"God Will Judge the Leaders" Sermon: Zephaniah 3:1-8

“God Will Judge the Leaders”

[Zephaniah 3:1-8]

September 11, 2011 Second Reformed Church

            Josiah, a good king – a king who followed after the ways to the Lord, had risen to the throne in Judah.  He had discovered the Law of God and had it read to the people.  He repented of his sin and removed the idols from the Temple and from the high places.  But the people did not repent.  They believed that they could worship God and idols and still be faithful to God.

            God sent Zephaniah the prophet to speak to the people, and he told them that God was angry with the sins of Judah, and God was going to bring judgment on Judah because she was His beloved bride – His child who needed to receive His discipline to be led in the way of righteousness.

            Zephaniah told the people that God would not only judge Judah, but He would judge the nations who had attacked Judah and tried to destroy her.  And God gave them an additional hope in telling them that the day would come when a remnant from Judah would return to the land, and a remnant from every nation would turn and repent and believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

            In this morning’s Scripture, Zephaniah prophecies specifically against the city of Jerusalem.  The people had thought, “Yes, God will take His Judgment against the nation, but God will never touch His Holy City – God will never touch His Temple; Jerusalem and her inhabitants are safe.”

            But God told them they had put their faith in the city and the Temple and not in Him:  Jerusalem – and her leaders in particular – had rebelled against God – they had tried to overthrow Him.  They had defiled the holy places.  They had oppressed God’s people in leading them astray rather than being the good shepherds that God had appointed them to be.   She refused to listen to the voice of God.  She refused His Fatherly discipline.  And truth begins with teachableness – she despised the truth; she despised correction.  She did not trust in the Lord; she did not draw near to the Lord.

            The leaders in Jerusalem thought they were above God’s discipline because of who they were and where they were, but God told them they had committed the unforgivable sin; they had committed the one sin that cannot be forgiven.  Jesus said, “Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven” (Matthew 12:31, ESV).

            The sin against the Holy Spirit – the unforgivable sin – is refusing God’s Salvation – today, we understand this is through Jesus Alone.  So, the person who refuses to receive Christ and dies cannot be forgiven.  The leaders of Jerusalem were telling God, “Yes, Lord, there are many people in Judah who need Your discipline, but not in the Holy City.  It’s a wonderful thing that You will provide salvation for all those who will believe – thankfully, we don’t need it.  But we do know people who do need help – people who are not so involved with Your Temple and all things religious.”

            The leaders thought themselves as faithful – the true spiritual leaders of Jerusalem, but God told them through Zephaniah that God would judge the leaders.  The leaders God appoints are to be good shepherds to His people:  they are to lead the people in such a way that they do not have want.  They are to lead them besides still waters and make a place for them to lie down in green pastures.  They are to restore the souls of the people and to lead them in the paths of righteousness for the sake of the Lord.

            But that is not what they did.  God describes them like this:

            The officials were roaring lions.  They went about seeking someone to devour.  The officials weren’t interested in justice; they were interested in being able to punish people.

            The judges were “evening wolves that leave nothing until the morning.”  Wolves hunt during the day.  If they have gone until evening without eating, they become ravenous.  The people who came into their courts had no hope, but were devoured immediately and completely.

            The prophets were “fickle, treacherous men.”  Rather than proclaim the Word of the Lord, the prophets “adjusted” their message as it profited them to do so.  They would speak whatever would fill their coin purses and get them to be asked back to speak again.

            The priests profaned the holy.  Rather than showing the people that God is Holy through worship, the priests ate food that only belonged to God, they took bribes, and they engaged with temple prostitutes.  They flaunted their profaning of the holy.  They broke the Law of God with violence and abandon.

            Still, they said, “This is the Temple of the Lord – the Holy City, God would never let anything happen to it or us.”  Where would God go if He didn’t have the Temple to inhabit?  Where would God go if this church building no longer existed?   If we were not here to worship God, God might shrivel up and die, right?

            “But the Lord is with us!”  They objected.

            God told them to consider His Character – in verse five:  Yes, God was within her, and He is Righteous.  The author of Hebrews wrote, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31, ESV).  God was there – God is here – and that’s a wonderful thing if we are right with God.  But God is Righteous – God is Holy – God will not tolerate the slightest evil to remain in His Presence.

            “God is Righteous and does no injustice; God is the same day by day by day.  Leaders of Jerusalem – cheats, liars, unjust, rebellious, and uncaring – where is your shame?  Do you really think you can stand before the Face of God?” 

            God said, “Look what I have done for you:  I have cut off the nations – I have given you this land, made you My people.  I have killed your enemies so no one is left to stand against you.  I have given you their streets and their cities.  I have made you a mighty nation – My people – the people of the One Holy God.”

            “I thought, surely, if I made you My people and gave you the land of Canaan and defeated all of your enemies for you, you would be My people and follow Me in love and humility – that you would accept My Fatherly Discipline.  If you had, I wouldn’t be in the midst of cutting you off and bringing judgment upon you.  But the more I showed you My Love, the more you turned away and became more and more corrupt.”

            We know God is not really astonished – God is Sovereign over all and everything occurs according to His Plan.  Yet, God speaks in our text to the leaders in astonishment to shock them into seeing what they were doing.  God speaks to us in astonishment to shock us into seeing what we are doing:  “You say, ‘everybody sins,’ like it’s no big deal.  But I came to earth in the Person of Jesus of Nazareth, allowing you to put Me to death, so I could pay the debt for Your sin.  Does that really sound like ‘no big deal’?”

            God gives us leaders.  Paul wrote, “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities.  For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.  Therefore, whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.  For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad.  Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority?  Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good.  But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain.  For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.  Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience” (Romans 13:1-5, ESV).

            What does God say?  All positions of authority and all persons who occupy positions of authority have been put there by God.  That means that President Bush was given his position and authority by God.  It also means that President Obama was given his position and authority by God.  God’s Will is never trumped; whomever God would have in authority is in authority – for our good or our punishment.

            What does Paul say the two reasons are for government – for leaders?  We are given two reasons in the Word of God for leaders and government:  to protect the people and to punish evil.  The leaders in Jerusalem were doing evil and abusing the people – they had forsaken their call to leadership.  They thought they were autonomous and didn’t need God; they had forgotten that God gave them their positions, and they were amenable to God for their authority.

            God is the Sovereign Ruler and Lord over all earthly authorities.  Everyone who has authority has it because God created the authority and appointed the person to serve as leader for a time.  I was called to be the pastor of this church.  God created the pastorate of this church, and God placed me in leadership in this church – and I do well to remember that.

Each of us has some form of authority – whether it be in the church or in our jobs or in our family or in our relationships.  In whatever form of authority God has given us, we ought to acknowledge Him and submit to His Will, serving as He has shown us to serve through the example of Jesus – as Paul wrote, “So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.  Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.  Let each of you look out not only to his own interests, but also the interests of others.  Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:1-8, ESV).

As those who have authority by the will of God, we are to serve as leaders in the way that Jesus served.  (And we are given that mind of service by Christ Himself, so we don’t have to find it or work up to it.)  We are to serve in love and humility, looking out for others as well as ourselves, and serving sacrificially for the sake of others.

Consider for a moment that you are God.  You have a disobedient people who will eternally perish if you don’t intercede somehow.  You can’t let them off the hook – justice has to be served.  So, what you do is you come to earth in the form and person of a human being, and then you are killed by your people – as you take the punishment for their sin.  That is how we ought to serve each other as leaders.

Now, there is a fine line between humble service and allowing oneself to be used and abused.  God does not call us to seek out abuse; God does not call us to be doormats.  But God does call us to go a very far distance to show others what God has done for us in Jesus Christ.  That is the point after all – we do not humbly serve as leaders to get others to look up to us – as if such a scenario were possible.  We serve others humbly that they may know Jesus Christ and His Gospel.

            God works through earthly authorities to bless, discipline, and punish.  Just as God rules over all, God has given us leaders to rule over us.  God has entrusted them with the roles of seeking after our good, disciplining us for our good, and punishing evil so it will not arise again.

            We ought to obey our leaders, so long as they don’t require us to sin – Paul mentions paying taxes as one thing Christians must do.  You may think taxation is legitimate or you may think it is not, but if it is the law, and we are not required to sin in paying our taxes, we must pay our taxes as a witness to the fact that we believe that God has put all authorities in power.

We ought also be in prayer for our leaders and encourage them whenever possible – that they would be humble and submit to God in all things, seeking to lead in love and justice, rooting out evil, that all people might know the God who gave them their authority.

            God is intolerant of people abusing the authority He has given them.

We ought to encourage our leaders to repent when they have sinned, not damning them as thought we have never sinned – “vengeance is the Lord’s” – but calling them to do what is pleasing in the sight of the Lord.  In this country we have the opportunity to write to our elected officials to encourage and rebuke, to praise and persuade our leaders and to vote people in or out of office as they fulfill the call on them to serve.

And some of you might be thinking, “Well, it does no good.  They won’t listen to us.  And as one person goes out and another comes in, it’s always the same.”  Whether that’s true or not is not the point:  leaders are responsible to God – ultimately – as are we.  And our role in government – in leadership – is to help the leaders God has given us to do what is right and pleasing in God’s Sight.  Our leaders’ sin does not excuse our sin.

            God is always Just, and as He is Pleased and Wills, He is Merciful and Gracious. As we have already see in Zephaniah, God promises judgment, and then He promises that a remnant will return – not just from Judah, but from all of the nations.

            Yet, it would take exile to bring the remnant back to God.  God spoke through Zephaniah and told the leaders of Jerusalem, “Wait for me…for the day when I rise up to seize the prey.  For my decision is to gather the nations, to assemble kingdoms, to pour out on them my indignation, all my burning anger; for in the fire of my jealousy all of the earth will be consumed.”

            God said, “I will descend on you like you have descended upon the people I gave you to care for; I will descend on you like a wild animal and tear you apart.  I will gather you with the nations and pour out fire upon you.”

            James wrote, “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness” (James 3:1, ESV).  We will be judged based on the authority we have been given.

            And Peter wrote, “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed

“Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt away as they burn!  But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (II Peter 3:10-13, ESV).

Judgment will come, but it is not a judgment of annihilation – the fires that burn do not destroy.  The judgment – for the remnant – is a judgment to purification – it is the fire that burns to refine gold.  Because God has chosen to be merciful and gracious.

On the Day of Judgment, God will not annihilate everything that is, but will purify and refine – the remnant – the elect – all those who believed savingly in Jesus Alone – perfected and made holy, into the Image of Jesus, God’s Son.

With that in mind, let us submit to our leaders in humility, recognizing them as God’s servants, and as we serve as leaders, let us serve in a way that brings glory to our God.

Let us pray:

            Almighty God, Ruler of All, we bow before You, ashamed that we have not been good leaders and we have not respected our leaders and humbly submitted to them.  Teach us to lead and to follow well – that we might reflect the Image of Your Son, Jesus, that His Gospel would be known through our leadership, and all nations would recognize You as the Sovereign King.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.