B-Side - Mark 12:13-17

SUNDAY B-Side - Habakkuk 1, 2, 3

Habakkuk 1... Hab 1:1-4 - Begins with a question: "How long shall I cry for help?" Habakkuk is wrestling with God in prayer. He's confused about God's justice and timing. Judah is sinning, but Babylon is worse. Why is God using Babylon to judge Judah? Word for "violence" here is the same Hebrew word used in Gen 6:11 (Noah's flood) - things are so bad they need a total reset. The Law (Torah) is "paralyzed" - not defeated, but grown numb/cold in the Promised Land. Today, western countries are abandoning the Lord. When the Word of God is abandoned, justice becomes perverted. Hab 1:5 - God responds: "Look among the nations... doing a work... you would not believe." New Testament: Paul quotes this in Acts 13:40 as a warning against hard-heartedness and rejecting Jesus (the cross/resurrection). Hab 1:6 - God is raising up the Chaldeans (Babylonians). They are fierce, fast, and worship their own might. Hab 1:12 - "My God, my holy one." Habakkuk claims a personal relationship. (Good prayer model: claiming God as our Father, like Jesus taught). Habakkuk describes Babylon dragging nations away in nets and fishhooks. A New Testament reversal: In the Old Testament, the enemy "fishes" men into slavery and death. In Matt 4, Jesus calls us to be "fishers of men," netting people alive into the Kingdom of God! Habakkuk 2... Hab 2:1 - Habakkuk goes to his watch post. He's waiting on God. Waiting on God isn't being lazy! It is faithful, vigilant responsibility. Hab 2:2 - God says, "Write the vision... it awaits its appointed time." - This reminds us of the Rapture. It's written and will happen right on God's perfect, sovereign schedule. Hab 2:4 - "The righteous shall live by faith" (massive verse, quoted 3 times in the new testament). Babylon appears multiple times in scripture: - Tower of Babel (Gen 11) - "Let us make a name for ourselves" = Pride. - Babylonian Empire (Habakkuk's time). - 1 Peter (referencing Rome). - Revelation 17 & 18 (Future Babylon). - The "Spirit of Babylon" = pride that defies God. Do we have this spirit in our own lives or culture today? Woe 1: Plundering. "He who lives by the sword dies by the sword." Warning against a culture of endless war. Christians should be peacemakers. Woe 2: Evil gain. "The stone will cry out from the wall." Woe 3: Building a city on blood. Without Christ, there is only chaos. We share the gospel not just to get people to heaven, but to bring order and life to them right now! Woe 4: Making neighbors drunk to exploit them. Woe 5: Idolatry. Making wooden/metal images. Idols are ridiculous, and powerless! Habakkuk 3... We turn from a complaint into something more like a Psalm... Hab 3:2 - "Revive your work... in wrath remember mercy." How is our prayer life? Is it urgent? Bold? We need to repent of puny, lukewarm prayers! Luke 11 shows God wants to answer us. Revival starts with us. We need to be the spark in our own homes and neighborhoods. God's Power (v8-15): Creation bends to His will. He will pierce the enemy with their own arrows. Verses 17-19: Habakkuk realizes God isn't stopping the invasion, but he is at peace. "Though the fig tree should not blossom... yet I will rejoice in the Lord." Earthly things (health, money, nation) can be taken away. Salvation in Christ cannot be plundered. God makes his feet like the deer's on the "high places." The book starts with Habakkuk in the dirt, crying and desperate. It ends with him dancing on the high places. His circumstances didn't change, but his heart did because he learned to trust the living, sovereign God.

Singing in the Rain - Habakkuk 2:5-3:19

Verse 5... Pride and arrogance are the mark of those outside the faith. Sin is never satisfied; it will progress infinitely if you let it, until it destroys you.  So submit to Jesus. You belong to him, and your soul is satisfied in him! The world is restless, chasing their sin.  V6-8... One day the nations will collect... You reap what you sow.  V9-11... Babylon thinks it's safe. But it's built on the blood of others.  V12-14... Babylon may be beautiful, but it was built on injustice.  We proclaim not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord!  Satan wants you to believe you're in a losing battle. That's a lie. The light overcomes the darkness! There are so many Christians in heaven they can't be counted!  Gates are defensive, not offensive. The church lays siege to Satan's kingdom! All false gods... Zeus, Caesar, Ra... are all gone. But Jesus remains!  Habakkuk says the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God. We need to be ready to give a defense for the Gospel, in season and out! So read his Word and submit to it, every day! V15-18... ill-gotten power will be put to shame.  V19-20... Babylon has put its trust in a false god, but the Lord is high and lifted up in his holy temple! When our God moves and speaks, the whole earth stands in silence.  Chapter 3... V1-2... Habakkuk remembers the great works of the Lord, and pleads with him to revive it!  God can change the whole world with a small group of people! Equip us, strengthen us, God! Revive your great works! God can pour out his spirit whenever he wants, and he's looking for humble servants who depend on him completely. He's faithful to a thousand generations! V3-7... He's reflecting on the Exodus.  V8-12... How God uses creation to enact his justice.  V13... This recalls how God put enmity between the woman and the serpent (whose head was crushed)... Jesus on the cross was the bruised heel. V14-15... The Father is already talking about sending his Son! V16-19... He quietly waits for God's wrath to come upon the unrighteous enemy! God is his strength.  1. Habakkuk is the praying prophet... God's not going to answer his prayer the way Habakkuk wants; he has his own purposes. Yet true faith says "I trust the promises of God!" 2. Singing in the rain... In 1 John, we see that perfect love casts out fear... here Habakkuk is trembling in fear! But through it all, he knew God was good, no matter what would come his way. God is more powerful, more able, more glorious, than anything else!  What to do when your earthly comforts are taken from you? Remember that God makes you tread in high places. ...Psalm 123:1... We lift up our eyes... Our strength comes from the Lord! Colossians 3... Seek the things that are above! Your life is hidden in Christ! Our strength comes from the Lord.  In Heaven, all things will be made new! This is our hope, our peace! Stop ruminating on what scares you, and look up!

Faith In the Risen Lord - Habakkuk 1:1-2:4

Habakkuk 1:1... Written around 600 BC.  Habakkuk was the praying prophet. The whole book is one long prayer.  We know God is perfect, but sometimes we feel he's too slow, or forgets about us. The Chaldeans (Babylonians) are so awful they're bringing Habakkuk to his knees. He wants God to get rid of them or change their hearts. Those who know God is good still call out desperately for God to do his work!  V5-11... Habakkuk prayed for revival, and God responded that he'd never understand what God is doing if he showed him. If we only knew what he was planning for us! V12... Habakkuk doesn't like the response. When is God going to show up? And he compares Israel's righteousness with the Chaldeans'.  Habakkuk 2:1... We won't have to strive to reach up to God, to impress him. We have Jesus! If you pray genuinely to God, he hears you! You can wait on his goodness. Jonah... When asked "who is your God", Jonah revealed he's the God of everything, not just the sea. It's all God's! Nothing is beyond his ability. So pray big prayers! V2-3... God says to write down the message he gives Habakkuk. It will come to pass in time. So he must learn to wait on the Lord. V4... The deadliest sin is pride. It will sneak in unexpectedly, subtly. Satan wanted worship, some of God's glory. That one unchecked sin led to all the death and sin in human history. Pride rejects humility and submission, and keeps people out of heaven.  The bad news: you are a sinner.  The good news: John 3:16! Pride is deceptive... We can even take pride in how little pride we have! The Pharisees... everything pristine and perfect on the outside, but prideful on the inside.  We must be humble! We must DAILY submit to the Father. It's hard to pray because it's spiritual. We need the holy Spirit to convict us daily.  Pride opposes submission to God, but the righteous shall live by faith! There should be no prejudice, it's never justifiable. We must come to the cross and see what WE did to Christ. We are NOT "pretty great." At the cross, pride melts away. Faith... Hebrews 11:1... The assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.  Real righteousness is faith. God here wants to see us the assurance and conviction in God's Word, and his justice and mercy.  Hebrews 10:32 quotes Habakkuk. The early church received the holy Spirit, and all hell broke loose... Persecution of all kinds, suffering. During suffering, Christ is doing something in you that's greater than your comfort. Trust that God is good even if you don't see it. The righteous shall live by faith! When you're waiting for God to do something, trust him, even if it takes a long time, because he's true to his word. The righteous shall live by faith. Who's really righteous? Those who are in Jesus. The just are those who have faith in God! Righteousness can only come through faith. Romans 3... All have sinned, and are justified only by grace, as a gift!  Propitiation... the wrath of the Father has been eternally satisfied in the work of Christ!  The full measure of God will come down again, in even greater measure than before. Jesus is the hope: though we will die, we will live!  Waiting on the Lord is not passive, but an active endurance, an anticipation of the coming works of the Lord! Being faithful until the works of the Lord come. God is able to deliver, provide, revive, help you endure a trial!  Isaiah 40:31... Wait for the Lord, and God will be with you!

B-Side - Mark 12:13-17

Three other Gospel accounts of today's text: Matthew 22:15-22... The Pharisees are leading the pack, and only sent their disciples (a cowardly move). Jesus was aware of their malice in asking him the gotcha question!  Luke 20:19-26... Luke says they "sent spies who pretended to be sincere" to get Jesus to say something actionable by Pilate. Mark 12:13-17... the Pharisees and Herodians say four things about Jesus to flatter him: 1. We know you are true 2. You don't care about anyone's opinion... no peer pressure! 3. You aren't swayed by appearances... he doesn't look upon the faces of men. No partiality in judgment. He called like he saw it! 4. You truly teach the way of God (they obscure it!) Then they try to trap him regarding paying taxes to Caesar... if yes, he loses the support of the people, and if no, they'll label him an enemy of the state. "Tax" here is a Latin-derived word, indicating Mark was written with a Roman gentile audience in mind (they spoke Greek and Latin). Just like the Roman coin (bearing the likeness of Caesar) should be returned to Caesar, we are marked and sealed for protection with the likeness of Christ, and will be returned to him! v17... give back to Caesar what's his, and give back to God what's his! They marveled, were astonished. Luke says they stayed silent... this is an indication of defeat. How did the Pharisees and Herodians receive this message? Luke 23... they lied, saying he forbade them to give to Caesar. They say Jesus is a man of truth, but they lie through their teeth. That's today's text. Civil disobedience vs. civic duty... 1. 1 Timothy 2:1-2... Pray for your civic leaders, even when they're persecuting the Church! We must pray for them no matter what. 2. Augustine would draw from this text that we're God's money; as the coins must be returned to Caesar, we must be returned to God. But we've wandered from him; we have his stamp on us, but we're faded, scratched by this world. That said, we still bear his image and receive his protection! 3. How will we be known? Though they were trying to flatter him, Jesus is known as truly having the qualities the Pharisees and Herodians ascribed to him. How do our enemies view us? May they see the same things in us!  a. He's true, and truly teaches the Word of God... how should the world see us? We should be a people of the truth and conviction! b. He doesn't care about opinions, and isn't swayed by appearances... the Church is NOT downstream from culture! We don't have to appeal to the world in order to draw the lost. The modern Church has gone wrong here; we are to be UPSTREAM from the culture, leading and not following. We are above all those influences; we shouldn't be changed by the culture. Our affections are to be pointed to God! We can't change our whole country overnight, but through the Holy Spirit, we can change ourselves. We belong to the one who made us and saved us!  4. Peter Paul Rubens painted a picture of this account. The Pharisees and Sanhedrin are bent over, looking at the coin, looking at each other, looking away... but there's one man looking directly at the eyes of Jesus. Jesus is pointing to Heaven. This is the heart of today's text! Jesus points to something bigger than the coin, bigger than Caesar, bigger than the government. Give Caesar what belongs to him, but to God, give yourself! He draws our eyes to the Father. Everything in this world can be given away freely; we shouldn't be too attached to anything... but our life should be given to God! Philippians 1:20... to live is Christ and to die is gain. Galatians 2:20... "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Therefore, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God what is God's!

Two Coins - Mark 12:13-17

Mark 11: Triumphal entry, Jesus inspects the temple, turns over money tables. Mark 12:1-12: The Sanhedrin question him and he tells a parable against them. Today's text, Mark 12:13-17... here and for the rest of this chapter, the Sanhedrin are trying to trap him in his words so they can put him to death. v13... "trap" is used here in the sense of capturing an animal. The Pharisees are all about purity laws, and a Jewish-only Israel. The Herodians are aligned with the Roman-leaning Herod, illegitimate (and non-Jewish) leader of Israel. Complete opposites, extreme left and right of Israel... except they both want to see Jesus dead! The entire government is conspiring against Jesus. v14... they flatter him first, then try to trap him with their question. Jeremiah 9:8... his tongue is a deadly arrow, speaking peace to his neighbor but in his heart planning a deadly ambush. Two kinds of enemies: those who tell you to their face they don't like you, and those who shrewdly pretend to have your back, but secretly plot against you. Fake friends with honey in their mouths and daggers in their hands.  v15... "...knowing their hypocrisy..." - Matthew says malice, Luke says craftiness; this same word describes the serpent in Genesis. A denarius was a day's wage; the denarius coin indicated Tiberius Caesar's deity, and so was blasphemous. They're trying to get him to upset one side or the other. v16... the Pharisees and Herodians are able to produce a denarius which was considered by them to be unsuitable for use in the temple, yet here they are! He could have trapped them on that alone... but he answers... v17... Give Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give God what belongs to God. They marvelled at his answer! You'll bever be more clever than God :-) ...as the denarius was made in Caesar's image, we were made in the image of God. Give Caesar the things of the world... but give to God our souls, our worship, everything!  Render means to give back... if Rome wants it, give it back to them. But give back our souls, our worship, everything we are, to God! It all comes from him. The air in our lungs, our strengths, our unique qualities... it's all a gift we are to give back to him.  That's today's text. Two thoughts... 1. Caesar's coin... How should a Christian operate in this world under its governing authorities? Respect for the opposition is eroded. 1 Timothy 2: we are to pray for our political leadership, even if we don't like them! 1 Peter 2:13... be subject to every human institution. Honor everyone, fear God, honor even the emperor! (He was killing Christians!) Live godly lives, don't cover up evil! But we are to pray for those in leadership. It's part of our Christian witness and apologetic! Romans 13... Be subject to the governing authorities as they have been instituted by God! Even if they're bad (that's a judgment on a nation)... so don't resist the government. Pay taxes, revenue, respect an honor to whom they're owed. We are to be the best citizens of our country! Pliny the Younger was not a Christian, and was a governor. He began killing the Christians of his town, but a revival started. He wrote a letter to Caesar, describing the exemplary behavior and morality of the Christians despite his persecution. We can't worship Caesar, but we can be his best citizens! Virtuous, honest, upstanding. Justin Martyr makes a similar case. We can't worship Caesar, but we can be his most upright citizens, praying for even the worst leaders, that God be glorified in our witness! It was our light that helped convert Rome. The more Christ-like we become, the more radical we'll seem to the world; our witness will draw people to Christ. Our default position is to be the best citizens, to the glory of God!  Only then should we consider: Civil disobedience... Acts 5:27... the apostles are instructed not to teach in Jesus' name. They decide they must obey God over men when men are demanding they oppose God! In Daniel and in Revelation, we see there are times it is our duty to disobey the government. Taking on the mark of the beast, burning incense to Caesar.  When the laws of the government oppose the laws of Christ, we must resist. We must not violate Scripture. Our country is very blessed! Individual freedoms are one of our strong points. We should also support programs that take care of those who are vulnerable. But government tends to get bigger and bigger, and over-reach into our personal freedoms... legislating every little thing, indoctrinating our kids. Government here is starting to take over the lives of its citizens, controlling money, food, water, education, healthcare. If the government ever says we can't worship God, we will be in a pickle. Satan's plan is to use an overreaching government to control the Church. Christians should be apprehensive to let the government take these things over. We should vote in ways that support God's Kingdom on earth, not man's. 2. God's coin... As the denarius bears Caesar's likeness and name, so does the believer bear the likeness and name of Christ! And we're sealed with the Holy Spirit. Money we give to Caesar, but our very selves we give to God. So... a. Don't be too attached to Caesar's coin! Don't let riches become a god. It can all be taken from you. Live only for Christ and his Father! b. We belong to God and not Caesar! The government doesn't own its people. God does! You've been bought with a price by the Lord Jesus Christ! We're adopted sons and daughters, royalty of another Kingdom! Because God owns you, Caesar can't! c. So our allegiance belongs only to King Jesus! Yes, respect your earthly rulers, but we're all under the authority of Jesus Christ! Only he is worthy to open the scroll! Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven! When Jesus is asked to pick a political position, he chooses himself. Give yourself to the triune God who made you! Joshua 5:13-15... Jesus is not for your side or the enemies' side; he is the commander of the Army of the Lord! He's on his own side! You may identify more with the Democrat or Republican party in our country, but who is your King? Jesus is everyone's only true King... and we must render to God what is God's!