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Habakkuk 3:1-16: Outline

June 16, 2013 by William Higgins

Heading: 1 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet. On shigionoth.

Hearing and awe: 2 Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord. Repeat them in our day in our time make them known, in wrath remember mercy.

God’s march to war:

A. God comes from the East: 3 God came from Teman,  the Holy One from Mount Paran.

B. As a sunrise: His glory covered the heavens and his praise filled the earth. 4 His splendor was like the sunrise; rays flashed from his hand, where his power was hidden.

B1. As a brooding storm: 5 Plague went before him; pestilence followed his steps. 6 He stood, and shook the earth; he looked, and made the nations tremble. The ancient mountains crumbled  and the age-old hills collapsed –  but he marches on forever.

A1. The effect on those he passes by: 7 I saw the tents of Cushan in distress, the dwellings of Midian in anguish.

God’s victory in battle: 

C. Why did God attack?/God’s victory: 8 Were you angry with the rivers, Lord? Was your wrath against the streams? Did you rage against the sea when you rode your horses and your chariots to victory?

D. God’s weapons: 9 You uncovered your bow, you called for many arrows. You split the earth with rivers;

E. The mountains: 10 the mountains saw you and writhed.

F. Defeat of the waters/Egypt: Torrents of water swept by; the deep roared and lifted its waves on high.

E1. The Sun and moon: 11 Sun and moon stood still in the heavens

D1. God’s weapons: at the glint of your flying arrows, at the lightning of your flashing spear.

C1. Why God attacked/God’s victory: 12 In wrath you strode through the earth and in anger you threshed the nations. 13 You came out to deliver your people, to save your anointed one. You crushed the head of the house of the wicked, laying him bare from tail to neck. 14 With his own spear you pierced his head when his warriors stormed out to scatter us, gloating as though about to devour  the wretched who were in hiding. 15 You trampled the sea with your horses, churning the great waters.

Hearing and trembling: 16 I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones, and my legs trembled. Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us.

________________

NIV text; v. 13 italics – an alternate translation.

God’s march to war is in 3rd person, or 1st person; God’s victory in battle is in 2nd person.

C and C1 have the same elements – God’s wrath, the waters, your horses, salvation.

Underlined = 9 “you” statements – things that God did.

“heard” – v.2 and “heard” – v. 16 form an inclusion.

 

William Higgins

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God will judge the arrogant. Habakkuk 1:12-2:20

June 9, 2013 by William Higgins

We are continuing on in the book of Habakkuk today and for the whole month of June.

Remember with me last time how Habakkuk complained that God wasn’t doing anything about Judah’s sin; about the powerful who were preying upon the weak; about injustice and oppression. Then God answered him that he is raising up the Babylonians to be his instrument of punishment on Judah.

Today we will cover the second interaction between the prophet and God – another complaint and God’s answer.

There are a number of verses to look at today so I will just briefly comment on them as we read through it. There are also some translation issues in this passage that I will not get into, but you can refer to the handout regarding the text I am using.

Habakkuk’s second complaint

“12Are you not from everlasting, O Lord my God, my Holy One? You shall not die. O Lord, you have ordained them as a judgment, and you, O Rock, have established them for reproof.” Babylon is God’s instrument to judge and teach Judah regarding its covenant unfaithfulness.

“13You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you idly look at the treacherous and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he?” He is saying, since you are a holy God with pure eyes – why do you look without acting, and why do you remain silent when Babylon, who is more sinful than Judah, judges and destroys Judah?

Then we have a poetic picture of the situation, of all the nations that Babylon is overtaking.

People as prey: “14You make people like the fish of the sea, like crawling things that have no ruler.” There is an allusion here to the Genesis account of creation. It is as if humanity has been displaced from having dominion to the place of being like the fish and animals that are hunted, here by the Babylonians.

Net/dragnet: “15He brings all of them up with a hook; he drags them out with his net; he gathers them in his dragnet so he rejoices and is glad.” Babylon is the fisherman.

Net/dragnet: “16Therefore he sacrifices to his net and makes offerings to his dragnet; for by them he lives in luxury, and his food is rich.”

People as prey: “17Is he then to keep on emptying his net and mercilessly killing nations forever?” Will Babylon keep on destroying? God, will you not judge them??

Habakkuk waits

“2:1I will take my stand at my watchpost and station myself on the tower, and look out to see what he will say to me, and what he will answer concerning my complaint.”

God’s answer: Judgment is coming

“2And the Lord answered me: ‘Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. 3For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.’”

He is to write the vision down and then to wait for it to come to fulfillment, which it surely will.

Then we have the beginning of the vision.

The arrogant: “4Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him.” Talking about Babylon.

The righteous: “but the righteous shall live by his faith” or faithfulness. In contrast to the arrogant, God’s people are to trust in God’s promises and remain faithful to God – as they wait for the vision to come to pass; as they wait for God to act to save them.

The arrogant: “5Moreover, wine is a traitor, an arrogant man who is never at rest. His greed is as wide as Sheol; like death he has never enough. He gathers for himself all nations and collects as his own all peoples.” Babylon conquers and wants more and more, but never has enough. Like an alcoholic wanting more drink, or Sheol always taking in more and more of the dead.

And then our passage ends with five woes on Babylon. This is the vision that will surely come to pass. A woe came from a funeral setting, for grieving the dead. It was used in oracles of judgment, perhaps because there will be grieving by those who are judged. In each of these their evil is described and there is a reversal that will take place. It begins – “6Shall not all these take up their taunt against him, with scoffing and riddles for him, and say:”

1. They are judged for taking the goods of others. “Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own – for how long? – and loads himself with pledges! 7Will not your debtors suddenly arise, and those awake who will make you tremble?” It is as if they borrowed all the items they stole and now owe them back with interest.

“Then you will be spoil for them. 8Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the peoples shall plunder you, for the blood of man and violence to the earth, to cities and all who dwell in them.” With killing and violence against the earth and destruction of cities they have plundered. So, they will be plundered.

2. They will be judged for killing others to make themselves secure. “9Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house, to set his nest on high, to be safe from the reach of harm! 10You have devised shame for your house by cutting off many peoples; you have forfeited your life. 11For the stone will cry out from the wall, and the beam from the woodwork respond.” Even the material they unjustly took to build their empire will cry out against them. Those who have killed, will be killed.

3. They will be judged for building an empire through killing. “12Woe to him who builds a town with blood and founds a city on iniquity! 13Behold, is it not from the Lord of hosts that peoples labor merely for fire, and nations weary themselves for nothing?” All their work to be great and honored, will be burned, it will come to nothing. (Jeremiah 51:58).

“14For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” In the end, only God’s glory will be left over all the earth. (Isaiah 11:9).

4. They will be judged for violence that shamed people. “15Woe to him who makes his neighbors drink – you pour out your wrath and make them drunk, in order to gaze at their nakedness! 16You will have your fill of shame instead of glory. Drink, yourself, and show your uncircumcision! The cup in the Lord’s right hand will come around to you, and utter shame will come upon your glory! 17The violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, as will the destruction of the beasts that terrified them, for the blood of man and violence to the earth, to cities and all who dwell in them.”

They have violently judged others and put them to shame by this. Specifically they destroyed the ancient forests of Lebanon and its animals. For this they will be violently destroyed and shamed.

5. They will be judged for idolatry. “18What profit is an idol when its maker has shaped it, a metal image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation when he makes speechless idols! 19Woe to him who says to a wooden thing, Awake; to a silent stone, Arise! Can this teach? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in it. 20But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.”

An idol is not real. So it is silent; it cannot speak or teach. You can only speak to it. The opposite is true of Yahweh. He is real. And he speaks. And everyone must be silent before him. In this case, all people must be silent before him and learn from him as this judgment unfolds.

A summary of God’s answer. Yes, it is true. Babylon is a worse sinner than Judah. But God will judge Babylon as well for all the evil they do. The righteous must faithfully wait, trusting in God’s promise of this.

And this is what happened. The empire of Babylon was overcome and destroyed some 60 years after God’s promise given here to Habakkuk.

We will look at the theme of the righteous living by faith in the weeks to come, but for now let’s end with some –

Lessons

 – on the theme of God’s judgment. 1. True justice does not always take place on this earth. The wicked often prosper, even at the expense of the righteous – as in this case with Babylon and Judah in our verses. When you look at the world and think that things are not as they should be you are right.

But for everyone, there comes a time for justice; a time of reckoning. Galatians 6:7 says, “we will reap what we sow.” Matthew 16:27 says, the Son of Man is coming and “he will repay each person according to what he or she has done.”

God will see to it that justice reaches every single person who has ever lived. As I said, it reached the people of Babylonia 60 years later – at least in part. And true justice will come in its fullness on the final day.

This is a comfort to the righteous, who suffer injustice – knowing that all things will be made right some day. And it should cause fear to those who do evil.

Getting even more specific, 2. God will judge superpowers for their sins. Babylon was the superpower of its day. And in our verses, it is condemned for a number of things:

  • for being arrogant (2:4-5)
  • for being greedy for more and more wealth and power (2:5)
  • for the pursuit of glory at the expense of shaming others (2:15-17)
  • for trust in and glorification of military might  (1:16)
  • for taking the goods of other smaller nation and then living in luxury (2:6, 8, 9; 1:16)
  • for building its empire by “cutting off many lives” (2:9-10)
  • for killing others for its own sense of security (2:9-10)
  • for violence against the earth, for instance, cutting down the ancient forests of Lebanon and killing its animals (2:17).

We live in the superpower of our day. Now the US is not the same as Babylon was – but there are some parallels. What does this mean for us as God’s people; God’s nation, the church – living as exiles in the midst of this country?

3. God really does punish evildoers. Today many are not comfortable talking about God as “punishing” evildoers. We don’t want God to seem mean or vindictive.

But what we need to understand is that if there is to be justice in the world, then there must be a time of reckoning for all.

And this does not conflict with our call to love our enemies. In fact, it enables us to love our enemies. We can set aside our desire to punish our enemies; to make them pay, and rather act in mercy and love toward them – precisely because we know that God will take care of issues of justice in his own time. As Romans 12:19 indicates, we do not need to seek vengeance because, “vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”

William Higgins

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Outline – Habakkuk 1:12-2:20

June 9, 2013 by William Higgins

Habakkuk’s complaint

12 Are you not from everlasting,[i] O Lord my God, my Holy One? You shall not die.[ii] O Lord, you have ordained them as a judgment, and you, O Rock, have established them for reproof. 13 You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you idly look at the treacherous[iii] and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he?

A. People as prey: 14 You make people like the fish of the sea, like crawling things that have no ruler.

B. Net/dragnet: 15 He brings all of them up with a hook; he drags them out with his net; he gathers them in his dragnet; so he rejoices and is glad.

B1. Net/dragnet: 16 Therefore he sacrifices to his net and makes offerings to his dragnet; for by them he lives in luxury, and his food is rich.

A1. People as prey: 17 Is he then to keep on emptying his net and mercilessly killing nations forever?

Habakkuk waits

2:1 I will take my stand at my watchpost and station myself on the tower, and look out to see what he will say to me, and what he[iv] will answer concerning my complaint.

The Lord’s answer: Judgment is coming

2 And the Lord answered me: “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. 3 For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end – it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.

A. The arrogant: 4 Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him

B. The righteous: but the righteous shall live by his faith.

A1. The arrogant: 5 Moreover, wine is a traitor, an arrogant man who is never at rest. His greed is as wide as Sheol; like death he has never enough. He gathers for himself all nations and collects as his own all peoples.”

Five woes

6 Shall not all these take up their taunt against him, with scoffing and riddles for him, and say:

1. For taking the goods of others: “Woe[v] to him who heaps up what is not his own – for how long? – and loads himself with pledges!” 7 Will not your debtors suddenly arise,[vi] and those awake who will make you tremble? Then you will be spoil for them. 8 Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the peoples shall plunder you, for[vii] the blood of man and violence to the earth, to cities and all who dwell in them.

2. For killing others to make themselves secure: 9 “Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house, to set his nest on high, to be safe from the reach of harm! 10 You have devised shame for your house by cutting off many peoples; you have forfeited your life. 11 For the stone will cry out from the wall, and the beam from the woodwork respond.

3. For building an empire through killing: 12 “Woe to him who builds a town with blood and founds a city on iniquity! 13 Behold, is it not from the Lord of hosts that peoples labor merely for fire, and nations weary themselves for nothing? 14 For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

4. For violence that shamed people:

A. Wrath: 15 “Woe to him who makes his neighbors drink –  you pour out your wrath and make them drunk, in order to gaze at their nakedness!

B. Shame/glory:16 You will have your fill of shame instead of glory.

C. You drink: Drink, yourself, and show your uncircumcision! The cup in the Lord’s right hand will come around to you,

B1. Shame/glory: and utter shame will come upon your glory!

A1. Violence: 17 The violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, as will the destruction of the beasts that terrified them, for the blood of man and violence to the earth, to cities and all who dwell in them.

5. For idolatry:

A. Idol teach? They are silent: 18 “What profit is an idol when its maker has shaped it, a metal image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation when he makes speechless idols!

B. Those who speak to idols: 19 Woe to him who says to a wooden thing, Awake; to a silent stone, Arise!

A1. Idol teach? Be silent before God: Can this teach? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in it. 20 But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.”

[i] “Everlasting” and “shall not die” (green) form an inclusion with “killing nations” and “forever” in v. 17.

[ii] According to ancient Hebrew tradition the original text had “you,” but this was changed to “we” out of respect for God.

[iii] As opposed to the ESV’s “traitors.”

[iv] This makes the most sense of the flow of the text and the apparent synonymous parallelism between “what he will say” and “what he will answer.” (See the Peshitta). If “what I will answer” is retained then the meaning must be what he will answer to the people after hearing what God says to him.

[v] Each section has the word “woe,” although in the fifth section it is displaced to the middle.

[vi] “arise” and “awake” (purple) forms and inclusion with “awake” and “arise in v. 19.

[vii] Each woe section ends with a “for” statement, except the last ends with a “but” statement.

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God’s community faces judgment. Habakkuk 1:1-11

June 2, 2013 by William Higgins

We are in the book of Habakkuk this morning. I would like for June to be “Habakkuk month.” It’s a short little book, but it has much to teach us. And I invite you to read it and think and pray about it, as we work our way through it.

Introduction

Habakkuk comes just before judgment came on Judah for its unfaithfulness to God. It most likely covers the years from the rise of the Babylonian empire in 604 BC, to just before they destroyed Jerusalem in 586 BC. About 18 years or so; the final decades of Judah’s political life.

Concerning Habakkuk himself we really don’t know anything except what we find in this book – that he was a prophet.

Our text today is a dialogue between the prophet and God –

Habakkuk 1:1-11

This section begins with the heading, “1The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.” So this is an oracle or message that he received from a visionary experience.

Habakkuk’s complaint. “2O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you ‘Violence!’ and you will not save? 3Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. 4So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted.”

This prayer was most likely given during the reign of King Jehoiakim, one of the last kings of Judah. His was a time when the powerful and wealthy took advantage of the weak and poor, to increase their wealth and power.

Specifically Scripture tells us that he oppressed his own people to build a luxurious palace for himself (Jeremiah 22:13-14). Also, he did not take care of the poor and needy (Jeremiah 22:16). And Jeremiah 22:17 says to him, “you have eyes and heart only for dishonest gain, for shedding innocent blood and for practicing oppression and violence.” (Also 2 Kings 24:4, Jeremiah 26).

This sounds very much like what Habakkuk is talking about. Here are the words he uses in these verses: “violence” (2x), “iniquity,” “wrong,” “destruction,” “strife” and “contention.”

And those with power, who are in charge of dispensing justice according to the Law of Moses are corrupt. So the law is not being put into practice. It is “paralyzed” – v. 4. Justice doesn’t take place.

Rather “the wicked surround the righteous”; they have them hemmed in with no way to protect themselves. The courts are rigged so that the powerful get what they want. Or as Habakkuk says, “justice goes forth perverted.”

It is in this context that Habakkuk boldly prays, “O Lord, how long . . .?” – v. 2. This has been going on for a long time and he has been crying out for help for a long time. And as far as he can see, God hasn’t done anything yet. From his point of view God is “idly looking at wrong” – v. 3.

Now this kind of boldness may seem too much for us. But there is a long tradition of this kind of bold questioning and complaint in Scripture. For instance Psalm 13:1-2. It says, “How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day?” How long will the suffering go on???

One other example comes from Isaiah 63:15. The prophet is in a difficult situation down on earth and so he prays, “Look down from heaven and see, from your holy and beautiful habitation. Where are your zeal and your might? The stirring of your inner parts and your compassion are held back from me.” Why aren’t you helping me???

In all this Habakkuk’s prayer is simple – God take note and act! Do something about all this evil!

Next we have the Lord’s answer. This comes in vs. 5-11. And here we learn that God has not been idly watching. He has a plan and it is moving forward.

He says, “5Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told. 6For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans . . ..” So the answer is that God is sending the Chaldeans or Babylonians to judge Judah for their sin.

Next follows a poetic description of the Babylonians:

A. Their character: 6that bitter and hasty nation

B. Their quick expansion: who march through the breadth of the earth,

C. They capture dwellings/do what they want: to seize dwellings not their own. 7They are dreaded and fearsome; their justice and dignity go forth from themselves.

D. Their cavalry: 8Their horses are swifter than leopards, more fierce than the evening wolves; their horsemen press proudly on. Their horsemen come from afar; they fly like an eagle swift to devour. 9They all come for violence, all their faces forward.

C1. They capture people/do what they want: They gather captives like sand. 10At kings they scoff, and at rulers they laugh. They laugh at every fortress, for they pile up earth and take it.

B1. Their quick expansion: 11Then they sweep by like the wind and go on,

A1. Their character: guilty men, whose own might is their god!”

This tells us that they will take over the known world. They will do what they want capturing nations and taking captives. And all this is due to their military might – their cavalry and their skills in siege warfare, or taking walled cities are specifically mentioned.

So God is sending judgment by means of the then rising Babylonian empire. And as history confirms, they had no trouble conquering lowly Judah.

Here are some –

Lessons for us from this passage

We can be honest with God. Paul says in Romans 9:20, “who indeed are you, a human being, to argue with God . . .?” He seems to be talking about someone disrespectfully questioning God and God’s character. But this isn’t what Habakkuk is doing – or the Psalmist or Isaiah.

His questioning comes from a knowledge of who God is. God is just and righteous. And because of this he is calling on God to act according to his character; to fulfill his purposes and to maintain his reputation. This doesn’t come from unbelief in God, but from belief in God.

So we learn from Habakkuk and others that we can be real with God. We don’t have to pretend we are OK, when things are really bad. And when we are confused or angry or impatient or feel abandoned – we can express this to God. God can handle it! God is patient to hear us. And we can trust that like in this situation, God will indeed act according to his character and God will uphold his good name.

God is very concerned about injustice and unrighteousness in his community. We see Habakkuk’s passion for social justice; for righteousness among God’s people. And we should emulate him. But God is more passionate, even if he waits hoping for repentance.

God did see what was going on and he acted decisively to judge the ‘powers that be’ in Judea for their evil. There are consequences to sin, even if it seems like God doesn’t see us or that we are getting away with it. We will be judged. We will reap what we sow.

This should lead us to ask, ‘What wrongdoing is present among the people of God today?’ (This is the analogy, Israel as God’s people to the people of God, the church today. We can certainly speak up in God’s name to address injustice among the nations of the world. But the focus here is, and in Scripture almost always is, on injustice in God’s community.) What wrongdoing is there among the people of God?

Do those with power take advantage of those who are weak? Think of the priest sex scandal; of pastors who abuse their power and trust; of celebrity ministers who get rich off the poor through manipulation of their trust.

Is there favoritism among God’s people? There has been much racism in the church. There has been much favoritism of the wealthy over the poor. Instead of accepting that we are all brother and sisters in Christ, we allow markers of the flesh to divide us – the color of our skin, the amount of money we make, where we come from.

Is there lawlessness? Yes, the church today is overrun by sexual immorality. And this is overlooked or even approved. You don’t have to look at the world to find this.

As Habakkuk said in v. 4, we can say today, the teaching of Jesus “paralyzed” among us. It is often not carried out.

Do we just go off in a corner with a few others who are like us, or do we care about the world-wide church? Are we concerned? Are we passionate about this? Are we asking how long, O Lord, until you act?

God is able to control the course of history. Acts 17:26 says this, “From one, God made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live . . ..” (NRSV)

God oversees the rising and falling of various nations and empires, and he uses them for his own purposes. As he says in v. 6 about Babylon, “I am raising up the Chaldeans . . ..” Jeremiah 25:9 says of Babylon, “behold, I will send for . . . Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants . . ..” He is God’s “servant.”

God uses nations and kings, even though this is not their purpose or their plan. But God can do this. And then, when God’s instruments of judgment overstep their bounds, they are judged. Isaiah 45 says that Cyrus is God’s “anointed” raised up to destroy Babylon. And this is God’s doing.

What we learn from this is that God can providentially control what happens in our world. Not everything that happens is his will for there is much evil and sin, but he is in control of the outcome of history. So in the midst of the chaos and confusion of this world, we can trust God to guide history to his determined conclusion. And we can trust that God will bring about his will for us his people as well.

William Higgins

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Christian Work

May 12, 2013 by William Higgins

Next week is our baptism and recovenanting service! And as a part of this I am highlighting two different parts of our church covenant. Reminding us what we have and are committing ourselves to.

  • Last week we looked at Christian fellowship, how we are related as a family in Jesus and then how we are to relate to each other, to care and support each other, and how this takes an investment of our time.
  • Today our topic is Christian work, using our gifts and talents to serve God and do the work of the kingdom.

Let’s begin by remembering a foundational truth –

We are the body of Christ

So we are working with an analogy here, between the church and the human body. The human body is one, but is made up of many parts. In the same way the body of Christ is one, but is made up of many parts. This analogy shows up in Romans 12:4-5 – “4For as in one body we have many members . . . 5so . . .” with the body of Christ.

Christ is pictured as the head. Ephesians 5:23 says, “Christ is the head of the church, his body.” And we are the members of his body. 1 Corinthians 12:27 says, “now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.”

We learn several things about working for God from this image of the body of Christ:

1. Each one of us has gifts

Just as a body has an eye that sees, a foot that walks, an ear that hears, a mouth that speaks – so in the body of Christ we each have a place, a function, a role to play.

By creation we all have natural abilities – music, leadership, creativity, social skills, business expertise ands so forth. And then beyond natural talents we all also have spiritual gifts – ways that the Spirit can work through us, given to us by God at our conversion.

Regarding these spiritual gifts, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12:7, “to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” Paul names some of these in 1 Corinthians 12:8-10. “For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.”

Each one of you has a gift or gifts from God, to use to do his work.

2. Our gifts are different

As Paul says, “the members (of the body of Christ) do not all have the same function” – Romans 12:4. And he says, we have “gifts that differ according to the grace given to us” – Romans 12:6. Each one of us in unique.

3. All the gifts are needed for the body to work

Sometimes we focus on certain gifts and say, “Oh, I don’t have that one – I’m not needed; I’m not a part.” But for any body to function, all the parts need to be working.

Paul talks about this in 1 Corinthians 12:14-19. “For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be?”

Your gifts are needed; your contribution is crucial. Think of a human body – when parts stop working, it’s not a good thing! So it is when we hold back, or don’t contribute in the body of Christ.

Here’s a question to ponder. Are there any age restrictions on contributing to God’s work? This is what I tell the young people I work with, if you’re old enough to be baptized, you’re old enough to work for God. And I would say this to those among us who are older, if you’re young enough to be of sound mind, you’re young enough to work for God.

As long as we are able, we are to do our part.

4. All the gifts need to be working in unison for the body to work

With all of our differences in gifting, we need to work together, not separately, for the body to function.

Paul addresses this in 1 Corinthians 12:20-26. “As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you,’ nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you.’ On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.”

We are a team. And all are to be honored for their contribution – the one up front and the one working behind the scenes; the one in leadership and the one not in leadership. Because without all of us working together, the body loses its capacity to function.

So my exhortation to you today is –

Use your gifts and do God’s work!

Romans 12:6 says, “Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them.” This is the whole message today. Let us use our gifts to do God’s work. We want to be a church where everyone uses their gifts; where everyone is doing God’s work.

So find what your gifts are and put them into practice. Find what gives you energy and life; what brings joy to you as you do it. And focus on this in your work for God.

But also just doing things that need to be done. You don’t have to have a gift or a calling to wash dishes, to wash dishes, when the dishes need to washed. You don’t have to have a gift or a calling to pick up trash on the church grounds, to pick up trash, when the trash needs to be picked up.

To use the language of Ecclesiastes 9:10, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might . . .”

Now, if you are already busy doing the work of the kingdom – blessings to you!!! Thank you!!! May you find joy and satisfaction in it now and may the Lord say to you on that day, “Well done, good and faithful servant . . . enter into the joy of your Master” – Matthew 25:21

But if you have some room in your life to work for God, or to do so even more, I invite you to consider several possibilities here at Cedar Street right now. . ..

William Higgins

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Christian Fellowship

May 5, 2013 by William Higgins

As we approach our baptism and recovenanting service on May 19th I would like to share the next two Sundays on two particular parts of our church covenant, that deal with two important aspects of our Christian lives. And today we begin with a focus on Christian fellowship.

Let’s take a look at the section of our church covenant that we are dealing with today: “We commit to love each other – to be gentle, kind, compassionate, honest and forgiving with each other; to humbly serve, encourage, teach and pray for each other; to meet together regularly”

I have three points this morning on these themes and more broadly on the topic of Christian fellowship.

1. We are related to one another in the Lord

In fact, we are a new family. Let’s listen to this story from Mark 3:31-35. “31And his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him. 32And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, ‘Your mother and your brothers are outside, seeking you.’ 33And he answered them, ‘Who are my mother and my brothers?’ 34And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers! 35For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.’”

Jesus makes the point that he and his disciples form a new family, that is different than a natural family. It is a family made up of those who believe in him and do God’s will as he teaches this.

And although Scripture teaches us that we have clear obligations to our natural family and hopefully we have very close connections to them, as we see here, ultimately our faith family is more important than our natural family.

More specifically, Jesus says in Matthew 23:8 – “ . . . you are all brothers and sisters.” The word “brothers” as it is used in the New Testament, most often refers to both men and women, so we can say here “brothers and sisters.”

So in this family we are all brothers and sisters, and Jesus is the eldest brother (Romans 8:29) and God is our Father (Matthew 23:9). We are part of a huge family that extends throughout the world. And then we are a part of an extended family of believers here at Cedar Street. And every Sunday that we gather its like a family reunion.

Now, it is interesting to me that when Jesus speaks of the kind of relationship we have with one another, he highlights this idea of being siblings and not, for instance, being friends. And that’s because the relationship of siblings is more open. It is not based on similarities in interests, and personalities that click; it is based on a common relationship to Jesus and the Father.

Also, the relationship of siblings is more durable . Friends can disagree and not be friends anymore, but siblings are always siblings, at least on some level.

So we are related to one another as siblings, and this is the basis of our fellowship with one another, but –

2. How should we relate to one another as brothers and sisters in the Lord?

Well, just as brothers and sisters (in a good, healthy family) watch out for one another, take care of one another, help each other out, so we are to do the same as brothers and sisters in the Lord.

Let me give you a number of examples from the New Testament that fill this out in terms of our faith family.

We are to:

  • “love one another” – John 15:12. And Jesus give himself as the example here of what love means. We are to love as he loved.
  • “love one another with brotherly affection” – Romans 12:10
  • “serve one another through love” – Galatians 5:13
  • “seek to do good to one another” – 1 Thessalonians 5:15
  • “lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters” – 1 John 3:16, sacrificing for each other’s well-being.
  • “be kind to one another” – Ephesians 4:32
  • “rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep” – Romans 12:15, as we walk with each other through life’s good times and hard times
  • “pray for one another” – James 5:16
  • “bear one another’s burdens” – Galatians 6:2, that is, when another is struggling or weak
  • “show hospitality to one another” – 1 Peter 4:9
  • “clothe (ourselves) . . . with humility toward one another” – 1 Peter 5:5
  • “outdo one another in showing honor” to each other – Romans 12:10
  • “submit to one another” – Ephesians 5:21
  • “bear with one another in love” – Ephesians 4:2
  • “forgive each other” – Colossians 3:13
  • “be at peace with one another” – Mark 9:50
  • “teach and admonish one another in all wisdom” – Colossians 3:16
  • “encourage one another, and build one another up” – 1 Thessalonians 5:11
  • “exhort one another” the verse says, “every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” – Hebrews 3:13
  • “stir one another up to love and good deeds” – Hebrews 10:24
  • “serve one another” with the spiritual gifts that God has given us – 1 Peter 4:10

So this is a portrait of what our relationships are to look like, as we relate to one another as brothers and sisters in the Lord; as we share together in Christian fellowship.

3. We need to spend time together

And that’s because, as in any example you want to talk about, relationships require time. Without investing time in each other’s lives, you can’t receive the love and support you need to help you along in your Christian life. And just as importantly you can’t give to others the love and support they need.

Hebrews 10:24-25 makes this point. “24And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” In the middle of saying “stir one another up” and “encourage one another” the writer says, don’t neglect to meet together. We have to be together to do these kinds of things.

Also in the book of Acts we see a thriving New Testament church, which is a model for us. And they certainly spent time together. Acts 2:42 says, “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” They were together doing all these things. Acts 2:46 goes on to say, “And day by day, [they were] attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes . . .”

My desire for our church is that we have a deep and caring community here. Churches can have varying levels of fellowship, and what I want for us is that we continue to grow in this area more and more.

But I have two concerns. The first concern is that the Sunday morning service is not enough. I guess different ones of you will have to make your own evaluations. But certainly if the Sunday service isn’t enough, we do have some other options:

  • There is Sunday school, but this is usually more study focused.
  • We have youth groups for the youth.
  • We have share groups – and I wish that more would or could be a part of these. I would be happy to start a new one if there is interest. There is also the idea of having one during the Sunday school hour.
  • We can invite each over to our houses more and more.
  • We also have a “fun and fellowship team” to plan events for our Christian fellowship, but currently no one is on it! So we need some help here.

Just briefly, my second concern is that we set aside the time needed to invest in each other’s lives. And this is a challenge with our busy lives of overscheduling and constant stress. We need to work on this. Such busyness not only keeps us away from each other and therefore weakens our relationship with each other, it also distracts us from giving proper time to our relationship with God.

So, let’s remember who we are. We are brothers and sisters in the Lord. And let’s live this out in how we relate to one another. And let’s create the space and time we need to be able to be true brothers and sisters in the Lord together.

William Higgins

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Forgiving Others. Matthew 18:23-35

April 28, 2013 by William Higgins

Last week we talked a bit about the topic of forgiving others from Mark 11:25 and how this affects our prayers getting answered. I want to pick up this theme of forgiveness today and remind each of us of this important teaching from Jesus. And I want us to do this by focusing on the parable of the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18:23-25.

We will go through this passage in two different ways. First by means of an impromptu skit . . ..

Second, let’s go through this passage adding in some historical and cultural background to help us understand it.

Matthew 18:23-35

First of all, this is a parable of Jesus that tells us about how the kingdom of God works.

And also, all through it, economic terms are used to talk about how sin and forgiveness work. This was fairly common. Sin is seen as a debt that we owe to God that we cannot pay (Matthew 6:12). And also it can be a debt that we owe others – how we should have treated them but didn’t. Forgiveness, then, is to release someone’s debt, whether it be God or us releasing the debt.

“23Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. 24When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents.”

The servant here works for the king in his royal court. And he owes the king a great deal of money. There are different ways to estimate this, but using our minimum wage, by my calculations he owed 3 billion 480 million dollars. [A denarius equals one day’s wage, which at minimum wage is $58 for an eight hour day. One talent equaled 6000 denarii, which then equals $340,000. Ten thousand talents then equals $3,480,000,000.]

This was an astronomical amount. For instance, all of the province of Judea only paid 600 talents in taxes for a whole year to Rome. But he owes 10,000 talents. Today we might say it like this – he owed a gazillion dollars.

“25And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made.”

Being sold into slavery because of unpaid debt certainly happened in the ancient world. In this case his whole family and all his belongings were to be sold – although this would not even begin to touch the debt that he owed his master.

“26So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ 27And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt.”

He calls out for mercy, somehow thinking that he can pay off his debt. And then surprisingly, the king has pity on him. He doesn’t even set up a payment plan, he wipes out the debt entirely. He is completely forgiven.

“28But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ 29So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ 30He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt.”

A hundred denarii would be $5,800 [A hundred days wages at $58 a day]. So the amount here is mind bogglingly lower than what he had owed his king.

When his fellow servant pleaded for patience, like he had, he completely disregards it. The fellow servant is sent to a debtor’s prison, where he would stay until he came up with the money, or his friends or family paid up for him.

“31When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. 32Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 33And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ 34And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt.”

The king’s servant is found out. He is rebuked by the king. His former debt is reinstated. And he is put in jail.

The word for jailers is actually “torturers.” The idea is that he will be tortured until he comes up with the money. Maybe he has some hidden somewhere.

But since his debt is insanely large, and since he would now have no friends to help him given his behavior, he will be in jail forever.

Jesus then bring home the point of the parable – “35So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

God has forgiven us, and so we are to forgive others, Jesus says, “from your heart.” That is, not just outwardly, pretending or smoothing things over, but truly releasing their debt to us.

And if we don’t do this, God will treat us like the king treated the servant he had previously forgiven, which is a clear warning to us.

Let me highlight now –

Three key points

– from this passage, and from the teaching of Jesus on this topic in general. 1. We are to forgive those who sin against us.

  • Matthew 18:35 – “forgive from the heart”
  • Luke 17:3 – “forgive”
  • Luke 17:4 – “forgive”
  • Luke 6:37 – “forgive”
  • Mark 11:25 – “forgive”
  • Matthew 6:12; Luke 11:4 – in the context of the Lord’s prayer, we acknowledge that “we have forgiven our debtors.”

If someone comes to us in true repentance and asks (here begs) for mercy, Jesus tells us to forgive. Don’t hold their debt over them. Don’t hold their sin against them so that you seek to punish them. Don’t hold on to bitterness and resentment.

2. Why should we forgive? It is, after all, often very difficult to forgive. We are not just talking about trivial things here. This has to do with people who truly mistreat and wound us, and those we love.

This causes pain and anger, and we naturally want justice. So we have to work to give this pain and anger over to God so that we can find love and a heart of mercy for the one who has done wrong.

This is not easy, or necessarily a one-time event. It is often a process. And certainly the relationship will need time to heal and to rebuild trust, especially if the wound is severe.

When Jesus presented his teaching on forgiveness in Luke 17 the disciples responded by saying “increase our faith,” because they thought that this was impossible to do.

So with all this, why should we forgive? The answer is that if you don’t, you will not be forgiven. This is what Matthew 18 teaches. In fact, the servant’s former debt was reinstated in full.

  • Luke 6:37 says, “forgive, and you will be forgiven.” The reverse being clear that if you don’t, if you condemn, you will be condemned.
  • Mark 11:25 tells us that we must forgive, “so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”
  • Matthew 6:14-15 says, “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

And when our sins are not forgiven this destroys our relationship with God. Just as with the servant in our story in relation to his king.

3. Why won’t God forgive us, if we don’t forgive? Certainly what the servant did was wrong. This is why when the others heard about it, they were “distressed.” And this is why the king called him “wicked” in v. 32

It was certainly self-centered. He wanted mercy for himself because that benefited him. And he wanted justice for his fellow servant  because that benefited him. He was always guided by his self-interest. 

And he certainly didn’t understand that one who has been forgiven has no ground to stand on to ask for justice. To receive grace is to acknowledge that you yourself can’t live up to the standard of justice. And so to demand it for others is to undercut the very grace that makes your life possible.

But at the core we are bumping into a fundamental principle of the kingdom of God. Our relationship with God is always interconnected with our relationships with others. They affect one another back and forth.

 •  So when God forgives us we are to forgive others. And if we do this, God will continue to forgive us. Our relationship with God affects our relationship with others. As the king tells the servant in v. 33, “should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?” And as Jesus said in Luke 6:36 – “Be merciful even as your heavenly Father is merciful.”

 •  But if we treat others with justice, then this is how God will treat us. As Jesus said in Luke 6:38, measure for measure. The measure you give to others is the measure you will get from God. Our relationship with others affects our relationship with God. If you give mercy to others, you will get mercy from God. If you give justice to others, you will get justice from God – and your sins will be held against you.

So let’s not be like the unforgiving servant. But rather let us be merciful to others, just as we have received mercy from God.

William Higgins 

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Jesus’ new temple will be a house of prayer. Mark 11:22-25

April 21, 2013 by William Higgins

For the last two weeks we have been in Mark 11 working our way toward vs. 22-25. Here’s a quick review:

  • With his temple demonstration, where he brought everything to a halt, Jesus symbolically indicated that the temple will cease to operate.
  • With his cursing of the fig tree, which then died, Jesus symbolically indicated that the temple will be judged and destroyed.

Also we saw how Jesus is building another temple, made without hands. And although the old one was condemned for not being a house of prayer, this new one, which includes all who are connected to Jesus – is to be a true house of prayer.

22 And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. 23 Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 25 And whenever you stand praying,forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”

 Connections between our verses and the fig tree story

First of all, the disciples were greatly impressed that the fig tree had withered. Wow, Jesus! How did you make the fig tree die? How is that even possible? And so  1. Jesus teaches them how to exercise similar power through faith and prayer. (In Matthew’s version this is even more clear.)

But on another level this teaching on prayer has to do with the underlying question, 2. If the temple God’s house of prayer is destroyed as is pictured by the dead fig tree . . . how can we pray? This is hard for us to get. But the temple was the place where God heard their prayers.

And prayers that were “in” or “toward” the temple were thought to be especially effective. It was seen as the gateway to heaven; the place where heaven and earth met so that you had access to God’s throne here on earth (Sharyn E. Dowd).

As the Lord said about the temple in 2 Chronicles 7:15, “Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place.” (Also Jonah 2:7; Psalm 28:2; 2 Samuel 22:7) And this is what Solomon prayed for, when he dedicated the temple in 1 Kings 8:30. He said to God, “And listen to the plea . . . of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. And listen in heaven your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.”

  • So the temple was a place where prayers would be heard and answered, even really difficult prayers, as the examples that Solomon gives after this verse indicate.
  • And it is a place where God would hear their confession and forgive their sins, so that their prayers could be heard and answered.

And notice that Jesus talks about these two things in our verses – effective prayer and forgiveness. So Jesus is teaching his disciples to be the new temple, the new house of prayer.

Finally, the kind of prayers that are being talked about in our verses is made clear by the fig tree episode. This is not talking about prayers for our own personal needs or wants. 3. These are prayers in the service of doing God’s kingdom work. Jesus’ cursing of the fig tree wasn’t about him. It was a part of his prophetic ministry. And when Jesus teaches his disciples how to do this, it’s not for their personal needs. It’s for the sake of their calling to represent God and to do God’s work.

[This prayer teaching also shows up in John, where this is made clear in how Jesus says it. For instance in John 15:16 Jesus says, “whatever you ask the Father in my name, he [will] give it to you.” In my name means, in your role representing me and doing the work of the kingdom. See also John 14:13-14; John 15:7; John 16:23-24.]

Alright, let’s look now at –

Mark 11:22-25

Jesus teaches us in these verses two conditions for effective prayer. The first is faith. As he says, “Have faith in God.”

He is saying to the disciples, if you want to do something that you think is impossible, like with this fig tree, you need faith in God, that is, faith that God can do the impossible (Mark 9:23; 10:27).

But also, at a deeper level he’s saying, even with the temple gone, don’t despair, but have faith in God. As he goes on to say, faith is how your prayers will be answered without the temple.

Next comes two parallel statements (see the handout). We will focus on one at a time. “23Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him.”

[This is an example of an authoritative prayer command, like what Jesus did with the fig tree. It is a kind of prayer, but instead of asking and then waiting, you just say what God wants to happen and it happens.]

“Truly, I say to you” indicates that this is a really important statement. 

The phrase, “Whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea’” is a proverb that has to do with “the impossible.” Jesus uses it, or one like it in several places. [Matthew 17:20, Matthew 21:21-22, Luke17:6 and also 1 Corinthians 13:2.] It is, after all, impossible to speak to a mountain and have it move from one place to another. Only God can do something like this.

[It is possible that this is an additional reference to the temple, with “this mountain” referring to the temple mount being judged by being thrown into the sea, which represents evil, chaos, and also the nations, or the Gentiles.]

We also see in this verse a further elaboration on what  “faith in God” is about. It means:

  • don’t doubt in your heart; don’t be of two minds, “yes, God can do it; no, God can’t do it.” As James says, don’t be like “a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind” (1:6) going  back and forth.
  • rather, believe that it will come to pass. Be fully convinced that God can do what he says he can do, as Paul says in Romans 4:21.

The promise is, if you have faith, “it will be done for” you. Like with the fig tree, even if it is something that seems impossible, if you have faith, it will be done for you.

Next comes the parallel to v. 23. “24Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”

Unfortunately this verse is often misunderstood. The first issue has to do with the word, “whatever.” Does this mean that God will give me whatever I want??? Some teachers have taken this and run with it, for sure.

But we know from other scriptures that God doesn’t give us whatever we want (1 John 5:14-15; James 4:3). Prayer is subject to God’s will. [This is evident in Mark as well. For, not too long before our story, in 10:35 James and John ask Jesus, “we want you to do whatever we ask of you.” But Jesus can’t grant their request to be exalted, because this is subject to God’s will – v. 40. Also, in the garden of Gethsemane, even though Jesus notes that all things are possible for God, when he asks for another way than the cross, he submits his request to God’s will, “yet not what I will, but what you will” – Mark 14:36.]

Otherwise we are dealing, not with prayer, but with magic – where if I can talk myself into thinking that my request will happen, my faith compels God to give me whatever I want. 

And we have already seen that in context these are prayers in the service of representing God and doing his kingdom work, not asking for our own desires.

The meaning of “whatever” is not whatever I want. It is even what seems impossible. In other words, on a scale of things that seem really easy to ask for, and things that seem impossible, like the fig tree – even the latter. Even something impossible, like moving a mountain, which is the parallel statement to “whatever” in v. 23. Even something really hard, despite that the temple will be gone, the place to get really difficult requests answered.

It means even the really difficult requests  we pray for as we represent God and do his kingdom work on this earth.

So the lesson is the same as in v. 23. In the course of doing God’ work, whatever God’s will is for us to do, even if it’s something that seems impossible, if you have faith, it will be yours.

One other note on this verse. The phrase, “believe that you have received it” can be misunderstood. The past tense here is sometimes taken to mean that God has already answered the prayer, but there is no evidence for it. So that there is a split between reality and what we say by faith.

Let’s use Abraham and Sarah as an example. They were promised a child. But their faith didn’t manifest itself by saying that Sarah was pregnant when she wasn’t. They didn’t try to speak it into existence – “we claim that she is pregnant by faith.” No they knew when she wasn’t pregnant and when she was. They were in touch with reality.

No, the past tense here doesn’t mean that it is already a reality, it means that your request has been heard and granted – even before it is a reality. It is what’s called a “prophetic perfect tense,” where you are so certain of a future event, that you can speak of it in the past tense. It hasn’t happened yet, but it will! And Abraham was “fully convinced” that God would one day answer (Romans 4:21) (Notice also that the phrase, “it will be yours” is in the future tense. Also notice that Matthew’s parallel, “you will receive” is in the future not the past tense – 21:22.)

Well, not only are the prayers of this new house of prayer conditioned by faith, they are also conditioned by forgiveness.

“25And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”

[Jesus speaks of standing while praying because this was the most common posture for prayer in Judaism at this time.]

Scripture teaches that sin disrupts and destroys our relationship with God, which blocks our prayers from being heard. For instance Isaiah 59:1-2 says, “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.”

And so we need to repent and confess our sins if we want God to hear us and answer us. [In I Kings 8:30ff a central part of God answering prayer is that God forgives our sins.]

But, and this is Jesus’ point, if we don’t give others the same grace and forgiveness that God has given to us, we will no longer receive grace and forgiveness in our lives. [Jesus also talks about this in the Lord’s prayer, Matthew 6:14-15 and Matthew 18:23-35]. Thus our sin will block our ability to have our prayers heard.

So if we want our prayers answered, we have to let go of our resentments, bitterness and anger. 

Let me end with –

An example

We have learned in this passage that when as an individual or as a church we are doing the work God has called us to do, (whether just generally or something that he specifically tells to do), even if it seems impossible to us, like with the fig tree, like moving a mountain – if we have faith and we forgive others God will hear our prayer and answer us. It is assured.

So I want to encourage us to put this into practice. Let’s pray that God will powerfully transform lives here with the gospel. This is God’s will. This is God’s kingdom work. This is our call.

God wants to work through us to bring about his will. This is how prayer works. We are not to be passive and resigned, but rather active allowing God to work through us to bring about God’s will.

And so let’s pray for this with bold faith. Do you think that God can do this? Is it possible? Do you think that he can do more of this through us – reaching out into the lives of unbelievers? And those that have real problems? Can God transform them? Can he use us to do this?

And let’s pray for this as we extend grace and forgiveness to others. And God will do it.

William Higgins 

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Outline of Mark 11:22-25

April 20, 2013 by William Higgins

1. Faith section: vs. 22-23

Have faith in God

Introduction: Truly I tell you

Request: whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea’

Faith: and does not waver in his heart, but believes that what he says is coming to pass

Result: it will be done for him.

Introduction: So, I tell you

Request: whatever you ask for in prayer

Faith: believe that you have received it

Result: and it will be yours

2. Forgiveness section: v. 25

Prayer: Whenever you stand praying,

Condition: forgive, if you have anything against anyone

Result: so that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses

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The end of the old temple, the beginning of the new. Mark 11:12-14; 20-21; etc

April 14, 2013 by William Higgins

We are back in Mark 11 today looking at how Jesus symbolically indicates that the temple in Jerusalem is to be destroyed. And we are especially interested in how this helps us to understand Jesus’ very important teaching on faith and prayer in Mark 11:22-25, which will be our focus next week.

Last time we saw that Jesus’ temple demonstration in Mark 11:15-19, which brought everything to a halt in the court of Gentiles, foreshadows that it all will stop soon because it will be judged and destroyed. This brings us to Jesus’ second symbolic indication that the temple will be destroyed –

The cursing of the fig tree

This is the last miracle recorded in Mark, and it is the only destructive miracle in all of the gospels.

“12On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. 13And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. 14And he said to it, ‘May no one ever eat fruit from you again.’ And his disciples heard it.”

Jesus is hungry and he sees a fig tree. So he goes to see if it has something to eat. But it doesn’t, so he curses it. But then Mark tells us that this was not the season for figs. So . . . what’s going on here? Is Jesus unnecessarily angry? Surely he knows when fig trees have fruit!

Two things help us to understand this story. First, Jesus was most likely looking for the early, immature fruit that, while not necessarily tasty, could be eaten. Fig trees first developed these in the Spring, which is the time frame of our story, and then they produced the leaves. And then the fruit matured in the Summer.

So the tree had leaves. This is emphasized in the story by mentioning it twice. It was advertising, as it were, that it had something to give, which would mature later into something really good. But it had nothing. It was a barren tree.

When Mark says, “it was not the season for figs” he most likely means for ripe figs, perhaps anticipating confusion by some readers (although causing confusion for others).

A second thing we need to understand this story is that in the Old Testament the fig tree was used as a symbol for Israel (e.g. Hosea 9:4). And the lack of fruit on a fig tree means a lack of obedience on the part of Israel and coming judgment. For instance, when Jeremiah uses the phrase, there are “no figs on the fig tree,” it indicates Israel’s disobedience and coming judgment (8:13). When Micah says that there was “no first-ripe fig that my soul desires,” he is saying that there were no longer any righteous ones in Israel (7:1). Jesus, himself, also equates a lack of fruit on a fig tree with a lack of repentance among the people of his day in Luke 13:6-9.

In this light, Jesus is symbolically looking for fruit from Israel, even immature fruit, some sign that there is obedience to God, some acceptance of his Messiah. But he finds none, and therefore judgment is coming. (This may well be symbolically enacting what had just taken place when Jesus entered Jerusalem and then went to the temple and looked around and left. They paid no attention to him or that their Messiah had come.) And, as we will see in just a minute, specifically the temple will be destroyed.

The result of Jesus’ words of judgment is quite amazing. “20As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. 21And Peter remembered and said to him, ‘Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.’” The tree is completely dead, “withered away to its roots.” And Peter and the rest are amazed.

So for those who are in the know, this is a picture of what is to come on Israel/the temple. As Jesus said when he moved from symbolic action to plain speech in Mark 13:2. Talking about the temple he said, “There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” And this is, exactly what happened 40 years later when the temple was destroyed.

The fig tree as the temple

Now perhaps you have noticed that in Matthew 21 things happen a little differently: First come the temple story, and then we have the fig tree story. But in Mark 11, as we have seen, the chronology is different:

  1. Fig tree story pt. one
  2. Temple story
  3. Fig tree story pt. two

The temple story is put right in the middle of the fig tree story.

This was a common literary technique in the ancient world [intercalation]. Mark does this on a number of occasions. He rearranges things to make a point. [This reminds us that just as ancient biographers held the freedom to work with what their subjects said and to arrange their actions non-chronologically in presenting their portraits, so did the gospel writers.]

The idea is that we are to read these two stories in relation to one another. They interpret one another. In terms of Jesus’ temple demonstration, read in the light of the fig tree story, the idea is that Jesus found no fruit in the temple and so it will be judged (he is not trying to cleanse or reform it). In terms of the fig tree story, read in light of the temple demonstration, the tree is specifically connected to Israel’s temple. Mark is helping us out here; giving us a heads up.

The end of the old temple

So now we have two prophetic, symbolic pictures of the end of the Jerusalem temple:

  • It will be destroyed, like the fig tree withered away to its roots
  • It will cease to function, like when Jesus brought the sacrifices, temple tax and all activity to a halt in a section of the court of the Gentiles.

But this isn’t the end of the story, because –

Jesus is building a new temple

There are a number of indications of this in the New Testament. [Read typologically both 2 Samuel 7:12-13 and Zechariah 6:12-13 can be seen to indicate that the Messiah, David’s son will build a temple]

First of all, in Mark 14:58 some testified at his trial, “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another, not made with hands.’” Mark calls this false testimony because they are taking his words as a literal threat that Jesus would humanly destroy the Jerusalem temple. (See also Mark 15:29). But in this saying, he is talking about God destroying the temple, and then his own resurrection as the beginning of a new temple. “I will build another, not made with hands.”

This parallels John 2:19-20 where John tells his story of Jesus’ temple demonstration. In v. 19 Jesus says, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” In v. 20 John clarifies that, “He was speaking about the temple of his body,” that is, his body being raised from the dead. And as Paul so often says, we are a part of the body of Christ, which is this new temple (1 Corinthians 12:27).

Also, in Mark 12 Jesus tells the parable of the tenets, where he teaches that he will be rejected. But then he says, quoting Psalm 118:22, “the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone/chief stone” – v. 10. What is this stone a part of? He is talking to the priests and is calling them builders. The implication is that this stone is a part of a new temple.

Psalm 118:22 is certainly taken this way by Paul and Peter. Ephesians 2:19-22 says, “19but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”

And 1 Peter 2:4-5 says, “4As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” He goes on to quote Psalm 118:22 more fully.

Both of these passages refer to Psalm 118:22 and then use temple language, reflecting Jesus’ use of this text in Mark 12. Jesus is the chief stone in a new temple building.

And we are God’s temple, if we are joined to Jesus, the chief stone. As Paul asks the Corinthian church in 1 Corinthians 3:16, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple . . . ?” And as he states in 2 Corinthians 6:16, “we are the temple of the living God.”

And although the old temple failed, as Jesus’ new temple –

We are to be “a house of prayer”

This is the challenge for us today. We need to learn to live into this calling and identity. This is who we are and this is how we are to be as the church – a place where all can come and offer up acceptable and powerful worship and prayer to God. The old temple  is gone, but we have been made into a new one in Jesus.

And the fact that we are to be “a house of prayer” is one reason why Jesus goes on in Mark 11:22-25 to talk about faith and prayer, which we will look at next week. I would like to end today by reading this passage:

“22Have faith in God. 23Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. 24Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 25And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”

I invite you to ponder this passage for next week.

William Higgins 

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