WEBVTT 00:00:01.960 --> 00:00:04.879 When he stood before the British Parliament in 00:00:04.879 --> 00:00:08.259 1789 and called for the abolition of the slave 00:00:08.259 --> 00:00:12.660 trade, few people took him seriously. Some rolled 00:00:12.660 --> 00:00:15.480 their eyes, others accused him of being naive 00:00:15.480 --> 00:00:20.699 or self -righteous. Some accused them, even the 00:00:20.699 --> 00:00:23.179 ones who were privately in agreement with him, 00:00:23.539 --> 00:00:26.760 whispering that his efforts were pointless. That 00:00:26.760 --> 00:00:29.839 the trade was too entrenched, too profitable, 00:00:30.480 --> 00:00:34.850 too accepted. to ever be undone. But William 00:00:34.850 --> 00:00:38.590 Wilberforce spent the next 20 years introducing 00:00:38.590 --> 00:00:42.729 bills that failed, facing ridicule, political 00:00:42.729 --> 00:00:46.549 defeat, and personal exhaustion. His friends 00:00:46.549 --> 00:00:49.810 begged him to give up. He grew frail and sickly. 00:00:50.210 --> 00:00:52.770 But through all those years, his faith never 00:00:52.770 --> 00:00:56.009 failed him. He once wrote in his journal, God 00:00:56.009 --> 00:00:58.689 Almighty has set before me two great objects. 00:00:59.369 --> 00:01:02.850 The suppression of the slave trade, and the reformation 00:01:02.850 --> 00:01:06.030 of manners. Those were not the words of a man 00:01:06.030 --> 00:01:09.769 chasing his own glory. Those were the words of 00:01:09.769 --> 00:01:13.750 a man learning to wait, like a watchman on the 00:01:13.750 --> 00:01:16.629 walls, trusting that God's justice would come 00:01:16.629 --> 00:01:21.590 even if it came slowly. He didn't know when it 00:01:21.590 --> 00:01:24.549 would happen, but he still trusted and followed 00:01:24.549 --> 00:01:27.890 and didn't change what he did based on what anyone 00:01:27.890 --> 00:01:33.469 else did. That's the same attitude that we find 00:01:33.469 --> 00:01:37.489 in Habakkuk 2 today. The prophet says, I will 00:01:37.489 --> 00:01:40.170 stand at my watchpost and station myself on the 00:01:40.170 --> 00:01:43.989 rampart. I will keep watch to see what he will 00:01:43.989 --> 00:01:48.129 say to me. Habakkuk had cried out to God because 00:01:48.129 --> 00:01:51.129 of the violence and corruption in his nation. 00:01:51.469 --> 00:01:54.849 The wicked seemed to thrive while the righteous 00:01:54.849 --> 00:01:57.680 suffered. And when God answered that he would 00:01:57.680 --> 00:02:01.900 send Babylon, a nation even more brutal, to bring 00:02:01.900 --> 00:02:06.120 judgment, Habakkuk was stunned. How could God 00:02:06.120 --> 00:02:09.939 use them? The wretched ones who cared nothing 00:02:09.939 --> 00:02:14.960 for God. We, we, we, we are the people of God. 00:02:15.960 --> 00:02:19.599 How can we be reprimanded by someone else? Someone 00:02:19.599 --> 00:02:24.500 who should be even worse. So he climbed the walls 00:02:24.500 --> 00:02:27.800 of his doubts, letting go of the reasons why 00:02:27.800 --> 00:02:30.759 God's ways didn't make sense to him, and he said, 00:02:30.960 --> 00:02:34.719 I will wait. I will look out to see what God 00:02:34.719 --> 00:02:38.639 will say. It's a picture of faithful waiting, 00:02:39.659 --> 00:02:42.979 of trust mixed with impatience, which we all 00:02:42.979 --> 00:02:48.240 know, but still faithful waiting. Habakkuk doesn't 00:02:48.240 --> 00:02:53.340 pretend to understand God. We don't have to always 00:02:53.340 --> 00:02:57.479 understand God, his ways or his timing. But he 00:02:57.479 --> 00:03:02.099 believed that God must speak. That God's justice, 00:03:02.180 --> 00:03:06.280 even if delayed, is still certain, even as we 00:03:06.280 --> 00:03:12.219 must. God does speak. He tells Habakkuk to write 00:03:12.219 --> 00:03:16.199 the vision down plainly. so that it can be carried 00:03:16.199 --> 00:03:19.460 forward, so that people can keep running toward 00:03:19.460 --> 00:03:23.360 hope, no matter how it felt at that moment. For 00:03:23.360 --> 00:03:29.740 the vision awaits its appointed time. Though 00:03:29.740 --> 00:03:34.180 it linger, wait for it. It will surely come. 00:03:34.180 --> 00:03:38.219 It will not delay. In other words, you may not 00:03:38.219 --> 00:03:42.939 see it yet, but you can trust it will come as 00:03:42.939 --> 00:03:47.710 soon as it... can. Faith is not wishful thinking. 00:03:48.169 --> 00:03:51.030 It's the decision to cling to God's promises 00:03:51.030 --> 00:03:56.789 when evidence seems thin. The proud, those who 00:03:56.789 --> 00:03:59.289 trust in their own strength, their own wisdom, 00:03:59.889 --> 00:04:04.990 their own timing, they will fall. But the righteous, 00:04:05.270 --> 00:04:09.110 God says, will live by their faith. And that's 00:04:09.110 --> 00:04:12.509 what sustained people like Wilberforce. being 00:04:12.509 --> 00:04:17.029 the odd people out for so long. He didn't see 00:04:17.029 --> 00:04:21.089 quick results. He saw years of defeat and humiliation, 00:04:21.829 --> 00:04:24.689 and yet he trusted that the vision of God's justice 00:04:24.689 --> 00:04:28.970 was certain, no matter when it would be. And 00:04:28.970 --> 00:04:31.970 when Parliament finally voted to abolish the 00:04:31.970 --> 00:04:35.829 slave trade in 1807, Wilberforce broke down in 00:04:35.829 --> 00:04:41.740 tears. When slavery itself was outlawed in 1833, 00:04:42.800 --> 00:04:46.920 just days before his death, he knew that faith 00:04:46.920 --> 00:04:51.019 had not been in vain. He was finally able to 00:04:51.019 --> 00:04:57.139 rest. That brings us to Luke 17, where Jesus 00:04:57.139 --> 00:04:59.779 gives his disciples a lesson about faith, forgiveness, 00:05:00.040 --> 00:05:05.279 and humility. But he begins with a warning. Temptations 00:05:05.279 --> 00:05:09.000 to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through 00:05:09.000 --> 00:05:13.920 whom they come. Great! The sinners are going 00:05:13.920 --> 00:05:17.180 to get what they have coming to them. So doesn't 00:05:17.180 --> 00:05:20.579 that mean the disciples can start speaking judgment 00:05:20.579 --> 00:05:23.800 upon all the terrible people around them and 00:05:23.800 --> 00:05:25.920 make sure they rub it in their face as to how 00:05:25.920 --> 00:05:28.560 much God despises them and how the disciples 00:05:28.560 --> 00:05:32.839 are now the ones in charge? But he tells them, 00:05:33.259 --> 00:05:36.939 that if someone sins and repents, even seven 00:05:36.939 --> 00:05:41.620 times in one day, they are to forgive. Is it 00:05:41.620 --> 00:05:46.939 any wonder the disciples respond, increase our 00:05:46.939 --> 00:05:52.500 faith? They're saying, Lord, that sounds impossible. 00:05:53.579 --> 00:05:55.639 How are we supposed to do that? How are we supposed 00:05:55.639 --> 00:05:59.060 to let them off the hook to trust that you have 00:05:59.060 --> 00:06:03.300 it under control? When we can't yet see them 00:06:03.300 --> 00:06:06.939 suffer for what they've done and for what they 00:06:06.939 --> 00:06:11.199 deserve But Jesus answers them in a surprising 00:06:11.199 --> 00:06:14.740 way If you had faith like a mustard seed you 00:06:14.740 --> 00:06:18.019 could say to this mulberry tree be uprooted and 00:06:18.019 --> 00:06:22.379 planted in the sea and It would obey you Faith 00:06:22.379 --> 00:06:26.899 is not about its size It's about where you place 00:06:26.899 --> 00:06:31.819 that trust Even a small faith Those moments when 00:06:31.819 --> 00:06:36.439 we're barely hanging on to believing, when placed 00:06:36.439 --> 00:06:39.639 in the promises of God, can move things that 00:06:39.639 --> 00:06:45.740 seem immovable, especially our own hearts. Faith 00:06:45.740 --> 00:06:49.920 isn't something we build up. It's not something 00:06:49.920 --> 00:06:52.920 where we're able to then say, oh well, we're 00:06:52.920 --> 00:06:55.259 going to strengthen it and make sure that it 00:06:55.259 --> 00:06:57.800 is strong. We're not going to somehow make it 00:06:57.800 --> 00:07:01.120 work through our own efforts. It's something 00:07:01.120 --> 00:07:05.180 that grows when we act in trust, being willing 00:07:05.180 --> 00:07:09.680 to bury it in the ground, wondering if it will 00:07:09.680 --> 00:07:13.759 get lost or forgotten. Look at how small it is. 00:07:14.439 --> 00:07:17.699 But trusting it to the waters of baptism and 00:07:17.699 --> 00:07:21.699 our grounding in faith, forgiving when we'd rather 00:07:21.699 --> 00:07:25.439 hold on, serving when we'd rather be thanked, 00:07:26.480 --> 00:07:31.709 believing when we'd rather give up. You can imagine 00:07:31.709 --> 00:07:33.790 if someone like Wilberforce lived in our time, 00:07:33.990 --> 00:07:37.069 how many people would have found ways to tear 00:07:37.069 --> 00:07:40.370 him down. They would have said he was too idealistic, 00:07:40.449 --> 00:07:44.569 too privileged, too naive. They would have found 00:07:44.569 --> 00:07:47.689 fault in his manner, his motives, his methods, 00:07:48.069 --> 00:07:52.170 probably even his friends. If only you would 00:07:52.170 --> 00:07:54.649 stop focusing on something so hopeless, William, 00:07:55.769 --> 00:07:58.170 and join the rest of us in achieving victories 00:07:58.170 --> 00:08:02.149 we can see. then we can make the world work the 00:08:02.149 --> 00:08:07.370 way we want. He was brilliant, popular, ambitious, 00:08:07.670 --> 00:08:11.569 a man destined for power, but like happens to 00:08:11.569 --> 00:08:15.350 so many good people, Christ got a hold of him. 00:08:16.329 --> 00:08:20.389 And so glad that he did. And Wilberforce came 00:08:20.389 --> 00:08:22.490 to faith and began to see the world differently. 00:08:23.670 --> 00:08:25.769 He saw the wickedness of the slave trade, the 00:08:25.769 --> 00:08:27.850 men, the women, the children treated as property 00:08:27.850 --> 00:08:31.149 and he thought, Surely God wants me to do something 00:08:31.149 --> 00:08:34.389 about this, even in spite of all of the good 00:08:34.389 --> 00:08:38.129 Christians who thought slavery made so much sense. 00:08:39.149 --> 00:08:41.850 Maybe he assumed that if he obeyed God, success 00:08:41.850 --> 00:08:46.269 would come quickly, but year after year, it didn't. 00:08:46.970 --> 00:08:49.850 The slave trade, it was just too profitable. 00:08:50.389 --> 00:08:53.250 It's too entrenched. The ridicule, the exhaustion, 00:08:53.450 --> 00:08:56.139 the loneliness that he faced. And like Habakkuk, 00:08:56.139 --> 00:08:58.580 he must have stood on his own watchtower and 00:08:58.580 --> 00:09:04.100 prayed, Lord, how long? Like Hananiah publicly 00:09:04.100 --> 00:09:07.500 contradicting Jeremiah in the temple, saying 00:09:07.500 --> 00:09:10.379 God would end their suffering in Babylon within 00:09:10.379 --> 00:09:13.919 just two years and restore all the exiles and 00:09:13.919 --> 00:09:17.419 temple treasures, even while Jeremiah warned 00:09:17.419 --> 00:09:20.379 that they should watch to see what would happen. 00:09:20.700 --> 00:09:25.120 And it ended up taking 70. Like the false prophets 00:09:25.120 --> 00:09:28.960 telling King Ahab what he wanted to hear in hell 00:09:28.960 --> 00:09:32.779 of his pride while the true prophet Micaiah warned 00:09:32.779 --> 00:09:37.879 of God's judgment. Like Micah exposing the self 00:09:37.879 --> 00:09:40.779 -interest of the prophets of Samaria where their 00:09:40.779 --> 00:09:43.740 prophecy depended on whether they were being 00:09:43.740 --> 00:09:47.879 paid or praised. Their message of peace being 00:09:47.879 --> 00:09:51.159 a product only of comfort and corruption and 00:09:51.159 --> 00:09:54.960 not divine truth. People love to find reasons 00:09:54.960 --> 00:09:59.220 to stumble and avoid God's words of command to 00:09:59.220 --> 00:10:04.019 us all. Reasons to discredit those who make them 00:10:04.019 --> 00:10:06.759 uncomfortable with what they hear. You're not 00:10:06.759 --> 00:10:09.379 on the winning side. You're sounding like the 00:10:09.379 --> 00:10:12.919 losers. It's easier to critique someone's tone 00:10:12.919 --> 00:10:15.299 than to face the truth of what they're saying. 00:10:16.200 --> 00:10:20.860 Faith though keeps us listening. Faith doesn't 00:10:20.860 --> 00:10:23.480 make excuses. for the sins we know we need to 00:10:23.480 --> 00:10:26.460 see. Faith keeps our hearts open to correction, 00:10:26.639 --> 00:10:29.620 to the Spirit, to the possibility that God may 00:10:29.620 --> 00:10:34.720 be calling us to change. That's what the disciples 00:10:34.720 --> 00:10:37.919 had to learn. That following Jesus meant more 00:10:37.919 --> 00:10:41.799 than believing in miracles. It meant humbly forgiving, 00:10:42.919 --> 00:10:46.759 faithfully serving, and trusting God even when 00:10:46.759 --> 00:10:51.629 obedience felt ordinary. Jesus ends that passage 00:10:51.629 --> 00:10:55.129 with a small parable. Who among you would say 00:10:55.129 --> 00:10:57.950 to your servant who has just come in from plowing 00:10:57.950 --> 00:11:01.190 or tending sheep, come here at once and take 00:11:01.190 --> 00:11:04.970 your place at the table? Would you not rather 00:11:04.970 --> 00:11:09.490 say, prepare supper for me and put on your apron 00:11:09.490 --> 00:11:12.049 and serve me while I eat and drink and later 00:11:12.049 --> 00:11:16.740 you may eat and drink? He concludes so you also 00:11:16.740 --> 00:11:19.120 when you have done all that you were ordered 00:11:19.120 --> 00:11:23.019 to do say we are worthless servants We have done 00:11:23.019 --> 00:11:28.039 only what we ought to have done What a harsh 00:11:28.039 --> 00:11:32.779 and strange thing for Jesus to say right yeesh 00:11:32.779 --> 00:11:38.419 Tone it down Jesus. What's up? But Jesus is saying 00:11:38.419 --> 00:11:40.919 is that our faith is not about achieving the 00:11:40.919 --> 00:11:43.980 type of victory. We want to see where somehow 00:11:43.980 --> 00:11:47.700 we feel praised and glorified. It's not a transaction 00:11:47.700 --> 00:11:51.360 where we follow because we want to be rewarded. 00:11:52.220 --> 00:11:54.620 It's a relationship that's rooted in trust and 00:11:54.620 --> 00:11:58.179 gratitude, which means we follow even the parts 00:11:58.179 --> 00:12:01.600 of what God wants that others may not be willing 00:12:01.600 --> 00:12:07.460 to support, even when those closest to us still 00:12:07.460 --> 00:12:10.799 don't support us. Because the righteous live 00:12:10.799 --> 00:12:15.350 by faith, not for applause. not for control, 00:12:16.490 --> 00:12:19.970 not for pride. Wilberforce may have never seen 00:12:19.970 --> 00:12:22.649 himself as a hero. He definitely saw himself 00:12:22.649 --> 00:12:27.330 as a servant of Christ, doing what needed to 00:12:27.330 --> 00:12:31.730 be done. When his opponents mocked him, even 00:12:31.730 --> 00:12:34.529 the ones who claimed his faith, he neither retaliated 00:12:34.529 --> 00:12:37.250 nor gave up. When his own party abandoned him, 00:12:37.269 --> 00:12:40.370 he kept showing up. See, that's mustard seed 00:12:40.370 --> 00:12:46.399 faith. Small, steady, persistent, waiting to 00:12:46.399 --> 00:12:49.899 blossom in God's timing. With persistent patience, 00:12:50.100 --> 00:12:53.620 the UK changed because of evangelical revival, 00:12:54.580 --> 00:12:58.399 moral reform, and a growing public conscience, 00:12:59.000 --> 00:13:02.440 even while other countries had to force their 00:13:02.440 --> 00:13:05.139 own people to change through warfare and money. 00:13:06.720 --> 00:13:09.500 If Habakkuk teaches us to wait on God's timing, 00:13:10.000 --> 00:13:13.299 and Jesus teaches us to act in humble obedience, 00:13:14.299 --> 00:13:17.000 then together they remind us that faith lives 00:13:17.000 --> 00:13:20.039 in the tension between waiting on God's timing 00:13:20.039 --> 00:13:23.019 for the fulfillment of righteousness and doing 00:13:23.019 --> 00:13:26.019 only what God allows while accepting that we 00:13:26.019 --> 00:13:30.679 may not always win. Faith waits for the vision 00:13:30.679 --> 00:13:33.460 to be revealed in God's timing while it keeps 00:13:33.460 --> 00:13:39.080 forgiving, keeps serving, keeps believing. And 00:13:39.080 --> 00:13:42.539 sometimes that's the hardest kind of faith. Not 00:13:42.539 --> 00:13:45.500 the mountain moving kind, but the day in, day 00:13:45.500 --> 00:13:49.019 out kind. The faith that keeps loving someone 00:13:49.019 --> 00:13:52.279 who's hurt you. The faith that keeps praying 00:13:52.279 --> 00:13:55.980 for a child who's wandered away. The faith that 00:13:55.980 --> 00:13:59.940 keeps working for justice when change comes painfully 00:13:59.940 --> 00:14:03.620 slow. The faith that says that fighting against 00:14:03.620 --> 00:14:08.429 moral debauchery Impure sexuality and harming 00:14:08.429 --> 00:14:12.950 the unborn does not require that we step around 00:14:12.950 --> 00:14:17.450 the Lazaruses of our day and ignore the infirm, 00:14:17.950 --> 00:14:21.350 empower the corrupt, or lie to ourselves about 00:14:21.350 --> 00:14:24.429 what is right in front of us. If we act like 00:14:24.429 --> 00:14:28.110 the world and lose our morals, cling to power 00:14:28.110 --> 00:14:30.970 above all else, then we drive away those who 00:14:30.970 --> 00:14:36.059 need the grace of God most. We cause others to 00:14:36.059 --> 00:14:40.200 sin by becoming the evil we hate and they reject 00:14:40.200 --> 00:14:45.519 God because they reject our evil especially as 00:14:45.519 --> 00:14:48.759 we justify ourselves instead of asking for forgiveness 00:14:48.759 --> 00:14:51.940 and often times putting the millstone around 00:14:51.940 --> 00:14:56.340 our own necks See even now there are voices that 00:14:56.340 --> 00:15:00.139 try to redefine injustice as something good There 00:15:00.139 --> 00:15:03.389 are even those people in our own time who would 00:15:03.389 --> 00:15:05.610 even say that slavery in some way was a blessing 00:15:05.610 --> 00:15:09.269 in disguise. That it brought civilization, education, 00:15:09.370 --> 00:15:12.850 or job skills to the savages who sold each other 00:15:12.850 --> 00:15:15.470 into slavery as if people who called themselves 00:15:15.470 --> 00:15:18.830 Christians back then were excused when doing 00:15:18.830 --> 00:15:22.730 the same evil practices as the heathens. Some 00:15:22.730 --> 00:15:25.049 even claim that there's no real inequality among 00:15:25.049 --> 00:15:28.009 races anymore as if history's wounds simply healed 00:15:28.009 --> 00:15:32.000 themselves that quickly. but faith doesn't look 00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:35.500 away from reality. Faith doesn't make excuses 00:15:35.500 --> 00:15:37.340 for the sins of the past or the struggles of 00:15:37.340 --> 00:15:40.919 the present. Faith willingly tells the truth 00:15:40.919 --> 00:15:44.480 and then keeps trusting that God's truth will 00:15:44.480 --> 00:15:48.940 lead to healing rather than denial. The proud 00:15:48.940 --> 00:15:52.220 refuse correction. They say we've done enough. 00:15:52.700 --> 00:15:56.720 The righteous, though, live by faith. And faith 00:15:56.720 --> 00:16:00.590 is humble enough to listen, to learn, to keep 00:16:00.590 --> 00:16:04.350 repenting and moving forward in hope. Living 00:16:04.350 --> 00:16:06.610 by faith in our world means something both very 00:16:06.610 --> 00:16:09.990 ordinary and very bold. It means holding fast 00:16:09.990 --> 00:16:13.649 to God's promises while living with open hands. 00:16:14.350 --> 00:16:16.929 It means doing what's right even when it's unpopular 00:16:16.929 --> 00:16:20.289 and seemingly unrewarding. It means forgiving 00:16:20.289 --> 00:16:23.049 when others won't, listening when others shout, 00:16:23.230 --> 00:16:27.149 and serving without needing recognition. Faith 00:16:27.149 --> 00:16:30.250 doesn't have to be big to be real. It just has 00:16:30.250 --> 00:16:34.289 to be alive, clinging to God's purposes and promises, 00:16:34.389 --> 00:16:36.730 however small the grip in our own hearts may 00:16:36.730 --> 00:16:40.049 feel. The watchman on the wall waits for justice, 00:16:40.190 --> 00:16:42.570 the servant in the field obeys with gratitude, 00:16:42.929 --> 00:16:46.370 the disciple forgives again and again, and together 00:16:46.370 --> 00:16:48.429 they bear witness to the same truth, that the 00:16:48.429 --> 00:16:52.690 righteous shall live by faith. In closing, when 00:16:52.690 --> 00:16:55.769 we look at people like Wilberforce, or even at 00:16:55.769 --> 00:16:58.730 Habakkuk and the disciples, We're reminded that 00:16:58.730 --> 00:17:00.710 faith isn't about being strong. It's about being 00:17:00.710 --> 00:17:03.669 steady It's about trusting that God's vision 00:17:03.669 --> 00:17:07.509 for the world a vision of mercy Justice and restoration 00:17:07.509 --> 00:17:10.789 will not fail Even if it feels slow and coming 00:17:10.789 --> 00:17:16.789 and we do not feel in control So we wait we forgive 00:17:16.789 --> 00:17:21.509 We serve we speak truth not with arrogance but 00:17:21.509 --> 00:17:25.869 with grace And we live by faith not in what we 00:17:25.869 --> 00:17:29.119 can see but in the one who has promised to make 00:17:29.119 --> 00:17:32.859 all things new in his timing. Even small faith, 00:17:32.859 --> 00:17:36.259 Jesus says, can move mountains. Even small faith, 00:17:36.319 --> 00:17:39.980 Habakkuk says, can outlast empires. And even 00:17:39.980 --> 00:17:43.960 small truth, even small faith, your faith and 00:17:43.960 --> 00:17:46.759 mine, can make the light of Christ visible in 00:17:46.759 --> 00:17:50.880 a world that still longs to see it. Thanks be 00:17:50.880 --> 00:17:51.259 to God.