1 00:00:09,520 --> 00:00:14,520 Today's teaching scripture comes from the book of Habakkuk. 2 00:00:15,920 --> 00:00:19,400 Habakkuk. It's one of those, I promise. 3 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:26,280 Chapter 2, verses 1 to 4. Habakkuk Chapter 2, verses one 4 00:00:26,280 --> 00:00:30,680 to four. I will stand at my watch post 5 00:00:30,680 --> 00:00:33,240 and station myself on the rampart. 6 00:00:34,240 --> 00:00:38,080 I will keep watch to see what He will say to me and what He will 7 00:00:38,080 --> 00:00:42,960 answer concerning my complaint. Then the Lord answered me and 8 00:00:42,960 --> 00:00:47,880 said, Write the vision. Make it plain on tablets so that 9 00:00:47,880 --> 00:00:51,880 a runner may read it, for there is still a vision for the 10 00:00:51,880 --> 00:00:55,720 appointed time. It speaks of the end and does 11 00:00:55,720 --> 00:01:00,240 not lie. If it seems to Terry wait for 12 00:01:00,240 --> 00:01:04,599 it, it will surely come. It will not delay. 13 00:01:05,519 --> 00:01:09,400 Look at the proud. Their spirit is not right in 14 00:01:09,400 --> 00:01:13,280 them, but the righteous live by their faithfulness. 15 00:01:14,520 --> 00:01:15,840 This is the word of the Lord All. 16 00:01:20,600 --> 00:01:22,440 Right. Hi, everybody. 17 00:01:23,040 --> 00:01:24,160 Good morning. Welcome. 18 00:01:24,920 --> 00:01:28,480 I've I've missed you, Jared and I were away. 19 00:01:28,480 --> 00:01:32,760 So for those of you who may be newer or weren't aware, for a 20 00:01:32,760 --> 00:01:36,160 couple of weeks, we were visiting some of Central 21 00:01:36,160 --> 00:01:39,640 vineyards work with Asia's Hope in Cambodia. 22 00:01:39,960 --> 00:01:42,760 So I spent something like 16 days there. 23 00:01:42,760 --> 00:01:44,360 Jared was there for a little bit more than a week. 24 00:01:44,800 --> 00:01:49,520 And before we get into the text this morning, I want to just 25 00:01:49,520 --> 00:01:52,320 take a few minutes to share with you a little bit about our trip 26 00:01:52,320 --> 00:01:57,360 because I think it actually sets the scene really well for what 27 00:01:57,360 --> 00:02:00,600 we're looking at together. So, you know, we, we partner 28 00:02:00,600 --> 00:02:03,480 with Asia's Hope. They support vulnerable kids 29 00:02:03,480 --> 00:02:06,760 through family style, residential care, education, 30 00:02:06,760 --> 00:02:10,120 discipleship in Thailand, Cambodia and India. 31 00:02:10,400 --> 00:02:13,400 And we had the opportunity to spend time with the leaders 32 00:02:13,400 --> 00:02:16,840 there, to visit the student Center for college students that 33 00:02:16,840 --> 00:02:20,520 Central Vineyard supports, to spend time with the kids. 34 00:02:20,760 --> 00:02:23,000 They're in the homes we worship with the kids. 35 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:27,040 We met the staff, we spent time listening to people's stories, 36 00:02:27,440 --> 00:02:30,920 and we were there to deepen this partnership. 37 00:02:30,920 --> 00:02:34,680 And speaking for myself as someone who is actually still 38 00:02:34,680 --> 00:02:37,280 relatively new to this community, I've not yet been 39 00:02:37,280 --> 00:02:44,400 here for two full years trying to understand the long history 40 00:02:44,400 --> 00:02:46,240 that Central Vineyard has with Asia's Hope. 41 00:02:46,280 --> 00:02:49,680 And really just the the substance, the meaning of this 42 00:02:49,680 --> 00:02:53,960 work that we get to do together to to ask strategic questions 43 00:02:53,960 --> 00:02:58,880 about the future and to clarify what our church's role can and 44 00:02:58,880 --> 00:03:05,320 should be over the coming years. And so this is going to be, you 45 00:03:05,320 --> 00:03:10,640 know, way shorter recap of the trip than I would like to give 46 00:03:10,640 --> 00:03:11,840 you. I'd love to be able to stand 47 00:03:11,840 --> 00:03:16,640 here and go through all of the, you know, 1400 photos and, you 48 00:03:16,640 --> 00:03:19,360 know, the stories of like, every day that we spent, you know, 49 00:03:19,360 --> 00:03:22,360 doing what we were doing and all the delicious food and wonderful 50 00:03:22,360 --> 00:03:25,560 conversations and so on. But we don't have time. 51 00:03:25,560 --> 00:03:30,960 I just want to say this plainly. This is one of the most 52 00:03:31,080 --> 00:03:36,320 impactful and strategic things that our church could possibly 53 00:03:36,480 --> 00:03:39,080 be involved in. And so over the coming weeks and 54 00:03:39,080 --> 00:03:41,680 months, we'll get to share this story in more detail. 55 00:03:41,680 --> 00:03:46,040 We'll get to share more of our hopes in in greater detail for 56 00:03:46,040 --> 00:03:48,320 what the future of this partnership will look like. 57 00:03:48,560 --> 00:03:53,360 But friends, I just want you to know that the work that we get 58 00:03:53,360 --> 00:03:57,280 to support with Asia's Hope makes a tremendous, tremendous 59 00:03:57,280 --> 00:04:00,280 difference in the lives of many kids there. 60 00:04:00,600 --> 00:04:06,120 And it is thanks to the generosity of this church, of 61 00:04:06,120 --> 00:04:09,520 this body. And so I want to thank you those 62 00:04:09,520 --> 00:04:11,880 of you who have been around for a long time giving to this 63 00:04:11,880 --> 00:04:15,520 partnership, or even those of you who have just started, thank 64 00:04:15,520 --> 00:04:17,720 you. It's incredibly powerful work. 65 00:04:17,720 --> 00:04:21,839 And the whole time I was there, I was thinking, I wish you could 66 00:04:21,880 --> 00:04:24,840 all be here with me experiencing this. 67 00:04:25,080 --> 00:04:27,360 And we'll take more trips. We'll go. 68 00:04:27,520 --> 00:04:33,400 So we'll talk about that later. But guys, the thing that 69 00:04:33,400 --> 00:04:36,120 continued to sort of stand out to me while we were there, I was 70 00:04:36,120 --> 00:04:39,120 thinking about this passage and and, and this week, knowing that 71 00:04:39,120 --> 00:04:41,360 I was going to come back and preach this text. 72 00:04:42,480 --> 00:04:46,640 And as I sat at table after table in Cambodia, Can you give 73 00:04:46,640 --> 00:04:49,240 me the the picture of the the beautiful. 74 00:04:49,240 --> 00:04:50,960 Oh, this is go back. This is good. 75 00:04:51,720 --> 00:04:52,920 Sorry, I thought that was behind me. 76 00:04:52,920 --> 00:04:55,760 This is just, you know, a handful of the kids and the 77 00:04:55,760 --> 00:04:59,240 parents receiving us at the airport when we got there. 78 00:04:59,520 --> 00:05:03,520 But the next one that look at that. 79 00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:09,080 So as I sat at table after table in Cambodia with beautiful 80 00:05:09,080 --> 00:05:11,880 spreads in front of us that looked like this, with fish and 81 00:05:11,880 --> 00:05:16,600 fruit and herbs and the aromas, all of it, I, I found myself 82 00:05:16,600 --> 00:05:21,080 thinking about the beauty and the joy and the abundance of 83 00:05:21,080 --> 00:05:24,680 those moments. Particularly because tables like 84 00:05:24,680 --> 00:05:30,120 this sit in a country where a genocide that killed as many as 85 00:05:30,120 --> 00:05:36,240 2 million people is close at hand in living memory for the 86 00:05:36,240 --> 00:05:37,880 people that we were spending time with. 87 00:05:38,240 --> 00:05:41,680 Where dissent against the government is complicated. 88 00:05:41,880 --> 00:05:46,000 Where it's not uncommon to know someone who's been retaliated 89 00:05:46,000 --> 00:05:49,880 against for speaking negatively about their government on the 90 00:05:49,880 --> 00:05:53,520 Internet, per SE. Where evil once tore through 91 00:05:53,520 --> 00:05:58,040 neighborhoods that still bear the scars of that period of 92 00:05:58,040 --> 00:06:01,320 time. And Even so, life goes on and 93 00:06:01,320 --> 00:06:04,000 everywhere you look, there's beauty and there's joy and 94 00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:08,600 there's connection and friends. This is just one example of the 95 00:06:08,600 --> 00:06:11,280 way that this works out all over our lives. 96 00:06:11,280 --> 00:06:16,400 We see this, you know, places like Sanctuary Night where just 97 00:06:16,440 --> 00:06:22,360 tremendous adversity faces people in our city, in our 98 00:06:22,360 --> 00:06:26,240 community. And yet beauty and joy and 99 00:06:26,240 --> 00:06:30,720 goodness breakthrough every day as people sit around tables, as 100 00:06:30,720 --> 00:06:35,280 people unpack their experiences of life and the kindness and the 101 00:06:35,280 --> 00:06:37,480 tenderness of Jesus meets them there. 102 00:06:37,720 --> 00:06:41,120 This kind of stuff is happening on every street corner in our 103 00:06:41,120 --> 00:06:43,560 neighborhood. It's not just in Cambodia with 104 00:06:43,560 --> 00:06:46,320 beautiful spreads like that. Or if you go to the next 105 00:06:46,320 --> 00:06:52,880 picture, maybe it's it's, it'll happen. 106 00:06:52,880 --> 00:06:56,560 Cute kids like this who have just, you know, known tremendous 107 00:06:56,800 --> 00:07:01,640 pain in their stories, but you see them experiencing the joy 108 00:07:01,640 --> 00:07:08,520 and the welcome of family. And I was, I was struck over and 109 00:07:08,520 --> 00:07:12,440 over again by this joy rising through scar tissue. 110 00:07:12,760 --> 00:07:18,680 How do people live like this? How do we find joy in a world 111 00:07:18,680 --> 00:07:25,400 that has known real evil, where just, you know, in our personal 112 00:07:25,400 --> 00:07:29,520 lives, in our life together, we have faced down tremendous 113 00:07:29,520 --> 00:07:34,600 challenges. And Even so, goodness continues 114 00:07:34,600 --> 00:07:36,680 to breakthrough. And so I'm asking this question 115 00:07:36,680 --> 00:07:40,560 in part because that's precisely what the prophet Habakkuk is 116 00:07:40,560 --> 00:07:43,760 writing about in in the short book that we're looking at 117 00:07:43,760 --> 00:07:45,840 today. So we're in this series where 118 00:07:45,840 --> 00:07:48,360 we're talking about the Minor Prophets or what's sometimes 119 00:07:48,360 --> 00:07:52,880 called the Book of the 12. And Habakkuk is an interesting 120 00:07:52,880 --> 00:07:54,280 one. It's one that I was excited to 121 00:07:54,280 --> 00:07:58,160 preach because this is one of the only prophetic books, I 122 00:07:58,160 --> 00:08:01,120 think maybe the only prophetic book where there is actually no 123 00:08:01,400 --> 00:08:04,840 pronouncement to the people from the prophet. 124 00:08:04,840 --> 00:08:08,120 So the three short chapters of Habakkuk are just conversation 125 00:08:08,440 --> 00:08:13,040 between the prophet and God. There is no thus saith the Lord 126 00:08:13,040 --> 00:08:16,080 to the people. There is no command, there is no 127 00:08:16,080 --> 00:08:17,800 charge brought against the people. 128 00:08:18,200 --> 00:08:21,480 It's the prophet sort of trying to sort out what is this 129 00:08:21,480 --> 00:08:24,720 confusing evil world that we live in and how can I make sense 130 00:08:24,720 --> 00:08:29,280 of it in light of a God who I'm told is faithful and good and 131 00:08:29,280 --> 00:08:32,520 kind. Have you ever found yourself 132 00:08:32,520 --> 00:08:35,679 asking that question? I would have to think that more 133 00:08:35,679 --> 00:08:38,400 than one of us have have looked out at the world and thought, 134 00:08:38,600 --> 00:08:47,880 how can this possibly be? And so this entire book, it's 135 00:08:47,880 --> 00:08:51,320 it's sort of a lament in the passage that Jared read to us, 136 00:08:51,840 --> 00:08:55,760 we hear the prophet demanding, you know, God answer, answer my 137 00:08:55,760 --> 00:08:58,520 question. Help me make sense of this. 138 00:08:58,920 --> 00:09:01,400 Habakkuk looks around at his own society. 139 00:09:01,800 --> 00:09:07,040 And in ancient Israel, the Torah is paralyzed. 140 00:09:07,440 --> 00:09:12,560 People are not following the the good law that God has given 141 00:09:12,560 --> 00:09:14,680 them. Justice never seems to win the 142 00:09:14,680 --> 00:09:17,800 day. Corrupt leadership is running 143 00:09:17,800 --> 00:09:20,600 the show and he's not being dramatic. 144 00:09:20,600 --> 00:09:22,640 This isn't for effect. He's grieving. 145 00:09:22,640 --> 00:09:27,960 He's a heartbroken prophet who is reluctant to accept the way 146 00:09:27,960 --> 00:09:31,280 that things are. And he does something remarkably 147 00:09:31,280 --> 00:09:34,000 faithful in this book that I think we would do well to learn 148 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:36,840 from. He brings his complaint to God 149 00:09:37,480 --> 00:09:43,840 and and it is has the audacity to demand that God act on behalf 150 00:09:43,920 --> 00:09:48,000 of his people and God answers him, but maybe not in the way 151 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:51,280 that he would expect. God says I am doing something 152 00:09:52,440 --> 00:09:53,920 and then the next part is troubling. 153 00:09:54,320 --> 00:09:58,920 Babylon is rising and Babylon will invade Israel. 154 00:10:01,000 --> 00:10:05,200 Not exactly the hopeful answer that I think Habakkuk had in 155 00:10:05,200 --> 00:10:07,480 mind. And so he pushes back and he 156 00:10:07,480 --> 00:10:14,240 says, in effect, how can you, a holy God, use a corrupt nation 157 00:10:14,240 --> 00:10:17,680 as your instrument? How can you use a people even 158 00:10:17,680 --> 00:10:20,480 more violent than us to judge us? 159 00:10:21,120 --> 00:10:25,720 How does that make any sense? And in fact, the passage in 160 00:10:25,720 --> 00:10:28,760 Habakkuk that's worth camping out on for just a moment in the 161 00:10:28,760 --> 00:10:31,600 1st chapter, it, it's, it's really interesting because it's 162 00:10:31,600 --> 00:10:34,280 one that gets referenced a lot out of context. 163 00:10:35,240 --> 00:10:38,480 There's a line in Habakkuk that that usually gets quoted by 164 00:10:38,480 --> 00:10:42,640 itself in isolation. And Habakkuk says to God, your 165 00:10:42,640 --> 00:10:48,360 eyes are too pure to behold evil and you cannot look on 166 00:10:48,360 --> 00:10:53,280 wrongdoing. And that half verse is often 167 00:10:53,280 --> 00:10:57,680 used to support the idea that God is so holy that he literally 168 00:10:57,680 --> 00:11:02,800 can't bear to look at sin, that God sort of turns his face away, 169 00:11:03,120 --> 00:11:08,280 and that this holiness of God is primarily defined by distance. 170 00:11:08,800 --> 00:11:12,680 It sounds a little bit when you read that half verse by itself, 171 00:11:13,000 --> 00:11:16,640 like the prophets talking about God's fragile ego. 172 00:11:18,280 --> 00:11:20,240 But that's not what Habakkuk is doing. 173 00:11:20,600 --> 00:11:25,040 He's not offering a statement about God's fragile ego. 174 00:11:25,040 --> 00:11:31,760 He is arguing with what seems to be God's persistent tolerance of 175 00:11:31,760 --> 00:11:33,800 human sin. Because the verse continues. 176 00:11:34,440 --> 00:11:38,200 So why do you look on the treacherous and are silent when 177 00:11:38,200 --> 00:11:40,920 the wicked swallow those more righteous than they? 178 00:11:42,680 --> 00:11:45,600 So the prophets not saying, oh God, you're, you're, you're too 179 00:11:45,600 --> 00:11:49,080 holy to to look at sin and human evil. 180 00:11:50,080 --> 00:11:54,080 You hold us at a distance. You don't participate in our 181 00:11:54,080 --> 00:11:57,040 struggles. What he's saying is God, you are 182 00:11:57,040 --> 00:11:59,480 so holy. I know this about your goodness 183 00:11:59,480 --> 00:12:02,160 and your kindness. So why is it that you look on 184 00:12:02,320 --> 00:12:06,000 while evil continues to unravel in the world around us? 185 00:12:07,600 --> 00:12:12,040 And So what unsettles Habakkuk isn't God's distance. 186 00:12:13,120 --> 00:12:19,440 It's it's this divine patience that's troubling to Habakkuk 187 00:12:19,440 --> 00:12:23,360 because he looks at the world around him and he says, I can 188 00:12:23,360 --> 00:12:25,280 barely tolerate this. How can you? 189 00:12:26,320 --> 00:12:30,360 And you know, this isn't theoretical for us. 190 00:12:30,640 --> 00:12:35,920 I mean, over the years, I've watched leaders in my own life 191 00:12:36,800 --> 00:12:40,760 who have trusted fall away in ways that hurt people deeply. 192 00:12:41,440 --> 00:12:44,080 I felt the disorientation of that kind of thing. 193 00:12:44,080 --> 00:12:49,200 And in in those moments, you don't just question maybe people 194 00:12:49,200 --> 00:12:52,080 you've once trusted. You question systems. 195 00:12:52,080 --> 00:12:54,680 You question people's callings, even your own judgement. 196 00:12:55,320 --> 00:12:58,760 And the biblical story assumes time and time again that God 197 00:12:58,760 --> 00:13:02,200 looks directly at human rebellion and continues to 198 00:13:02,200 --> 00:13:05,560 engage with us, continues to call, continues to wait. 199 00:13:06,320 --> 00:13:13,280 Habakkuk is is wrestling with why God's judgement seems so 200 00:13:13,280 --> 00:13:16,920 slow. It's a very different problem, 201 00:13:16,920 --> 00:13:20,200 and it's one that's a lot closer to our real experience of life. 202 00:13:21,760 --> 00:13:26,200 This is a prophet who's wrestling with history and with 203 00:13:26,200 --> 00:13:30,680 geopolitics and with the moral confusion of watching evil 204 00:13:30,680 --> 00:13:33,920 compound on itself. But he's saying something to us 205 00:13:33,920 --> 00:13:38,000 who have experienced betrayal and hurt very close to our own 206 00:13:38,000 --> 00:13:41,960 personal lives as well. God, how long can this go on? 207 00:13:43,200 --> 00:13:46,160 And so God responds by giving Habakkuk a vision. 208 00:13:46,840 --> 00:13:50,760 He tells him that the proud will collapse under their own 209 00:13:50,760 --> 00:13:53,640 idolatry, but the righteous will live by faith. 210 00:13:53,640 --> 00:13:57,760 And I don't know about you, but that phrase the righteous will 211 00:13:57,760 --> 00:14:01,560 live by faith is one that I've heard lots of times over the 212 00:14:01,560 --> 00:14:04,800 years, almost to the point that it's begun to lose its meaning a 213 00:14:04,800 --> 00:14:08,360 little bit. It's it's one that, you know, 214 00:14:09,840 --> 00:14:15,760 sort of becomes so abstract that we we sort of think, well, this 215 00:14:15,760 --> 00:14:18,520 could apply to almost anything or almost nothing. 216 00:14:20,680 --> 00:14:24,720 But what's happening here is the violence of the nation's their 217 00:14:24,720 --> 00:14:29,800 economies that exploit their slave labor, they're intoxicated 218 00:14:29,800 --> 00:14:33,200 and immoral leaders. Their worship of money, their 219 00:14:33,200 --> 00:14:37,680 worship of military strength creates a cycle of revenge and 220 00:14:37,680 --> 00:14:42,040 oppression that cannot sustain itself forever. 221 00:14:43,120 --> 00:14:47,080 I don't remember where I heard it for the first time, but I've 222 00:14:47,080 --> 00:14:49,960 been thinking a lot about this, this statement. 223 00:14:50,640 --> 00:14:52,320 You can't. You can. 224 00:14:52,320 --> 00:14:55,400 You can bomb the world to pieces, but you can't bomb the 225 00:14:55,400 --> 00:15:00,640 world to peace. The good news is that the loving 226 00:15:00,640 --> 00:15:04,920 God who made the world and seeks after every human bearer of the 227 00:15:04,920 --> 00:15:09,320 divine image also promises us that the meek will inherit the 228 00:15:09,320 --> 00:15:14,160 earth, that the vulnerable will be vindicated, that the poor in 229 00:15:14,160 --> 00:15:20,000 spirit will be blessed, and that Babylon, time and again will be 230 00:15:20,000 --> 00:15:24,880 held accountable for the ways that people are taken advantage 231 00:15:24,880 --> 00:15:29,240 of and harmed. But how long do we have to wait? 232 00:15:30,800 --> 00:15:34,840 Habakkuk is asking the question that people in every generation 233 00:15:34,920 --> 00:15:38,600 will eventually ask. If this cycle keeps repeating 234 00:15:38,600 --> 00:15:43,840 itself, will it ever end? And the prophet sees a vision of 235 00:15:43,840 --> 00:15:48,400 God confronting evil in a way that echoes the Exodus. 236 00:15:48,680 --> 00:15:52,440 God crushing the head of the evil house, judging what 237 00:15:52,440 --> 00:15:56,080 destroys human life, and at the same time saving his people. 238 00:15:56,400 --> 00:15:58,320 And the Exodus becomes this pattern. 239 00:15:58,320 --> 00:16:01,760 In the Hebrew Bible, the defeat of Babylon becomes part of a 240 00:16:01,760 --> 00:16:04,760 larger promise that God gives to the people. 241 00:16:05,040 --> 00:16:07,680 Evil will not have the last word. 242 00:16:08,600 --> 00:16:11,240 If there's one thing that the long arc of the story of the 243 00:16:11,240 --> 00:16:14,160 Scriptures teaches us, it's that evil will not have the last 244 00:16:14,160 --> 00:16:16,120 word. And the compassion and the 245 00:16:16,120 --> 00:16:19,520 kindness and the justice of Jesus will prevail in the end. 246 00:16:23,560 --> 00:16:28,240 So the line the righteous shall live by faith keeps echoing 247 00:16:28,240 --> 00:16:30,520 through the Scriptures. The apostle Paul repeats it. 248 00:16:30,760 --> 00:16:34,080 We've often misunderstood it, but in its original setting, it 249 00:16:34,080 --> 00:16:38,200 wasn't some kind of a slogan about private spirituality. 250 00:16:38,760 --> 00:16:44,440 This is a a, a survival word. It's something that that's 251 00:16:44,440 --> 00:16:49,080 intended to give people a handle to hold on to in a confusing and 252 00:16:49,080 --> 00:16:54,240 disorienting world. Babylon in this story represents 253 00:16:54,840 --> 00:16:58,880 more than one empire. It represents a pattern, a 254 00:16:58,880 --> 00:17:05,599 system that runs on pride and domination and intoxication with 255 00:17:05,599 --> 00:17:09,040 its own power. A nation that worships money and 256 00:17:09,040 --> 00:17:11,520 military strength and national security. 257 00:17:12,200 --> 00:17:18,680 A society convinced that survival justifies injustice is 258 00:17:18,680 --> 00:17:21,280 the thing that the prophet is speaking against here. 259 00:17:21,280 --> 00:17:24,480 And the sobering truth is that this is not unique in human 260 00:17:24,480 --> 00:17:26,680 history. We see this repeated time and 261 00:17:26,680 --> 00:17:30,320 time again. God tells Habakkuk that Babylon 262 00:17:30,320 --> 00:17:34,120 will not have the last word. The promise of the prophet is 263 00:17:34,120 --> 00:17:38,240 that he will hold oppressive nations accountable for unjust 264 00:17:38,240 --> 00:17:42,480 economies, for slave labor, for corrupt leadership, for 265 00:17:42,480 --> 00:17:45,480 idolatry. And that cycle of violence and 266 00:17:45,480 --> 00:17:53,320 revenge will not go on forever. But if we're honest, it feels 267 00:17:53,760 --> 00:17:56,080 persistent. It continues. 268 00:17:56,400 --> 00:18:00,440 Babylon falls and another Babylon rises. 269 00:18:00,520 --> 00:18:05,840 Empires shift, but the pattern of oppression remains. 270 00:18:06,640 --> 00:18:10,240 So what is it that God is actually promising? 271 00:18:10,960 --> 00:18:14,520 Because when we look at this, it feels a little bit 272 00:18:14,520 --> 00:18:17,400 contradictory. Babylon will be held 273 00:18:17,400 --> 00:18:20,520 accountable, but Babylon's come and go, and people continue to 274 00:18:20,520 --> 00:18:23,680 struggle. And maybe the closest picture 275 00:18:23,680 --> 00:18:26,880 that I can think of to help us sort of wrap our minds around 276 00:18:26,880 --> 00:18:29,520 this a little bit. You know, the table in Cambodia 277 00:18:29,520 --> 00:18:32,400 is 1. But there's a scene from The 278 00:18:32,400 --> 00:18:35,960 Shawshank Redemption that I've been thinking about as I've been 279 00:18:35,960 --> 00:18:39,600 reading this text. There's this this moment where 280 00:18:39,840 --> 00:18:43,600 Andy locks himself in the warden's office and plays Mozart 281 00:18:43,600 --> 00:18:45,920 over the loud speakers. Do you guys remember that one? 282 00:18:46,760 --> 00:18:52,840 And for a few minutes, the entire prison yard goes 283 00:18:52,840 --> 00:18:57,760 completely still as they hear this music. 284 00:18:58,040 --> 00:19:01,800 Nothing structural about the way that the prison operates has 285 00:19:01,800 --> 00:19:03,360 changed. Nothing about any of these 286 00:19:03,360 --> 00:19:06,360 people's circumstances has demonstrably changed. 287 00:19:06,720 --> 00:19:12,440 The men are still incarcerated, but they remember, even briefly, 288 00:19:12,840 --> 00:19:14,480 that they are more than prisoners. 289 00:19:15,080 --> 00:19:19,040 They are human beings, and something beautiful touches the 290 00:19:19,040 --> 00:19:22,880 depths of who they are. It's sort of accesses this, you 291 00:19:22,880 --> 00:19:26,600 know what I would say is the the Spirit of God poured out on all 292 00:19:26,600 --> 00:19:31,680 flesh, testifying to the value, the tremendous value and beauty 293 00:19:32,000 --> 00:19:35,920 of human life. That's Habakkuk. 294 00:19:36,560 --> 00:19:41,880 Babylon is still rising. This cycle of pain has not 295 00:19:41,880 --> 00:19:45,160 ended, but he dares to say something like the righteous 296 00:19:45,160 --> 00:19:52,680 shall live by faith, knowing of an impending judgement on the 297 00:19:52,680 --> 00:19:56,520 nation that he's living in, knowing of struggle and pain all 298 00:19:56,520 --> 00:20:00,200 around him. It's not a denial of that 299 00:20:00,200 --> 00:20:06,040 suffering. There is a persistent refusal to 300 00:20:06,040 --> 00:20:10,240 allow these circumstances to define the way that he 301 00:20:10,240 --> 00:20:12,640 understands his relationship to God. 302 00:20:18,450 --> 00:20:23,530 Unless you think that I am only talking about geopolitics. 303 00:20:24,760 --> 00:20:26,440 This is what it's like to be human. 304 00:20:27,400 --> 00:20:33,480 This is our everyday life. Christ promises to build his 305 00:20:33,480 --> 00:20:37,680 church and churches fracture and leaders fail. 306 00:20:38,400 --> 00:20:41,960 We live in a world that's entangled with all kinds of 307 00:20:41,960 --> 00:20:47,720 relational brokenness on a one to one level, probably even 308 00:20:47,720 --> 00:20:51,520 people in this room who have something against a brother or 309 00:20:51,520 --> 00:20:57,920 sister. Chronic loneliness, persistent 310 00:20:58,240 --> 00:21:04,080 illness, depression, loss of purpose, these are the things 311 00:21:04,080 --> 00:21:08,920 that surround us. And yet the prophet's word to 312 00:21:08,920 --> 00:21:12,200 people surrounded by this kind of struggle is that the 313 00:21:12,200 --> 00:21:18,480 righteous shall live by faith. The righteous believe a 314 00:21:18,480 --> 00:21:22,880 different story about the future when the present is unchanged. 315 00:21:23,600 --> 00:21:27,480 And friends, that's the hope that I want to call our church 316 00:21:27,480 --> 00:21:30,760 to that I that I want to call, you know, my friends to the 317 00:21:30,760 --> 00:21:33,440 people that I spend time with in my day-to-day life. 318 00:21:33,640 --> 00:21:37,560 This idea that there is a different story that we're 319 00:21:37,560 --> 00:21:41,560 invited to believe when the present circumstances around us 320 00:21:41,800 --> 00:21:45,080 remain unchanged. Scripture promises that the 321 00:21:45,080 --> 00:21:50,080 kingdoms of this world will become the Kingdom of our Lord, 322 00:21:51,280 --> 00:21:54,560 and the headlines feel cyclical at the same time. 323 00:21:55,240 --> 00:21:58,240 But we have a choice to make. We have a choice to make about 324 00:21:58,240 --> 00:22:03,720 where we put our hope and where we look for joy as we live in a 325 00:22:03,720 --> 00:22:06,680 world that seems dominated by that kind of cycle. 326 00:22:06,680 --> 00:22:13,200 The gap between this promise of restoration and lived reality is 327 00:22:13,200 --> 00:22:17,360 where the prophet is standing and and it's hopefully where we 328 00:22:17,360 --> 00:22:22,200 stand as a church. To live by faith is to refuse to 329 00:22:22,280 --> 00:22:26,600 let Babylon determine the shape of your soul. 330 00:22:27,640 --> 00:22:34,360 It's to remain loyal to God's covenant hope when this the 331 00:22:34,360 --> 00:22:37,400 resolution of all of these problems in front of us feel 332 00:22:37,480 --> 00:22:39,480 delayed. And that's why the early 333 00:22:39,480 --> 00:22:42,080 Christians clung to this line from Habakkuk. 334 00:22:42,080 --> 00:22:45,840 That's why the Apostle Paul quotes that righteous shall live 335 00:22:45,840 --> 00:22:49,720 by faith because he he isn't writing from a comfortable 336 00:22:49,720 --> 00:22:53,680 place. The early church understood the 337 00:22:53,680 --> 00:22:57,000 struggles of the prophets who were writing these words because 338 00:22:57,200 --> 00:22:59,640 they were writing from inside of another empire. 339 00:23:00,720 --> 00:23:03,800 Rome looked pretty permanent to the Apostle Paul. 340 00:23:04,320 --> 00:23:10,800 Rome had roads and legions and aqueducts and architecture and, 341 00:23:10,800 --> 00:23:14,400 and, you know, a sort of infrastructure that dominated 342 00:23:14,600 --> 00:23:19,200 the landscape of his day. Rome looked inevitable and 343 00:23:19,200 --> 00:23:22,520 unbeatable. And when Jesus was crucified, it 344 00:23:22,520 --> 00:23:28,160 looked an awful lot like another victory for Babylon in the long 345 00:23:28,160 --> 00:23:32,760 course of history where empires continue to get the best of the 346 00:23:32,760 --> 00:23:37,120 good guys. And if you're standing at 347 00:23:37,360 --> 00:23:43,280 Golgotha on Friday, it would not look like the Kingdom had come. 348 00:23:45,080 --> 00:23:48,400 It would look like the cycle had continued again. 349 00:23:48,720 --> 00:23:51,560 It would look like we've circled back to the beginning. 350 00:23:53,040 --> 00:23:58,200 Another righteous man swallowed by power. 351 00:23:59,120 --> 00:24:04,720 And that's the moment where either cynicism or joy and hope 352 00:24:05,000 --> 00:24:08,240 can be born. The great writer Fyodor 353 00:24:08,240 --> 00:24:10,840 Dostoyevsky understood that instinct. 354 00:24:11,120 --> 00:24:15,680 And on the plane on the way to Cambodia, I I was reading notes 355 00:24:15,680 --> 00:24:19,320 from underground again, just a short little Dostoyevsky. 356 00:24:19,320 --> 00:24:23,480 If anybody knows that one. No, it's it's a bummer. 357 00:24:24,080 --> 00:24:26,440 It's a massive bummer. So, you know, if you're thinking 358 00:24:26,440 --> 00:24:31,040 about reading it, maybe don't. This is the underground man. 359 00:24:31,200 --> 00:24:33,680 So, you know, he looks like a real joy to be around. 360 00:24:35,760 --> 00:24:41,320 But in this in this short work, the narrator looks at the world 361 00:24:41,600 --> 00:24:44,880 and sees it full of corruption and self-interest. 362 00:24:45,320 --> 00:24:48,560 And he decides that hope is naive. 363 00:24:49,840 --> 00:24:53,680 He basically says, you know, from from where I sit underneath 364 00:24:53,680 --> 00:25:00,320 the ground, all of this is bunk. And anybody who's hopeful really 365 00:25:00,320 --> 00:25:02,840 in any way, shape or form has got it wrong. 366 00:25:03,760 --> 00:25:09,280 And he chooses this life of resentment over a life of trust 367 00:25:09,280 --> 00:25:12,360 in anybody but himself. He thinks of himself as 368 00:25:12,360 --> 00:25:16,600 intelligent and sophisticated because it feels a lot safer 369 00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:19,120 than being vulnerable with his fellow humans. 370 00:25:20,480 --> 00:25:25,080 And when his disappointment builds over time, he sort of 371 00:25:25,080 --> 00:25:28,520 sees that you can. You can try to cling to a 372 00:25:28,520 --> 00:25:33,120 promise that feels delayed or might not ever come, or you can 373 00:25:33,120 --> 00:25:38,560 just withdraw and protect yourself with sarcasm and irony 374 00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:43,600 and contempt. And friends, listen, I've been 375 00:25:43,600 --> 00:25:46,840 there, and I suspect that maybe a few of you have too. 376 00:25:47,280 --> 00:25:52,720 You know, to have sort of a cynical, negative, ironic view 377 00:25:52,720 --> 00:25:57,440 of the world might actually feel a lot safer than this business 378 00:25:57,800 --> 00:26:01,280 of investing in some kind of hope or joy that feels like it's 379 00:26:01,280 --> 00:26:04,480 so far down the line that you're not sure how you could ever 380 00:26:04,480 --> 00:26:10,320 access it. The cross could have produced 381 00:26:10,320 --> 00:26:15,240 that kind of underground faith, bitter and sarcastic and waiting 382 00:26:15,240 --> 00:26:19,840 for revenge. But resurrection happens. 383 00:26:20,760 --> 00:26:24,000 And so, you know, as we're in Lent and sort of journeying 384 00:26:24,000 --> 00:26:26,800 toward the Easter story and journeying toward the cross, I'm 385 00:26:26,800 --> 00:26:30,440 thinking about the ways that resurrection is God's 386 00:26:30,480 --> 00:26:35,360 declaration that the promise is deeper than the moment that 387 00:26:35,360 --> 00:26:38,640 we're living in. The promise of hope to come 388 00:26:39,160 --> 00:26:46,000 permeates the fabric of creation in a way that negativity and 389 00:26:46,000 --> 00:26:49,320 disappointment and cynicism cannot. 390 00:26:51,000 --> 00:26:56,560 And so the difference between the underground man and Jesus is 391 00:26:56,560 --> 00:27:00,360 not intelligence. It's where their allegiance 392 00:27:00,360 --> 00:27:03,080 lies. What view of the world will they 393 00:27:03,080 --> 00:27:09,920 be faithful to? One says that we'll respond to a 394 00:27:09,920 --> 00:27:12,680 broken world by retreating into resentment. 395 00:27:13,720 --> 00:27:18,400 The other says the righteous will live by faith and trusting 396 00:27:18,400 --> 00:27:23,720 himself to the Father, remaining open and generous and faithful 397 00:27:24,040 --> 00:27:27,360 to the people around him in spite of the kind of violence 398 00:27:27,360 --> 00:27:34,720 that Jesus takes on first hand. And so, friends, as I read 399 00:27:35,160 --> 00:27:38,800 Habakkuk, as I read the prophet, this is my, this is my prayer 400 00:27:38,800 --> 00:27:40,400 for us. This is my hope is that over 401 00:27:40,400 --> 00:27:43,560 time, we would be formed into a community that becomes 402 00:27:43,560 --> 00:27:47,520 increasingly open and generous and faithful in the way of 403 00:27:47,560 --> 00:27:50,360 Jesus. And so by the time we reach the 404 00:27:50,360 --> 00:27:54,480 end of the book, Habakkuk hasn't received any kind of a timeline 405 00:27:54,640 --> 00:27:58,400 from God about, you know, when will this all resolve? 406 00:27:58,400 --> 00:28:00,840 When will life get better? When will we sort of get past 407 00:28:00,840 --> 00:28:04,760 this rough patch? He's not been told exactly when 408 00:28:04,760 --> 00:28:09,280 Babylon will fall. What he receives is a vision of 409 00:28:09,280 --> 00:28:13,320 God's character and a promise that evil will not ultimately 410 00:28:13,320 --> 00:28:15,080 prevail. And so he prays. 411 00:28:15,480 --> 00:28:18,640 Lord, renew your work in our day. 412 00:28:19,920 --> 00:28:21,280 I have time. I'll just read it to you. 413 00:28:21,280 --> 00:28:23,200 Oh Lord, I have heard of your renown. 414 00:28:23,200 --> 00:28:27,560 And I stand in awe, Oh Lord, of your work in our own time. 415 00:28:27,560 --> 00:28:32,280 Revive it in our own time. Make it known in wrath that you 416 00:28:32,280 --> 00:28:36,040 may remember mercy. And so he recalls the Exodus. 417 00:28:36,040 --> 00:28:39,520 He recalls the story, the original story of God saving his 418 00:28:39,520 --> 00:28:42,200 people from Egypt and God confronting evil. 419 00:28:43,600 --> 00:28:46,240 And the Exodus becomes this, this archetype that God will 420 00:28:46,240 --> 00:28:50,640 once again deal with the head of the evil house as he writes, and 421 00:28:50,640 --> 00:28:53,160 he'll judge what destroys human life. 422 00:28:53,560 --> 00:28:57,040 God won't ignore injustice. And then comes just this 423 00:28:57,280 --> 00:29:02,000 remarkable confession at the end of the book. 424 00:29:02,440 --> 00:29:05,640 Though the fig tree does not blossom and no fruit is on the 425 00:29:05,640 --> 00:29:11,240 vines, though the produce of the olive fails and the fields yield 426 00:29:11,240 --> 00:29:15,880 no food, though the flock is cut off from the fold and there is 427 00:29:15,880 --> 00:29:19,560 no herd in the stalls yet. I will rejoice in the Lord. 428 00:29:20,000 --> 00:29:22,240 I will exalt in the God of my salvation. 429 00:29:24,600 --> 00:29:29,240 I think it's easy for us in a cynical age to hear a prayer 430 00:29:29,240 --> 00:29:33,960 like that and go, that's just denial, you know, that's 431 00:29:33,960 --> 00:29:37,680 spiritual bypassing. That's that's a back at just 432 00:29:37,680 --> 00:29:41,440 sort of accessing something that he's drummed up inside of 433 00:29:41,440 --> 00:29:44,760 himself. But I really think the truth is 434 00:29:44,760 --> 00:29:48,160 this, this kind of an outlook is a gift. 435 00:29:48,920 --> 00:29:52,400 And it's one that, you know, when I think about abundant 436 00:29:52,400 --> 00:29:56,920 tables shared with our Cambodian friends, I think about this kind 437 00:29:56,920 --> 00:30:00,920 of joy. When I think about the beautiful 438 00:30:00,920 --> 00:30:06,880 work that's happening all over our city to serve the dignity of 439 00:30:06,880 --> 00:30:11,400 people, to lift people out of adverse situations, I think 440 00:30:11,400 --> 00:30:15,080 about the fact that this kind of hope, this kind of joy is 441 00:30:15,080 --> 00:30:17,560 present in the midst of incredibly difficult 442 00:30:17,560 --> 00:30:20,400 circumstances. It's not naive. 443 00:30:20,400 --> 00:30:23,320 It's not forgetful. It's a quality of joy that's 444 00:30:23,320 --> 00:30:26,760 passed through suffering. And friends, if you've ever 445 00:30:26,760 --> 00:30:32,120 celebrated with people, if you've ever shared celebratory 446 00:30:32,120 --> 00:30:35,160 meals or celebratory occasions with people who have experienced 447 00:30:35,160 --> 00:30:38,280 real suffering, you've, you've touched this. 448 00:30:39,040 --> 00:30:42,160 You've understood just a little bit about what it looks like 449 00:30:42,480 --> 00:30:46,840 when real hope and real joy breakthrough sort of the the 450 00:30:46,840 --> 00:30:52,480 layer of despair and cynicism that sometimes just sits over 451 00:30:52,720 --> 00:30:59,560 our, our view of the world. So Habakkuk gives us a 452 00:30:59,560 --> 00:31:03,080 direction. The righteous live by faith. 453 00:31:04,120 --> 00:31:07,960 And so I hope by just unpacking this a little bit more this 454 00:31:07,960 --> 00:31:11,960 morning, that line feels a little more meaningful to a few 455 00:31:11,960 --> 00:31:14,240 of you. Is that the case for anyone? 456 00:31:14,600 --> 00:31:19,520 Because I know, you know, before I read this and, and sort of 457 00:31:19,520 --> 00:31:23,120 studied in detail over the last couple of weeks, I, I felt like 458 00:31:23,120 --> 00:31:24,880 that was the passage that I'd talk about. 459 00:31:24,880 --> 00:31:27,720 And I was also kind of dreading it because I was like, I don't 460 00:31:27,720 --> 00:31:29,000 know if I have anything to say about that. 461 00:31:29,000 --> 00:31:33,360 It feels a little, a little thin, but it feels less than to 462 00:31:33,360 --> 00:31:37,920 me. So even even if the cycle of 463 00:31:38,480 --> 00:31:42,960 difficulty, of sickness, of relational disrepair, of 464 00:31:42,960 --> 00:31:48,560 disappointment, of discomfort feels long for you, or you look 465 00:31:48,560 --> 00:31:51,880 out in the world and you just feel this God, how long? 466 00:31:52,400 --> 00:32:00,560 How long will this go on? Our task is to become more like 467 00:32:00,560 --> 00:32:05,600 Jesus in the meantime, remaining open and generous and faithful. 468 00:32:06,240 --> 00:32:08,360 And we'll invite the worship team back up. 469 00:32:09,120 --> 00:32:13,280 But my hope is that if you're here in the room and you feel 470 00:32:13,520 --> 00:32:19,200 tired in some way, like some of these things feel real to you, 471 00:32:19,200 --> 00:32:21,200 they feel just right at your fingertips. 472 00:32:21,880 --> 00:32:26,800 There's something in your life that feels oppressive, that 473 00:32:26,800 --> 00:32:30,040 feels difficult. Relationship, a job, whatever it 474 00:32:30,040 --> 00:32:33,240 might be that makes it difficult for you to hear those words. 475 00:32:33,560 --> 00:32:36,360 The righteous shall live by. Faith makes it difficult for you 476 00:32:36,360 --> 00:32:41,840 to imagine joy and hope peeking through difficult circumstances. 477 00:32:41,840 --> 00:32:44,000 We we'd love to pray for you this morning.