Zechariah 7 - Showing Jesus - Engaged
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· 6 viewsHBI – As we are sent into the world to make disciples we need to be engaged with each other and the world around us.
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21-03-28 - Showing Jesus - Engaged - Zechariah 7
HBI – As we are sent into the world to make disciples we need to be engaged with each other and the world around us.
Matthew 25:40 (ESV) And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
Intro
We are moving into what it means to show Jesus to others. Though all these different aspects of the gospel work together
One thing that I see over and over again as we are told to share the gospel with those around us is that we are to be engaged with the poor and downtrodden around us.
If you go through the minor prophets it is filled with reminders that we are called to social justice issues as we seek to spread the gospel to those around us.
Though people struggle with actually sharing the gospel with their neighbor, they feel that as long as they get them to church then God will do the rest. Or that they can lead them to someone else to share the gospel with them.
Some people feel that they are not gifted in sharing the gospel with people, that it is the job of the evangelists and missionaries and pastors.
But as we look into this, we will learn that this is not the case. But today we are going to look at how we are called to be engaged in the world around us.
So, we are going to go to one of the minor prophets to look at what God has told us about helping those in need, the least of these around us.
Zechariah's prophetic ministry took place in the time of Israel's restoration from the Babylonian captivity, i.e., in the postexilic period. Approximately seventy-five years had elapsed since Habakkuk and Jeremiah had predicted the invasion of Judah by the Neo-Babylonian army of King Nebuchadnezzar. When their "hard service" (Isa 40:2) in Babylonia was completed, God influenced Cyrus, the Persian king, to allow the Hebrews to return to their homeland and rebuild their temple
The chief purpose of Zechariah and Haggai was to rebuke the people and motivate and encourage them to complete the rebuilding of the temple though Zechariah was clearly interested in spiritual renewal as well.
This is where we enter into the book, part of the spiritual renewal was social justice issues. We see this throughout the minor prophets.
The spiritual renewal and warnings from the prophets seemed to always include a call to remember they need to help those around them, they need to be culturally engaged.
The world tells us that we need to be all about ourselves, even some of the churches that we see in the world tell us that it is okay to think about yourself first, that it is all about you.
With this attitude we are starting to see a shift away from the glorifying the Lord in all that we do to a mindset that thinks of self first.
But God calls us to more then just a focus on self. God has a heart for the weak and the downtrodden and Showing Jesus means a shift from a selfish attitude to a focus on God.
What this calls us to again is to be ENGAGED with eachother and engaged with the world around us. To be Leaders, expressing the Kingdom of God
So then we need to ask ourselves: Are we merciful? Are we peacemakers? Are we willing to engage with people from minority groups?
Let us get into the word of God to see what It tells us about the subject.
Read Zech 7 and pray
8-10 – The Least of these
We start out with Verses 8-10 - Zechariah 7:8–10 (CSB)8 The word of the Lord came to Zechariah: 9 “The Lord of Armies says this: ‘Make fair decisions. Show faithful love and compassion to one another. 10 Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the resident alien or the poor, and do not plot evil in your hearts against one another.’
You may wonder what the point is of worrying about the downtrodden and needy in our midst is? For one back then they had no welfare or anything like that, so it was the job of the Israelites (in the Old Testament) to care for those in need in their midst.
The thing about this is it is referring to the people of Israel specifically. How they should treat each other and what they should do about there own people that are in need.
The problem is that the peoples focus had become on themselves and they forgot about what God had called them to do and how they where to treat each other.
What this is telling us is that we are to be engaged first of all with each other. Gone are selfish attitudes but what we are called to is thinking of others first.
Matthew 25 talks about this when it deals with “doing for the least of these”. But even that passage is talking specifically about those in the church. How we engage with those outside the church we will deal with in a minute.
The purpose that we have as a church first talks about discipling each other. In Zech 7:9 we read a little of what this looks like to be engaged with each other.
What it says here is also emphasised we will see in the New Testament and the book of Acts as well. Make fair decisions it says. Which essentially talks about the idea of Justice.
It means that from the highest in our midst to the lowest in the body of Christ, we are to be united, all people will be treated equally the good of all those in the community, for the glory of the Lord, will be safeguarded. Think of others first and treat each other with true justice, equally.
We are to show faithful love to one another. The word used here is again the word Hesed. Which means a covenant love. The love that we are to show to eachtoher is a covenant love, the same love that God has shown us when He sent His son to die on the cross for our sins.
Why is this all important in showing Jesus to others? Because if we can not love each other enough, if we can not care about each other enough to elevate each other to the same level then how will we be able to care enough about the world around to share the gospel with them.
Who is the suffering, the needy, the downtrodden in the body of Christ around you? Remember we need to love them with the love of Jesus as well.
11-14 (4-6) – Are we Engaged? Focused on God plan our own.
But sometimes we get so focused on ourselves that we forget that we are to be engaged with the people in the church in need in our midst.
If we go back a few verses, we are reminded that God is not worried about the sacrifices we make but the attitude behind them.
We get so focused on ourselves that we forget what we are to be doing. We go back a few verses to be reminded of this. Zechariah 7:4–6 (CSB)4 Then the word of the Lord of Armies came to me: 5 “Ask all the people of the land and the priests: When you fasted and lamented in the fifth and in the seventh months for these seventy years, did you really fast for me? 6 When you eat and drink, don’t you eat and drink simply for yourselves?
Who are we living this life for, who are we working in the church for? The sacrifices that we make are they to get a better standing or are we doing it for the Lord.
God is not as much interested in our sacrifices and prayers as He wants Obedience of hear. Are our hearts committed to Him in all that we do? What happened when the Israelites forgot to give their hearts to the Lord?
Zechariah 7:11–12 (CSB)11 But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder; they closed their ears so they could not hear. 12 They made their hearts like a rock so as not to obey the law or the words that the Lord of Armies had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. Therefore intense anger came from the Lord of Armies.
But what about the people around us how are we to relate to them? Are we to also help the poor and needy around the church that are not followers of Jesus as well?
I want to go back to the book of Jeremiah to a verse that impacted me a while ago. Jeremiah 29:7 (CSB)7 Pursue the well-being of the city I have deported you to. Pray to the Lord on its behalf, for when it thrives, you will thrive.”
The idea behind this passage was reiterated by Jesus as well. Though we are not in Captivity the message still applies to us today as well.
The Israelites where being held captive and instead of fighting the bonds that where on them God told them to love those around them and seek the welfare of the community, I have lead you into captivity in.
They where to be peacemakers, lovers of those around them. They where to pray for their enemies. They where to yield themselves to the Lord and to those who where over them no matter how badly they where treated.
The message is repeated to us as well. We are not to remain focused completely on ourselves but rather our prayers need to go out to the world around us.
No matter how badly we are treated by them we need to still love them, pray for them, care about them.
But then are we to treat the least of these out of the church the same way as the ones in the church? The answer is obviously yes but it looks a little different.
We can and should care for their immediate needs but the goal in doing this is so we can care for their main need of needing the gospel of Jesus.
not of the world, but sent into the world [1] 1(Great Commission Christians)
You see we are not just to be engaged with each other, but we are also to be engaged in the welfare of the community that God has lead us to.
We are unified as the body of Christ and love each other so as to become one unified Body of Christ where there is no one in need and suffering in our midst.
But we are also to love and pray for those around us as well. Even though they may mistreat us and do evil to us we are still to be engaged with the world around us as well.
There is an old saying that is not in the bible anywhere that goes be in the world but not of the world.
It us almost as if we are saying “well rats, we are stuck in this world but let us make sure we are not of it”.
But it is better phrased not of the world but sent into the world. Jesus has saved us from our sin if we are His children and we have died to the carnal ways of the world.
This world is not our home, but we belong to the K of H. But nevertheless, we are called into the world to share the gospel with them.
Caring for the least of these as we see needs to start in our own midst. But as we do that, we need to care for the community around us and love them as well.
But the goal is different, the reason why we care for others is because how else are we going to share the gospel with them.
If we truly love others as Jesus loved us then that should show in the way that we love those around us. As we are sent into the world to share the gospel with others, we do it because we do not want them spending eternity in the wrath of God.
So we look out into the community that we are in and ask How can I love them and care for them so they will want to hear what I have to say about the gospel.
I read the story of a Muslim man that turned His life to God. He spent many years hearing from Christians that what He believed was wrong and he told them the same thing to them.
He met one man who also told Him of the gospel, and this Muslim man still did not listen. But something changed in him.
What happened is his new friend started to get to know him and care for him. This shed new light onto the message this Christian man was sharing.
The only reason why he started to listen, after years of friendship, was because the Christian cared enough about Him, loved him and through that he then listened.
Why would anyone want to listen to what we have to say if we do not fist care about who they are and what they are going through.
So I leave you with 2 things how can we be engaged with each other in the body of Christ so that there are none in need in our midst and that we are one unified body of Christ.
Second is that we need to also care for the community we are in,. to pray for them, to love them no matter what they may do to us. And we are to do this so that they will see that we care about them so that then they will be willing to hear the gospel.
We are engaged with those around us because although we are not of the world we are still called to be sent into the world.
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