What's God Really Gonna Do?

The Minor Prophets: Zephaniah
Insights I take from reading through the minor prophets

What's God Really Gonna Do?
A Lesson from Zephaniah

America is often called, a "Christian Nation." It's a common misconception that America itself was founded not only on Christian ideals & beliefs but by Christian people. But in fact, the founding fathers of North America were largely not as Christian as many of us think. They were, by and by, Deists. They were people that believed that a higher power called God existed but that He was only a far-away god, transcendent and far away from human affairs (Ecc 5:2). He was transcendent, by not imminent (Zeph 3:5). God was big, too big, and certainly not concerned enough or involved enough in our puny human lives here on earth to make any sort of substantial difference. I mean ... when you think about it, what is God really gonna do?

There are people that attend our churches that are more Deist than Christian. There are times, myself I admit, that I have prayed a prayer like a Deist, not expecting much from God, to involve Himself in my own affairs. Because after all, what's He really gonna do?

Such was the problem of God's people in the book of Zephaniah. Zephaniah was a man with royal descent. He was "in" with the kings as he came from a privileged family. But the thing about Zephaniah that sets him apart is not his status but his message; Zephaniah had a message from God: judgment. Zephaniah spoke that message to God's people, who in effect, had completely renounced living for God anymore. Judah's king at the time of Zephaniah was still just a boy, around 8 years old. In effect, there was no bolstering leadership to lead people back to God's hearts. All there was at this time was Zephaniah, preaching God's judgment (Zeph 1:14-15) unless people repented (Zeph 2:1-2).

And the biggest problem facing God's people at the time of Zephaniah wasn't from following pagan customs (1:5, 8), or having too much pride (2:15). There was a greater root to all of Judah's problems and here is what it is. Here is the sin that God ruthlessly wanted to eliminate from His people: "I [the Lord] will search with lanterns in Jerusalem's darkest corners to punish those who sit complacent in their sins. They think the LORD will do nothing to them, either good or bad."

I wonder, how different are we? Here, God's people were being threatened with absolute destruction, and the reason is because they don't have faith in God anymore. Not a mustard seed's worth. They're being "deistic," figuring that the chance of God being involved in their life is the same chance of Justin Bieber serenading them with "Never Say Never" on their front doorstep. It's just not gonna happen.

A friend of mine once told me about his struggles with sin and how a lot of it was going on because He was angry with God. And after questioning him on what was going on it became very clear to me what was the true root of the problem: He didn't believe that God would do anything. He was sinning because ... what was God gonna do? My friend was convinced that God was neither working all things to good (Rom 8:28) or bad in his life ... so why not just sin? "God is far away. I'm the one that's down here." The advice I gave my friend was the same advice that Zephaniah gives Judah: God isn't just up there "in the clouds". Zephaniah shouted out to the people of Judah, "But the LORD is still there in the city!" (3:5).

The fact is ...

• God is with us. He has given His Holy Spirit to everyone who confesses with their mouth that Jesus is Lord and believes in their heart that God raised Him from the dead (Rom 10:9-10). 
• God is with us. In every believer, that same Spirit of God that raised Jesus from the dead is in us as well (Rom 8:11). We are not lone rangers and followers of God, we are a body of Christ, where Christ is made evident within us in a special way when we gather together (Zeph 2:1). 
• God is with us. As one body of Christ in one Spirit (1 Cor 12:13), we act on Christ's behalf to one another, sharing the same love to each other that Christ showed to us (John 13:34)
• God is with us. The Holy Spirit in us knows our pains, and prays for us, and convicts us of sin and leads us to right living. The Spirit is a promise that God will always be with us to the end of the age.

How can we be so blind? God is working all around us.
We need look no farther for Jesus than our Christian brother or sister listening to our problems at the local coffeeshop.
We need look no farther for Jesus than from the hands clasped in circles around you in prayer at your small group.
We need look no farther for Jesus than in the Scripture that He has revealed Himself in, our own heart He has changed, and the Church He has given us to build up our faith.

God is involved. All of Scripture is about how our compassionate God is pursuing obstinate man, not how man vainly tries to pursue a transcendent God. God is with us. God is for us. God is living among us. And the reason we're complacent in our faith if we are is because we're too ignorant to see how Jesus is waiting to speak to us through our Bible, our Church, and own time in prayer.

I was speaking to a group of High Schoolers and I asked them, "How many of you feel like your faith would be better if you had Jesus standing right here in the flesh in front of you?"
Everyone raised their hand.
Then I said, "But don't you realize that He is? The same Spirit of Jesus Christ lives on today in your brothers and sisters in Christ. In your Youth Pastor and adult leaders. You're surrounded by Jesus living in people. You're surrounded by Jesus living in the flesh right now."

 What's God really gonna do? Show His imminent presence in a way we don't expect. God's been with us all along.