A call to repent. This is the second sermon in
this sermon series. Again, it's a five -week
sermon series looking at Zephaniah. We're going
to dive right in, and we're going to actually
just work through the verses kind of as we go.
So, April, I'm not going to do that first slide
of the one through three, because... communion,
to me, as we come from the table into not only
the world of Zephaniah, but in the world to kind
of for us in 22 and 5, I saw such a connection
this week from the table of grace to what we
are learning in Zephaniah is it is a gift of
God. We say it all the time. The bread and the
cup that remind us of Christ's body and the blood.
We've proclaimed something. Together, as we partake,
we proclaim the Lord's death. We've tasted his
mercy. We've communed with not just each other,
but with Christ himself. But now the question
is, what do you do after the table? Is it just
something we kind of check the box? All right,
we took communion beginning of the month. Great,
now on to the next thing. I think Zephaniah would
challenge us after the table this morning. We
don't just walk away full, but we should walk
out changed every time. We experience the table
of grace. Communion is not a closing ceremony,
but a commissioning event. It's what I love about
doing that the beginning of every month, that
we're being commissioned through the body and
blood of our Lord Jesus Christ to go out. And
today, Zephaniah 2 calls us. Or it gives us a
call for a life after grace. Seek the Lord. Seek
righteousness. Seek humility. It's not just legalism,
but it's response to what God is doing. Because
one thing we can bank on, God's mercy always
leads us towards transformation. So now, nourished
by his grace, we hear the word. Not as a people
afraid of the wrath of God. but as a people invited
to a deeper faithfulness to live in a godly manner.
Have you ever thought about that? That the manner
in which you live your life should be seen as
godly. Let's just all take five seconds to feel
really bad, really convicted, because we look
back at our last week, the things that we've
said, the things that we've thought, the things
that we've posted, all of those things, they
may not come off as godly, but yet that is the
call. Because one of the reasons why Zephaniah
is really calling out the people of Judah is
they looked religiously impressive, but that
was basically it. There was not a whole lot going
on on the inside. You see, if we go back to the
context, King Josiah was implementing some reforms.
It wasn't for a couple more years until he really
starts to get it right. But he's doing a lot
of work. You see, he's cleaning the idol altars,
right? He's cleansing those. He's repairing the
temple. He's calling the people back to the law.
2 Kings, chapters 22 and 23. But the deeper disease
remained. And this is where, right off the bat,
you're going to be like, oh, pastor, no. This
is just, this is uncomfortable. I don't like
it. As though there's cleansing going on, there's
repairing going on, and people are being called
back, whether they've come back or not, to the
Lord, the deeper issues remain. Pride, idolatry,
and apathy. Pride, idolatry, and apathy. They
had a temple. They had their sacrifices. But
they lacked the broken and contrite heart that
the psalmist David calls us for true worship.
Because here's the thing, some of us come to
worship every week not really thinking we have
to. Not really thinking that we get the opportunity
to worship God. And again, guys, it's not just,
you don't need to do it today for an hour. You
should be doing it all the time. Our lives should
be lives of worship, right? We should be living
out our lives of worship in all that we do. Families,
jobs, friends, communities, sports teams, all
of those things. But Zephaniah's message comes
into that tension. He's speaking directly to
then and to now, as we're going to see at the
end, as if he is saying, you have seen grace
extended, Munster Church. Now don't harden your
heart. You have seen grace extended, but don't
harden your heart. What does that mean? That
means that we can be a people who have received
grace, yet still think we're better than others.
Still harden our heart with that pride or hold
to our idols or become apathetic in our walk
with Jesus. Yeah, I've been through all the things.
I've done all the things. I even did VBS when
Munster Church had it decades ago. I'm good.
That is never the life of a believer. It never
should be. So Zephaniah, speaking into the tension,
don't harden your heart. Because pride, idols,
and apathy are three good ways to harden that
heart. Because what is a hardened heart? A hardened
heart is a stubbornness, right? Now, this is
not a time to elbow your significant other, the
person sitting next to you. But hardening your
heart means, God, I got it. If you declared,
all of our worship this morning had a theme,
didn't it? I need you. Recognizing that you need
God is recognizing that you lack something. And
so as we're going to see, what Zephy's trying
to do is bring not only these thoughts and ideas
together, but bring the people together to recognize
who they are in Christ. So gather together. Verse
1. What sums up this verse is shame. So now,
April, I'm going to go through verse 1. Gather
together. Yes, gather. O shameless nation. Let's
just gather together. Yes, gather. O shameless
nation. And we'll get to verse 2. Let's just
stop there for a second. What? It's a shameful
nation, right? What did I say? Shameless. Okay,
shameless, shameful. I think it's the same, right?
It is gather together, yes together, oh shameless
nation. Oh shameless, you are being, this is
not a good thing. This is a summons to collective
repentance. Now we do this, right? We have time
of kind of confessional prayer. You have time
of individual confession. You confess your sins
to God. He forgives you if your heart is pure.
As far as the east is from the west, he remembers
your sin no more. But the visual here I find
amazing. The Hebrew word, chahesh, means to gather
like dry stubble. Exposing how spiritually brittle.
Again, because Hebrew is all about kind of visual
pictures. It's really not a verbal language.
It's more imagery. That's what I love and hated
about learning it. That's why it was so hard,
in my opinion. Exposing how spiritually brittle
the people of God had become. Have you ever felt
that way? That you're just spiritually brittle?
In your mind, what comes to mind when you think
of something brittle? One or two people. Brittle.
I don't know if you use that term a lot in your
life, but when you think of something brittle,
what comes to mind? Someone say bowels? I hope
not. Fragile, okay? What was the B? Someone had
a B word. I want to make sure I heard that right.
Bones, okay, that's way better than bowels. Yes,
sorry, Evan. But understand that bones can be
brittle, absolutely. You may have a relative,
you yourself may have more kind of brittle bones
where things just tend to break or crack very,
very easily. Brittle, it's not necessarily a
good thing, especially not here. They've become
spiritually brittle. Shameless doesn't mean that
they didn't sin. It means they weren't bothered
by it. There was no shame in them sinning. It
doesn't mean they weren't without sin. They weren't
even feeling bad. They were becoming apathetic
about sin. Well, yeah, I messed up. Well, yeah,
Yahweh's either going to forgive me or he's not.
That's kind of up to him. What kind of relationship
is that with God the Father? This apathetic understanding
of a brittle faith of just kind of a fickle relationship.
Think about a good friend or a significant other,
a spouse, a family member. What if that was the
definition of your relationship? The depth of
your intimacy? Well, take it or leave it. We'll
see. What does that show? That shows I really
don't have a connection. If I felt that way about
Carrie, she wouldn't feel that love. Like, Carrie,
this is me. Take it or leave it. Maybe you said
that to your spouse this week or a significant
other. What does that say about you? It says,
I really don't care what you think. I'm going
to be who I am. I don't think that that's the
right understanding of a healthy relationship,
but let alone our relationship with God, whether
that's our look of God or we think what God looks
at us, it's not a good thing. What is Zephaniah
saying practically? You need more than religion.
You need actual repentance. You need to be broken
for your sin. If your sin isn't breaking you,
that means you're used to it. And friend, that's
not a good thing. Zephaniah is addressing a nation
that has wandered from covenantal faithfulness,
calling them back before. This decree takes effect
of the day of the Lord. Now again, covenant contract.
I've done this many times. I'm not going to go
through it again. We don't have time. But understand
that our covenant love with God is God will be
with us whether we're faithful or not. That's
not an opportunity. Ooh, we get to be unfaithful,
but God's going to be faithful. This is going
to be great. No, that's like spiritual abuse.
That's an understanding. That's taking advantage.
That's what Dietrich Bonhoeffer calls cheap grace.
That's on a Monday saying, oh boy, I plan to
sin Friday and Saturday, but I know Sundays God's
going to forgive me. How you can tell that that's
not a good relationship with God is that's not
how you would want people to treat you. Oh man,
I plan on hurting and backstabbing that person
on Thursday, but guess what? On Sunday they're
going to forgive me. That is not a good way to
do it. And that's where Zephaniah continues in
verse 2. Before, right? Before the decree takes
effect. Oh, that's so hard, right? So he's already
called us a shameless nation. Before a decree
takes effect, before the day passes away like
chaff, before there comes upon you the burning
anger of the Lord, before there comes upon you
the day of the anger of the Lord. Anger of the
Lord, not a good thing. Not something we're like,
yeah, I want to see the anger of the Lord. Let's
see what he's got. That is never, should never
be our understanding of God. The word before.
Shameless, complacent. You guys have fallen.
You've missed it. You don't understand it. You're
confused. Before is God's mercy again. We see
God's mercy in the word before. Judgment is real.
But God always warns first. You can see it throughout
the scriptures. There is always a warning. Now,
in the bowels of Pastor Jim, so to speak, one
of the kind of videos I love, I love jump scare
videos. I don't know what it is. Maybe it just
pricks my anxiety or something, but I like it.
I know that's weird. I'll talk to my counselor
about it. But I just love people getting scared.
This does not mean you all get to do that. I
like to watch videos of people being scared.
Do I like to be scared? No. Because I know that
it would make an incredible video. But understand
that there's something about that, that all of
a sudden people don't think something's going
to happen. It does, and they freak out. Now,
half of it I know is staged, but I want to be
entertained anyway. But this is the warning before
the day of the Lord, the day of God's anger.
There's a window of opportunity. It's a not live
in fear, but it's a wake up before it's too late.
We heard that last week. This echoes Hebrews
3 .15. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden
your hearts. This is where it becomes apocalyptic
again. We know what apocalypse means. We went
through Revelation. This is Zephaniah pointing
toward apocalyptically to the day of the Lord
when the Lord is going to come down. This is
the day of the Lord's anger. This is the judgment
that this prophet has the obligation, the duty
to tell the people of Judah. Zephaniah is urging
preemptive repentance before the full judgment
comes. This emphasis is on the window of opportunity.
Before it is too late, the Lord is slow to anger,
but is not indifferent to sin. Think about that.
He's slow to anger, but not indifferent to sin.
This is one of the balances I love between Carrie
and I, right? Not many of you are fans probably
of the TV show Parks and Rec. It's one of my
absolute favorites. And there is an episode where
this little town of Pawnee, Indiana, it's fictitious.
You can feel free to go to sleep for three minutes.
I'll wake you back up. They have kind of their
sister city come out. And there's an interview
about, and it's, Mandy, do you remember the town?
The Eagleton, no, it's the other one, the one
down in South America. They come, anyway, it
doesn't matter. They're talking to their general,
and they're interviewing him about, they just
went to this town hall meeting, and it was absolute
chaos. Just people yelling and throwing at things,
and he kind of, coming from more of a militaristic
city, he's like, we don't have anything like
that there, because if you raise your hand, you're
going to jail. And he goes through this laundry
list of things. It's hilarious. He's like, if
you undercook fish, you go to jail. If you overcook
chicken, you go to jail. Like all of these things.
You can wake back up. Here's the point. That's
not what it is. God is slow to anger. This isn't
a one and done. This isn't really the difference
we carry an eye in the way that we discipline.
Right? I can be like that, right, when it comes
to the boys? Like, it's like, you didn't close
the garage door, go to jail. Like, you didn't
take out the dog when I asked, go to jail. You
didn't, you get the drift. And care's like, no,
there is no jail. Like, you said go to jail,
you now go to jail. I've been sent to jail by
her. Like, there's this understanding of... I
lack that, what's a good word for it? I lack
that patience, I know, big shock, where Carrie's
been given abundance. How do we know? She married
me. She was going to need it. But understand
that this window of opportunity is showing the
mercy of God in that he wants you to get it.
He wants me to get it. He wants to throw those
signs up there, those warnings, and say, repent,
turn. Meaning, I see the road you're going down.
Turn. He may bring a good friend around you and
say, hey, this is where you're headed. Turn.
Those are those little prophets in your life.
Your friends can be that for you. You can be
that for your friends. Because God is slow to
anger but is indifferent to sin. So now we've
paused, right? And you've all had this this week,
sometime in your life. You could have taken this
step into sin, but something, conviction, maybe
a person, maybe a devotion, whatever, maybe the
sermon last week, who knows, got you to stop
and got you to turn a little bit. Turning is
one thing. Walking, then, in a different direction
is repentance. Right? In easy, we always say
it's the 180 back to God. I'm going down this
sin nature. Actually, I'll use the cross. I'm
going down this sin nature. Stopping it is a
good thing. Turning is a great thing. But walking
now toward the cross is the repentance. It's
not repentance if we're just doing this. I should
say this. This actually is repentance. But walking
is the way of a believer. That is what Zephaniah
is trying to get at in verse 3. So verse 3 says,
Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land. Who
do his just commands? Seek righteousness, seek
humility. Perhaps you may be hidden on the day
of the anger of the Lord. So this is the pause,
this is the turn, and now the walking is seeking.
These are not random phrases, but a great three
-point sermon by Zephaniah. It's one unified
call to what we call covenant renewal. We see
this throughout the Old Testament. Covenant renewal.
And guess what? Who's the one renewing it? Us.
God never breaks it. We're the one that breaks
it. We're the ones that have to stop and seek
him again. Seek the Lord. Pursue a relationship
with the living God, not just a ritual. Man,
I think it was, I think it was. I think it was
him that said, just because you go into a garage
doesn't make you a car. Just because you come
into a church doesn't mean it makes you a believer.
I think it was James Dobson that said that. If
not, it doesn't matter. It was some good guy
because it was a great quote. But understand
that coming here on Sunday is fantastic. It doesn't
make you a believer. Seeking the Lord, laying
down your life, picking up your cross, acknowledging
Jesus as Lord and Savior is the relationship.
Seek righteousness. Live as God commands, shaped
by his holiness. It's not just a one and done.
It's a continual journey until the day of the
Lord. And then finally, seek humility. Acknowledge
our sin and throw ourselves onto his mercy, which
is renewed every morning. After the table, we
do not walk in pride. We walk in seeking, as
though gripped by grace. So perhaps you may be
hidden on the day of the anger of the Lord. That
perhaps isn't because God is unsure. It's an
invitation to humility. It's saying, don't presume.
Don't assume this. Seek him with urgency, with
sincerity. This word hidden, right? The same
root word of Zephaniah's actual name. Yahweh
hides and protects. Isn't that cool? That this
prophet is speaking of his own name, pointing
back to the relationship with God. So what does
it mean to be hidden? Well, now in 2025, in a
post -resurrection, ascended Christianity, what
Zephaniah hoped for, we have received. We are
not hidden in our own righteousness, but we're
hidden in Jesus. Paul writes in Colossians 3
.3, for you have died and your life is now hidden
with Christ in God. So when God appears, you
will be revealed to him in glory. We are the
people for whom God's wrath was satisfied on
the cross. At the table of communion, we remembered
that Christ took the burning anger onto himself
so that we could be covered in mercy. Because
Christ is the great hiding place, isn't it? Not
to hide our sin and our secrets and all that,
but he is the one that died for our sins and
our secrets, and he is our hiding place because
we take him on, as Colossians 3 will continue
to say. Zephaniah urges the faithful to seek
humility and hope in being hidden. The hope is
fully realized in Jesus Christ. In the two articles
of the Belgian Confession, help us understand
this. Article 20, God sent his only son to assume
the nature in which the disobedience had been
committed, to make satisfaction in that same
nature. And Article 23 affirms, we rest on the
obedience of Christ crucified alone, in which
we believe in him. So if we've been hidden with
Christ, People should see that in our life. People
should see that grace that we get from the table
in our life. So how in the world do we walk this
out? How do we go on living from the table? Well,
here's where our kind of application brings us
to the end as I land the plane. First and foremost,
if you've been given the grace, then we should
seek God daily. Not out of fear. but as one who
has tasted grace. We should practice repentance.
Communion doesn't erase our need to repent. It
awakens our need to repent. We should live humbly.
The cross humbles the proud and lifts up the
lowly and the lonely. And then finally, we should
tell others. You just partook in the visible
gospel, the visible means of grace. Now proclaim
it. with words, and with life. That's the response,
my friends. That is the response. So, much like
every prophet, major or minor, again, it's just
book size, they're telling the people then and
us now, because that is how we can read the good
book, which is awesome. Then, what is Zephy telling
them? Judah had a temple, the law, the sacrifices.
but their hearts had grown cold. God warned them
not to destroy them, but to turn them back to
him. So what does that mean for us today? We've
just shared the Lord's Supper. We've seen his
mercy. Now the question is, will we seek him?
God's word calls us after the bread and the cup
to live differently, to seek, to repent. and
to walk humbly with our God. So friends, don't
let communion this morning be the spiritual high
point that fades, but let it be the launching
point to faithful, humble obedience. Let's pray.
Lord God, thank you.