A Song For Thanksgiving

I'm going to give you a little bit of time to find the book of Zephaniah. Zephaniah chapter 3. Here's a clue, HZHZ. Let's pray together. our God, we come to you now asking you to open our hearts to the truth of your word, that we might see you as you are. Help us by giving us understanding, and by that understanding of your person would flow from our hearts deep thanksgiving.

Father, our goal today is that we might know you and thus be thankful. So help us now as you speak to us by your spirit in the text of scripture. In Jesus' name, amen. Many of you have had the experience of different coaches when you've gone out for different teams while you were in high school. Jeremy Treat is a pastor in Los Angeles, writes about a coach he had when he was a high schooler.

Here's what he says. My basketball coach was a classic old school screamer who made him motivated with fear and shame. His voice was powerful, but I heard it only when I did something wrong. If I turned the ball over on offense or blew my assignment on defense, practice would stop and the shaming would begin. red in the cheeks and foaming at the mouth he would scream until I had to wipe the spit off the side of my face I never really knew him outside of basketball practice but I know he was an angry man now many people think of God that way he's like an angry old man who demands that things go his way and if they don't he will shame and guilt and scare people to get them in line of course no one will ever say that out loud but deep down Christians oftentimes think of God as the God who out to get me He the God who just waiting for me to mess up.

And if we'd be honest with ourselves, we would have to say we have entertained those kinds of thought. Now, if that's the way you think of God, then you'll have a difficult time giving thanks. In fact, your thanksgiving will not be long lasting. You will find your thanksgiving rather shallow and it will not have the power to withstand difficulties and sorrows.

It will last only as long as good times last and material goods accumulate. Because you see, your ability to give thanks depends on your view of God. However, when you open your Bible, you find a very different God. And so I'm going to ask you to turn to Zephaniah. You're there by now, I hope. Zephaniah chapter 3.

I want you to listen carefully. Read along with me as I read verses 16 and 17 of Zephaniah chapter 3. On that day, it shall be said to Jerusalem, fear not, O Zion, let not your hands grow weak. The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save. He will rejoice over you with gladness. He will quiet you by his love.

He will exalt over you with loud singing. Isn't that a marvelous picture of God? Now, already I know that objections are creeping into some of your minds. Here we go again. God is a God of love and he loves everyone, don't worry about the anger of God because God is love. Now, if you think this verse describes that kind of God, then you're wrong.

You have a wrong view of God. This is not a hallmark card from God. Okay? With this inspirational text written in flowing font with doves and clouds around it. If you read it like that, you're reading it wrongly. Reading this verse as an inspirational pick-me-up cheapens it and obscures its true meaning.

And that too will produce a shallow view of God That too that kind of a view of God is going to produce a shallow view of God resulting in thanksgiving that will also be shallow And it too won't last through the difficulties and sorrows of life. But if we understand this passage in its Old Testament context, we'll find a message from God that produces deep, rich thanksgiving and praise that lasts. let's start here understand you must understand what you're saved from you must understand what you're saved from our text of God's joy comes at the end of a book almost entirely about God's justice his righteousness his judgment and his wrath the book opens with a declaration of God's anger and judgment against all creation. Let's take a look at it.

Chapter 1. Chapter 1, verses 2 and 3. I will utterly sweep away everything from the face of the earth, declares the Lord. I will sweep away man and beast. I will sweep away the birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea and the rubble with the wicked. I will cut off mankind from the face of the earth, declares the Lord.

Drop down to verse 17. I will bring distress on mankind so that they shall walk like the blind because they have sinned against the Lord. Their blood shall be poured out like dust and their flesh like dung. Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them on the day of the wrath of the Lord. In the fire of his jealousy, all the earth shall be consumed.

For a full and sudden end he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth. Again, God's declaration of judgment against everyone. It moves on to his covenant people. I will stretch out my hand against Judah and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Chapter 1, verse 10. on that day declares the Lord a cry will be heard from the fish gate a whale from the second quarter a loud crash from the hills whale inhabitants of the mortar for all the traitors are no more all who weigh out silver are cut off at that time I will stretch Jerusalem I will search Jerusalem with lamps and I will punish the men who are complacent those who say in their hearts the Lord will not will not do good, nor will he do ill.

Their goods shall be plundered, and their houses laid waste. Though they build houses, they shall not inhabit them. Though they plant vineyards, they shall not drink wine from them. Zephaniah then goes on to describe a day of judgment as a day that's bitter. where mighty, impressive men will scream in anguish, where distress and anguish will overtake all the people in their comfort, where ruin and devastation will be visited upon all that's familiar, the cities, their villages, their homes, their farms, their places of business, even the temple.

Darkness and gloom, clouds and thick darkness will reign as life ends in bloody conquest. That's what he says to his people. And then this devastating judgment will sweep like a tidal wave over the nations that have hated and persecuted these people that God is judging. He says the Philistines will be destroyed so that no inhabitants will remain. The proud, taunting Ammonites will be treated like Sodom and Gomorrah, destroyed, their land becoming a wasteland of salt pits and nettles. the Cushites will drown in their blood the Assyrians with their great cities will find them deserts inhabited not by people but by owls and hedgehogs and their great buildings nothing more than lairs for wild beasts and so when you come to chapter 3 verse 8 God makes this final pronouncement therefore wait for me declares the Lord for the day when I rise up to seize the prey for my decision is to gather nations to assemble kingdoms to pour out upon them my indignation all my burning anger for in the fire of my jealousy all the earth shall be consumed the righteousness that is the very person of God demands justice now as I read those passages I described this book to you you may see and you may feel embarrassed and uncomfortable with God's judgment and with God's righteousness and with his justice but everyone knows deep down that justice is a good thing isn't that true all of us know deep down justice is a good thing which is why we cry out for justice when the weak are oppressed and when someone is wrong it's why we bristle when the guilty go free.

It's why we grieve when wrongs are ignored. We have a sense of justice. And so we should understand, we should understand when pure righteousness, without a hint of corruption, brings perfect justice to all mankind, sets all wrongs right, and meets out judgment in perfect measure for every sin and injustice. It shouldn't embarrass us then, when we read these things, because this is the judgment and the wrath of a righteous God who is absolutely pure in his justice and meets out exactly what everyone deserves.

So you bow before God's majesty, his just majesty, expecting to receive the just payment for your corruption and evil. But as you near the end of the book, you find hope. You find hope. God will save. God will remove his judgment. Look at chapter 3, verse 15.

Well, verse 14. Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion. Shout, O Israel. rejoice and exalt with all your heart oh daughter of jerusalem the lord has taken away the judgments against you he has cleared away your enemies the king of israel the lord is in your midst you shall never again fear evil but if god the very embodiment of justice perfect justice requires that every infraction deserves its rightful punishment what hope is there how can he do that and you know how he does that right it's all fulfilled it all comes to the final point in Jesus, who then takes the wrath of God for the sins of his people.

As we read in 1 Thessalonians, For God has not destined us for wrath, but to salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we awake or asleep we might live with him Isn that marvelous All this judgment that we read all of it perfect all of it incorruptible, all of it unerring, perfect justice meeting out exactly what everyone needs is put on Jesus so that God is just and can deliver you from the wrath that you deserve by pouring it out on his son. We are then, note, what are we saved from? We are saved from judgment.

If you want deep, lasting thanksgiving, then you must understand what you are saved from. You are saved from judgment. However, and this is where I want you to think, however, if all you see is your rescue from God's just wrath, you may still have an inaccurate view of God. If that's all you see, you may still have an inaccurate view of God. Intellectually, then, we know that God loves us, yet we believe in our hearts sometimes.

God is, for the most part, disappointed or irritated with us, at worst, indifferent. we know that we're forgiven but we think of our standing before God only in negative terms and this may be true of you I hate to confess it too often this is true of me I'm not guilty so he at least accepts me right? he forgave me so you know he's not mad at me right imagine if one of you asked me how do you feel about your kids and your grandkids and I responded with well I don't hate them now that would be an entirely true statement wouldn't it but it wouldn't be enough but isn't that how we often think about God and our salvation because of Jesus he's removed his judgment from us he doesn't hate me and that's as far as it goes I okay with God right but that not an entirely accurate picture of God is it I would say to you, I love my children. I delight in my grandchildren. And that's what God says about us. and so not only must you understand what god has saved you from you need to understand what god has saved you for understand what you're saved for what are we saved for zephaniah 3 16 and 17 tells us it declares that god is mighty to save and he tells us here what he saves us for here's the first thing.

First of all, he saves us for our joy. Verse 16, the last part of verse 16. Fear not, O Zion, let not your hands grow weak. The Lord is in your midst, a mighty one who will save. First of all, he says, don't fear and don't lose heart. When he says, fear not, O Zion, let not your hands grow weak.

It's a picture of hands that are drooping because of discouragement and hopelessness. And this follows right after all those judgments, pronouncements of judgment. He's saying, look, don't lose heart. Don't be discouraged. Don't fear. See, you fear and lose heart when you see God only as the relentless agent of justice who does not overlook sin.

He is the mighty warrior who, in this book has revealed himself as the one who executes God's sentence of justice on the nations, on the entire world. But now that mighty warrior is actually in your midst, and instead of executing judgment, this mighty warrior has arrived to save you. Do you see the contrast? The mighty warrior who is wiping out nations, who is going to destroy the entire creation.

He is now in your midst mighty not to destroy you but to save you Again again this points us directly to whom To Jesus Directly to Jesus You can almost hear the echoes of Emmanuel God with us in this verse. This mighty warrior is where? He is in your midst. And you know, we need to look how this mighty warrior arrived because this is the whole paradox of the gospel.

This mighty warrior in our midst who's come to save us arrived how? As a baby in a stable. He ministered as a gentle and meek teacher. Take my yoke upon you, for you will find that I am gentle and lowly in heart, right? When he arrives in Jerusalem, he doesn't arrive as a warrior king. He arrives as someone bringing peace.

And when he wins the battle against sin, it is when he looks the weakest and absolutely powerless as he hangs on a cross. Now that's not the end of salvation, though is it? He will yet finish that salvation for our sake. Our salvation from sin when he appears again on a white horse striking down the nations with the sword of his mouth and ruling those nations with a rod of iron.

But most importantly, what we need to see here, God saves us for his joy. Okay, now, again, we are so used to thinking what God has saved us from that we have slipped into the thinking of, right? Do you love your kids? Well, I don't hate them. Right? How does God think of you?

Well, he's not mad at me. Right? He's let me in because Jesus took my place. He's declared me righteous so, you know, we get along. He tolerates me. Look at what Zephaniah draws for us.

This is incredible. You know, I can remember when I first came across this passage. It was several years ago. It just blew me away. The Lord your God is in your midst, the mighty one who will save. He will rejoice over you with gladness.

He will quiet you by His love. He will exalt over you with loud singing. He saves us for His joy. The description of God's delight in these verses absolutely sparkles with the emotion of love. In fact, the word love is used right there in the middle. He will quiet you by His love.

The whole thing speaks of His love. But what's interesting is this is not the word that we normally find for love in the Old Testament. Normally we find that word steadfast love, right? We see that a lot, especially in the Psalms. Steadfast love, what we would call covenant love. That is God's love committed to his people by covenant.

That thing, that unfailing love that God expresses because he promises it to us in his covenant. The thing that we rest in, the fact that how do I know God loves me? Not because of me, but because of his covenant. He's committed to us. It's like when you stand on that day when you got married, you make the vow, abandoning all others, I'll cling only to this person.

Now that doesn't speak of passion. That doesn't speak of a love that just has all kinds of fireworks going off, right? That's saying, look, I'm going to be loyal to you. And that's the solid bedrock thing that everything else grows out of. This is the love that issues in commitment. The fidelity of love.

Love that lives in the will as much as in the heart. But that is not the word that's used here. This is the word that's used, for example, of the passionate love that Jacob had for Rachel. This is passionate love, not committed covenant love. This is the fireworks love, right? In marriage, we make a promise of fidelity, right? leaving all others and being faithful to our spouse.

But is that all there is? In a good marriage, that's not all there is. There's still passion. There's still delight. There's still absolutely enjoying one another. That's the word that's used here.

That's what God, if I can say this and be theologically correct, this is God's passion for us. You see? this is a love that rejoices over you with gladness Our God actually delights in us He rejoices with a glad heart Have you thought about that? Have you thought about God like that? Again, I would suggest to you, and I'm willing to bear a lot of the burden here on the way we think, but too often we think, well, He doesn't hate me.

As opposed to, He absolutely delights in you. He rejoices with a glad heart. He's like a father with that first brand new baby who's just absolutely delighted. And he says to you, I didn't think I could love anyone else like this. I mean, you parents know what that's like, right? And then the next one comes along and you're like, wow, I didn't know I could love this much.

This is great. I love this. That's what he's talking about in terms of God here. he doesn't see his people as someone he's committed himself to now and he's stuck with them right well i made this covenant with him i'm stuck with these people no he's not a reluctant giver with a limited amount of grace the old testament describes him as what abounding in love and faithfulness.

God's love overflows for us. God does not tolerate us. He delights in us. Now again, I'd love to give you just 10 minutes now just to think about that and write the thoughts that come into your head. Do you think about God as actually delighting in you? That's not all.

This love, this is a love that's quiet. Matthew Henry writes, He will rest in his love, he will be silent in his love. Well, what does that mean? If you have a New International Version, it puts it this way, In his love, he will no longer rebuke you. In his love, he will no longer rebuke you. It's a quiet love.

It's kind of a tricky translation here, but that seems to be what it's all about. It's a quiet love. Now, you may say, now that can't be true, because I know from even the New Testament that God's still going to rebuke us. and you're right about that, but listen to the picture that he's trying to draw. He's saying that like a husband who truly loves his wife, he not nagging and pushing and demanding perfection in order to gain his affection You see that He not like the husband who comes home in the evening and is surly for the rest of the night because the house isn't clean like he wants it to be clean, and his wife doesn't look as good as she could possibly look, and the meal isn't ready.

And so he's just kind of crabby and naggy and just telling her all that she's doing wrong. It's not that way. It's not that way at all. Now, when it says that his love is not going to rebuke us, what does he mean? It's not saying that God's character has changed. God's character hasn't changed.

He's still as holy as he always has been. He's still as righteous as he's always been. He's always pure and holy. But that by his love, our status has changed. Our status has changed. This is a declaration not rooted in shifting emotions.

This is coming out of his covenant love. We're no longer under his judgment, but we're under his care. This is a husband who still loves you in all your imperfections. And instead of lowering the boom, he seeks to help you. He comes alongside you to help you become what you need to be. This is the quiet kind of love that God has for us.

God is silent in his love, that is, loving in a quiet, deeply affectionate way. Okay? Can you think that thought about God? That God loves you in a deeply, a quiet, deeply affectionate way. Then there's the last part of the portrait that he paints for us. This love exalts with loud songs.

What a picture of God. Can you imagine God singing over you? You don't have to imagine it, by the way. It's right there. You have a God who sings over you. He exalts with loud songs.

Have you ever noticed that most of the songs you listen to are love songs? They're love songs. And do you notice that whenever you're in love, it seems that the normal ways of expression are not adequate for the way you feel? that's the picture that he's drawing here what a unique view of God listen he's not a God who merely tolerates you as the pesky dirty poor kid that he just cleaned up Right It as if words are not enough to express his feelings so he puts those feelings to music.

The God of the Bible sings, and he sings over his people. If you would have Thanksgiving that lasts, you need to understand what God has saved you for. He has saved you for your joy, but most importantly, he has saved you for his joy. So then, if you see God as a cosmic police officer, then you live in a fear of punishment. Thanksgiving will be rare. if you see God as the heavenly fireman that you call on only when you're in trouble very little thanksgiving will be in your heart if you see God as the universal candy man that you expect everything good from then you certainly won't be very thankful when things aren't going well but if you see God as an unerring incorruptible all-knowing righteous judge who has every right to punish you but who declares you righteous through the work of his son and now delights in you and sings over you and loves you passionately is there any room for thanksgiving then you see your view of god will determine your thanksgiving.

This is the view of God that we must also have. Thanksgiving comes from the miracle of grace that God is just and joyful. God, thank you for your word. Thank you for giving us hope in the person that you are. That you are a God who doesn't merely tolerate us now, but that you delight in us. You passionately love us.

You sing songs over us. Help us to leave here with that in our heads. Help us to remember that in order that our thanksgiving would grow deep and it would grow wide. God, please, please. Help us now to think accurately about you. Not just in your justice, but in your joy.

And we'll thank you and continue to thank you. In Jesus' name, Amen.