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Zephaniah 3:14-20

Zephaniah 3:14–20 (ESV): Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion;

shout, O Israel!

Rejoice and exult with all your heart,

O daughter of Jerusalem!

15  The Lord has taken away the judgments against you;

he has cleared away your enemies.

The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst;

you shall never again fear evil.

16  On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem:

“Fear not, O Zion;

let not your hands grow weak.

17  The Lord your God is in your midst,

a mighty one who will save;

he will rejoice over you with gladness;

he will quiet you by his love;

he will exult over you with loud singing.

18  I will gather those of you who mourn for the festival,

so that you will no longer suffer reproach.

19  Behold, at that time I will deal

with all your oppressors.

And I will save the lame

and gather the outcast,

and I will change their shame into praise

and renown in all the earth.

20  At that time I will bring you in,

at the time when I gather you together;

for I will make you renowned and praised

among all the peoples of the earth,

when I restore your fortunes

before your eyes,” says the Lord.

Intro: Our son Micah had a concert on Tuesday for school. And it was really nice. The kids did a great job. The venue was nice. A little small but it was nice. But there was one problem. They divided the school by grades. So the first graders went first. Then there were some narrow actors that introduced the next round of songs. followed by some musical instruments. Then the 2nd and third graders sang. Then some more talking,. Then a 6th grade ensemble sang. Then there were some sound delays. Finally, the fourth and fifth grade sang their songs. We patiently waited for 45 minutes to hear our little Micah sing his heart out. But let me tell you. I hate waiting. I hate waiting in traffic, in line, and I don’t like waiting on God’s timing. There are times and maybe you‘re this way, like Veruca Salt from Willy Wonka, I want it now.

Waiting is hard. It takes tremendous faith. Because we acknowledge that the timing of certain things are out of our control, which is countercultural. There are many people who think if you just push harder, work harder, do more, set your mind to it, push through, crush your goals, that you can make your life happen. But this is a half truth. Because there are others who have followed the formula and it hasn’t worked. When we wait patiently, we acknowledge that God is in control and we are not. Now that doesn’t meant that we don’t work, that we don‘t put it in effort, that we don’t pray, or spend time in God’s word. We need to put effort into the Christian life. We are called to faithfulness which does to are effort on our part. But we don’t know when, where, or how God will act At any given moment.

This church plant is a great example of thIs. We plan, prepare, pray, exercise faith, but the truth is we don’t know if God will bring the people. We really don’t. We see that God has brought good people, that people are growing. They are hungry for the Word, and they love the body here, but we don’t know what God is going to do ultimately. So we pray, plan, prepare, and we wait. What does this have to do with joy?

We live in a period of waiting, like the the people who received this prophesy.

Context:

Reversal of condemnation. Josiah‘s reforms, things seem to going well, but there is still issues. There is still disobedience. So Zephaniah has the fun task of telling Judah who is in the midst of a revival, God’s judgment is still coming. And some of you may be wondering who is Judah, Judah is the southern kingdom. The kingdom which is once united under Saul David and Solomon, what is divided has a judgment against Solomon. The northern kingdom composed of 10 tribes and is often called Israel, the southern kingdom composed of two tribes is called Judah. Zephaniah is prophesying, the northern kingdom has been conquered by the Assyrian empire.

So chaos is all around, your brothers to the north I’ve been captured, your nation is experiencing a revival, but you still have a message of judgment coming from the Lord. I really what you see is that the revival is short-lived. There is a greater revival that will need to take place. And the call for God‘s people is to be patient that though God will judge Israel and Judah and the nations, God will also bring blessing and God will Soften the hearts of the nations so they will follow him.

The Reason for Joy

And it is God working in the midst of this people that brings about Joy. As we look at the theme joy and the theme of waiting, will you see that Joy should never be far away for the people of God.

So we see two commands given to the people of God. These two commands are told to Zion or Jerusalem and Israel or God’s people. Israel is referring to Jacob whose name was changed to Israel. referred to as really who you are as a person they were referred to as your heart. So the heart is important in the in the Hebrew Bible the heart is the essence of what it means to be a person. It is the operating system of humanity. That’s why the Bible says that we can have a heart that is of the flesh, which means a heart that’s been renewed by God saving grace, or a heart of stone.

James K.A. Smith says this about the heart, Instead, think of the heart as the fulcrum of your most fundamental longings—a visceral, subconscious orientation to the world.

We are giv

The Source of Joy

God‘s presence

God’s rejoices over you

Brings quietness - presbyteryIan joke

God sings

Joy in Waiting

Already, but not yet