sermon 10-31-10

Well today we are in chapter 10 of Zechariah. This week we are going to look at the condition of the church with regard to Pastors and elders or what the passage calls shepherds. This passage is a little confusing at the beginning. At least it was confusing to me anyway because it starts out by saying: Ask rain from the LORD at the time of the spring rain-- The LORD who makes the storm clouds; and He will give them showers of rain, vegetation in the field to each man.
I mean that sounds good but it goes from there to saying: 2For the family idols speak iniquity, And the diviners see lying visions And tell false dreams; They comfort in vain Therefore the people wander like sheep, They are afflicted, because there is no shepherd. And that segue confused me at first.

Here’s what I think is going on; I think in the first verse the scripture is quoting what the false gods and family idols are saying. In the time when it is supposed to rain the false idols, are saying ask for rain now. It’s like saying ask for rain on a rainy day and God will send rain for everyone. Or it’s like the guy who is getting ready to get a paycheck to ask for money to be put into his account. It’s more than likely going to happen anyway. Does that make sense? So there’s a bit of sarcasm being used here.

The false gods and their leaders are playing it safe. They are hedging their bets. Then verse 2 begins to tell things the way they really are: the false gods, the family idols, the so called diviners of truth are telling lies. They are seeing lying visions and false dreams.

We have people like this in our own country. They’re called politicians and economists. They give us a vision of the future that cannot possibly come true. They tell us to pretend that the economy is going to get better if we just go deeper into debt. They print paper and say this will make everything alright. They say they can turn a deep hole of debt into a well of prosperity. The sad thing is for the most part the people believe them. Sure we don’t call them diviners anymore, we call them experts, but there really is no difference. We turn to the experts to tell us the future in the same way the Israelites turned to false Gods and diviners. We expect them to tell us when it’s going to rain and they say it’s going to rain in the rainy season and we just plug along like everything is just Jim Dandy.

But we are being fed false visions, false dreams; we are being comforted in vain. Can you see that? We will feed you this load of bull to make you happy and then give you a new season of sitcoms and sports along with some new toys so you won’t notice what’s really going on. And we will feed you the same stories from every area of life, even in church so that you can be happy and everything will be ok. But everything is not ok. The lies won’t stop the destruction when God gives the word of judgment.

Why is it this way? Well, this passage seems to indicate that it is this way because there is no one to lead the people. The People need a shepherd. I think the people know this deep in their hearts. I think that is what all the gaga was about over Obama getting elected. The people didn’t want things to change really, they want more of the same, they want to be taken care of from the womb to the tomb by the false god of government but they thought they saw a leader, a leader that could make it happen. Now there are a lot of disgruntled people out there because Obama couldn’t do what they wanted him to do. To be honest what they are looking for is the same thing the Germans were looking for in the 30’s: Someone with the force of will and plan that will make everything seem alright.

See I think we are at such a place of desperation in our failings that we would hop on board the Hitler train if he would put money in our pockets and create jobs for everyone. Human nature doesn’t change apart from the grace of God. Technology, education, rational thinking cannot change our nature. The Germans had the latest and best of all of these things and they followed their leader into hell.

In my opinion, the truth is that we have no leadership in government in either party because we have no leadership in the church. For the most part the pulpits in this country are filled with very good intentioned men and women who are trying to comfort in vain. They are not leading the people to the victory that God has for them, they are not leading them in humbleness, rather they are leading the people to slaughter. They are blind guides leading the blind. When the times get tough they lead the way by saying; it’s a good thing times are tough because it means Jesus is coming back sooner. Or they tell us that everything will be ok because grace is all you need. You don’t have to do anything except wait and read your bible and Jesus will take care of the rest. They tell us that we should just be religious and not get tangled up in the evils of politics that’s the devil’s work –Never mentioning (except in passing during a Christmas story) that the Government of all things is meant to be on Jesus’ shoulders. They tell us God doesn’t want us to be free from bondage now; you have to wait until heaven. They tell us that God doesn’t want us to think Christianly, thinking isn’t our job that’s the public schools job, that’s the governments job.

If that method of shepherding doesn’t suite your fancy then we have leaders in the church that will tell you to hate the wicked, picket and spew hatred at soldiers funerals, burn Korans, beat up the gays, stock pile weapons and do it all in the name of Jesus. It’s no wonder we are in the mess we are in: Nobody is leading down the path of life.

I want you to understand that pastors who do not proclaim faithfully the whole word of God are going to be in a world of hurt on the last day. Listen to what God says to the shepherds: 3"My anger is kindled against the shepherds, and I will punish the male goats.” God is angry with the leaders of his church because they are not leading the people of God down the path of life. The majority of pastors, at least in our culture, don’t even believe that the path of life is meant for us. They tell us the law doesn’t apply anymore and then leave us to make a path for ourselves. In essence, we have thrown out the map and then said you’re free to find your own way. In fact, you can go anyway you want except by the old map. Is it any wonder that the church is floundering?

Now the phrase, I will punish the male goats can be understood in a couple of different ways. The word for male goats can also be translated Chief ones or the most important leaders. God says he will pour out punishment on those who are the main instigators in leading his flock off course. But another way to look at it is to see that the leaders are goats and not sheep. They truly are false leaders leading the people astray. I am reminded of Jesus saying that he will separate the sheep from the goats. Here the goats are trying to lead the sheep where they should not be going. Either way the meaning is the same: God is going to punish the shepherds who refuse to lead the flock rightly.

I think it is important for us to remember who Zechariah is proclaiming this message to. It is people who have come back from captivity in Babylon. They are struggling to rebuild the temple and they are discouraged. They’ve been back in the land a few years and already they have shepherds, leaders, who refuse to lead them rightly. Zechariah has come to encourage them over the course of a few years in the middle of somewhat frustrating times. They know that God has brought them to the place where they are at. He has freed them from the Babylonian captivity but now, even though they are in the place that God has called them to; things are not going all that well. Life is hard. It seems like every time they take a step forward someone is there to push them back 4 or 5 steps.

I’m finally starting to figure out that it’s not how far you make it on the path of life that matters. It is staying on it that matters. Progress from God’s perspective is learning to stay on the path of life regardless of what direction you are going. See it’s not advancing that matters it is enduring the terrain without getting off the road. Tripping and falling on the road is not big deal. Sure it hurts but that hurt is a part of what takes us deeper into life.

It is when we take a detour off the path that we find destruction awaiting us. The truth is as it says in verse 3: For the LORD of hosts has visited His flock, the house of Judah, and will make them like His majestic horse in battle. 4"From them will come the cornerstone, from them the tent peg, from them the bow of battle, from them every ruler, all of them together. 5"They will be as mighty men, Treading down the enemy in the mire of the streets in battle; and they will fight, for the LORD will be with them; and the riders on horses will be put to shame.

Here is Zechariah’s encouragement for the people of God: God has visited his flock and he promises to build us up until we becomes like a majestic horse in battle. As he strengthens us, the cornerstone will come from us. Christ, who is the chief cornerstone will arise in our midst. People will be able to see Jesus in our lives and we will once again be little Christs to the world or as we like to say: Christians.

From the flock will also come the tent peg, now I think that this metaphor can be seen in two different ways. The first is that the tent peg is the foundation of a sturdy tent just as a cornerstone is the foundation of the temple or it could be a reference to the kind of victory that happened in Judges chapter 4.

I think the best thing to do is just read it to you: 1 After Ehud’s death, the Israelites again did evil in the Lord’s sight. 2 So the Lord turned them over to King Jabin of Hazor, a Canaanite king. The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-haggoyim. 3 Sisera, who had 900 iron chariots, ruthlessly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years. Then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord for help. 4 Deborah, the wife of Lappidoth, was a prophetess who was judging Israel at that time. 5 She would sit under the Palm of Deborah, between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites would go to her for judgment. 6 One day she sent for Barak son of Abinoam, who lived in Kedesh in the land of Naphtali. She said to him, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, commands you: Call out 10,000 warriors from the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun at Mount Tabor. 7 And I will call out Sisera, commander of Jabin’s army, along with his chariots and warriors, to the Kishon River. There I will give you victory over him.” 8 Barak told her, “I will go, but only if you go with me.” 9 “Very well,” she replied, “I will go with you. But you will receive no honor in this venture, for the Lord’s victory over Sisera will be at the hands of a woman.” So Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh. 10 At Kedesh, Barak called together the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali, and 10,000 warriors went up with him. Deborah also went with him. 11 Now Heber the Kenite, a descendant of Moses’ brother-in-law Hobab, had moved away from the other members of his tribe and pitched his tent by the oak of Zaanannim near Kedesh. 12 When Sisera was told that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor, 13 he called for all 900 of his iron chariots and all of his warriors, and they marched from Harosheth-haggoyim to the Kishon River. 14 Then Deborah said to Barak, “Get ready! This is the day the Lord will give you victory over Sisera, for the Lord is marching ahead of you.” So Barak led his 10,000 warriors down the slopes of Mount Tabor into battle. 15 When Barak attacked, the Lord threw Sisera and all his chariots and warriors into a panic. Sisera leaped down from his chariot and escaped on foot. 16 Then Barak chased the chariots and the enemy army all the way to Harosheth-haggoyim, killing all of Sisera’s warriors. Not a single one was left alive. 17 Meanwhile, Sisera ran to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because Heber’s family was on friendly terms with King Jabin of Hazor. 18 Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Come into my tent, sir. Come in. Don’t be afraid.” So he went into her tent, and she covered him with a blanket. 19 “Please give me some water,” he said. “I’m thirsty.” So she gave him some milk from a leather bag and covered him again. 20 “Stand at the door of the tent,” he told her. “If anybody comes and asks you if there is anyone here, say no.” 21 But when Sisera fell asleep from exhaustion, Jael quietly crept up to him with a hammer and tent peg in her hand. Then she drove the tent peg through his temple and into the ground, and so he died. 22 When Barak came looking for Sisera, Jael went out to meet him. She said, “Come, and I will show you the man you are looking for.” So he followed her into the tent and found Sisera lying there dead, with the tent peg through his temple. 23 So on that day Israel saw God defeat Jabin, the Canaanite king. 24 And from that time on Israel became stronger and stronger against King Jabin until they finally destroyed him.

I must admit I like this reference to a tent peg arising out of the flock of God the best. I long for the day when God raises up men and women who are not afraid to fight against the spiritual wickedness in high places in our culture. I don’t know if you noticed it or not but the rest of the things that God promises back in Zechariah deal with the people of God being mighty weapons in the hand of God against the enemies of god: From his flock God will raise up a war bow to use against his enemies; From them the bow of battle; from his flock he will raise up those who will oppress the enemy as a whole. Yes, Christ is all of these things but we are the body of Christ. In fact, verse 5 is plural: Those whom God raises up will be as mighty men, Treading down the enemy in the mire of the streets in battle; and they will fight, for the LORD will be with them; and the riders on horses will be put to shame.

These things are promises of God to us. He promises to raise us up so that we can defeat the enemy, tread on the enemy, put a tent peg in the temple of the enemy IF we humble ourselves before him: If we stay on the path of life.

I hope you can see that there is nothing here that God hasn’t laid out in his covenant in Deuteronomy 28 which reads like this: "Now it shall be, if you diligently obey the LORD your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. 2"All these blessings will come upon you and overtake you if you obey the LORD your God: 3"Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country. 4"Blessed shall be the offspring of your body and the produce of your ground and the offspring of your beasts, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock. 5"Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. 6"Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out. 7"The LORD shall cause your enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you; they will come out against you one way and will flee before you seven ways. 8"The LORD will command the blessing upon you in your barns and in all that you put your hand to, and He will bless you in the land which the LORD your God gives you. 9"The LORD will establish you as a holy people to Himself, as He swore to you, if you keep the commandments of the LORD your God and walk in His ways. 10"So all the peoples of the earth will see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they will be afraid of you.

You can play word games with this stuff if you want to but I am here to tell you that these are the promises of God for us. This is not about salvation by works this is about living life after you get saved. Salvation puts you on the path of life. Walking on the path of life brings forth these blessings in a nation. God PROMISES that to be true.

He promises to raise up mighty men and women of the faith who will conquer the enemy wherever it is found. He promises that the church will be the head and not the tail, the lender and not the borrower. I realize we have no reference point from which we see a strong and mighty church – they don’t exist in our day and age. I saw this week where the Chrystal Cathedral filed bankruptcy recently. That is the epitome of the condition of the church in our culture: recipient of covenant curses, becoming the borrower and being forced to bow the knee to the lender because we have left the path of life. No, no debt isn’t a sign of covenant curses. The bible doesn’t know what it’s talking about. Those things don’t apply to us. Why shouldn’t the word of God apply to us? Where does it say that those things don’t apply? It doesn’t.
You see thinking that the word of God no longer applies is nothing more than laying the path to destruction. The Chrystal Cathedral going bankrupt is just the tip of the iceberg of what we are going to see in church bankruptcies and failures. The church today is built upon a faulty foundation that will crumble quickly when judgment begins to unfold in our land.
Brothers and sisters it should not be this way. We have thrown away the path of life and as a result we are lost in the wilderness as both a nation and a church. We are the blind leading the blind because we have refused to believe the IF THEN promises of God. IF you humble yourself before God and his commands THEN he will exalt you and lift you up. Over and over again we see that in scripture. Over and over again we want to make it mean less than what is says because we don’t believe God is really that strong. We don’t believe that God can really do what he says. We don’t believe God really expects us to do anything.

I would encourage you to immerse yourself in the promises of God until they become a part of who you are. Until they become the air that you breath and the food that you consume. I know that is hard to do. Trust me I know. It is so easy to get discouraged in the midst of life. We are in such a hurry to get somewhere but you know what? I’m beginning to understand that the goal is not to get somewhere. It is not to get to the end of the race the goal is to stay on the road. That is all that matters.

In some sense, it is as if the path of life is one of those automatic walking paths at the airport. You know what I mean? The ones that are like a flat escalator? You get on and you can walk if you want while you’re on it but regardless of whether you walk or not you are going to get to the end, but you have to stay on the path to get where you’re going. The Christian life is like that. If you are in Christ Jesus you are going to make it to the end: IF YOU STAY ON THE PATH. Grace is the thing that puts us on the path of life every time we jump off. Our main focus in life is not the end; it is staying on the path of life. Unfortunately, the church today doesn’t even believe in the path of life anymore. They think that grace is the path of life. But grace is not the path of life it is simply the means by which we get put on the path.

Listen to the promises of God that apply to us because we are of the house of Judah in Christ Jesus the Lion of the Tribe of Judah: I will strengthen the house of Judah, And I will save the house of Joseph, And I will bring them back, Because I have had compassion on them; and they will be as though I had not rejected them, For I am the LORD their God and I will answer them. 7"Ephraim will be like a mighty man, and their heart will be glad as if from wine; Indeed, their children will see it and be glad, Their heart will rejoice in the LORD. 8"I will whistle for them to gather them together, for I have redeemed them; and they will be as numerous as they were before. 9"When I scatter them among the peoples, they will remember me in far countries, and they with their children will live and come back. 10"I will bring them back from the land of Egypt and gather them from Assyria; and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon Until no room can be found for them. 11"And they will pass through the sea of distress and He will strike the waves in the sea, so that all the depths of the Nile will dry up; and the pride of Assyria will be brought down and the scepter of Egypt will depart. And I will strengthen them in the LORD, and in His name they will walk," declares the LORD.

I know it’s easy to get discouraged. I know many of us wonder how long am I going to be the mess I am? We wonder sometimes if we are too bad for God to change. I mean we must be right? Because he doesn’t change us. Like pigs, He just lets us go back to the slop over and over again.

I will be honest I do not know why God does things the way he does BUT I do know that he promises to strengthen his people. He promises he will strengthen you. I know it’s easy to get frustrated. But I want you to stop focusing on the now, stop focusing on how you are messing up and start focusing on how God is strengthening you. Remember what you used to be like. Look back at yourself 20 years ago and then look at the you today and see the difference Because if you are in Christ Jesus there is one. We are just easily distracted by the now and we get so caught up in what is going on in front of our eyes that we forget what God has been doing all along.

If you are in Christ Jesus YOU WILL BE Strengthened. You will, by God’s grace, be placed on the path of life against your will until it finally sinks into your head and heart that the path of life is where life is at: EVERYTHING ELSE IS DEATH.

God has not and he will not abandon you. Our call, our duty is to humble ourselves before our maker that he may keep his promises. IF my people who are called by my name WILL HUMBLE themselves and Pray THEN I will forgive their sins and heal their land. Let us do the IF so that the then will surely come to pass. God is faithful to keep his promises. He is keeping them now.

Let’s pray. Oh father, thank you for your faithfulness toward us. Pour out your grace upon us that we might be able to do the ifs of covenant so that we may receive the thens of your covenant blessings. In Jesus’ authority, upon whose shoulders the government of all things rests, we ask these things. AMEN.


Hear the word of the Lord from James chapter 4:
What do you think the Scriptures mean when they say that the spirit God has placed within us is filled with envy? 6 But he gives us even more grace to stand against such evil desires. As the Scriptures say, “God opposes the proud but favors the humble.” 7 So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. 9 Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.
Go in peace.