Heavenly Father, we pray that for these next four weeks are
our hope and planting Emmaus church is that they are the clay
and You Are The Potter. And so we know your hands are
just all over this church plant, shaping molding growing and
developing and yet we also know that father you made us your
image bearers and so when you affect change in the world and
when you do things on Earth, you You don't generally like to do
that by just snapping your fingers and Heaven.
You do it by working through your image bearers.
And so for this next month, I just pray that we will be all
hands on deck. This would be Emmaus Church,
training camp and we would come prepared to encourage them.
Pray for them, celebrate them and support them.
So meet Luke profoundly and powerfully this morning and just
speak fire through his lungs and the precious name of Jesus.
We pray all these things. Amen.
So a man's church, we have a very simple, very clear vision.
For what we're doing in Ankeny, we are planting a church that
the goal is to plant a church that Delights and Jesus together
for the joy of Ankeny for our city.
We want to plant a church where there is Delight in Christ in
the city. And so we need, we continue to
need Frontiers help and these are the four ways in which we
need your help. We need you to pray for.
Or us. So if you are not currently
praying for us we actually you do that.
You take time to pray for it because we need God's help.
And we believe that your prayers for us are probably the most
important and not only the most important, but the most
effective way to serve us and help us as we go out.
So if you commit to pray for us, we also we also need Financial
Resources. God has been amazingly good to
us so far and has provided us quite a bit, but we continue.
We're going to need more Into the future.
And on the frontier Church's website, the giving page, there
is a line there for Emmaus church.
And so if the Lord would put on your heart to give to the
mission, we would definitely be blessed by that and then We
don't quite have 10% yet of a frontier.
Some of you don't know that. I'm not into like wrangling
anybody by the throat to come with us, I don't want that.
But but I would ask if you have not prayed and asked God, if he
would call you to come and be a part of a church plant, like my
parents in Ankeny pray, who knows what God would do in your
heart and maybe not come and permanently come and be a part
of Emmaus, but may come to me. Be serve for a short time.
I know Church plenty of church plants where people have said,
you know, Know what, we're not ready to step in commit to like
a lifetime with this new church plant, but for a season, we
might serve you in a particular area, if God would put on
anybody's heart to do that. We would be blessed as well.
So those are the four ways that we'd ask you to pray for us and
help us as we go out. Because it's a lot of work, got
a lot to do, and we can use all of God's help and yours as well.
So, that being said, Zephaniah. Holy cow Zephaniah.
We recorded a podcast this last week or not let this last week
but it released this last week with Cole and I discussing
Zephaniah and why Zephaniah and what's going on in Jeff and I
cuz I'm not going to take time to bore you with a bunch of dry
history and context and all that.
So if you want that, we have a good conversation about that on
the podcast, you can go and see that.
At. But if so you're not going to
get all those details this morning, I'm gonna be able to
cover all that in a sermon will be here till 2:00 and so go to
that podcast in here that. But as we come to Zephaniah, I
just there's a picture in my mind that that will actually
from a video that I saw that just encapsulate.
I think how we would receive Zephaniah as a father and a son
sitting in a fishing boat there on a lake and it's very clear
that this son who's a little Cool guy.
It's his first time fishing. He's got the little fishing pole
and he's really excited because as he's doing something with his
dad and he's doing the fishing thing and he's really excited
and he catches a fish and he's reeling it up and he cannot see
over the edge of the boat because he's little and as he's
pulling the fish up as he's pulling it up and the fish comes
up over the edge, he sees what's on the end of his line, which is
like a little bluegill and he freaks out and he throws his
pole in the water and he wants has nothing to do with it.
He wanted to fish but he had no clue what a fish was.
I think when we come to the book of Zephaniah, we're coming to
the Bible, this is God's word and we have assumptions about
what that looks like. And what that means this is all
rainbows and the love of God and everything is wonderful and easy
and I think if we want to prepare your heart, I want your
heart to be prepared. This morning, we open up the
book, as F Anaya, we are not finding rainbows and little
bunnies and cute kittens this morning.
There's a reason that slide looks that way, even though I
was told it looks like a gen xer made that, I'll accept it.
There's a skull on fire there, for a reason.
This book is like it's heavy. It's dark, there's judgment and
fire everywhere. And and I want you to be aware
of that because this is not, this is not happy-clappy stuff.
We're walking and we're walking into the fire.
This morning and through this series, this is probably
academics. Say this is the most judgment
heavy book in the Bible given its size, its three chapters
long and the vast majority of it, got his killing everything
and everyone, and it's dark and heavy.
And so, so prepare your hearts this morning to receive that,
and to jump into it with me. And as we say c, as you can see
up there, see that we're safe in Jesus together.
So, if you have a copy of the scripture, Go ahead and open up
with me to Zephaniah chapter one.
We're going to be in Zephaniah 1 all of chapter 1 and into
chapter 2 and verse 3. And so if you'll stand with me
for the reading of God's word, we will look at this together.
Zephaniah, chapter, 1 verse 1, the word of the Lord, that came
to Zephaniah. The son of cush, I the son of
get alya, son of a Mariah, son of Hezekiah.
In the days of Josiah, the son of a mon, king of Judah.
I will utterly sweep away everything from the face of the
Earth, declares the Lord. I will sweep away, man, and
Beast. I will sweep away the birds of
the heavens and the fish of the Sea, and the rubble with the
wicked. I will cut off Mankind from the
face of the Earth. Declares the Lord, I will
stretch out my hand against Judah and against all the
inhabitants of Jerusalem and I will cut off from this place.
The remnant of Baal and the name of the idolatrous priests along
with the priests those who Bow Down.
On roofs to the host of the heavens, those who bow down and
swear to the Lord and yet swell bucks whereby milk.
Mm, those who have turned back from following the Lord, who do
not seek the Lord or inquire of him.
Be silent before the Lord. For the day of the Lord is near,
the Lord has prepared his sacrifice and consecrated his
guests. And on the day of the Lord
sacrifice, I will punish the officials and the King's sons
and all who array themselves and foreign attire on that day.
I will punish everyone who leaps over the threshold and those who
feel their masters house with violence and fraud on that day.
Declares the Lord, a cry will be heard from the fish gate and and
a whale from the second quarter allowed Crash from The Hills Way
low Agents of mortar for all the Traders are no more all who way
out, silver are cut off. At that time, I will search
Jerusalem with lamps and I will punish the men who are
complacent. Those who say in their hearts,
the Lord will not do good, nor will.
He do ill. Their goods will be plundered
their houses laid waste, though they build houses.
They shall not inhabit them though.
They plant Vineyards? They shall not drink.
Wine from them. The great day of the Lord is
near. Near.
Near and hastening fast the sound of the day of the Lord's.
Wrath of the Lord is bitter. The mighty man, cries aloud
there. A day of Wrath.
Is that day a day of distress and anguish a day of Ruin and
Devastation a day of darkness and Gloom a day of clouds and
thick Darkness, a day of trumpet, blast and Battle Cry
against the Fortified cities and against the lofty battlements, I
will bring distress Us on mankind, so that they shall walk
like the blind because they have sinned against the Lord, their
blood shall be poured out like dust and their flesh.
Like dung, neither their silver, nor their gold shall be able to
deliver them on the day of the Wrath of the Lord, in the fire
of his jealousy. All the Earth shall be consumed
for a full and sudden, and he will make all the inhabitants of
the Earth. Gather together.
Yes, gather o Shameless Nation before the decree takes effect.
Before the day passes away, like chaff before there comes upon
you, The Burning Anger of the Lord before there comes upon
you. The day of the anger of the
Lord, seek the Lord. All you humble of the land, who
do his just commands seek righteousness.
Seek, humility, Perhaps you may be hidden on the day of the
anger of the Lord. For Gaza shall be deserted.
And Ashkelon shall become a desolation, Ash Duds, people
shall be driven out at noon and ekron, shall be uprooted.
You could be seated. Who.
That's Heavy. We need God's help to think
through this text together. Let's pray.
God, we thank you for your word. And reading this thanking you
for it feels awkward. Because what do we even do with
that? We'd like to come to church and
have a feel good talk and your word gives us something heavy
and hard. And I just pray God that your
Holy Spirit would not only give us wisdom to understand what
you're teaching us this morning. But I pray that in it that we
would just see Jesus clearly and that we would find Hope and
safety and him together as we look at this and pray.
This in Jesus name, amen. Many of, you know that I am a
nurse worked at a local hospital here in town for years worked
in, with pediatric patients, doing pediatric oncology for
many years. And one of the things that we
have to do as nurses or anybody that works in the healthcare
field is that we unfortunately have to deal with issues of
abuse. Over the years, I've taken care
of many different children who've been victims of abuse.
Whether Broken Bones from a parent being angry at them,
whether it be literally locking a child into a room and starving
them. I've seen, unfortunately, I've
seen it all and it's a horrifying, horrifying reality.
And those are may be really extreme versions of abuse.
But abuse, unfortunately, in our broken world is something that
has touched many people's lives. Even People in our church to
varying degrees of one another. and when we come to a text like
this, and we open it up and we see God making these kinds of
threats, what the question that comes to my mind is, Is God,
just another abuser. Is he just?
In heaven, like an angry stressed out, dad who doesn't
know how to control his emotions, freaking out on his
children and just smack him down because he has the power.
Is that what is that? Where is this coming from?
What is happening? That God would say something
like, I'm gonna utterly sweep away everything from the earth,
I'm gonna pour out all of your blood like dust.
Where why would he say that is dangerous?
As a question is that is right? Why would like what is
happening? Is God just another abuser.
Is he a power-hungry irritated dad?
We say God's love. We profess.
God is love. Who may even look at a text like
this and say, well that's not my God.
No doubt the resistance to incorporating prophecy like this
into our vision of God as challenging.
And so, what we, what I'm hoping to show you this morning.
What I hope we can see is that as we read text like this that
we can come to the text, ask this hard question and I think
what we're going to see is not only that God is not an abuser
but we're going to see that there's safety in God.
Despite all of the language here and to see that there's safety
in Jesus, that's what That's what I hope.
You all will see with me and that's what I hope.
That's where I hope this this will go for us this morning and
so there's three ways were going to break up this text.
There's so much here, I can't cover all of it, but there's
three things I want to. I want you to see through the
text to kind of help us get an understanding of where this is
going. And to see something hopefully
glorious about God that comes through this text.
So first, we're going to see God's Wrath second.
We're going to see God's reasons and third, we're going to see
God's rescue. You in this text, his wrath, his
reasons and his rescue. So first, then God's Wrath.
It is unavoidable and obvious on first read that God is angry and
he's going to kill everything and everyone the this chapter
I've said sounds more like it sounds more like lyrics to A
Slipknot song than it does the Bible.
It sounds more like Cannibal Corpse is screaming in the
background like you can hear the fast.
What? I don't know.
The music people, you know what? They call those double drums
like it. Like You can hear heavy metal in
the background here with someone you know, bringing out these
lyrics. Yes.
And if any of you don't know, if you're not around here, early in
the morning Frontier those are the sounds coming out of these
speakers as we get the church ready for you to come worship.
This is a heavy metal church. And this is a heavy metal text.
It sounds that way, right? Verse 2 and 3 make it clear,
That God is going to destroy everything and everyone.
What we have going on here, especially in verses 2 & 3 is
what you might call D Creation. In Genesis chapter 1, God
creates the world, and it listed out in this, the order of seven
days and he creates it in the particular order, he creates in
Genesis one, fish in the sea, birds in the air, beasts on the
ground and then man and here and Zephaniah, he gives us the exact
and intentional opposite list of the way in which God is going to
destroy the Earth. He Says there, in verse 3, I
will sweep away. I will sweep away, man and
Beast. Birds of the heavens fish of the
sea. God is doing, he is going in the
opposite direction of Genesis 1, he is undoing the world as he
created it in Genesis chapter 1 The Judgment here is very
parallel to what we see in. Genesis chapter 6, Genesis
chapter 6, God does a work of D Creation with Noah and the flood
we all know that story we teach it to our children like it's a
children's story but it's the same thing we have here in
Zephaniah. Chapter 1, God is bringing D
creation and destroying everything in Genesis.
Chapter 6 with the flood and you see up here I will blot out man.
Whom I have created from the face of the land man animals
creeping. Things birds of the heavens from
sorry that I've made them. God is doing a work of D
creation, bringing his judgment and destroying everything.
God is going to in verses 8 and 9 punish people when he comes,
people will wail in verse 10. They will cry out verse 13.
All their resources are gone. Their efforts in vain, they're
going to build a house and then they're going to be homeless.
They're going to plant a Vineyard and then they're going
to go hungry all of their efforts will only yield more
pain and more suffering. Verse 14 tells us, it's going to
be a bitter day and understandably.
It'll be a bitter day. Such that even a mighty man
would be on his knees. I have a picture here of Shaq
being like, I'm gonna figure this out.
And then on his knees incapable of finding, flourishing or life.
Verses 15 to 18 in this chapter are the crescendo.
There are the there, the Pinnacle of God's Wrath being
poured out. The fever pitch of the
experience of God's judgment just the language in these
verses wrath distress. Anguish ruin, Devastation,
Darkness Gloom clouds. Thick, Darkness verse 16.
You hear a call to war. God is literally making war on
the Earth. Such that he's going to pour out
blood like dust and dust gives the idea of something that's
Vain and meaningless. It just flies away with the
wind. He just going to pour it out
like you're not worth anything. Just going to pour it out.
And then flesh like dung rotten and stinky worthless revolting.
And then what's really surprising?
I mean a couple surprises in here verse 17, there's no
ambiguity, this isn't some Demon from Hell doing this.
God says I will bring distress, this is something God's going to
do. This is something.
This is God's purpose. God is going to bring in essence
hell on Earth. This is hell.
You read Jesus descriptions of Hell in the Gospels.
It sounds basically like this God is going to bring hell and
put it on Earth. and if that's not enough, look at who it is
directed at If you look over in verse 4, you see who the objects
of this, wrath are going to be who God is going to pour His
wrath out upon verse 4. I will stretch out my hand
against Judah. Against Jerusalem against the
priests against their kids against the rulers.
And if you know anything about the Bible, this is a problem.
This is a major problem because this is the god who said to
those people, I'm going to be your God, you're going to be my
people. This is The God Who says to
them, you're the apple of my eye.
This is The God Who says to them.
I'm going to Covenant to love you forever.
I'm going to give you a king that's going to last forever.
I'm going to make you a blessing to the nation's.
I'm going to bless you and all of the Bible leading up to this
point leaves you thinking Well leaves you thinking the same way
the Contemporary of Jeremiah of Zephaniah Prophet.
Jeremiah a couple books earlier describes the attitude of the
people of Israel. They had got cocky.
They're like, yeah, God loves us, he's he's committed to us,
right? He's on our side and so they'd
go around arrogantly saying all the temple, the temple, the
temple. And the reason they'd say the
temple, the temple, the temple is Jeremiah points out is
because they just assume that because God was there, he was
there. Lucky rabbit's foot in their
pocket. And they were good to go.
They had nothing to worry about and for us as we look at that,
the children of God, the special objects of God's love in the
world, hear his wrath, and his vengeance is being turned on
them. Which again, begs the question.
Why would a God who says he loves them?
Make these kinds of threats against him.
Is he an abuser? He sounds like an abusive
father. He want to say Okay God chill
out like deescalate bro. Right, that's coming.
That's that's what goes in my mind.
Well, that's the wrath of God. It's heavy, it's dark, it's
crazy. So now we need to then look at
God's reasons because God has given us reasons here in this
text. There are a couple things,
there's a couple things that happen in our minds.
We hear somebody like this when we read a passage like this,
we're a that, you know, all wrath and fury and Devastation.
We tend to make all whole host of assumptions.
We assume we just assume at least I know in my heart.
My first read, when I read some like this, it just seemed.
Is this really is? This really reasonable?
Is this Justified? I'd just got really have a good
reason for this because it seems unjust on the surface.
It seems like an overreaction. It seems reactionary.
It seems too much it seems abusive.
So I'm going to invite you to imagine a scenario with me.
This is going to be uncomfortable, but I need you to
imagine the scenario with me. Imagine a man who looks
something like me. man who you know, big Guy with beard scary.
Looking face handsome. Yes, rolls up to a family and
Mom is holding maybe a 23 year old child.
And as I as a guy, like me would roll up to that family, pull the
child out of the arms of the child is crying.
And the mother is crying and hands hands the child to the man
and the man takes that child. And as he's walking away from
the mother with that child, the child is got its arms out,
screaming, crying and that man. Ann has a group of other
individuals with him that are surrounding him and they March
that child into a locked room with no windows and it's
basically soundproof. And in that room, they take the
child and they bind the child down, maybe a three-year-old.
They bind the child down as it's screaming and four people hold
the child down while one of them proceeds to stab the child until
they bleed That is the worst kind of abuse you could ever
think could happen to a child. And yet that with intentionally
flagrant language is what happens everyday in a children's
hospital in America. This is what I do as a nurse
this is what I do. I'd go take a child from its mom
she'd be crying the child would be like I don't want anything to
do with you and then I have to take them into a room that's
quiet with four other people and hold them down while they are
scared freaking out and we put IVs in them to give them
medicine and fluids and whatnot because children don't want to
have IVs in them and so they freaked out.
And this is to the point where when people used to ask me what
I do for a living, I'd always just tell them I just make
children cry if it's just, that's how I felt what my job
was. But here's my point.
We all know, children need IDs and they're not just going to
sit down and take it and parents aren't going to be happy about
it. And if I wasn't in scrubs and in
a hospital, you would want me in jail forever for doing that kind
of thing. And yet in that circumstance, it
is the most reasonable. It is the most justified and it
is the most necessary thing to happen for that child.
Such that if I did not do that, everything would get worse.
And I want to suggest to you that that's what we're reading
in, Zephaniah. What looks like abuse?
What looks like just an irritated out of control.
Dad is actually something very different reasoned careful.
Precise and exact for a good purpose, unspeakable Horrors,
happen to people every day. And when they're done, for the
right reason, and with the right heart, and then the right way
for the right purposes, not only is the act Justified, but can be
necessary for life and health flourishing, Etc.
When you go to a doctor because your appendix is about to burst,
you don't want them to say, oh, I hope it gets better, you want
him to cut you open and take Get out something that would
otherwise be will put a person in prison forever.
And so this text I want to be clear, gives good reason for
what is happening what we're reading, we find in this text,
really good reasons. But before we go onto the
reasons, let me just take a beat and we need to catch our breath
and be reasonable for a moment and acknowledge a couple things.
First, you might not find these reasons sufficient because
Zephaniah was not writing to justify God's actions so much as
to warn people of what was coming.
This is not a this book in this chapter you're not going to find
like a little cake guys. Now here's you need to
understand exactly why God is doing that's not Zephaniah is
reason. That's not his purpose here.
His purpose is to tell. It's happening not so much.
Why? So we're not going to get just
like a systematic listing justifying these actions of God.
but the second thing that we need, that we need to be aware
of, is something Tim, Keller is known for pointing out and I
really appreciate this point, he says that only us modern Western
people have difficulty perceiving God as having wrath
like this for most cultures, especially the cultures in which
these things were written, the most difficult subject for
people to comprehend was, the idea that God would be gracious
and loving that made that for them was more intellectually and
emotionally problematic for them, it made more sense for
them that God would be this angry.
And so we come at this text with very different values and a very
different set of problems that we're trying to solve in our
mind. Then the original readers of
this text would have had and so we need to be careful as we read
it to not import our Western 21st century Rich middle class.
Predominantly white values onto the text, that would be
unhelpful. We're not going to get, we're
not going to get what we would want, if we do that.
And so, we have to so that allow that to moderate your
perspective, if you're struggling, if you're struggling
with this. But that being said, there are
six and probably more, very clear reasons why this is
happening, I'll run through them super fast Verses 4 and 5.
Tell us this that it's about idolatry.
The Church of the Israelite people.
We know this. US based upon second Kings
chapter 23 because this is r.f. This book was written in that
time. If you read second Kings,
chapter 23, you learn that Josiah.
The king during this time, is removing Idols from the temple
in which the people worshipped because they were putting Idols
in the temple be like having the Buddha over here and part of the
worship service is given to Buddha.
Or that six-armed lady that you see.
I don't know. I forget her name.
Anyway, if she was up here and we like, this is what they're
doing in the temple. So there's idolatry there.
Verse 6, they've forsaken God, verse 8, they're wearing for and
a tire, which I don't have time to go into that, but that's an
interesting one verse 9. There's violence and fraud going
on. Among the people verse 11 there,
explores exploitation and Injustice.
The poor going on and verse 12 is a really interesting one for
us Western folks there, agnostic.
We're not really sure if God's going to ever do anything about
all of this anyway. So why not just do whatever we
want? Those six reasons is odd and is
weird as they sound, they all come down to one.
Simple reason, all of them can be enveloped in one term and
that is idolatry. So we need to understand what we
need to understand idolatry and why that's a big deal because on
the surface that doesn't sound like a good enough reason for
this. But I want to promise you it is
and I don't want to show you why?
So idolatries, the act of putting your faith or trust in a
god, other than the god of the Bible, That's Just, what
idolatry is putting your faith, your trust, your worship toward
anything, or anyone other than the god of the Bible, Yahweh.
Jesus. The Trinity trusting, God means
that we trust God with our Salvation, our life, our food,
our safety, our future, our children, our ability to get
pregnant, trusting him with our finances, our security, and
friendships, our sex life Etc. God makes Promises of blessing
to us as we trust him and Obey him.
And we live in the light of Blessing as we worship and enjoy
him. That's the vision that God has
for his people. That's what you called.
The Israelite people to, at that time idolatry works the same
way, but it works toward another God.
So all Idols, you need to know this.
People didn't bow down and worship idols like bail and milk
them that we find here because they thought those objects
deserve their worship. They Bow Down and Worship them
because they made promises to them that they Trust.
Stood more than the promises of God.
They the idols not only make promises, they demand
ritualistic worship and sacrifice, not entirely
different, but yet distinct from the god of Israel, all Idols,
all of them offered the worshipper life health, peace,
security, hope. Joy, flourishing, Etc.
If they worship them, and if they sacrifice to them, And you
can imagine living in the Bronze Age with no High V.
No internet, no Refrigeration or air-conditioning in the desert.
You might have a sense of your needs for basic reality.
Like, just Basics, like food to be a, to be a really important
need that you have met here in America.
We've lost. We don't use the term idea that
people are starving anymore. We don't even talk like that.
Now if you hear language about that it's we use the phrase food
insecurity. It's not that they're not going
to eat, it's just they're insecure about where they're
going to get it from. We have a very different set of
problems that were interfacing in the world within this time.
And when an idol says, hey you worship me.
I'll make sure your crops grow and I'll make sure you have food
to eat. That's a very compelling promise
to them just as just as other types of promises would be
promising and helpful or compelling to us today.
And the names of these gods that we mentioned that they were
worshiping were bailed and milk them.
These God's offer the promises of a fertile womb.
So they worship them so that they could have children. they
offered Promises of great yields from crops, they the the, if you
worship these gods that make your crops grow and you'd have
food Be offered financial status and security.
And literally, this is why the people worship them.
They would go through famine and they would pray to God, and God
wouldn't bring rain and they'd be like, well, bail.
You got anything for me and then it would rain they'd be like,
well, we got to worship Baal now.
And so they would bring these Idols into the temple into the
place, where God would worship, where God demanded worship, and
they began worshipping him. And there they were essentially
just trying to cover their bases, you know, if God doesn't
provide then maybe milk of will. If God doesn't provide then
maybe bail will. And the, the problem one of the
problems with these Gods is the way that they were worshipped
the way they were worship contradicted, everything that
God had called the people to do. How you worshipped Baal was you
took your children, a child, one of your children and you'd set
them on fire and worship him in front of bail, they were doing
this in the temple and if you were to worship milk them, you
would go and either by a temple prostitute for yourself or just
Doing a sex orgy in the temple, to get crops, and to get
pregnant like that, that you worship these gods.
And these ways, this is how they wanted to be worshipped.
This is how they wanted to engage the people.
And so this is what the people of Israel were doing.
They were practicing child, sacrifice and engaging in these
wild sex parties inside the temple.
While also holding a worship service to the god of the Bible,
Crazy. You can see where Y is some of
this is now Justified like okay it's not just the concept of
bowing down to an idle, there's a lot to this and it's because
these Idols well I'll give you point out a couple things here.
God we need to understand what makes this so bad as first that
God directly. Prohibits it in the Ten
Commandments the force for can command.
Of the pretend Commandments are all are all broken in.
In committing, I and committing idolatry and trusting oneself to
another God. In first, don't put any other
gods before me. Well, when you use an idol,
you're doing that. The second commandment is, don't
worship an idol. Don't make a carved image.
Don't worship idols. The third commandment is not to
take the lord's name in vain, which is not a Prohibition
against cursing. It's against talking about
thinking about feeling about God, as if he is not valuable.
As if he is on the same level as bail, just another option for a
deity in life, and the command that we heard about recently, to
practice the Sabbath, which means to rest in the promises
and provision of God and him alone.
So all four of the first Commandments are immediately
broken in the practice of idolatry.
So that's that's one big reason. But the other reason is wild
because and we can see it just by it.
Location of how these Gods wants.
You want to be worshipped is It just doesn't, it doesn't just
turn a idolatry, doesn't just turn people away from God.
It turns people against one another, and this is what you
see all throughout the Bible and you see it in life.
In general idolatry, turns people away from God, and in
enmity, and in conflict with one another verses 911 show us that
idolatry makes us corrupt. People who use defraud and
Others, first nine tells us on that day, I will punish everyone
who leaps over the threshold. That is the doorway into the
temple and those who fill their masters house with violence and
fraud idolatry the demands of an idol, the demands of other gods,
cause conflict and fraud and violence among them.
And child, sacrifice obviously is one of the most obvious
manifestation. I love that.
You see an idol cannot deliver on the Promises.
They make, they're not God, they're inevitably inevitably,
leave us desperate and destitute.
They leave us clawing for some semblance of peace and
prosperity because it's not governed by God and His law.
And it turns us into people who consume it, turns us into people
who devour. And so, and use another and use
one another to get what it is that we're hoping the idol will
give us And to put it simply wherever there is dysfunction,
and exploitation and Injustice wherever there is a buse and the
use of others manipulation. There's an idol there whether
there's a physical statue to it, or whether it's in the mind, or
the heart of the individual, there's an idol and functioning,
they're all sin, all sin all Pride, all abuse and
exploitation has one root. And that is idolatry idolatry is
behind every rape. Every murder, Every Act of
cowardice. And abuse is behind every Act of
evil. Ever.
It is the fuel for racism bigotry, social injustice.
It is the primary route, evil in the world in all sins emerged
from it and it's corrupt bowels that's where everything all evil
comes from. This is the sin of Eve in the
garden when she took the fruit was not that she was hungry and
God wasn't giving her food. It was that she made an idol out
of that fruit. She made an idol out of it and
she desired it and she desires Heard the promises of the fruit.
More than the promises of God. Knowing knowing that this is
what idolatry produces a God, who would look upon the
sacrifice of a Child In Worship. Or even the rape of a child in
the process of worshipping an idol.
Whether it's a physical statue, or the lust of a man's heart,
And God doesn't respond and pouring out their blood like
dust would implicate God as being an uncaring.
Unjust God in the face of it, that God cares this much about
Injustice and the and the manifestation of sin and evil in
the world. It should in a awkward way,
bring Comfort to our hearts. It should cause us to be
comforted by the fact that especially if there are victims
of abuse that God actually cares.
God actually cares. He sees it, he knows it and he
cares about it and the other part of his it puts us in a
tough spot. Sure.
The the prop this prophecies written to people in the 600's
BC, but as we've already noted the seeds of idolatry they live
in us, the seeds of idolatry. Are everywhere around us and in
us, whether it's porn or gluttony, he's money Sports,
work, power influence or just the approval of other people.
All of us, whether we bow down before an altar and literally
Neil, we worship idols in our hearts, and our souls, in our
minds and we have the relational scars to prove it, We have the
relational conflict to prove it. And though, these threats were
given to Jerusalem in that day. We should not think that God has
since this day come around to the idea that Ali dollet.
Reason. Okay, practice.
God has certainly not changed his mind about this.
And so though, we are not the same people as these, we are
guilty of the same kinds of sins and idolatry that they were The
threats mentioned here appear to be all encompassing.
Oh right these threats appear to be all encompassing and so the
question then is is there any hope and this is where I want us
to conclude is is there any hope if Israel is doomed?
And we are participating in it in some way, what hope is there
for them? What hope is there for us?
And I think we see some Seeds of Hope in this.
There's good news that just as God was not satisfied to kill
everything and everyone in the flood with Noah and his family.
God has a rescue plan to Deliver Us from this promised judgment.
God is not in heaven. Having fun with this.
He has an intention to save a people from his wrath.
He gives three commands in this text verse 7.
Be silent or just shut your mouth stop.
Talking people, just just be quiet is what God says.
Stop defending yourself, stop explaining yourself 2:1.
He says, gather together and that seems really odd because
that seems like it would make it easier for God to find people to
destroy them. But he says to gather together
and then chapter 2 and verse 3, he says seek the Lord so jug
just make yourself more vulnerable to this God who's
made threats of judgment but seek him out seek him and says
in verse 3. The three commands Seen Crazy,
why not try to defend yourself, why not try to run and hide?
Why go to him if he's got this disposition?
Well, verse 3, gives us the reason verse 3.
Gives us a clear reason. He says there in verse 3,
Perhaps. You may be hidden on the day of
the anger of the Lord. Now that's not impressive,
right? Perhaps we will be more
comfortable comfortable to be like hey by the way, this will
work. He says perhaps and I think
there's a reason why the perhaps is there.
I think God is being sarcastic. I think God is kind of making
fun of them at this point because this is how the people
were treating him and the idols. Well perhaps, God will provide
for me if I worship Him Him. And if I worship Baal, and if I
worship milk them all through, I'm bound to hit somewhere.
I'm bound to get some things from somewhere, perhaps, one of
them will provide for me and gods.
Like you want to play the perhaps game, perhaps you might
be hidden from the anger of the Lord on this day.
Which is not all that impressive, but it's pointing us
towards something, it's pointing us to Ward the reality that God
does indeed have a plan and a purpose to save people, who
would silent become silent before him and hump in humility
gather together and seek him when Noah, and his family
entered the Ark. They enter the ark and the
Judgment of God, rained down on them and the Earth for 40 days.
God delivered on their perhaps for them.
God delivered on the perhaps for them.
They sat in the ark, hearing smelling feeling and enduring
the Judgment of God on the earth huddled together hiding and
seeking refuge in the ark. They led a dove out perhaps that
it might find an Olive Branch or some sign of Life somewhere in
the world so that they could know that there is life beyond
the Judgment of God. And perhaps the Olive Branch was
delivered and there was indeed life.
Noah did not Escape God's judgement though.
He was there in it. It came, it fell destruction
happened, and he watched it. And yet he was safe in it and
that is the message of Zephaniah judgment is coming.
But perhaps perhaps if you go to the Lord in humility and you
forsake your idols and you come to seek him and not Baal seek
him and not whatever Idols are in your heart, perhaps you can
hide in Christ as did Noah in the ark.
Perhaps you will find hope they're see our idolatry for us.
The Judgment of God is real. It's unavoidable.
And this book, this passage does point us to the Future day of
the Lord were Justice is going to be established.
And so the question is, what hope is there for us as there
was for these people? As I said as Noah hides the ark,
we now hide ourselves in the cross and resurrection of Jesus
Christ. On the cross, God does fulfill
this passage, he pours out his wrath on Jesus, fully and
completely. In fact, the sky literally goes
black with clouds, his blood is poured out like dirt.
Christ experiences, all of the judgments promised in here on
himself. and while we do not get the opportunity to escape God's
judgment and wrath, we can hide in him and just like Noah did be
safe. And not only be safe but find
that there's life on the other side to the resurrection of
Jesus just as Noah and his family could descend The Arc and
into new life and New Creation. So in Jesus Christ, when he
rises from the dead after we find our safety in him, there is
new life and not only New Life, there is transformation so that
our hearts would be more compelled by the promises of God
and the promises of idols. And so there's real hope that
not only that, not only we could Escape the destruction of God's
justice. We could also, we can also be
transformed into the kind of people and worshippers that he's
pleased by which is unbelievable.
Hope, it's real. Hope that there's a that that
perhaps is a reality for us in. Jesus.
Jesus actually accomplished that and you can, we can hide in him
as the people of Zephaniah did in that day.
And for the abused and exploited, you need to see this.
If you have felt this pain and Christ, you are safe.
The fiery. Judgments poured out in.
Zephaniah are aimed at the abusers.
They're aimed at the abusers, The unrepentant, abusers Who
continue in their exploitation, I dialed idolatry and abuse,
Zephaniah tells us that God not only cares about bringing
Justice against abusers, but he's willing to be abused
himself in the person of Jesus. So, that in him, you find a
brother, who knows your pain? God does not stand aloof in your
life, distant from the pain of abuse, he's endured it, and he
knows the sting of it and the effects that it has on your
life. Because he's endured it.
You're not just safe from God's Wrath, and Jesus, you're safe
and hiding and one who can really identify with you and
cares for you and is out. He is out to make things right
for you. So somehow some way there's hope
and life in the midst of the fire There's Hope and there's
life in the midst of that which is ridiculously incredible and
weird and freaky and amazing. There's reason not, not simply
to experience peace in this but to celebrate and worship God for
delivering us and transforming us through the gospel into
people that can enjoy that. And no, and no, the peace and
joy of God through those things. So let's pray and ask God to
help us further. comprehend that Lord.
Paul in Ephesians 3, praise at the church who already believes
in the love of Jesus and know the love of Jesus that they
would further know the love of Jesus because your love is super
weird and complicated and confusing, even scary.
And we struggle. We just struggle to know how to
process and manage that. And so I just pray that you
would, by the power of your spirit.
This time cause our hearts to rest in And find safety in
Jesus, in the midst of all of this.
And we pray and ask this in Jesus name, amen.
And find safety in Jesus, in the midst of all of this.
And we pray and ask this in Jesus name, amen.