TEXT:
"[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?'"
[8] And the word of the LORD came to Zechariah, saying, [9] "Thus says the LORD of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, [10] do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart." [11] But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears that they might not hear. [12] They made their hearts diamond-hard lest they should hear the law and the words that the LORD of hosts had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore great anger came from the LORD of hosts. [13] "As I called, and they would not hear, so they called, and I would not hear," says the LORD of hosts, [14] "and I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations that they had not known. Thus the land they left was desolate, so that no one went to and fro, and the pleasant land was made desolate."
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
Spend some time reading and discussing verses 8-10. Give some practical examples of how we can live these out in our day to day lives.
How does our heart toward God impact our day to day lives?
Read verses 11-13. What application can we pull from the warning here in these verses?
SERMON MANUSCRIPT
An unfortunate reality of life is that history often repeats itself. So, as we disciple and teach the next generation, we will often find ourselves saying, "Don't make the same mistakes I made." Similarly, we find God warning his people not to make the same mistake their forefathers made when they hardened their hearts toward God in our passage today.
God lovingly pursued and called their forefathers. Yet, they rejected his call. But, as their forefathers rejected God's call, they looked to religious activities like fasting as a means to get God's attention and favor. And this angered the LORD, leading to the fall of Jerusalem. So, God is saying to his people, "Don't make the same mistake your forefathers made when they rejected me."
The central theme for today will be that God cares about how his people live. Those who belong to God do not have the freedom to live however they want. Those who have been redeemed by Jesus submit to Jesus as the Lord of their lives. But under the arches of this theme, we will discover three points:
God has always been more concerned with the why than the what.
The vertical will always impact the horizontal.
God wants us to have a tender heart toward his word.
So, let's go ahead and dive in.
"[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?'"
[8] And the word of the LORD came to Zechariah, saying, [9] "Thus says the LORD of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, [10] do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart." [11] But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears that they might not hear. [12] They made their hearts diamond-hard lest they should hear the law and the words that the LORD of hosts had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore great anger came from the LORD of hosts. [13] "As I called, and they would not hear, so they called, and I would not hear," says the LORD of hosts, [14] "and I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations that they had not known. Thus the land they left was desolate, so that no one went to and fro, and the pleasant land was made desolate."
NOT A NEW MESSAGE
As we saw last week, God responds with a question of his own in response to the question regarding corporate fasting. He asked, "Why have you been fasting in the first place? Was it for me that you have been fasting all these years? Or was it for yourself?"
Following this questioning of motives, the LORD then asks in verse 7, "We're 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?"
What God is doing here in verse 7 is reminding his people that he's always been concerned with their hearts. The words he's saying now are no different than those in the past— they're the exact words he proclaimed by the former prophets. God has always been more concerned with the why than he has the what. God has always been more concerned with the heart of his people than the religious actions of his people. This has been God's consistent message that's pulsed throughout time.
We see this demonstrated to us in Isaiah 58, where the same topic of fasting was addressed. Through the prophet Isaiah, the LORD was saying that the religious work of fasting should coincide with the daily actions of his people. Yet, we see that they had forsaken the judgment of their God, practicing unrighteousness, all while demanding righteous judgments from God while fasting. Their religious activity and their daily living did not coincide. They were demanding God to do something they weren't willing to do themselves.
So, in Isaiah 58, we see God telling them that they fasted for themselves, not the LORD, seeking their own pleasure on the day of their fast. Sure, they denied themselves food "for the LORD." But, while they denied themselves food, they also oppressed their workers. While they humbled themselves before the LORD, they arrogantly fought and quarreled with one another. Their inward heart and external actions did not reflect the posture of a true fast done for the LORD.
Denying yourself food for the sake of asking something from God while simultaneously denying your neighbor their daily needs is the height of religious hypocrisy. And that's exactly what they had done. There was a disconnect between their religious activity and daily living.
So, the LORD's questioning of motives here in Zechariah is not a new message. It's a message of old, the same message proclaimed through the former prophets. God has always been concerned with the heart of his people. Why you do what you do is foundational to the Christian faith.
VERTICAL IMPACTS THE HORIZONTAL
As Christians, whatever we do, we do for the LORD, not ourselves. And when our heart is oriented toward the LORD, our religious activities and daily living will not conflict with one another. A denial of food for the glory of the LORD ought to coincide with a denial of self for the good of our neighbor.
Look at verses 8-10, "Thus says the LORD of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart."
So, the vertical will always impact the horizontal. Our heart posture toward God will translate into how we interact with our neighbors. One who has experienced the unconditional love of God in Christ Jesus will undoubtedly begin to love God themselves. And those who love God will undoubtedly begin to love their neighbor.
Your heart posture toward God will always bleed into your day-to-day actions. A love for God always leads to a love for your neighbor, and indifference toward God always leads to indifference toward our neighbor. So, let's spend a few moments unpacking how God calls his people to treat their neighbors.
RENDER TRUE JUDGMENTS
First, he calls us to "render true judgments." The Hebrew word for judgment is "mishpat," a political term for justice. Justice is a topic addressed over 200 times in the OT alone, which should tell us that justice is something close to God's heart. In its purest form, mishpat means doing what is right and treating all people fairly in both blessing and punishment. It's looking past race or social status and either acquitting or punishing a person based on the case's merits. It's giving people a right and fair judgment. It's giving someone their God-given rights, no matter who they are. So, God desires, expects, and demands his people to treat all people fairly in everything they do. Selfish people don't care about justice, but selfless people desire to "render true judgments."
COMPASSION & MERCY
The concept of showing "mercy" and "kindness" to one another is a concept that mirrors how God relates to his people. They're terms that are used to describe God and his faithful love toward his people. It's an all-in type of affection and love. It's Godlike love and affection. We are to treat our neighbor the way God has treated us. We are to love our neighbor the same way God has loved us. We are to be kind like God is kind. We are to be compassionate like God is compassionate. As recipients of God's steadfast love, we should be eager to demonstrate that love to each other. Deep from the well of our hearts, we should be eager to show compassion and mercy to each other daily.
CARE FOR THE VULNERABLE
Next, we see that we should also be eager to care for those most vulnerable in our society. We must "not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor." As you consult the law of the Old Testament, you will quickly discover that God deeply cares about helping the helpless. In the law, he would often remind his people that he redeemed them from slavery in Egypt; therefore, they should be eager to care for those in their land. They were to pay the poor and the needy on the day of their work (Deut. 24:14), not later like we're accustomed to doing in our society. When they gathered their harvest, they were to intentionally leave some of their harvests behind for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow (Deut. 24:19-22; Lev. 19:9-10).
At the heart of the gospel, we find God's care for the broken and the vulnerable. And if God cares for the vulnerable, we should care for the vulnerable.
Church, listen. I understand that life is messy, and there's nuance in how we care for those around us. But, we must understand that we have a biblical responsibility to steward our time and resources to help those in need around us. You should be a safe haven for your neighbor; and we should be a safe haven for our neighbors. If we have experienced God's grace, mercy, and care, we should be eager to display God's grace, mercy, and care to those around us.
We should never be a people that are so self-centered that we look past the venerable in our society, and LORD please help us if we get to a place where we even capitalize off of the vulnerable in our community. We should not oppress the vulnerable in our society; we should lift up the vulnerable in our society.
WATCH YOUR HEART
But, not only should we actively seek out the good of our neighbor, but we should not even "devise evil against another in our hearts." Neighborly love isn't simply limited to our actions toward our neighbor but our heart posture toward our neighbor.
TENDER HEARTS TO GOD’S WoRD
As we continue to read, we see God encouraging his people not to go down the same path as their forefathers. Their forefathers intentionally chose to reject the loving call and pursuit of God in their lives. As God shouted from the mountain tops, they "refused to pay attention." As God lovingly ran after them, they "turned a stubborn shoulder" to him. As God spoke to them through the prophets, they "stopped their ears that they might not hear." Instead of having soft and tender hearts toward God's law, they made their "hearts diamond-hard, lest they should hear the law and the words that the LORD of hosts has sent by his Spirit through the former prophets."
Church, listen. We must understand that how we respond to the Bible is how we respond to God. If you find yourself shrugging your shoulders toward the Bible, please know that you're shrugging your shoulders toward God. An indifferent heart toward the Bible is an indifferent heart toward the author of the Bible. So, we see at the heart of these verses is the truth that a tender heart toward God's word is what God desires of us today.
As their forefathers hardened their hearts toward God and rejected Him, God became angry with them. Great anger came from the LORD of hosts, leading to judgment being poured out on their land. In verse 13, God says, "As I called, and they would not hear, so they called, and I would not hear." Here we find a play on words showing us how God treated them the way they treated him. This play on words teaches us that they experienced the fruit of their indifference toward God.
In Isaiah 58, we see this verse being played out more clearly. Here God is addressing a people who had abandoned God yet were still fasting and seeking God with religious deeds. God, seeing their heart and motives, was calling them to repentance and return to obedience to Him. Yet, with cold and indifferent hearts, they continued to fast while rejecting the weightier matters of the law.
So, you see them crying out, "Why have we fasted, and you not see it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?" And God is responding, "Because you're seeking your own pleasure. You want a relationship with me on your terms, not my terms. Your fasting is not accompanied by repentance; it's accompanied by arrogance."
Church, don't expect a fruitful relationship with God while you choose to walk in disobedience to God. You don't get God on your terms. The sacrifices of God are not a broken body, but "a broken spirit." A broken and contrite heart, God will never despise. Your actions are important, but God is more concerned with your heart than your actions. So, think again if you think God will listen to and answer your prayers as your arms are crossed with your back turned to God. As God "called" and "they didn't listen," so "they called" and "God did not listen."
Church, the temptation is to think that God cannot see past the mask of religion. The temptation is to think that you can go on living with cold and indifferent hearts toward God and just sprinkle in a few religious works and be good with God. But that's not how a relationship with God works. This passage teaches that God calls us to deeper waters than the kiddy pool of religiosity. God is calling us to a loving relationship himself, where we listen to him, trusting that he knows what's best, and where we walk in obedience to him. He’s not calling us to be a hard-hearted box checkers; he's calling us to be tender-hearted children who listen and obey. And what we will find when we do so is that his yoke is easy, and his burden is light. Submission to God may be difficult, but it is worth it. Submission to God leads to freedom and joy. So, may we be a people who rest in the love God has lavished upon us, and may we be a people who love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. In doing so, may we be a people who seek to walk in obedience to him in all things, loving our neighbor as ourselves.