Rejoice! Zeph. 3.14-20, Advent 3C, Dec. ’15

1.             Please pray with me.  May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock, and our redeemer.  Amen.  The Third Sunday in Advent has traditionally been called by the Latin word, Gaudete, meaning “Rejoice!”  That’s why we lit the pink candle today in our Advent wreath. For as you’re called to repentance, so also you’re urged to rejoice in the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. By His own Cross, He’s accomplished salvation for you and has come to rule in your midst.  As the prophet Zephaniah tells us today from Zephaniah 3:14-20, He rejoices over you with gladness! That’s why, even from prison St. Paul in Philippians chapter 4 encourages us to “rejoice in the Lord always,” knowing that the peace of God will keep us in Christ Jesus. We also find encouragement in John the Baptist. As he suffers in prison, he calls upon Jesus and is strengthened by the Word of the Gospel that he receives. The same good news is preached to you, by which all things are made new and even “the dead are raised up.” The message today is entitled, “Rejoice!” Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2. Depressed. Feeling blue, stressed out, frustrated. These are not the words we use to describe a joyful time such as Christmas. But, some people feel this way at this time of year. Part of it comes from unrealistic expectations. Part of it comes from a misunderstanding of what this season is all about. Part of it comes from cramming too much activity into too little time.  Still, we come to church and hear God calling us to rejoice and be glad. That’s easy for him to say! He’s up there in heaven, where everything’s safe and bright, unhurried, unhassled. Let him come down here and see how it feels. Then we’ll see who’s rejoicing, celebrating!  Well, in our text this morning, the prophet Zephaniah gives us God’s answer: God did come down here, and he does celebrate, and we can rejoice because the Lord came here and rejoices over us.
3.             It’s a great story.  A British fleet stood off Baltimore, bombing the fort that guarded its harbor.  All through the night the guns roared.  Through the clouds of smoke explosions could be seen over the fort.  The darkness covered the stone walls of the fort, but the sounds of war—convinced every shipboard witness that the fort must fall and Baltimore would be overtaken.  And then as the morning’s first light appeared, the witnesses saw an astonishing sight.  The fort still stood!  And there, flying proudly above the fort was the American flag.  Hurrying down below one witness seized a pen and dashed off lines that every citizen has heard a thousand times.  “O Say can you see,” wrote Francis Scott Key, a prisoner that night on the British flagship, “through the dawn’s early light, what so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming.”  The fort and the flag had survived.
4.             What a picture of the scene we see in Zephaniah chapter 3.  The city of Jerusalem was under siege, being punished for her many sins.  The Lord Himself was the assailing force, pouring out his wrath and striking the city with his anger.  The devastation seemed enough to consume the entire world. 
5.             And then in the rest of the chapter we make an amazing discovery.  As that dreadful night of judgment comes to an end and a new day dawns we realize there are survivors!  We see God’s scattered people, purified, return to worship their God.  We realize that the arrogance that characterized Jerusalem had been burned away and the city now held only the humble, those who feared the LORD.  And then we hear a voice rise in song singing in Zephaniah 3:14-20, “¹⁴Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel!  Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem!  ¹⁵The 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. ¹⁶On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem:  “Fear not, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak.  ¹⁷The 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.  ¹⁸I will gather those of you who mourn for the festival, so that you will no longer suffer reproach.  ¹⁹Behold, 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.  ²⁰At 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.”
6.             Here in Zephaniah 3 we see how God gives His people the honor and praise they thought that they had forfeited forever by their sins of idolatry and wickedness.  Zephaniah reminds the people that they should rejoice in the Lord.  The reason is simple.  He says that the Lord has taken away the judgments against you and cleared away your enemies.  Scripture tells us in Romans 6:23, “The wages of sin is death.”  But, if the punishment of sin is gone and if that great enemy death has been removed, then what remains is simply the sleep of the body until the day of resurrection when our Lord Jesus promises to return.  One thing we look forward to during the season of Advent the coming of our Lord Jesus on the clouds on the Last Day.
7.             This is exactly what has happened.  The prophet Isaiah speaks of the work of Christ in these words.  Isaiah 53:5 says, “He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by His wounds we are healed.”  The punishment our sin deserved has been placed on Christ.  That’s a cause for rejoicing my friends.  That’s why Zephaniah can speak the way he does in verse 15 because the Lord has taken away the sins of the world through His Son.  They are removed in Christ.  Death and hell are no longer a threat to the one who clings to Christ in faith. 
8.             The second result of the removal of sin is that God is present with his people with his protecting power.  The prophet says in Isaiah 59:2, “Your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.”  God hates sin and he won’t dwell among a sinful people who lie, cheat, swear, worship after false gods, fornicate, disobey their leaders, hate their neighbor and fail to worship the Lord and serve Him only.  That’s why Isaiah speaks the way he does.  But when sin is forgiven and its guilt has been removed by Christ there’s no reason why the Lord must stay separated from us any longer.  That’s why Zephaniah now says in chapter three, “The LORD, the King of Israel, is with you.”
9.             Rejoice dear friends in Christ!  The LORD God is with YOU!  He is protecting you from harm, delivering you from evil and comforting you in your fears and worries.  In fact, the Lord rejoices with singing because we are living with him.  What a glorious revelation of our God.  We’re the ones who should be filled with joy and singing, because we have the privilege in Christ of living with our God for eternity.  But, Zephaniah says that the Lord is just as happy as we are.  God is happy because the goal of his work of salvation in saving us has been completed by our Savior Jesus.  The LORD is joyful because the crown of His creation, mankind, can live in his presence forever.
10.             As we move ever closer to Christmas during this Advent season we know that there are those who are dreading that day.  People without families anticipate another lonely Christmas.  Fathers and mothers who are unemployed because of the recession are disappointed that they can’t buy gifts for their children.  Still others, because of a death in the family are spending their first Christmas without their loved one.  It can be easy to think that there’s nothing to be excited about.  But, no matter what circumstance we find ourselves in, we remember today from the prophet Zephaniah that God gives us a reason to REJOICE!  God is near to us to forgive, sustain and support us.  With the assurance of his love and presence in Christ Jesus we can rejoice in his grace and mercy toward us.  Thanks be to God!  Amen.