Sermon for Gaudete Sunday, the 3rd week of Advent
When we focus on the joyous anticipation of the Lord’s coming.
“Sing aloud O daughter of Zion; shout O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of
Jerusalem! The Lord has taken away the judgements against you; he has cleared away your enemies. The King
of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; you shall never again fear evil. 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 exult over you with loud singing. I will gather
those of you who mourn for the festival, so that you will no longer suffer reproach. Behold at that time I will deal
with all your oppressors.
And I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will change their shame into praise and renown in
all the earth. At that time I will bring you in, at the time when I gather you together; for I will make you renowned
and praised among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes” says the Lord.
“THE GOD WHO SINGS”
Zephaniah 3: 14-20
“God will rejoice over you with singing”. This amazing verse from
our text blows away any images we may have a grouchy God. And though it occurs only this once in the
little read book of Zephaniah, we should hang on to it for dear life. And it should not surprise us, for
“God is love” and “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son” to save the world, and as
the great lover that that God is, it should not surprise us that God would sing a love song for his beloved
people. Do you get that? If God loves us so much that he sent his Son into the world to suffer and die
for us, surely it is not surprising that God sings a song of love to us? If we forget everything else today,
let us remember this: We have a God who serenades us with his love. Why then do we so often
imagine and picture God as a severe or growling God? Or of the disciples being serious, sombre
followers?
A woman writes of her father, who was a church elder, that he was full of rectitude and rigid with
duty. He was entirely unselfish, and in his long life he never committed a pleasure. If any of you
have seen the wonderful Danish movie Babette’s Feast, in which a French refugee disrupts the simple
life and repressive piety of a conservative religious community by rewarding their generosity for giving
her refuge by preparing them a magnificent gourmet feast when she finally has resources to do so you
will appreciate the impact of sharing pleasure.
When God came to earth in Jesus, people saw that he was not afraid to commit a pleasure.
Recall that John tells us that he began his ministry at a wedding celebration when he turned the water
into wine. Yes, Jesus brings agency for life, genuine fellowship, joy and pleasure.
This was pretty much the pattern of his life, and led to the church leaders of the day failing to
recognise him. They expected him to fast, but he spent much of his time feasting, celebrating the
salvation of sinners, and bringing joy into troubled people’s lives. Think of his stories, many of which
described God as a King who invites everybody to a party.
Think of his teaching, in which he calls us not just to hear but to obey, and then says “I have
said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and your joy may be complete.
Think of his birth, which is announced as “Good news of great joy, which is for all people”.
Think of his resurrection, where ‘the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.” Think of
the early church, which met together daily to eat and celebrate Holy Communion “with glad and
generous hearts.”
So as we prepare for the coming of Jesus, whether at Christmas, or at the end of the age, we
see him coming, to save us from our sins and fears and worries, to bring us joy and hope. And the way
we are to greet his coming is with songs of joy, as his people did on the day he entered Jerusalem on a
donkey.
Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O
daughter of Jerusalem. We might wonder why we are called to prepare for his coming with joyful
singing, when we’re normally called to prepare for his coming with repentance. Both are true!
Zephaniah calls the people to repent, as does John the Baptist, as does Jesus – turn away from
all that is evil, and from living without faith and God in your life, and turn to God, by believing the Good
News of Jesus Christ, and follow Jesus on the way to love and joy and peace.
Sadly, too often people do not turn to God to find joy. We try to find it to through entertainment.
We pay someone to make jokes, to sing songs, to provide diversions. We buy the vitality of another’s
imagination to divert and enliven our own poor lives. The enormous entertainment industry in our land is
a sign of the depletion of joy in our culture. Society is a bored, gluttonous king, employing a court
jester to divert it after an over indulgent meal. But that kind of joy never penetrates our lives. The results
are extremely temporary. (Petersen) To repent is to turn to God and find our joy in God.
“Rejoice in the Lord always.” We cannot always rejoice in our circumstances. We get sick.
We are faced with surgery, and sometimes we struggle to regain a full recovery. We lose our jobs, or
our superannuation fund gets buffeted by losses. After years of drought a a farmer finally sees a good
harvest on its way, but it gets spoiled by a summer hail storm or is wiped out by bushfire, or it yields well
but at a time when prices are low and little is gained. Or we make millions through sport, only to lose
everything through drugs and immorality. There is no joy in much of life, for it is filled with sin and
sadness. There is only one place to turn. Return to the Lord with all your heart….rejoice in the
Lord always.
God’s Word constantly gives two reasons for rejoicing in the Lord.
“The Lord has taken away the judgements against you, he has turned away your
enemies…the Lord your God….gives victory. I will remove disaster from you…I will save the
lame and gather the outcast…I will bring you home…I will make you renowned and praised”.
God is a God who acts. In Jesus he comes into the world “to seek and to save the lost”, and
through the suffering and death of Jesus he does exactly that. In all our sins and needs we turn to God
and find his help and “we rejoice in the Lord, because he has done great things”.
And in that joy we are gentle with the people around us, and we share what we have with
others, and we live honestly. To repent and turn to the Lord and find our joy in him leads to living the
way Jesus lived in love, joy and peace “Sing aloud, rejoice; The King of Israel, the Lord is in your
midst. Rejoice in the Lord always….The Lord is near.”
Yes there are many times where we are called to fear or to keep silence in the presence of the
Lord, but countless times we are called to rejoice and sing because the Lord is in our midst. Surely that
is why Christian worship is marked by joyful singing. Joyful singing to the Lord is the great witness to the
presence of the living and loving Lord in our midst.
St Augustine of Hippo said that to sing to God once is to pray twice. And Luther echoed a
similar thought when he said that the joyful singing of his hymns was a more powerful witness to the
Gospel of God’s grace than his theology. Listen to the Christmas Old Testament reading: “together they
sing for joy….as they see the return of the Lord to Zion. Break forth together in singing you ruins of
Jerusalem”.
Today’s Psalm from Isaiah 12 says: “Shout aloud and sing for joy… for great in your midst is the
Holy One of Israel.” And Psalm 16 states “in your presence there is fullness of joy.”
We ‘rejoice in the Lord always’, because of all he has done for us, and because he comes to be
in our presence, and finally will bring us home into his eternal presence, where we will gather round the
lamb who was slain and sing and worship him forever
Joy has a history. Joy is the verified, repeated experience of those involved in what God
is doing. Joy builds on the past, and borrows from the future. Joy is God’s gift to those who
know God’s Word, which tells of what he has done for his people in the past, and what he promises all
of his people in the future. Joy comes from knowing God and all his works and all his ways
through knowing God’s Word.
So this is God’s call to us this Advent. Read God’s Word, meditate on God’s Word, believe
God’s Word, obey God’s Word and you will find yourself “rejoicing in the Lord’ who has done great
things for you, and will ‘never leave you or forsake you’. Go to Holy Communion regularly, and rejoice in
the real presence of Christ, and give thanks to God in this Eucharistic celebration.
“Rejoice in the Lord”, and sing with him and to him. Amen.
Written by Pastor David Christian and read by John Eckermann on Sunday 13th. December 2015