Majoring in the Minor
Over the course of the next weeks we will be ‘majoring on the minor’. It has been said that the most important keys to success are in the minor details – so with that as our standard we will examine some of the most rich yet often least read books in the bible (besides Leviticus and Numbers) – The Minor Prophets;
With books like; Amos, Obadiah, Nahum and Malachi.
While their names may not be the most familiar their messages are timeless; “when life is barren”, “what to do with the lost” and “what about the future”, “Why”?
So as we take literally Timothy’s charge that “All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness…” I’d encourage you to tell your friends that in just a few weeks you’ll be examining “Habakkuk” and invite them to join you.
We begin this morning with the first of the 12 books that have been designated the non-illustrative title of “Minor Prophets”. Their label is not due to their lack of importance, it is due to their lack of length in chapters. Short and to the point these 12 books say in just a few verses (one of them being the shortest book in the OT – Obadiah with 21 verses) some of the deepest and most profound truths in all of scripture.
Personally, I am excited to separate pages that for many have never been taken apart and come to grip with words given by God thousands of years ago. The major theme of all of them; straight up talk about sin and God’s judgment, God’s love and pity, His yearning over the wayward people, His desire to comfort and bless them and an unwavering sense of god’s faithfulness even when his children are anything but faithful.
Hosea – “What to do with the fallen”
What are we to do with the fallen? Those who, for some reason, have either shipwrecked their faith or have jumped completely into the ocean of sin?
- Are we to let them drown? After all, “They are the ones who chose to jump in…”
- Are we to go and tell others so others, “Can pray for them…”
- Should we embrace them with love and acceptance, “After all the Holy Spirit does a much better job of convicting them than anything I could say”?
- Maybe we should publically denounce their behavior and withhold love until they “repent”.
Dealing with the fallen is one of the pivotal issues facing the body of Christ today. How do we reconcile Titus 3:10 – “As for the person who stirs up division after warning them once and then twice, have nothing more to do with them…” With, “Forgive your brother 70 x 7”?
Hosea is a book that has three predominant themes (as with most prophets); sin, judgment and restoration. Hosea is written during a time of worldly prosperity in Israel to the point that they forget about God and allow idolatry and worldly systems to take precedent. It is a pre-exilic book (meaning the Israelites have not be taken into captivity) – yet their future is on the horizon.
The book of Hosea is a blueprint of how God “deals with the fallen”.
I. Empathize (1-3) –
Hosea’s experience is a portrayal of God’s dealings with Israel. In a type and shadow the ‘people of God’ are now those who believe in salvation through Jesus Christ. Because Israel had abandoned (prostituted) their relationship with God – Hosea (‘salvation’) is instructed to marry Gomer (‘to complete’) who is a wife of whoredom.
• 1:2 – “Go take for yourself a wife of whoredom and have children…”
• 3:1 – “Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress…”
- It was God’s instruction that Hosea be placed in the same condition why… – so that Hosea may not judge too quickly against those who had fallen. God knew that unless Hosea could empathize with God’s love, devotion, hope and compassion about his chosen people, Hosea would be harsh, judgmental and critical in his dealings with them.
• It’s east to be critical of the fallen…
Empathy is not sympathy
- Sympathy = An inclination to support or be loyal to an opinion
- Empathy = understanding and entering into another’s feelings at times through experience.
Sympathy = a simple nod of the head, “I agree”.
Empathy = exposure/experience –
In dealing with the fallen God asks that we become empathetic to the fallen. Not to excuse their sin, rather to prevent harsh criticism and judgment.
II. Identification of specific sin (4-7) –
- Violent crime (lying, murder, stealing and adultery) 4:2
• Interesting to note that lying is grouped in with murder…
• The point being that in dealing with the fallen each heart knows its own sorrow; not paying a parking meter “feels” the same as robbing a bank to some.
• Sin is sin – there is no sin too small to identify as such. There is deceit in thinking sin is ‘nothing’ but that idea is refuted here.
• Satan accuses in general terms – God accuses in specific pointed terms.
- Hypocritical spiritual leaders – 4:4-9
• We are priests to this world (revelation 1:5-6 – “To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father…”– as you go in and out what is your testimony? As you live – what is your life ‘speaking’?
- A spirit of prostitution in worship (Idolatry / systems of worship) – 4:10-19
• This is form without power, rules in a system created by man.
• The exaltation of accomplishment for meeting religious requirements.
- Stubbornness – 4:16
- Religious hypocrisy – 6:6
• False humility, contentiousness, taking a position that scatters instead of gathers.
• Performance instead of adoration.
- Being tolerant of wickedness – 7:3
- Being altered (drunkenness) – 7:5
- Arrogance – 7:10
- foreign alliances / preferring the worlds system over God’s commands – 7:11
- ungratefulness – 7:15
In specifically identifying sin – it prevents being overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.
To deal with the fallen it is necessary to identify specific sin.
III. Allow consequences (don’t protect) (8-10) –
- Allow increased suffering – 8:7 “Sow the wind reap the whirlwind”
• As people fall away from God their lives ‘spin’ out of control… let them.
- Allow financial consequences – 9:2 – “Threshing floor and wine vat shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail them.”
• Be slow to financially bail out the fallen who are unrepentant.
- Allow being overtaken – 9:6
• The world will overtake them – their precious things will be lost and their dwelling places overtaken by weeds.
o What do weeds represent in the bible? Well – what do weeds do – they choke, entangle and steal, they hinder maturity, they slow down growth and prevent fruit from ripening.
- Understand, that there will be selfish attitude – 9:9 – “as in the days of Gibeah”
• A reference to a time in Israel’s history where they had no king and ‘everyone did what was right in their own eyes) – Judges 21:25
- Let things ‘not work out’ when they should - there may be ‘death’ of some of their most cherished things – 9:13 – “Ephraim must lead his children out to slaughter.
• Relationships, jobs, homes
It is difficult to allow consequences… but (1 Sam 14:6) – “…nothing can hinder the Lord from saving by many or by few.”
Proverbs 19:19 – “A man of great wrath will pay the penalty, for if you deliver him, you will only have to do it again.”
So... when are we to step in?
IV. Restoration (11-14) –
- The Expression of restoration – 11:1-4
• As a loving Father – “When Israel was a child I loved him and out of Egypt (evil) I called my son.” – 11:1
• Being patient – “teaching them to walk” – 11:3 (allowing them to learn at their own pace) – being gentle.
• With balance and support – “took them by their arms” – 11:3b – walking along side of them.
• Providing proper portion at the proper time – “I bent down to them and fed them” (the idea is of a father picking up their child and bringing them to His cheek in an embrace.”
• Not executing sentence on them – rather letting consequences occur and supporting them in the midst of those consequences – 11:9
- The response of the Fallen
• The person must turn from their evil ways (like Jacob) – 12:4 – with tears and a spirit that prevails.
• Accept not only love but justice (fairness) in a spirit of love – 12:6
• They should serve others – 12:12 – Israel (Jacob) served 14 years.
• Full confession of all sin – 14:2
• Restitution – 14:2b
• Disregard of former things (stop doing old actions)– 14:3
• Continual pursuit of the things of God – 14:9
What to do with the fallen:
Empathy
Identification of specific sin
Allowance of consequences
Restoration
Why is it important to know how to deal with the fallen?
Just look around. You and I are in a war – a war in which our fellow brothers and sisters in faith are injured and have fallen; some by their own hand, others by the hand of the enemy who has deceived them.
Samuel Adams said, “He who is void of virtuous attachments in private life is, or very soon will be, void of all regard for his country. There is seldom an instance of a man guilty of betraying his country, who had not before lost the feeling of moral obligations in his private connections”.
- If we leave our brothers and sisters dying on the battle field we have lost all moral obligations and our country stands little chance of maintaining freedom.
- Christ died to set us free… yes, but that freedom is to be extended to all people – whether lying face down or standing on the summit.
“Until they are home… No man left behind”
It is easy to point out the fallen; it is divine to be able to help the fallen back to their feet.
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