Introduction
God is tough to figure out. During this series, we’ve heard about:
His great love – and His great wrath
How He is patient and will never let us go – and yet there can come a time in our rebellion when judgment will fall
Difficult to come to terms with. But there’s one part of God’s character I’ve always had a tough time grasping and remembering – and it’s right here in the writings of the prophet we’re about to study this morning.
God is happy! Or, to be precise, joyful!
Oh, sure, the bulk of this book is about judgment – against Judah and nations to the north, south, east and west. Zeph. 1 to 3-½ is about the coming “Day of the Lord:”
Zeph. 1:15
It will be a day when the LORD’s anger is poured out – a day of terrible distress and anguish, a day of ruin and desolation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness…
A day of doom! Yet it’s the last half of the last chapter which caught my eye and heart – especially the last line of vs. 17:
“He (the Lord your God) will rejoice over you with joyful songs (shouts of joy).”
It doesn’t seem to fit after all this talk of anger and judgment. Like I said, God is tough to figure out. And yet, God being joyful – even outrageously joyful – makes sense, doesn’t it?
How do you feel after a good, hearty laugh? You know, the type of laugh that just doesn’t want to stop? Don’t you find yourself saying afterward: “I sure needed that!”
If it’s so good, where did it come from? The Bible says all good gifts come from only one source.
Can you imagine God belly-laughing?!
Or, if God isn’t joyful, how do we explain verses like:
“The joy of the Lord is my strength” Nehemiah 8:10
Or Jesus’ own words about one of the chief reasons He came:
“I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!” John 15:11
Or why would Paul list joy as the second of the fruit of the Spirit, with only “love” coming before it? (Gal. 5:22)
I won’t be giving you the full sweep of the book of Zephaniah, but you will catch a picture of God that we rarely think about. Begin with…
1. GOD’S STRANGE COMMAND 3:14
Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout aloud, O Israel!
Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem!
What’s so odd about it? It sounds like perfectly biblical language. But what’s odd is that God is commanding us to be joyful! Now, how can you demand that someone be joyful – especially when they’re hurting or depressed or just don’t feel like it?!
In fact, it’s my experience that many people here in this little nook of America we call Silicon Valley absolutely refuse to have anything to do with joy at all! How odd, then, that God tells us to be joyful! How odd that He says not only that we can rejoice, but that we must rejoice!
I find myself wondering – what does this old prophet know that we don’t? So I look further into the passage and find the clue right there. In fact, Zephaniah repeats it 2x so we can’t miss it.
“The Lord your God is living among you” :15, 17
You see, Zephaniah understood what most then and today have forgotten – the final ingredient of any recipe for unhappiness is to forget Immanuel – God with us. And if you want to know why such a simple truth, a simple promise, is still the key for joy today, listen in on what one man of God learned over 2,600 years ago.
2. LIVING UNDER THE KING’S PROTECTION 3:15
First, God with us means we live under the protection of a king:
“And the Lord Himself, the King of Israel, will live among you!”
He is a great king! A mighty king! A good king! Now, that may not seem all that impressive to us today, unfamiliar as we are with monarchies, but to the people Zeph’s time it meant everything! And it still does for us today. Look at the verse.
A. WE ARE SAVED
“The Lord will remove His hand of judgment…”
Kings dished out life or death – it was in their power and right. “Rejoice!” the prophet says, because the hand our King lays on us is not the fist of an oppressor, but the open hands of forgiveness and blessing.
B. WE ARE SAFE
“…and will disperse the armies of your enemy.”
In ancient days, great, strong walls would be built around large cities. Whenever attacker came (and they often did), the people who lived and worked outside would rush behind these fortified walls for protection. And, of course, they couldn’t return back to their houses and fields until the foe was gone.
As children of the King, it is now safe to come home. All of our enemies – sin, suffering, Satan are powerless against such a King.
C. WE ARE SECURE
“…and you will never again fear disaster (evil).”
People today live in fear. Fear of loss, pain, exposure, death, life.
False protectors - As I pray and counsel with people, I often have them renounce any "false protectors" in their lives - anything other than Jesus that they have leaned on or depended upon over the years to protect and comfort them. This is a primary way the enemy gets ahold of us, pretending to be a helpful, powerful protector when we are fearful.
What/who do you look to for your protection when things get dicey?
You are saved, safe, secure – that’s what it’s like to live under the Great King. It’s the first reason why we can rejoice! But he gives us a second powerful picture…
3. ON THE SAME SIDE AS A VICTORIOUS WARRIOR 3:16-17A
For the LORD your God has arrived to live among you. He is a mighty savior (a Victorious Warrior). :17a
The daily battle we face in all areas of life – physical, intellectual, emotional, spiritual – if fought side-by-side with a Soldier who knows how to win! He knows the enemy’s strategy, He has ammunition depots full of the most effective weapons, He’s undefeated in battle and, best of all, He’s on our side! So it’s no idle boast when Zephaniah exhorts his people:
“Cheer up, Zion! Don’t be afraid!” :16b
Literally “let not your hands hang limp” – a picture of despair. We would say “chin up.” God is the lifter of our heads!
Richard Selzer, a surgeon, tells a story about a young couple who demonstrated to him the victory of joy possible for all of us – no matter what our circumstances.
I stand by the bed where a young woman lies, her face post-operative, her mouth twisted in palsy, clownish. A tiny twig of the facial nerve, the one to the muscles of her mouth, has been severed. She will be thus from now on. The surgeon had followed with religious fervor the curve of her flesh; I promise you that. Nevertheless, to remove the tumor in her cheek, I had to cut the little nerve.
Her young husband is in the room. He stands on the opposite side of the bed, and together they seem to dwell in evening lamplight, isolated from me, private. Who are they, I ask myself, he and this wry-mouth I have made, who gaze at and touch each other so generously? The young woman speaks.
“Will my mouth always be like this?” she asks.
“Yes,” I say, “it will. It is because the nerve was cut.”
She nods, and is silent. But the young man smiles.
“I like it,” he says. “It is kind of cute.”
All at once I know who he is. I understand, and I lower my gaze. One is not bold in an encounter with a god. Unmindful, he bends to kiss her crooked mouth, and I, so close, can see how he twists his own lips to accommodate to her, to show her that their kiss still works. I hold my breath and let the wonder in.
(Everyday Evangelism, p. 48)
They aren’t gods, of course. Only 2 people who learned that their God can give them victory and joy no matter what they face (no pun intended).
Can you believe that? Joy in the midst of where you are right now may sound ludicrous, impossible! And, if your gaze is only at your circumstances or your limitations, you’d be correct. But that’s only a beginning, not the final word. You belong to a great King who is always with you, always fighting at your side. Will you take a step of faith and choose to believe?
But it’s the last picture Zeph gives that shakes me up and amazes me.
4. WE KNOW A JOYOUS GOD 3:17B
I need your help here. Close your eyes a minute and form in your mind a picture of Jesus. Now imagine that Jesus is thinking of you – you are foremost in His mind right at this moment. What look do you imagine is crossing His face? Sorrow? Frustration? Disappointment? A knowing smirk? All of these may be appropriate at one time or another. But Zeph gives us a far different picture:
“He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.”
Believe it or not, the look crossing your Heavenly Father’s face when He thinks of you is joy! I say believe it or not because a lot of you here today have a very hard time accepting that. But you need to know that God finds so much joy in saving you and blessing you with safety and security that He rejoices over you.
The last line of this verse even says that He delights in you so much that He is singing about it – loudly!
Worship pastors are fond of reminding us how the angels are singing in God’s presence. But have you ever stopped to think that God Himself is singing up there in heaven? Why is He singing? YOU!
But lest you think this is some far-out concept of one minor prophet stuck way in the back of the OT, understand that all of Scripture points to a God bubbling over with joy.
OT SNAPSHOTS
In Isaiah 62:4-5, God calls His people Israel by the name of Hepzibah. Now maybe that isn’t a name at the top of your list for your next child or grandchild, but Hepzibah is a beautiful name. It means "My delight is in her."
And, as if that image isn’t wondrous enough, Isaiah goes on to say that God rejoices over us as a bridegroom does over his bride! Looking back over my wedding day and wedding night and honeymoon, I can assure you of one thing – that is a lot of rejoicing!
Psalm 35:27 claims that the Lord “delights in blessing His servant with peace.”
In Jeremiah 32:41, God assures us: “I will rejoice in doing them good.”
But my favorite promise is Nehemiah 8:10, though I must admit that it used to confuse me a bit.
“The joy of the Lord is our strength.”
Note that Nehemiah doesn’t say that our strength comes from the joy we have in the Lord – though that is a great source. Our strength issues from the joy of the Lord! In other words, it is God’s overflowing joy that cases Him to shower us with all the strength we need! That is one joyous God!
But as full as the OT is of snapshots of God’s joy – and there are plenty more – it is the NT that sharpens the focus of this beautiful picture of a joyous God.
NT SNAPSHOTS
How did Jesus picture His Father, whom He claimed to know so well?
Luke 15 – a virtual 3-act masterpiece of joy.
Each time something lost is found – “Rejoice with me!”
And listen to the reaction of the father who is finally reunited with his son:
“But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger, and sandals for his feet. And kill the calf we have been fattening in the pen. We must celebrate with a feast, for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began.” Luke 15:22-24
This is Jesus’ picture of His Father! Someone who can’t restrain Himself from rejoicing when His children come home.
In Colossians 1:15, Paul assures us that Jesus “is the visible image of the invisible God.” That means that whatever Jesus says or does is an unsmudged picture of what the God no one has seen looks like. And, again, time after time, we see a man filled with joy!
Luke 10:21 – “He rejoiced in the Holy Spirit” or “He was full of joy through the Holy Spirit.”
In John 15:11, we not only overhear Jesus’ last words to His disciples, but also His reason for speaking them:
“These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full (complete).”
Jesus longed for His closest companions and friends to have the same joy He had. Why? Because He was full of joy!
Story of Jesus in a water fight with the disciples (once heard a teacher talk about how the disciples and Jesus stopped at an oasis. James and John started splashing each other and accidentally hit Jesus on the back of the head. What would happen next? Jesus splashed them right back! And that began the greatest water fight that oasis ever saw!)
We could go on and on.
Conclusion
John 16:22
“So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, then you will rejoice, and no one can rob you of that joy.”
Nothing, no one can take away our joy – but we can allow it to be stolen from us.
Story of man without hands – kids in the supermarket ask what happened to them – he says he must have left them somewhere; will they help him find them – they run all over searching for his lost hands.
You can choose joy!
Will you do so today?
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Prayer and transition to Communion
Luke 12:32
“So don’t be afraid, little flock. For it gives your Father great happiness to give you the Kingdom.”
