ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTIONS

The Book of Zechariah #10

Pastor Dennis Clanton

Woodland Church

Wednesday, April 27, 2022

(Zechariah 7:1–14, NLT) “On December 7 of the fourth year of King Darius’s reign, another message came to Zechariah from the Lord. The people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regemmelech, along with their attendants, to seek the Lord’s favor. 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?” The Lord of Heaven’s Armies sent me this message in reply: “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? And even now in your holy festivals, aren’t you eating and drinking just to please yourselves? 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?’ ” Then this message came to Zechariah from the Lord: “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Judge fairly, and show mercy and kindness to one another. Do not oppress widows, orphans, foreigners, and the poor. And do not scheme against each other. “Your ancestors refused to listen to this message. They stubbornly turned away and put their fingers in their ears to keep from hearing. 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. “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. 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.”

(Zechariah 7:3, NLT) “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?”

This being the case, it is obvious that there is no mechanical solution to true spirituality or the true Christian life. Anything that has the mark of the mechanical upon it is a mistake. It is not possible to say, read so many chapters of the Bible every day, and you will have this much sanctification. It is not possible to say, pray so long every day, and you will have a certain amount of sanctification. It is not possible to add the two together and to say, you will have this big a piece of sanctification. This is a purely mechanical solution, and denies the whole Christian position. For the fact is that the Christian life, true spirituality, can never have a mechanical solution. The real solution is being cast up into the moment-by-moment communion, personal communion, with God Himself, and letting Christ’s truth flow through me through the agency of the Holy Spirit. – Frances Schaeffer, The Complete Works

1. MY WORSHIP MUST COME FROM MY HEART.

(Zechariah 7:5–6, NLT) “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? And even now in your holy festivals, aren’t you eating and drinking just to please yourselves?”

(Hosea 6:6, NLT) “I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices. I want you to know me more than I want burnt offerings.”

   a.  Ask myself periodically, “Do I truly love the LORD?”

   b.  Beware of becoming spiritually hardened. Are there sins that I should confess?

(Zechariah 7:12, NLT) “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.”

• Am I listening to God’s Word?

• Am I in submission to spiritual authority?

(Zechariah 7:11, CJB) “But they wouldn’t listen, they stubbornly turned their shoulder away and stopped up their ears, so that they wouldn’t have to hear it.”

• When my motive is love, then my worship is pure.

(Zechariah 7:9–10, NLT) “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Judge fairly, and show mercy and kindness to one another. Do not oppress widows, orphans, foreigners, and the poor. And do not scheme against each other.”

Who can I serve?

• Name the issues.

• Know the names of people who are hurt by the issues.

• Pray about the issues.

• Stand for the sacredness of human life.

• Walk humbly before God and others.

(Zechariah 7:14, NLT) “They turned their pleasant land into a desert.”

2. I LIVE ON THE PROMISES OF GOD.

“Tradition is the living faith of the dead; traditionalism is the dead faith of the living. Tradition lives in conversation with the past, while remembering we are where and when we are and that it is we who have to decide. Traditionalism supposes that nothing should ever be done for the first time, so all that is needed to solve any problem is to arrive at the supposedly unanimous testimony of this homogenized tradition. “- Jaroslav Pelikan

(Zechariah 7:13, NLT) “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.”

(Psalm 119:116, NLT) “Lord, sustain me as you promised, that I may live! Do not let my hope be crushed.”