Reflections on "Standing on the Wall" Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4

This may be the first time I have ever preached on a text from the prophet Habakkuk.  I know I have studied it on occasion in preparing to teach a class on minor prophets, but I don't think I have ever preaced it. 

When I picked the text, I intended to build the sermon around standing on the wall and then tying it to the saints who have stood on the wall in previous years.  I also intended to tie Zacchaeus climbing a tree into the sermon.  But, as I studied and reflected more on the text, I decided the lament part of the Habakkuk was important, and I fell in love with the running while reading image.  In fact, I used that as the basis for the Time with Young Disciples (I had them try and read small print and then large print while jogging in place!).  thus, I tried to share three images from Habakkuk so they would have a better feel for Habakkuk.  

“Standing on the Wall”; November 2, 2025; St. Andrew Presbyterian Church; Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4

The oracle that the prophet Habakkuk saw.

2 

O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,
    and you will not listen?
Or cry to you “Violence!”
    and you will not save?

3 

Why do you make me see wrongdoing
    and look at trouble?
Destruction and violence are before me;
    strife and contention arise.

4 

So the law becomes slack,
    and justice never prevails.
The wicked surround the righteous;
    therefore judgment comes forth perverted.

2 

I will stand at my watchpost

    and station myself on the rampart;

I will keep watch to see what he will say to me

    and what he[a] will answer concerning my complaint.

2 

Then the Lord answered me and said:

Write the vision;

    make it plain on tablets,

    so that a runner may read it.

3 

For there is still a vision for the appointed time;

    it speaks of the end and does not lie.

If it seems to tarry, wait for it;

    it will surely come; it will not delay.

4 

Look at the proud!

    Their spirit is not right in them,

    but the righteous live by their faithfulness.

Introduction:  no stewrDhsipn, so we have a text from the lectionary, that three yer cycle of reading through the Bible.  

This is the only week Habakkuk is found in the lectionary! 

I suspect most of us have not spent much time with this prophet.

Three things about Habakkuk I want to point out this morning - one overall comment and two compelling images.

Move 1: Habakkuk is a lament.

a. A crying out to God.

1.  sounds like the opening a of a pslam wiht the psalmist crying out:  “How long, O God, how long.”

2.  From Habakkuk we hear these words of lament:

O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,
    and you will not listen?
Or cry to you “Violence!”
    and you will not save?

2.  habakkuk looks at the world, 

sees the injustice

turns to God 

and cries “how long?”

3. we know the place from which Habakkuk cries out.

we too look to our world and see the violence, the injustice, 

and we cry it, “how long?”

b.  For Habakkuk, the Lament turns into a call for justice.

1. Read the rest of this first chapter and you will see the prophet challenging God.

2.  how can you not do something about what is happening in the world?

3.  Shifts from lament to a call for God to act, 

which in many ways is also a call for God’s people to act out against the injustice in the world.

c. when we cry out to God in lament;

when we turn to God and ask why are you letting this happen;

we also hear the call to work in God’s behalf to end the injustices in our world,

to bring peace to our world

to ambassadors of reconciliation.

Habakkuk is a lament that also calls us to action.

Move 2:  secondly, “I will stand at my watch post and station myself on the rampart”

a.  Standing on wall - 

1. When we were in Greece - high parts of the towns they have walls

act as a barrier, or fortress for protection,

but these walls also provide a spot from which someone can stand and look in all directions.

looking for who might be approaching.

2. Habakkuk takes that image of standing in the wall as our calling to stand and look for God to come and save the people.

to stand and look for God’s justice to be at work,

b.  from the vantage point on the wall, one can also point.

1.  Point so others can see where God is at work in the midst of the injustice.

2. Point to the places where God’s people need to be at work.

3.  Point to the God who is not yet done and is still at work in the world.

Move 3:  I also love the image of Reading while running - 

a. found in the second part of our reading.

1.  Connected to the best-known verse in Habakkuk - vs. 4 “but the righteous live by their faith”

2.  Paul references this phrases in his first chapter of his letter ot the Romans.

b.  But, I can’t get this image of how they we are called to share the vision.

1. “make it plain on the tablet so that a runner can read it.”

2. I see lots of joggers with ear buds in, maybe listening to music or listening to a book being read.

but I don’t know that I ever see runners reading as they run by me!

I have tried to read in my phone as I walk, but the faster I walk the harder it is to read.

3.  Reading while running is Not a go-to image we see in other places of the Bible, or even other writings outside the Bible.

3.  what do you think?

4.  Running away?  

5.  Make the message clear

6. Runners take the message to others so they can read it or hear it.

7.  About Keep telling the message.

c. What is the message?

God is not done.

God calls us to be at work in the world.

write it plainly

tell it loudly.

the world needs to hear it.

Conclusion:  the prophet Habakkuk reminds us of the church’s calling,

our calling to recognize the injustice in our world and cry out to God;

our calling to stand and look for God and point to where we see God at work so we can join in the work.

our calling to share the message loudly and clearly that God is not  done.

Amen.

Reflections on “Stewardship Response” 2 Corinthians 9: 6-15; Deuteronomy 8: 7-18

As I  look at my notes today, I realize my sermon did not go as I had originally planned it.  Maybe the Reformation influence changed it mid-stream, or maybe I just did not consult my notes from when I laid out the sermon series.  I'm not sure if the Martin Luther "here I stand" illustration fit very well.  I actually liked the first two points of the sermon and thought they did well.

 “Stewardship Response”; October 26, 2025; St. Andrew Presbyterian Church; 2 Corinthians 9: 6-15; Deuteronomy 8: 7-18

2 Corinthians 9: 6-15   The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not regretfully or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work. 9 As it is

written,

“He scatters abroad; he gives to the poor;

his righteousness endures forever.”

10 He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.11 You will be enriched in every way for your great generosity, which will produce thanksgiving to God through us, 12 for the rendering of this ministry not only supplies the needs of the saints but also overflows with many thanksgivings to God. 13 Through the testing of this ministry you[f] glorify God by your obedience to the confession of the gospel of Christ and by the generosity of your partnership with them and with all others,14 while they long for you and pray for you because of the

surpassing grace of God that he has given you. 15 Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

Introduction: this is Our final stewardship sermon this fall;  next week, we dedicate our pledges in worship;  

letter this week with pledge cards, if you use that.method of making a pledge.

In the old days, when everyone filled out pledge cards, commitment Sunday worship was often designed to emphasize that physical response of filling out and returning pledge cards.

I trust that here at St. Andrew you had creative ways of emphasizing that response.

Through the years, churches I served tried different methods, 

the go to was to have everyone stand up and process forward with their pledge cards in hand to put them in a basket, or an offering plate.

The point was to give people an opportunity to physically respond to the call to make a pledge.

We do not do that anymore for several reasons,  primarily because so many people now take the high tech approach and make their pledges in realm, 

and some do old school and mail in pledge cards

and some of us also go really old school and just call the financial secretary and say, “here’s what I’m going to pledge!”

If we had those turning in pledge cards walk down, I suspect much of the congregation would stay in the pews, so that method loses some of its power to show our response.

However, you make your pledge, I hope you recognize that making a pledge is a response we make to God’s graciousness toward you  and God’s claim in your life.

Move 1:  response is more than a stewardship concept -

a. At the heart of discipleship is the call to respond to Jesus’ command/invitation - “Follow me!”

  1.  At all stages in life,

from all aspects of our lives

we are called to respond to God.

2.  Responding is not a stewardship thing, but a discipleship thing.

in fact, stewardship is not its own, separate compartmentalized category, but it is part of our discipleship response.

we recognize what God has done in our lives,

we hear God’s call

we feel the stirrings of the Holy Spirit,

so we respond.

b.  That is what Moses is talking to the Israelites about in the passage we read in Deuteronomy.

1.  They are not even in the Promised Land yet, but Moses is prepping them for how to respond when they arrive in there.

2.  “Take care that you do not forget the Lord your God by failing to keep his commandments, his ordinances,

and his statutes that I am commanding you today

3.  He goes on to describe what wonderful things await them,

lots of herds and flocks,

silver and gold multiplying,

new houses

lots of things that might keep them from remembering to respond to the God who brought them out of slavery  in Egypt and who will lead them into the Promised Land.

4. Moses knows what we know - it is easy to get caught up in life,

to see all that we have as of our own doing

to be so busy living our lives that we forget the God who has blessed us,

to forget the God who  calls us to respond by giving our lives over to following Christ and serving him in the world.

5. One of the values of  having a stewardship each fall is that it reminds us that all of our decisions,

all that we do,

ought to be done within the context of our response to God.

Move 2:  Even as we speak of our call to respond, we recognize that we are not forced to respond.

a. George Buttrick, preaching professor at Harvard and pastor at Madison Ave Presbyterian Church in NYC in the early 20th century liked to say that, “God’s beckonings are always by hint and gleam, lest we be coerced.—George Buttrick (1892-1980) [found in https://www.ptm.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/partnerLetter.pdf; referenced by Milton Brasher-Cunningham, the beckonings of God

January 3, 2010; http://donteatalone.com/uncategorized/the-beckonings-of-god)

1.  We always have the freedom of choosing whether we want to respond or not.

likewise, we always have to freedom to determine how we want to respond to what God is doing in our lives and our world.

no one can force us to respond.

2.  Paul makes this point when he writes to the Corinthians about their giving:  

Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not regretfully or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

3.  God blows the breath of life into the mud to create us;

God initiates a relationship with us;

God calls us to follow.

4. But, we get to choose.

5.  Paul can remind us how we are changed,

how we benefit,

how we live into the people God calls us to be when we choose to respond,

but no one forces us to respond.

6.  Our response grows out of the realization that when we recognize what God has done in our lives, all we can do is respond.

c.  On this Reformation Sunday, you may remember Martin Luther’s most famous words.

well, maybe his 95 Theses he posted that sort of kicked off the Reformation are his most famous words, but I’m talking about his most remembered spoken words, that we know as the  “here I stand” speech. 

Don’t forget the context of those words.

Luther was at The Diet of Worms in 1521 (an imperial assembly at the city of Worms, Germany). It  was not called specifically to deal with Luther, but his case one of the matters with which it was called to deal. 

On 17 April 1521, Luther was asked if the books, whose titles had been read aloud by the council were his and whether he would stand by their contents – some of which was considered heretical and a threat to the Church's authority – 

or did he wish to recant. 

If he chose to recant and repent of the works, he could be welcomed back into the Church; 

if he refused, he would be branded a heretic and could be burned at the stake.

Luther asked for an adjournment so he could formalate a response.

  the next day, he gave his response in which he affirmed that the books in question and the theology espoused were indeed his.

And then he finished his speech with these words:  “here I stand.  I cannot do otherwise. God help me. Amen.”  (https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1900/luthers-speech-at-the-diet-of-worms/)

Luther had recognized what God had done in his life and had to respond.

Conclusion:  Our pledge is not quite as dramatic a response as Luther’s response, 

but we see in him what it means to recognize God’s claim on our lives 

and to give a response..  Amen.

Deuteronomy 8: 7-18  For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with flowing streams, with springs and underground waters welling up in valleys and hills, 8 a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey, 9 a land where you may eat bread without scarcity, where you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron and from whose hills you may mine copper. 10 You shall eat your fill and bless the Lord your God for the good land that he has given you.

11 “Take care that you do not forget the Lord your God by failing to keep his commandments, his ordinances, and his statutes that I am commanding you today. 12 When you have eaten your fill and have built fine houses and live in them 13 and when your herds and flocks have multiplied and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, 14 then do not exalt yourself, forgetting the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, 15 who led you through the great and terrible wilderness, an arid wasteland with poisonous[a] snakes and scorpions. He made water flow for you from flint rock. 16 He fed you in the wilderness with manna that your ancestors did not know, to humble you and to test you and in the end to do you good. 17 Do not say to yourself, ‘My power and the might of my own hand have gotten me this wealth.’ 18 But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, so that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your ancestors, as he is doing today. 19 If you do forget the Lord your God and follow other gods to serve and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. 20 Like the nations that the Lord is destroying before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God.