How many Christmas hymns, carols, and songs are there? Do you have any idea? Our hymnal has 35 Christmas hymns while Wikipedia lists 77 Christmas carols that are unique to the English language. But it’s not just English speakers who celebrate Christmas. Germans, Norwegians, Ukrainians, Spaniards, the people of Africa and Asia and many other nationalities all have carols of their own. The total number of Christmas songs must be in the hundreds maybe even thousands, though it doesn’t seem as if anyone has bothered to count.
We may not know how many Christmas songs there are, but we each know which our favorites are. Hopefully we’ll sing your favorites over the Christmas season here in church. But even if we don’t, even if this turns out to be the worst Christmas ever because you don’t get the presents you want, or because you get sick, or because you can’t spend Christmas with the family like you usually do, even then you still have good reason to rejoice and lift your voice in praise. That’s what our final Tweet from Heaven and this last sermon on the Old Testament book of Zephaniah teaches us this morning.
In order to fully appreciate this last section of Zephaniah, we need to do a quick review of this Old Testament book. You’ll remember that Zephaniah was a prophet who worked during the time of good king Josiah. Although Josiah was intent on serving the Lord, many of his people were not. In the first chapter of Zephaniah, God thundered against those who praised him one minute, but then the next minute were worshipping false gods. Others had become complacent in their faith. They had become more concerned about staying up with the latest fashions and fads than keeping up with their faith. God was not going to stand idly by as these things happened. He said through Zephaniah: “I will bring distress on the people and they will walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the LORD. Their blood will be poured out like dust and their entrails like filth” (Zephaniah 1:17).
Do you ever feel like God overreacts? When he said, “Their blood will be poured out like dust and their entrails like filth” (Zephaniah 1:17b), doesn’t he sound like a professional wrestler who is screaming into the microphone about what he intends to do to his opponent when they step into the ring together? But no one thinks that professional wrestlers are serious. It’s all part of the act. It’s a theatrical ranting to keep you from switching channels. But God was not being overly dramatic. He was telling the people of Jerusalem about the punishment that really awaited them if they did not turn from their sins. And this is the kind of eternal punishment that awaits all those who relegate the one true God to a back room in their life.
But if your daughter had a boyfriend like that, one who seemed so controlling, wouldn’t you advise her to get out of that relationship? That’s how Satan wants us to view our relationship with God. But that wasn’t the way Zephaniah saw the situation at all. Listen to how he began our text for today. “Sing, O Daughter of Zion; shout aloud, O Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O Daughter of 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” (Zephaniah 3:14, 15).
The reason God wanted to keep his people close to him is because he was their only defense against sin and death. When a father walks through the mall with a child, he will firmly grip that child’s hand – not because he enjoys exercising control and authority over the child, but because the child is a precious treasure that he doesn’t want to lose in the crowd. That’s how Zephaniah wanted the Israelites to see their God. Being close to him was a good thing. It meant that they had every reason to rejoice because with him at their side they were safe from all of their enemies.
Zephaniah promised the Israelites: “The LORD, the King of Israel, is with you” (Zephaniah 3:15b). Is the King of Israel with us today too? Oh, he’s in the house alright. In fact he comes to us in a tangible way through the bread and wine of Holy Communion this morning. And it’s a good thing he does because otherwise it would be so easy to miss Jesus. We came to church to meet with Jesus and yet when the opening hymn began, a hymn which called for us to think about Jesus, was our mind still on last night’s movie? When the Scripture readings were shared, words of life written by men of the Spirit, words of love spoken by Jesus himself, did we let ourselves be distracted as we studied the shirt pattern of the person sitting in front us? Right now you are dutifully looking up at the preacher, but a moment ago were you actually looking right through him into this week’s schedule of events? From the beginning of the service until now Jesus has waved for our attention but our attention has wavered. All is not lost, however! Our King will not be put off so easily and so he comes to us through the Sacrament of Holy Communion. He presses himself into our hands and into our mouths that he may live in our hearts. With the taste of bread and wine Jesus is saying, “You can’t miss me anymore, friend. I am here and I give to you my body and blood. I give to you the heart of my Father who desperately wants you to be in heaven with us forever. Take and eat. Take and drink.” (adapted from R. Z. Meyer)
This precious gift of Holy Communion makes us want to lift our voices in praise. But we’re not the only ones who will be singing. Zephaniah said, “The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing” (Zephaniah 3:17). In this verse Zephaniah repeats the truth that God is with us. But do you see what else he says God is doing? He’s not just hanging out with us. He’s not like a school teacher hovering over our desk to make sure we’re doing our work. No, God is with us because he takes great delight in us. He’s with us to quiet us with his love and he rejoices over us with singing. God sings! Did you know that? Probably not, because this is only one of three verses in the Bible (that I could find; Ps. 68:6; Mark 14:26) that describes God singing.
It’s such a comforting picture isn’t it? It’s a picture we can relate to because when a baby wakes up crying in the middle of the night, what does a parent do? Yell? “Quiet down will ya? I’m trying to sleep!” Does he threaten the baby? “If you don’t be quiet right now, I’m going to give you something to cry about!” No. The parent takes that babe in his arms and gently rocks her back and forth. He speaks to her quietly and sings to her - gently assuring the child of his love. That’s what Zephaniah says God does for you and for me.
But really? Does God really sing and rejoice over us and quiet us with his love? It won’t seem that way if we’re not regularly tuned to God’s Word. Otherwise the cares of this world and the advertisements for new cars and sunny vacations will drown out God’s voice. Listen to what that voice sang at the end of Zephaniah. “‘At that time I will deal with all who oppressed you; I will rescue the lame and gather those who have been scattered. I will give them praise and honor in every land where they were put to 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 before your very eyes,’ says the LORD” (Zephaniah 3:19, 20).
Are you tired of people smirking at your faith in Jesus? Are you tired of dealing with health problems and nagging injuries that won’t heal? Are you tired of people spreading lies about you at school and the work place? Are you tired of seeing the wicked prosper? Don’t worry, sings God, all that will come to an end when Jesus reappears in his glory. The joy and happiness you experience on that day will be much greater than the joy you feel now when you come home and find that supper is already made, or that a sibling has already done your chores for you. That day will be a day of great rejoicing.
We started this sermon by wondering how many Christmas hymns, carols, and songs there are. There can never be too many I suppose. We are, after all, praising God for sending his Son to save us. But don’t think that we’re the only ones who are doing the singing at Christmas. God sings too. He sings about his love for you. Let’s end our Tweets from Heaven sermon series by speaking together the words of Zephaniah 3:17 that remind us of that truth. That passage was also once described as the “John 3:16” of the Old Testament and in your sermon notes I’m encouraging you to commit it to memory. Let’s speak that verse together now. “The LORD [my] God is with [me], he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in [me], he will quiet [me] with his love, he will rejoice over [me] with singing” (Zephaniah 3:17). Let’s say it again! “The LORD [my] God is with [me], he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in [me], he will quiet [me] with his love, he will rejoice over [me] with singing” (Zephaniah 3:17). This is the Word of the Lord. Amen.
SERMON NOTES
Write out three points you’ve learned from the book of Zephaniah so far.
God often seems so controlling. How could you explain to an unbeliever that this isn’t the case?
Zephaniah declared: “The Lord, the King of Israel is with you.” Although the words were first spoken to ancient Israel, how do we know that they still apply to us? In what ways does the Lord show that he is with us during a Sunday worship service?
Christmas is a time during which God’s people like to sing to their King. Zephaniah, however, tells us that God sings for us! How is that comforting to you?
Memorize Zephaniah 3:17 this week. “The LORD [my] God is with [me], he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in [me], he will quiet [me] with his love, he will rejoice over [me] with singing.”
