The prophet Zephaniah's message is mostly one of judgment for sin.
This reading, however, which comes from the conclusion of the book,
pictures the new people of God (3:12-13). Judgment has brought
repentance and salvation, and now is the time of celebration.
One can almost hear the joy in Zephaniah's voice as the prophet
proclaims that God will change the circumstances of the people. Yet,
before that hope can be realized, the people must face their failure
to be faithful. Only then will judgment be removed, enemies turned
away, and calamity averted. Zephaniah refers to the people of
Jerusalem in the warmest terms calling them "daughter" (3:14),
"renewing his love" for them (3:17), and gathering them to bring them
home (3:20). How does God bring you home in this season of preparation
and waiting?
Just a note - unless I am mistaken, verse 17 is the only verse in the
Bible that mentions God singing.
JG in WI
An insurance company has created a series of commercials depicting
someone delivering some good news, but it turns out it has nothing to
do with the recepient of the news but with the messenger who announces
that he or she has just saved a lot of money on insurance by switching
companies. I thought I would begin with that as an illustration then
compare it to the news of pardon Zephaniah proclaims to the children
of Israel. One cannot separate rejoicing over the pardon of sins from
rejoicing over the third Sunday in Advent as we light the rose candle
symbolic of our rejoicing. Tn Mack
Tn Mack,
I am going to get in the ring with Zephaniah this week. I appreciate
your illustration. I think that the pink candles are a curious way for
the candle companies to sell more candles :)
I am thinking along the lines of all the junk & judgment the people
had in their near future @ Zephaniah's time, yet in the midst of it,
there was joy of (final) deliverance...just as applicable today as it
was then. Come Lord, come!
Luther in IA
WOW! What a Promise! Uplifting Word for a troubled world. So, is so
needed for our people today, and ourselves.
I will be preaching this week at a church where the pastor is going on
vacation. I will not know what the attitude will be until I get there.
I thank God for this because that keeps me more focused on myself. I
liked what one contributed said about God singing. I don't know if
this is the only time, but it is through singing that I have been
called. Singing is important to me. The song that comes to my mind, is
a gospel song, "Don't wait til the battle is over you can shout now!"
I remember a blind worshipper in my mother and father's church who
would shout "glory!" during the rest of the service. As young adults
we would listen for his voice. I remember that we joy now. Now as I
learn how to share with others as the forerunner John said we must do,
I will just shout out loud "Thank you, Lord."
Shalom
Bammamma
JG in WI - wow! and I'd glanced over it this time, too! That is, until
you mentioned it.
I think you just gave me my sermon idea, theme, and title all at once:
"When God Sings"
Sally in GA
I, too, have been intrigued with the imagery of God singing. I am
working with the title, "What Makes God Sing?" I will probably divide
my sermon into this: God rejoices, God renews, God sings. (All verbs
from verse 17.) What makes you sing? What makes God sing? -Dale
Luther in IA, Sounds like the commercialization of Advent and
Christmas has gotten to you. Your point about selling more candles
does not make a lot of sense. Are pink candles more expensive than
purple ones? You still need four advent candles regardless of the
color. Do you have any reason to question that the early church
tradition did not include the pink or rose candle? Just curious. TN
Mack
Tn Mack,
I was joking around. The written word does not always accurately
convey the emotion/attitude of the author.
Luther in IA
Ran across my sermon on this passage from 2000. Just the outline for
Our Joy and His. Our Joy comes from our salvation that is A Reprieve
(taken away his judgments against us) A Redemption (cleared away our
enemies)A Reunion (the Lord in our midst) A Reassurance (fear disaster
no more) God's Joy is Delightful (rejoice over you) Discreet (silent
about our sins) Demonstrative (shouts of joy) Illustration on
Discreet: As a boy my best friend's father took us boys rabbit
hunting. One day as we were talking, a rabbit ran by the group. I
raised my gun and fired without realizing how close I came to hitting
my brother. I still feel the embarrassment and shame. I went off alone
feeling a great weight. My friend's father got the group together and
made them promise never to tell anyone about what happened that day.
So far as I know, no one knows about the stupid and dangerous thing
that I did. (they were silent about my sin) And you bleeding hearts
will be glad to know that I not only missed my brother, but the rabbit
also.
Hope this is helpful to someone. Always alleterate jrbnrnc
I plan to work around the theme - "in your midst." Not sure how that
will play out yet but it will definitely tie in to Emmanuel - God with
us!
Mark in WI
Thank you JG in WI, Sally in GA, and Dale, I have been in ministry
since 1977 and it was only yesterday during our Bible Study that,
after it was pointed out to me, that God sings over us! As we pursued
this theme I began to get really excited. I was going to ask if
anybody else had noticed this and here three of you point it out. All
these years we express how our singing offers worship and praise to
God, and here is one of the minor prophets telling us that God sings
over us because of God's love for us. Our sins are forgiven and God
sings! Last night I was flipping channels and happened to catch Sting
being presented with an award at the Bulletin Music Awards. He spoke
about fame, money Etc. and how all of it, while nice, means nothing.
He then said, and I quote: “Music is its own reward” Imagine the
reward when God sings! May thie rest of this week and the coming Third
Sunday of Advent be a joyfilled time for you all. Rev. Tim, Ont.,
Canada
Luther in IA, That's cool! Maybe a (Ha!) would have helped someone
like me who did not know whether serious or tongue in cheek. On the
other hand, it is nice just to chat and verify what we mean. I do not
do that enough on several levels. TN Mack
"When God Sings" - It brings to my mind a deeper significance to that
ultra-sweet little voice saying, "Teacher says every time a bell rings
an angel gets his wings." When God sings, a soul has been reconciled.
I've been honing in on v. 19 and God's saying "I will deal with your
oppressors ..." No matter how much we want to believe we're victims of
oppression, the truth is that for most of us we're victims of our own
feelings victimization.
I think of "angry white male." I think they're whiny and they think
they're victims. Maybe I should let God deal with my oppressor - not
the angry white male but my own judgmentalism of them. That way we're
not caught in this continual argument over who's "right." (certainly
not Rush - hahaha).
Maybe then we'll be able to begin reconciliation - first with God and
then with each other - by confessing our own sin and knowing that in
Christ there is forgiveness.
And God will sing
Sally in GA
jrbnrc - I may be a bleeding heart, but I have to say I'd rather eat a
rabbit or a deer who at least got to live a life they wanted to live
than a cow or chicken raised in confinement. So I eat Bambi and
Thumper as well as Bossie.
Sally
Sally, I truly respect your insight into the many passages on which
you comment, but for the edification of all, could we remember that
some on this list are politically conservative, and love God as much
as the liberals. Zingers about the confessed recovering drug-addict
Rush Limbaugh do not speak to the Christ in each of us. Listening to
him for a number of years, I get the impression that he could be any
number of folks on our membership roll who show up on Christmas and
Easter and believe they're "just a good as the next fella." Somehow we
want them to know that they are precious in God's sight.
I commit to each of you to follow the ?admonition of Paul:
"Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths (or off your
keyboards), but only what is helpful for building others up according
to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
PKFyer in TX
Ephesians 4:29 (New International Version)
PKFlyer
Sally in GA
The first time I preached this passage was for my first funeral. It
was for a lady who was a "dear old saint." She had been a wonderful
singer but in later years she had emphysema and almost no voice at
all.
I spoke of how, now that she was with the Lord, she could sing better
than ever, and won't it be grand some day to hear her do a duet with
God.
JG in WI
Verse 17 says, "He will renew you in his love". That's the Greek
version of the passage. But the Hebrew says, "He will be silent in his
love." God doesn't always sing. Sometimes God shows love in silence.
I preached on this passage three years ago, and in discussing it at a
session meeting, one of my elders told a wonderful story he had heard
about silence. There were three boys who destroyed the wall of a cabin
at camp. When they were caught, two of the boys were punished severely
by their parents. But the father of the third boy didn't say a thing.
Instead he took his son to the car, drove to the lumber yard, bought
supplies, returned to the camp, and together in silence they both
fixed the wall. Nothing was ever said about it then, or later. But the
boy said that this was the most powerful message he ever received.
This is the kind of silent forgiveness that God offers us. When we sin
or do something wrong, God does not blow a loud trumpet and call
attention to it. God, in forgiveness, is silent. And God is not out
there looking for mistakes. God is looking for goodness and honesty
and humbleness and wants to help us fix our mistakes and sins, to get
it right, to pay attention to what is important.
This advent season we have a call, and an opportunity to pay attention
to what is important.
Thank you (as always) for being out there with all your wonderful and
helpful ideas. I don't know what I would do without you.
DGinNYC
PK Fyer - sorry I offended. I don't like Rush, that is true, but I'm
not liberal despite your presumption that only liberals dislike
Limbaugh.
Seems like your well-founded advice to me I could give right back to
you.
Sally in GA
Dear Sally,
You are absolutely right. I am sorry to have inferred that you were
liberal. You are also correct that my well-founded advice to you, you
could give right back to me. I'm sorry that I addressed the subject
and will steer clear of controversy in the future. I'm not really good
at handling it (as you can tell.)
PKFlyer
