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Zephaniah 3:6-8 (click here for passage)

In an episode of ‘Christianity Explored’, Rico Tice tells a story about being on a beach in Australia. He removed his shirt and was about to dive into the water, when someone came running up to him and frantically proceeded to point out warning signs that clearly said, ‘No swimming’. There were sharks in the water. When Rico demurred, the man walked away saying, ‘It’s up to you mate. You’ve seen the signs. You’re big enough and old enough to look after yourself. You decide what to do!’

God’s judgment on the nations (2:4-15) should have been a warning sign to Judah. And here’s the question for us: ‘Will we learn from God’s many judgments in history?’ (6) He has erected numerous warning notices for our protection. This sixth verse tells us that the (apparently) strong things people put their trust in will not support them ultimately. All we put pride and confidence in, apart from God, will prove unreliable. If we don’t build on the rock that is Christ’s Word we are actually trying to construct something on sand (Matthew 7:24-27).

Like Rico’s friend, the Lord pointed to the warning sign and underlined the message. But ‘’the city’’ still opted to swim in ‘shark infested waters’. The inhabitants of Jerusalem preferred the ‘pleasures of sin for a season’ to repentance and holiness (7b). You would imagine that no-one would choose to go and swim with the sharks!

Did Jerusalem learn?

No! They were guiltier than the Gentile nations because they were the recipients of a greater revelation and more blessing. As someone said, they were sinning against ‘’a flood of light’’. They forgot that covenant privileges also brought covenant responsibilities.

Will the world learn?

There is a clear line of teaching in the Bible that there is going to be a judgment poured out on the whole earth. If (8) refers to God using the Babylonian Empire to judge His people, it also looks beyond it to the greater judgment yet to come. We may not grasp the full picture; we may not possess all the details, but it is going to happen. Will we learn from what God has done previously? We have watched cities and nations ignore the warning signs and get eaten by sharks. Do we think we can dive into the ocean and come out unscathed?

‘’Well, if that’s what you want, stick around.’’ GOD’s Decree. ‘’Your day in court is coming, but remember I’ll be there to bring evidence. I’ll bring all the nations to the courtroom, round up all the kingdoms, And let them feel the brunt of my anger, my raging wrath. My zeal is a fire that will purge and purify the earth.’’ The Message.

There must be a purging with fire before a brand new sin-free universe can be born (2 Peter 3:10-13).

Prayer: Lord God, please help me to see and hear all your warnings and never ignore them. Thank you that you warn us out of love to save us from terrible danger.

Theses verses supply the doctrinal heart of an intensely practical section of ‘Ephesians’. The entire range of individual, yet inter-connected, exhortations to follow find their basis in this radical change that is conversion. I read on one occasion that in the early church, when someone was going to be baptized, they took off an outer garment before going into the water. When they came up out of it, they put on a clean white robe. This was emblematic of taking off the old life and putting on the new. Note three things about the new life in Christ:

The new life is all about Jesus (20, 21).It starts with hearing about Him (21) and coming to know Him as a real Person (20). Part of this involves hearing the truth about Jesus, and the truth Jesus Himself taught. It also entails following the truth that Jesus is (21; see John 14:6). You may remember from yesterday that Paul’s insistence that we should live a new life was ‘’in the Lord’’ (17), and it is because we are ‘’in him’’ (21) that we can do so. Just as a bird is at home in the air, and a fish in the sea, so we believers are at home in Christ. He is our supernatural habitat; the very atmosphere that surrounds us. We can follow the truth of Christ’s life and obey the truth of His teaching because of this vital union with Him (John 15).

The new life begins with repentance – a change of mind leading to a change of behaviour (22, 23). I believe Paul, in today’s passage, has in mind something that not only happened at conversion, but which must continually happen as we live the Christian life. It’s a day by day, and even moment by moment, thing. But he is in particular looking back to that decisive beginning of the life of discipleship in which someone makes a clean break with sin. One preacher said to the congregation at the end of his sermon, ‘I want to invite you to make a step of commitment and come down to the front of the church building to give your life to Christ. But don’t come out here unless you’re prepared to leave your favourite sins behind you in the seat where you’re sitting!’ In our pre-Christian existence we all had a problem in the area of our ‘’thinking’’ (17) so something radical has got to happen in our ‘’minds’’(23). (By the way, our minds will still come under assault even after we have turned to Jesus and will require constant protection. Think about chapter 6 verse 17a in this connection. It is important to always remember that these temptations are ‘’deceitful’’ (22). They tell you lies. They are expert liars, and they find us only too willing to swallow them.)

The new life is about the restoration of God’s image (24; see also Colossians 3:5ff.). God doesn’t just want to forgive our sins, as marvellous as that is, but to restore in us the image of Himself that was marred and defaced at ‘the fall’. His purpose in sanctification is to glorify us (Romans 8: 30). It is to make us exactly like Him. As we are in this process of being made like God, we are exhorted to copy Him even now (See 5:1). C.S. Lewis observed that if you could see your ‘brother’ now appearing as he one day will, you would be tempted to fall down and worship him! God is going to make him so like Himself and cover him with glory.

Finally, the language of ‘putting off’ and ‘putting on’ implies that conversion is not something that is just done to us, but that which we are actively involved in. Everything we do is only done by the grace and power of God. We know this. We couldn’t do it without Him. Nevertheless we have to decide to turn away from sin and embrace Christ’s way. It is a choice we must continue to make every day of our lives.

Prayer: Thank you Lord that I’m a new creation in you, called and enabled to live a new life.

Here are three more sayings of the wise men, from that collection of 30 proverbs that begins at chapter 22:17.

The first is a warning against excessive living, particularly with regard to food and drink (19-21). There are practical reasons for self-restraint. If you go down the route of over-indulgence it will take your money and sap your strength and health. Again, we marvel at the down to earth wisdom of the Bible. If only the world heeded it! This could have saved a lot of people a lot of problems over the Christmas season. ‘’Don’t drink too much wine and get drunk; don’t eat too much food and get fat. Drunks and gluttons will end up on skid row, in a stupor and dressed in rags.’’ The Message. Live like that for too long and you may well end up featuring in a documentary about obesity or binge-drinking! Perhaps both!!

The second proverb concerns honouring father and mother throughout life, and bringing joy and delight to them (22-24). Live in a way that will make your parents proud, if at all possible. The writer envisages doing this by obeying the ‘’truth’’ (23) taught by parents. For him, this will mean the truth that is in God’s Word, or in agreement with it. This is an important word to us all. Whatever God our Father has shown us we should cling to tightly, and live it. ‘’Buy truth – don’t sell it for love or money.’’ The Message. ‘’Do not sell the truth at any price…It costs something to live by the truth, but it costs even more to abandon the truth.’’ Warren W. Wiersbe: ‘With the Word’, p.429. (See also Proverbs 4:7)

The third is about the danger of falling into sexual immorality and adultery, and the destructiveness of such behaviour (26-28). This is a repeated theme in ‘Proverbs’. The ‘fruit’ may look delicious on the tree, but once eaten it is found to be poisonous.

How many lives and marriages could be saved by this Bible passage alone!

Prayer: Lord, let your Word spread through all the earth, and cause men to hear and heed its wise truth. Thank you Lord that ‘a fence at the top of the cliff is better than ‘an ambulance at the bottom.’ Thank you for your ‘fences’ – lovingly put in place to protect us; not to ruin our fun!

Paul, as we have previously seen, regarded all of his life as being under the sovereign control of Christ, so he could recognise that there was a purpose even in his imprisonment (see 3:1). He was a prisoner ‘’of Christ Jesus’’ (3:1), and ‘’for the Lord’’ (4:1). His entire life, whether in good experiences or bad, was about Jesus.
There is urgency about living godly lives in this world: ‘’I urge you…’’ (1). At this point we move into the practical section of the letter where Paul is encouraging the Christians to apply all of this great doctrine in everyday life. Truth is to be lived-out. Sermons are to walk out of church in many pairs of shoes. Belief has got to get into your feet. The Authorised Version of the Bible talks about walking worthily of our calling. As someone pointed out, there is nothing spectacular about walking. It’s just putting one foot in front of the other and moving in the right direction.
We tend to read these New Testament letters personally, and it is right to consider how we, as individual Christians, can live lives that please and glorify God. As we go through the practical section, we will come across things that we must apply to our personal (and even private) lives. But never forget that the letters were written to groups of Christians. In looking at this section you have to bear in mind all that has gone before in ‘Ephesians.’ Jews and Gentiles have been brought into a new,united community in Christ. The old hostility and divisions have been removed. So in these verses Paul exhorts the church to be the church. The church is ‘’one body’’ (4). There is a ‘’unity’’ (3) in the church that is already given by ‘’the Spirit’’. But we Christians have an urgent responsibility to ‘’Make every effort…’’ to maintain this unity. Like in a marriage, where two become one, everyday there has to be work to express that oneness. Total humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance, love – these qualities oil the wheels of a marriage. They also enable Christian brothers and sisters to live out their God-given unity, even though as people they may be so different. One of the main reasons why the Christian community doesn’t always look like the united ‘body’ God has made it to be is down to the level of our ‘effort.’ We have to continually work at being the church God is calling us to be. When we live together humbly, gently, patiently, with forbearance and love, we live lives worthy of our calling.
In verses 4 to 6, Paul makes reference to the triune God: ‘’…one Spirit…one Lord…one God and Father…’’ The unity the church is called to is like the unity in the Trinity. It is a unity in diversity. Yet it is a unity of complete harmony. As we will see in the next study, we are all so different, and that’s a good thing. But although we may bring a variety of gifts to the table, we are one people in Christ. God wants that to be obvious to the world, and it will be an utterly compelling reality (John 17:20-23). A united church is a powerful evangelistic argument in itself.
Prayer: Loving Lord Jesus, I can see that the unity of your church means so much to you. You bled and died for it. May that unity never be damaged or broken at my hands. As far as it lies within me to do so, I want to live at peace with every other person in your church. This is my desire. Please give me your grace to be a unifying member of the body of Christ.

’God’s promises should become our prayers.’’ Warren W. Wiersbe: ‘With the Word’, p.490.
Isaiah had seen a glorious vision of the restored city of Jerusalem (Chapter 60). As we have seen, this was a multi-layered vision. It had to do with the literal restoration of the city and its re-population after exile and captivity. But Isaiah was also seeing the Messianic age: the coming of Jesus and the growth and witness of His church. In addition, he was catching a glimpse of the ultimate ‘golden era’ when Jesus comes to the earth a second time, and His Kingdom is established in all its fullness.(For example, verses 8 and 9 clearly await a still future fulfilment.)
The question is, ‘What will fill the gap between the vision and the reality?’ ‘What will bring this great picture of the future to pass?’ The answer is: ‘Prayer will; persistent, persevering prayer is what is required.’ (See Luke 18:1-8). Isaiah himself was committed to being a praying man who would put his own shoulder to the wheel of intercession to help to bring this about (1). (Note that preachers must also be people of prayer if their messages are to be effective.) But the prophet could see that God was calling others to join with him in ceaseless, fervent, untiring intercession (6, 7). F.B. Meyer sees in these verses an echo of Christ’s unceasing intercession for us: ‘’…He ever lives to intercede for us, praying when we are silent, watching when we sleep…His prayer rises for his people night and day. Perhaps they would not pray for themselves, if his intercessions did not incite. Certainly his sifted Simons would drift beyond hope, if He did not pray for them…The prayers of Jesus hover over the world like the dove over the weltering chaos of creation.’’
What will cause the church to arise and shine brilliantly as she is intended to? (1). What will bring many people to this light? (2). What will bring about church growth on a large scale? (4, 12). What will cause God’s people to be known in this world as the bride of Christ; forgiven and reconciled to Him? (4, 5). What will ‘’Remove the stones’’ or ‘’Clear the debris’’ as The Message puts it? (10). What will clear the way for progress? Prayer is the answer to all these questions. There is a need for committed and continual prayer. On New Year’s Day 2015 the challenge is, ‘Will you enlist in this army of untiring pray-ers to see the church become all the Lord wants her to be? Will you take your stand where God ‘posts’ you on the ‘’walls’’ (6) ‘’till’ He makes His church everything He wants her to be? The church cannot stand in this world if its members are not kneeling. We cannot shine in public unless we are seeking in private. When will the head knowledge of this truth start to affect our lives? In what year will it begin to fill our prayer meetings and affect our personal lives? How about this new one?!!
‘’I’ve posted watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem. Day and night they keep at it, praying, calling out, reminding GOD to remember. They are to give him no peace until he does what he said…’’ The Message.
Prayer: I am turning up for duty dear Lord. I want to enlist. Please enrol me in your prayer army.

We have seen that these verses relate to the restoration of Jerusalem following the exile in Babylon, and to the transformation of people and their spiritual flourishing under the anointed ministry of the Messiah. So both an immediate and a long-term fulfilment are woven together in these verses. It remains true that those transformed by the Messiah, Jesus (1-3) become society’s transformers (4). ‘’They…’’ who have been worked on by God go to work on a broken world in His power. They are called and equipped to be difference-makers. Verse 4 describes a situation of profound brokenness. Change seems totally unlikely. But the transformations God brings about through His people are nothing less than miraculous. If God wasn’t in it, such devastation would never be overcome. God must first do a work in us (1-3) before He can do a work through us (4-11)
Here is a message for New Year’s Eve: God is the God of new beginnings. He gives fresh starts. Even if you feel you’ve made a mess of your life, and you are surrounded by ruin and devastation of your own making, things can change. The same applies if others have been responsible for the damage: ‘’They’ll rebuild the old ruins, raise a new city out of the wreckage. They’ll start over on the ruined cities, take the rubble left behind and make it new.’’ The Message. God has shown that He rebuilds cities; He rebuilds nations; and He rebuilds people;He rebuilds lives. What a turnaround the Jewish people were to experience in their fortunes. Verse 9 has certainly come to pass historically (even if there is still a greater fulfilment to come): ‘’Your descendants will become well-known all over. Your children in foreign countries will be recognized at once as the people I have blessed.’’ The Message. It is perhaps a great irony that a people so obviously blessed as the Jews, should also be so repeatedly and ruthlessly persecuted. Maybe, in part, envy over their blessing has caused this? Verse 6b reminds us that God owns all the wealth in the world, and He can get it to His ‘children in need.’ He knows where they are, and He knows where it is! He can get the two together!!
There is a breadth of vision here; a world vision (5, 6, 9, and 11). God is going to do a work in and through His people, and, ultimately, in and through the Messiah, that will affect the entire world. In (10, 11) Jerusalem herself ‘speaks’. Using figurative language, Isaiah describes how this city (Zion) will be clothed with ‘’salvation’’ and ‘’righteousness’’. The Lord will make His people grow like plants in a garden, and do such a work in them that ‘’all nations’’ will be affected for good. (See Genesis 12:3). We don’t save ourselves. Salvation – the gift of a right standing with God – comes from God. It is all His doing and for His glory. God dresses His people up in clothes of salvation and right living God’s purpose in choosing one man, Abraham, to become one nation, Israel, was so that through this nation the Messiah would come and bless the whole world. What a plan!
‘’I will sing for joy in GOD, explode in praise from deep in my soul! He dressed me up in a suit of salvation, he outfitted me in a robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom who puts on a tuxedo and a bride a jewelled tiara.’’ The Message. What a way this is to ‘see out the old’ and ‘ring in the new’ – with an explosion of worship!
By the way, the blessing of God is an evident thing. People can see it in a human life (9b). They can even ‘smell’ it. So here is a prayer as we stand on the verge of a new year. It’s a line from a hymn by one of the early leaders of the Pentecostal movement. The hymn is: ‘’Move me, dear Lord, and others I shall move, to do thy will.’’ Here’s the line I have in mind…
Prayer: ‘’Under the anointing daily let me live…’’

This glorious chapter describes the restoration of ‘’Zion’’ (14). We need to interpret it on at least three levels: a.) it refers to the restoration of Jerusalem following the Babylonian exile; b.) it speaks about Christ’s shining church in this present age; a divinely illuminated community filled with people, provision and power; c.) much of the prophecy (especially verses 15-22) will only be fulfilled when Jesus comes again and establishes His Messianic Kingdom in its fullness (e.g. verses 19 and 20 – see Revelation 21:23 and 22:5; 21:4, 27). ‘’You’ll name your main street Salvation Way, and install Praise Park at the centre of town.’’ The Message. What a day that will be!
Thinking about the church in the present age, there are a number of points to note. Some years ago, I believe God led me to this chapter, and Saturday night by Saturday night, as I was preparing for Sunday, I prayed through its contents. I got ‘stuck’ here for a while, and I believe it was God’s intention that I should. It was a wonderful spot to camp out on. God’s church will be full of light (1-3); it will be filled with people and provision (4-9), authority (12) and victory (14). Jesus is building a church that is ‘’open’’ to the outsider (11): outward – looking and always ready to receive new people. ‘’Your Jerusalem gates will always be open – open house day and night!’’ The Message. (Ultimately, Jesus is that open ‘’gate’’: John 10:7)The church will be a community composed of Jewish (4) and Gentile people (10a; see also Acts 15:14-16; Ephesians 2:19-22; 1 Peter 2:5). (By the way, the coming of the magi from the east to visit Jesus resonates with the early part of this chapter. Think also about Psalm 72: 10, 11 and 15, and the visit of the Queen of Sheba to Solomon.)
This world is a ‘dark’ place, and 2014 feels like one of the darkest years I have lived through. What is the church’s responsibility in such an atmosphere (2a)? It is to ‘’Arise, shine…’’ (1); to be that ‘’city on a hill’’ that ‘’cannot be hidden’’ (Matthew 5:14). This is the divinely appointed answer for a world shrouded in deep darkness. But our light is not our own; we shine with ‘’the glory of the Lord’’ (1, 2; see also 9b, 13b and 21b). The church is like the moon: ‘’the lesser light to govern the night.’’ (Genesis 1:16). We do not shine with our own inherent light. We reflect the rays of ‘’the greater light’’ – the Lord Himself who is our Sun (19, 20). When the church is most true to her calling; true to herself; and when she shines like God Himself because of her relationship with Him, crowds of people from all across the globe will flock trough her ever open gates (11). There will also be the arrival of abundant provision so that the church can fulfil her true calling. ‘’God’s work done in God’s way will never lack God’s supply.’’ Hudson Taylor. The word ‘’but’’ (2b) draws attention to the fact that God has put a clear distinction between the church and the world, and people in the world should be able to see it. The church is most attractive when she is most counter-cultural.
‘’Whenever the glory of the Lord rises upon thee, be sure to reflect it. Arise, shine! Arise, to catch as much of it as possible. Shine, that others may catch as much as possible also…Sometimes Christians seek release from their positions in business or social life, on the plea that they are uncongenial and ungodly. Yet these are the very circumstances under which Zion is bidden to arise and shine. The darker the staircase, the more need of the candle.’’ F.B. Meyer: ‘Great verses through the Bible’, p.291.
Prayer: Thank you Lord Jesus for giving us the privilege to shine in this dark world. Thank you that in you our lives have meaning and purpose.

What a text for Christmas day! It speaks of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and resonates with the Christmas story, which tells how the Father God sent His Son into the world by the power of the Holy Spirit, who did a miraculous and marvellous thing, causing a baby to be conceived by a virgin. That was something way beyond what anyone could ‘’ask or imagine’’ and it has indeed brought glory to God ‘’in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations’’. It continues to do so and will ‘’for ever and ever! Amen.’’ (See 20, 21). If the mystery and wonder of the Christmas story doesn’t get you on your knees (14) in prayerful adoration, I wonder what will?
Today, we remember that God has a ‘’family in heaven and on earth’’ (15), and we thankfully carry in our hearts those who are experiencing the reality that we only dimly realise in our Christmas celebrations here. They see His face (Revelation 22:4).
It also speaks of the ‘’deep, deep love of Jesus’’ (17-19), and I am reminded that ‘’Love came down at Christmas, Love all lovely, love divine; Love was born at Christmas…’’ Christina Rosetti. God wants us to ‘’know this love’’ (19) even though it is beyond full knowledge. But we do know things about God’s love. We see what it looks like. It looks like Jesus. Would Jesus ever pass by a need that He could meet? Would He fail to give to anyone requiring His help? A self-indulgent Christmas that pulls up the drawbridge and closes out others is ultimately disappointing and self-defeating. I know this for, I’m ashamed to say, I’ve been there. I now realise that we cannot celebrate the coming down of love at Christmas without also sharing it. ‘’Love divine, all loves excelling…Fix in us thy humble dwelling…’’ Charles Wesley.
I also realise that for us, Christmas and New Year walk hand in hand. We move seamlessly from the one into the other. We do not know what lies ahead, whether good or bad, but we do know that the same Spirit who made the incarnation possible will strengthen us inwardly for whatever lies ahead (16).
The Christ who came down at Christmas wants to ‘’dwell’’ in hearts by ‘’faith’’ (17). The challenge of the Christmas message is, ‘Will we make room for Him there?’ Or will there be ‘No room’? It’s the abiding, provocative issue raised by this season. The world wants to go to Jesus’ birthday party (in fact, they want to run it; be in charge of proceedings.) But they don’t want Him there. He’d ruin it. Keep Him out back in the cold! It’s a great irony. We see it all around us if we have eyes to see. ‘Christmas begins with Christ.’ But for many people Christmas would not be Christmas for them without Christ being removed. (I understand that the meaning of verse 17 is: ‘’so that Christ may feel at home in your hearts…’’. Will Jesus ‘feel at home’ with the way we are living this Christmas time? And how about every other day of the year? The Holy Spirit has come to enable us to live lives that Christ will feel at home in. See verses 16 and 17a.)
Returning to the thought of (20, 21) once again, here’s a question for Christmas day 2014: ‘’He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?’’ (Romans 8:32). David Hill was a missionary to China. David Hill’s father said, ‘’The greatest gift I gave to China was David Hill. After that, everything else was easy.’’
Prayer: Thank you Father God for this most wonderful day. Help me to honour your Son, Jesus, in all I do this day, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Be pleased with my celebration of your birth.