This Sermon was preached at Saint Matthew's Anglican Church in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (23 July 2017)... see below for the first message in this two-part series.
My children are very good children. I want to make that point abundantly clear. But, as with all children, they need to be tuned up from time-to-time. Just like vehicles that start sputtering and leaking oil need a tune up, children who fall into the same sputtering and begin leaking disobedience need a little tune up. They occasionally get a spanking; that’s the kind of tune up I mean. It’s a very powerful tool, you know. Because it not only corrects the bad behavior in the present, it actually helps to create good behavior in the future. How does that work?
My children are very good children. I want to make that point abundantly clear. But, as with all children, they need to be tuned up from time-to-time. Just like vehicles that start sputtering and leaking oil need a tune up, children who fall into the same sputtering and begin leaking disobedience need a little tune up. They occasionally get a spanking; that’s the kind of tune up I mean. It’s a very powerful tool, you know. Because it not only corrects the bad behavior in the present, it actually helps to create good behavior in the future. How does that work?
The next time they approach me or my wife, instead
of speaking impatiently – or the next time they interact with their siblings,
instead of pushing and shoving and shouting and screaming (!) – they consider
the previous consequences and they make better decisions. They remember the tune up and choose to avoid
another one by behaving nicely. They
reflect on the past in order to establish solid convictions in the present.
The
same could be said of you and me, of adults of any age. We make decisions about what kind of life we
will lead, what kind of convictions we will formulate, what kind of character
we will develop, and so on… often based on observations of the past. What were our parents like? What joys and triumphs did they experience…
and why? What hardship and defeats did
they experience? We often look at the
examples of our own parents and think, “What of their lives would I like to
emulate, and what of their lives would I seek to change in myself?” Some things were admirable; we strive to keep
them. Other things were less worthy; we
seek to amend them. Regardless, we
reflect on the past in order to establish solid convictions in the present.
This principle is found repeatedly throughout the
Bible. In the Old Testament, the people
of Israel are almost constantly reminded to remember the goodness of God, the
salvation of God, the mercy of God, the compassion of God, the character of
God, and so on… as they live their daily lives.
The foundation of their current conviction is solidified in their
reflection on the faithfulness of God throughout previous generations. Perhaps one event more than any other defines
this principle of reflection leading to solid conviction: the Exodus from
Egypt. As the people receive the Ten
Commandments at the foot of Mount Sinai, they are reminded of the Exodus. As the people wait on the plains of Moab,
before entering the Promised Land, they are reminded of the Exodus. As the people face challenges in their new
home, they call on the faithful God who delivered them from Egyptian oppression
to come and save them once more. There
is a crimson strand, stained red by the blood of the Passover Lamb, running through
the Old Testament narrative. The Law and
the Prophets bear witness to the faithfulness of God by reflecting on the
Exodus from Egypt. And the same is true
for Habakkuk.
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Remember that last week we were focused on the
invitation of Habakkuk – that, in the midst of overwhelming doubt, he invited
us to rekindle the flames of faith. His
message to us was this:
Endure Worldly Hardship by Fully Trusting
God’s Promises, for His Faithfulness is the Only Hope of His People.
We tasked ourselves with knowing what it meant that
the righteous should live by the faithfulness of God. It was the question: “What does it
mean?” This morning, we will keep our
focus on that all-important concept, but with a slightly different
emphasis. This morning, we will ask the
question: “What does it look like?” How
is the concept – the Righteous will Live by the Faithfulness of God –
demonstrated in daily life? What does it
look like?
To answer that question, we will examine three areas
of Scripture.
1. First,
we will attempt to discern what “the righteous will live by God’s faithfulness”
looks like in the three New Testament passages where the Habakkuk text is
quoted.
2. Second,
we will see in the negative example of the Babylonians (Habakkuk 2:6-20) the
contrast of what it looks like for “the righteous to live by the faithfulness
of God.”
3. And
finally, we will see an intimate portrait of living by God’s faithfulness in
the prophet’s own life.
So with that threefold objective as our roadmap,
let’s begin our journey through Scripture.
The first passage on our map is Hebrews 10:38-39. A brief
word about the purpose and overarching context of Hebrews will help us. The author is concerned about endurance,
about perseverance. He is concerned that
new believers, new Christians, will resist the temptation to return to Judaism
because their lives have become difficult.
Perhaps this is an understatement – to say their lives were merely
difficult – we will come to see what their lives were like in the text before
us. In encouraging such endurance, Hebrews
presents Jesus Christ as being more faithful, more worthy, and far superior to
the prophets before him, the Law that preceded his coming, the sacrificial
system that foreshadowed his ministry as priest and sacrifice, and superior in
the Kingdom he would establish. In
chapter 10, we’re toward the end of the book and some of those details have
already been covered.
Nevertheless, the author commends reflection (on the superiority of the
sacrifice of Christ) in order to establish conviction
(hold fast the confession of our hope) on the basis that God is faithful
(10:23). All this is done within the
community while enduring worldly hardship (10:32-39). Let’s
see how the text brings this out.
In verse 19 (Hebrews 10:19 and following), we have two key words: therefore and since. The word therefore draws our attention to the
superiority of Christ that has just been presented. And the word since makes it clear that some action is necessary based on that
information. Let’s continue. As we approach verse 23, we see the
conviction that is called for, and indeed the foundation upon which it is to be
built. We see here that the author
commends reflection (on the
superiority of the sacrifice of Christ) in order to establish conviction (hold fast the confession of
our hope) on the basis that God is faithful (10:23). All this is done within the community while
enduring worldly hardship (10:32-39).
Let’s just confirm that last point by reading the text. Hebrews 10:32-39.
In this section we see our Habakkuk 2:4 verse. “My righteous one shall live by faith.” The writer of Hebrews makes this seem almost
Messianic, doesn’t he? That’s a sermon
for another day, but it’s a very interesting little nuance in the
interpretation of the Habakkuk passage.
In Hebrews, it is clear that “the
righteous shall live by faith” looks like this: reflection, leading to
conviction, based on God’s faithfulness, in the midst of worldly hardship.
The next destination on our map will have to be Galatians 3:11 and the larger context
surrounding it. It’s a shame, too,
because we could have stayed all morning in reflection upon the book of
Hebrews. But there is more glory up
ahead! So again, we are turning to
Galatians 3.
Paul is concerned with the same thing as the writer
of Hebrews: endurance. He had preached
the Gospel to them and yet they had been challenged with a false gospel and
were, in some cases, turning to it in rejection of what Paul had preached. And the same pattern is evident here as was
in Hebrews. Saint Paul urges the
Galatians toward reflection (on the
past life of slavery in animism and the first days of salvation in following
the Spirit of God – 3:1 & 4:8), in order to establish conviction (stand firm in the freedom of Christ – 5:1) on the basis
of Christ’s faithfulness in
redemption (3:11-14). All this was to be
done in spite of “suffering many things” (3:4) in regard to worldly hardship. It is also clear in the Galatians context
that the meaning – the righteous shall live by Christ’s faithfulness – more
than likely suggests a subjective or possessive genitive, as opposed to an
objective genitive.
In Galatians, it is clear that “the
righteous shall live by faith” looks like this: reflection, leading to
conviction, based on God’s faithfulness, in the midst of worldly hardship.
The final stop in our journey through the New
Testament quotations of Habakkuk 2:4 is Rome.
Or, more specifically, it is in Paul’s letter to the saints in
Rome. So we turn in our Bibles to Romans 1:17. And we find great significance in the way he
uses and interprets “the righteous will live by his faith.”
In the capital of the Empire, one would have found
all the newest ideas, all the latest philosophies, and the most intriguing
debates. They all centered on
intellectual sophistication – ideas were meant to interpret the meaning of life
in an intellectually sophisticated way; philosophical developments were
presented in the same intellectually sophisticated way. And the debates were to determine which new
ideas and which new philosophies were the most intellectually
sophisticated. Then, in the Gospel, we
are told that the wisdom of men is foolishness to God; one must become a fool
to receive that which is spiritually discerned (see 1st Corinthians
2:1-16). But the wisdom of the Gospel is
nothing less than the power of God; thus, Paul is not ashamed by it, for he
knows that he proclaims true wisdom even though it is not – in human terms –
intellectually sophisticated.
So, in Romans 1:17, Paul talks about the Gospel as
the power of God. It is for
salvation. It is given unto a select few
who believe; they are from both Jewish and Gentile backgrounds. Now, here is where it gets really
interesting.
In the Gospel, a righteousness from God is
revealed. It is God’s own
righteousness. When we see it, we
realize that we are not righteous.
Indeed, we are those who deserve the wrath of God for our
unrighteousness. And Paul tells us that
this righteousness is revealed from faith, for faith. I’ve been thinking a lot about this over the
week. And the best I can do to explain
what I think he means is to say that faith moves from origin – or source, which
is God Himself – to object – or recipient, which is mankind.
Last week, I mentioned that the Bible speaks most
clearly, consistently, and powerfully about God putting his faith in us. And I realize I could have been easily
misunderstood. I did not mean that God
believes in us. It is not as if God sits
on the heavenly throne like a divine cheerleader, saying, “I know you can do
it; I believe in you.” Instead, what I
meant – and what I believe the Bible is teaching – is that God is the only
source of faith in the entire universe.
He is the faithful one. And that
is what Paul is teaching here in Romans; God is the origin of faith and he must
give us his faithfulness in order to make us righteous. We are unfaithful to the covenant, but God is
eternally faithful to the covenant [2]. God is the author; He is the source. We are the recipients; we are those who
respond.
God gives us the gift of faith because of his own
faithfulness. This is the meaning of
“from faith” in Romans 1:17. We are the
recipients of that gift of faith. When
we exercise faith, we are responding in trust to the faithfulness of God. He is the one who decisively acts in saving
us from first to last [3]. He creates our faith in the New Birth and
sustains our faith by his faithfulness in bringing us to final salvation. He creates; He sustains. And now Paul says that this concept has
already been written… it is found in Habakkuk 2:4. The literal Greek here is “the one who by
faith is righteous shall live.” And we
already know that this is the faithfulness of Christ, so we can rightly read
this passage as “the one who by the faithfulness of Christ is [made] righteous
shall live.” Do you see what this does
for the Christian life? Instead of
worrying about condemnation, instead of struggling to produce enough faith from
ourselves – which we cannot do – instead of feeling the weight of guilt over
sin, we trust not our own efforts, but rather the faithfulness of God who said,
“YOU WILL HAVE LIFE!” The spiritual
highs and lows do not challenge our salvation, for the origin and source of
faith is God. The faith we have is one
of response only. We respond to God by
trusting his faithfulness to carry out his will in our lives.
Faith is first received and then exercised. Thus, faith is initially given as the gift of
God (it is from God to man); then it is exercised as man endures in
Christ. The redeemed first receives the
faith of Christ, then uses the faith of Christ in standing firm. He becomes Christ-like; he puts on the
clothes of Christ, to use a Pauline metaphor.
In Romans, it is clear that “the
righteous shall live by faith” looks like this: God, the source of faith, gives
the gift of saving faith and sustaining faith to his people, who respond by
resting and trusting in His faithfulness and not trusting in their efforts.
Now, we return briefly to the Habakkuk text to see
what this looks like. The first vision
is one of contrast. We know what living
by faith means by the negative example of the Babylonians who are condemned in Habakkuk
2:6-20.
Here we find
that the Babylonians are…
1.
Greedy
in their plunder (6-8),
2.
Excessive
in their violence (12-17), and
3.
Idolatrous
(18-20) in their self-reliance (9-11).
The Babylonian king has relied on himself for the
victories in battle that he has experienced; self-reliance for personal
advancement. The righteous, however,
will not depend on themselves, but on the Rock of their Salvation. It is clear from Habakkuk that “the righteous
will live by faith
1. They
do not have to gather riches or hoard wealth, for the God of Heaven feeds them
(as he does the sparrows) and clothes them (as he does the lilies of the
field), according to Matthew 6:25-33).
2. They
do not have to assert their rights or their authority; indeed, they can forfeit
their rights in genuine humility and meekness, for in so doing they inherit the
earth (Matthew 5:5).
3. They
do not make idols of their possessions or personal success; they refrain from worshipping
money or material goods either overtly or in subtlety.
Instead, they will depend on God for the life that only
He can provide. Note that God will cover
the earth with his renown and is working from his holy temple to accomplish all
his sovereign purposes (2:14, 20). Thus,
life and salvation and redemption – as well as earthly and temporal care
– these do not depend on man’s effort, but on God’s faithfulness.
The second vision is of the prophet’s personal experience
in Habakkuk 3. He begins with a psalm of
remembrance. Note the use of “Selah”
which is a musical term. This was
probably meant to be sung in the assembly of the righteous. We pause here to recognize the importance of
singing and, more specifically, of singing correct theology. Maybe you’ve wondered from time-to-time why
we sing so often in church. Now you have
part of the answer; it should aid us in our reflection upon God’s faithfulness
in order to fuel our convictions in standing firm. We do not have time to unpack all of the
specifics, but the larger picture of Habakkuk 3 shows us that the prophet is
reflecting on the mighty deeds of God in redemption. There are elements from the Egyptian Exodus
present here; there are general and mythological pictures of God the Divine
Warrior redeeming his people.
And then he moves from reflection to
conviction. In verses 16-19, the prophet
affirms that patience, quietness, trust, and submission are all part of the
active life of faith believers experience.
They are not spared from the stress, trials, and tribulations of the
present age, but are given strength to endure in spite of these hardships (see
vs. 16 here). He describes the
conditions of siege warfare; this is the kind of warfare that the Babylonians
and Assyrians before them had used in defeating the people of the ancient Near
East. They would have cut down the fig
trees surrounding Jerusalem. They would
have chopped and burned the grape vines, destroying vineyards wherever they
went. The olive trees that grew across
the Kidron Valley on the Mount of Olives were visible to the inhabitants of
Jerusalem; so would have been the smoke of their destruction rising to the sky
as the Babylonians approached. Fields
were trampled, flocks grazing in the nearby pastures were confiscated, and
herds became food for the enemy army.
The city would be totally cut off from sustenance, supplies, and help.
The typical and expected response to siege warfare
would have been panic at first, and then desperation as those inside the walls
turned to cannibalism and other unspeakable horrors. This is not the response of the righteous
prophet. He will rejoice in the
Lord! Perhaps it is impossible for us to
feel the weight of this unexpected praise until we have been in similar
situations of desperation. The Lord
would be the strength that his weak body and spirit desperately needed! Salvation would come, for it had been
promised with all certainty. The
righteous would live by the faithfulness of God.
In Habakkuk, it is clear that “the
righteous shall live by faith” looks like this: reflection, leading to
conviction, based on God’s faithfulness, in the midst of worldly hardship.
So we have been invited by the prophet to live a
life founded on the faithfulness of God, full of reflection and
conviction. We have been instructed to…
Endure Worldly Hardship by Fully Trusting
God’s Promises, for His Faithfulness is the Only Hope of His People.
My children are very good children! They are rewarded for good behavior and are
given little “tune-ups” for bad behavior.
But it is intended for their purification and the development of
righteous convictions as they lead their lives into adulthood.
[2] What I mean here is primarily the New Covenant, though the entire range of Old
Testament covenants, taken together, could be correctly understood. God is faithful to provide salvation, to
write his law on our hearts by His Spirit, even though we have broken the
covenant in sinful disobedience.
[3] The saving faith God gives is found throughout Scripture. The sustaining faith God gives is a bit more obscure,
but is evident in 2nd Thessalonians 1:11, 1st Corinthians
15:10, and Philippians 2:12-13.
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