Dear Rose Park,
This past Sunday we introduced a new sermon series entitled, “Around the Campfire” where we’re diving into the Parables of Jesus found in the Gospel of Matthew. We’re figuratively gathering around the campfire in order to hear these stories and be invited to see God and His Kingdom in a new and perhaps challenging way. So, it seems appropriate that as I am at Camp Geneva this week serving as the chaplain on the Pines campus, the guiding verse for Camp has to do with a prophet known for a prophecy about a burning fire of indignation.
Zephaniah has been telling the people for years to turn back to the Lord, but they won’t listen. Zephaniah speaks to the wickedness of Jerusalem in chapter 3: It has listened to no voice; it has accepted no correction. It has not trusted in the Lord; it has not drawn near to its God. The officials within it are roaring lions; its judges are evening wolves that leave nothing until the morning. Its prophets are reckless, faithless person; its priests have profaned what is sacred, they have done violence to the law.
The people of Jerusalem have become so consumed with idolatry and have become eager to grow in their corruption and sin that scripture alludes to the fact that God barely even recognizes His own people. It’s at this point in verse 8 we hear the Lord speak: For my decision is to gather the nations, to assemble kingdoms, to pour out upon them my indignation, all the heat of my anger; for in the fire of my passion all the earth shall be consumed.
If you were to stop reading scripture here, you’d assume this fire will consume the earth. You’d assume this fire will destroy everything. You’d assume this fire will demolish every building and town in its’ path, but you’d be wrong. This fire has nothing to do with destruction, but instead everything to do with purification. Verse 9 reads: Then I will purify the lips of the peoples, that all of them may call on the name of the Lord and serve him shoulder to shoulder.
When this purification towards righteousness and holiness occurs, God then promises to be with His people. Verse 17, the theme verse for Camp Geneva, reads: The Lord, your God, is in your midst, a warrior who gives victory; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will renew you in His love; He will exult over you with loud singing as on a day of festival.
It’s my hope to remind these campers and all of you: even though we are foolish and wander away, God remains faithful to us. Even though we turn our back on Him and chase the allures of this world, God calls us back into a covenantal relationship with Him. And just as the Good Shepherd rejoices when He finds His lost sheep, so too does God rejoice over us with gladness when we come home to His arms.
Grace & Peace,
Pastor Mark
Photo by Ricardo Gomez Angel on Unsplash