We Have Sinned

Zephaniah 3:1-4

    1Woe to her who is rebellious and polluted,

    To the oppressing city!

    2      She has not obeyed His voice,

    She has not received correction;

    She has not trusted in the LORD,

    She has not drawn near to her God.

    3      Her princes in her midst are roaring lions;

    Her judges are evening wolves

    That leave not a bone till morning.

    4      Her prophets are insolent, treacherous people;

    Her priests have polluted the sanctuary,

    They have done violence to the law."

We start with Zephaniah describing the wickedness of Jerusalem.  Three things quickly, here.  First, we have to be told that we are sinning, that we are sinners.  We forget this most of the time and act as if we are normal, that things are basically okay.  In Zephaniah and in all of Scripture, God describes our sin for us, He shows us our fault, or else we wouldn’t see it, or we would try to tell ourselves that it isn’t so bad.  That’s in verse 2, especially.  So first, God graciously tells us of our sinfulness.  

Second, this is corporate, national sin, addressing our princes and judges, prophets and priests.  Fox and CNN, Wall Street and main street, school boards and corporate boards, Hollywood, Congress, and the courts – these are our princes and prophets.  They aren’t trusting God, they are devouring and exploiting people.  We like to think of ourselves as trying to stand up to this corporate sin, but Scripture makes clear that they are doing what we want.  Congress in all its spineless bluster, departing from God’s laws, represents us well.

And that’s the third thing: when we go against God and His ways, we wind up doing the opposite of what we were made to do.  Rulers eat people instead of feed them.  We become beasts instead of men.  Priests pollute instead of cleanse.  We hurt each other instead of help and heal.

Let us confess our sins to God

10/14/18