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The Brutal, Honest, Real Faith: A Sermon on Hab 1-2
The Brutal, Honest, Real, Faith
Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4
† In Jesus Name †
May the grace of God our Father and our Risen Lord Jesus so reveal His love for you that you know with all your heart and mind that He will sustain you and that you will share in His glory!
When Words aren’t enough:
On Friday, I stood next to a man, as he spoke at his son’s funeral. He talked about how time after time, his son was simply in the wrong place, at the wrong time. The final time, it resulted in his death, as he was shot along with a married couple.
The grief was as overwhelming as anything I have seen. The despair in the sanctuary of a church was beyond anything I have experienced for a long time because they could not imagine a God who would answer their cry for help.
And as I looked at my outline for today’s sermon, as I looked through these words of a prophet with a name you can’t say ten times fast, I understood Habakkuk’s pain, and the despair of his cry,
2 How long, O LORD, must I call for help? But you do not listen! “Violence is everywhere!” I cry, but you do not come to save. 3 Must I forever see these evil deeds? Why must I watch all this misery? Wherever I look, I see destruction and violence. I am surrounded by people who love to argue and fight. 4 The law has become paralyzed, and there is no justice in the courts. The wicked far outnumber the righteous, so that justice has become perverted.
The prophet’s words, his cries, his pleading with the Father, these words are brutal, they are honest, they are so real and even apply to today’s world.
And they only way to hear God’s answer is found in a Brutal, Honest, Real, Faith.
The faith God gives us, that He plants in us, that He nourishes is us.
The complaint
I love reading the Old Testament prophets, not because they are so uplifting – they are not. But because they aren’t standing around pretending the world is okay, they call their listeners out on sin, but they also grieve.
They know how God has called us to live in peace, to know His live and to have faith in God. They also see the world dealing with the consequences of ignoring God, and it breaks their heart. They weep, they cry for what is, and what should have been.
How long, O Lord, must I call for help?
We look around us these days, and it seems like it hasn’t changed much. We still need a lot of help, the world is still violent, and it seems daily we hear about violence, not just overseas, but in our communities. The deeds that are evil, they still exist, whether those deeds are sorcery and idolatry, or murder/abortion, or sexual immorality, or unethical business, or gossip and envy. The world is still dealing with destruction, with misery, with injustice, and the wicked still outnumber the righteous.
Some of that, which we cry out for God to rescues us from, is our doing, our unrighteousness, our guilt, and shame.
Yes, some of the sin and unrighteousness in our world is because of our sin.
The Hope
No pleasure in people turning away –
Just depend on Him
The key in reading the Old Testament, in fact, all of the scripture, is to no to a take a passage without considering the rest of the chapter, the rest of the book. There are times you have to keep going, such as this passage.
In the midst of his grief, Habakkuk says he will look – he will wait on God for the answer that must come. He will, despite his despair, continue to look to God for an answer.
And the Lord answers, and not only will he answer the prophet, the answer is to be etched into stone. So that all will hear and see these answers.
That is what verse 2 says,
And here is the answer,
3 If the vision is delayed, wait patiently, for it will surely come and not delay. 4 I will take no pleasure in anyone who turns away, but the righteous person will live by my faith.*
if you don’t God working, He’s got it all in His timing, and that timing is perfect, As Habakkuk and all the Old Testament prophets waited for Christ Jesus to come, so we wait, trusting in His work at the cross to deliver us into the presence of the Father.
Peter certainly knew this, for he would paraphrase this passage
9 The Lord is not being slow in carrying out his promises, as some people think he is; rather is he being patient with you, wanting nobody to be lost and everybody to be brought to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9 (NJB)
Peter will note this about Paul as well,
15 And remember, the Lord’s patience gives people time to be saved. This is what our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom God gave him— 16 speaking of these things in all of his letters.
2 Peter 3:15-16 (NLT)
It is a hard answer to hear that God will be patient, that things are going to be fixed right now, in our time, because God is at work, through us, reaching out to other people. That is what the cross is all about – that no one should ever die without knowing that God would forgive them, that He would draw them to Himself, that He loves them. God delays the recreation of the world, just to save one more, jut to rescue one more sheep, to find one more who was lost, to give one more broken person the hope of His healing them.
That’s a brutally honest, real answer. It’s one I don’t like at first, as I see and know of so much pain, so much suffering, as I witness sin and the bondage it keeps people in, and the hope it robs of those created by God to walk in joy.
When you see that person given faith in God, who comes to know they can depend on Him, who finds themselves cleansed not only of their own sin but the righteousness of the world, the wait is worth it! As we see those we love, whom we pray for, whom we often struggle with and against – there is the Holy Spirit, drawing them to Jesus, where they find healing and peace. This is why there is a delay, so those we love- and those we are called to love, can be reconciled to Jesus.
For we do so in Christ Jesus, and that means we do so know peace that is beyond all understanding, as Christ is the foundation of our hope.
Preparing for Christ’s Return by asking Why Me?
Preparing for Jesus Coming:
We Need to ask:
Why Me?
† IHS †
May Your Christmas Celebration be one where you get the answer from God our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, of why me?
Parker Parable – Advent = Sleeplessness nights
It is time for a pastor parker parable, one that is a more serious note.
The parable will help us understand this advent season as it grows to a close, and help us be patient for just a few more days, until we can break loose with hallelujah’s and gloria’s and the most abundant praises our voices and hearts can sing…..
So here is the parable:
Advent is like a sleepless night!
You know, the nights where you toss and turn, and your body finds trouble resting. The same nights when you mind is working fast than lightening, as you process every possible outcome, and how those will complicate life in the days to come?
Yeah – that kind of sleepless night.
We know these nights….
Advent is like that…..
It’s like a question we ask…
Why Me?
Advent is that time where we look to the sky, and ask that question. “Lord, why me?”
Over the years, I’ve asked that question a million times, it’s even caused those sleepless nights, as I’ve pondered why me…..
It’s the question of Advent, as are those dark sleepless nights.
We ask in regard to tragedy, trauma and “bad luck”
We usually ask, “why me?” in those times when it seems like life overwhelms our trust in God.
Maybe we are asking the “why me?” question because we have to deal with the consequences of sin. We can even know God’s forgiveness, and know our eternity is secure, yet we have to deal with the brokenness of things.
We ask because of the broken hearts, broken relationships, things broken by our jealously, envy, hatred, and desire. Often we don’t sleep because of our inability to deal with temptation by our own strength or reason. Sin is a horrid thing, and we think we have two options in dealing with it. Either we struggle against it, or we begin to harden our own hearts, so we don’t feel judged or condemned. Either way the guilt and shame can cause us to question our existence in the dark hours of the night.
Maybe we are asking, “why me?” because we can’t see that God is working in our lives. When we don’t doubt His existence, but we wonder if those promises are for other people.
You know, that promise we hear, that all things work together for good for those that love God?
Or that God will never leave or forsake us?
Paul talks about the fact that God’s plan was kept secret from the beginning of time, and then was revealed. Asking “why me?” is sort of like wondering if we missed that moment when God’s plan from the ages was revealed to everyone else.
Did we miss it? Because we did, did God forget to include us in it?
I’ve had those moments, the wondering, the questioning, the trying to make heads and tails of life. Where you don’t know why you have all the bad luck.
I hate those kinds of sleepless nights, those times of asking why me. Why did I grow up with a genetic issue that affects my heart and spine? Why did I get in a motorcycle accident, or drop out of school, or have a cardiac arrest, each of those times I’ve asked that question, just as all of you have asked those “why me’s”
Just like I’ve had times where I needed to face my sin and confess it, because if dealing with the consequences now is challenging, those same sins have an eternal consequence. Just as we all have….
Good thing that Advent isn’t like those kinds of sleepless nights, that it isn’t about those times of asking “why me?”
That there is another reason for sleepless nights and asking “Why me!”
We need to ask in view of blessings.
Advent is like the sleepless night, or about asking “why me?” But not in the sense of those traumatic nights I’ve mentioned. It’s the kind of sleepless night where your joy and expectation is building up.
Like that restlessness you feel before you go on vacation with dear family and friends you haven’t seen in a while, or the night before you get married.
Or like the night before Christmas when you are a child, and try to stay up, imagining what gifts you are going to get, and who you are going to tell about it, and who you are going to share it with, and how much you are going to enjoy it!
The excitement, the expectation, the joy of the next morning is keeping you up.
When we realize what Jesus coming into our world means, we should ask, “LORD, WHY ME?” in joy, even with a little disbelief as we struggle to believe that God would love us that much!
What have we done to deserve the presence of God? What have we done to deserve these promises that the prophets and apostles reveal to us? What have we done to be included in this plan…
YET WE ARE!!!
Jesus the Messiah came into this world, to live and die, for us.
He died on the cross to free us.
He rose again that we should rise with Him, and even live through this life, every moment in His presence.
When scripture talks about the gentiles being included in His plan, it’s talking about all of us who breathe, who walk, who have been baptized. Who have been made His children? Do we realize it is talking about us?
Advent is like the time, when we can’t sleep, because we are thinking about His gifts, about His presence (and his presents!)
it is the attitude of Mary, as she hears, ““Don’t be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God!”
It is the joy King David, the repentant adulterer and murdered knows as he hears Nathan say, “Furthermore, the Lord declares that he will make a house for you—a dynasty of kings!
“Why Me?” they surely asked… and we would do well to ask as well.
Why God, why did you choose me?
While we wait
It is as he begins knowing the depth, the height the width and breadth of this love that Paul can say something we need to hear from this passage, that God is able to sustain us, to keep us strong, not with our strength, but surrounded by His care.
It is the message that must everyone, everyone who doubts God would love them, that believe they are separated from Him need to hear.
To make us strong there, it’s not by causing us to be spiritual superheroes. It’s to support us, confirm us, to establish us and set us in place, to bring us to a state of peace. To know that our place in Christ cannot be challenged,
The “why Me” changes dramatically, from why would God allow this all to happen to me, to “why would God choose you, or me, or cause Jesus to die, for us.
To answer this “why me?” sustains us in those other “why me’s” and reminds us to rest in His strength, to find mercy in His peace, to look forward to His second coming with the anticipation of children awaiting Christmas morning, but doing so, not restless with anxiety and stress… but with joy… and hope, and peace… for we know His love!
AMEN!
