The Minor Writing Prophets V: Zephaniah – a janitor
February 12, 2012
BMC- Zephaniah
Introduction: a janitor
Before I begin this morning I am just curious to know, how many of you have a memory or are certain that you have heard a sermon from the book of Zephaniah before? If you have please raise your hands. {pause}
Well coming into this morning, I was fairly confident that the number would probably be pretty low which gives me a chance to address a book of the Bible that you have done little thinking about until now. I haven’t decided though if this makes it easier because you don’t have a lot of preconceived ideas that need to be considered, or more difficult because this may be my one chance to suggest that Zephaniah might actually be worth your time.
Either way, I want to begin this morning by inviting you to brainstorm cleaning methods and professions. When you think of cleaning what methods and professions do you think of? {Take some answers}
We began our Bible Study on Thursday night with this question as well. That list included everything from soap and water to power washers and ultrasonic cleaners. It included professionals that ranged from domestic engineer and dental hygienists to computer software cleaners and chimney sweeps.
Cleaning is a part of our lives. Dirt and messiness are a part of the world in which we live. Even from a young age, we are told by our parents that we bath, brush our teeth and clean our rooms. When I was Elam’s age, 7 or 8 perhaps, I have a clear memory of using the vacuum cleaner at home in the dining room. At the time, that room also had a dehumidifier with a tank on the back to collect the water.
Now I was an inquisitive child and I remember thinking, “I wonder what would happen if I would stick the end of the vacuum cleaner into that tank of water?” Unfortunately, I went ahead and tried it myself rather than asking someone who would know what the answer was. It turns out that it did suck up the water at first; but in the process, it also destroyed the vacuum cleaner.
Who was Zephaniah?
Well what does this have to do with Zephaniah? After all, Zephaniah was a prophet in Jerusalem in the late 600’s BC. He was a descendant of Hezekiah and prophesied during the time of King Josiah. After a period of apparent prophetic silence that lasted 75-100 years, Zephaniah came on the scene declaring destruction. Much like Amos, he appeared during a time of relative prosperity and began declaring impending disaster.
Well as we read the first several verses of Zephaniah, we get a sense that God’s impending destruction of Judah will be making a clean sweep of things. In fact we heard in Eugene Peterson’s translation from The Message this morning that God’s decree was that he would make a clean sweep of the earth, a thorough house cleaning.
Certainly, Zephaniah was not a janitor and yet the message that he proclaims is one of cleaning, of purifying Judah and even the whole world of the sinfulness and grime that has built up. His method of cleaning sounds a bit more like my destructive use of the vacuum cleaner than our average spring cleaning though. Yet his message was rather timely given that it came during the reign of King Josiah, a boy king who was known for his religious reform. In the midst of a temple remodel, a book of the law was found and he used it to get Judah back on track, to clean up in a sense all of the idolatry and syncretism that had crept in.
Lesson 1: Cleaning up
Perhaps this is also the first lesson that we can take away from Zephaniah. There is a need for us at times to clean up our faith, to clear away the clutter and to focus in on what is central to our belief and practice. Perhaps if we are proactive and intentional about doing this on our own, we will not be faced with Zephaniah’s more destructive cleaning process.
I would suggest that we have done some thought about this in our consideration of what it means to be an Anabaptist Christian and of what our vision and purpose mean for how we minister as a congregation. But I wonder if there are practical applications that we need to take into consideration as well. Are there particular efforts that we should be making?
The trustees are inviting us to consider some pretty practical house cleaning measures. They are inviting us to consider the curtains in our worship space, the front doors to our building, and the sink in the kitchen. Perhaps these are things that could use some cleaning up, not because the old is bad; but because things and people reach a point in which some cleaning up becomes necessary. What might these projects mean for living out our purpose to experience and extend the gracious rule of God? How might some improvements in these areas aid us in carrying out our vision to worship, invite, nurture and serve? This is an area for us to be discerning together.
In another vein, we will begin our gifts discernment process again as a congregation soon. We have a number of very good and important ministries with very gifted people leading those. At what point do we ask the question about whether or not there are positions that have become little more than a slot to fill. Certainly at one time, they were a vibrant and active ministry but have since become clutter that we simply shove into the closet because we are uncertain about what to do with them.
Perhaps there aren’t any. Perhaps all of the things that we have committed to are still central to who we are and what our vision calls us to focus on. But perhaps, we are coming to a place of needing to do some healthy house cleaning in which we honor the work of the past, but then make space for time and energy in different ways.
Lesson 2: Humility
The second lesson that I believe we can learn from Zephaniah is that of the need for humility. We see several instances within Zephaniah in which the humble are affirmed and the prideful are warned that they are about to be brought down.
Zephaniah 2:3 tells us, “Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land, you who do what he commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the LORD’s anger.” Whereas 2:10 declares, “This is what they will get in return for their pride, for insulting and mocking the people of the LORD Almighty.” God seeks a humble heart and brings down the prideful.
My 5th grade year was pretty rough for me and I hate to admit it but part of that was due to my struggle with pride that year. I’m not sure what all contributed to where I found myself, but my ego got way out of control and though it was tough at the time, I am very thankful for some pretty direct people who put me in my place in a good way.
At the end of my 4th grade year, I was playing on the playground at Pearl Street Elementary school during recess. It was an asphalt playground with several pieces of equipment, one of which was a marry-go-round. Probably in first or second grade, I had learned how to jump off the marry-go-round while it was still moving. It was something that most everybody did on a regular basis. But that day I must of landed wrong somehow and I felt a lot of pain in my left leg and remember the sensation of feeling a very hot liquid running down through my leg.
At the same time, the tornado warning was sounded and we all had to get inside to the basement of the school for safety. I remember being helped down there and sitting on the floor while a teacher read a book about pancakes flying through windows or something. Once the all clear came, I was taken up to the office to wait for my dad to take me to the doctor’s office.
It turned out that I had a pretty bad break that resulted in a full leg cast for about 6 months, a half leg cast for about 4 months and a half leg brace for about two months. This means that I had something on my left leg for 2 days short of an entire year. I’m sure that this was a part of the struggle that I experienced during my 5th grade year, because that alone made things very difficult and also meant that I received additional attention in some circumstances.
But I remember two particular instances from that year very clearly. One was that there was some kind of an award given out at the end of a grading period that several people got. I was one of them and our names were called out over the PA for us to line up and then go down to the office to receive it. I remember saying something like “Wow, I wasn’t expecting to get that again” under my breath but loud enough that the people around me could hear what I said. I really think that at the time I was trying to appear humble, but I came to understand that I was anything but humble.
I also remember an instance in which someone really put me in my place. I can’t remember her name because she was new that year and I don’t remember her being in my classes after that year, but she was a blond with a bit of a tough streak about her. For some reason we were in the classroom working on a project or cleaning up and something happened that she flat out told me that I had pretty big head. I honestly denied it, thinking that this couldn’t be true about me. But she assured me that it was. It was a real wake up call.
Over time, I began to understand that she was right and that this was something that I had to work on. I didn’t want to be prideful and I wasn’t sure how I had gotten there; but I made a concerted effort to get my ego in check. Now you are far better judges than I of how well I have done at this over the years, but I think that pride is something that requires ongoing and intentional monitoring. Otherwise, we tend to become like the people of God in Zephaniah’s day and let our pride get the best of us when God desires humility.
Lesson 3: Salvation from Stubborn Choices
The third lesson that I see for us in Zephaniah is the salvation that God offers us in the midst of making stubborn choices. We see pretty clearly in Zephaniah 3:1-2 that the people of Judah were stubborn people who were unwilling to change from their evil ways. We read “Woe to the city of oppressors, rebellious and defiled! She obeys no one, she accepts no correction. She does not trust in the LORD, she does not draw near to her God.”
This is a path that leads them to destruction. Yet we also read Zephaniah 3:15, “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.” The Lord provides salvation even to stubborn people. That is a word of comfort to me and perhaps to others here this morning as well.
And I would testify to having experienced that in my own life. When I was probably about Josiah’s age, around 4 or 5 years old my mom took my sister and I to go swimming at a park with a beach. We went with my uncle Dave and his daughter. He wasn’t really my uncle. He was my dad’s best friend and the man that I was named after so we called him Uncle Dave.
I was at an age in which I enjoyed being in the water but I had not yet learned how to swim. My mom was on the beach with my younger sister who was probably more like 2 and a half and my Uncle Dave’s daughter and I were taking turns going out into the deeper water with him. It was probably only up to his waist or so, but for us it was too deep to keep our heads above water while still touching the ground. Because of this he would carry one of us out while the other waited in the shallow water.
Now I distinctly remember having a conversation with him earlier that day about the fact that people cannot breath underwater. This is pretty obvious now, but it was not something that I had realized before. Now I wanted to go out into the deeper water and it wasn’t my turn to go out. I tried to get Uncle Dave to take me instead, but he refused and took his daughter out leaving me behind. I was upset and remember making the conscious decision to go out and join him in the deeper water.
As I marched my way out, the gentle slope gradually got deeper. I probably would have reached a point in which I was to deep to go any further and then would have turned around unharmed, except that I didn’t know that there was a steeper drop off ahead of me. Suddenly as I stepped forward {go down a couple of steps}, my foot didn’t touch the ground right away and I was in water over my head; not a whole lot, but enough.
I remember panicking and trying to breathe underwater. As I was trying that and realizing that it wasn’t working, I was able to turn myself around toward shore. But as my feet were scrambling to get a foothold the sand kept shifting under my feet. I didn’t know how to swim or to tread water to keep my head up and I couldn’t get a foothold to bring me back on top of that ridge. My stubbornness had gotten me in over my head, literally, and into some serious trouble.
Then seemingly out of nowhere, I remember a distinct but gentle nudge that moved me forward just enough that I got my footing and was able to walk up to the beach where I promptly threw up from all of the lake water I had swallowed. Now I’m not aware of any person or adult who gave me the nudge I needed. No one walked me out of the water to my mom, but I’m sure that I received a nudge forward that led to salvation from my stubborn choice to go into water that was over my head.
Zephaniah testifies to this reality as well. God offers salvation to all, even to stubborn people. He did to the people of Judah and he does to us as well.
Conclusion
Zephaniah was given the word of the Lord to bring to the people of Jerusalem during the time of King Josiah. He was told to bring a message of cleaning. He spoke against pride and affirmed humility. He also testified to the Lord’s salvation even for those who are stubborn. May we learn our lessons from these words of Zephaniah rather than from our own experiences of failure. And may we use our stories of failures in cleaning, in prideful boasting and in God’s salvation to testify to God’s work in our own lives.
Amen
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