December 12, Third Sunday of Advent

Lesson Zephaniah 3:14-20; Luke 3:7-18

Sermon Title: Renewed in Love

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INTRODUCTION

  1. During the recent pledge drive, Daniel Odonnell was on Wisconsin Public Television with a program from Branson, Missouri.

    1. It was a tribute to the late Jim Reeves.

    2. He sang one of Jim Reeves' hits, Welcome to My World.

    3. It is hard to get the worlds and music out of your mind.

Jim Reeves: Welcome to My World
 (Ray Winkler & John Hathcock)
Recorded in 1961, Released in 1962
Jim Reeves was killed in a plane crash in 1964.

Welcome to my world,
Won't you come on in
Miracles, I guess
Still happen now and then
Step into my heart
Leave your cares behind
Welcome to my world
Built with you in mind

Knock and the door shall be open
Seek and you will find
Ask and you'll be given
The key to this heart of mine

I'll be waiting there
With my arms unfurled
Waiting just for you
Welcome to my world
Welcome to my world

    1. Welcome to my world.

  1. Sometimes the world can be humorous.

Sign Checks (1)

One Christmas, a parent decreed that she was no longer going to remind her children of their thank-you note duties.

As a result their grandmother never received acknowledgments of the generous checks she had given.

The next year things were different, however.

"The children came over in person to thank me," the grandparent told a friend triumphantly.

"How wonderful!" the friend exclaimed. "What do you think caused the change in behavior?"

"Oh, that's easy," the grandmother replied. "This year I didn't sign the checks."

XXX

Buy Your Own Present (2)

A kindly 90-year-old grandmother found buying presents for family and friends a bit much last Christmas. So she wrote out checks for all of them to put in their Christmas cards.

In each card she carefully wrote, "Buy your own present" and then sent them off.

After the Christmas festivities were over, she found the checks under a pile of papers on her desk!

Everyone on her gift list had received a beautiful Christmas card from her with "Buy your own present" written inside-without the check!

  1. Sometimes the world can be a foreboding and forbidding place.

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MAIN BODY

  1. Step into the world of Zephaniah

    1. It is a world of darkness and difficulty

      1. It is a world of overwhelming grief.

      2. It is a world of prolonged distress.

      3. It is a world of incessant abuse.

      4. It is a world of continual persecution.

    2. It is a world of imminent disaster

      1. A world that is a fertile breeding ground for hopelessness and despair.

      2. As God's prophet, Zephaniah was bound to speak the truth--this he did clearly, thundering certain judgment and horrible punishment for all who would defy the Lord.

        1. Read Zephaniah 1:3.

        2. humans and animals will be swept away.

        3. The birds of the air and the fish of the sea will be swept away.

        4. The wicked will wicked stumble.

        5. Humanity would be cut off from the face of the earth.

      3. No living thing in the land would escape.

        1. Read Zephaniah 1:14-15

The great day of the LORD is near,
    near and hastening fast;
 the sound of the day of the LORD is bitter,
    the warrior cries aloud there.
That day will be a day of wrath,
    a day of distress and anguish,
a day of ruin and devastation,
    a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and thick darkness

        1. This terrible day was coming soon.

    1. People cry for a way out.

      1. You can sense the oppression and depression his listeners must have felt.

      2. They were judged guilty, and they were doomed.

      3. They look to their king, but he cannot help.

      4. They look to their priests but they do not help.

    2. In the midst of it all there needs to be a permanent way out.

      1. The first chapter of Zephaniah's prophecy is filled with terror.

      2. In chapter two, however, a whispered promise appears.

3Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land,
    who do his commands;
 seek righteousness, seek humility;
    perhaps you may be hidden
 on the day of the LORD'S wrath, (Zephaniah 2:3).

      1. And a few verses later we read of a:

7The seacoast shall become the possession
    of the remnant of the house of Judah,
 on which they shall pasture,
    and in the houses of Ashkelon
 they shall lie down at evening.
    For the LORD their God will be mindful of them
and restore their fortunes, (Zephaniah 2:7).

    1. This is for a world where love has grown cold.

      1. It is a world where there is a desperate need for the renewal that will come in love.

      2. Finally in chapter three, the quiet refrain grows to a crescendo as God's salvation and deliverance for those who are faithful to him is declared.

      3. We read Zephaniah 3:14-20 and found words of comfort and encouragement, especially in verses 16-18

16    On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem:
       Do not fear, O Zion;
            do not let your hands grow weak.
17    The LORD, your God, is in your midst,
            a warrior who gives victory;
      he will rejoice over you with gladness,
            he will renew you in his love;
      he will exult over you with loud singing
18        as on a day of festival.
    I will remove disaster from you,
          so that you will not bear reproach for it.

      1. Verses 19-20 are the crescendo to the whole passage.

19    I will deal with all your oppressors
            at that time.
        And I will save the lame
             and gather the outcast,
        and I will change their shame into praise
             and renown in all the earth.
20   At that time I will bring you home,
            at the time when I gather you;
       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.

    1. The glimmer of relief is found in the words, "He will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love."

      1. The people cry out How long!

      2. They want to know, When!

      3. The when is answered in a way that they did not expect.

    2. Welcome to the world of Zephaniah.

    3. You would not want to live there.

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  1. Step into the world of John the Baptist

    1. It does not sound much different.

      1. The condition of the people is still the same.

      2. It is a world of darkness and difficulty

      3. It is a world of overwhelming grief.

      4. It is a world of prolonged distress.

      5. It is a world of incessant abuse.

      6. It is a world of continual persecution.

    2. It is a world of imminent disaster

    3. John's opening statement appears very much like the proclamation of Zephaniah.

      1. 7John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him,

"You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our ancestor'; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. 9Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."

      1. How do you understand these words?

        1. How are they said?

        2. There are those who describe them as scathing.

          1. Bitterly denunciatory; harshly critical: "a scathing tract on the uselessness of war" Pierre Brodin.

          2. Harmful or painful; injurious.

        3. There are those who describe them as "fiery"

          1. Hot

          2. Passionate

          3. Words which have the ability to singe the soul with the white heat of condemnation.

        4. These words are not out of the book, "How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnage.

        5. Would John speak to drive people away?

        6. Would John speak to attract, to encourage, to motivate.

      2. What if they are said in love?

      3. This is probably true.

    1. His answers to the questions that are thrust upon him are significant.

      1. The crowd asks him a question.

        1. "What then should we do?"

        2. "Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise."

      2. Tax collectors came to be baptized.

        1. They asked him, "Teacher, what should we do?"

        2. He said to them, "Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you."

      3. Soldiers also asked him.

        1. "And we, what should we do?"

        2. He said to them, "Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages."

    2. As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah.

    3. John answered all of them by saying, "I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire." 18So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people.

    4. Welcome to the world of John the Baptist.

      1. Is it much different from our world?

      2. Do we have the same issues?

      3. Do we have the same needs?

    5. You would not want to live there.

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  1. John invites us to enter into the world of Jesus Christ.

    1. He is the one who loves us with an everlasting love.

    2. He is the one who loves us with an unconditional love.

    3. He is the one who loves us in the midst of our faults and failings.

    4. He is the one who is seeking to lift our thoughts.

    5. He is the one who is seeking to elevate our emotions.

    6. He is the one who is seeking to empower our faith.

    7. He is the one who is seeking to fill us with his love.

    8. He is the answer to, How long?

    9. He is the answer to, When?

CONCLUSION:

  1. We live in the Day of the Lord.

    1. We can live like the people in Zephaniah's world.

    2. We can live like the people in John the Baptist's world.

    3. We may live like the people in the world of Jesus Christ.

The LORD, your God, is in our midst, a warrior who gives victory; he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love.

1. Pastor Tim [posts@cybersaltlists.org]

2. Thanks to Gabe Combs for today's Illustration. Pastor Tim [posts@cybersaltlists.org]

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