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A Conviction: Sermon · Beyond the Sermon

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You're listening to Beyond the Sermon, the podcast of First
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Methodist Church in Collingswood, NJ.
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On our podcast, the goal is not just to share our sermons, but
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to go beyond the sermon and talk about what we're learning and
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what God is doing in US and in our community.
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The sermon you're about to listen to comes from our June
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2025 Do It Again sermon series. In the series, we're looking at
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what the. Book of Habakkuk.
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Can teach us about living in times of injustice.
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You can find out more. Information about our church.
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At fumccollingswood.org. Thanks for listening.
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This morning scripture comes from Habakkuk chapter one.
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This is the message that the prophet Habakkuk received in a
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vision. How long, O Lord, must I call
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for help? But you do not listen.
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Violence is everywhere. I cry, but you do not come to
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save. Must I forever see these evil
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deeds? Why must I watch all this
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misery? Wherever I look, I see
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destruction and violence. I'm surrounded by people who
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love to argue and fight. The law has become paralyzed and
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there is no justice in the courts.
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The wicked far outnumber the righteous, so that justice has
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become perverted, the Lord replied.
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Look around at the nation's look and be amazed, for I am doing
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something in your own day, something you wouldn't believe
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even if someone told you about it.
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I'm raising up the Babylonians, A cruel and violent people.
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They will March across the world and conquer other lands.
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They are notorious for their cruelty and do whatever they
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like. Their horses are swifter than
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cheetahs and fiercer than wolves.
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At dusk, their charioteers charge from far away like
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eagles. They swoop down to devour their
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prey. On they come, all bent on
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violence. Their hordes advance like a
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desert wind, sweeping captives ahead of them like sand.
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They scoff at kings and Princess and scorn all their fortresses.
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They simply pile ramps of earth against their walls and capture
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them. They sweep past like the wind
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and are gone. But they are deeply guilty, for
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their own strength is their God. This is the word of God for the
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people of God. Thanks be to God and happy
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Father's Day. On that cheery note, I want to
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paint a picture in your mind's eye this morning.
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A picture of a world full of political intrigue and
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machinations. A world in which the leaders of
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global superpowers are pulling strings behind the scenes.
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They're pulling down leaders, replacing them with people of
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their own choosing. Imagine a world in which people
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are facing economic challenges brought about largely through
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the decisions of its leaders and the taxis levied on the people
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to pay for those choices. Imagine a world where the people
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of a nation once knew God but have since turned their back on
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him in favor of the idols of power and sex.
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They've traded a covenant relationship with the living God
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for selfish and sinful desires that are consuming them rather
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than fulfilling them. Or maybe, at best, they've tried
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to worship God alongside these other gods.
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Imagine a world in which the blood of innocent people is
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being shed in the streets, but justice is perverted and
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withheld, and those responsible for these deaths face little
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repercussion. Can you imagine a world like
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that? It sounds a little too familiar
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this morning, doesn't it? But the world I've just
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described isn't America in 2025. Or at least it isn't just
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America in 2025. This is the the world of King.
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This is the the world of Judah following the death of King
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Josiah. I don't know what you remember
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about King Josiah, but he became king at the age of 8 following
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the rediscovery of the law in the temple.
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During his reign, Josiah led the nation of Judah into a revival.
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He, they, they turned their hearts back to the Lord their
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God. And so toward the end of King
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Josiah's reign, he saw upheaval in the world around him as the
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power of the Assyrian Empire, which had already taken the 10
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northern tribes of Israel into exile.
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Their power began to crumble, create a vacuum.
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And in the midst of that vacuum, Josiah saw an opportunity to
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expand Judas territory and their influence in the region.
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And maybe he assumed that because of the reforms and the
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revivals he had led the people in, God would bless his efforts.
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But instead it led him into direct conflict with Pharaoh
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Neko, the second king of Egypt. And in six O 9 BC Neko defeated
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Judah in the valley of Mejido and King Josiah was killed.
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And what the book of Second Kings tells us happened next,
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which you can find in Second Kings chapters 23 and 24.
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I would have read it this morning, but it was just, it was
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too much. So let me summarize it for you.
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You can go back and read it later.
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What Second Kings 23 tells us is that after King Josiah was
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killed, Josiah's son Jehovah has became king.
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But Neko, Pharaoh of Egypt, didn't like Jehovah has as king.
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And so Neko put Jehovah has in prison to keep him from leading
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there in Jerusalem. And then Neko demanded a tribute
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to be paid from Judah to Egypt in in the sum of 7500 lbs of
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silver and 75 lbs of gold. How are they going to do this?
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Their king was in prison. So Neko decides he's going to
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install another of Josiah's sons, Eliah Kim.
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As king. He changed Eliah Kim's name to
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Jehoiah Kim and and Jehoiah Kim took power in Judah and
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Jehoiakim decided that in order to pay the tribute that Neko was
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demanding, he was going to tax the people, right?
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Everybody's favorite choice, the king taxes the people, put a
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hardship on the people. He continued to lead the people
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away from God, and eventually it was during Jehoiakim's reign
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that the Kingdom of Babylon would invade Judah and Judah
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would be taken into exile. The the situation in Second
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Kings 23 and 24 is the picture I tried to paint for us this
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morning. Political intrigue, economic
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challenges, idolatry, bloodshed and injustice.
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King Jehoiakim, we're told, followed in the way of his great
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grandfather Manasa, rather than his father Josiah.
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Jehoiah Kim is what the Books of Kings or Chronicles would call a
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bad king. Second Chronicles 36 sums up
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Jehoiah Kim's reign like this. In verse 5 it says Jehoiah Kim
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was 25 years old when he became king and he reigned in Jerusalem
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11 years. He did what was evil in the
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sight of the Lord his God. He did what was evil in the
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sight of the Lord his God. Jehoiakim didn't lead his people
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to follow the way of Yahweh, but instead he led them into
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idolatry. They broke their covenant, and
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now God was going to turn them over to the consequences of
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their choice. But even in the midst of such
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ungodliness and wickedness, there remained a faithful
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remnant in Judah, a remnant of individuals who were still
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devoted to God. How were they to respond to the
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events they saw unfolding all around them the the the context
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in which they found themselves living, but they just kind of
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keep their heads down and then and do the best they could to
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follow God quietly. Were they all being called like
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the prophets, Jeremiah or Zephaniah to go and and speak
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God's truth to these ungodly kings, to go in and start a
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confrontation? Was there another option?
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Was there some other thing they could do?
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Well, enter Habakkuk, the book that we'll spend the rest of of
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the month looking at. So I think Habakkuk had
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something to say to the people of Judah in that day, and I
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believe he has something to say to us today.
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And so even though Jeremy just read it, hear these words from
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from Habakkuk, 1 verses 1 to 4. Again, this is the message that
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the prophet Habakkuk received in a vision.
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How long, Lord, must I call for help?
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But you do not listen. Violence is everywhere.
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I cry, but you do not come to save.
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Must I forever see these evil deeds?
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Why must I watch all this misery?
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Wherever I look, I see destruction and violence.
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I'm surrounded by people who love to argue and fight.
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The law has become paralyzed. There's no justice in the
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courts. The wicked far outnumber the
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righteous, so that justice has become perverted.
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Habakkuk looks around at everything that's happening in
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the world around him and and Habakkuk's complaint, at its
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simplest, is that there's so much injustice happening
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everywhere he looks so much injustice.
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But it's not really even that simple, is it?
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That's an oversimplification of Habakkuk's complaint.
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Habakkuk's real complaint isn't that injustice is happening in
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the world around him, It's that God isn't doing anything about
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it, right? People are doing bad things and
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there are no consequences, no punishment.
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We don't like it when people get away with doing bad things,
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right? That's part of what God has
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formed in US. But is it true that God was
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allowing evil deeds to go unpunished?
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Well, to some extent, if we're honest, yes.
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Right. In the short term, God was
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allowing these things to continue.
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But just because God was allowing them to continue
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doesn't mean that they were going unnoticed.
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And I think the thing that that Habakkuk's complaint reveals to
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us is that Habakkuk had a conviction, right?
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Habakkuk had a conviction that we need God because God is the
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only one who's going to be able to do something about their
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situation, even in the face of the rising challenges that we
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talked about earlier. The context in which Habakkuk
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was was writing, when it looked like God's people were powerless
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in the face of these larger, stronger nations, Habakkuk had a
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conviction that the problem, Excuse me, that the problem that
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people of Judah were facing, it needed God's answer.
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This is what allowed him to call out to God in the 1st place,
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because he understood who God has revealed himself to be.
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Habakkuk knew God and he knew God's character.
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When I hear Habakkuk's complaint, I'm reminded of
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another passage where someone called out to God and and didn't
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feel like he was getting an answer.
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In Psalm 13, David starts off with these words.
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He says, Oh Lord, how long will you forget me forever?
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How long will you look the other way?
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How long must I struggle with anguish in my soul, with sorrow
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in my heart every day? How long will my enemy have the
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upper hand? You see, Habakkuk recognize the
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same thing that David recognize that they they're both asking
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God why he hasn't dealt with the situation before them.
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But there's a recognition from both of them that God could do
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something about the situation around them.
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It's just that he wasn't doing something.
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I think it makes sense that Habakkuk would have had this
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Psalm in mind as he was praying to God, as he looked out and saw
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the injustice around him. He'd been formed by the psalms,
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much like we are formed by the hymns and the songs we sing in
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worship. But at least to me, Habakkuk's
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complaint to God that it doesn't seem like the presumptuous
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demand of someone who's used to getting what they want.
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You know, those people, they're just used to getting what they
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want and they complain when they don't get it.
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But I also don't see it as as a kind of self-righteous
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accusation prayed by somebody who thought they knew better
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than God. Anybody else ever pray those
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prayers before telling God what you think he should do in a
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situation? Maybe I'm just the only one, but
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what I see in Habakkuk's complaint was the cry of a man
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who knew that there was nothing that he could do, nothing that
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that the powers of the world could do, but who was convinced,
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convicted that there was someone who could.
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And so he cried out to that someone to do something right.
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This is what we call in the Christian tradition, lament.
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Lament, in the words of of Taylor Turkington, lament is
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recognizing what is true and right about God and what is true
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and wrong about the world. This is lament.
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It's it's noticing what's going on in the world and, and where
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those things don't line up with what we know to be true of God
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and grieving over those things, lamenting those things because
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Christian lament, it doesn't just stay in the grief, right.
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It doesn't just stay overwhelmed by by the overwhelming aspect of
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whatever situation it finds itself.
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Christian lament. It asked God to do something to
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set that world right. Again.
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I think that's exactly what we see Habakkuk doing here in
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chapter 1. And then then God answers him,
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right, God answers him. Here's here's God's answer verse
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5. It says the Lord replied, look
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around at the nation's look and be amazed.
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For I am doing something in your own day, something you wouldn't
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believe even if someone told you about it.
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God was going to do a new thing, an amazing thing, the kind of
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thing that wouldn't be believed even if you were warned in
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advanced it was going to happen. And we love to grab on to this
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verse, right? We want to hold on to this first
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verse of God's response to Habakkuk when we want to launch
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a new initiative, right? Or we're tired of church as
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usual. We've been pushed into a pushed
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out of a familiar situation, into the midst of something we
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can't control. And we claim God is doing a new
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thing. But in Habakkuk's day, God
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wasn't about to lead another exodus.
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He wasn't raising up another giant slaying shepherd king.
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God was going to raise up a Pagan nation called Babylon.
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They were going to become the executors of God's judgement on
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both Assyria and Judah and God's people.
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And frankly, that doesn't make too much sense to us or I won't
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speak for you. It doesn't make much sense to
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me, right? Because that's not the way I
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would choose to do things. I wouldn't choose to punish
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unrighteousness and injustice with more unrighteousness and
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injustice. But God's not under any
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illusions about who these Babylonians are, and they
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haven't somehow pulled the wool over God's eyes.
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God recognizes exactly what kind of people they are, and in
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verses 6 to 11, God describes precisely what these Babylonians
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are like and what they're going to be like, and he chooses to
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use them anyway. Let me read it for us again,
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verse 6. I'm raising up the Babylonians,
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A cruel and violent people. They March across the world and
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conquer other lands. They are notorious for their
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cruelty. They do whatever they like.
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Their horses are swifter than cheetahs and fiercer than
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wolves. At dusk their cherrier tears
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charge from far away like eagles.
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They swoop down to devour their prey.
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On they come, all bent on violence.
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Their hordes advanced like a desert wind, sweeping captives
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ahead of them like sand. They scoff at kings and Princess
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and scorn all their fortresses. They simply pile ramps of earth
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against the walls and capture them.
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They sweep past like the wind and they are gone.
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But they are deeply guilty, for their own strength is their God.
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To hear the words and phrases that God used to describe the
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Babylonian people. They're ruthless, impetuous,
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lawless. They're they're fierce warriors
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who are violent and mocking and belittling and scornful.
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They worship their own strength as their God.
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When God finally decides to do something about the injustice
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that is happening in Judah, when God decides it's time to answer
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Habakkuk's complaint, spoken out of the conviction that only God
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could do something about their situation, the answer is
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conquest. The answer is exile and Babylon,
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and that doesn't make much sense to our human understanding.
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Those are not the means that we would use to reach the desired
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ends of dealing with the injustice in Judah.
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Do you ever feel like God is ignoring the injustice in the
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world around you? That maybe God isn't listening
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to your prayers about a certain situation?
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That God isn't doing anything? What does it look like to follow
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Jesus when those questions hang over us?
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What's it look like to follow Jesus in a world like this?
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What does it look like to trust God in the midst of an unjust
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world? How do we respond to the
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injustice that we see in the world?
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I think Habakkuk teaches us that it starts withholding on to a
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conviction that God is who he says he is.
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Right? And so we we dive into Scripture
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and we let it remind us of God's character, of who he is, of how
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he's acted, that that God is holy and good and faithful and
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true. He's merciful and just.
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He's gracious and righteous. And we let that conviction that
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God is who he says he is drive us then to pray, to lament,
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right? Not just to stay in our grief
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about the situation of the world, but but to lament, to
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bring it to God, recognizing what is true and right about
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God, as well as what is true and wrong in the world.
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And then we trust that God is working, even when we don't see
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it, even when we don't understand how He's working.
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Listen to how one commentator framed it.
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God is always at work, always involved, always pressing
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forward toward His Kingdom. But the means by which he uses
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he chooses to pursue that goal may be as astounding as the
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destruction of a nation, or as incomprehensible as the blood
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dripping from the figure of a man on a cross.
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We may not always understand what God is doing.
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We may not always be able to see where and how He's working in
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the world around us, but we can trust that He sees the
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injustices happening around us and He's working to bring all
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things, all things to His ultimate purposes.
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Bringing people together in the Kingdom of God, bringing heaven
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and earth together as He always intended for it to be.
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I don't know all the things that you may be seeing in the world
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today that are true and wrong in the world.
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The the things that don't line up with what is true and right
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about God, all the things that you're lamenting about the world
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in its present condition. But I want to say very clearly,
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God sees them too. He sees them.
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It grieves his heart. They don't go unnoticed.
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And this morning, I want to just give us some space, some space
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for us to live out of the conviction that we hold that God
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is the only one who can do something about the things we
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see in the world. That's why I want to invite you
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this morning to bring those things to him, to grieve and
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lament those things to him, just like Habakkuk did.
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And so if there's something on your heart this morning that
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just brings up that grief and, and you want to turn that grief
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into lament, would you come and bring those things to him,
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acknowledging who he is and that the world doesn't yet look like
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what it's supposed to? Would you cry out to God for him
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to do something in the midst of those situations?
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The altar is open. I'd love for you to come and
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pray. If there's something on your
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heart this morning, you're welcome to stay in your seats.
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We're just going to take a few minutes.
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Alden and the team are going to play for just a couple minutes,
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and then I'm going to pray. And then we're going to stand
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and sing and close the service and remind ourselves about this
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God who we can cry out to. If there's something on your
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heart, would you come? Would you bring it in?
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Lament to the God who hears. The.
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The. Jesus, we're grateful, Grateful
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that you hear every prayer that's uttered.
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Grateful. But there's no injustice that
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occurs that you do not see. And this morning we come to you,
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Jesus, because we believe that you're the only one who can do
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anything about the situations that we see in the world around
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us. We can't look to political
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leaders or party politics, even the best of intentions of, of,
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of people trying to do good or or to protest the evil that we
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see. God, if we're not looking to
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you, we're never going to find the justice that we're looking
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for. We're never going to find the
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healing that we need because you are the only Savior and God.
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When we look around at the world, we recognize that there
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are things that are true and wrong about the world that don't
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line up with what's true and right about you.
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Things that that grieve our hearts or should grieve our
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hearts, things like abuse, neglect, abortion, mental
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illness, corruption, pride, God, We could go on and on and on.
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There's injustice happening all around us, God, and with
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Habakkuk, we cry out. How long until you do something?
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We got in the midst of it. We trust that you are working
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even when we don't see it, even when we don't understand it.
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God, you are working and you're moving in the midst of
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situations to bring it all to your ultimate goal that we pray.
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Would you bring redemption? Would you bring salvation?
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Would you bring your Kingdom here on earth?
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Vadam? Would you help us to trust you
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in the midst of it all? Would you help us to be formed
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into the kind of people that you can use in those different
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situations that we sang earlier? That we are the church and we
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are the hope on earth. And that's because we are the
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ones that you've brought into your Kingdom to be the hands and
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feet of Jesus. Would you shape us into those
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kind of people who can carry that kind of responsibility, who
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can live out that kind of truth in our own life so that the
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people in the world around us would look at us and say there's
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something different about them? They don't get caught up in all
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of these polarizing discussions the same way we do.
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They don't look to certain people for their hope, God,
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because our hope is in you and you alone.
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So, Jesus, would you come and do a work in us that only you can
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do, so that through us, by the power of your Spirit, you could
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do a work in the world that only you can do.
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That's our prayer. Good morning, Jesus, would you
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be magnified in the way we live our lives, and would you shape
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us into the kind of people that you can use to turn the altars
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of pain in our communities into altars of praise, altars of
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prayer, altars where people can meet?
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Jesus, we look to you because we can look to none other, and we
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pray this in your holy name, Jesus.