, it is well within His character to choose to judge sin in any way He sees fit. In this case, God has chosen to judge His people in Judah sins with an even more corrupt people, the Chaldeans. But, Habakkuk states the truth of His character: He is sovereign. But, don’t miss another characteristic mentioned in the context of His sovereignty:
· God is a refuge
Calling God the Rock is not new for God’s people. Many times, especially in the praise writings of Israel, God would be called their Rock, referring to the fact that He was a safe haven, a protection, and refuge. One such example is from a Psalm of David:
Psalm 18:2 – “The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my god, my rock, in whom I take refuge…”
Habakkuk had to count on that characteristic, when it seemed like Judah was being left unprotected by God. This was the sure, strong refuge for His people, that decided to use a more ungodly people to judge them.
Based on God’s character, there can be a conclusion drawn from this:
[Conclusion]: God will do what is right and best for His people.
I do believe that Habakkuk, God’s prophet, was confident in God’s character. However, it is also very clear, from this passage, that:
2. Habakkuk was confused by God’s choices
Why does God allow certain things to happen? Not long ago, Virginia DiGiorgio and her husband came to the Theater district in Cleveland for the opening night of the production of “The Lion King”. According to the Plain Dealer, “…before the Brecksville couple made it to the show, a 13-year-old boy and 3 of his friends, fleeing police in a stolen car, barreled toward them…Everyone in the car was under 15. DiGiorgio’s husband saw the car coming and tried to pull his wife to safety. But it was too late. The [car]…stolen from a public housing project a day earlier, hit her and barely missed him. DiGiorio, 57, was [dead]…”
There are many questions that could be asked here. We have questions for the boy who was driving, as to why in the world he would get behind the wheel at his age. We have questions for the guardians of this boy. We have questions for his friends that were in the car and for their guardians. We have questions for the police about the chase. We have questions for the husband. But, mainly, our questions go to God, the sovereign, loving, holy God, that allowed this to happen. WHY?
Habakkuk could be confident in the character of God, but still, like us at times, he was confused by the choices God made. It doesn’t make any human sense.
Habakkuk 1:14 – “You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you idly look at traitors and are silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he?”
Here is Habakkuk’s 2nd question: WHY would you use a more wicked people to judge your own?
Habakkuk is saying: You are a holy God, and I have no problem with you judging your sinful people Judah. It has been one of my greatest frustrations. But, God, since you are so holy, how in the world could you use a more wicked, corrupt people like the Chaldeans to do your judgment? Habakkuk uses the phrase “swallow up” to describe what the Chaldeans will do to the people of Judah. They are going to completely devour us. It doesn’t seem fair. God: What about their wickedness, which in my opinion, is much worse than ours? I don’t like it.
· They are more sinful than we are (v.13)
It would be like a brother feeling good about the fact that his parents are going to finally punish one of his sisters (she deserved it!); and then to be horrified that his parents hired the neighborhood street gang to bring down judgment in their own special way on her. Are you crazy parents? What do you think you are doing. My sister may be sinful and I think she deserves to be punished; but by the more wicked, corrupt gang in the neighborhood? No way! They deserve your punishment more than my sister. This doesn’t make sense!
Habakkuk believed in God’s holiness, but it seemed that His actions (using the Chaldeans) would contradict His holiness, wouldn’t it?
Daily we read about things in our justice system that make no sense, don’t we? Though a Massachusetts convict violated his probation by buying a lottery ticket, a judge says he can keep the $1 million prize he won. Are you kidding me? He’s a convict, in violation of his parole and he is rewarded – an instant millionaire? That is in contradiction of justice. Where is the justice in that? It’s not fair. It’s not right! But, it is a reality. And Habakkuk needed to deal with this reality that God had revealed. In order to strengthen his problem with this, Habakkuk added:
· They are unstoppable (vs. 14-17)
And to make this point, he uses the analogy of fishing.
Habakkuk 1:14,15 – “You make mankind like the fish of the sea, like crawling things that have no ruler. He brings all of them up with a hook; he drags them out with his net; he gathers them in his dragnet; so he rejoices and is glad.”
What God has put in place, Habakkuk says, is like this scenario of fishing. The Chaldean people is the fisherman, the hooks and nets are their methods of powerful warfare, and the fish they easily catch are the nations they have conquered. He tosses the caught ones aside and mercilessly goes after another catch. The fisherman’s success only makes him desire more and gain greater pleasure in the demise of others.
According to the Wycliffe Exegetical Commentary: “Habakkuk’s fears were not unfounded, for the Chaldean war machine was effective enough not only to gain for them political dominance across the northern part of the fertile Crescent… to the borders of Egypt but also to create the mighty Neo-Babylonian empire with the city of Babylon as the chief beneficiary.”
They continued to build their strength and going after more nations. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, would eventually go into the borders of Egypt itself. Could they ever be stopped? These are people who have no regard for God or His ways.
Habakkuk 1:16 – “Therefore he sacrifices to his net and makes offerings to his dragnet; for by them he lives in luxury, and his food is rich…”
This fisherman is so happy about his devouring of the fish that he celebrates by worshipping the tools of his trade. This is how he makes his money and he has everything he desires. The analogy demonstrates that the Chaldeans have no desire for God, and ignoring Him, they worship false gods and even their own strength. Their military victories and domination over others makes them a very rich people, as well as powerful.
How could God allow this people who actively oppose Him and trust in their own wisdom and power? I thought hated this type of pride. So, how could he bless them by way of giving them victory over His people?
Psalm 20:7 – “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.”
God, we are the ones who trust in your name. I realize that we have been very sinful recently and deserve punishment. But, they are the ones who don’t trust in you at all. They are the ones who are trusting in themselves. How could they be your choice as the tool to discipline your chosen people? How could you reward them for their sin?
They built their own riches and trusted in them. Commentator Richard Patterson writes: “Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon would prove to be a spectacle of opulence…access to Babylon was gained by 9 major gates. The most famous of these, the Ishtar Gate, was flanked on either side by 40-foot towers…the sacred processions…to [one of the temples]was a paved street bordered by high walls decorated with brilliantly colored animals painted on a blue background. Ancient historians counted Nebuchadnezzar as the builder of the famed Hanging Gardens, heralded as one of the seven wonders of the world.”
In reference to their worship of other gods, D.J. Wiseman says of the main shrine of this temple complex: “One king claimed to have redecorated the Marduk shrine with gypsum and silver alloy, which Nebuchadnezzar replaced with fine gold. The walls were studded with precious stones set in gold place, and stone and lapis lazuli pillars supported cedar roof beams. The texts describe the god’s gilded bedchamber adjacent to the throne room.
Herodutus described two statues of the god, one seated…Herodutus was told that 800 talents of gold (16,8 metric tons) were used for these statues and for the table , throne, and footstool A thousand talents of incense were burned annually at the festivals while innumerable sacrificial animals were brought in to the two golden altars…”
They were powerful and they were rich. Habakkuk is wondering why God would allow it?
Have you ever wondered that in different areas of life? Why did that co-worker get the raise or higher position when he is ungodly, gossips against management and in reality, is a worse worker than you? Why does that student get special treatment from the teacher, just because she looks a certain way or is a special athlete? Doesn’t the teacher know that she cheats in order to get good grades? Does the teacher realize what she does when no one is looking? How did that neighbor get the great paying job, the nicer home, the nicer cars, the better vacations? Doesn’t God know that every other word out of their mouths is a swear word, usually taking His name in vain? They have raucous parties, get drunk, and show no love for us. They don’t go to church, and they couldn’t care less about God. Why does God seem to bless them anyway, and we who love Him are struggling to make ends meet? Have you ever wondered those things? Then, you can relate a little bit to Habakkuk’s concerns.
What Habakkuk doesn’t know is what will eventually happen to wicked Babylon. The prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah were going to prophesy about the coming destruction of Babylon because of their materialism and religious worship. This is why in the book of Revelation, the term Babylon is used as a symbolic term for everyone who lives in selfishness and is opposed to God and His ways.
But, for now, all Habakkuk knows is that God is going to use the wicked Chaldeans from Babylon to bring destruction to His people. In fact, God would be the One raising them up for this particular purpose. That does not sit very well with him.
Habakkuk 1:17 – “Is he then to keep on emptying his net and mercilessly killing nations forever?”
This is what is seemed like for Habakkuk. Is this just going to keep going on and on and on and on? Can they ever be stopped. God, will this go on forever? It is like the frustration people feel when a criminal is let out of prison only to commit another crime.
Out of New York City: “Paris Drake is accused of a senseless and brutal crime on a busy Midtown street in broad daylight. Whether or not he is convicted of bashing a woman's head with a brick, his arrest has highlighted the criminal justice system's failure to deal with repeat offenders.
Before the alleged attack, Drake had been jailed more than twenty times and was a free man for exactly 17 days out of the last eight years. Like many of his fellow inamtes, Drake was arrested several times on drug-related charges (an estimated 70% of the City's 70,000 inmates have a history of drug abuse). Most of his crimes were misdemeanors, which typically bring sentences of only a few weeks or months in jail.
Clearly, the system doesn't work for Drake and thousands of others who spend years cycling in and out of prison. Prison advocates call for more drug programs, but too often inmates themselves complain that these programs don't work. When Drake, for instance, was finally ordered to seek treatment after years of revolving-door prison stints, he blew it off.
This type of story infuriates people, especially those whose lives are forever changed because someone committed a crime against a loved one; and that someone, in public opinion should never have been let out of prison. Well, Habakkuk was having the same kind of frustrating thoughts. The Chaldeans destroy one nation and then they go after another. God, you are the holy and righteous judge. How could you allow this to continue; especially when they are coming after Your people!
In the midst of confusion, Habakkuk had to come to a conclusion:
Conclusion: I will wait to see what God will do
Habakkuk 2:1 – “I will take my stand at my watchpost and station myself on the tower, and look out to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint.”
Like a watchman in the king’s service, standing high above all, he is awaiting the message to be delivered. Habakkuk is going to wait and see what God will say. He may expect that God is going to reprove him, or help him to see things clearly. He may expect God to seemingly change His mind, and not use the corrupt Chaldeans to judge His people in Judah. But, either way, he is going to “wait and see what God says and what God does. And then Habakkuk will respond once again concerning this complaint.
Tim Hansel was about as active a person as anyone could be. He lived in Central California and his passion was mountain climbing. He loved it so much that he made his work leading mountain climbing expeditions. But one day in 1973 around dusk when the snow-covered mountain turned to ice, Tim fell and suffered an injury that would cripple him for the rest of his life. It wasn’t that he would be bound by a wheel chair, he wasn’t. He could move around fine. But his spine was unalterably damaged so that every movement gave him excruciating pain. Pain so intense that it shook him to the core of his being.Tim spent several years questioning God. “Why did this have to happen to me? Why don’t you take away the pain?” As you can imagine, the longer Tim lived with the pain the more intense the questions got. But then after a couple of years, Tim’s questions began to be answered. As you read through his journal, you can get glimpses into the answers that God was giving him.
Winter 75. “Perhaps this is the ultimate realization--when we recognize that all questions have the same answer that comes from you, O Lord, from you.”
Spring 76. “At times I whisper in the night: “God I’ve learned enough now! I’m ready for the next test.”
Summer 76. “Learning patience. . . takes a lot of patience.”“What a test of character adversity is. It can either destroy or build up, depending on our chosen response. Pain can either make us better or bitter.”
Spring 78. “If your security is based on something that can be taken away from you--you will constantly be on a false edge of security.”
Tim, over a period of time, in trying to figure out WHY God would allow this, had to wait…to learn more about God through it…more about himself. He needed patience…endurance. So did Habakkuk…So do we.
So, we need to answer the question for ourselves:
SO WHAT? [based on this passage from Habakkuk, what are we supposed to do?]
When confused by life’s circumstances and you’re asking the question: WHY:
1. Commit it to God
Habakkuk was not just stewing about this in his mind and heart, becoming more bitter toward God for his inaction and then confusing action. He was, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, being very direct with God with the confusion and frustration he was experiencing. In other words: Pray. Don’t go into depression first. Don’t tell all your friends about your frustrations first. God directly to God, who desires you to tell Him exactly what you are thinking and feeling, even though He already knows! Bringing God in on your personal experience is the first and best move.
2. Rest in God’s character
This is what Habakkuk had to do, although he still didn’t fully understand. But, when you are confused about what God is doing, what He is allowing, you must center in on the revealed character of God. Trusting in the fact that God is faithful, right, loving, just, holy, forgiving and trustworthy, etc. should allow you, in the midst of difficult, confusing circumstances, to rest as you trust in Him. You have seen Him at work before, and He will do what is absolutely best for your spiritual good – in His way, in His time. Are you willing to trust in what you know to be true about God?
3. Wait and see what God will do.
In the beginning of the confusion, you need to commit it to Him; and all the way through the difficult times, you have to commit it to Him. And when you have come to end of your strength, and you realize it is out of your control, leave it with God. Stand back and see what God decides to do. You know it will be right. You know it will be best.
Is there some area of confusion in your life right now? Is there something God is doing or has allowed that you just can’t quite figure out? Are you willing to take some time right now, to commit this all to Him? Are you willing to stop trying to manipulate everything to your liking, and allow God to do what is best? Are you willing to share your heart with God, pray, and then recognize what He decides to do as what is best?
Let’s pray.
Habakkuk 1:12-2:1
Please turn in your Bible to Habakkuk, chapter 1.
Have you ever asked the question: WHY? There are many things that don’t make sense aren’t there? I read some questions recently that people have of common things in our lives:
· Why do we drive on parkways and park on driveways?
· Why do fat chance and slim chance mean the same thing?
· If a black box in a plane is indestructible, why can't they make the whole plane out of it?
· Isn't it a bit unnerving that doctors call what they do "practice"?
· If a cow laughed real hard, would milk come out her nose?
· Why does your nose run and your feet smell?
· Why do they put Braille dots on the keypad of the drive-up ATM?
· Why is it that when you're driving and looking for an address, you turn down the volume on the radio? [I do that, and have no idea why!]
· If a man is standing in the middle of the forest speaking and there is no woman around to hear him, is he still wrong?
· Why is abbreviated such a long word?
Those are why questions that really don’t mean very much to us, although they are fun to think about for a second or two. But, there are other why questions that might be a little more personal:
· Why do we all have the same inspired Word of God and yet there are disagreements among believers about almost every passage and issue addressed in the Scriptures?
· Why do we talk about having a special fellowship with other people and churches and yet we never actually get together to have some?
· Why are we expected to win a war across the seas, when we cannot see the enemy?
· Why do so many people that are obviously guilty not get convicted?
· Why do so many that are convicted not have to serve the full prison term?
· Why did God choose to put men and women together in a marriage relationship when He purposely made us so completely different?
· Why are children one of the greatest joys that can take place in life and one of the things that bring the greatest frustrations at the same time?
· Why is life so much shorter than it was in the Old Testament, when there are so many things we would love to do, including good things for the glory of God?
· Why do I have the desire to work hard and yet cannot find a good paying job that I can enjoy?
And there are yet even more serious, difficult to answer questions – ones we might ask of God:
· Why are so many babies aborted before they have the opportunity to live outside the womb? Why can’t science prove that life begins at conception?
· Why do so many children die in so many, tragic ways?
· Why do people die when hit by a drunk driver, and yet the one intoxicated seems to end up unharmed?
· Why do you allow school shootings?
· Why did you allow 9-11 to happen?
· Why do people who love you get cancer or some other disease that will take life too soon?
· Why did you bring me a spouse, knowing that we wouldn’t be able to last, having to go through a difficult divorce? Why didn’t you spare us the pain?
· Why don’t you seem to hear me when I call out to you in desperation?
· Why don’t you answer me?
· Why don’t you do something?
And then, when God does do something, we might ask: WHY did you do that God? I don’t understand!
Some of these are very personal, very difficult questions that we or others we know struggle with. People who have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ have them, and those who do not. If you can relate to some of these questions, perhaps you can relate to the questions Habakkuk the prophet was asking here in the book with his name.
Last week, I introduced to you a theme of Habakkuk: Living By Faith. We will see our theme verse next week, but this theme is seen throughout this prophecy. Habakkuk has questions for God, based on what he is experiencing. He has a dialogue with God, and a main message that will be seen more clearly is that God asks us, even in the midst of confusing circumstances, to live by faith.
Let me also remind you of the background for this particular book of Habakkuk. He was a prophet to the Southern Kingdom of God’s people called Judah. Israel was already in captivity and Judah was headed there in the future. But, for that present time, Habakkuk was experiencing incredible frustration with God over the fact that the terrible sins of His people were not being dwelt with. His first question was:
When are You going to bring true justice? Your people are sinning and you have done nothing about it. Well, last week, we also heard God’s answer: I am about to judge my people for their sin, and I have chosen the Chaldeans to do it. The Chaldeans (also called Babylonians) had taken over Babylon in Assyria, and they had a terrible reputation for being a cruel people, opposed to God and His ways.
Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1784: “I tremble for my country, when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever.” Habakkuk and Judah were about to experience God’s justice; but it was not in the form that they would have chosen.
That brings us to our passage this morning, beginning in chapter 1 and verse 12. Let’s go ahead and read the whole passage, going through verse 1 of chapter 2:
Habakkuk 1:12 – “Are you not from everlasting, O LORD my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O LORD, you have ordained them as a judgment, and you, O Rock, have established them for reproof.”
Habakkuk 1:13 – “You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you idly look at traitors and are silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he?”
Habakkuk 1:14,15 – “You make mankind like the fish of the sea, like crawling things that have no ruler. He brings all of them up with a hook; he drags them out with his net; he gathers them in his dragnet; so he rejoices and is glad.”
Habakkuk 1:16,17 – “Therefore he sacrifices to his net and makes offerings to his dragnet; for by them he lives in luxury, and his food is rich. Is he then to keep on emptying his net and mercilessly killing nations forever?”
Habakkuk 2:1 – “I will take my stand at my watchpost and station myself on the tower, and look out to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint.”
Habakkuk is still struggling, but he is now struggling with another question, another complaint, something else that he just does not understand.
This is great, because Habakkuk was like most of us. He asked God to do something, and then when God said what He was going to do, Habakkuk asked why in the world He would do it that way. It is like the experience many of us as parents have had. Our children will complain about something (yes, even the pastor’s kids do that!); and we will give them our solution, thinking that that should take care of the complaining. Only then, to hear them complain about how we were answering their original complaint. Doesn’t that just fill us with joy as parents? No. And yet, it is what Habakkuk was doing to God; and if we are honest, we have done it as well. Let’s take a closer look at Habakkuk’s specific complaint.
Habakkuk began his first complaint with a rhetorical question, and he does the same thing here with his second complaint:
Habakkuk 1:12 – “Are you not from everlasting, O LORD my God, my Holy One?..” This is a rhetorical question because the answer is so obvious, that it needs no answer. The answer, of course, is: Yes, God is everlasting, with no beginning and no ending.
1. Habakkuk was confident in God’s character:
· God is eternal
That is important in this discussion. Because God is eternal, He has seen it all and will last through eternity, as generations come and go. The fact that He is eternal should boost confidence that God can handle anything – including the cycle of human sin that continues.
· God is holy
Habakkuk uses significant terms for God. Using Yahweh (which most of us have translated LORD, in all capital letters), he refers to the name of God that reminds us how this is Israel’s God, the faithful God who called His people, protects His people, and sometimes punishes His people. He also uses a term translated God that refers to God’s supremacy. He also makes it personal: You are my God, my Holy One.
Habakkuk 1:13 – “You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong…”
Habakkuk’s confidence was that with a holy God, He would not excuse sin. This is what he was concerned about at the beginning of the chapter. But, God’s holiness also boosts confidence that God will never do anything that is wrong, even if His decisions are difficult to understand.
Habakkuk exclamation: “we shall not die” (verse 12) is hard to interpret; but the best guess is probably this. That he was talking about God’s people not passing away or being completely destroyed, because the everlasting God is Yahweh, Israel’s covenant keeping God. He was confident God would keep His promises and God’s people would never be extinguished.
This is the trust that a young child has in his parents. When he disobeys, he should know that he will be lovingly disciplined. However, that discipline is sometimes disagreeable and sometimes very painful. In fact, it could seem to the young child that his parents, because of their discipline, may not truly care for him. Yet, he must come back to the basic belief he has about the character of his parents. That they love him, even though they discipline him. And, although they may, in a moment of weakness, talk about selling their disobedient child to some foreign agency, he knows his parents are in it for the long haul, and plan to always be there for him (keeping their promises). I think that is the spirit in which Habakkuk is addressing God. He is holding onto the belief of what he knows to be true of God’s character.
Look at the second half of verse 12:
Habakkuk 1:12 – “…O LORD, you have ordained them as a judgment, and you , O Rock, have established them for reproof.”
· God is sovereign
This means that God is the creator of all, king of all, the one and only true God, and can do whatever He pleases. He is in control. Therefore, it is well within His character to choose to judge sin in any way He sees fit. In this case, God has chosen to judge His people in Judah sins with an even more corrupt people, the Chaldeans. But, Habakkuk states the truth of His character: He is sovereign. But, don’t miss another characteristic mentioned in the context of His sovereignty:
· God is a refuge
Calling God the Rock is not new for God’s people. Many times, especially in the praise writings of Israel, God would be called their Rock, referring to the fact that He was a safe haven, a protection, and refuge. One such example is from a Psalm of David:
Psalm 18:2 – “The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my god, my rock, in whom I take refuge…”
Habakkuk had to count on that characteristic, when it seemed like Judah was being left unprotected by God. This was the sure, strong refuge for His people, that decided to use a more ungodly people to judge them.
Based on God’s character, there can be a conclusion drawn from this:
[Conclusion]: God will do what is right and best for His people.
I do believe that Habakkuk, God’s prophet, was confident in God’s character. However, it is also very clear, from this passage, that:
2. Habakkuk was confused by God’s choices
Why does God allow certain things to happen? Not long ago, Virginia DiGiorgio and her husband came to the Theater district in Cleveland for the opening night of the production of “The Lion King”. According to the Plain Dealer, “…before the Brecksville couple made it to the show, a 13-year-old boy and 3 of his friends, fleeing police in a stolen car, barreled toward them…Everyone in the car was under 15. DiGiorgio’s husband saw the car coming and tried to pull his wife to safety. But it was too late. The [car]…stolen from a public housing project a day earlier, hit her and barely missed him. DiGiorio, 57, was [dead]…”
There are many questions that could be asked here. We have questions for the boy who was driving, as to why in the world he would get behind the wheel at his age. We have questions for the guardians of this boy. We have questions for his friends that were in the car and for their guardians. We have questions for the police about the chase. We have questions for the husband. But, mainly, our questions go to God, the sovereign, loving, holy God, that allowed this to happen. WHY?
Habakkuk could be confident in the character of God, but still, like us at times, he was confused by the choices God made. It doesn’t make any human sense.
Habakkuk 1:14 – “You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you idly look at traitors and are silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he?”
Here is Habakkuk’s 2nd question: WHY would you use a more wicked people to judge your own?
Habakkuk is saying: You are a holy God, and I have no problem with you judging your sinful people Judah. It has been one of my greatest frustrations. But, God, since you are so holy, how in the world could you use a more wicked, corrupt people like the Chaldeans to do your judgment? Habakkuk uses the phrase “swallow up” to describe what the Chaldeans will do to the people of Judah. They are going to completely devour us. It doesn’t seem fair. God: What about their wickedness, which in my opinion, is much worse than ours? I don’t like it.
· They are more sinful than we are (v.13)
It would be like a brother feeling good about the fact that his parents are going to finally punish one of his sisters (she deserved it!); and then to be horrified that his parents hired the neighborhood street gang to bring down judgment in their own special way on her. Are you crazy parents? What do you think you are doing. My sister may be sinful and I think she deserves to be punished; but by the more wicked, corrupt gang in the neighborhood? No way! They deserve your punishment more than my sister. This doesn’t make sense!
Habakkuk believed in God’s holiness, but it seemed that His actions (using the Chaldeans) would contradict His holiness, wouldn’t it?
Daily we read about things in our justice system that make no sense, don’t we? Though a Massachusetts convict violated his probation by buying a lottery ticket, a judge says he can keep the $1 million prize he won. Are you kidding me? He’s a convict, in violation of his parole and he is rewarded – an instant millionaire? That is in contradiction of justice. Where is the justice in that? It’s not fair. It’s not right! But, it is a reality. And Habakkuk needed to deal with this reality that God had revealed. In order to strengthen his problem with this, Habakkuk added:
· They are unstoppable (vs. 14-17)
And to make this point, he uses the analogy of fishing.
Habakkuk 1:14,15 – “You make mankind like the fish of the sea, like crawling things that have no ruler. He brings all of them up with a hook; he drags them out with his net; he gathers them in his dragnet; so he rejoices and is glad.”
What God has put in place, Habakkuk says, is like this scenario of fishing. The Chaldean people is the fisherman, the hooks and nets are their methods of powerful warfare, and the fish they easily catch are the nations they have conquered. He tosses the caught ones aside and mercilessly goes after another catch. The fisherman’s success only makes him desire more and gain greater pleasure in the demise of others.
According to the Wycliffe Exegetical Commentary: “Habakkuk’s fears were not unfounded, for the Chaldean war machine was effective enough not only to gain for them political dominance across the northern part of the fertile Crescent… to the borders of Egypt but also to create the mighty Neo-Babylonian empire with the city of Babylon as the chief beneficiary.”
They continued to build their strength and going after more nations. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, would eventually go into the borders of Egypt itself. Could they ever be stopped? These are people who have no regard for God or His ways.
Habakkuk 1:16 – “Therefore he sacrifices to his net and makes offerings to his dragnet; for by them he lives in luxury, and his food is rich…”
This fisherman is so happy about his devouring of the fish that he celebrates by worshipping the tools of his trade. This is how he makes his money and he has everything he desires. The analogy demonstrates that the Chaldeans have no desire for God, and ignoring Him, they worship false gods and even their own strength. Their military victories and domination over others makes them a very rich people, as well as powerful.
How could God allow this people who actively oppose Him and trust in their own wisdom and power? I thought hated this type of pride. So, how could he bless them by way of giving them victory over His people?
Psalm 20:7 – “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.”
God, we are the ones who trust in your name. I realize that we have been very sinful recently and deserve punishment. But, they are the ones who don’t trust in you at all. They are the ones who are trusting in themselves. How could they be your choice as the tool to discipline your chosen people? How could you reward them for their sin?
They built their own riches and trusted in them. Commentator Richard Patterson writes: “Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon would prove to be a spectacle of opulence…access to Babylon was gained by 9 major gates. The most famous of these, the Ishtar Gate, was flanked on either side by 40-foot towers…the sacred processions…to [one of the temples]was a paved street bordered by high walls decorated with brilliantly colored animals painted on a blue background. Ancient historians counted Nebuchadnezzar as the builder of the famed Hanging Gardens, heralded as one of the seven wonders of the world.”
In reference to their worship of other gods, D.J. Wiseman says of the main shrine of this temple complex: “One king claimed to have redecorated the Marduk shrine with gypsum and silver alloy, which Nebuchadnezzar replaced with fine gold. The walls were studded with precious stones set in gold place, and stone and lapis lazuli pillars supported cedar roof beams. The texts describe the god’s gilded bedchamber adjacent to the throne room.
Herodutus described two statues of the god, one seated…Herodutus was told that 800 talents of gold (16,8 metric tons) were used for these statues and for the table , throne, and footstool A thousand talents of incense were burned annually at the festivals while innumerable sacrificial animals were brought in to the two golden altars…”
They were powerful and they were rich. Habakkuk is wondering why God would allow it?
Have you ever wondered that in different areas of life? Why did that co-worker get the raise or higher position when he is ungodly, gossips against management and in reality, is a worse worker than you? Why does that student get special treatment from the teacher, just because she looks a certain way or is a special athlete? Doesn’t the teacher know that she cheats in order to get good grades? Does the teacher realize what she does when no one is looking? How did that neighbor get the great paying job, the nicer home, the nicer cars, the better vacations? Doesn’t God know that every other word out of their mouths is a swear word, usually taking His name in vain? They have raucous parties, get drunk, and show no love for us. They don’t go to church, and they couldn’t care less about God. Why does God seem to bless them anyway, and we who love Him are struggling to make ends meet? Have you ever wondered those things? Then, you can relate a little bit to Habakkuk’s concerns.
What Habakkuk doesn’t know is what will eventually happen to wicked Babylon. The prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah were going to prophesy about the coming destruction of Babylon because of their materialism and religious worship. This is why in the book of Revelation, the term Babylon is used as a symbolic term for everyone who lives in selfishness and is opposed to God and His ways.
But, for now, all Habakkuk knows is that God is going to use the wicked Chaldeans from Babylon to bring destruction to His people. In fact, God would be the One raising them up for this particular purpose. That does not sit very well with him.
Habakkuk 1:17 – “Is he then to keep on emptying his net and mercilessly killing nations forever?”
This is what is seemed like for Habakkuk. Is this just going to keep going on and on and on and on? Can they ever be stopped. God, will this go on forever? It is like the frustration people feel when a criminal is let out of prison only to commit another crime.
Out of New York City: “Paris Drake is accused of a senseless and brutal crime on a busy Midtown street in broad daylight. Whether or not he is convicted of bashing a woman's head with a brick, his arrest has highlighted the criminal justice system's failure to deal with repeat offenders.
Before the alleged attack, Drake had been jailed more than twenty times and was a free man for exactly 17 days out of the last eight years. Like many of his fellow inamtes, Drake was arrested several times on drug-related charges (an estimated 70% of the City's 70,000 inmates have a history of drug abuse). Most of his crimes were misdemeanors, which typically bring sentences of only a few weeks or months in jail.
Clearly, the system doesn't work for Drake and thousands of others who spend years cycling in and out of prison. Prison advocates call for more drug programs, but too often inmates themselves complain that these programs don't work. When Drake, for instance, was finally ordered to seek treatment after years of revolving-door prison stints, he blew it off.
This type of story infuriates people, especially those whose lives are forever changed because someone committed a crime against a loved one; and that someone, in public opinion should never have been let out of prison. Well, Habakkuk was having the same kind of frustrating thoughts. The Chaldeans destroy one nation and then they go after another. God, you are the holy and righteous judge. How could you allow this to continue; especially when they are coming after Your people!
In the midst of confusion, Habakkuk had to come to a conclusion:
Conclusion: I will wait to see what God will do
Habakkuk 2:1 – “I will take my stand at my watchpost and station myself on the tower, and look out to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint.”
Like a watchman in the king’s service, standing high above all, he is awaiting the message to be delivered. Habakkuk is going to wait and see what God will say. He may expect that God is going to reprove him, or help him to see things clearly. He may expect God to seemingly change His mind, and not use the corrupt Chaldeans to judge His people in Judah. But, either way, he is going to “wait and see what God says and what God does. And then Habakkuk will respond once again concerning this complaint.
Tim Hansel was about as active a person as anyone could be. He lived in Central California and his passion was mountain climbing. He loved it so much that he made his work leading mountain climbing expeditions. But one day in 1973 around dusk when the snow-covered mountain turned to ice, Tim fell and suffered an injury that would cripple him for the rest of his life. It wasn’t that he would be bound by a wheel chair, he wasn’t. He could move around fine. But his spine was unalterably damaged so that every movement gave him excruciating pain. Pain so intense that it shook him to the core of his being.Tim spent several years questioning God. “Why did this have to happen to me? Why don’t you take away the pain?” As you can imagine, the longer Tim lived with the pain the more intense the questions got. But then after a couple of years, Tim’s questions began to be answered. As you read through his journal, you can get glimpses into the answers that God was giving him.
Winter 75. “Perhaps this is the ultimate realization--when we recognize that all questions have the same answer that comes from you, O Lord, from you.”
Spring 76. “At times I whisper in the night: “God I’ve learned enough now! I’m ready for the next test.”
Summer 76. “Learning patience. . . takes a lot of patience.”“What a test of character adversity is. It can either destroy or build up, depending on our chosen response. Pain can either make us better or bitter.”
Spring 78. “If your security is based on something that can be taken away from you--you will constantly be on a false edge of security.”
Tim, over a period of time, in trying to figure out WHY God would allow this, had to wait…to learn more about God through it…more about himself. He needed patience…endurance. So did Habakkuk…So do we.
So, we need to answer the question for ourselves:
SO WHAT? [based on this passage from Habakkuk, what are we supposed to do?]
When confused by life’s circumstances and you’re asking the question: WHY:
1. Commit it to God
Habakkuk was not just stewing about this in his mind and heart, becoming more bitter toward God for his inaction and then confusing action. He was, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, being very direct with God with the confusion and frustration he was experiencing. In other words: Pray. Don’t go into depression first. Don’t tell all your friends about your frustrations first. God directly to God, who desires you to tell Him exactly what you are thinking and feeling, even though He already knows! Bringing God in on your personal experience is the first and best move.
2. Rest in God’s character
This is what Habakkuk had to do, although he still didn’t fully understand. But, when you are confused about what God is doing, what He is allowing, you must center in on the revealed character of God. Trusting in the fact that God is faithful, right, loving, just, holy, forgiving and trustworthy, etc. should allow you, in the midst of difficult, confusing circumstances, to rest as you trust in Him. You have seen Him at work before, and He will do what is absolutely best for your spiritual good – in His way, in His time. Are you willing to trust in what you know to be true about God?
3. Wait and see what God will do.
In the beginning of the confusion, you need to commit it to Him; and all the way through the difficult times, you have to commit it to Him. And when you have come to end of your strength, and you realize it is out of your control, leave it with God. Stand back and see what God decides to do. You know it will be right. You know it will be best.
Is there some area of confusion in your life right now? Is there something God is doing or has allowed that you just can’t quite figure out? Are you willing to take some time right now, to commit this all to Him? Are you willing to stop trying to manipulate everything to your liking, and allow God to do what is best? Are you willing to share your heart with God, pray, and then recognize what He decides to do as what is best?
Let’s pray.
Monday, February 18, 2008
WHEN
It has been my practice to balance my preaching with books of the Bible and thematic messages. I go back and forth from one to the other. When I do Bible books, I also alternate between Old and New Testament books. This is the first time in my 41 years of life and 15 years of pastoral ministry, that I have preached through the entire book of Habakkuk. I have done a message here and there, but never throught the book. That does not seem too difficult because Habakkuk is only 3 chapters long. However, it is a challenge to take a little known book, full of history that we do not relate to today and demonstrate that it does relate to us; even making an impact on how we live each day. I am depending on the Spirit of God to do that.
WHEN?
Habakkuk 1:1-11
Don’t open your Bibles yet this morning. Let’s begin with a little quiz to get our minds awake and alert:
1. How do you spell Huh-back-cuck? [this is the pronunciation]
a. Huhbackcuck
b. Habbakkuk
c. Habakkuk
d. Habbakuk
The correct answer is C
2. Who was Habakkuk?
a. A priest
b. A prophet
c. A king
d. A bum hanging out on the streets of Jerusalem
The correct answer is B
3. What does Habakkuk’s name mean?
a. Peaceful one
b. To wrestle
c. Lover of God
d. I have a bad back
The correct answer is B (to wrestle or embrace)
4. Where is Habakkuk located in the Bible?
a. Just before Zephaniah
b. Just before Haggai
c. Just after Daniel
d. It’s not in the Bible, but in the Apocrypha
The correct answer is A
5. How many chapters are there in Habakkuk?
a. 303
b. 23
c. 13
d. 03
The correct answer is D
6. What was going on in the Northern Kingdom of Israel when Habakkuk prophesied?
a. Israel was experiencing a time of peace and prosperity
b. Israel had a revival and was turning back to God
c. Israel was headed toward captivity very soon
d. Israel was already in captivity by the Assyrians
The correct answer is D
7. What was going on in the Southern Kingdom of Judah when Habakkuk prophesied?
a. Judah was headed toward captivity very soon
b. Judah was having a party
c. Judah was in captivity in Babylon
d. Judah was experiencing spiritual revival
The correct answer is A
8. Why should we study the book of Habbakkuk?
a. Nothing better to do
b. It’s better than studying Leviticus
c. It is the inspired Word of God and profitable for our lives
d. We shouldn’t
The correct answer is C – (surprised?)
Please turn in your Bible to Habakkuk, chapter 1. In the Bible in front of you, it is on page 810 or 826.
Legend has it that a man was lost in the desert, just dying for a drink of water. He stumbled upon an old shack – a ramshackled, windowless, roofless, weatherbeaten old shack. He looked about this place and found a little shade from the heat of the desert sun. As he glanced around he saw a pump about fifteen feet away – an old, rusty water pump. He stumbled over to it, grabbed the handle, and began to pump up and down, up and down. Nothing came out.
Disappointed, he staggered back. He noticed off to the side an old jug. He looked at it, wiped away the dirt and dust, and read a message that said, “You have to prime the pump with all the water in this jug, my friend. P.S.: Be sure you fill the jug again before you leave.”
He popped the cork out of the jug and sure enough, it was almost full of water! Suddenly, he was faced with a decision. If he drank the water, he could live. Ah, but if he poured all the water in the old rusty pump, maybe it would yield fresh, cool water from down deep in the well, all the water he wanted.
He studied the possibility of both options. What should he do, put it into the old pump and take a chance on fresh, cool water or drink what was in the old jug and ignore its message? Should he waste all the water on the hopes of those flimsy instructions written, no telling how long ago?
Reluctantly he poured all the water into the pump.Then he grabbed the handle and began to pump, squeak, squeak, squeak. Still nothing came out! Squeak, squeak, squeak. A little bit began to dribble out, then a small stream, and finally it gushed! To his relief fresh, cool water poured out of the rusty pump. Eagerly, he filled the jug and drank from it. He filled it another time and once again drank its refreshing contents.
Then he filled the jug of the next traveler. He filled it to the top, popped the cork back on, and added this little note: “Believe me, it really works. You have to give it all away before you can get anything back.”
This legend is a story about faith. Do you go after and only trust in what you can see, or do you believe in the message that is written, the truth of which you cannot yet see? This scenario is played out daily in our lives. We are asked to trust in a God whom we cannot see; and believe in His Word, when we do not know exactly what will happen. This is the theme, I believe, of the little book we are about to journey through together: LIVING BY FAITH.
My hope is that, from our study of Habakkuk, your faith will be strengthened to the place where you will have no problem pouring all of your water into the pump, because you believe the message; and more importantly, you believe in the One who wrote the message. Let’s begin with the first chapter and verse of Habakkuk:
Habakkuk 1:1 – “The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.”
An oracle is a word from God. In this case it was first given to a prophet. A prophet was one who received the Word of God and then passed it on to others. Habakkuk is the name of this prophet and this is what he received from God. He saw it. He received this as a vision from God, and experienced it to some extent as well. He then wrote down what he saw and it is passed along to us today.
I don’t know how well you did on our opening quiz on Habakkuk. I don’t know if you have ever read it or heard messages from it or used it for your devotions. It is most likely that you are not very familiar with this book and there are good reasons for that. But, I want to challenge you to remember a truth that can motivate us, not only to learn about this prophecy from Habakkuk, but to apply it to everyday life.
II Timothy 3:16,17 – “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.”
All Scripture, including Habakkuk, is profitable for us. God assures us that this book can help us live lives that honor Him. Habakkuk can help us become more mature in Christ, better prepared to serve Him more faithfully. If you believe this is true, then let’s enter this book of Habakkuk with a sense of anticipation for what God wants us to learn, not just in our heads, but our hearts: truth that can transform our lives!
We are not going to be able to understand this Word from God unless we know some of the background of this prophet and what was going on at the time of his prophecy. Habakkuk lived and served God over 600 years before Jesus Christ was born. He was a contemporary of Nahum, Jeremiah and Zephaniah, who also were prophets and wrote concerning the coming captivity of Judah.
At the end of King Solomon’s reign, Israel was divided into 2 kingdoms: The Northern Kingdom, called Israel; and the Southern Kingdom, called Judah. Judah’s capital and key city was Jerusalem. After Israel was taken captive by Assyria in 722 B.C., the emphasis of the prophets was now centered on the Southern Kingdom, Judah, and its future judgment. This is what Habakkuk is writing about.
Unlike many of the prophecies, Habakkuk does not speak directly to the people of Judah; but instead, has a conversation with God Himself. And Habakkuk, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is able to speak frankly to God about what he is seeing, and is able to ask God a question: WHEN? Look with me at:
Habakkuk 1:2-4 – “O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you ‘violence!’ and you will not save? Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted.”
His basic question is this: WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO BRING TRUE JUSTICE?
Habakkuk was not necessarily judging God for his inaction, but was honestly searching for answers as a set apart prophet of God. Why was this such a concern for Habakkuk? Before Habakkuk came on the scene, Judah had gone through the rule of a wicked king named Manasseh. Unger’s Bible Dictionary describes his reign: “Ascending the throne at the early age of twelve…he yielded to the influence of the idolatrous…party, and became in time a determined and even fanatical idolater; and as he grew up took delight in introducing into his kingdom to the superstitions of every heathen country. The high places were restored, the groves replanted, the altars of Baal and Astarte rebuilt, and the sun, moon, and all the host of heaven were worshipped…”
The first two commandments that God had given His people were disregarded and disobeyed by the King himself, leading the rest of His people into idolatry. Later, King Josiah came into rule, around 641 B.C. He was only 8 years old when he took reign. According to the same resource: “In the eighth year of his reign he began to seek after the God of David his father, and manifested that enmity to idolatry in all its forms which distinguished his character and reign…so strong was his detestation of idolatry that he ransacked the sepulchers of the idolatrous priests of former days and burned their bones upon the idol altars, before they were over-thrown.”
That doesn’t sound too bad, does it? The problem is that, at the end of King Josiah’s reign, the people reverted back to their old, idolatrous ways. The revival under Josiah had soon been forgotten. Violence was rampant once again and no one seemed to care what was taking place in their nation. Habakkuk was seeing all of this evil taking place once again, and it gets to the point, where he “can’t take it anymore”.
Habakkuk 1:2,3 – “O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you ‘violence!’ and you will not save? Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise.”
Do you know the urgency of this situation? It would not be different than someone who is in desperate need of help and feels like no one is listening. In August of this past year, police in St. Paul, Minnesota reported that witnesses ignored a woman’s cries for help. A security video from an apartment hallway shows at least 10 witnesses ignored a woman’s cries for help for more than an hour as a man beat and sexually assaulted her. The video tape shows one person looking out of her door probably three times. It shows another person walking up, observing what’s going on, then turning and putting up the hood of his sweatshirt.
Imagine the feeling of being attacked, crying for help and people who hear you don’t respond. It was this sense of desperation that caused the prophet Habakkuk to cry out continually: God, help us. God, help me. There is sin all around – there is all kinds of injustice and we are being spiritually destroyed. We need you. I need you. Where are you? When are you going to answer me? And now, Habakkuk details why he is so frustrated – he lists the conditions concerning which he is asking God to respond to.
Habakkuk uses four key words here to describe the sinful state of the nation of Judah at that time: “violence”, “iniquity” (injustice), “wrong” (trouble) and “destruction” (plundering). According to commentator Richard Patterson, these words “depict a society that is characterized by malicious wickedness, deceitful iniquity – both moral and spiritual, oppressive behavior toward others, and the general spiritual and ethical havoc that exist where such sin abounds”. The result?
Habakkuk 1:4 – “So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted.”
Since these types of sins were abounding in Judah, there was a plague of injustice that Habakkuk recognized clearly. He describes it in two ways here in verse 4: God’s law was paralyzed, not in operation, because of the condition of people’s hearts. So, true justice simply did not happen. Secondly, those opposed to God’s ways were then in control, not allowing those in line with God to have any influence. So, any justice there was ended up a perversion of the truth.
In January of last year, Saddam Hussein was hanged for the killing of 148 Shiite men and boys in 1982. There would be many illustrations of the perversion of justice and wickedness in the life of Hussein. One example comes from 1979, when at the age of 42, he became president of Iraq and moved to eliminate all opposition. According to Newsweek, “at a Baath party congress, he charged dozens of rivals with treason. One by one they were forced to leave the hall and face immediate execution. They screamed and shouted, pleaded and cried. Slightly bored, Saddam sat behind a desk on the stage sipping a glass of water and smoking Cuban cigars. Then he had a video of the meeting distributed throughout the Arab world to show what happened to anyone who might even think about challenging his rule.”
This is great perversion of justice, and it is exactly the kind of thing Habakkuk was crying out about. God, you have got to do something about this! You are the just God; and you are allowing your people to be unjust – all the time. When are you going to do something? Can you feel his pain? Think of all the injustices you have heard about in our world – across the seas, in your work place, in the church, in your family, at school, in government and in our court systems. I’m sure we could talk for hours about the perversion of justice we have heard about. Multiply that times 10 and you might be where Habakkuk was: crying out in desperation for God to do something.
It seems that Habakkuk had been crying out for some time, perhaps years. And, up until then, it did not seem that God had done anything about the corrupt justice system and the sins of the people of Judah. When would God act? It seems like forever since things were right. Habakkuk was probably discouraged and frustrated as he uttered these words. God’s inaction seemed, from Habakkuk’s viewpoint, that God was not listening.
David wrote in:
Psalm 13:1,2 – “How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day?..
King David cried out to God, when, because of his present circumstances, it seemed as if God had forgotten him and was no longer listening. He was left to crying himself to sleep at night. Habakkuk felt the same frustration.
SO WHAT ABOUT YOU? Let me make a couple of applications right here:
· Feel free to cry out to God with real emotion
One of the great things about the example of Habakkuk, King David and many others, is that God allowed and did not punish those who would cry out to Him, including expressing emotions of fear, anger and disappointment with God. No matter what your circumstances, God expects you to be real with Him. Don’t hide your feelings. Express them to the only one who can handle them fully, who can understand them, and who can help you see things clearly.
Secondly:
· Expect injustice in our sinful world
Until Christ returns, there will be plenty of injustice here. You can obsess over it and spend your lifetime trying to rid the world of injustice. But, it will still remain. Knowing it is here can help us turn to the only one who can help us deal with it, and the only one who can cure it.
In answer to his questions, Habakkuk writes God’s response to Him, beginning in:
Habakkuk 1:5 – “Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told.”
God has now begun to answer. Habakkuk has been waiting…and waiting…and waiting…and now God is speaking. He tells Habakkuk, who will then in turn tell the people of Judah: “Get ready for me to act in a way you will not believe. You will be amazed!” God indicates that He is about to do something about what Habakkuk has been praying: what will he do about the sin problems that are infecting our people? But, his answer is not what Habakkuk expected, and certainly not what the people of Judah would expect.
Habakkuk 1:6,7 – “For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, who march through the breadth of the earth, to seize dwellings not their own. They are dreaded and fearsome; their justice and dignity go forth from themselves.”
God’s answer to Habakkuk’s question of “when” is that He would do something very soon. It turned out to be about 20 years from this moment, when the Chaldeans took Judah, the Southern Kingdom of Israel captive. The Chaldeans had taken Babylon for themselves by 626 B.C. Within the next 20 years, they had taken all of Babylon. It would be in 586 B.C. that Babylon would capture all of Judah and take her captive.
The Chaldeans (or Babylonians) were known as cruel, never getting tired of destroying someone else. They had no problem looting and seizing anything for themselves. They were feared. Think of how the Giant Goliath was feared by everyone the Philistines faced, including Israel. He was dreaded, and so was the Chaldean army. Using the terms justice and dignity here in verse 7 does not mean they had any, but it means they were a law unto themselves. They made their own decisions and it wasn’t necessarily for anyone’s benefit except their own.
SO WHAT ABOUT GOD?
· He is in control (I am doing a work)
In a circumstance where Habakkuk thought God might have forgotten about His people, He reassures Habakkuk that He does know what He is doing.
· He will act as He chooses (I am raising up the Chaldeans)
You mean the evil people just described in verses 6,7? Yes!
This reminds me of the biblical story of Pharoah in Egypt. When He was enslaving God’s people and putting them under heavy burdens, you might wonder why God would allow Him to remain in rule. Not only did he allow him to rule, he purposely put him there! This was God’s Word to Pharoah:
Exodus 9:16 – “But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.”
God raised up Pharoah, so that even though he would do evil things, it would eventually show God’s power and bring glory to Him. God now raised up the Chaldeans, although a sinful people, to bring glory to God by judging His sinful people Judah. I know this is very difficult to comprehend; but we simply cannot fully understand the mind of God; but we can trust Him by faith.
God then uses figures of speech to describe what the Chaldeans are like in battle.
Habakkuk 1:8– “Their horses are swifter than leopards, more fierce than the evening wolves; their horsemen press proudly on. Their horsemen come from afar; they fly like an eagle swift to devour.”
They can cover large distances in a small amount of time and bring quick devastation.
Habakkuk 1:9-11 – “They all come for violence, all their faces forward. They gather captives like sand. At kings they scoff, and at rulers they laugh. They laugh at every fortress, for they pile up earth and take it. Then they sweep by like the wind and go on, guilty men, whose own might is their god!”
Isn’t it interesting that God points out that the Chaldeans were known for their violence; and that is one of the defining characteristics that Judah has displayed (verse 2)? You have acted in violence, and now you are going to be the recipients of it yourselves. God makes it clear that He has been seeing what has been going on in the sinfulness of His people; and He is getting ready to act. These verses say it is impossible to count the number of prisoners the Chaldeans have taken. They laugh at their enemies and their attempts to fortify themselves, because they are able to defeat anyone and destroy any barrier. They come in, destroy and go their own way.
Commentators Walvoord and Zuck said: “They poured derision on the strongholds which their victims considered impregnable. They simply built earthen ramps against the walls of cities built on mounds, and raced up those ramps, attacked the cities easily, and seized the fortified strongholds.”
“It was their custom to exhibit captive rulers as public spectacles. Their brutality is seen in the way they treated Zedekiah after Jerusalem fell. They killed his sons before his eyes and then, with that awesome sight burned into his memory, they put out his eyes, bound him in shackles, and took him prisoner to Babylon.” (II Kings 25:7)
And then God describes these men: they are guilty (sinful) and they do not trust in the one true God. In fact, they trust in their own might. This was the very ungodly characteristic that God’s people, Judah, had taken on. They had begun to trust in their own wisdom and power. Foolish mistake. And now, a fierce Babylonian army, that did not honor God at all would be the ones to come and judge Judah.
SO WHAT ABOUT GOD?
· He will bring justice, in His time and in His way
A theme of Habakkuk is living by faith. This is what it is all about. Not seeing what God is going to do…Not knowing when He is going to it…not knowing how He is going to do it…and maybe not even understanding why He would do it a certain way. But, this is what God’s people have had to deal with since the beginning. God is God. He is loving and He is just. He will judge sin; but He may not do what you want, when you want Him to do it or how you want Him to do it. Will you trust Him anyway?
SO WHAT ABOUT US?
· Trust God’s justice
How do we do that? I think it begins with God’s Word. We read about His justice, how He has carried it out in the past and how He will carry it out in the future. We see that this just God is also loving, full of grace and abounding mercy. In fact, we should probably also point out that the only times we want to see God’s justice is when it has to do with someone else’s sin – right? We don’t really want His complete justice to be carried out on us – why? Because if He judged according to what I deserve, I would be dead – and so would you! Part of trusting God’s justice is praising Him for His great forgiveness and mercy. These are also a part of our just God’s character.
And then we apply this truth of God’s justice, this knowledge, to our circumstances. It would not be too difficult to apply this feeling of frustration to our own country – the United States of America. We can read on our currency: In God We Trust, and yet look at a nation that seems to trust only in itself. We are not willing to acknowledge God in public life. It is too offensive, controversial – so we ignore Him.
We could list hundreds of sinful actions our nation has taken – actions that do not honor God, but oppose Him and His ways. We love our country, but we are sick of the sin that surrounds us. If we trust God’s justice, then we know He will judge the sins of our nation and its people in His time and in His way. We pray, of course, for a revival instead. That the hearts of her people would be turned to Him, which would radically change the direction of our nation and our worship of God.
Has someone hurt you deeply? Has someone sinned against you? Don’t take revenge. In fact, instead of taking out your own justice, we are to demonstrate love as we trust in God’s justice:
Romans 12:19-21 – “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. To the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink…Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
You see: when you are trusting God’s justice, then you know He will take care of the person who hurt you. At the same time, your responsibility is not to stand there and say: “God’s going to get you”, but to do the unthinkable: love that person with kindness just as Christ loved you when you didn’t deserve it.
When you get upset over abortion or a court case or another nation that abuses the United States; or someone is sinning within your own family, you can trust the justice of God. That allows you to have patience, love and self-control, even in the midst of it. Habakkuk cried out…he waited…and eventually…God answered. He will do the same for you.
A defendant was on trial for murder in Oklahoma. There was strong evidence indicating guilt, but there was no corpse. In the defense’s closing statement the lawyer, knowing that his client would probably be convicted, resorted to a trick. "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I have a surprise for you all," the lawyer said as he looked at his watch. "Within one minute, the person presumed dead in this case will walk into this courtroom." He looked toward the courtroom door. The jurors, somewhat stunned, all looked on eagerly. A minute passed. Nothing happened.
Finally the lawyer said, "Actually, I made up the previous statement. But you all looked on with anticipation. I, therefore, put it to you that there is reasonable doubt in this case as to whether anyone was killed and insist that you return a verdict of not guilty." The jury, clearly confused, retired to deliberate. A few minutes later, the jury returned and pronounced a verdict of guilty. "But how?" inquired the lawyer. "You must have had some doubt; I saw all of you stare at the door." Answered the jury foreman: "Oh, we did look. But your client didn’t."
That man, of course, knew the truth. The person could not walk through the door, because he was dead. And the defendant knew he was dead because he had killed him. It is with the same assurance that we can handle the injustices in today’s world. Even if everyone around us is looking at that door, with confusion, with doubt, with unbelief, we can look straight ahead because we know the truth: God is in control, even in the midst of injustice.
And when the whole world thinks they need to be in control of injustice, we know the truth: God is. And when the whole world thinks fate is in control of injustice, we know the truth: God is. And when we are experiencing injustice, we do not need to doubt who allowed it, who knows about it, and who will take care of it in His time and in His way: God will.
Let’s bow our heads and take some for private prayer.
PRAY silently. Praise God for His character, including His justice. Thank God for His mercy, that He doesn’t give you the immediate justice you deserve. Thank Him that He will judge rightly when it is time. Go ahead and spend a moment in praise.
Keep PRAYING. Go ahead and list the injustices you are facing. Go ahead and tell God what you think about these injustices in the world and in your life. Ask Him to answer and to deal with it. I will give you some time to do that.
Now, continue PRAYING. Tell God whether or not you will trust Him in the meantime. Ask God what it is He wants you to do while you await His justice.
WHEN?
Habakkuk 1:1-11
Don’t open your Bibles yet this morning. Let’s begin with a little quiz to get our minds awake and alert:
1. How do you spell Huh-back-cuck? [this is the pronunciation]
a. Huhbackcuck
b. Habbakkuk
c. Habakkuk
d. Habbakuk
The correct answer is C
2. Who was Habakkuk?
a. A priest
b. A prophet
c. A king
d. A bum hanging out on the streets of Jerusalem
The correct answer is B
3. What does Habakkuk’s name mean?
a. Peaceful one
b. To wrestle
c. Lover of God
d. I have a bad back
The correct answer is B (to wrestle or embrace)
4. Where is Habakkuk located in the Bible?
a. Just before Zephaniah
b. Just before Haggai
c. Just after Daniel
d. It’s not in the Bible, but in the Apocrypha
The correct answer is A
5. How many chapters are there in Habakkuk?
a. 303
b. 23
c. 13
d. 03
The correct answer is D
6. What was going on in the Northern Kingdom of Israel when Habakkuk prophesied?
a. Israel was experiencing a time of peace and prosperity
b. Israel had a revival and was turning back to God
c. Israel was headed toward captivity very soon
d. Israel was already in captivity by the Assyrians
The correct answer is D
7. What was going on in the Southern Kingdom of Judah when Habakkuk prophesied?
a. Judah was headed toward captivity very soon
b. Judah was having a party
c. Judah was in captivity in Babylon
d. Judah was experiencing spiritual revival
The correct answer is A
8. Why should we study the book of Habbakkuk?
a. Nothing better to do
b. It’s better than studying Leviticus
c. It is the inspired Word of God and profitable for our lives
d. We shouldn’t
The correct answer is C – (surprised?)
Please turn in your Bible to Habakkuk, chapter 1. In the Bible in front of you, it is on page 810 or 826.
Legend has it that a man was lost in the desert, just dying for a drink of water. He stumbled upon an old shack – a ramshackled, windowless, roofless, weatherbeaten old shack. He looked about this place and found a little shade from the heat of the desert sun. As he glanced around he saw a pump about fifteen feet away – an old, rusty water pump. He stumbled over to it, grabbed the handle, and began to pump up and down, up and down. Nothing came out.
Disappointed, he staggered back. He noticed off to the side an old jug. He looked at it, wiped away the dirt and dust, and read a message that said, “You have to prime the pump with all the water in this jug, my friend. P.S.: Be sure you fill the jug again before you leave.”
He popped the cork out of the jug and sure enough, it was almost full of water! Suddenly, he was faced with a decision. If he drank the water, he could live. Ah, but if he poured all the water in the old rusty pump, maybe it would yield fresh, cool water from down deep in the well, all the water he wanted.
He studied the possibility of both options. What should he do, put it into the old pump and take a chance on fresh, cool water or drink what was in the old jug and ignore its message? Should he waste all the water on the hopes of those flimsy instructions written, no telling how long ago?
Reluctantly he poured all the water into the pump.Then he grabbed the handle and began to pump, squeak, squeak, squeak. Still nothing came out! Squeak, squeak, squeak. A little bit began to dribble out, then a small stream, and finally it gushed! To his relief fresh, cool water poured out of the rusty pump. Eagerly, he filled the jug and drank from it. He filled it another time and once again drank its refreshing contents.
Then he filled the jug of the next traveler. He filled it to the top, popped the cork back on, and added this little note: “Believe me, it really works. You have to give it all away before you can get anything back.”
This legend is a story about faith. Do you go after and only trust in what you can see, or do you believe in the message that is written, the truth of which you cannot yet see? This scenario is played out daily in our lives. We are asked to trust in a God whom we cannot see; and believe in His Word, when we do not know exactly what will happen. This is the theme, I believe, of the little book we are about to journey through together: LIVING BY FAITH.
My hope is that, from our study of Habakkuk, your faith will be strengthened to the place where you will have no problem pouring all of your water into the pump, because you believe the message; and more importantly, you believe in the One who wrote the message. Let’s begin with the first chapter and verse of Habakkuk:
Habakkuk 1:1 – “The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.”
An oracle is a word from God. In this case it was first given to a prophet. A prophet was one who received the Word of God and then passed it on to others. Habakkuk is the name of this prophet and this is what he received from God. He saw it. He received this as a vision from God, and experienced it to some extent as well. He then wrote down what he saw and it is passed along to us today.
I don’t know how well you did on our opening quiz on Habakkuk. I don’t know if you have ever read it or heard messages from it or used it for your devotions. It is most likely that you are not very familiar with this book and there are good reasons for that. But, I want to challenge you to remember a truth that can motivate us, not only to learn about this prophecy from Habakkuk, but to apply it to everyday life.
II Timothy 3:16,17 – “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.”
All Scripture, including Habakkuk, is profitable for us. God assures us that this book can help us live lives that honor Him. Habakkuk can help us become more mature in Christ, better prepared to serve Him more faithfully. If you believe this is true, then let’s enter this book of Habakkuk with a sense of anticipation for what God wants us to learn, not just in our heads, but our hearts: truth that can transform our lives!
We are not going to be able to understand this Word from God unless we know some of the background of this prophet and what was going on at the time of his prophecy. Habakkuk lived and served God over 600 years before Jesus Christ was born. He was a contemporary of Nahum, Jeremiah and Zephaniah, who also were prophets and wrote concerning the coming captivity of Judah.
At the end of King Solomon’s reign, Israel was divided into 2 kingdoms: The Northern Kingdom, called Israel; and the Southern Kingdom, called Judah. Judah’s capital and key city was Jerusalem. After Israel was taken captive by Assyria in 722 B.C., the emphasis of the prophets was now centered on the Southern Kingdom, Judah, and its future judgment. This is what Habakkuk is writing about.
Unlike many of the prophecies, Habakkuk does not speak directly to the people of Judah; but instead, has a conversation with God Himself. And Habakkuk, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is able to speak frankly to God about what he is seeing, and is able to ask God a question: WHEN? Look with me at:
Habakkuk 1:2-4 – “O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you ‘violence!’ and you will not save? Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted.”
His basic question is this: WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO BRING TRUE JUSTICE?
Habakkuk was not necessarily judging God for his inaction, but was honestly searching for answers as a set apart prophet of God. Why was this such a concern for Habakkuk? Before Habakkuk came on the scene, Judah had gone through the rule of a wicked king named Manasseh. Unger’s Bible Dictionary describes his reign: “Ascending the throne at the early age of twelve…he yielded to the influence of the idolatrous…party, and became in time a determined and even fanatical idolater; and as he grew up took delight in introducing into his kingdom to the superstitions of every heathen country. The high places were restored, the groves replanted, the altars of Baal and Astarte rebuilt, and the sun, moon, and all the host of heaven were worshipped…”
The first two commandments that God had given His people were disregarded and disobeyed by the King himself, leading the rest of His people into idolatry. Later, King Josiah came into rule, around 641 B.C. He was only 8 years old when he took reign. According to the same resource: “In the eighth year of his reign he began to seek after the God of David his father, and manifested that enmity to idolatry in all its forms which distinguished his character and reign…so strong was his detestation of idolatry that he ransacked the sepulchers of the idolatrous priests of former days and burned their bones upon the idol altars, before they were over-thrown.”
That doesn’t sound too bad, does it? The problem is that, at the end of King Josiah’s reign, the people reverted back to their old, idolatrous ways. The revival under Josiah had soon been forgotten. Violence was rampant once again and no one seemed to care what was taking place in their nation. Habakkuk was seeing all of this evil taking place once again, and it gets to the point, where he “can’t take it anymore”.
Habakkuk 1:2,3 – “O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you ‘violence!’ and you will not save? Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise.”
Do you know the urgency of this situation? It would not be different than someone who is in desperate need of help and feels like no one is listening. In August of this past year, police in St. Paul, Minnesota reported that witnesses ignored a woman’s cries for help. A security video from an apartment hallway shows at least 10 witnesses ignored a woman’s cries for help for more than an hour as a man beat and sexually assaulted her. The video tape shows one person looking out of her door probably three times. It shows another person walking up, observing what’s going on, then turning and putting up the hood of his sweatshirt.
Imagine the feeling of being attacked, crying for help and people who hear you don’t respond. It was this sense of desperation that caused the prophet Habakkuk to cry out continually: God, help us. God, help me. There is sin all around – there is all kinds of injustice and we are being spiritually destroyed. We need you. I need you. Where are you? When are you going to answer me? And now, Habakkuk details why he is so frustrated – he lists the conditions concerning which he is asking God to respond to.
Habakkuk uses four key words here to describe the sinful state of the nation of Judah at that time: “violence”, “iniquity” (injustice), “wrong” (trouble) and “destruction” (plundering). According to commentator Richard Patterson, these words “depict a society that is characterized by malicious wickedness, deceitful iniquity – both moral and spiritual, oppressive behavior toward others, and the general spiritual and ethical havoc that exist where such sin abounds”. The result?
Habakkuk 1:4 – “So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted.”
Since these types of sins were abounding in Judah, there was a plague of injustice that Habakkuk recognized clearly. He describes it in two ways here in verse 4: God’s law was paralyzed, not in operation, because of the condition of people’s hearts. So, true justice simply did not happen. Secondly, those opposed to God’s ways were then in control, not allowing those in line with God to have any influence. So, any justice there was ended up a perversion of the truth.
In January of last year, Saddam Hussein was hanged for the killing of 148 Shiite men and boys in 1982. There would be many illustrations of the perversion of justice and wickedness in the life of Hussein. One example comes from 1979, when at the age of 42, he became president of Iraq and moved to eliminate all opposition. According to Newsweek, “at a Baath party congress, he charged dozens of rivals with treason. One by one they were forced to leave the hall and face immediate execution. They screamed and shouted, pleaded and cried. Slightly bored, Saddam sat behind a desk on the stage sipping a glass of water and smoking Cuban cigars. Then he had a video of the meeting distributed throughout the Arab world to show what happened to anyone who might even think about challenging his rule.”
This is great perversion of justice, and it is exactly the kind of thing Habakkuk was crying out about. God, you have got to do something about this! You are the just God; and you are allowing your people to be unjust – all the time. When are you going to do something? Can you feel his pain? Think of all the injustices you have heard about in our world – across the seas, in your work place, in the church, in your family, at school, in government and in our court systems. I’m sure we could talk for hours about the perversion of justice we have heard about. Multiply that times 10 and you might be where Habakkuk was: crying out in desperation for God to do something.
It seems that Habakkuk had been crying out for some time, perhaps years. And, up until then, it did not seem that God had done anything about the corrupt justice system and the sins of the people of Judah. When would God act? It seems like forever since things were right. Habakkuk was probably discouraged and frustrated as he uttered these words. God’s inaction seemed, from Habakkuk’s viewpoint, that God was not listening.
David wrote in:
Psalm 13:1,2 – “How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day?..
King David cried out to God, when, because of his present circumstances, it seemed as if God had forgotten him and was no longer listening. He was left to crying himself to sleep at night. Habakkuk felt the same frustration.
SO WHAT ABOUT YOU? Let me make a couple of applications right here:
· Feel free to cry out to God with real emotion
One of the great things about the example of Habakkuk, King David and many others, is that God allowed and did not punish those who would cry out to Him, including expressing emotions of fear, anger and disappointment with God. No matter what your circumstances, God expects you to be real with Him. Don’t hide your feelings. Express them to the only one who can handle them fully, who can understand them, and who can help you see things clearly.
Secondly:
· Expect injustice in our sinful world
Until Christ returns, there will be plenty of injustice here. You can obsess over it and spend your lifetime trying to rid the world of injustice. But, it will still remain. Knowing it is here can help us turn to the only one who can help us deal with it, and the only one who can cure it.
In answer to his questions, Habakkuk writes God’s response to Him, beginning in:
Habakkuk 1:5 – “Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told.”
God has now begun to answer. Habakkuk has been waiting…and waiting…and waiting…and now God is speaking. He tells Habakkuk, who will then in turn tell the people of Judah: “Get ready for me to act in a way you will not believe. You will be amazed!” God indicates that He is about to do something about what Habakkuk has been praying: what will he do about the sin problems that are infecting our people? But, his answer is not what Habakkuk expected, and certainly not what the people of Judah would expect.
Habakkuk 1:6,7 – “For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, who march through the breadth of the earth, to seize dwellings not their own. They are dreaded and fearsome; their justice and dignity go forth from themselves.”
God’s answer to Habakkuk’s question of “when” is that He would do something very soon. It turned out to be about 20 years from this moment, when the Chaldeans took Judah, the Southern Kingdom of Israel captive. The Chaldeans had taken Babylon for themselves by 626 B.C. Within the next 20 years, they had taken all of Babylon. It would be in 586 B.C. that Babylon would capture all of Judah and take her captive.
The Chaldeans (or Babylonians) were known as cruel, never getting tired of destroying someone else. They had no problem looting and seizing anything for themselves. They were feared. Think of how the Giant Goliath was feared by everyone the Philistines faced, including Israel. He was dreaded, and so was the Chaldean army. Using the terms justice and dignity here in verse 7 does not mean they had any, but it means they were a law unto themselves. They made their own decisions and it wasn’t necessarily for anyone’s benefit except their own.
SO WHAT ABOUT GOD?
· He is in control (I am doing a work)
In a circumstance where Habakkuk thought God might have forgotten about His people, He reassures Habakkuk that He does know what He is doing.
· He will act as He chooses (I am raising up the Chaldeans)
You mean the evil people just described in verses 6,7? Yes!
This reminds me of the biblical story of Pharoah in Egypt. When He was enslaving God’s people and putting them under heavy burdens, you might wonder why God would allow Him to remain in rule. Not only did he allow him to rule, he purposely put him there! This was God’s Word to Pharoah:
Exodus 9:16 – “But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.”
God raised up Pharoah, so that even though he would do evil things, it would eventually show God’s power and bring glory to Him. God now raised up the Chaldeans, although a sinful people, to bring glory to God by judging His sinful people Judah. I know this is very difficult to comprehend; but we simply cannot fully understand the mind of God; but we can trust Him by faith.
God then uses figures of speech to describe what the Chaldeans are like in battle.
Habakkuk 1:8– “Their horses are swifter than leopards, more fierce than the evening wolves; their horsemen press proudly on. Their horsemen come from afar; they fly like an eagle swift to devour.”
They can cover large distances in a small amount of time and bring quick devastation.
Habakkuk 1:9-11 – “They all come for violence, all their faces forward. They gather captives like sand. At kings they scoff, and at rulers they laugh. They laugh at every fortress, for they pile up earth and take it. Then they sweep by like the wind and go on, guilty men, whose own might is their god!”
Isn’t it interesting that God points out that the Chaldeans were known for their violence; and that is one of the defining characteristics that Judah has displayed (verse 2)? You have acted in violence, and now you are going to be the recipients of it yourselves. God makes it clear that He has been seeing what has been going on in the sinfulness of His people; and He is getting ready to act. These verses say it is impossible to count the number of prisoners the Chaldeans have taken. They laugh at their enemies and their attempts to fortify themselves, because they are able to defeat anyone and destroy any barrier. They come in, destroy and go their own way.
Commentators Walvoord and Zuck said: “They poured derision on the strongholds which their victims considered impregnable. They simply built earthen ramps against the walls of cities built on mounds, and raced up those ramps, attacked the cities easily, and seized the fortified strongholds.”
“It was their custom to exhibit captive rulers as public spectacles. Their brutality is seen in the way they treated Zedekiah after Jerusalem fell. They killed his sons before his eyes and then, with that awesome sight burned into his memory, they put out his eyes, bound him in shackles, and took him prisoner to Babylon.” (II Kings 25:7)
And then God describes these men: they are guilty (sinful) and they do not trust in the one true God. In fact, they trust in their own might. This was the very ungodly characteristic that God’s people, Judah, had taken on. They had begun to trust in their own wisdom and power. Foolish mistake. And now, a fierce Babylonian army, that did not honor God at all would be the ones to come and judge Judah.
SO WHAT ABOUT GOD?
· He will bring justice, in His time and in His way
A theme of Habakkuk is living by faith. This is what it is all about. Not seeing what God is going to do…Not knowing when He is going to it…not knowing how He is going to do it…and maybe not even understanding why He would do it a certain way. But, this is what God’s people have had to deal with since the beginning. God is God. He is loving and He is just. He will judge sin; but He may not do what you want, when you want Him to do it or how you want Him to do it. Will you trust Him anyway?
SO WHAT ABOUT US?
· Trust God’s justice
How do we do that? I think it begins with God’s Word. We read about His justice, how He has carried it out in the past and how He will carry it out in the future. We see that this just God is also loving, full of grace and abounding mercy. In fact, we should probably also point out that the only times we want to see God’s justice is when it has to do with someone else’s sin – right? We don’t really want His complete justice to be carried out on us – why? Because if He judged according to what I deserve, I would be dead – and so would you! Part of trusting God’s justice is praising Him for His great forgiveness and mercy. These are also a part of our just God’s character.
And then we apply this truth of God’s justice, this knowledge, to our circumstances. It would not be too difficult to apply this feeling of frustration to our own country – the United States of America. We can read on our currency: In God We Trust, and yet look at a nation that seems to trust only in itself. We are not willing to acknowledge God in public life. It is too offensive, controversial – so we ignore Him.
We could list hundreds of sinful actions our nation has taken – actions that do not honor God, but oppose Him and His ways. We love our country, but we are sick of the sin that surrounds us. If we trust God’s justice, then we know He will judge the sins of our nation and its people in His time and in His way. We pray, of course, for a revival instead. That the hearts of her people would be turned to Him, which would radically change the direction of our nation and our worship of God.
Has someone hurt you deeply? Has someone sinned against you? Don’t take revenge. In fact, instead of taking out your own justice, we are to demonstrate love as we trust in God’s justice:
Romans 12:19-21 – “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. To the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink…Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
You see: when you are trusting God’s justice, then you know He will take care of the person who hurt you. At the same time, your responsibility is not to stand there and say: “God’s going to get you”, but to do the unthinkable: love that person with kindness just as Christ loved you when you didn’t deserve it.
When you get upset over abortion or a court case or another nation that abuses the United States; or someone is sinning within your own family, you can trust the justice of God. That allows you to have patience, love and self-control, even in the midst of it. Habakkuk cried out…he waited…and eventually…God answered. He will do the same for you.
A defendant was on trial for murder in Oklahoma. There was strong evidence indicating guilt, but there was no corpse. In the defense’s closing statement the lawyer, knowing that his client would probably be convicted, resorted to a trick. "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I have a surprise for you all," the lawyer said as he looked at his watch. "Within one minute, the person presumed dead in this case will walk into this courtroom." He looked toward the courtroom door. The jurors, somewhat stunned, all looked on eagerly. A minute passed. Nothing happened.
Finally the lawyer said, "Actually, I made up the previous statement. But you all looked on with anticipation. I, therefore, put it to you that there is reasonable doubt in this case as to whether anyone was killed and insist that you return a verdict of not guilty." The jury, clearly confused, retired to deliberate. A few minutes later, the jury returned and pronounced a verdict of guilty. "But how?" inquired the lawyer. "You must have had some doubt; I saw all of you stare at the door." Answered the jury foreman: "Oh, we did look. But your client didn’t."
That man, of course, knew the truth. The person could not walk through the door, because he was dead. And the defendant knew he was dead because he had killed him. It is with the same assurance that we can handle the injustices in today’s world. Even if everyone around us is looking at that door, with confusion, with doubt, with unbelief, we can look straight ahead because we know the truth: God is in control, even in the midst of injustice.
And when the whole world thinks they need to be in control of injustice, we know the truth: God is. And when the whole world thinks fate is in control of injustice, we know the truth: God is. And when we are experiencing injustice, we do not need to doubt who allowed it, who knows about it, and who will take care of it in His time and in His way: God will.
Let’s bow our heads and take some for private prayer.
PRAY silently. Praise God for His character, including His justice. Thank God for His mercy, that He doesn’t give you the immediate justice you deserve. Thank Him that He will judge rightly when it is time. Go ahead and spend a moment in praise.
Keep PRAYING. Go ahead and list the injustices you are facing. Go ahead and tell God what you think about these injustices in the world and in your life. Ask Him to answer and to deal with it. I will give you some time to do that.
Now, continue PRAYING. Tell God whether or not you will trust Him in the meantime. Ask God what it is He wants you to do while you await His justice.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Mr. Livingstone, I presume
We are always looking for things that we can use at the dinner table, to engage our children's in the truths of God, and encourage them to follow Him. One recent attempt at this was to read a chapter each night from the book: David Livingstone: Africa's Trailblazer, by Janet and Geoff Benge. It is a part of the Christian Heroes: Then and Now Series, put out by YWAM publishing. Our older children have read some of the other books in the series on their own. We would highly recommend them.
David Livingstone gained a passion for missions, and because of a particular missionary that he heard speak, his heart was drawn to reach the people of Africa with the gospel. His specific "call" was to reach people with the truth who had never heard. If a people group of Africa had already heard the gospel, it was his desire to move on forward to share it with others, whom the gospel had not yet reached.
The historical context of this story is that David was born in 1813 and died in 1873. He was trained as a medical doctor and used the knowledge he had to bring some physical healing to those in Africa as well. But, the majority of this story seemed to center in on the hardships David faced as he went to places no other "white man" had ever been, and produced journals and maps that helped him become very well known back in London, England.
He faced many trials, including the attacks of wild animals, limited transportation options, lack of funds, opposition to the gospel, and all kinds of diseases (to name a few). What really struck me was that he married a missionary's daughter and began to serve with her. But, very soon, when children came, he was separated (for a variety of necessary reasons) from his wife and children. In fact, he really did not get to see his children grow up. He continued to "trailblaze" in Africa, where his family could not go. He saw limited "success" of the gospel changing hearts, but he did do incredible things when it came to geographical success.
I know that "success" in spiritual terms is not about numbers necessarily. But, I found myself really bothered by the fact that he continued his treks into untamed Africa, when his wife and children needed him most. I suppose people could argue on either side of this. What I have come to settle on in my mind is this: If it was a particular "call", a burden, that David Livingstone could not shake or put aside...if he truly believed that this is what God wanted him to do...if he and his wife understood the risks involved before they were married...then it seems to me that he sacrificed some of the most important things in life for what WAS most important. He sacrificed the better for the best. He gave his life for Jesus Christ.
I would never want the comforts of life to keep me from following God's direction. And yet, I would also not want some personal accomplishments that might come from doing something to tempt me away from God's will of loving my family and leading them to God. I have always been open to going anywhere God calls, but I sense, that at least at this time in my life, He has called me to have my family with me in ministry. Maybe that will change when they are "on their own". I am also convinced, at least for the moment, that God has called me to serve Him here in the United States. Yes, many have heard of the gospel, but most have not responded.
May we all be sensitive to what God has called us to do - for the sake of eternity and for His glory!
David Livingstone gained a passion for missions, and because of a particular missionary that he heard speak, his heart was drawn to reach the people of Africa with the gospel. His specific "call" was to reach people with the truth who had never heard. If a people group of Africa had already heard the gospel, it was his desire to move on forward to share it with others, whom the gospel had not yet reached.
The historical context of this story is that David was born in 1813 and died in 1873. He was trained as a medical doctor and used the knowledge he had to bring some physical healing to those in Africa as well. But, the majority of this story seemed to center in on the hardships David faced as he went to places no other "white man" had ever been, and produced journals and maps that helped him become very well known back in London, England.
He faced many trials, including the attacks of wild animals, limited transportation options, lack of funds, opposition to the gospel, and all kinds of diseases (to name a few). What really struck me was that he married a missionary's daughter and began to serve with her. But, very soon, when children came, he was separated (for a variety of necessary reasons) from his wife and children. In fact, he really did not get to see his children grow up. He continued to "trailblaze" in Africa, where his family could not go. He saw limited "success" of the gospel changing hearts, but he did do incredible things when it came to geographical success.
I know that "success" in spiritual terms is not about numbers necessarily. But, I found myself really bothered by the fact that he continued his treks into untamed Africa, when his wife and children needed him most. I suppose people could argue on either side of this. What I have come to settle on in my mind is this: If it was a particular "call", a burden, that David Livingstone could not shake or put aside...if he truly believed that this is what God wanted him to do...if he and his wife understood the risks involved before they were married...then it seems to me that he sacrificed some of the most important things in life for what WAS most important. He sacrificed the better for the best. He gave his life for Jesus Christ.
I would never want the comforts of life to keep me from following God's direction. And yet, I would also not want some personal accomplishments that might come from doing something to tempt me away from God's will of loving my family and leading them to God. I have always been open to going anywhere God calls, but I sense, that at least at this time in my life, He has called me to have my family with me in ministry. Maybe that will change when they are "on their own". I am also convinced, at least for the moment, that God has called me to serve Him here in the United States. Yes, many have heard of the gospel, but most have not responded.
May we all be sensitive to what God has called us to do - for the sake of eternity and for His glory!
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Will you be my Valentine?
You love God and want to honor Him with your life
You are the most beautiful woman in the world
You are the greatest lover - the only one
You are the best friend I have
You are a wonderful mother, desiring to lead them to God
Your strengths are much greater than you recognize
Your weaknesses are covered by God's grace
You provide good and healthy meals for our family
You take care of our home
You go the extra mile for our children
You are growing as a godly woman
TERESA,
WILL YOU BE MY VALENTINE?
I love you!
Greg
You are the most beautiful woman in the world
You are the greatest lover - the only one
You are the best friend I have
You are a wonderful mother, desiring to lead them to God
Your strengths are much greater than you recognize
Your weaknesses are covered by God's grace
You provide good and healthy meals for our family
You take care of our home
You go the extra mile for our children
You are growing as a godly woman
TERESA,
WILL YOU BE MY VALENTINE?
I love you!
Greg
Monday, February 11, 2008
VISION FOR GRACE 2008
This is my annual "State of the Church" address. It is meant to give a vision for what God is calling us to do in this new ministry year. I normally preach a series of messages that have to do with our purpose statement or core values and then do the vision message, where I lay out goals for the year. Before this series, we looked at a four stage discipleship process, laying out some simple steps to evaluate how we are growing spiritually - individually and as a church. This message followed that series.
The I WAS HERE video can be viewed at bluefishtv.com and the THIS HAND video near the end can be viewed at sermonspice.com
VISION FOR GRACE 2008
Please turn in your Bible to Ephesians 4. In the Bible in front of you, it is page 1014 or 1040.
Every year, about this time, I give a message entitled: VISION FOR GRACE. It is intended to share with you my heart for this year of ministry for our church. God has been so good to us. This afternoon, we are going to celebrate all those who serve here at Grace. You are all crucial to having an effective ministry. We have celebrated births and mourned deaths in 2007. We have seen some people leave and some new people come and make a commitment to this church body. We have put aside some ministries and started others.
However, our attention this morning cannot be on what has taken place in the past. I want us to focus this morning on what God has called us to do, and how we can pursue that anew here in 2008. Let me begin by reminding you of the discipleship series that we just finished. It was meant to remind us that we are here for a purpose: to make disciples. Out of all the other things that we can be remembered for; and in the midst of all the other things that we do that quickly fade, investing in people’s lives has an eternal impact. Let’s watch this together:
VIDEO: I WAS HERE
This is what drives me: that I as an individual and we as a church would make a lasting, spiritual impact on the lives of others, which will then be passed down generation to generation. And all we can focus on is what we can do today, and tomorrow and next week and month and this year, in order to make that type of lasting impact. How will we pursue that in 2008?
At the end of 2007, I shared with you my personal vision (plan) that I believe God has given me. I share it again with you, because it definitely affects how I lead here at Grace and the direction I believe we should go. My dream is to help people take the next step in their spiritual journey. More than anything else that comes with life and church ministry, I want to help people evaluate where they are in their spiritual walk and point them to taking another step of growth in their relationship with Jesus Christ.
This is my passion. Recently, a pastor of a large ministry in Southern California has received quite a bit of attention. His name is Rick Warren, and he is the pastor of Saddleback Church and author of the best-selling books: Purpose Driven Church and more recently: Purpose Driven Life. Being a pastor of a large ministry and making that kind of money can certainly challenge what is most important to invest your life and resources in. He was recently interviewed, and I want to share some of his comments with you. I believe this is an illustration of someone who has matured as a follower of Christ and is now abounding in many ways:
Rick Warren said: “People ask me, What is the purpose of life? And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven… I may live 60-100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act – the dress rehearsal…Life is a series of problems: either you are in one now, you’re just coming out of one, or you’re getting ready to go into another one. The reason for this is that God is more interested in our character than your comfort. God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy…
This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer…You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems. If you focus on your problems, you’re going into self-centeredness, ‘which is: my problem, my issues, my pain.’ But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others…
You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life. Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy. It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before. I don’t think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease…
We made no major purchases…I stopped taking a salary from the church…we set up foundations…to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation…I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back…
We need to ask ourselves: am I going to live for possessions? Popularity? Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God’s purposes for my life?”
This is a good example of a person that could have been put aside God’s priorities and become bitter about his wife’s cancer; or put aside God’s priorities because he was now rich and famous. Instead, it seems he has focused on what lasts for eternity and continued to become a more fully devoted follower of Christ.
This is why the stated purpose of our church is this. Please say it out loud with me [it is on the screen]: “Growing together in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are walking with God, pursuing relationships with His people, and reaching out to those who do not know Him.”
This is based on our theme verse:
II Peter 3:18- “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”
We are to glorify God, growing in His grace and knowledge, as we pursue: Him; closer relationships with other believers that we worship with; and finding ways to share our faith with others. We are to glorify God by making disciples, which is the final command Jesus left His followers with, before He went back to Heaven.
But, every person and every church must then ask this question: How, specifically, are we going to pursue Christ’s command for His glory? What is our plan, our process, by which we will pursue this? In times past, people looked to their pastors, their spiritual leaders, to preach, teach, serve, reach people for Christ. But, the Bible clearly explains how all of us in the church are responsible for the disciple-making process. Please look at:
Ephesians 4:11-16 – “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”
Did you see the progression of this text? God gave the pastors, spiritual leaders, to the church, not for them to do the work of the ministry, but to help all of you do the work of the ministry. And did you notice: this is to lead us to be unified based on the truth of God’s Word, by which we are all built up in spiritual growth. That we are to go from spiritual children, who are fully dependent on others and immature, to those who are growing in their spiritual maturity and established in their faith.
And as they speak the truth of God’s Word to one another and serve with the gifts God has given, the body of Christ becomes spiritually strong, bound in love.
This is what we are after. But, once again, the question of how arises. How are we going to grow in spiritual maturity? What is the plan of the church for growing in discipleship? As you know, we have all kinds of ministries and services and programs. What is our plan to help everyone who attends here at Grace to grow as more fully devoted followers of Christ?
Please turn in your Bible to the first book of the New Testament: Matthew, and chapter 22. In the Bible in front of you, it is on page 856 or 873.
I have asked the guys to hand out a gift to you, that is yours to keep. It is a summary of everything we have talked about over the past 4 weeks. As you will see, it walks through the phrases in:
Colossians 2:6,7 – “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding…”
We used 4 key phrases here to describe a discipleship process, a way to evaluate where each of us are in spiritual development, and to see how the church can help.
Please know that this is not the perfect picture of spiritual growth or detailed explanation of discipleship. This is simply a tool to help us stay focused on what we are to be all about: glorifying God by making disciples of Jesus Christ.
There are 2 ways in which we want to utilize this pamphlet. First, it is for every person who attends Grace, so that he can do some self-evaluation. If there is something in one of these stages that he feels is lacking, he can focus on growing in that area. He can pray. He can pursue growth. He can ask for help. The second way we would like to use this is for a more focused church discipleship process. We can use these goals and steps to focus our ministries on a discipleship process; rather than just trying to have a ton of good ministries, services and programs, without real purpose. Please take this with you and use it for your own spiritual reflection.
We want to use our resources for something that will last eternally. I read recently that a Swedish University has received nearly $600,000 in funds to measure the methane gases released when cows belch, which may contribute to global warming. I could think of a few better ways to use $600,000 to reach people with the gospel and help them become devoted followers of Christ. That makes an eternal impact for God’s glory!
In the process of discipleship, our motivations are key. This is not just about marking off a list of good things to do, but doing them because we love Jesus Christ and are committed to giving Him our lives. I also read about a doughnut-shop worker in New Jersey who bashed a thief over the head with a mug, saying later he did it because he didn’t want to look like a coward if tape of the robbery ended up on YouTube. That was his motivation for stopping the theif!
Another issue of discipleship that Phil Dawson helped us consider last week is that we cannot control our circumstances and sometimes our best efforts will not be enough. I was reminded this past week of how anything can happen, unexpectedly, that could certainly change our lives. In Washington State, a 600 pound cow fell off a cliff and landed on a minivan. The couple inside were unharmed, but neither the cow nor the van survived. When life happens, you can either respond according to selfishness, as Rick Warren explained; or you can look at it to see how God might use it for good – might use it to help you grow in Him.
One of the resources we used with our leadership in preparing for this ministry year is: Simple Church by Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger. In the book, the authors argue that every church must decide what their discipleship process is going to look like, and then simplify it the best way they can. Using the greatest example, they said:
“Jesus has the ability to take the complex and make it simple.” One example he used was this text you are turned to now:
Matthew 22:37-40 – “And he said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
He was asked about what the greatest commandment was. The Jewish people had 613 commandments they tried to obey. And Jesus summed it all up in 2: Love God and love your neighbor. Jesus didn’t try to complex things but make them simple enough for us, finite human beings, to focus on and pursue.
Please turn over just one book to the book of Mark, and chapter 2.
It is our desire to make a discipleship process as simple and doable as we possibly can, to follow the example of our Lord. We do not need to make it complicated. As you see on your pamphlet, we have chosen just four words or phrases to sum up a stage of spiritual development, and then have given you a few things to concentrate on in each area.
The authors of Simple Church made this piercing statement:
“Jesus is adamantly opposed to anything that gets in the way of people encountering Him…So cluttered (with multiple programs are churches) that many people are busy doing church instead of being the church.” He said: “Many people are busy doing church instead of being the church.” We do not want that to describe us – that we just get so busy doing too many things, thinking we are accomplishing something, when really we are just busy and not having a lasting, focused impact.
This morning, I want to share with you 4 simple goals that we have for our ministry here in 2008. Steve and I have already been working on these, we have shared them with many of the leaders here at Grace, and today we want to share them with you. Our prayer is that these goals will help us take steps toward honoring God as more fully devoted followers of Christ.
GOALS FOR 2008
Goal #1: Equip the members of Grace to articulate our purpose and plan with clarity.
When I say, this morning, “according to the authors”, I am referring to the resource: Simple Church. According to the authors: “Clarity is the ability of the process to be communicated and understood by the people.” Then they noted: “A lack of clarity ultimately leads to confusion and complexity because there is no coherent direction. When there is no direction, people assume a direction or invent one. The church then moves aimlessly and off course. And there is no course in which to return.”
Our desire is to be clear about what we are after. It is why we have our purpose statement; it is why we have our core values. It is why, at our leader’s meetings during the year, we talk about and re-emphasize this vision. It is why at the beginning of each ministry year, I preach to you, not only a vision message for the year, but also a series of messages that surround these key commitments. It is why you are holding this pamphlet. We want it to be clear as to what we are after. We know every detail cannot be spelled out when you are talking about discipling people; but we do believe we can unify around a clear plan, a process.
One of the services we offer for those who are new to Grace, so that they can learn of what we are all about is our: Discovering Grace class. In that class, you learn about our purpose, core values and the core commitments those who join Grace make. It takes only 3 hours, but gives you all the information you need to know about our ministry, what is important to us, and where we are headed. It is vitally important that those who may join us in the future have all of their questions answered and get a clear idea of who we are. Our next Discovering Grace class is Sunday, March 2nd. You can even use the tab on your bulletin today to sign up for this class. There is no cost or obligation, and no expectation that you have to join us after the class. But, if you are interested in finding out more about us and whether or not God is leading you here in the future, this class is your next step.
Goal #2: Create movement toward our purpose and plan.
According to the authors: “Movement is the sequential steps in the process that cause people to move to greater areas of commitment. Movement is about flow. It is about assimilation. Movement is what causes a person to go to the next step…
“To implement the movement element, church leaders must take a fresh look at the weekly church calendar and the regularly scheduled programs. All programs must be placed in sequential order along the ministry process. This is what creates movement in a ministry process.”
This makes sense, but is not easy. We want to take one step at a time, and as much as possible, lay out what those steps need to be; in order to be a church that has a plan for helping people come to Christ and grow in Christ. In order to make movement in our ministry, we have to do decide who is in control. Are we as a church, with its leadership, in control of making movement decisions in ministry; or are our programs in control. Who serves whom? One biblical illustration of this is where you are now in the book of Mark:
Mark 2:23,24 – “One Sabbath he was going through the grain fields, and as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. And the Pharisees were saying to him, Look why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”
Mark 2:27 – “And he said to them, the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”
The religious leaders were all about the rules – we need to obey all the rules, even if it doesn’t make sense. However, Jesus was all about doing what is right, what is best, even if it breaks a man made rule. In other words, although observing the Sabbath day was important, the Sabbath Day was to benefit people by giving them some rest. People were not made to obey strict standards on the Sabbath just so a list of religious rules could be kept. The followers of Christ were not to be controlled by the Sabbath, but the Sabbath was to be used by them for their benefit. Jesus didn’t let any man made traditions or programs or services get in the way of what He was here to do. The program of the Sabbath was to serve them, not the other way around.
In order to have movement in our ministry, we must approach all of our policies and programs this way. They are there for our benefit not the other way around. Even with our constitution, we are revising it so that it will serve us, rather than being hindered from doing ministry in a more effective way. This is not necessarily easy, because many of us have gotten used to certain rules, policies, programs or services. But, our number one priority in this must be to have the best process we can to see people growing in Christ.
Your pamphlet shows the movement of our ministry emphasis for each stage of our discipleship process. Going from: Rooted in Christ, where our ministry emphasis is the large group setting of our Sunday morning worship service – to – Being Built up in Him, where our ministry emphasis is the mid-size group setting of Sunday school. Our desire to use our ministries to move along in discipleship is why we want to keep growing in this particular ministry. One way we are doing that is to offer electives every other quarter. This allows all of our adults to experience different people in their class, different teachers, and choices that hopefully lead to growing in the grace and knowledge of Christ. We offer a book of the Bible study, a doctrinal study, a Christian living study and a specific women’s study.
The next stage is: Being Established in the Faith, where our ministry emphasis is the life Groups. Here, in 2008, we are looking to expand this ministry even more; and continue to use it as a key ministry in connecting people to one another and helping each other grow in Christ. We will be sharing more about our plans for this ministry over the next several months.
The final stage we have looked at in this process is: Abounding, where our ministry emphasis is Discipleship Training. We don’t, as of yet, have a particular program or service that deals with this; but we want to consider the idea of training people to follow Christ and serve Him in everything that we are doing.
It doesn’t mean that you have to go in this order, in terms of your involvement; but it means that we have purpose and movement for the programs and services we are focusing on. And we are certainly not at the end of what we need to do. There is more work to be done. We will keep taking steps forward to make our programs and processes serve us rather than just doing what we have always done because we’ve always done it.
Please turn in your Bible to II Kings, chapter 18. In the Bible in front of you, it is page 340 or 348.
This connects also with our 3rd goal for 2008:
Goal #3: Align our ministries to our purpose and plan.
According to the authors: “Alignment is the arrangement of all ministries and staff around the same simple process…
Without alignment, the church can be a multitude of sub-ministries. In this case each ministry has its own leaders who are only passionate about their specific ministry. They rarely identify with the entire church but are deeply committed to their own philosophy of ministry. In a church that lacks alignment, everyone is competing for the same space, resources, volunteers, and time on the calendar.”
This is a process (alignment) that does not happen quickly, but one we want to concentrate on this year. Obviously, according to your pamphlet, you see how a few of our ministries fit the overall process. But, what about all of the other programs and services that we currently have? Do those leading and helping in those ministries understand how it fits into the overall purpose and plan of discipleship? It is something we will have to work very hard on this year.
We hold meetings with life group leaders, ministry team leaders and others in order to make sure that they know how their ministry fits into the overall purpose and plan. That has to be a continual goal, so that eventually, everyone can know how they as individuals and how their particular ministry fits here at Grace. It also means making whatever changes are necessary, and seeing those changes as the best move for our overall goal of discipleship. And our final goal for 2008:
Goal #4: Focus our ministries on our purpose and plan.
According to the authors: “Focus is the commitment to abandon everything that falls outside of the simple ministry process. Focus most often means saying ‘no’. Focus requires saying ‘yes’ to the best and ‘no’ to everything else…It takes deep conviction and guts. Focus does not make church leaders popular… Simple churches abandon all that is outside of the simple process because it threatens to steal attention and energy from what has been determined as necessary. Events, activities, and programs outside the process cause people to move in multiple directions. A lack of focus leads to scattering.”
This is a very tough part of trying to live according to a discipleship process. Because it means, at some point, that changes have to be made; and change is very difficult. However, as move ahead, we will have to determine what ministries will help us accomplish most effectively what God has called us to; and what good ministries might need to be set aside before they become obstacles to growth.
Everyone has their favorite service, missionary, ministry and program. And none of us want something changed that we like. That is a major challenge to keep our focus on what will assist us the most in this process.
You are here in II Kings 18.
II Kings 18:1 – “In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign.”
II Kings 18:3,4 – “And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that David his father had done. He removed the high places and broke the pillars and cut down the Asherah. And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan).”
King Hezekiah removed all the altars that had been erected for the worship of false gods. He removed these obstacles so that they could worship the one and only true God. According to the authors: “Eliminating pagan idols is one thing, but what Hezekiah did next was controversial. Many church leaders would struggle to emulate his next move. Surely, people in his day struggle with this next change. He broke the bronze snake that Moses had made – on purpose. He did not just drop it and claim it was an accident. He broke it into pieces…Yes, it was the special and sacred snake. The snake that was crafted and held by Moses. The snake that God has instructed Moses to make. The snake that was the source of salvation for the people from their snakebites (Numbers 21:6-8).”
The authors explained: “He got rid of it because it was clutter. It was clutter because the people worshipped it. It took attention away from the real Savior. Bronze was worshipped. A fake snake was adored. What was once a good thing became an idol. It got in the way of their worship of God. The tool for worship became the object of worship. In many churches the original tools for life change have created too much clutter. Instead of uniting, they divide focus. The programs have become ends in themselves… For Hezekiah, eliminating the bronze snake was most likely not a popular decision, especially with the religious crowd steeped deep in tradition. Most extreme makeovers involving God’s people are difficult.”
Sometimes, we must set aside things that are good, things that were used at one time for discipleship, but are now just hindrances to further discipleship. With our focus on helping people take their next step with Christ, valued and loved parts of our church ministry might have to be put aside. That way, the focus can be on the ministries that will be the most effective in discipleship.
The authors give us their definition of a simple church: “A simple church is a congregation designed around a straight-forward and strategic process that moves people through the stages of spiritual growth…Changed lives are the bottom line, the intended end result. Christ formed in people is the goal.” This is our desire!
As we pursue these goals this year, our leadership can make a promise to you: We will not arbitrarily cast off tradition or beloved programs, ministries and services. We will, however, continue to pray, evaluate and make decisions based on what we believe would best honor God in the process of making disciples here at Grace.
Please stand with me for a moment.
Let’s pray together. I would like you to consider, in silent prayer, the applicational question: SO WHAT? Based on the Word of God this morning, what is God asking you to do? How does He want you to be a part of this discipleship process? Is there an attitude change you need to make? Is there an action you need to take? Are you willing to do whatever God would ask of you? Let’s take a few moments in silent prayer to consider these questions. Let’s pray.
Please remain standing. As we sing about the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, I would ask the men to come and prepare for the Lord’s Table.
SONG: #201 – GRACE GREATER THAN OUR SIN – (verse 1)
You may be seated. If you are a follower of Christ here with us today, you are welcome to partake of the elements of the Lord’s Table that will passed in just a few moments. If you are not yet a follower of Christ, please refrain from the elements, but remain here with us and take these opportunities to pray. These elements are the bread and the cup, which represent the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. As we partake, we are obeying what He asked us to do until He returns: To Remember Him.
It is appropriate that we would celebrate the Lord’s Table at the end of this particular message today. This discipleship process all begins with Jesus Christ. He went to people and said to them: Follow Me. He did not, and still does not emphasize the issue of praying a prayer so that we can go to Heaven. He emphasizes a commitment to follow Him throughout life, not just as a child with a one-time prayer. He is looking for us to follow Him and for us to help others become His followers. This is what the Scriptures teach.
But, we must continually recognize that the only reason we are followers of Christ is because of His Grace. It is nothing we deserved.
Ephesians 2:8– “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.”
It is by God’s grace that we are saved, and it is by God’s grace that we live today. It is by grace that we can help others grow in faith, and it is by grace that we will be delivered in the end. As we have considered our goals for 2008 and how we want to move ahead as more fully devoted followers of Christ, let’s take some time this morning to focus on the object of our trust: Jesus Christ.
As we pass out the bread, which represents the body of Jesus, please take this time to reflect on what He has done for you. Please hold onto the bread until we all partake together. Let’s pray.
Prayer for the Bread
Passing of the Bread
· Special music: Melanie Strong
Partaking of the Bread
Prayer for the Cup
Passing of the Cup
· SONG: #201 – GRACE GREATER THAN OUR SIN – (verses 2,3)
All the way through our discipleship process, we have been talking about growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. And although we must give maximum effort to grow, it still only happens as He gives us the ability. No matter what circumstance in which we find ourselves, He promises:
II Corinthians 12:9 – “…My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
This is such an important promise, as we find ourselves, like His original disciples, failing often. This morning, as we celebrate the cup, which represents the blood of Jesus Christ, let’s consider the incredible grace that God has demonstrated toward us. Please consider the truth of this video as it relates to all of us in need of His grace; and please hold onto the cup until we all partake. Thank you.
· VIDEO: THIS HAND
· Partaking of the Cup
SONG: GRACE GREATER THAN OUR SIN (verse 4)
PRAYER
The I WAS HERE video can be viewed at bluefishtv.com and the THIS HAND video near the end can be viewed at sermonspice.com
VISION FOR GRACE 2008
Please turn in your Bible to Ephesians 4. In the Bible in front of you, it is page 1014 or 1040.
Every year, about this time, I give a message entitled: VISION FOR GRACE. It is intended to share with you my heart for this year of ministry for our church. God has been so good to us. This afternoon, we are going to celebrate all those who serve here at Grace. You are all crucial to having an effective ministry. We have celebrated births and mourned deaths in 2007. We have seen some people leave and some new people come and make a commitment to this church body. We have put aside some ministries and started others.
However, our attention this morning cannot be on what has taken place in the past. I want us to focus this morning on what God has called us to do, and how we can pursue that anew here in 2008. Let me begin by reminding you of the discipleship series that we just finished. It was meant to remind us that we are here for a purpose: to make disciples. Out of all the other things that we can be remembered for; and in the midst of all the other things that we do that quickly fade, investing in people’s lives has an eternal impact. Let’s watch this together:
VIDEO: I WAS HERE
This is what drives me: that I as an individual and we as a church would make a lasting, spiritual impact on the lives of others, which will then be passed down generation to generation. And all we can focus on is what we can do today, and tomorrow and next week and month and this year, in order to make that type of lasting impact. How will we pursue that in 2008?
At the end of 2007, I shared with you my personal vision (plan) that I believe God has given me. I share it again with you, because it definitely affects how I lead here at Grace and the direction I believe we should go. My dream is to help people take the next step in their spiritual journey. More than anything else that comes with life and church ministry, I want to help people evaluate where they are in their spiritual walk and point them to taking another step of growth in their relationship with Jesus Christ.
This is my passion. Recently, a pastor of a large ministry in Southern California has received quite a bit of attention. His name is Rick Warren, and he is the pastor of Saddleback Church and author of the best-selling books: Purpose Driven Church and more recently: Purpose Driven Life. Being a pastor of a large ministry and making that kind of money can certainly challenge what is most important to invest your life and resources in. He was recently interviewed, and I want to share some of his comments with you. I believe this is an illustration of someone who has matured as a follower of Christ and is now abounding in many ways:
Rick Warren said: “People ask me, What is the purpose of life? And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven… I may live 60-100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act – the dress rehearsal…Life is a series of problems: either you are in one now, you’re just coming out of one, or you’re getting ready to go into another one. The reason for this is that God is more interested in our character than your comfort. God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy…
This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer…You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems. If you focus on your problems, you’re going into self-centeredness, ‘which is: my problem, my issues, my pain.’ But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others…
You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life. Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy. It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before. I don’t think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease…
We made no major purchases…I stopped taking a salary from the church…we set up foundations…to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation…I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back…
We need to ask ourselves: am I going to live for possessions? Popularity? Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God’s purposes for my life?”
This is a good example of a person that could have been put aside God’s priorities and become bitter about his wife’s cancer; or put aside God’s priorities because he was now rich and famous. Instead, it seems he has focused on what lasts for eternity and continued to become a more fully devoted follower of Christ.
This is why the stated purpose of our church is this. Please say it out loud with me [it is on the screen]: “Growing together in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are walking with God, pursuing relationships with His people, and reaching out to those who do not know Him.”
This is based on our theme verse:
II Peter 3:18- “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”
We are to glorify God, growing in His grace and knowledge, as we pursue: Him; closer relationships with other believers that we worship with; and finding ways to share our faith with others. We are to glorify God by making disciples, which is the final command Jesus left His followers with, before He went back to Heaven.
But, every person and every church must then ask this question: How, specifically, are we going to pursue Christ’s command for His glory? What is our plan, our process, by which we will pursue this? In times past, people looked to their pastors, their spiritual leaders, to preach, teach, serve, reach people for Christ. But, the Bible clearly explains how all of us in the church are responsible for the disciple-making process. Please look at:
Ephesians 4:11-16 – “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”
Did you see the progression of this text? God gave the pastors, spiritual leaders, to the church, not for them to do the work of the ministry, but to help all of you do the work of the ministry. And did you notice: this is to lead us to be unified based on the truth of God’s Word, by which we are all built up in spiritual growth. That we are to go from spiritual children, who are fully dependent on others and immature, to those who are growing in their spiritual maturity and established in their faith.
And as they speak the truth of God’s Word to one another and serve with the gifts God has given, the body of Christ becomes spiritually strong, bound in love.
This is what we are after. But, once again, the question of how arises. How are we going to grow in spiritual maturity? What is the plan of the church for growing in discipleship? As you know, we have all kinds of ministries and services and programs. What is our plan to help everyone who attends here at Grace to grow as more fully devoted followers of Christ?
Please turn in your Bible to the first book of the New Testament: Matthew, and chapter 22. In the Bible in front of you, it is on page 856 or 873.
I have asked the guys to hand out a gift to you, that is yours to keep. It is a summary of everything we have talked about over the past 4 weeks. As you will see, it walks through the phrases in:
Colossians 2:6,7 – “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding…”
We used 4 key phrases here to describe a discipleship process, a way to evaluate where each of us are in spiritual development, and to see how the church can help.
Please know that this is not the perfect picture of spiritual growth or detailed explanation of discipleship. This is simply a tool to help us stay focused on what we are to be all about: glorifying God by making disciples of Jesus Christ.
There are 2 ways in which we want to utilize this pamphlet. First, it is for every person who attends Grace, so that he can do some self-evaluation. If there is something in one of these stages that he feels is lacking, he can focus on growing in that area. He can pray. He can pursue growth. He can ask for help. The second way we would like to use this is for a more focused church discipleship process. We can use these goals and steps to focus our ministries on a discipleship process; rather than just trying to have a ton of good ministries, services and programs, without real purpose. Please take this with you and use it for your own spiritual reflection.
We want to use our resources for something that will last eternally. I read recently that a Swedish University has received nearly $600,000 in funds to measure the methane gases released when cows belch, which may contribute to global warming. I could think of a few better ways to use $600,000 to reach people with the gospel and help them become devoted followers of Christ. That makes an eternal impact for God’s glory!
In the process of discipleship, our motivations are key. This is not just about marking off a list of good things to do, but doing them because we love Jesus Christ and are committed to giving Him our lives. I also read about a doughnut-shop worker in New Jersey who bashed a thief over the head with a mug, saying later he did it because he didn’t want to look like a coward if tape of the robbery ended up on YouTube. That was his motivation for stopping the theif!
Another issue of discipleship that Phil Dawson helped us consider last week is that we cannot control our circumstances and sometimes our best efforts will not be enough. I was reminded this past week of how anything can happen, unexpectedly, that could certainly change our lives. In Washington State, a 600 pound cow fell off a cliff and landed on a minivan. The couple inside were unharmed, but neither the cow nor the van survived. When life happens, you can either respond according to selfishness, as Rick Warren explained; or you can look at it to see how God might use it for good – might use it to help you grow in Him.
One of the resources we used with our leadership in preparing for this ministry year is: Simple Church by Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger. In the book, the authors argue that every church must decide what their discipleship process is going to look like, and then simplify it the best way they can. Using the greatest example, they said:
“Jesus has the ability to take the complex and make it simple.” One example he used was this text you are turned to now:
Matthew 22:37-40 – “And he said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
He was asked about what the greatest commandment was. The Jewish people had 613 commandments they tried to obey. And Jesus summed it all up in 2: Love God and love your neighbor. Jesus didn’t try to complex things but make them simple enough for us, finite human beings, to focus on and pursue.
Please turn over just one book to the book of Mark, and chapter 2.
It is our desire to make a discipleship process as simple and doable as we possibly can, to follow the example of our Lord. We do not need to make it complicated. As you see on your pamphlet, we have chosen just four words or phrases to sum up a stage of spiritual development, and then have given you a few things to concentrate on in each area.
The authors of Simple Church made this piercing statement:
“Jesus is adamantly opposed to anything that gets in the way of people encountering Him…So cluttered (with multiple programs are churches) that many people are busy doing church instead of being the church.” He said: “Many people are busy doing church instead of being the church.” We do not want that to describe us – that we just get so busy doing too many things, thinking we are accomplishing something, when really we are just busy and not having a lasting, focused impact.
This morning, I want to share with you 4 simple goals that we have for our ministry here in 2008. Steve and I have already been working on these, we have shared them with many of the leaders here at Grace, and today we want to share them with you. Our prayer is that these goals will help us take steps toward honoring God as more fully devoted followers of Christ.
GOALS FOR 2008
Goal #1: Equip the members of Grace to articulate our purpose and plan with clarity.
When I say, this morning, “according to the authors”, I am referring to the resource: Simple Church. According to the authors: “Clarity is the ability of the process to be communicated and understood by the people.” Then they noted: “A lack of clarity ultimately leads to confusion and complexity because there is no coherent direction. When there is no direction, people assume a direction or invent one. The church then moves aimlessly and off course. And there is no course in which to return.”
Our desire is to be clear about what we are after. It is why we have our purpose statement; it is why we have our core values. It is why, at our leader’s meetings during the year, we talk about and re-emphasize this vision. It is why at the beginning of each ministry year, I preach to you, not only a vision message for the year, but also a series of messages that surround these key commitments. It is why you are holding this pamphlet. We want it to be clear as to what we are after. We know every detail cannot be spelled out when you are talking about discipling people; but we do believe we can unify around a clear plan, a process.
One of the services we offer for those who are new to Grace, so that they can learn of what we are all about is our: Discovering Grace class. In that class, you learn about our purpose, core values and the core commitments those who join Grace make. It takes only 3 hours, but gives you all the information you need to know about our ministry, what is important to us, and where we are headed. It is vitally important that those who may join us in the future have all of their questions answered and get a clear idea of who we are. Our next Discovering Grace class is Sunday, March 2nd. You can even use the tab on your bulletin today to sign up for this class. There is no cost or obligation, and no expectation that you have to join us after the class. But, if you are interested in finding out more about us and whether or not God is leading you here in the future, this class is your next step.
Goal #2: Create movement toward our purpose and plan.
According to the authors: “Movement is the sequential steps in the process that cause people to move to greater areas of commitment. Movement is about flow. It is about assimilation. Movement is what causes a person to go to the next step…
“To implement the movement element, church leaders must take a fresh look at the weekly church calendar and the regularly scheduled programs. All programs must be placed in sequential order along the ministry process. This is what creates movement in a ministry process.”
This makes sense, but is not easy. We want to take one step at a time, and as much as possible, lay out what those steps need to be; in order to be a church that has a plan for helping people come to Christ and grow in Christ. In order to make movement in our ministry, we have to do decide who is in control. Are we as a church, with its leadership, in control of making movement decisions in ministry; or are our programs in control. Who serves whom? One biblical illustration of this is where you are now in the book of Mark:
Mark 2:23,24 – “One Sabbath he was going through the grain fields, and as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. And the Pharisees were saying to him, Look why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”
Mark 2:27 – “And he said to them, the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”
The religious leaders were all about the rules – we need to obey all the rules, even if it doesn’t make sense. However, Jesus was all about doing what is right, what is best, even if it breaks a man made rule. In other words, although observing the Sabbath day was important, the Sabbath Day was to benefit people by giving them some rest. People were not made to obey strict standards on the Sabbath just so a list of religious rules could be kept. The followers of Christ were not to be controlled by the Sabbath, but the Sabbath was to be used by them for their benefit. Jesus didn’t let any man made traditions or programs or services get in the way of what He was here to do. The program of the Sabbath was to serve them, not the other way around.
In order to have movement in our ministry, we must approach all of our policies and programs this way. They are there for our benefit not the other way around. Even with our constitution, we are revising it so that it will serve us, rather than being hindered from doing ministry in a more effective way. This is not necessarily easy, because many of us have gotten used to certain rules, policies, programs or services. But, our number one priority in this must be to have the best process we can to see people growing in Christ.
Your pamphlet shows the movement of our ministry emphasis for each stage of our discipleship process. Going from: Rooted in Christ, where our ministry emphasis is the large group setting of our Sunday morning worship service – to – Being Built up in Him, where our ministry emphasis is the mid-size group setting of Sunday school. Our desire to use our ministries to move along in discipleship is why we want to keep growing in this particular ministry. One way we are doing that is to offer electives every other quarter. This allows all of our adults to experience different people in their class, different teachers, and choices that hopefully lead to growing in the grace and knowledge of Christ. We offer a book of the Bible study, a doctrinal study, a Christian living study and a specific women’s study.
The next stage is: Being Established in the Faith, where our ministry emphasis is the life Groups. Here, in 2008, we are looking to expand this ministry even more; and continue to use it as a key ministry in connecting people to one another and helping each other grow in Christ. We will be sharing more about our plans for this ministry over the next several months.
The final stage we have looked at in this process is: Abounding, where our ministry emphasis is Discipleship Training. We don’t, as of yet, have a particular program or service that deals with this; but we want to consider the idea of training people to follow Christ and serve Him in everything that we are doing.
It doesn’t mean that you have to go in this order, in terms of your involvement; but it means that we have purpose and movement for the programs and services we are focusing on. And we are certainly not at the end of what we need to do. There is more work to be done. We will keep taking steps forward to make our programs and processes serve us rather than just doing what we have always done because we’ve always done it.
Please turn in your Bible to II Kings, chapter 18. In the Bible in front of you, it is page 340 or 348.
This connects also with our 3rd goal for 2008:
Goal #3: Align our ministries to our purpose and plan.
According to the authors: “Alignment is the arrangement of all ministries and staff around the same simple process…
Without alignment, the church can be a multitude of sub-ministries. In this case each ministry has its own leaders who are only passionate about their specific ministry. They rarely identify with the entire church but are deeply committed to their own philosophy of ministry. In a church that lacks alignment, everyone is competing for the same space, resources, volunteers, and time on the calendar.”
This is a process (alignment) that does not happen quickly, but one we want to concentrate on this year. Obviously, according to your pamphlet, you see how a few of our ministries fit the overall process. But, what about all of the other programs and services that we currently have? Do those leading and helping in those ministries understand how it fits into the overall purpose and plan of discipleship? It is something we will have to work very hard on this year.
We hold meetings with life group leaders, ministry team leaders and others in order to make sure that they know how their ministry fits into the overall purpose and plan. That has to be a continual goal, so that eventually, everyone can know how they as individuals and how their particular ministry fits here at Grace. It also means making whatever changes are necessary, and seeing those changes as the best move for our overall goal of discipleship. And our final goal for 2008:
Goal #4: Focus our ministries on our purpose and plan.
According to the authors: “Focus is the commitment to abandon everything that falls outside of the simple ministry process. Focus most often means saying ‘no’. Focus requires saying ‘yes’ to the best and ‘no’ to everything else…It takes deep conviction and guts. Focus does not make church leaders popular… Simple churches abandon all that is outside of the simple process because it threatens to steal attention and energy from what has been determined as necessary. Events, activities, and programs outside the process cause people to move in multiple directions. A lack of focus leads to scattering.”
This is a very tough part of trying to live according to a discipleship process. Because it means, at some point, that changes have to be made; and change is very difficult. However, as move ahead, we will have to determine what ministries will help us accomplish most effectively what God has called us to; and what good ministries might need to be set aside before they become obstacles to growth.
Everyone has their favorite service, missionary, ministry and program. And none of us want something changed that we like. That is a major challenge to keep our focus on what will assist us the most in this process.
You are here in II Kings 18.
II Kings 18:1 – “In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign.”
II Kings 18:3,4 – “And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that David his father had done. He removed the high places and broke the pillars and cut down the Asherah. And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan).”
King Hezekiah removed all the altars that had been erected for the worship of false gods. He removed these obstacles so that they could worship the one and only true God. According to the authors: “Eliminating pagan idols is one thing, but what Hezekiah did next was controversial. Many church leaders would struggle to emulate his next move. Surely, people in his day struggle with this next change. He broke the bronze snake that Moses had made – on purpose. He did not just drop it and claim it was an accident. He broke it into pieces…Yes, it was the special and sacred snake. The snake that was crafted and held by Moses. The snake that God has instructed Moses to make. The snake that was the source of salvation for the people from their snakebites (Numbers 21:6-8).”
The authors explained: “He got rid of it because it was clutter. It was clutter because the people worshipped it. It took attention away from the real Savior. Bronze was worshipped. A fake snake was adored. What was once a good thing became an idol. It got in the way of their worship of God. The tool for worship became the object of worship. In many churches the original tools for life change have created too much clutter. Instead of uniting, they divide focus. The programs have become ends in themselves… For Hezekiah, eliminating the bronze snake was most likely not a popular decision, especially with the religious crowd steeped deep in tradition. Most extreme makeovers involving God’s people are difficult.”
Sometimes, we must set aside things that are good, things that were used at one time for discipleship, but are now just hindrances to further discipleship. With our focus on helping people take their next step with Christ, valued and loved parts of our church ministry might have to be put aside. That way, the focus can be on the ministries that will be the most effective in discipleship.
The authors give us their definition of a simple church: “A simple church is a congregation designed around a straight-forward and strategic process that moves people through the stages of spiritual growth…Changed lives are the bottom line, the intended end result. Christ formed in people is the goal.” This is our desire!
As we pursue these goals this year, our leadership can make a promise to you: We will not arbitrarily cast off tradition or beloved programs, ministries and services. We will, however, continue to pray, evaluate and make decisions based on what we believe would best honor God in the process of making disciples here at Grace.
Please stand with me for a moment.
Let’s pray together. I would like you to consider, in silent prayer, the applicational question: SO WHAT? Based on the Word of God this morning, what is God asking you to do? How does He want you to be a part of this discipleship process? Is there an attitude change you need to make? Is there an action you need to take? Are you willing to do whatever God would ask of you? Let’s take a few moments in silent prayer to consider these questions. Let’s pray.
Please remain standing. As we sing about the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, I would ask the men to come and prepare for the Lord’s Table.
SONG: #201 – GRACE GREATER THAN OUR SIN – (verse 1)
You may be seated. If you are a follower of Christ here with us today, you are welcome to partake of the elements of the Lord’s Table that will passed in just a few moments. If you are not yet a follower of Christ, please refrain from the elements, but remain here with us and take these opportunities to pray. These elements are the bread and the cup, which represent the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. As we partake, we are obeying what He asked us to do until He returns: To Remember Him.
It is appropriate that we would celebrate the Lord’s Table at the end of this particular message today. This discipleship process all begins with Jesus Christ. He went to people and said to them: Follow Me. He did not, and still does not emphasize the issue of praying a prayer so that we can go to Heaven. He emphasizes a commitment to follow Him throughout life, not just as a child with a one-time prayer. He is looking for us to follow Him and for us to help others become His followers. This is what the Scriptures teach.
But, we must continually recognize that the only reason we are followers of Christ is because of His Grace. It is nothing we deserved.
Ephesians 2:8– “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.”
It is by God’s grace that we are saved, and it is by God’s grace that we live today. It is by grace that we can help others grow in faith, and it is by grace that we will be delivered in the end. As we have considered our goals for 2008 and how we want to move ahead as more fully devoted followers of Christ, let’s take some time this morning to focus on the object of our trust: Jesus Christ.
As we pass out the bread, which represents the body of Jesus, please take this time to reflect on what He has done for you. Please hold onto the bread until we all partake together. Let’s pray.
Prayer for the Bread
Passing of the Bread
· Special music: Melanie Strong
Partaking of the Bread
Prayer for the Cup
Passing of the Cup
· SONG: #201 – GRACE GREATER THAN OUR SIN – (verses 2,3)
All the way through our discipleship process, we have been talking about growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. And although we must give maximum effort to grow, it still only happens as He gives us the ability. No matter what circumstance in which we find ourselves, He promises:
II Corinthians 12:9 – “…My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
This is such an important promise, as we find ourselves, like His original disciples, failing often. This morning, as we celebrate the cup, which represents the blood of Jesus Christ, let’s consider the incredible grace that God has demonstrated toward us. Please consider the truth of this video as it relates to all of us in need of His grace; and please hold onto the cup until we all partake. Thank you.
· VIDEO: THIS HAND
· Partaking of the Cup
SONG: GRACE GREATER THAN OUR SIN (verse 4)
PRAYER
Friday, February 8, 2008
VICTORIA'S SECRET
I couldn't believe my eyes! There, on the glossy cover, was an alluring picture of a women in her underwear. My disbelief was not that she was a woman or that she was alluring or that she was undressed. All of these things I would expect from this particular catalog. What I could not believe was the circumstances in which I saw this picture. I was truly dumbfounded.
One half hour earlier, my wife was in my office with me, working on my computer, and I mentioned how tired I was. She mentioned how she would really like to keep working on my computer; and so it seemed like a good opportunity to go home and get a little rest before the rest of the busy day and a very late night. As I arrived home, I took the mail out of the mailbox and carried it to the kitchen. Opening up the folded pile, there it was: The Victoria's Secret catolog. This is when I used one of the approved pastor swear words: CRAP!
The reason I could not believe this was happening was because of our past efforts to keep this catolog out of our house. In the past, it came to us (we believe) because we were put on the mailing list for Bath and Body Works, which many times is right next to Victoria's Secret in malls. However, when we called them, they denied that there was any connection and we must have received it for a different reason. Well, it was recently that Teresa was in a Bath and Body Works store, and she gave them her mailing address. We are pretty sure this is how it happened again.
The reason this was all such a big deal was because of my sinful past and my present temptations. In the past, if I would have the opportunity to look through a catolog like this one, I would normally have taken it (in private, of course). It wasn't that this particular catolog was the issue, but that my flesh was drawn to pictures like this, whether in a publication or video. It seems that I am wired to be visual and to appreciate the form of women. And yet, I am not supposed to go beyond appreciation to lust. Therein lies the problem. And because of this struggle, there was no way that myself or my wife would want this catalog in our home; and would do anything to keep it out. We know the trap that these alluring pictures can set, especially for men.
In our society, of course, these types of visual images are EVERYWHERE, in all kinds of forms. There is no way to shut them out of life completely. The key is to know how to deal with them. And yet, I am responsible before God to remain pure. There is a battle that rages within me - between the old man and the new man, the flesh and the Spirit, the old creation and the new creation, the old nature and the new nature. This is real, whether the issue at hand is lust or greed or gossip or pride.
This is whyI must concentrate on what I call the VICTORIOUS SECRETS. In my moments of temptation or recognition of potential traps, I have to call on the victorious secrets that are revealed in the Word of God. And just as in the catalog, where the secret is really not a secret because you can view almost everything, these victorious secrets are clearly spelled out in Scripture. we just need to take the time to gaze at them, take in the view, meditate on them, and put the truth into action.
VICTORIOUS SECRET #1: God forgives any sin.
This doesn't sound like a secret, does it? It sounds obvious; and yet for those of us who struggle with lust; and sometimes from the perspective of those who don't struggle with this particular temptation, we don't seem so sure of this truth. Does God really forgive this sin? Is this one of those sins that He places as far away as the East is from the West? Does He forgive this sin even if someone commits it more than once? The obvious answer that seems like a secret is: YES! YES! YES! He does forgive the sin of lust, every time we confess: that humble, sincere agreement that we have broken God's law and need forgiveness.
Because of God's character (He is just), He promises to forgive, cleansing us from ALL unrighteousness. And He responds that way EVERY time we come to Him with this attitude. He removes the guilt and we can go before Him in confidence, having our slate wiped clean! Because we point to God's character for His glory, there is victory in asking for His forgiveness. There is also victory because it will not be held to our account in the future.
VICTORIOUS SECRET #2: God provides a way to escape every temptation
No matter how strong the pull is to any kind of temptation, God promises that we can learn to say no (Titus 2:12) to sin and to temptation (I Corinthians 10:13). Again, though, it is not about our ability or strength, but all about His character ("God is faithful"). But, this takes away all excuses. From the first sin of man, where Adam and Eve played the blame game, so all of us tend to have our excuses and tend to place the blame for sin elsewhere: "But, I just couldn't help it; God made me this way; if she didn't do that, then I wouldn't have done this; Satan is powerful you know, and knows just how to get to me, etc."
But, the truth is that God does not allow us to be tempted beyond what we (with His Spirit living in us) can resist. Although it is true that we will always fight the remnants of the old nature and will sin (I John 1:8), it is also true that we have no excuses when we give in. "I am fully responsible for my sin - no one else to blame." It also means that no matter the temptation, we must face it sqarely, and with God's help, have victory in that moment.
Back to my personal story with the catalog. I had a personal, spiritual victory this time; but please understand that this is not always the case. However, I praise God that "crap!" was my first response when I saw the glossy, seductive picture. Although in the past, I certainly would have entertained how to justify a few looks, I acted decesively this time. I called my wife who was still in my office and told her exactly what happened. She stayed on the phone with me while I put it in the kitchen garbage bag and then took the bag out to the garage garbage can. Perhaps none of you would be tempted by this, but I knew that if I allowed it to stay around for awhile or took too much time to consider the situation, my flesh may have won.
This victorious secret is no real secret: Regardless of our temptation, God can give us victory. We must not live in defeat, just "knowing" that we have no chance. We must not give up and live in the cycle of addiction...to anything. We can experience the victory, one temptation at a time.
VICTORIOUS SECRET #3: God provides support through other people
And when I say, "people who care", I mean people who truly care for our spiritual growth. These are people who will not sit in judgment, but also will not excuse sin or minimize our temptations. They will engage in the battle with us, as "brothers in arms", allies in this truly spiritual warfare.
One of the worst lies we can tell ourselves when it comes to sin and temptation, is that this is just between me and God, and I really don't need anyone's help. We have our reasons (excuses): "They won't understand; they will judge me; they will stop being my friend, etc." And yet, one of the reasons God gave us one another is so that we could share our deepest struggles and sins (James 5:16). Those who truly care will help take us to Christ and remind us of the truths we can easily forget when fighting alone.
I have found that when I am open with others, and allow them to join in the battle with me, God gives a greater strength, in failure and in victory.
May the Victorious Secrets, that are clearly marked in God's Word, be your strength, as you take another step toward Christ, daily fighting the good fight.
Greg
One half hour earlier, my wife was in my office with me, working on my computer, and I mentioned how tired I was. She mentioned how she would really like to keep working on my computer; and so it seemed like a good opportunity to go home and get a little rest before the rest of the busy day and a very late night. As I arrived home, I took the mail out of the mailbox and carried it to the kitchen. Opening up the folded pile, there it was: The Victoria's Secret catolog. This is when I used one of the approved pastor swear words: CRAP!
The reason I could not believe this was happening was because of our past efforts to keep this catolog out of our house. In the past, it came to us (we believe) because we were put on the mailing list for Bath and Body Works, which many times is right next to Victoria's Secret in malls. However, when we called them, they denied that there was any connection and we must have received it for a different reason. Well, it was recently that Teresa was in a Bath and Body Works store, and she gave them her mailing address. We are pretty sure this is how it happened again.
The reason this was all such a big deal was because of my sinful past and my present temptations. In the past, if I would have the opportunity to look through a catolog like this one, I would normally have taken it (in private, of course). It wasn't that this particular catolog was the issue, but that my flesh was drawn to pictures like this, whether in a publication or video. It seems that I am wired to be visual and to appreciate the form of women. And yet, I am not supposed to go beyond appreciation to lust. Therein lies the problem. And because of this struggle, there was no way that myself or my wife would want this catalog in our home; and would do anything to keep it out. We know the trap that these alluring pictures can set, especially for men.
In our society, of course, these types of visual images are EVERYWHERE, in all kinds of forms. There is no way to shut them out of life completely. The key is to know how to deal with them. And yet, I am responsible before God to remain pure. There is a battle that rages within me - between the old man and the new man, the flesh and the Spirit, the old creation and the new creation, the old nature and the new nature. This is real, whether the issue at hand is lust or greed or gossip or pride.
This is whyI must concentrate on what I call the VICTORIOUS SECRETS. In my moments of temptation or recognition of potential traps, I have to call on the victorious secrets that are revealed in the Word of God. And just as in the catalog, where the secret is really not a secret because you can view almost everything, these victorious secrets are clearly spelled out in Scripture. we just need to take the time to gaze at them, take in the view, meditate on them, and put the truth into action.
VICTORIOUS SECRET #1: God forgives any sin.
This doesn't sound like a secret, does it? It sounds obvious; and yet for those of us who struggle with lust; and sometimes from the perspective of those who don't struggle with this particular temptation, we don't seem so sure of this truth. Does God really forgive this sin? Is this one of those sins that He places as far away as the East is from the West? Does He forgive this sin even if someone commits it more than once? The obvious answer that seems like a secret is: YES! YES! YES! He does forgive the sin of lust, every time we confess: that humble, sincere agreement that we have broken God's law and need forgiveness.
Because of God's character (He is just), He promises to forgive, cleansing us from ALL unrighteousness. And He responds that way EVERY time we come to Him with this attitude. He removes the guilt and we can go before Him in confidence, having our slate wiped clean! Because we point to God's character for His glory, there is victory in asking for His forgiveness. There is also victory because it will not be held to our account in the future.
VICTORIOUS SECRET #2: God provides a way to escape every temptation
No matter how strong the pull is to any kind of temptation, God promises that we can learn to say no (Titus 2:12) to sin and to temptation (I Corinthians 10:13). Again, though, it is not about our ability or strength, but all about His character ("God is faithful"). But, this takes away all excuses. From the first sin of man, where Adam and Eve played the blame game, so all of us tend to have our excuses and tend to place the blame for sin elsewhere: "But, I just couldn't help it; God made me this way; if she didn't do that, then I wouldn't have done this; Satan is powerful you know, and knows just how to get to me, etc."
But, the truth is that God does not allow us to be tempted beyond what we (with His Spirit living in us) can resist. Although it is true that we will always fight the remnants of the old nature and will sin (I John 1:8), it is also true that we have no excuses when we give in. "I am fully responsible for my sin - no one else to blame." It also means that no matter the temptation, we must face it sqarely, and with God's help, have victory in that moment.
Back to my personal story with the catalog. I had a personal, spiritual victory this time; but please understand that this is not always the case. However, I praise God that "crap!" was my first response when I saw the glossy, seductive picture. Although in the past, I certainly would have entertained how to justify a few looks, I acted decesively this time. I called my wife who was still in my office and told her exactly what happened. She stayed on the phone with me while I put it in the kitchen garbage bag and then took the bag out to the garage garbage can. Perhaps none of you would be tempted by this, but I knew that if I allowed it to stay around for awhile or took too much time to consider the situation, my flesh may have won.
This victorious secret is no real secret: Regardless of our temptation, God can give us victory. We must not live in defeat, just "knowing" that we have no chance. We must not give up and live in the cycle of addiction...to anything. We can experience the victory, one temptation at a time.
VICTORIOUS SECRET #3: God provides support through other people
And when I say, "people who care", I mean people who truly care for our spiritual growth. These are people who will not sit in judgment, but also will not excuse sin or minimize our temptations. They will engage in the battle with us, as "brothers in arms", allies in this truly spiritual warfare.
One of the worst lies we can tell ourselves when it comes to sin and temptation, is that this is just between me and God, and I really don't need anyone's help. We have our reasons (excuses): "They won't understand; they will judge me; they will stop being my friend, etc." And yet, one of the reasons God gave us one another is so that we could share our deepest struggles and sins (James 5:16). Those who truly care will help take us to Christ and remind us of the truths we can easily forget when fighting alone.
I have found that when I am open with others, and allow them to join in the battle with me, God gives a greater strength, in failure and in victory.
May the Victorious Secrets, that are clearly marked in God's Word, be your strength, as you take another step toward Christ, daily fighting the good fight.
Greg
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