The Posture of Faith

Welcome:

“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.” (Galatians 1:3–5, ESV)

Announcements:

Youth campout - Nov 15-16

†CALL TO WORSHIP based on Psalm 130:5-7 Pastor Austin Prince

Minister: I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope.

Congregation: My soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning.

Minister: People of God, hope in the Lord! There is no darkness in him.

Congregation: There is no darkness with you, O Lord. For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is plenteous redemption.

Minister: Glory to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.

Congregation: Let us worship God!

†PRAYER OF ADORATION AND INVOCATION

O Lord our God, who art worthy to be praised and to be had in reverence of all those who are before you; Grant unto us, as we come to you in worship, the gift of thy Holy Spirit, that being cleansed and sanctified we may serve you with gladness, and find our joy in worshipping thy glory.

†OPENING PSALM OF PRAISE #28

“To You, O Lord, I Cry ”

†CONFESSION OF SIN & ASSURANCE OF PARDON

based on Psalm 51; Isaiah 44:22

“Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the Lord, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.” (Jeremiah 2:12–13, ESV)

Minister: Let us confess our sins before God and one another:

Congregation: Merciful God, you pardon all who truly repent and turn to you. We humbly confess our sins and ask your mercy. We have not loved you with a pure heart, nor have we loved our neighbors as ourselves. We have not done justice, loved kindness, or walked humbly with you, our God.

Have mercy on us, O God, in your loving kindness. In your great compassion, cleanse us from our sin. Create in us clean hearts, and renew right spirits within us. Do not cast us from your presence, or take your Holy Spirit from us. Restore to us the joy of your salvation. Sustain us with your bountiful Spirit, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Minister: Hear the merciful response of a loving God: My people will not be forgotten by me. I have swept away your transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like mist. Now return to me, for I have redeemed you. Know that your sins are forgiven. Be at peace.

Congregation: God is merciful, offering forgiveness to all who confess their sin in faith. We are forgiven. I am forgiven. Thanks be to God! Amen.

CONTINUAL READING OF SCRIPTURE James 5:1-12

Steven Hoffer, Elder

THE OFFERING OF TITHES AND OUR GIFTS

CONGREGATIONAL PRAYERS

THE LORD’S PRAYER

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

†HYMN OF PREPARATION #202

“Here, O My Lord, I See Thee Face to Face”

SERMON Habakkuk 3:16-19 // The Posture of Faith

PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION

Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.

TEXT HABAKKUK 3:16-19

Habakkuk 3:16–19 ESV

16 I hear, and my body trembles; my lips quiver at the sound; rottenness enters into my bones; my legs tremble beneath me. Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon people who invade us. 17 Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, 18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. 19 God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places. To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments.

AFTER SCRIPTURE

The ordinances of the Lord are sure, and altogether righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold.

INTRO

In this book we have learned that the righteous live by faith, but what does living by faith actually look like?

As a concept, faith is quite simple — It means that we trust. We trust God. We trust His word. We find Him to be, time and again, trustworthy. That trust is accompanied by obedience, and that is a life of faith.

As an illustration, I like to think about faith like placing my weight on something that will hold me. There are times when you take the next step timidly, hoping that you can slowly transfer your weight and test that the next step will hold. There are times when you must take the next step in the dark, hoping that there will be a step that will hold. And there are times when walking with the lord looks like leaping with your eyes closed. But living by faith is to keep walking, tasting and seeing that God is good, and that he makes our path a steady path. He’s the Good Shepherd that leads us to good pastures and still waters, even if the path is through the valley of the shadow of death. He

Faith may be simple, but what confuses us at times is that faith often doesn’t feel tangible or very strong. We feel that it lives in the realm of the nebulous, out there beyond our experience of stability. Our faith (trust) can feel slippery, fluctuating with our emotions and the passing of time.

Again, faith may be a simple concept, but it can be discouraging that we’re not quite sure if we are doing it right.

In this last section of Habakkuk, we see the prophet demonstrating a range of differing postures that show how a genuine faith isn’t a one-dimensional, cookie-cutter response. Real faith has a variety of faithful responses. So, the righteous are to live by faith, but what does that faith look like? I’m thankful that Habakkuk shows us an honest range.

This morning we will look at three postures of faith:

A faith that looks down

A faith that looks out

A faith that looks up

Let’s look at the first posture. And that will take us back to verse 16.

A Faith That Looks Down — Humbled, Not Hopeless

“I hear, and my body trembles; my lips quiver at the sound; rottenness enters into my bones; my legs tremble beneath me. Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon people who invade us.” (Habakkuk 3:16, ESV)

I think that for a lot of people, when they think of faith or religion, they see something like this. There will be terrible and difficult trials that will come our way, and even if God is good and can use them for good, faith simply means that you endure through them quietly with patience. When ushers this call for faith, what they hear is Him saying something like stop asking so many questions or stop complaining and just believe. Faith, in this estimate, is mere grit. It’s passive — “letting go and letting God”. But is that what faith means? Is that what this text is leading us to?

Looking at Habakkuk’s posture, he is aware that inescapable trial is coming for him and he is undone by it. But the posture of his faith isn’t resolute hopelessness, it’s resolute humility. Faith is not incompatible with feeling deeply and honestly. It need not be stoic or passive. Genuine faith can sometimes look down, bent over and burdened by the heavy weight of life, yet still be resolved to trust. Even if it’s with only a faith the size of a mustard seed, it can say, “nevertheless, your will be done”.

If our definition of faith is synonomous with ease and happiness, what are we to make of the times when we are surrounded by death, or loss, or corruption, or suffering? Faith demands trust, not denial. Not an act or facade.

In verse 16, Habakkuk demonstrates a faith is humble, not hopeless.

Though He quivers under the weight, he has recalled the works of the Lord and the character of the Lord and called upon God to revive His work, to keep going with whatever seems right to Him, even if it seems confusing and difficult for Habakkuk.

We, too, are promised the coming of trials. Jesus said as much in John 15:20 and John 16:33. Acts 14:22 says that tells us that “through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22, ESV). Because God is refining us and actively loving us like he was Habakkuk, He will lead us through many tribulations as we enter the Kingdom of God. Habakkuk shows us that it is normal to feel nervousness about it. His body trembles, his lips quiver, he feels sick knowing what might come his way, but faith isn’t just called to button it up into a posture of austere religious resolve.

His faith is looking more at the One who is bringing the trial than looking at the trial itself. Faith doesn’t stare at the trial and choose panic, that’s faithlessness. Faith doesn’t close its eyes and merely accept what might be coming, that’s fatalism. Faith opens its eyes and sees the one that brings the trial. And though the sight may be scary, faith waits patiently — that’s humility.

This posture is epitomized by Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane — He is aware of the trial that is coming upon Him and is not sinning or lacking in faith as he sweats drops of blood and asks that the cup is removed from him. Job or Habakkuk or Moses aren’t always lacking in faith because of their brokenness under the burdens of life. Habakkuk reminds us that genuine faith can sometimes look down, yet it lives by a humble faith, not a hopeless one.

What does faith look like and sound like when trials do come? Here’s what Habakkuk says, from vv.17-18. Our second posture of faith:

A Faith That Looks Out — Sorrowful, Yet Always Rejoicing

“Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.” (Habakkuk 3:17–18, ESV)

We said that faith can look down, as it were, and see hope even through the reality of trial. Here we see that faith also looks out. It looks down-range and sees what is coming and sees the glory through the difficulty.

In this way, faith is realistic about life, yet it is optimistic about God’s glory.

It looks beyond the trial and sees that the trial is worth the reward.

We hear this type of faith in wedding vows. They are solemn — to have and to hold through trials of sickness and health, for richer or poorer, it is all accepted joyfully as it sees the reward through the difficulty.

We see this with athletic ambitions. You see the race ahead or the mountain ahead and it’s heavy, but you see the glory and you press on.

Paul’s perspective on this posture of faith sounds like this:

“Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:8, ESV).

You look out and see the glory on the other side.

So, when things like lust are burning in your flesh and all you can see is to lean on your own understanding of things, the eye of faith looks beyond the burning and beyond the raging and sees the promises of God. It see the fruit that faith produces. It sees that the immediate relief of indulging is a decision of fear — a decision to eat poison because it is the meal that is immediate. The eye of faith sees victory over a lie. It sees satisfaction and stability and hope. It trusts that God’s ways, though they seem to conflict with every impulse of the flesh at times, are the right ways and it throws its weight on those promises. And the life of faith proves that God will hold. He proves this over and over and over again. This is why sharing our testimonies of God’s faithfulness are so important.

When the accuser attacks us, faith looks out through the lie. It sees God’s word of who we are beyond the insecurity, doubts, and accusations. Like Peter saying afloat on the water as he Looks away from the sea and into the eyes of God, so faith keeps us buoyant when fear will sink us.

When tragedy strikes, faith doesn’t just look at the trial but looks through it, seeing hope and life and glory on the other side, no matter the outcome.

In the long trials of faith, things like loneliness, faith sees that God’s mercies are new with every morning.

God is bringing us, though sometimes through difficult paths, to Himself and to glory.

Notice quickly in our verses that Habakkuk describes the harvest being gone. The Babylonians here are seen to be doing what armies do — they ravaged the land. There are no essentials and there are no luxuries; there is no harvest. Or so it seems.

Habakkuk says, “though there be no fruit on the vine, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will take joy in the God of my salvation”.

The harvest turns out to be Habakkuk. God cared for growing Habakkuk more than he was growing figs. Faith has the eyes to look out and see this. We can be sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.

“For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:17–18, ESV)

A Faith That Looks Up — Treading On The High Places

“God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places. To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments.” (Habakkuk 3:19, ESV)

Here we see a faith that rejoices in the strength of the Lord. This is perhaps what we think of when we think of what genuine faith looks like, an easy and confident trust. It is a wonderful aspect of it, but I hope that we have seen that it is a part of what living by faith will look like.

Habakkuk’s posture is that of one looking up, as it were, to fix His eyes on the Lord. Here, he worships.

It’s not clear in the English, but when you read through Habakkuk’s prayer in Hebrew, the names of God change a bit. You can see in your text that Habakkuk addresses God as God, the LORD, or God, The Lord. He is working through the names of God here. From Elohim, to YHWH, to YHWH Adonai. From God the creator, to YHWH the covenant-making and covenant-keeping God, to YHWH Adonai—“God is the Lord”.

And the word Lord is what He is rejoicing in. God is my Lord. Which is to say, “I am under His yoke, under His decisions and control. But I am also under His care, and here I am safe. He is my strength. All of life may rage, but I am under the care of God — He is my Lord”. This is a faith that is looking up, looking more at the one who is bringing the trial than at the trials themselves. God is good and faithful. Christ has been faithful.

“you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.” (Colossians 2:13–15, ESV)

In all things, He becomes our strength.

Habakkuk says that he makes his feet like the deer’s.

Have you ever seen mountain deer or mountain goats? They sort of look like they are out of place. Like they should be in a meadow, not on the side of a cliff. But they run around and even jump and seem to be quite at home there. That is like us. The world sees the mountain as chaos and so they are constantly searching for meadows. But the Christian lives by faith, knowing that the Good Shepherd leads to still waters sometimes through the valley or across the cliff face. But God has made us able to live there, to stand securely, even in the most difficult terrain.

Faith looks up and sees the character and consistency of God and it responds in gratitude. Faith recalls the times when it wasn’t sure that it could stand, but God held them fast. Faith recalls how God has equipped us for the task when we would have never believed that we could be successful or faithful. Faith tells great stories.

Conclusion

I’m grateful that Habakkuk’s call to live by faith is honest enough to look down and weep, practical enough to look out and teach, and joyful enough to look up and worship. It’s a picture of a real life and a real hope. The righteous are still those who may end up in exile, a hospital bed, alone, imprisoned, with no fruit on the vine. They may have crops in the barn and a full and easy life, and they may walk on the cliffside, but they aren’t destroyed, they live by their faith. The call from God and the expectation from God is that you trust Him. He is trustworthy, come and stand secure in Him. Come and live by faith.

†HYMN OF RESPONSE #532

“Be Still My Soul”

THE MINISTRY OF THE LORD’S SUPPER

Minister: Lift up your hearts!

Congregation: We lift them up to the Lord.

Minister: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

Congregation: It is right for us to give thanks and praise!

CONFESSION OF FAITH

The Nicene Creed p. 852

INVITATION TO THE LORD’S TABLE

This table is for those who belong to Christ through repentance, faith, baptism, and continuing union with his Church. You who do truly and earnestly repent of your sins, and are in love and charity with your neighbors, and intend to lead a new life, following the commandments of God and walking in his holy ways: draw near with faith, and take this holy sacrament to your comfort; and make your humble confession to almighty God.

PRAYER

Minister: Let’s pray together.

Congregation: We do not presume to come to this thy holy table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy table: but you are the Lord, who is always able to have mercy.

Grant us therefore, by thy grace, so to eat the flesh of thy dear son Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood, that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his most sacred Body, and our souls washed through his most precious blood, and that we may evermore dwell in him, and he in us. Amen.

DISTRIBUTION OF THE ELEMENTS

THE WORDS OF INSTITUTION 1 Corinthians 11:23-26

For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

SHARING OF THE LORD’S SUPPER

†OUR RESPONSE #567

Praise God from whom all blessings flow;

Praise him, all creatures here below;

Praise him above, ye heavenly host;

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

†BENEDICTION: GOD’S BLESSING FOR HIS PEOPLE

Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord? He is your shield and helper and your glorious sword. Go in confident peace, for the Lord is with you. Amen.