This new series that we began on Sunday is one that I’ve been looking forward to teaching. Most of that is because of the cultural moment we find ourselves in being “on the outside looking in.” But also, I know how refreshing it was to my soul to spend in the Minor Prophets. I found solace in the fact that these prophets spoke forthrightly and directly to God’s people about their sins and how they should think during their time in exile. It’s been good for me to study these books afresh, and I think it’ll be good for us as a church.
Because Hosea is 14 chapters and I was doing a “moon-shot,” I thought I would take this post to detail many things I left out of Sunday’s sermon. I hope this will be helpful as you read through Hosea.
Book recommendation:
First, I recommend Love Divine and Unfailing by Michael Barrett. This book is from a series called “The Gospel According to the Old Testament.” I have found a lot of good from this series of “commentaries.”
Exiled from the “cool” kids’ table:
One of the first things I want to address is something that came up in our Tuesday review session. One of the pastors asked if we should expect God to keep us off the “cool” kids’ table or if God wants Christians at tables of influence, so we can truly disciple the nations. It is a great question and, frankly, one I haven’t thought through very much.
But here are some initial thoughts on that question:
- For too long, Christians in our land have “expected” a seat at the table. Some see this seat as one of validation or acceptance from the non-Christian world. So, when the Lord seemed to remove us from the conversation, some Christians didn’t know how to act. In that sense, it’s appropriate and right to think this was the Lord’s doing.
- Further, anytime people were exiled in the Bible, it revealed their need for God and His ways and to cleanse them from their sin. I think this is true, to some degree, in our current cultural moment. The Lord is using this “exile” to cause Christians to re-think how to engage in evangelism, world mission, the role of politics in the church, and how to interact with a violent non-Christian world. And the Lord seems to be bringing repentance and change to Christians, at large, on these issues.
- The hope would be that Christians could gain places of influence without the past compromises (see below) and speak more winsomely and biblically on any given subject. In that sense, I believe that we can pray for and hope for God-given influence (see last week’s post on “wielding influence well”), and if that means that we have a seat at the “cool” kids’ table, then so be it. The difference would be that at the moment that happens, we wouldn’t “need” it for acceptance or approval, but we would use it for God’s glory and purposes.
- The Great Commission is indeed a vast task, and it not only involves individuals but nations. To do that, we will need influence and opportunity for the gospel in vast and various places.
The National Covenant:
One of the significant issues in the book of Hosea is the national covenant God made with Israel. I think it is incredibly important to understand this because it will put God’s relationship with national Israel in perspective and give room for what’s called “spiritual” Israel. This is why Paul could say in Romans 9:6, “For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel.” In a very simplistic way to think about this, it’s like saying that not all in the church belong to the Church. There’s a little ‘c’ for the local church and a big ‘C’ for the Church of all time, who belong to God.
National Israel clearly defied their God, forgot Him, and thus forsook their covenant obligations with their God. In wondering how Israel could do this, Michael Barrett commented, “It’s relatively simple. The nature and extent of the temporal administration of the covenant are part of one answer: some aspects of the covenant were only external. Suffice to say that the nation as a visible whole broke covenant with God, & God dealt with the visible nation accordingly.” Meaning that Israel sinned nationally, even if some (like Hosea) obeyed God. And their national sin is what brought about national consequences.
Again, don’t miss the fact that Israel is the only nation in the Bible with this status. That’s what makes their disobedience to God so tragic.
Don’t presume upon God:
This favored status is what concerned Hosea. His people had taken the blessings of God and presumed that they could live any way they wanted, without reference to the God of those blessings. And you can almost hear God in the background saying, “are you going to bite the Hand that has fed you?”
The great blessings of Israel and forgetting their God caused me a pause in my study of this great book. It stirred me to consider where I presume upon God and where I take His blessings for granted or as a license. This quote by Michael Barrett stunned me, “the church may not be subject to the same kind of calamities experienced by Israel, but Christians must remain conscious of the fact that their privileged position does not free them to sin and that God will in fatherly love discipline them as necessary with a view to holiness.”
Be careful whom you trust and compromise with:
When Israel forgot her God, she leaned into Assyria and Egypt for help. Assyria because they were knocking on Israel’s doorstep and Egypt because Israel might need help if war came. Yet, Assyria took Israel’s peace-making efforts and ransacked them in 722 B.C. This caused me to consider how important it is for Christians to be careful with whom we make compromises.
Our culture has many moments for “peace-making” and “compromise.” In everything from racial reconciliation to dealing with accusations of sexual abuse, the non-Christian world demands that Christians agree with their ways of dealing with issues or be damned culturally. While some ways the world would like Christians to respond might align with biblical authority, others do not. Yet, Christians across America compromised on issues of church authority, biblical governance, and biblical justice out of fear of being canceled or not being tough on these types of issues.
Before I go further on this topic, please know that I genuinely believe that some Christians, in some places, have not done a good job of dealing with racism or abuse in their churches. The saddest commentary I grew up with in the South was that the most segregated time during the entire week was “11:00 on Sunday morning”, indicating that churches were highly racist. This was true in some aspects. Not to mention the amount of scandalous abuse that has gone on in churches, unchecked and unaccounted for, is sickening to consider.
It is this sad commentary that I believe (in my personal opinion) stirred up some of the compromises made by Christian churches, leaders, and Christians. These compromises don’t seem like much until an accusation comes up. Currently, in our world, an accusation could be true or false, but since churches and Christians compromised and made peace with the world’s way of dealing with these issues, they must handle them with the world’s standards and guidelines. And in so doing, in some cases, they cast out biblical justice and biblical authority.
But let’s be clear about this…like Assyria before Israel, an enemy of God will do all they can to destroy God’s people. They don’t fight fair, nor do they “believe the best” about the people of God. It’s a dangerous game, and we, as Christians, must be careful to whom we compromise on issues that God’s word speaks. Further, we must not compromise on dealing with hard and challenging issues biblically, with a biblical heart.
The anomaly of America:
I don’t think many of us in this great nation misunderstand the blessings of living in America. Sure, the wacky actor/actress might say they’re planning to live in Canada because of America’s ills. However, the reality is that most of them don’t, and most people understand that this is still the greatest nation on earth.
However, as Christians, we must realize that what we’ve enjoyed in America for the past 200+ years is an anomaly to what most biblical history speaks about or what the rest of the world experiences. This became increasingly clear to me during 2020. Most of the brothers/sisters I work with worldwide did not enjoy our freedoms, nor did they have a “voice” at the table of influence as Christians did and still do.
Further, most biblical history displays the people of God on the outside looking in rather than being on the “in.” Yes, we have our Josephs and our Daniels, but it took those men a long time to establish themselves in those areas of influence.
As we live in a world that seems to gain traction for most hostility, it’s essential for Christians to prepare our “feet with the gospel of peace” and to be ready to take up the “sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.” Our weapons and tactics are not like the rest of the world. They are through meekness, service, forgiveness, and grace.
We may never get our seat at the table back, but we can sure get our Christian witness back:).
Looking ahead:
This coming Sunday, we will study the book of Joel. Three chapters don’t seem as daunting as 14, but it just means that you can’t miss anything…Take some time this week and read this book. As an NT reference, read through Acts 2 and see if you don’t see something connected to Joel.
From the Cheap Seats:
- What a great opening weekend of College Football. Watch the highlights from this game. It’ll be 7 minutes worth your football time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyPIusjc6Yk.
- This week…the NFL season begins. Just do the math…from this coming Sunday until the 1st Sunday of February, NFL football will be on. So awesome:).
- The English Premier is only 6 games in, and man is it crazy. Some unreal goals and games. Enjoy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDd-TF0iYOQ
To watch or listen to the sermon described in this post, please click here.
Have a great week!
In Christ,
Dave York
