7/27/2019 1992 Issue 8 - Sermons on Zechariah: In Vain Do They
Worship - Counsel of Chalcedon
1/4
Kenneth
L
Gentry Jr
Zechariah 7; Matthew 15:1-14
The
worship of
God is the highest
callingofman. It is the fulfillment ofthe
very purpose of our
existence,
for God
has
created all things
to
bringHim
glory
(Rev.
4:11) and man alone of the crea
tures of
the
earth
has the capacity to
worship. Worship is of two
varieties:
There is generic worship, which is the
honor and dedication to God evidem in
ourdaY-LO-dayaffairs. It
is living
forGod
in ll of life. Then
there
is specific
worship, which
is
the setting apart of a
specific time and place for the fonnal,
corporate praise of
God.
As
Christians we ough t
to
be con
cerned to worship God as Christ com
manded'
in
spirit and in
truth
Oohn
4:24). Butwhatdoessuchmean? A
close
lookattheepisoderecordedinZechariah
7
will
uncover the principle of specific
worship
in
spirit and
truth
being ap
plied.
1. The Question.
The
occasion recorded in Zechaliah
7 and 8 occursnearly two
years
after
the
previOUS occasion, wherein
Zechariah
was
granteda series of
visions,
which
we
have just Studied
(Zech.
7:1 cpo Zech.
1:1). DUring
this
time
the
temple
work
continued, although
it
would not be
completed for another two
years, dUling
the sixth year of Darius
(Ezra
6:14-15).
The issues generated by therebuildingof
the
temple
and the imertm fast
days
that
are
dealt with here are noteworthy. We
will
deal
with
the
first
part ofZechaliah's
response
to
the question
raised,
which is
in the
fonn of a rebuke and appears in
Zechariah
7.
n
ournextmessage
we
will
consider
the
more cheering aspect of
Zechariah's
answer in Zechariah 8.
n
the
first
three
verses we
discover
the
occasion of he prophetic
oracle. The
prompting of the
oracle
is with regard to
a specific inquiry made by some Jews
[mm the city
ofBethel.
Unfortunately,
the verse is
obscured
by the
KJV translators. For
one thing,
their
origin from Bethel
is not
so
appar
em in the lqV (Zech
7:2). The
words
rendered the house of
God
here
are
never
elsewhere
applied to the temple.
The
temple
is alwaysrererred
to,
asin the
next
verse, as the
house of the
LORD.
Actually, the Hebrew
that
is
rranslated
house of
God
is Beth-el, which also-
happens to be
the name
of a
famous
city
in Scripture and mentioned in this pe
riod of time
(see
Ezra 2:28; Neh. 7:32;
11:31). lso the
phrase should
have
Bethel as the
subject of the sentence, not
the
indirect
object. Verse
two is betler
translated Bethel sent Sherezer and
Regem-melechand their
men,
not they
sent
to the
house of
God.
Whatappearshere is aninquiry
from
the
people of
the
city of
Bethel
brought
by
several
men, two of whom arerumted
Sherezer and Regem-melech. This in
quiry is
accompanied with the express
direclivethattheserepresentaliveswould
pray before the Lord
inJerusalern. The
question
was
directed
to
the priests and
the prophetS,
the
official
representatives
of the
Lord God.
In
verse three
we
learn that the Jews
in
Bethel
had been engaging in separa
tion to the Lord. By
the statement's
being in the first person ( I rmyself'),
we understand that the peoplehad sepa
rated
themselves as
a unit,
as
a body in
one
mind and
one
accord.
Verse
five
defines
that separation to God as in
volving two monthly fasts, one in the
fifth month, one in the seventh.
The
inquiry indicates that the exiles
of Israel
had
been
regularly observing
the
fasts
for
the entirety
of
the deportation
from the Promised Land, that is for sev
entyyears.
The
dates of
the fasts
pointed
to the
burning ofthe temple in the fifth
monthOer.
52: 12,
13)andthemurderof
the governor Gedaliah and
his associ
ates,
who
were left
in the Land to govern
the poor Jews in the seventh month (2
Kgs. 25:25-26).
This would
seem
to
indicate several
praiseworthy facts:
(1)
It shows an
awareness by theJews ofthe significance
oftheworshipofGod. Asolemnfastwas
a
recognized
means of committed dedi
cation to
God in both Old and New
Testaments. (2)
Itevidencesaunanimity
among the people in their worship. (3)
It demonstrates an apparent recognition
oftheapproprtatechannelsofinquiry: to
the
prophets and priests in Jerusalem.
All
wouldappearto
be
in order andmost
commendable. Their question
is: Since
we
are
back in the Promised Land and
since
the temple is beingrebuilt, should
we
continue
these
regular, self-imposed
fasts?
This
leads
us to consider:
_ The Rebuke.
We
are somewhat surprised to learn
September,
1992
t THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon t
29
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7/27/2019 1992 Issue 8 - Sermons on Zechariah: In Vain Do They
Worship - Counsel of Chalcedon
2/4
that God does not view their fust s
so
highly
(Zech. 7:5).
In fact, He roundly
rebukes them
{Zech.
7:7) . Why? Whyis
it that despite the many appropriate as
pectsof their conduct,
God
sorely re
bukesthem?
We should remember that these are
the sons of the obstinate fathels
who
were sent into deportation
(Zech
. 1:
2)
.
This is the people
that
delayed leaving
thelandofdeponation{Zech.2:7).These
are the Jews that
dragged
their feet in
rebuilding the temple
(Hag.
1:5). Thisis
astnfulpeoplethatisslowto
learn.
Fastingiscommendable:
Moses "the servant ofGod"
fasted (Exo . 34:28); Jesus
''the Son of God" Himself ;>' .
fasted
(Matt.
4:2).
And God
saw the fasting, as easily as
any
man did. But the form
of God's rebuke is terribly , ) : .
important. Two aspects of r ..
His
rebuke stand out:
First, God rebukes them
for fuilure in their specific
worshlp: He emphatically
asks:
When
ye fasted
and mourned in
the
fifth
and seventh month, even those
seventy
years
, did ye
at
all
fast
unto
me,
even to me?" (Zech. 7:5).
Notice
the
repetition of the word 'ine.
Though they
were engaged
in
an
acceptable worship practice, they did so
forthewrongreasons. Theywentthrough
the external, mechanical means ofwor
ship, but
"the
Lord seeth not as man
seeth;
for
man looketh on
the
outward
appearance, butthe Lord ~ k t h on the
heart
l Sam.
16:7).
Here
itiii
as
when
Jesus rebuked the
Pharisees
:
"Ye
are they
which
1i$tifyyourselves
before men; but
Godknowethyourhearts (Luke 16:15) .
Their
fust s
were notmO ivated out of
deep contrition for sin in humble
brokenheartedness before God.
They
fasted because of their ruin and loss, not
because of theirsin. As Davidwrote 400
years
before:
For thou desirest not sac-
tifice; e1sewould I
give
it: thou delightest
notinburntoffering"
{Psa. 51:16).
Their
mechanical worship was a renewal ofthe
same problem
evidenced
in their fathers
(Isaiah 1:11-18): perfunctory worship.
Theydidnotworship inspirit, from the
heart, as
David
urged in Psalm 51:17:
The
sacrific
esojGod
a e
broken spIrit:
broken and
contrite heart
0
God,
t ou
wilt not despise
.
Let
us
consider the world of
Christendom today. Letusconsiderour
own hearts and motives. Many in the
South
today
attend church merely
be
causeitisexpectedofrespectablepeople.
Theyhave the fonn
of
godliness
but
ack
the power thereof. Many
want
their
names on churchrolls, butdo not attend
but once or twice a
year.
Many come to
church but do not parridpate in the
worship by listening to the
preached
word or singing to God's
praise. And
how often Is it that even when we sing,
we do not
give
attention to the words we
are singing?
You know there are tWo methods of
teaching reading:
PhOnics,
wherein
syl
lable sounds are
learned,
so that words
can be built up from sounds. And the
look-saymethod, whichencouragesrote
memorization
of words. Many Chris
tians today engage themselvesinlook-say
worship. They go through the motions
withoutinvolvingtheemotions. Thereis
no
real
heart for worship.
3
lH COUNSEL of
Chalcedonl
September, 1992
It is
true
God
has commanded
our
churchmembershipandattendance. Itis
true that employing the means of wor
sbip onSunday is
vital.
But too
often
we
worship accordlngto thetruth, butnotin
the spirit. We go through the motions,
but
care
little about the
God
whom we
worship.
We should
remember
that
"wherever
two
or
three
are
gathered
to
gether ]esusisinthemidst{Matt.18:20).
He sees our
worship and
weighs
it justas
surely as
He
saw the
fasting
of the Jews
and
weighed
it and found it wanting.
Second, God rebukes the
