Cosmetic Christianity

Cosmetic Christianity

Hab 2:4 KJV

We are too busy to pray, and so we are too busy to have power. We have a great deal of activity but we accomplish little; many services but few conversions; much machinery but few results. - R. A. Torrey

These are these symptoms of a Cosmetic Christianity, we can find the cure through the prophet Habakkuk.

The Book of Habakkuk explores Judah’s cosmetic faith, and the secret of survival in the midst of evil, through Spiritual Maturity.

Habakkuk was a man of God, he knew & proclaimed the importance of living by faith.

He was concerned because Judah’s spiritual life was superficial; their lives were cosmetic in appearance only. Judah’s spiritual development was an arrested.

1. Simply knowing the Law did not produce holiness.

2. Simply knowing the Law did not empower their lives.

3. Simply knowing the Law did not give them spiritual maturity.

4. Simply knowing the Law did not give them Faith.

They were not aware that their actions (or inaction’s) were bringing terrible consequences of self-enslavement.

They were living for themselves, selfishly, and uncaring.

Habakkuk 2:4 KJV "but the just shall live by his faith."

To live by Faith means "to unite," or "to bind." oneself with God

Faith is simply reliance upon God who is trustworthy. Such reliance enables the believer to treat the future as present and the invisible as seen.

Faith is a total reliance upon God.

In short, the phrase here, "faith is the evidence," is parallel in form to our familiar saying, "Knowledge is power."

Today’s Problem: Like those in Judah’s day we can have a cosmetic Christianity, that is we talk good, look good, when life is good, but are no good when we face hardships or are called to service.

One of the marks of spiritual maturity is the quiet confidence that God is in control ... without the need to understand why he does what he does.

1. Simply knowing God’s word does not produce holiness.

2. Simply knowing God’s word does not empower their lives.

3. Simply knowing God’s word does not result in Spiritual maturity.

4. Simply knowing God’s word does not cause us to be faithful.

Sometimes we are not aware that their our actions (or inaction’s) will bring terrible consequences of self-enslavement.

The turning point in our lives is when we stop seeking the God we want and start seeking the God who is

We must come to realize there is Power in Faith, a power to become as God intends us to be.

Spiritual maturity is having confidence in God and knowing he is in control.

Faith does not operate in the realm of the possible. There is no glory for God in that which is humanly possible. Faith begins where man’s power ends.

- George Muller.

The spheres God brings us into are not meant to teach us something but to make us something.

Oswald Chambers (1874-1917)

They have a saying in Vienna, Austria: "The situation is hopeless, but not serious."

It’s an interesting contradiction in terms. Yet life is truly a mixture of optimism and pessimism, of hope and despair, of sunshine and shadow. Sometimes the same situation can have both elements in it at the same time!

But faith is finer than optimism. It has none of the distortions of optimism. It is more lasting; less fragile. It’s fine for us to be optimistic but far better to be believers.

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Habakkuk had faith, he remembered God and knew his word was true, when facing life.

- Remember the great need you have of the grace and assistance of God. You should never lose sight of Him--not for a moment.

- He knew God’s glory covered the heavens and His praise filled the earth. His splendor was like the sunrise.

- He remembered God is on his throne

- He knew God.

- His statement of faith Hab 3:17-19 NIV

17 Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls,

18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior.

19 The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights.

A lack of faith results in a WILDERNESS WANDERING.

Because of a lack of strong faith, those over 20 were unable to enter the promised land (Num 14:29), but wandered in the wilderness for 40 years.

Satan is a thief, he tries to steal our faith!