Reflections on "Humble Yourself Now" Zephaniah 3: 8-13

I enjoyed preaching the sermon because I had a chance to explore Zephaniah.  I like the teaching aspects of this sermon series.  But, this sermon may have had too much teaching, which made it seem more like a lecture than a sermon.

I thought the point about humility worked well.  It was also a new theme from the prophets.

I initially had the second Scripture lesson from Chapter 2, but decided when I put the sermon together to read from Chapter 3 and introduce the concept of the remnant, which brings a little hope to the doom and gloom!

“Humble Yourself Now” FPC, Troy; 7/12/15; Minor prophet series; Zephaniah 1 14-18; 3: 8-13

Zephaniah 3: 8-13 Therefore wait for me, says the Lord, for the day when I arise as a witness. For my decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, to pour out upon them my indignation, all the heat of my anger; for in the fire of my passion all the earth shall be consumed.

At that time I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech, that all of them may call on the name of the Lord
and serve him with one accord. From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia my suppliants, my scattered ones, shall bring my offering.

On that day you shall not be put to shame because of all the deeds by which you have rebelled against me; for then I will remove from your midst your proudly exultant ones, and you shall no longer be haughty in my holy mountain.

For I will leave in the midst of you a people humble and lowly. They shall seek refuge in the name of the Lord—the remnant of Israel; they shall do no wrong and utter no lies,
nor shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouths. Then they will pasture and lie down, and no one shall make them afraid.

Introduction: We move from the 8^th century prophets about 70-100 years (depending on how you want to date the different prophets) to the mid-7^th century BCE and the prophet Zephaniah.

The opening verse of Zephaniah gives us some sketchy biographical details about him. He is named as a son of Cush, which suggests that he might have been an Ethiopian.

His genealogical roots also go back four generations, which is two more generations than are generally included. Since the third and fourth generations mention Hezekiah. It does not say King Hezekiah, but Hezekiah was one of the great kings of Judah, so presumably the extra genealogical information is provided to connect Zephaniah with him.

Although we may not get it from reading Zephaniah, scholars tell us that Zephaniah shows great familiarity with Jerusalem, the Temple, and Temple practices such as the sacrificial codes. This suggests that Zephaniah was from Jerusalem and was connected with the Temple.

By not reading Zephaniah in Hebrew, we also miss out on the fact that the whole prophesy is a poem, with the exception of the first verse.

That also means we miss out on the poetic devices that Zephaniah uses. If you read Chapter 1, you will see the repetition of the word “sweep” in the English translation, which exemplifies the use of repetition throughout Zephaniah, although it does not always translate well into the English.

And we completely miss Zephaniah's use of assonance, which is using words that sound a like because it is the Hebrew words that sound alike, not the English translations of those words (I consulted the New Interpreter's Bible for background on the literary analysis of Zephaniah).

This morning, I want to reflect on several themes in Zephaniah: a continuing theme of God's people trying to figure out what God is doing in the world; some good news/bad news that Zephaniah shares in a unique way; an finally Zephaniah's call to humility.

Move 1: As we have discovered in the other prophets, the Israelites have a prevailing view of how God is at work in the world – if things are going well, then they must be faithful; if things are going poorly, they must be sinful.

a. When Assyria defeated Israel, the Northern kingdom, public sentiment believed it was because Israel had not been faithful to God.

1. When Assyria took territory from Judah and forced Judah to pay tribute, it was because of Judah's sinfulness.
2. As Assyria seemed poised to take over Jerusalem, it was seen as a sign of Judah's continuing sinfulness.
3. But now, Assyria has lost its power in the world. Assyria has abandoned its outposts in Judah; Jerusalem seems safe. No idea who the next world power is going to be, but Judah is feeling good about itself.
4. In fact, Judah is contemplating taking back some of the territory it had lost to Assyria, and perhaps wondering if maybe the tide has turned and Judah will now become a world power like in the days of old.
5. That also means that what Judah is doing must be OK with God. (This description of Zephaniah's era comes from Theology of Prophetic Books, Donald E. Gowan, 80).

6. the theological understanding that defeat is God's punishment also allows Judah to believe that not being defeated must be God's affirmation of how they are doing things.

b. As I have mentioned previously, it is easy to see the flaw in this theology, but also easy to fall prey to it.

1. how often do we say when things seem to fall into place, “It must have been meant to be.”

2. Which also means that if things don't fall into place, it was not meant to be.

3. Judging God by how what happens in the world.

Move 2: In the face of this theological perspective, Zephaniah offers some good news and some bad news.

a. Zephaniah lifts up the idea of the “Day of the Lord.”

1. the people would have some idea of this concept.
2. It is the day of judgment.
3. The day when the unrighteous will be punished and the righteous will be rewarded.
4. It is typically assumed by God's people that when the Day of Lord happens, they will be the righteous and their enemies will be unrighteous.
5. But Zephaniah describes the day of the Lord as a day of doom and gloom for God's people because it will be a day when they will be punished.
6. Zephaniah uses the image and language of sacrifices in the Temple to make his point.
7. Sacrifices are made when the priest kills clean animals to be given to God.
8. As Zephaniah describes it, God will be the priest and Judah will be sacrifice, killed and destroyed.
9. The bad news is this provocative prophecy that denounces Judah belief that they must be counted among the righteous since Assyria will not defeat them.

b. But before Zephaniah is done with his prophecy, eh will also introduce the idea of the remnant.

1. that there will be a core group of people whose faithfulness will be rewarded by their salvation.
2. This remnant will be the example of faithfulness whose witness will lead the people back to God.
3. Zephaniah's name literally translates as “Yahweh protects,” and we see God protecting the future of Judah through this remnant of the faithful.
4. In later years when Judah is defeated and exiled, this concept of the remnant that Zephaniah lifts up will become very important to the hope of God's people.

Move 3: The mark of the remnant will be their humility.

a. Zephaniah calls God's people to humble and lowly (3:12).

b. As we hear Zephaniah's call to humility, we see in this an acknowledge that the people to whom Zephaniah prophesies, that we are not God.

1. the temptation in the theological perspective that God's people must be faithful is Assyria loses its power is that it invites people to take things into their own hands.
2. If they can become the victors, then it will prove that God is with them.
3. It creates a world where dependence in God give ways to trying to play God.
4. David Read, the well-known 20^th century preacher, tells a story from his experience as a war camp chaplain: He debated an atheist about God and the atheist finally said: “I believe in the end the main difference between us is the question of humility. I'll be damned if I want [I changed the quote to “I am not willing” for sermon purposes] to acknowledge any boss beyond myself or the human race.

b. If you follow baseball, you surely know the player Mike Trout. He is a young star who plays for the Los Angeles Angels. He arguably has been the best player in baseball over he last few years. IN an article in Sports Illustrated last year, he said this “I think that where all my success comes from – always staying humble. If you do get four hits and two home runs or whatever, you're not out there bragging. You just come in and do your job.” (5/12/14; Sports Illustrated, Tom Verducci, “The Best, Simply,” 46)

1. Humility allows him to focus on doing the tasks that make him a star rather than focusing on being a star and forgetting with it is has made him a star.
2. It seems to me that Zephaniah's call to humility is for God's people to do the things that are pleasing to God and forget about looking at the world and deciding whether their actions are of God based on how the world's politics and power struggles are unfolding.
3. In other words, God's people should worship God appropriately; give up their allegiance to gold and silver and seek allegiance to God; care the poor and weak in their midst;
4. do the things God expects them to do and quit trying to figure out how the political changes in their world reflect God's presence in their midst.

Conclusion: In a world in which we try to figure out what God is doing by reading the tea leaves of what is happening around us, we heard Zephaniah's call to be humble and let God be God.