As the Waters Cover the Sea(Habakkuk 2:12-14)

God’s Global Glory or Bust

Intro

We get to move into a very exciting series as we settle into 2023. It has been in the works longer than any other. Well over a year ago, we pastors began discussing our church’s vision and mission statements and core values. 

Pastor Dale rightly pointed out that we didn’t use our previous mission/vision/value statements very much. So, we started to ask, “why?” Was it because we didn’t believe them or because they were too cumbersome to use?  We settled on the answer that they were not simple enough for us to use regularly and for them to fulfill their purpose of shaping our culture. 

So, we started out on a long journey together to prayerfully rethink how we could say these statements and values (and adjust them to even better hit the bull’s eye). We emerged after many months of wrestling that was healthy (and even hard at times) with these statements and values that we are eager to share with you. 

We hope that these new statements will be more of a regular feature in our sermons and conversations as a church as rallying points for us as we move forward following Jesus together. We have settled on our vision statement, our mission statement, and three core values. There are a total of five items here, so we will have a series of five sermons, with each of the pastors taking a turn.

This morning we are going to discuss our vision statement. Here is our vision statement:  

Our vision is to glorify God by multiplying worshipers of Jesus and healthy churches in the Twin Cities and beyond.

Our vision statement captures our ultimate destination we are aiming at; our mission statement and values show us the road map for how we will seek to get there. 

One final word: this feels like such an opportune time in the life of our church for this sermon series. First, All Peoples has just finished a huge year of growth and transformation by God’s grace. How fitting for us to spend some time seeking greater clarity and alignment with one another on where we are all going together. 

In addition, Lebanon church is at a big moment of decision where they will be deciding what the future holds for them. As joining All Peoples is an option on the table for each Lebanon person, it’s also a fitting moment to clarify what our common direction together could be if we get the privilege of being one church family with you. 

Revelation

So, where do we pastors get a vision statement? Is it something that spontaneously pops into our minds from the Holy Spirit or something that just sounds catchy or fashionable to us? It’s my aim this morning to show that our vision as a church is not something that simply seems good to us pastors, but a vision that grows from the heart of God in the Scriptures. To that end, we are going to spend some time in the book of Habakkuk discerning what God’s heart is for the world he has made.

Quick word on context: Habakkuk is a prophet to the nation of Judah during the time when Babylon brought destruction and exile to God’s people. His book has a series of prophetic sayings against Babylon and nations like it that use violence to expand their rule. Our verses this morning are one of those sayings. This prophetic oracle is going to begin with God’s response to rebellious nations and then move toward his big purpose in the world:  

Habakkuk 2:12 “Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and establishes a town by injustice!

·        Before Habakkuk gets to God’s great purpose for the world, he starts by addressing the rebellious nations that fill the world. As we follow his thought, help us better grasp big purpose.

·        “Woe” signals there is coming judgement. To whom? Those building with bloodshed/injustice.

·         Common way human beings and empires advance: building themselves up at expense of others.

·        Statement directly to Babylon and also others that resemble it (all fallen human kingdoms).

·        Describing the world as we know and experience it, and one introduced in our Genesis series:

·        We witness characters like Cain and Nimrod who shed blood and build corrupt cities (4 and 11).

·        This Babylonian heart that Habakkuk describes here captures natural human condition. I’m not a violent person but have the same impulse to lift myself up at other’s expense.

·        Verse 13 clarifies how God will respond to such corrupt empires and people:

Habakkuk2: 13 Has not the Lord Almighty determined that the people’s labor is only fuel for the fire,

that the nations exhaust themselves for nothing?

·        God’s righteous response is to unmake what these rebellious people have made. Fire signals the coming destruction of their works and the word “nothing” signals the futility of their efforts.

·        You could think of the tower of Babel as an image: it ends up a half-built ruin, purposelessness.

·        The Lord is “almighty” and can bring the mightiest human stronghold to an end when pleases.

·        This is where sin ultimately leads human beings apart from God: toward spending their life on what is temporary and ultimately purposeless. Even the greatest work, even if it is very successful, it not done in surrender to God, ultimately ends up meaningless in eternity.

·        This is such a curious response from God because it’s the opposite of what he started out doing. He started out by filling the world with blessing and life, now plans to empty of rebellion/evil.

·        Yet, in this passage, we see that the heart of our God is better than we dare hope or dream. We see here that his purpose is not to empty the earth to leave it a waste or lifeless (though that would be a proper response to sin). Rather, he has a plan to fill it with something else:

Habakkuk 2:14 For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord

as the waters cover the sea.

·        Could I just read that again? Just blown away by the God that I serve when hear things like that.

·        God’s purpose to empty the world of rebellious works is to fill it with the knowledge of his glory.

·        Let’s take some more time to meditate on that phrase, “the knowledge of the glory of the Lord”

·        The work “knowledge” does not refer to knowing things in head but experientially and intimately.[1]

o   Adam “knew” Eve, Gen 4:1.

o   People know about the glory of the Lord; they will experience it intimately.

·        What then is the, “glory of the Lord”?

o   “glory” comes from Hebrew word that means “weight.” Signals the worthiness and significance of someone is greater than all others.

o   Kings in the ancient world would wear bright robes and sit on high thrones to try to display their significance- their glory.

o   The difference with God is that he is actually worthy and glorious, far beyond what any human being could ever dream of being.

o   God plans to bring his greatness near to humans. He wants people to experience his life-giving presence and respond rightly with worship.

o   He’s planning to make things again like they were at the start. When God originally created this vast, beautiful world brimming with life, it was a reflection of his glory and worth (“the heavens declare the glory of God,” Ps 19).

o   Amazing: God is not simply planning to empty the world of rebellion and evil; he’s planning to fill it up with himself. The experience of God in his glory will replace the fallen parts of our world.

·        How extensive will his glory be? How much of the earth will it fill? Habakkuk’s answer, “as much as the waters cover the sea.” It’s going everywhere. There’s not an inch of this planet God does not intend for his glory.

·        This is to say that the blessing and life that was everywhere present in the world when God made it will return. God’s presence and abundant life characterized the world at the start. Sin interrupted both of those realities and brought distance from God and suffering. For the experience of God’s glory to fill the earth again will mean that abundant life will as well.

·        You might think, “it’s a little self-centered of God to want to fill the earth with his glory and reputation. Isn’t that narcissistic? It’s not when you’re worthy of glory and you’re the source of life for everything you’ve made. The greatest good God could ever do to human beings is reveal himself to them so they can know him and live.

Christ and the Church

·        So, in the story of the Bible, how does that happen? How does God take his glory global?

·        The tide never turns, things never ultimately get out of their descent toward chaos and death until one man comes along: Jesus of Nazareth.

·        Unlike all others, he never lived for his own glory at the expense of others, he lived for the glory of God by serving others. Jesus brought the glory of God here. To experience him was to experience God.

·        His greatest act of glorify God by serving others was dying on the cross for them: he took the blame and sinfulness of his people on himself in their place.

·        He didn’t found a city on bloodshed, he had his blood shed. He didn’t commit injustice, he allowed others to commit injustice against him to rescue others.

·        In the process of his life death and resurrection, Jesus rescues fallen sinners and begins to make them like himself- people who experience glory and share glory with others.  

·        When you follow Jesus, the most amazing shift happens, you’re ultimate purpose in life ceases to be to fill the earth with you own glory, it becomes for the first time filling the earth with his glory.

·        That’s why you actually start bringing life to others, because unlike your glory, his glory truly brings life.

·        When Jesus comes back, the earth will be filled with his glory fully. Now, he fills it in part and progressively so as he transforms more and more people to be like him.

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

·        If you don’t follow Jesus yet, we invite you to start doing so this morning.

Our Vision

·        And now that we have seen that God’s purpose is to fill the world with his glory, we can turn our attention back to our vision statement:

Our vision is to glorify God by multiplying worshippers of Jesus and healthy churches in the Twin Cities and beyond.

·        Our vision statement captures where we are trying to go as a community. So, this morning we are going to focus on our destination.

·        What is that destination? The glory of God being in the Twin Cities and everywhere. Our vision is to spend our lives seeking after the global glory of God. We’re going to take God at his word in Habakkuk 2:14 and spend our lives seeing that come to pass.

·        If we were a bumper sticker church, and wanted to get a bumper sticker that captured our heartbeat, I submit to you it would be: God’s global glory or bust!

·        We want to see God’s unsurpassed worth recognized and rightly responded to by every person. That’s what we mean by “multiplying worshippers of Jesus.” A worshiper of Jesus is someone who is offering the only fitting response to the glory of God.

·        And we can’t just stop with mere individuals since the Bible is clear that more of God’s glory is experienced and shared through churches (gatherings of worshippers) than just through individual worshippers themselves.

·        The method God gave us to take his glory global is to plant churches everywhere. We want to plant more churches here in these cities, and Lord willing, raise up missionaries who will seek to do so in far off places, especially ones who have never heard the name of Jesus.

·        That’s why our vision as a church is not to grow into a very large church. There’s nothing wrong with being a large church, but if your vision stops there, you only add people to the kingdom of God rather than multiply it’s reach. Rather than growing All Peoples church to a huge size, we want to work together to plant churches who plant churches who win the lost all along the way.

·        That’s why our vision calls them “healthy churches” because we want each church we plant to have the same devotion to this God-glorifying, church-planting vision.

·        This is the direction us pastors are inviting you to go with us. Specifically, trying to align our community, our gifts, our resources, our passions, our time, our lives around the shared purpose of filling the world with God’s glory, that is, seeking to multiply the number of people who worship him, and even more, the number of churches who worship him.

·        While there is so much more to talk about in terms of strategy, mostly all of our fruitfulness as a community will come down to one question for each one of us? Do you want to see God get all the glory? And if you find yourself lukewarm and cold to that at times, do you want to want him to get all the glory?

·        Another way to put it: you can’t give way what you do not possess. If You are not full of God, you cannot share God with others.

·        Let’s take inventory of ourselves and our lives and see if our passions and decisions all align with glorifying God.

·        One day, Jesus will come back and this verse will perfectly come to pass. In the meantime, God wants to give a preview of what’s to come through his church, through us. We start filling the world now with glory as we anticipate Jesus coming back to finish the job for good.

·        One day, God’s people will get to experience God’s presence forever. Yet, the only way someone can experience his presence forever is to start experiencing it now.

·        We pastors believe there is a different direction for these cities.

·        God has transformed the world before through a group of ordinary people who were gripped by the glory of God. We call them the twelve disciples or the apostles and those who followed Jesus with them. Within a handful of generations from their lives, Christianity had grown all through the Roman empire and won millions of followers of Jesus. Going from twelve to millions is the kind of multiplication God is capable of when his people live for him in surrender to his glory.  

·        What could happen if we gave ourselves to the same purpose with the same level of surrender? What could happen in our city we desired God’s global glory as much as they did and aligned our lives toward it as they did?

·        It would require sacrifices on our part. We would have to cut out things that don’t fit with this purpose. But, it would also provide something priceless: a sense of purpose about our lives. Everything in your and my life could feel purposeful if we align it all around this same shared cause together. So church, let’s seek to

Glorify God by multiplying followers of Jesus and healthy churches in the Twin Cities and beyond.   

Let’s pray

24 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. [2]

[1] Fretheim, “ידע,” NIDOTTE 2:413.

[2] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Jud 24–25.