Sunday, April 9, 2017, 9:20 p.m. – The Lord Jesus put in mind the song “Oh, To Be Like Thee.” Speak, Lord, your
words to my heart. I read Zechariah 7
(NASB).
Or, For Ourselves? (vv. 1-7)
In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the
Lord came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, which is Chislev.
Now the town of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regemmelech and their men to seek
the favor of the Lord, speaking to the priests who belong to the house of the
Lord of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, “Shall I weep in the fifth month
and abstain, as I have done these many years?” Then the word of the Lord of
hosts came to me, saying, “Say to all the people of the land and to the
priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months these
seventy years, was it actually for Me
that you fasted? When you eat and
drink, do you not eat for yourselves and do you not drink for yourselves? Are
not these the words which the Lord proclaimed by the former prophets, when
Jerusalem was inhabited and prosperous along with its cities around it, and the
Negev and the foothills were inhabited?’”
So, when you think of
sacrifice for or service to the Lord, what comes to mind? Do you think of sacrifice
as giving up something that you really like, for a period of time, perhaps as
part of a religious practice or tradition? Do you think of sacrifice as you
choosing what you will forgo, as a means of earning favor with God? - Hoping that he will be pleased by your
sacrifice? When you contemplate service for God, do you consider only what you
think you would be good at? Or, what would fit in with your lifestyle? Or, what
would make you happy, or what would gain you attention and popularity? Do you
pick and choose your sacrifice and service on the basis of what works best for
you and your personality and your schedule? Many people do.
So, what is God’s view of our
sacrifices and our service to him, if it is like what I mentioned above? And,
what does he require of us, instead?
Jesus Christ, when he walked
the face of this earth, had numerous conversations with or about the Pharisees
and the teachers of the law. They were really good at following all the
religious practices passed down to them from their elders. They were good at
following all the externals of the law, and ceremonial washings, etc., but they
were very short on love, mercy and compassion for those they called “sinners,”
and for the hurting and afflicted.
They were good at following
religious practices, but short on obedience to God, too. Jesus said they
cleaned the cup on the outside but inside they were full of wickedness. They
had the appearance of being religious, but their hearts were far from God. What
they did was not really for God but for themselves. And, what God required of
them, they refused to do, mainly which was to believe in Jesus Christ as their
promised Messiah and Lord.
When God speaks of sacrifice,
he gives us Jesus as our example. Jesus gave his life up for us so that we
could go free from slavery to sin, and so we could be free to walk in his
righteousness. Jesus willingly laid down his life for you and for me so that we
could have new lives in Christ Jesus and walk in victory over sin. He redeemed
us – bought us back for God with his blood – so that we could be in fellowship
with God and live holy lives pleasing to him. He knew what is best for us, i.e.
what we really need, and so he gave up the possibility of popularity, his
reputation, and his life for us, to meet our needs. And, he told us the truth,
because that is kind and loving.
So, what kind of sacrifice
does Jesus require of us? His idea of sacrifice is that we offer our bodies
(our lives) as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is our spiritual
worship of him (See: Ro. 12:1-2). This is what it means to believe in Jesus, to
be crucified with Christ in death to sin, and to be resurrected with Christ to
newness of life, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Jesus
said that if we hold on to our old lives (of living for sin and self), we will
lose them for eternity, but if we lose our lives (die to sin and self), we will
gain eternal life (Lu. 9:23-25; cf. Ro. 8:1-14). Jesus doesn’t want or need
what we will give up for him of our own decision making. What he wants is us
fully surrendered to him, with him as our Lord (owner-master), and with us as
his bond-servants (slaves).
The same goes for our service
to him, too. He is not interested in us deciding what we will do or not do for
him. He has a plan for each one of our lives, which is to follow him wherever
HE leads us, not where we want to go. He has gifted each one of his followers
with spiritual gifts, which the Spirit of God chooses for us, and he has given
each one of us assignments (parts) within the body of Christ which we are to
fulfill, which he also determined (See: Ro. 12; 1 Co. 12; Eph. 4).
And, these may not be at all
what we would choose for ourselves, and, in fact, many times they are
ministries we would never have dreamed of in our wildest imaginations. Yet,
many people like to pick and choose their own so as to avoid getting asked to
do what is uncomfortable for them, or what might get them rejected by others. I
have even heard Christians say that they would not do certain ministries or
they would not want certain gifts, and it is because they know they would be
hated and rejected.
Are We Listening? (vv. 8-14)
Then the word of the Lord came to Zechariah saying,
“Thus has the Lord of hosts said, ‘Dispense true justice and practice kindness
and compassion each to his brother; and do not oppress the widow or the orphan,
the stranger or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts against one
another.’ But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and
stopped their ears from hearing. They made their hearts like flint so that they
could not hear the law and the words which the Lord of hosts had sent by His
Spirit through the former prophets; therefore great wrath came from the Lord of
hosts. And just as He called and they would not listen, so they called and I
would not listen,” says the Lord of hosts; “but I scattered them with a storm
wind among all the nations whom they have not known. Thus the land is desolated
behind them so that no one went back and forth, for they made the pleasant land
desolate.”
Instead of adhering to religious
practice and rituals, and following traditions handed down to us by the
generations before us, we need to learn what Jesus requires of his followers,
and then we need to do what he says. We also need to pray and ask the Lord to
direct us to the ministries he has for us, and to make us sensitive to people’s
needs, and then to show us how he would have us meet those needs. We need to
not have our minds so fixed on what we think would please God, just because our
parents or pastors or elders told us this was the way we should “do church” or
worship God. But, we need to have ears and minds that are open to hear God’s
voice speaking to us through his Word and through the witness of the Spirit,
and then we need to do what his Word teaches us and go where our Lord leads us.
As I alluded to earlier, telling
people the truth, if done in love, is kind, it is compassionate, and it is caring
for people’s true needs. Too many people today are lying to people in order to
make them feel good about themselves, even while they may be steeped in sin’s
deceitfulness. No one wants to be the “bad guy.” And, many people don’t want to
offend anyone or hurt anyone’s feelings, so they lie to them, or they just don’t
say anything.
They often ignore sin in
people’s lives because they don’t want to get involved; because they don’t want
people to not like them. And, this is true of church leaders, too. Yet, Jesus
always told the truth, even if it made people uncomfortable, and even if it did
offend them, and even if they hated, rejected and killed him in return. So,
speaking the truth in love is one of the ways in which we dispense justice, and
practice kindness and compassion to others. It is necessary! And, it is loving
and kind!
Other ways we can dispense
justice, and practice kindness and compassion for others is through ministering
to their physical or emotional needs. Sometimes just a kind word or a hug (proper
and pure) is all someone needs at a particular moment. We can bring meals into
people, or spend time with them listening to them, though never entertaining
what is sinful. We can help with financial needs, or help someone move, or take
someone to the hospital, or babysit for married couples so they can have a date
every now and then. We can send a card or an email to encourage downtrodden
hearts. And, we can keep from doing what is harmful or evil to others, always
forgiving, and never trading insult for insult, but returning hate with love.
So, the question here is, “Are
we listening?” Not just to what God said in this last section, but in the first
part of this passage, too, and to what Jesus taught and his NT apostles taught?
Or, are we stopping up our ears and refusing to hear the parts we don’t like,
because they make us uncomfortable, or because they confront us with our sins
and call for us to repent? If God called us to a ministry which we knew would
get us hated and rejected, would we tell him no? Are we looking out for our own
comfort, or are we looking to serve our Lord fully in whatever he has called us
to do?
Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer
Thomas O. Chisholm / W. J. Kirkpatrick
Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,
This is my constant longing and prayer;
Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s
treasures,
Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.
Oh, to be like Thee! full of
compassion,
Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,
Helping the helpless, cheering the
fainting,
Seeking the wandering sinner to find.
O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,
Holy and harmless, patient and brave;
Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,
Willing to suffer others to save.
Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like
Thee,
Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;
Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy
fullness;
Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.
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