Sunday EVENING Sermon

"Woe"
[Habakkuk 2:6-20]
August 6, 2006 Emmanuel Orthodox Presbyterian Church

We return again to our look at the burden -- the heavy vision -- of the prophet Habakkuk. Habakkuk preached about the time of Jeremiah, before the fall of Jerusalem. We saw in our previous looks at Habakkuk's burden, that the prophet had called out to God and asked God why He was allowing Israel to sin and not be punished; why was the Law ignored and Justice never served? God answered the prophet that God would punish Israel's sin: He was sending the Chaldeans against them -- to slaughter them and take them into captivity. The prophet responded and cried out to God again, asking God how He could be holy and send a people more evil than Israel to punish her. And God told Habakkuk that God is Holy; He was well aware of the sins of the Chaldeans, but the just would live by faith.

God told Habakkuk that He knew that the Chaldeans were an insatiable and evil people, and God would deal with them. Yet, God was using them to accomplish His Will. God instructed Habakkuk to write down his vision -- this burden -- and print it in bold and clear writing so all the people of Israel would be able to read it and know what God had said and was going to do.

Tonight, we heard God speak five "woes" -- five laments of judgment -- against the Chaldeans. In response to their insatiable and evil gathering of nations and people, God pronounced five woes against the Chaldeans. The first three form a cluster about lust. The fourth deals with treatment of neighbor. And the fifth, with idolatry.

The first woe is a woe against those who plunder by demanding unjust tribute. The Chaldeans lusted after money and riches. Even after they had conquered and enslaved a people, they demanded that they pay exorbitant tributes to the king. They desired more and more and more -- while there was any breath left in their captives, while there was any person or nation on the planet, there was more. They were trying to fill the black hole of their hearts; their love of money. And God proclaimed that the day was coming when those that they have taken from and taken from and bled dry, will rise up against them and demand back full payment in the blood of the Chaldeans. They would not escape paying back their creditors -- the axe would fall, and they would take their due in flesh.

Paul warned about this sin: "Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain that we will carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows" (I Timothy 6:6-10).

Do not misunderstand Paul. He is not saying that being rich is a sin. God chooses to bless some with great riches. That is not a sin, but it is a temptation. Those who have much are greatly tempted. But we also must not glory in being poor, because being rich is relative. If we make five thousand dollars a year amidst a people that make two thousand dollars a year, we are rich. Paul is not saying that we should avoid being paid what we are worth -- no, we are to pay people what they are worth -- for the job they do for us.

Oh, it's so easy to lust after money and things -- especially in an age of credit cards. Credit cards are not evil -- they can be useful and helpful, but have you ever bought anything you didn't have the money for and didn't need, but you had the card? Have you said, "If I only had this, or one more of those, I would be content?"

Paul said, "With clothing and food, with these we shall be content."

David, on the run in the wilderness of Judah, wrote, "Because Your loving-kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You. Thus I will bless You while I live; I will life up my hands in Your name. My soul shall be satisfied with marrow and fatness, and my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips" (Psalm 63:3-5).

Are you satisfied with what God has given you? Whether marrow or fatness, merely food and clothes or riches. Is God's Loving-kindness enough? Or are we modern day Chaldeans with insatiable lust?

Similarly, God pronounces a woe against the Chaldeans and those who seeks security and economic gain through evil means. The Chaldeans thought if they conquered and enslaved more and more of their enemies and took more and more of their goods, if they achieved more and more control over the world, they would be safe and successful -- nothing bad could happen to them. They would have all the toys, so they would win. But God said that they would be put to shame; they sinned against their own souls. The very building materials that they stole to build their homes and fortresses would turn against them, and their sin would be public knowledge. Their glory would be turned to shame. As Solomon wrote, "The fear of the wicked will come upon him, and the desire of the righteous will be granted" (Proverbs 10:24).

I have been told again and again that churches must be run like businesses. And, as often is the case, there is truth and falsehood in that assertion. Is it true that we ought to run churches in an orderly fashion, wisely stewarding what we have, setting goals and working hard to achieve them? Yes. But, when I hear that we need to calculate the number of people and the amount of money we need to keep "in business" and that we must set forth in a mercenary fashion to get "x"
number of people with "y" amount of money in total -- that is sin, that is putting out trust in numbers. That is seeking security in evil means.

Are we seeking safety in numbers? In the stuff we see around us?

After my father died, my mother was left to live on Social Security and the remains of the estate -- in other words, not much, especially with three children still at home -- two of whom has serious medical problems. And people in my mother's church advised her to stop tithing -- that God would understand that she needed the money now. I was thankful that my mother said "no" to this friendly Christian counsel.

Most people look at giving to the church as something we do with the left over money we have, as we feel like giving. I have preached to my congregation on how God teaches to give -- as a start -- ten percent of our gross income/blessings -- because it includes everything we receive. One of my elders came to me and said, "Sorry, I'm not that generous."

Are we hoarding to achieve some sort of false security, or are we being obedient to and trusting of God? After all, God has only given us His Son and eternal salvation with Him. The stones and the timbers will cry out.

Again, in line with the first two, God issued a third woe against the Chaldeans, against all those who ruthlessly seek fame. The Chaldeans wanted to be known throughout the world for their power and their glory, for their skill and wealth. Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon -- the Chaldeans -- was walking on the roof of the royal palace and said, "Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty?" (Daniel 4:30b). Do we remember what happened in the land of Shinar, in the early days of our history? The whole earth came together and said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scatter abroad over the face of the while earth" (Genesis 11:4b). In pride and vanity, they wanted to be known and glorified for their kingdom. They desired to be on a high place -- they desired to be worshiped and adored. Remember, their net was their god, so they thought they deserved all glory.

But God said it is vanity. It is the eternal feeding of the flames of a fire. The nations weary themselves seeking what they can never have. Their vanity grows exponentially as their sin shows them they are not worthy, even as they want more and more.

And so we are tempted -- we also desire to be known, to be thanked, to be glorified. (It is a sad commentary in the church when people get angry because they have not been thanked..) Who do we think we're asking to have glory taken from when we ask it be put on ourselves? The world can fill their black holes of vanity. But, Christians, we are the Church -- we are the Body of Christ. We exist to glorify Jesus Christ.

Even Rev. Howard Currie is not here to be glorified. He ought to be respected and loved as a fellow Christian and for the sake of his call, but no church is the pedestal of the minister. As Paul wrote, "Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through who you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he that waters, but God who gives the increase. Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, you are God's building" (I Corinthians 3:5-9).

Seeking after our own glory will fail, as it would fail for the Chaldeans some seventy years later. God said that they would not receive glory and we will not receive glory, but "the whole earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea."

If we want joy -- if we want security -- that coming glory that will enrapture the whole earth will be our hope. That glory that will come and make us as blind to our lusts and all sin, is the glorious future we look for. Matthew tells us it will be like this: "For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will gather together. Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other" (Matthew 24:27-31).

The commentator, Edward Marbury, wrote, "It is plaine that Gods remissenesse in the execution of his just judgments upon the proud and cruel Babylonians, and the miserable face of the Church disfigured with tears, her voyce hoarse with roaring for help, he throat dry, her heart aking, and no relief appearing: all this had not only made the ungodly and profane confident that there was no such thing as Providence; but it appeareth by this Prophet that the faith of Gods children was staggered hereby. But when God shall declare his justice against these his enemies, then he shall recover his glory; then shall they both know that Christ is Lord, both the oppressor shall know it, and the delivered shall know it, and they that are no parties to the cause of any side shall all understand" (Marbury, Habakkuk, 294).

God spoke a fourth woe against the Chaldeans and all those encourage others in their sin and humiliate them and abuse them. They gave their neighbors alcohol so they would get drunk. They wanted to get them drunk so they could expose their nakedness -- to take advantage of them, to shame them, to abuse them. But God promised that they day would come when whatever the Chaldeans had done to others -- whatever sins they had encouraged to engage in -- the violence that they had done to the people and the cities and the nations and the cattle and the land and all the grows on it -- all of that sin and shame would occur to the Chaldeans as well. Their cities would be taken, their crops and herds would be slaughtered. Their nakedness would be exposed and they would be physically abused.

Have you ever encourage someone to sin? Even just a little sin. "Everybody does it. Nobody will get hurt. But it feels so good. Don't you want to?" We are called to love our neighbors, so we ought to be about doing everything we can to keep them from sin. We ought to be about doing everything possible to promote holiness in our neighbors. Yes, even that nasty neighbor down the street that spits on your lawn and allows his dog to relieve himself on your stairs. Yes, even that good friend who says if you were really a good friend you would just ... We must renounce the temptations that come to us and not invite others in. It's true that sin loves company. Shall we compromise our witness to the Gospel and steal a box of paper clips from work because everybody does it? And so forth. We must draw the line hard and fast and not allow ourselves to be swayed into believing that a little bit, together, will be alright -- we can go to church and confess later. To such excuses, God exposes one's uncircumcision.

Fifthly, God issued a woe against all those who make idols. The Chaldeans, like all pagans, were idol-makers. Habakkuk said right from the beginning that they would worship their nets if they caught fish. And John Calvin said that we, humans, are by nature, idol-makers. But the fact of our depravity, due to our original sin, we seek to set up something, anything in God's place. Something that we can control and make do our will -- a god who is wholly pliable to our whims and fascinations.

The Chaldeans carved idols out of wood -- idols who could not speak or hear -- idols that could do nothing -- and God taunted them telling them to wake their idols, to call on them to teach -- but they have no breath. They are false gods. Impotent, human creations.

We remember that the prophets of Baal challenged Elijah and the Lord. And Elijah taunted the prophets of Baal when he did not answer them by saying, "cry aloud, for he is a god; either he is meditating, or he is busy, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened" (I Kings 18:27b). And Isaiah mocked the sin of Israel, saying that they would cut down a oak tree and "he burns half of it in the fire; with this half he eats meat; he roasts a roast. And is satisfied. He even warms himself and says, 'Ah! I am warm, I have seen the fire.' And the rest of it he makes into a god, his carved image, he falls down before it and worships it, prays to it and says, 'Deliver me, for you are my god!'" (Isaiah 44:16-17).

We may think we no longer build idols, but let us consider it in the widest understanding: do we sin? Is sin against God? Then sin is idolatry -- giving something or someone God's place. Each time we sin, we thrust up one of these little homemade idols in God's Face saying, "I would rather follow him."

Idols failed the Chaldeans, and our idols fail us. They have no breath; they cannot speak.

But the Lord God Almighty is in His Holy Temple, and the day will come when God shall speak, and there shall be no answer from man or beast or idol. As Zephaniah prophesied, "Be silent in the presence of the Lord God; for the day of the Lord is at hand, for the Lord has prepared a sacrifice, He has invited His guests" (Zephaniah 1:7).

Tonight, let us pray that our satisfaction would be in God and His Salvation alone. Let us be about preaching the Gospel, trusting the numbers to God. Let us seek to see God glorified in all that we experience -- and throughout the earth. Let us seek our neighbor's welfare in all things, and especially in the knowledge of Salvation in Jesus Christ Alone. And let us worship our Holy God, lifting up our voices in praise to Him, and shutting them when they do not advance the cause of Christ.

Let us pray:
Almighty and Holy God, forgive us for our presumption and our sin against You. We thank You for Your Son, our Salvation, and we ask that Yours Alone would be the praise and the honor and the glory and the worship. Satisfy us with Yourself. Cause us to trust You. Make us Your faithful and obedient children, for Jesus' Sake and for the Sake of the Kingdom. For it is in Jesus' Name we pray, Amen.