TEXT:
"[1] 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. [2] Now the people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-melech and their men to entreat the favor of the LORD, [3] saying to the priests of the house of the LORD of hosts and the prophets, "Should I weep and abstain in the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?" [4] Then the word of the LORD of hosts came to me: [5] "Say to all the people of the land and the priests, 'When you fasted and mourned in the fifth month and in the seventh, for these seventy years, was it for me that you fasted? [6] And when you eat and when you drink, do you not eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves? [7] Were not these the words that the LORD proclaimed by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and prosperous, with her cities around her, and the South and the lowland were inhabited?'"
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
Spend a few quick moments discussing something God showed you in your personal reading of the Bible this week (either in your Bible reading plan or something else).
Why is important to understand that why we do what we do is just as important as what we do?
Spend some time discussing the difference between false religion and true religion. In what ways do you find your heart/lives gravitate toward a false, self-centered religion?
Spend a few extra minutes intentionally praying for one another this week.
SERMON MANUSCRIPT:
Proverbs 15:3 says, "The eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch over the evil and the good." This week, we've been teaching our children how this is both a comforting and terrifying verse.
This verse should be comforting because we learn that there is never a moment when the all-powerful God of the universe is not watching over us. He is our provider and protector, keeping watch over us today. So, we can lay our heads on our pillow at night, confident that God's eyes will not close for a second in our slumber.
But this verse is also terrifying because it teaches us that God— the just judge— has seen every evil action performed by man throughout history. Every deed done in the dark and every lie whispered in the light has been seen by the all-seeing God of the universe. You cannot fool God, nor can you hide from him. He is all-seeing and all-knowing. Psalm 44:21 tells us that God even "knows the secrets of the heart." So, there is nothing that God is unaware of today. He is more aware of your heart's deep, dark crevices than you are. You cannot fool God. He is fully aware of your secrets today. The eyes of the LORD are in every place, even the secret compartments of your heart.
We see this demonstrated in Zechariah 7. As God's people come to God with a question regarding the religious practice of corporate fasting, God shines the spotlight on the deeper issue of their hearts. He answers their question with another question regarding their love for him.
Sometimes our children ask us questions that they think require a simple "yes" or "no" answer. But, sometimes, as parents, we understand that the best solutions aren't always "yes" or "no." Sometimes the best answers require nuance. Sometimes, before a "yes" or "no" answer is given, a parent must address the heart of the question being asked.
That's exactly what God is doing in chapters 7 and 8. In these following two chapters, we find God giving his people a nuanced answer to the initial question they ask regarding fasting. The question is asked in Zechariah 7:3, and we don't find an answer until Zechariah 8:19 (30 verses later).
So, what we find in these next two chapters is the all-seeing God of the universe addressing the heart of his people. And as we look at the initial response to the question being asked today, you and I will be presented with a question. We will be forced to ask, "Why do we do what we do?" And in unpacking this question, we will discover that, when it comes to religious activities, our intentions are often more important than our actions. When we become laser-focused on activities and indifferent toward our motives, we become a white-washed tomb. We become like a cup that is clean on the outside but full of filth on the inside.
For the next couple of weeks, we will begin to see the importance and beauty of true religion. False religion will seek to do religious things for personal gain, but true religion will do religious things out of love and worship for God.
So, let's go ahead and dive in.
"[1] 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. [2] Now the people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-melech and their men to entreat the favor of the LORD, [3] saying to the priests of the house of the LORD of hosts and the prophets, "Should I weep and abstain in the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?" [4] Then the word of the LORD of hosts came to me: [5] "Say to all the people of the land and the priests, 'When you fasted and mourned in the fifth month and in the seventh, for these seventy years, was it for me that you fasted? [6] And when you eat and when you drink, do you not eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves? [7] Were not these the words that the LORD proclaimed by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and prosperous, with her cities around her, and the South and the lowland were inhabited?'"
HALF WAY THERE
The first thing we notice at the start of this chapter is a new date. Chapters 1-6 all took place during a one-night period during the eighth month of the second year of King Darius' reign. But now we see a new date, which teaches us that this is a new section. Two years and one month have transpired since the eight visions of chapters 1-6.
Now, this date is significant because it shapes the context of what will happen in chapter 7 by telling us where we are in the temple construction process. The book of Haggai teaches us that the temple construction began in the second year of Darius' reign, and Ezra 6:15 teaches us that the temple was finished during the sixth year of the reign of Darius, the king.
So, we're at the halfway point of the temple's construction, which is an encouraging development. It seems that God's people are making good progress and that the LORD is blessing their efforts in building the temple.
Chislev was a term used to describe the ninth month of the Jewish calendar. And on the fourth day of this month, we see the people of Bethel (a city roughly twelve miles north of Jerusalem) send a group of men to come down to entreat the favor of the LORD. The term "entreat" is one of lowliness and sickness, and the phrase "entreat the favor of the LORD" was often used within the context of God's people seeking relief from difficult circumstances. Moses, in Exodus 32, for example, implored/entreated the LORD to pull back the reins of his wrath that was burning against his people because of their worship of the golden calf. So, at the heart of their journey was a desire for relief.
As we continue to read, we see that these men were sent with a specific question for the priests and prophets. God's people in Bethel wanted to know if they needed to continue weeping and abstaining "in the fifth month" as they have "done for so many years." Judging by the language used in this question, it seems God's people have carved out this time of the year to be a designated time of mourning and fasting, a time of weeping and abstaining.
FASTING
Let's pause here for a moment.
Fasting is a practice we see done fairly regularly throughout the Bible. Yet, surprisingly, it was something God rarely commanded his people to do. In fact, the only time God commanded his people to fast was on the day of atonement (Yom Kippur). So, when you survey the Old Testament, you will surprisingly find that God commands his people to feast more than to fast and to celebrate more than to mourn. Nonetheless, throughout the Bible, we see the assumption that God's people will fast because God's people did fast. For example, when Jesus addresses fasting in Matthew 6, he doesn't say, "If you fast." Instead, he says, "When you fast...."
So, what is fasting?
Fasting is the voluntary denial of a vital necessity of life (ex. food or water) for the sake of intense spiritual activity. It was understood to express repentance, grief, and humility before God. Judging by the context of this passage, it seems God's people had been fasting as a symbol of repentance and grief over the fall of Jerusalem. Verse 3 tells us that they were weeping and abstaining in the fifth month, and verse 5 tells us they fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months. As we scan the history of Israel, we learn that it was the seventh day of the fifth month that Jerusalem was destroyed by the hands of the Babylonians (2 Kings 25:8; Jeremiah 52:12). It was also in the seventh month that Gedaliah, the governor of Jerusalem, was assassinated (2 Kings 25:25-26; Jeremiah 41:1-3). So, it seems God's people had developed the practice of corporately fasting and mourning the fall of Jerusalem and their ruler. For seventy years, they fasted and mourned the judgment God had poured out on their city.
CAN WE STOP FASTING?
So, now that things seem to be heading in the right direction with the rebuilding of the temple, God's people are asking if they need to continue to mourn and fast the fall of the old temple? After all, what's the point of fasting if God has relented his judgment?
This question seems to be valid.
Do they need to mourn the fall of the temple now that the temple is being restored? Do they need to weep about the fall of Jerusalem now that they're back in Jerusalem? Do they need to continue mourning the bad things now that good things are happening? And it seems that a simple yes or no would suffice here. But the One who weighs the heart of man recognizes an issue in the heart of their question. So, he answers differently.
Look at his initial response in verses 4-6, "Then the word of the LORD of hosts came to me: 'Say to all the people of the land and the priests, 'When you fasted and mourned in the fifth month and in the seventh, for these seventy years, was it for me that you fasted? And when you eat and drink, do you not eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves?"
Instead of answering their question, he responds with a question of his own. He's essentially saying, "Instead of asking, "Can I stop fasting," why don't you ask, "Why have I been fasting?" The issue at hand isn't a matter of yes or no; it's a matter of why.
As Christians, why we do what we do is just as important as what we do. Religious works with the wrong intentions are empty works.
It seems here that God's people had begun to view fasting through a transactional mindset. It seems that they had adopted the mentality that fasting was a means to get God on their side and to relent his judgment. Like a child, they've begun to think that if they cross their arms and poke their lip out far enough, God will relent his judgment. And now that the temple is being restored, there seems to be no reason to fast.
So, God's question here pushes back against their motive for fasting. If fasting is viewed as a means to get God on your side, then there's now no reason to fast. Their fasting has served its purpose. But, fasting should not merely be seen as a tool to receive something from God. It should not be viewed as a way to show God that you really want something from him. Instead, fasting should be seen as an act of worship and a tangible way to deepen our relationship with him.
When our heart is self-centered, everything we do will be self-centered. So, when they ate, they ate for themselves. When they drank, they drank for themselves. And when they fasted, they fasted for themselves. God is therefore seeking to reorient their hearts back to himself.
Listen. There are particular spiritual disciplines and practices that are essential for the life of a believer. We should gather on Sundays for worship. We should be people who pray. We should be people who read the Bible. We should be people who tithe. We should be people who fast. But, all of those things done with the wrong motives are vanity. They're an attempt to clean the outside of a cup that is full of filth.
TRUE RELIGION VS. FALSE RELIGION
The call of this text is to redirect our hearts back to Jesus. What's more important than religious practices is why we do them. So, are you gathering today for the LORD, to worship him? Or are you gathering for yourself? When you pray and fast, are you doing so for God? Or are you doing so for yourself? When you read the Bible, are you doing so to know God more intimately? Or are you doing so for your own gain?
Now, what does doing religious things for selfish gain practically look like in our own lives?
Well, for starters, it's what we find in the text: doing things with a transactional mindset. False religion views religious deeds as a payment to God. We think, "If I fast long enough, God will remove his wrath." "If I study my Bible today and don't look at pornography, then maybe I'll hit a home run in my baseball game." "If I tithe 15%, then maybe the LORD will give me a raise this year." "If I do X, God will do Y."
False religion views religious deeds as a payment to God, but true religion views religious deeds through the lens of the finished work of the cross. Self-gain religion views religious deeds as a means to an end, but true religion views religious deeds as a response.
False religion also views religious deeds as a badge to wear with honor. So, when we fast— instead of keeping it between us and the LORD— we make sure everyone knows. Instead of reading the Bible to learn about God and to know him deeper, we read the Bible so that others will see that we know about God. We don't go to church because we want to worship God; we go to church because we hate the thought of people seeing us not go to church. Instead of giving quietly, we record ourselves giving publicly and then post it on social media.
Self-gain religion views religious deeds as a means to an end, but true religion views religious deeds as a response. And true religion is content with worshipping Jesus selflessly in the shadows. It is because we are fully known and fully loved by God in Christ Jesus that we worship him with our lives. Religious works like fasting aren't something we do for our own gain; they are something we do as selfless worship. Love for the LORD should be the rudder that steers our every action.