Central Lutheran Church - Elk River
Central Lutheran Church - Elk River
The Dancing God with Pastor Ryan Braley
Can a prophet from the past illuminate our present? Join us as we explore the compelling world of Zephaniah, one of the so-called "minor" prophets who packs quite a punch in a small package. Through humor and historical context, we liken Zephaniah to figures like Moses, revealing his potential royal lineage and the significant role he played in ancient Judean society. With a unique analogy, we liken these prophets to the "Reader's Digest" of biblical writings—short yet profoundly impactful. We're on a mission to make the rich narrative of these ancient texts accessible and engaging for everyone, regardless of their historical interests.
Our discussion takes an intriguing turn as we examine the symbolic reversal of the Genesis creation order in Zephaniah's writings. We uncover how the sins of idolatry, pride, and injustice among the people of Judah essentially undid God's creative work. These powerful metaphors highlight the societal decay resulting from actions against divine will. We also tackle the issues of syncretism and temple desecration, where foreign idols were worshipped alongside Yahweh. These discussions underscore the necessity for exclusive worship and the profound impact our choices have on our spiritual lives.
Bringing to life the imagery of God's purifying fire, we delve into metaphors of fear and hope. This fire, emblematic of refinement rather than destruction, calls for self-reflection and confession. We invite listeners to participate in a transformative exercise of writing down personal burdens and symbolically burning them, signifying release and renewal. Emphasizing God's grace and forgiveness, we remind ourselves that through love and compassion, we can let go of what weighs us down, embracing a new path filled with joy and spiritual growth. Join us as we uncover these powerful teachings, encouraging a journey of personal and communal transformation.
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Good morning everyone. How are we doing? Good to see you Again. My name is Ryan. I'm the pastor here. It's great to be with you guys this morning, and we are in, I think, week three or four of our B-Sides series on the minor prophets.
Speaker 1:A quick reminder the minor prophets are not minor because they're any less important or substantive at all, it's just because they were shorter than the other books. And so there are about 12 Hebrew prophets and Israel's. Actually, there's a lot more than that. Sonia, for example, mentioned a number of them last week that didn't have a book. They were prophetic in their actions and behaviors, and Jesus is, of course, the culmination of Israel's prophets. But these are the books in the Bible the Hebrew Bible and about 12 of them, and these ones are shorter. So these could also be called the more concise prophets or, like the Reader's Digest prophets, I don't know. But they're minor, not because they're less weighty or substantive or important, just because they're a little bit shorter. Make sense, great.
Speaker 1:This morning my sermon is on Zephaniah and I've called it a dancing God. Any dancers in the house this morning? A couple? Okay, all right, great. Well, you're free to dance this morning if you want to. That's part of the deal.
Speaker 1:So in Exodus, about a thousand years before Zephaniah shows up, there's this guy called Moses. He's out walking around in the desert in Horeb, this mountain, and it's this desert place, and he's wandering around. Many scholars believe that his wife had given him a grocery list that morning and he lost it and couldn't face the shame of going back home and telling her that he lost the grocery list. Couldn't face the shame of going back home and telling her that he lost the grocery list. Didn't want to call her and ask her. Thank you for that laugh of encouragement. And he's wandering and he sees this bush. The text says the bush is on fire, but it's not being burned. Great, yes, sir. Yes, we're going to have some fun this morning. Okay, and I was told by Jeremy Collins, who's a fire he's on the fire department here in Elk River that I can't any longer have open fires in the sanctuary. And I said to Jeremy don't tell me what to do, brother, we're having a fire, thank you, it's a little warm, so be careful. Moses sees this bush that's on fire and not being consumed.
Speaker 1:Now, moses has never met God before. So it's this moment of interaction and even introduction, and many scholars say, hey, this is actually God introducing himself to Moses. And he's doing it with this picture and this image of a fire, because then God begins to speak to Moses out of this bush, and somehow this bush is God speaking to Moses. And so this God who's being introduced to Moses, what's he like? Well, he's like a fire that doesn't need any fuel. It's not consuming the wood, it doesn't need wood for fuel, it has its own source of fuel. So this fire is like an eternal kind of a fire that doesn't have a beginning, doesn't have an end. It has its own source of fuel. So this fire is like an eternal kind of a fire that doesn't have a beginning, doesn't have an end, it just keeps on burning. It doesn't need to burn wood for fuel, it has its own source of fuel. And this fire is a fire that burns things but doesn't destroy them. The text says the word destroyed in the Hebrew could also be rendered as like destroyed, consumed or eaten. It doesn't eat the wood, it doesn't need it, it has its own fuel. So this God that Moses meets is a fire that has its own fuel, that burns things without destroying them. Now, a thousand years later, this same God meets with Zephaniah.
Speaker 1:Zephaniah was a man in the Hebrew story. He's actually in the south of Israel, in this place called Judah or Jerusalem, and he's prophesying there. And he's a man of, like, considerable social standing. They think he came from the line of Hezekiah, which was a king. No one knows for sure, it's a long time ago, but he could have been a man of considerable social standing and wealth and prominence if he came from the royal line of Hezekiah. But that's kind of all we know about him. And then, of course, his writings. Now the name Zephaniah, which sometimes tells us about what this is, what the book will be about. Sometimes not, but maybe this one it does. The name Zephaniah means the Lord protects. Maybe this is a book about God, the Lord, protecting people, something like that. Now here's where Zephaniah falls on our wonderful timeline. So just a quick history. So if you hate history or the Bible history, you can shut me out for a minute, but I'll go quick.
Speaker 1:1400 BC, the Israelites. After Moses meets with God in the burning bush. He then goes and he redeems the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt and they go into, they go to the desert for 40 years, which is a bit of a bummer. Then they go into the promised land around 1400. So that's how many thousands of years ago, long time ago. And then after that, shortly after that, they are given this land, they build themselves into a nation and they become a bit of a nation, and that nation's called Israel, and Israel has kings. The first king was King Saul. You have David and Solomon. These kinds of people become the kings of Israel. Not too long after they become a kingdom, they split in two because of conflict. I'm so glad that we don't ever get divided over conflict in this nation, but they did back then.
Speaker 1:And so what happens then is you have the northern kingdom it's called the northern kingdom, or Israel, and in the southern kingdom, a little bit smaller geograph northern kingdom, it's called, uh, the northern kingdom or israel, and in the southern kingdom, a little bit smaller geographically, it's called judah, and in judah is where you have jerusalem, the capital or the temple, the house of god is. So many jews saw this. Where you get the word jew from is judah, and so many jews thought that that was actually like like the house of god and that was the place of worship. This is why the samaritan woman at the well. Samaria is in the north. She asks Jesus, where do the real people of God worship, in the north or in the south? That's why.
Speaker 1:So then what happens is that northern kingdom, around 622, gets taken captive and occupied by the power at the time, which was the Assyrians. The Assyrians roll in and, because we're told of their sins, israel is destroyed, they're taken into captivity and the northern kingdom falls. The southern kingdom is still kind of humming along, but don't worry, there's this coming later so you can see Zephaniah prophesies right around in there around 640. The kingdom of the north is is falls in 622, but he's not in the north, he's in the south, in Judah, and he's at the reign during the reign of Josiah, the southern kingdom, the Judah king, king of Judah. His name is Josiah and Josiah is the king at that time. And he's got several contemporaries, amos, which you'll hear about next because it's a contemporary of Zephaniah. But during his prophesying the northern kingdom falls, but the southern kingdom has not fallen yet. It's going to fall. So he's prophesying a warning against the southern kingdom of Judah, like watch out, the fall is coming.
Speaker 1:Then, of course, you have 538. They go into exile. The Jews do, and it's not the Assyrians this time, it's the Babylonians that come into the south, because now they're kind of the ones in charge. They come in and ransack the temple, destroy it, raise it to the ground and they're carried off. It begins in 605 with uh, daniel, you know the book of daniel and they go into babylon and then they're there for a long time 70 years, depending where you mark it, which is what the prophecy said. They come back in 538, the temple is rebuilt again in around 516 and then then Jesus is born in 4. Jesus is when he engages the temple. It's what we call the second temple, not Solomon's temple.
Speaker 1:Okay, I'm done with all the history lessons. Is that fair enough? Anybody fall asleep? Good, we're good, let's keep going then. So this is what he's prophesying, and he's prophesying to King Josiah, to the people of Judah, and the things that they have going on.
Speaker 1:And here's how he opens the book. Okay, the opening is rather bold. He says this. He says and this is, by the way prophets meet with God and they speak with God, and then they go to the people on behalf of God with a message from God. So here's the message from God, through the prophecies of Zephaniah. He says I will utterly sweep away everything from the face of the earth. At which point one person, one bold soul, raised their hand sheepishly and said Zephaniah, could you define everything? And he's like yes, I will. So he says, I will sweep away humans and animals and the birds of the air and the fish of the sea. I'll make the wicked stumble, I'll cut off humanity from the face of the earth, says the Lord. And by everything he means everything. So he means the humans off the face of the earth, the beasts that walk around on the ground, the birds that fill the air and the fish in the sea.
Speaker 1:By the way, I'm going to mention this a few times, but this whole sermon and this book will raise lots of images for you probably many of you, about what you think about God. So just a quick caveat things like this, like what is, that's a violent thing to do, god, or the wrath of God, the anger of God and the judgment of God, whatever you think of those things, if you can help me out by putting those over here just for a moment. So all your preconceived ideas about what is judgment and the wrath and the anger of God and the violence of God. Just take them. I got it. Just take them another heavy and put them right on the pew next to you for just a moment. Is that all right? Okay, I want to give you maybe a new framework for how to think about these things, if I can do that, and a new framework for how to think about these things if I can do that, and I've got 20 minutes to do it, so we're going to go for it.
Speaker 1:So what is he talking about? Well, here's a really incredible thing about the scriptures. They're brilliant. The prophet's brilliant, god, of course, is beyond brilliant. Does anybody recognize these elements in the creation? Humans, beasts walking on the ground, birds in the air or fish in the sea. Does anyone know a story like that that we've read in the Bible somewhere?
Speaker 1:Genesis 1 goes exactly in reverse. So in Genesis, god fills the seas with fish, he fills the skies with birds, he lets beasts walk across the ground and he makes humans and puts them in the middle of it. So it's the exact opposite. Here's Zephaniah Flip it. This is the creation. Well, what's he saying?
Speaker 1:Whatever's happening in Judah and in Jerusalem, whatever behaviors that people are exhibiting, whatever actions they're doing, it's somehow in this deeply profound way is sort of a reversal of creation, meaning the creative life and goodness of God. He calls in the Hebrew tov tov mahod. Is goodness of God, that his blessing, the peace. All of that is now being reversed, or you could say it it's being undone. Whatever actions are happening you might call them the sins of the people it's undoing the creation. Isn't it interesting how sin in our own lives undoes creation, it undoes the creative life of God, it undoes community, it undoes wholeness, it shreds our life apart and the creation itself and the creative work of God, the symphony of God, it begins to be undone. And so perhaps Zephaniah is saying hey, you guys, god's going to come and undo, or let happen what's already happening, which is an undoing of creation. What you guys have been doing is reversing the creative work and acts of God and it's a problem because it undoes the life and the creation and the goodness of God. Just so you know. Now here's what they were doing, just so you all know.
Speaker 1:These were their sins, listed in Zephaniah, the things that the people of Judah were doing. So their sins were many, they were idolatrous. God had said hey, you'll be my people, I'll be your God, remember week one Worship me alone. Why Not? Because God's an egomaniac, but God knows that we people will worship anything. We're like people that like to worship, and we do, and so if you're not careful, you'll worship all kinds of things that don't give you life, that, in fact, rob you of life. So worship me alone. It's actually infinitely wise of God to say this.
Speaker 1:Well, they began to worship other gods and they began to worship the gods of their neighbors, their pagan neighbors. It's called syncretism. They began to mix and meld all the different gods and Yahweh, the covenant personal name of God, became one name in a pantheon of all kinds of pagan gods. They also were indifferent to God. They just didn't really care about God. They had pride and arrogance. I don't need you, god, I can do it myself. I got this. You're in my seat. God is how I always like to describe it. Pride, arrogance, they were.
Speaker 1:The injustices were rampant. You'll hear from Amos Amos like the original. Next week, ben will be talking about Amos, who was like the original fighter for justice. It's actually who Dr King quotes in his speech. He's quoting from Amos because Dr King was the reverend Anyway. So there's all kinds of rampant injustice going on and the temple has been desecrated.
Speaker 1:Here's why the people of Israel had brought all kinds of foreign idols into the temple, the house of God, where they go to worship God. They brought deities to Asherah, so the Asherah pole and these different altars for the god Asherah, the sun god, shemash, was also worshipped in the temple and all kinds of other Assyrian gods were worshiped in the temple alongside Yahweh. Now, bear with me, we are not the temple. Actually, if we're scriptural here, you and I, we're the temple. But this is not the temple. But it'd be similar like if, all of a sudden, I brought in a bunch of pagan deities and gods and images and altars and just put them all around the front here. I hope you'd be like, hey, dude, what's the deal? Right, that's the problem. It was a desecration to the temple, it was a problem.
Speaker 1:And so god comes and he announces they hey, these things are problematic and it's not good. And here's why because, frankly, these things are incompatible with life, with god, that God has designed you and I in a certain way, and these things undo life with God, they undo the creation. They rob and steal and take from us rather than give us life. The technical, theological term is not good. It's not good. They take life when we think they'll give life and they don't give life. They rob us of enjoyment with God, this giving and receiving, this collaborative partnership with God, this life with God. It robs us of that and these things are incompatible.
Speaker 1:It reminds me of folks who often say things like like they say man, I just really want to get more sleep. Sleep is so good for the body and I just would love to get more. I'm having a hard time sleeping and I just can't. I really want to get more sleep. And you tell them oh okay, well, try going to bed a bit earlier. Oh, no, I'm not, going to never do that. Well then, never mind. Like you can't get four hours of sleep, want to get more sleep and not like go to bed earlier or sleep in longer. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1:And so these things are incompatible with life and the worship of God. So and it's a problem this way too, because the prophets say again and again and again the things that you worship, israel and this might be a message for you and I too the things that you worship define and construct and build your character I'll say it this way, the things that you, by the way, yeah, incompatible. There's my slide for incompatible. There you go, let that ruminate for a minute. You say it this way Whatever you worship, you become just like that thing.
Speaker 1:I mean, we see it all the time. If you worship money, before you know it, over time you'll become greedy. That's all you think about is money. It drives your days, your activities, your life, your relationships are fraught with talk and thought of money. If you worship beauty, then getting older will be hell for you. That wasn't a joke, not that older folks are not beautiful. I didn't mean to say that either. I just meant that our bodies will break down. And if you worship being young or being beautiful in that way because old folks are really beautiful for sure, I stepped in that one yeah, you'll go mad. If you worship being famous or celebrity or well known, you'll give your life, your soul and you'll do anything for it to keep that going. Whatever you worship, you become like.
Speaker 1:Now I feel like, all right, I just worship God. Well, I would say this way whatever we worship is the thing at the center of our lives. So if I could, I could look at, and my own too, but I could look at your paycheck or your checkbook and your calendar and look into your thoughts and what do you give your time and energy and your emotion and what do you give yourself over to? Yeah, that's what you worship. Even atheists worship something, whether it's rationality or science or thinking, these kinds of things, and these things aren't bad in and of themselves, you know. But whatever you worship, I'm just telling you, whatever you worship, be careful, because whatever you worship, you will become like that's the center of your life.
Speaker 1:So what is God have to do? His people, his chosen people, have desecrated the temple. They've gone so far off the path. It's an absolute mess and God's seemingly upset. He wants to wipe everything away because it's an undoing of the creative work of God. Well, here's what God's going to do. God is going to bring judgment. Aren't you glad you came this morning to hear a sermon on judgment Again, take that. Whatever you think of judgment, put it right here just for a moment, okay, and just hang tight. And I want to help us unpack what this might mean a little bit more and more deeply. What is the judgment of God? Because the Bible does talk frequently about judgment, and here's how it's framed in the book of Zephaniah.
Speaker 1:There is this thing called the day of the Lord. That's coming. Here's what Zephaniah says. He says it a number of times. In one he says hey, be silent before the Lord. This is after. I'm going to wipe away everything. I'm going to destroy them, for the day of the Lord is at hand. That that's an actual thing. I'll tell you what it is in a minute. The Lord has prepared a sacrifice. He has consecrated his guests. Here's what the day of the Lord is.
Speaker 1:There's a background. So the Jews would have known what that meant. The day of the Lord. The background was in Israel's history, there were all these wars, and they believe, like most ancient people, that when you would go to war, your gods would fight on your behalf. And so, in their mind, the God Yahweh was a warrior who would come and fight for them and he would deliver them from the plight of their enemies and from the hands of their enemies. He would destroy their enemies and save Israel, redeem them and give them victory. So for the Jews, the day of the Lord was a good thing. Yes, the day of the Lord is coming. Our enemies will be vanquished. We'll rise to the victory, we'll be in first place. We're going to win. And they believed in all throughout their history that God gave them victory over their enemies and it was the day of the Lord when God would pour out his. You know, this would go to war for them and they'd win this victory. That's the background.
Speaker 1:So when the prophets began to use this phrase the day of the Lord many folks are like yes, it's coming, let's go. Here's the problem, though the prophets flipped it. They're like no, no, no, the day of the Lord is coming, but when God comes and gives victory, it won't be for you, it'll be against you. God will bring his presence and, in this case, some kind of a judgment, and he will bring it onto you, judah, because you've gone so far off the path as a result of your sins. The day Lord is coming and it's coming for you. And they're like oh, oh, now, actually, it's actually a good news, bad news, you know, like if you're one of the leaders at the top who was the one who put the Asherah deities or the poles in the temple, or you were one of the folks who encouraged this worship of other false gods or who were robbing the poor and were engaging in injustice. It was a bad news for you, like, look out, the day Lord is coming Now. If you were on the bottom, though, and you were like being abused or oppressed, or you were the one that was suffering injustice, it was good news for you, because salvation was coming for you. God sees what's happening. He's going to vindicate you.
Speaker 1:It's like this when I was a kid, my brother would pound on me Any other little brothers in here. Now, maybe, if you have an older brother, he would pound on you, and then, all of a sudden, somebody would yell mom's coming. And the older brother's like oh no, it's bad news for him, right, he's like. The older brother's like, oh no, it's bad news for him, right, he's doing the pounding. But for me, I was like, yes, ha ha ha, salvation has come. Maybe it's just me, I don't know. You get the idea right.
Speaker 1:So the day of the lord is coming, and for those who have been oppressing people, taking advantage of their power or their wealth or running the temple in an inappropriate way, it was bad news. This day of the Lord was coming for them. If you're on the bottom, it was actually somehow a good news kind of thing. And Zephaniah says this this is how the Lord will come. He says the great day of the Lord is near, near and coming quickly. The cry of the day of the Lord is bitter. The mighty warrior shouts his battle cry. Now here's the thing God is depicted as a warrior that's coming, and the day of the Lord. So like they've always seen him as a warrior. But now he's going to shout this battle cry and he's coming for you. It's like uh-oh Again. The technical term is like whoops, and it's not again.
Speaker 1:Remember, when we talk about god, it's hard to do it because god is this divine, transcendent other being and even the word being. It's not a word you can use, but that's god. So how do we talk about god in this time and place, as created human beings? Well, we use images and metaphors and signs and words, and that all fall short, and we use our own experiences, and so they're drawing on an image of a warrior. God is a warrior and so, fair enough, this is what they use, the language used for God they also use in Zephaniah. In the book of Zephaniah, he also uses this image of fire.
Speaker 1:So he says this I've decided to assemble the nations, to gather the kingdoms and pour out my wrath Again. Just pause for a second. Put your wrath over here, whatever you think about wrath or God, and the next line says all my fierce anger. So put it right here. Okay, just take it, because maybe God experiences wrath and anger like you and I do, like when you're in traffic, like oh you idiot. Or when your kids are acting like fools, like some of your kids not my kids, but your kids and you're like you just want to hit one, you know. Or when you're like just like. Is that how God experiences wrath and anger, though? Or is maybe God a little bit different and better and more controlled than we are as human beings, who are fallible and broken and hurt and wounded? Maybe it isn't the same at all, maybe.
Speaker 1:So he says the whole world will be consumed by the fire of my jealous anger. There's that fire again, so God's going to send fire, and the very next verse, though, says this by the way, the two verses are connected by this Hebrew word. That means four. So God said I will pour out my fire, and here's what it's for I will purify the lips of the people so that all of them may call on the name of the Lord. Oh, so he's not going to destroy the people, he wants to purify the people. His anger, his wrath against something is coming to purify the people. He wants to purify the people. His anger, his wrath against something is coming to purify the people, not to destroy them, but to purify them. So this God is a fire that doesn't need fuel, just always has been, doesn't need wood, won't consume the wood or destroy the wood or the people, but will somehow purify the people.
Speaker 1:And maybe it's because there are all kinds of things in our lives that are incompatible with God and the presence of God. If our aim and God's aim is union with God forever, eternity, eternal and by eternity I don't mean after you die, but a depth of life and experience union with God, then there are things in me that are incompatible with that. And what's God to do with those things? If my goal, my aim, is wholeness, completeness, healing, and I'm not there yet, okay, I know my kids think I'm there, but I'm not there yet, that's a joke. Yeah, because there are things in me that are incompatible with that. So what's God to do with them? Well, perhaps God wants to purify these things, remove these things that are incompatible with the presence of God. Yeah, get rid of them. All those things listed. God wants to get rid of those. Uproot those and pull those things out.
Speaker 1:There are probably things in your life that are incompatible with God and union with God. Thomas Merton, I love it. He says this, one of my favorite quotes of all time. He says that I don't know much about what heaven is like, but I do know that not much of me will be there. Yeah, there are things that have to get rooted out, things that have to be burned out. Maybe Things that have to be let go of, perhaps Things that we ought to confess together, things that we need to lay down along the journey, that are weighing us down, holding us back. They're incompatible, things we've got to release, things that we have to stop doing because they're incompatible with the presence, the life, the creative work of God in the world. They're undoing creation. They're undoing life in our own lives. Things have to be given up.
Speaker 1:By the way, I think everyone should have gotten a piece of paper. When you came in, did everyone have a piece of paper? Did I already ask you this? Okay, you need a piece of paper, and if you don't have it, you can raise your hand. Anybody need a piece of paper. Okay, carl's going to come. Thanks Carl. I appreciate you guys. Keep your hand up high. Thank you, jake. So yeah, you need a piece of paper. Thanks you guys.
Speaker 1:So maybe the wrath of God, the fire of God, the judgment of God, according to Zephaniah, is to purify us as people of God, to remove these things that are incompatible, that we no longer need. In this way, the fire of God is actually the grace of God. He's not giving up on us. He wants to make a way for there to be compatibility between God and humans. We just gotta remove some things.
Speaker 1:When I was younger, we moved here me and Katie and the family moved here and we lived with her grandparents for a number of years and I was given a key to their house, put it on my key ring, and then, a few years later, we bought our own house, the first house of our own. I bought this house and we moved in, and about a few years after that, I'm walking around and I'm looking at my keys and I realize that there's a key on my key ring that I don't know where it came from. Oh, this is weird and I realized, oh and Don. I mean, oh, this key is from my grandparents' house, from Katie's grandparents' house, in which they had, you know, they actually both passed away and the house was sold and I don't need this key any longer. And what am I gonna do with this key? Well, I took it off the key ring and I threw it away because I don't need it any longer. It doesn't work in the new house. It's a key for an old house. I don't need it.
Speaker 1:Zephaniah seems to be saying that God wants to make a new way. He says, by the way, seek the Lord. As his response Seek the Lord. God wants to make a new world and a new people. He's going to do so by wiping out, purifying, burning out, uprooting, getting rid of the old. He's going to take the dead and resurrect the dead, and this god is a warrior who comes as a fire.
Speaker 1:Here's what he says then in the end of the book. But you notice how it began, this like crazy intense way. Here's how it ends, and the fire is kind of the middle. Here's how he ends it. I love it. The lord, your god, is in your midst. A warrior. Oh, here we go again.
Speaker 1:He, he's the warrior. Yeah, yeah he is, but he's the warrior who gives victory and he will rejoice over you with gladness. See judgment wrath burning out the impurities in our lives. That's part of the process, because there's a lot of things that have to go, but it's not the final thing. It's not the end of the game. It's not the final word of God.
Speaker 1:The final word of God is this I will rejoice over you with gladness. The final word of God is this I will rejoice over you with gladness. Man, if you knew how good this news was actually for you, you might get up and dance right now. God wants to rejoice over you with gladness. He will renew you with his love. There's a way forward. He will exalt over you, dance over you, shout over you with loud singing. Not just singing, but loud singing. Come on now.
Speaker 1:This is the God, we're told, who throws a party for his son, this wayward son who comes home because he's so excited. It's the shepherd who calls to his friends and neighbors. I found my lost sheep. Come over and celebrate. In the heavens, the morning stars sing together again and laud this new creation that God is doing. They're singing, dancing, celebrating Revelation is a great multitude of heavenly hosts will sing hallelujah On the earth. The seas will roar their approval over what God is doing.
Speaker 1:Isaiah, this is a God who dances. This is a part of it, for sure. And there are things in you that you've got to get burnt out, but this is fulfilled in Jesus, who goes to the cross to defeat the final enemy. And you gotta get burnt out, but this is fulfilled in Jesus, who goes to the cross to defeat the final enemy sin, death and the devil and with his outstretched arms, welcomes us to the table. So when we gather we gather around the table. You can come guilt-free, judgment-free, because these things have been taken care of and dealt with. Now we live in the in-between time, like where we're still kind of wrestling and struggling, because these things have been taken care of and dealt with. Now we live in the in-between time, like we're still kind of wrestling and struggling, but these things have been defeated.
Speaker 1:When you come to the table, you don't need to bring anything except your sins and lay them down. So people say, oh, are you saying you don't have to do anything? No, no, just bring your sins. It's all you need to bring, just lay them down, let them go. Let God take them. That's your contribution to the table is bring your junk and lay it down and receive the peace offered to you by God. The enemy's been cast out. The enemy, the final one of death has been defeated.
Speaker 1:And now, friends, it's time to dance. Would you please stand? Here's what we're going to do. We're going to sing a song, and it's a song that kind of echoes these words. It's an oldie but a goodie, and I want you to take a minute and write down one thing. And now, if you get really like going and you want to write down 10, fine, but I think one is enough.
Speaker 1:What's one thing in you that's incompatible with the presence of God? By the way, god is not afraid of our sins or standing back here like you. Better get cleaned up before I come in. No, no, god dives into the thing head first, but he's got to get those things out of there. So what are the things in there that are incompatible with life, forever with God? What are your sins? This is how we're going to do our confession this morning Write it down, then bring it forward to my solo stove here and whenever you want, I don't care, we'll sing a song.
Speaker 1:Bring it down here. There's a bunch from the 830. Bring your sins, do it. That's what you're going to contribute. That's what you're going to contribute your junk and leave it right here, and then at the end I'll burn it outside where it's safe. Fair enough. Borrow pencils that are all over, grab one, write it down and bring it up here at your leisure and sing. And if you want to dance, go ahead and dance. But may you know that the judgment of God is coming and it's actually the grace of God to forgive us, restore us, to burn out the impurities in us, and all you need to do is bring your sins and let them go, lay them down. Those things are weighing you down. You don't need them. They rob you of life, so let them go. This is actually part of confession, and may you know that the Lord dances over you, sings over you, rejoices over you that, while you are yet a sinner, christ died for you. So bring them, bring them forward, amen.
