Joy

Rejoice over you with Singing

Intro

Have you ever had a picture of redemption unfold right in front of you…and when you see it…its like you just tear up...

2005 was probably one of the most impotrant years of my life

I started Dating my wife

I got called to full time ministry

It was the year I started Seminary and...

I was a relief worker in Hurricane Katrina.

I remember very distinctly, that just about 4 days after Katrina hit, I was working in a shelter in Iberville Parish of Pacquimine LA,

The red cross asked me what I did and I said well I am in college but I am a youth pastor...

They said great…You know how to connect with people our grief counselors are a week away from coming.

Go talk with everyone about what they have been through…After being there a couple of days…working from 6am till midnight I had talked with over 425 people

I was there so early that I was part of the team that was helping people off of the Helicopters and into the shelter

Well after being there just a couple of days, the biggest problem that sprang up was that everyone in the shelter had someone who they were separated from

They couldn't find a grandma, a child an aunt or uncle

And you have to remember 2005 was the year before the iPhone revolution, and facebook had barley just started…Only young people had a myspace page

So I had this idea…I called best buy and told them what was happening and how I was a part of the Red Cross and how we were looking for people but we really needed computers and the internet

And to my utter shock, they gave us like 10 computers

So I set up a computer lab…somehow by the grace of God I got internet to all these computers…and I built a team of people in that shelter to help search for lost people.

There is one case that I hope I will never forget

A man was looking for his mother who lived in skilled nursing…But in New Orleans some of these centers were in basements…and when the levies broke…They flooded so fast they didn’t have time to get all of the people out...

But We looked for everyone...

People were posting survivor lists

There were lists of hotels that took in storm refugees

They listed names

So I had tracked down where this one particular nursing home was taken …I remember it was a hotel in Texas

So I called…the hotel connected me with the room…And I just remember I asked the woman if she had family named ....so and so...

She didn't know if this was a call to tell her that they had died…or if they were alive

She quietly said yes that is my family

Then I got to say, I have them right here…And when I handed the phone over to the family they fell to their knees and cried...

I mean I can not stress enough. This family that was in the shelter had lost every material possession they had owned but when they found mom

They couldn't contain the Joy! Because what was lost and was found

These are times when we find the purist amount of joy

When what is lost, is found

God is a God of Joy. A God who rejoices when what is lost is found.

Core to the character of God is a great sense of Joy

I want to share with you this quote by renown philosopher and theologian, Dallas Willard

“unlike happiness , which is a transitory feeling, joy is an overall sensibility. Joy is a deep seated sense of wellbeing, of ultimate safety. Joy is not triggered by external events or by internal impetus and so can not be crushed by either: the world can not give you joy or take it away. Instead, joy is the normal product of a life lived in love. It is a character trait developed by grace and effort as part of the fruit of the spirit. God is joyful, and as we come to resemble Christ, our Joy fills.

God’s Joy

Well you and I know the feeling of the joy…Finding what was once lost…Restoring relationship

This morning the scripture I have for us is from the book of Zephaniah 3:14-20 (NIV)

And before we get into this book...

It is my suspicion that none of you woke up this morning and thought, know what…I have a hankering to read the book of Zephaniah.

Its a strange little book in the minor prophets

And you might not be familiar with it so let me give you a little overview:

Zephaniah lived Jerusalem…just right before Israel would fall to Babylon...

And for years he had been warning people.

If you keep oppressing people

If you keep worshiping Idols...

Then the day of the lord is coming… What Zephaniah describes in chapter one is a reversal of Eden…Its like God’s good and pleasing world will descend back into chaos...

Because of the unfaithfulness of God’s people

You cant escape it......

Then Zephaniah 2 is all about God’s judgment of the nations but then in Chapter 3

God sends a fire or his burning indignation…and it turns out that this fire is surprising because you would think that the fire is meant to destroy what is left...

Almost like God’s scorched earth policy

But it isn't...

The fire is meant to refine the people that are left after the invasion of Babylon.

The burning fire of Judgement was meant to purify the faithful remnant of God

to heal and transform all of the nations.

This little book contains some of the most amazing portraits of who God is...

One commentator has said that

Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (2) The Nature of God

The Book of Zephaniah cleverly surprises the reader with its developing picture of God

So in just three chapters Zephaniah poetically builds a picture of God’s Character...

As the God who will not be mocked…the god who exercises judgment but as the God who builds up and restores.

So the first 2 1/2 chapters are all about the consequences for God’s people who lived in such a rebellious way

But the last half of the last chapter is all about God making his people new...

Its this picture of all that was lost…due to the sin of my people

Will be restored because of the grace of God

and in that day you will have nothing to experience rather than Joy!

Because Zephaniah looked forward to a day when God would somehow dwell with his people and restore all that was lost...

So as I read this text to you this morning…just let it wash over you!

Zephaniah 3:14-20 NIV

The New International Version Chapter 3

14 Sing, Daughter Zion;

shout aloud, Israel!

Be glad and rejoice with all your heart,

Daughter Jerusalem!

15 The LORD has taken away your punishment,

he has turned back your enemy.

The LORD, the King of Israel, is with you;

never again will you fear any harm.

16 On that day

they will say to Jerusalem,

“Do not fear, Zion;

do not let your hands hang limp.

17 The LORD your God is with you,

the Mighty Warrior who saves.

He will take great delight in you;

in his love he will no longer rebuke you,

but will rejoice over you with singing.”

18 “I will remove from you

all who mourn over the loss of your appointed festivals,

which is a burden and reproach for you.

19 At that time I will deal

with all who oppressed you.

I will rescue the lame;

I will gather the exiles.

I will give them praise and honor

in every land where they have suffered shame.

20 At that time I will gather you;

at that time I will bring you home.

I will give you honor and praise

among all the peoples of the earth

when I restore your fortunes a

before your very eyes,”

says the LORD.

I love this passage so much because for 2.5 chapters it is like this bleak view of God pouring out his wrath on these people that were just living in open rebellion.

Then God proclaims that those who were once lost will be brought back

Those who had lost all hope would be given a hope

those who had no honor would be given exile

Those who were oppressed would then be sung over

One of the things that I want to show you is that Hebrew Poetry is just the way it works

The design of the writing intentionally makes you slow down to read it again...

So each verse has kind of a pair verse that links them together...

So the matching is all the way through the book of Zephaniah and it is really incredible but since we don’t have 10 hours for this sermon starting in verse 13

Zephaniah 3:13& 16

13 They will do no wrong; they will tell no lies.

A deceitful tongue will not be found in their mouths.

They will eat and lie down and no one will make them afraid.”

16 On that day

they will say to Jerusalem,

“Do not fear, Zion; do not let your hands hang limp.

So the point that Zephaniah is making here is that those who were faithful will no longer have to live in fear. They wont be defenseless

Do not let your hands hang limp is like a Hebrew turn of phrase or idiom…The hands had power so what Zephaniah is saying is that you will not be powerless

On that day…

I love how it says a deceitful tongue will not be found in their mouths…Its like God’s people will be truthful becuase they will know the author of all truth…Truth himself, Jesus Christ...

Zephaniah 3: 14,16

14 Sing, Daughter Zion;

shout aloud, Israel!

Be glad and rejoice with all your heart,

Daughter Jerusalem!

17 The LORD your God is with you,

the Mighty Warrior who saves.

He will take great delight in you;

in his love he will no longer rebuke you,

but will rejoice over you with singing.”

There is a command to the people to sing! Why?

Because it is what joyful people do when they are saved…they sing

None of you know a woman named Myrtle Anderson but I did. She was one of the last charter members at my former church.

And you know what, when she was lying in her hospital bed dying in her late 90’s.

She didn’t ask me to preach my best sermon

She didn't ask me to properly exegete Revelation 4-5

She just asked me to sing for her...

She wanted to sing “Great is Thy Faithfulness”

So I put it up on my phone…and I sang...

Poor woman, her body was already passing away and on top of it she had to listen to me sing, it must have been torture...

But all she experienced was this deep and lasting Joy.

I sang to her…And she sort of just smiled afterwards and with Joy she said…God has been so good to me...

And the next day, she died…

And I just wondered for years about the singing

Maybe she experienced something that I couldn't see or hear

Maybe she sensed God’s joy…and maybe she knew that when we sing to God...that God would be singing over her really soon

But church this verse reveals to me God’s delight over his people that come to him and worship

Did you know that when we sing to our father...

His joy is revealed....And those who sing to the Lord…He sings his great delight and joy over his people.

Did you know that God takes great delight in you!

What Zephaniah wants these people to look forward to is the day that God is going to be physically present with them...

Thats what he says in verse 17…The Lord your God is with you

They must have wondered what that will look like

Could they even imagine what it would look like for God to be present with his people?

Let’s keep reading

Zephaniah 3: 15,18

15 The LORD has taken away your punishment,

he has turned back your enemy.

The LORD, the King of Israel, is with you;

never again will you fear any harm.

18 “I will remove from you

all who mourn over the loss of your appointed festivals,

which is a burden and reproach for you.

See the Punishment that God will remove comes from the fact that the rebellious people who were worshiping other God’s were Gone…

And God replaced those rebellious people with his own presence...

He will be there for his own people.

Then Zephaniah 3:19-20 becomes a summary of what God is going to do in this entire poem...

Zephaniah 3:19-20

The New International Version Chapter 3

19 At that time I will deal

with all who oppressed you.

I will rescue the lame;

I will gather the exiles.

I will give them praise and honor

in every land where they have suffered shame.

20 At that time I will gather you;

at that time I will bring you home.

I will give you honor and praise

among all the peoples of the earth

when I restore your fortunes a

before your very eyes,”

says the LORD.

God will deal with the enemies of Israel

rescue the lame

gather the exiles

Bring you home!

Give you honor and praise

Restore your fortunes before your very eyes

This is what God is please to do....

God’s Joy is found whenever a person who is far from God comes near...

I love that Zephaniah 3 proclaims God’s joy but it also declares over and over again that God will be with us.

And the reason why I love this is because it al comes together in the person of Jesus

The God who is with us

Jesus, the one who reveals God’s joy

And Jesus traveled all around israel speaking in parables because he wants us to know what God is like...

So the God that Zephaniah says will be with us and who will sing over us with Joy...

Tells this story

Flip with me to the book of Luke 15:1-7

The New International Version Chapter 15

15 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

3 Then Jesus told them this parable: 4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

This parable…Every time…Takes me back to the day that I was standing outside the shelter in Plaquimene LA handing the phone over to this person looking for his mom

The tears.

the rejoicing

The little mini party that was happening in the parking lot because this woman was once lost and now is found

The tears of joy that we were all crying

This is what happens in heaven!

When just one person says....Hey my life has been the opposite of Joyful…comes to the God of Joy and surrenders their life

Church. The advent season reveals the Joy of Jesus!

The advent season reveals the God who looks at his creatures and rejoices over us with singing!

But God’s joy is most evident when people who are far from God…come near!

Challenge

It is my sense that there are some of you here today who maybe followed Jesus in the past but have wondered away…Jesus is inviting you back…He delights in you and wants to rejoice over you with singing

Maybe there are some here today who have been searching for joy your whole life…in things and in relationships and status…and you’ve never found it…Its because Joy isn't a thing, its the person of Jesus Christ