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Advent Take-Aways: Fears and Anxieties A sermon based on Zephaniah 3:14-203
Advent Take-Aways:
Fears and Anxieties
Zephaniah 3:14-203
† I.H.S. †
May the peace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Chirst drive away all the fears and anxieties in your life, that tell you that you don’t belong in God’s presence… for you do, you are His child!
Introduction
I had to have been fourteen or fifteen at the time, and if I was normally extremely self-consicous, that evening I was that times 100. I don’t even remember the event, it could have been one of the dances my folks, or a wedding of one of my aunts, or my grampie De’Luca’s seventy-fifth birthday, but I had to get dressed up… in a tuxedo.
I remember feeling so anxious and nervous, and afraid that I couldn’t eat or drink. I didn’t belong in a tux, in a fancy hotel ballroom, surround by al these adults all dressed up. I kept on thinking someone was going to come over and tell me, “Kid – go home, you don’t belong here…”
To be honest, there are a lot of times I geel like I don’t belong—especially at celebrations, and especially if I am considered one of the V.I.P.’s.
I imagine the shepherds would feel that same way, as they were buzzed by ten of thousands and tens of thosands of Angels, and sent to witness Jesus laying in the manger – what me? I can hear the shepherds voice, eerily echoing the attitude of Moses as he encountered the burning bush,
6 I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” When Moses heard this, he covered his face because he was afraid to look at God. Exodus 3:6 (NLT2)
Or Isaiah’s cry, 5 Then I said, “It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.”
Isaiah 6:5 (NLT2)
To use the words of Zephaniah, they “felt the hand of God’s judgment,” and because of that, were more uncomfortable in the presnce of God that I was in a tuxedo….
And the reason for joy is that, hand, that discomfort would be removed!
- LAW – the hand to be removed
Of all the impact of sin described by Zephaniah, the one that strikes me as the harshest is seen in verse 18—as people mourned over the high feasts…they were a disgrace
So great was idolatry and immorality among the people of God that there was no joy, heck there was no desire to hear the incredible words that God accepted the sacrifice, that they were forgiven.
The temple went through the motions, and the ceremonies became boring, just a ritual, without any faith, without any expectation of God’s mercy in the eyes of those who were participating in the sacrifices.
Let me explain it this way, imagine that we are having church, and during the words of confession and absolution, we had a football game up on the screens, or a cartoon, or a soap opera. And then during communion a numch of people went up in the choir area and started dancing while in the back in that corner a poker game was going on and that side a wineand cheese tasting event…
Or maybe that is just where our minds and hearts are…
What good would absolution do, if no one really heard it? What good would it be? How could we share in the blessing of Chirst’s body that was shed, and theblood that was spilled if we don’t take it and eat in faith….
We don’t have to imagine it, the Apostle Paul addresses it clearly.
“That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup. For if you eat the bread or drink the cup without honoring the body of Christ, you are eating and drinking God’s judgment upon yourself. That is why many of you are weak and sick and some have even died.” (1 Corinthians 11:28–30, NLT)
That sounds like a disgraced feast, one to grieve over! One that brings no joy, just a box we checked off on some list of obligations.
The concept is the same, as we sin, as we do not look for God’s grace to cover or make excuses for our sin, we neglect God’s love, and what He would give us…
Just to make sure we all understand, the idea of examining oneself is not about passing or failing and examination, or having to look at yourself and anazlyzin every little detail. It is about looking at the tux in the mirror and realizing it isn’t right, and crying out to the One that Zephaniah and all the other prophets spoke of,
- Gospel – The hand is on the cross – where al are gathered – where all are named
Let’s go back to Zephaniah’s prophecy and the hand of Judgement… hear the promise again,
14 Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout aloud, O Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! 15 For the LORD will remove his hand of judgment…
I lovethe picture of the Lord removing His hand of judgment from us, for I know that hand’s next movement, to stretch itself out on the harsh wood of the cross, and for this we shouldsing praie and shout We should rejoice with all our heart, because knowing what happened on the cross enables us to experience the feast of God, to make our time at the altar more than just an empty ritual.
It becomes the place of joy, for until we are in heaven, this is the fulfilment Zephaniah’s words, “I will bring together those who were chased away. I will give glory and fame to my former exiles, wherever they have been mocked and shamed. 20 On that day I will gather you together and bring you home again.”
This is home, this is the family feast., this is the place to rejoice that God has given us the chance to be his, This is the place where God takes away our fears and anxieities, making us comfrotable in His presence, because Christ has taken his hand of judgment away, and clothed in His righteousness – and comfortable in those clothes…
And then Paul’s words to the church in Phillipi will describe you,
6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:6-7 (NLT2)
AMEN!
The Secret to the Revitalization of the Church, or a church
The church, is always in the midst of a storm… but safe in Him
Devotional Thought of the Day:
7 Be silent in the presence of the Lord GOD, for the Day of the LORD is near. Indeed, the LORD has prepared a sacrifice; He has consecrated His guests. Zeph 1:7
Unfortunately, although Christianity is not a department store that must anxiously gear its advertising to the tastes and desires of its clientele because it has merchandise to sell off that it neither wants nor needs, it is all too often compelled to act as though it were. But if this were its nature, we could confidently predict its imminent bankruptcy. Actually, however, the Christian Faith is rather (to use an admittedly one-sided and weak image) the divine medicine that should never adapt itself to the wishes of its clientele and to what pleases them, for that would be to destroy them utterly. Its role must be to require them to turn away from their imaginary need, which is in reality their sickness, and to entrust themselves to the guidance of faith.
I just spent a few days with guys who are called to be pastors. In many ways, they feel like they’ve been drawn ot the ministry, they seen the people’s needs and the call of the people for them for shepherds. I was on a team that had as its goal the task of assuring that these men were ready to take on this burden, and/or what steps would prepare them for it.
They, with one or two exceptions, are called to serve smaller churches, in most cases groups of 20 or 30 people that gather around God’s word, that receive the promises of God delivered through them, as they speak God’s word, and as they feed them the Body and Blood of Jesus. These churches would possibly close without these men or someone like them. But these men need to revitalize these churches, they need to see life breathed into them. Their churches, like mine and every other church I know of, need to have the vitality and life of the bride of Christ.
And of course, in my readings this morning, I come across two passages that deal with revitalizing our lives.
The second one is more obvious than the first. While there is a necessity to understand a church’s context and ensure the church is speaking to the people instead of at the people, all too often that takes the nature of a marketing plan. It requires compromise in the nature of the mission. Marketing cannot compromise the mission, and methodologies cannot change the message, the messenger, or change what the means of change. That is it cannot change the grace, God’s love and mercy delivered to sinners to heal them and give them life, shared in the peace with God. If you do that, you have changed the mission.
Pope Benedict is, in this Lutheran Pastor’s opinion, absolutely correct. We have the medicine, delivered through word and sacrament, that treats what really has broken people. God’s love binds them to Him, having cleaned them of sin, and of its shame and guilt. It also heals us of the anger and resentment that has broken us, as we’ve been the victims of sin.
We can’t change that. To do so would be to fail to deliver what people need the most, Jesus. Nor can we hide it, causing people to need to discover it, and then decode our language and actions we tried to protect and hide it within.
All this brings us to the first, and far more important quote. It brings us to the point of this devotion. And while it is what you and I need to do, right now, and often each day, It is what these pastors (de jure and soon de facto) need to do to revitalize their church.
Realize you are, right now, in the presence of God.
God who is drawing all things together through the blood of Jesus. For that is what the Day of the Lord is, for Christ has become our sacrifice, prepared to deliver us from the power and oppression of sin.
ANd to consecrate us, His guests, to make us holy as we have been drawn into His presence. To be set apart for this relationship with our Heavenly Father, our Almighty God. To be re-vitalized, freed of all that weighs us down. Healed of all the damage a life of sin can cause, restored to be who we were created to be.
This is who we are, in congregations and parishes that make up the Church, His Church, His beautiful bride.
And be in awe… incredibly aware of the glory and power and love of God, which makes this all possible. AMEN
Ratzinger, J. (1992). Co-Workers of the Truth: Meditations for Every Day of the Year. (I. Grassl, Ed., M. F. McCarthy & L. Krauth, Trans.) (pp. 340–341). San Francisco: Ignatius Press.
