Title:                                       

Text:                                        Hab 1:1-2:1

                                                Phl 3:13-4:1

                                                Mt 23:13-24      

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(title)

I.             Pl—keep focused on the long-term goal; follow our example.

II.           Hab—why does God put up with evil then try to overcome evil with evil doers [Babylonians]?

III.          Mt—four woes of Jesus against those who establish little distinctions in contracts so they can get out of obligations yet condemn those who make a mistake.

A.           C.f. rules of childhood games—adjust to ensure victory!

IV.         We’re not dealing with short-term victory but eternal values: 

A.           We’re citizens of heaven (Pl) and need to act like it!

B.           Don’t leave out the little things (Mt tithe mint, anise, cumin) but don’t get bogged down in them either.

V.          Difficult for some personality types (MBTI Sensing) to stay focused on the big picture.

A.           Most church people are Sensing for whom facts, details are most important.

1.            Jesus challenges them to pay attention to the long-range objective.

B.           Jesus challenges the Intuitives also to pay attention to the details.

1.            Not a one-sided advocacy of grace.

VI.         What does this mean to the nation and the world?

A.           War must be more than a temporary righting of wrong.

B.           Cannot simply be punishment for some insolent act, but must also address patterns of exclusion, slamming the door in people’s faces; must right pervasive wrongs.

Hab 1:1-2:1

Habakkuk

1     The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet received.

Habakkuk’s Complaint

2 How long, O LORD, must I call for help,

but you do not listen?

Or cry out to you, “Violence!”

but you do not save?

3 Why do you make me look at injustice?

Why do you tolerate wrong?

Destruction and violence are before me;

there is strife, and conflict abounds.

4 Therefore the law is paralyzed,

and justice never prevails.

The wicked hem in the righteous,

so that justice is perverted.

The Lord’s Answer

5 “Look at the nations and watch—

and be utterly amazed.

For I am going to do something in your days

that you would not believe,

even if you were told.

6 I am raising up the Babylonians, a

that ruthless and impetuous people,

who sweep across the whole earth

to seize dwelling places not their own.

7 They are a feared and dreaded people;

they are a law to themselves

and promote their own honor.

8 Their horses are swifter than leopards,

fiercer than wolves at dusk.

Their cavalry gallops headlong;

their horsemen come from afar.

They fly like a vulture swooping to devour;

9 they all come bent on violence.

Their hordes b advance like a desert wind

and gather prisoners like sand.

10 They deride kings

and scoff at rulers.

They laugh at all fortified cities;

they build earthen ramps and capture them.

11 Then they sweep past like the wind and go on—

guilty men, whose own strength is their god.”

Habakkuk’s Second Complaint

12 O LORD, are you not from everlasting?

My God, my Holy One, we will not die.

O LORD, you have appointed them to execute judgment;

O Rock, you have ordained them to punish.

13 Your eyes are too pure to look on evil;

you cannot tolerate wrong.

Why then do you tolerate the treacherous?

Why are you silent while the wicked

swallow up those more righteous than themselves?

14 You have made men like fish in the sea,

like sea creatures that have no ruler.

15 The wicked foe pulls all of them up with hooks,

he catches them in his net,

he gathers them up in his dragnet;

and so he rejoices and is glad.

16 Therefore he sacrifices to his net

and burns incense to his dragnet,

for by his net he lives in luxury

and enjoys the choicest food.

17 Is he to keep on emptying his net,

destroying nations without mercy?

2     I will stand at my watch

and station myself on the ramparts;

I will look to see what he will say to me,

and what answer I am to give to this complaint. a

[1]



 Phl 3:13-4:1

13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

15 All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. 16 Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

17 Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you. 18 For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

4     Therefore, my brothers, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, that is how you should stand firm in the Lord, dear friends!

[2]

Mt 13:13-24

13 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. c

15 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.

16 “Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ 17 You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? 18 You also say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gift on it, he is bound by his oath.’ 19 You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20 Therefore, he who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. 21 And he who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. 22 And he who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it.

23 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. 24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

[3]

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 a Or Chaldeans

 b The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.

 a Or and what to answer when I am rebuked

[1]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.) . Zondervan: Grand Rapids

[2]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.) . Zondervan: Grand Rapids

 c Some manuscripts to. Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Therefore you will be punished more severely.

[3]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.) . Zondervan: Grand Rapids