Community & Discipleship
Justice : Whose fight is it anyway? (Zep 3:1-6, 14-20)
Zephaniah describes a desolation that mirrors the real destruction of Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, but God does not leave his people in that ruin. He quiets them with his love, gathers them home, and calls his church to act in Christ's strength, not our own, for children who have been sold and for everyone who has not yet heard that they are precious.
Zephaniah's desolation finds a modern parallel in Cambodia (6)
Zephaniah 3:6 pictures cities cut off, streets deserted, and no one left, a picture of profound destruction. The same desolation marked Cambodia after April 17, 1975, when the Khmer Rouge took the capital of 2.5 million people and emptied it within 72 hours. Every pillar of society was systematically dismantled, and children were separated from their parents and raised in violence. This destruction is not a distant story, and it calls us to see the wounds of a broken world clearly.
Justice requires the church to act, and to act in Christ's strength
God was displeased that there was no justice, and he was appalled that there was no one to intercede, as Isaiah 59:15-16 says. That call is not optional. Justice work is harder than building hospitals, because it creates enemies who seek to stop it. A missionary who had served in Cambodia since 1961 told a discouraged believer that Satan never laughs at Christ, so the work must be done in Christ's strength, not our own skills. God calls us to act even when we feel unqualified, because what he needs is our heart and our hands.
The Lord quiets his people with love and gathers them home (17, 20)
Zephaniah 3:17 tells us that the Lord quiets us with his love and rejoices over us with singing. Verse 20 promises that he will gather his people and bring them home. These promises reach children who were sold into brothels. Sung, sold at nine years old, was seen wearing a cross in a photograph, and she is still being prayed for. Nu, sold by her grandmother after a school interview, was found after two and a half years of abuse, and she asked to say grace before eating, holding on to Jesus.
Every child and every believer is precious and worth dying for
The children at New Song move from worthless to priceless when they learn that they are daughters and sons of the King. Jesus was born into poverty, became a refugee, and was killed by those in authority, so these children can understand him. We too are worth dying for, precious to him and worthy of restoration. Thousands of people around us do not know this, and we have a responsibility to tell them without waiting until we feel ready.
Apply to Life
- Let us rely on Christ's strength rather than our own skills and qualifications as we serve in the work of justice.
- Let us act to serve the vulnerable around us even when we feel unqualified.
- Let us tell the people in our city, workplaces, and families that they are precious and worth dying for.
- Let us pray for the children still being abused and for those already rescued, including those in the New Song program.
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