257 Kendall Street
Burlington, WI 53105
(262) 763-3021
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We have purchased land on Highways A & W and are planning to build soon! Drive by and take a look at our future home!
“A Bible in the hand is worth two in the bookcase.”
April 11th, 2010
A poll from a few years back revealed that while most Christians assent to the validity of the Ten Commandments, most of them did not even know what they were. While they believed that the Ten Commandments are valid, and that someday they will have to answer to God for how they have obeyed or disobeyed them, just a few could even name as many as five.
We are told that in the ancient world of the early church, theological topics were the stuff of common conversation even among pagans. The barber in his Constantinople shop discussed with his customers whether Jesus Christ was of the same substance with the Father or only similar to the Father. Such a discussion is unthinkable today! It would even be unthinkable in most adult Bible studies for most churches.
The late Dr. Kenneth Kantzer related his own experience of “deep” Biblical truth. He writes: “Some time ago I taught a Sunday school class with my text drawn from the prologue to the Gospel of John. In my class, I did my best to unfold what the Bible teaches relating to the doctrine of the Trinity and how we as Christians today are to understand the doctrine. After the class, an earnest member (he happened to be a carpenter) came up to me to register his protest. ‘You know,’ he said, ‘I’ve been working hard all week. I didn’t come to Sunday School this morning to hear a lecture in theology. I came to have my heart warmed’.” Kantzer then made this observation, “Now I am willing to take my share of blame for making a discussion of the Trinity into a dull class for that dissatisfied carpenter. But I cannot help registering my own counter protest. Biblical Christianity is based on a personal revelation of God to humans and their response in faith, love and obedience. Yet there is no genuine biblical faith without knowledge. We cannot have biblical Christianity without theology or right ideas.”
Next Sunday, April 18th, we are beginning a new sermon series on the Old Testament prophet, Habakkuk: From Frustration to Faith. For some, unfortunately, a study of an obscure prophet sounds about as fascinating as watching paint dry.
But did you know that Habakkuk spoke with an American accent? It’s true, he does – and so do all of his other friends – Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and even Malachi. And these men also speak with British accents, French accents, Latin accents, Russian accents, Chinese accents...in fact they speak with every possible accent and they are speaking to us today. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 reminds us that, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” Every part and portion of God’s Word is vital and important!
We tend to think that our present world is unique both in its good qualities and its bad problems. It’s not! One word that is continually batted about, even in the Church is that word “relevant.” And for the ignorant Christian even much of the Bible is dismissed because it is judged to be “irrelevant.” That’s why books like Habakkuk are so important to us today. Habakkuk lived in a day that had similar problems and issues that we face. He cried out to God in the midst of a world hell-bent on destruction and raised the challenge of a holy God. He warned, threatened and accused the world in which he lived. He pleaded with God for his people. History records God’s vindication of his ministry. Because though his message was ignored by the people of God, great suffering fell on them and neighboring pagan nations.
Habakkuk is found in our Bibles in what is known as the “minor prophets.” But they are not “minor” prophets because they are 2nd class servants of God. Habakkuk is not to be ignored much as a baseball fan virtually ignores the farm teams until a player hits the big league. The Minor Prophets were labeled “minor” simply because of the brevity of their content, not because of the lack of importance or authority of their content. The Minor Prophets are just much shorter than what we refer to as the “Major Prophets” (Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel) but they are no less important.
Romans 15:4 says, “For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” Later, in 1 Corinthians 10, Paul would write, “these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall,” (vss. 11-12).
There are a number of important themes and lessons that we as New Testament Christians must learn from Habakkuk. Consider these important concepts:
✴ The moral, social, and economic conditions of God’s people during a significant period of Israel’s history. We can gain a perspective in how immoral living, idolatry, and luxurious living caused the people of God to turn a deaf ear to His pleadings for repentance. There are a number of warnings to be gleaned from these verses—especially for Christians living in the materialistic days of the 21st century.
✴ God’s interaction with nations other than Israel during Old Testament times. God raised up foreign nations to punish Israel for their sin, yet the sins of these heathen nations would not go unrecognized or unpunished by God.
✴ God’s call for repentance. Although extremely sinful, God still held out for and called His people to repentance. In Habakkuk, we see a wonderful example of His mercy, love and concern for His people—despite their repulsive rebellion.
✴ God’s certain punishment for rebellion. God will not allow wickedness and rebellion to go unpunished even though it sometimes looks like it.
As we work our way through Habakkuk, we will discover how God’s own people were failing dramatically to be the people that they were called to be, yet how gracious God was to them as He continued to seek to draw them to Himself. And we will learn that no matter what happens, we really can and must trust our God. Please take the time before next Sunday to read the book of Habakkuk. May God’s Word found in this short little book have a profound impact on us all!