We are going to continue on in the book of Zechariah today starting with chapter 7 verse 1. On December 7 of the fourth year of King Darius’s reign, another message came to Zechariah from the Lord. 2 The people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regemmelech, along with their attendants, to seek the Lord’s favor. 3 They were to ask this question of the prophets and the priests at the Temple of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies: “Should we continue to mourn and fast each summer on the anniversary of the Temple’s destruction, as we have done for so many years?”
What we have here is a tradition that was started by the people of Bethel. I don’t know of anywhere in scripture that this is commanded. Somebody just got the idea that every year on the anniversary of the destruction of the temple they should gather together and mourn and fast. Sounds like a good thing right? Well, now that the temple is being rebuilt they are sending people to inquire of the Lord whether they should keep doing it or not. It kind of reminds me of all the traditions that we have that we continue to do even though they are not commanded by God.
Listen to the reply of the Lord: The Lord of Heaven’s Armies sent me this message in reply: 5 “Say to all your people and your priests, ‘During these seventy years of exile, when you fasted and mourned in the summer and in early autumn, was it really for me that you were fasting? 6 And even now in your holy festivals, aren’t you eating and drinking just to please yourselves? 7 Isn’t this the same message the Lord proclaimed through the prophets in years past when Jerusalem and the towns of Judah were bustling with people, and the Negev and the foothills of Judah were well populated?’”
Jump down to verse 11 “Your ancestors refused to listen to this message. They stubbornly turned away and put their fingers in their ears to keep from hearing. 12 They made their hearts as hard as stone, so they could not hear the instructions or the messages that the Lord of Heaven’s Armies had sent them by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. That is why the Lord of Heaven’s Armies was so angry with them. 13 “Since they refused to listen when I called to them, I would not listen when they called to me, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. 14 As with a whirlwind, I scattered them among the distant nations, where they lived as strangers. Their land became so desolate that no one even traveled through it. They turned their pleasant land into a desert.”
This is a pretty powerful passage. It tells us clearly that God expects what we do to be done for him and not for us and that includes our salvation. If you’re coming to church for your sake, to make yourself feel better, if you are trying to get better to save your family, or to see if you can live a little longer or to increase your standing in the community then you’re coming for the wrong reasons. The Christian life is about God not about you. You don’t obey God or do religious things so God will like you and bless you. You do them so that you can be in right relationship with him. So that you can be saved from you. If salvation is about you then it’s probably not salvation.
In our Sunday night study in first Corinthians last week we came across the passage that says: Your body is not yours you have been bought with a price. And that is exactly what this passage is about. Your life is not about you. If you are being religious for selfish reasons then this passage is pretty clear you have your reward already and don’t expect any more when life is over.
What God says to these people is: You haven’t changed at all. Your people went into captivity because they were religious all the time but their hearts were far from me. They went into bondage because they had the form of righteousness without bothering to be righteous. You’re not doing anything different. All that you are doing is for yourself – so don’t bother.
If you want to do what’s right then humble your selves before God. Look at verse 8: Then this message came to Zechariah from the Lord: 9 “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Judge fairly, and show mercy and kindness to one another. 10 Do not oppress widows, orphans, foreigners, and the poor. And do not scheme against each other. This is the heart we should be begging God to give us. Notice that it begins with us learning how to judge fairly. I would say that means to judge according to the law of God – God is fair and therefore his word is fair and just. This is where we must begin to change and that begins with us embracing the word of God as the standard by which we live our lives.
What does that mean? It means that we begin by humbling ourselves before God and his ways and seek to submit to those ways in every area of life. To say you love God on Sunday morning but then live in disobedience to his commands Sunday afternoon through Saturday is a slap in God’s face. It is a mockery of the concept of being a Christian. It is exactly what Israel did and had been doing for over 100 years in their relationship to God. That is why they went into captivity but many of the people still hadn’t heard what God had been telling them the whole time.
The church can be the hardest place in the world to plant the gospel sometimes because people think that they are ok. They think that their outward religious activity saves them but the only thing that matters is the condition of your heart. If it is not humble before God then you are wasting your time being religious because you are only racking up a stricter judgment for yourself down the road.
There’s a bit of a translation problem with verse 2. The New Living translates it as these people were coming from Bethel which means House of God. Where as the King James says they were going to the house of God. Regardless what we have here is that people who considered themselves to be a part of the house of God were sending people to the house of God to find out if they should keep up their traditions.
These are people who have made a profession of faith, they take communion, they’ve been baptized but their hearts are still as hard as a rock. We all know people like that. They don’t mind being religious but they really don’t what God messing with their inner lives. They don’t want to be changed. They don’t want to repent. They just want to buy some fire insurance for the last day. They want the best of both worlds.
But God says no. He’s not going to play their game. Either they humble themselves before God or he is going to destroy them just like he did the generations before that refused to repent and soften their hearts.
I can tell you from experience it’s hard to show mercy with a hard heart. I am a recovering Pharisee. I know how easy it is to look down on people, and be angry at people for not doing what’s right even while I’m not doing what’s right. Jesus had plenty to say about people like me and one of the places he really lets loose in found in Matthew 23: Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, 2 “The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses. 3 So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don’t follow their example. For they don’t practice what they teach. 4 They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden. 5 “Everything they do is for show. On their arms they wear extra wide prayer boxes with Scripture verses inside, and they wear robes with extra long tassels. 6 And they love to sit at the head table at banquets and in the seats of honor in the synagogues. 7 They love to receive respectful greetings as they walk in the marketplaces, and to be called ‘Rabbi.’ 8 “Don’t let anyone call you ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one teacher, and all of you are equal as brothers and sisters. 9 And don’t address anyone here on earth as ‘Father,’ for only God in heaven is your spiritual Father. 10 And don’t let anyone call you ‘Teacher,’ for you have only one teacher, the Messiah. 11 The greatest among you must be a servant. 12 But those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. 13 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you shut the door of the Kingdom of Heaven in people’s faces. You won’t go in yourselves, and you don’t let others enter either. 15 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you cross land and sea to make one convert, and then you turn that person into twice the child of hell you yourselves are!
16 “Blind guides! What sorrow awaits you! For you say that it means nothing to swear ‘by God’s Temple,’ but that it is binding to swear ‘by the gold in the Temple.’ 17 Blind fools! Which is more important—the gold or the Temple that makes the gold sacred? 18 And you say that to swear ‘by the altar’ is not binding, but to swear ‘by the gifts on the altar’ is binding. 19 How blind! For which is more important—the gift on the altar or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20 When you swear ‘by the altar,’ you are swearing by it and by everything on it. 21 And when you swear ‘by the Temple,’ you are swearing by it and by God, who lives in it. 22 And when you swear ‘by heaven,’ you are swearing by the throne of God and by God, who sits on the throne. 23 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things. 24 Blind guides! You strain your water so you won’t accidentally swallow a gnat, but you swallow a camel! 25 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and self-indulgence! 26 You blind Pharisee! First wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the outside will become clean, too. 27 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity. 28 Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness. 29 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you build tombs for the prophets your ancestors killed, and you decorate the monuments of the godly people your ancestors destroyed. 30 Then you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would never have joined them in killing the prophets.’ 31 “But in saying that, you testify against yourselves that you are indeed the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Go ahead and finish what your ancestors started. 33 Snakes! Sons of vipers! How will you escape the judgment of hell? 34 “Therefore, I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers of religious law. But you will kill some by crucifixion, and you will flog others with whips in your synagogues, chasing them from city to city. 35 As a result, you will be held responsible for the murder of all godly people of all time—from the murder of righteous Abel to the murder of Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you killed in the Temple between the sanctuary and the altar. 36 I tell you the truth, this judgment will fall on this very generation. 37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me. 38 And now, look, your house is abandoned and desolate. 39 For I tell you this, you will never see me again until you say, ‘Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord!’”
This applies as much today as it did back then. I know I must watch my own heart. I must remember where I came from, what I used to be like so that I can have mercy on those that are struggling. It is so easy to forget where you come from. It is so easy to say ‘why don’t you straighten up and walk right’ without remembering how long it took you to get where you are now.
It’s easy to forget. It’s easy to get proud. It’s easy to become condescending towards the weak. And that is why we must continually ask God to save us from ourselves. None of us has arrived. While we are in this life there is a chance that we will fall and disgrace the name of our Lord. We are saved by the grace of God not our works because when it comes down to it we have no good works of our own; we only have good works that are given to us as gifts of grace. Every good thing that we do is the result of the grace of God working in our lives. Just because it looks good, like fasting or feasting to the Lord, the truth is, if it doesn’t come from a heart humbled by the grace of God then it is worthless and will, in fact, reap a stricter judgment on you in times to come. There is no place in the body of Christ for arrogance and a heard heart.
Our call is to humble ourselves before God and his law. Submit our ways to his ways and learn to walk by grace in every area of life. If we do that then we can rest in Christ Jesus knowing that what is said in Chapter 8 of Zechariah is true about us: “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: My love for Mount Zion is passionate and strong; I am consumed with passion for Jerusalem! 3 “And now the Lord says: I am returning to Mount Zion, and I will live in Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the Faithful City; the mountain of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will be called the Holy Mountain.
God is full of passion for those who are humble before him. He will return to the body of Christ that is humble and he will abide in them. They will be called the faithful city, the mountain of the Lord, the Kingdom of God. May God give us the grace to humble ourselves so that God the Holy Spirit will abide in us and make us faithful.
When that happens the God promises us that: Once again old men and women will walk in Jerusalem with their canes and will sit together in the city squares. 5 And the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls at play. What that means from a New Testament perspective is that when our hearts are right before God he will cause people to grow old in the church, they will be active in the things of the Lord for a long time and they will be a vital part of the community of believers.
At the same time God promises that new believers will be brought in. That doesn’t simply mean that people in the church will have children. It means that people will start getting born again. That is not something that we can do on our own power. That has to be a gift of God.
I want you to be aware that God doesn’t care if we have a children’s ministry in the church. I spent much of my youth working on the bus ministry where we would offer free babysitting for parents three hours a week, pick up their kids on Sunday morning and bring them back Sunday afternoon. The church was filled with children. Profession after profession of faith was made but where are they now? The majority are nowhere to be found. The church was full of children but the hearts weren’t softened and very few were born again.
We have lost the perspective of scripture when it comes to evangelism. We think it is our job to beat the bushes and learn the sales pitches to get people to buy Jesus so we can add them to our yearly report. But the truth is our job is to search our hearts and make sure that they are humble before God. If we do that then God promises that he will cause people to be born again and that they will really and truly become a part of the body of Christ for their whole lives.
We must remember that children in the body of Christ can be of any physical age. Our Dear Brother Barney is toddler in the faith just four or five years old in the Lord. He’s not the only one. The truth is we may be seeing the outworking of this promise in our very midst but we are just looking at it with the wrong eyes. We are looking at the flesh and God is working in the spirit. Some of us who have been in the church all our lives are just now starting to come alive to the things of God.
The truth is God is in the process of softening our hearts and as a result he is beginning to bring the dead to life. Verse 6 says: All this may seem impossible to you now, a small remnant of God’s people. But is it impossible for me? says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. 7 “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: You can be sure that I will rescue my people from the east and from the west. 8 I will bring them home again to live safely in Jerusalem. They will be my people, and I will be faithful and just toward them as their God.
It is important that we remember that God is going to save a people for himself. He will save all those that he has called. I know it doesn’t look like he’s doing much now but he is and he is doing it in his own timing. Saving people isn’t our job. Our job is to be humble before him, submitting ourselves to do his commands in every area of life: When we do that, God promises to start birthing his children in our midst.
Too often we miss these things in the church. We focus on doing God’s job and we forget to do our job. May he give us the grace to walk humbly before him in every area of life, submitted to his will and then allow us to be ready in season and out to be his midwives that we may deliver those whom he has birthed in the Spirit.
Let’s pray: Oh Father, Pour out your grace and mercy upon us that we may walk humbly with you. be merciful oh lord and save us from our selves. Continue to soften our hearts that we might be ready to receive and nurture those that you are preparing for birth into your kingdom. Glorify your name in our midst. In Jesus’ name we ask these things, amen.
Here the word of the Lord from the book of Zechariah once again: All this may seem impossible to you now, a small remnant of God’s people. But is it impossible for me? says the Lord. You can be sure that I will rescue my people from the east and from the west. 8 I will bring them home again to live safely in Jerusalem. They will be my people, and I will be faithful and just toward them as their God.
Go in peace.
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