Main Idea: Worship isn’t just expressed by how you treat God, but also by how you treat people.
A Look at the Text:
Two years after Zechariah’s series of night visions, a delegation came to the returned exiles at Jerusalem from the town of Bethel. They were sent to ask the priests and prophets if the people should continue their practice of mourning and fasting on behalf of the temple’s destruction as they had done during the Babylonian exile (Zech. 7:1-3).
In response, the Lord spoke through Zechariah, challenging them to consider if it was truly for Him that they had been fasting (Zech. 7:5). For when they were eating and having feasts, it wasn’t for Him—it was simply for themselves (Zech. 7:6).
They were admonished to consider the former words of the prophets, and Zechariah echoed them with a new word from God:
“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” (Zech. 7:9-10).
God’s message wasn’t new.
It wasn’t enough to worship Him in words if they didn’t worship Him in deeds by loving others. The former generation had stopped their ears, making their hearts “diamond-hard” lest they should amend their ways (Zech. 7:11-12). Hence, the Lord’s anger had come and scattered them (Zech. 7:13-14).
The answer wasn’t direct, but it was surely obvious what the people ought to do.
Bringing it Home:
Scripture again and again condemns godless religion. Religion that is full of good words but not full of good deeds.
Serving God directly is a good thing, obviously. Fasting, praying, and worship in the more traditional sense are all things that are very important. To love the Lord is the great and first commandment (Matt. 22:37-38; Deut. 6:5).
Yet let us not be deceived. If we worship God while we gather as the church and mistreat others when we leave, we are missing true religion. As the apostle James once concluded:
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world (James 1:27).
It’s not enough to love God if you don’t love your neighbor. Together, loving God and loving people sum up the vocation of the Christian life. Truly, as the apostle John once pointed out, if you don’t love your brother or sister in Christ, don’t think you love God (1 John 4:20).
True worship demands not just the words of our mouth, but also the obedience of our hands and feet. It demands that we not only love God directly, but that we also love Him indirectly as we love those around us, particularly those who need it the most.
Challenge:
Does my faith transform how I treat people?