Was It Really For Me?

Zechariah 7:5
“Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted?

Zechariah 7:6
And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves?

Zechariah the prophet wrote his message after Israelites had been severely punished for their sins by 70 years of captivity in Babylon. Zechariah writes at a time when Jerusalem and its temple is being rebuilt. During the 70 years of captivity, Israelites fasted, prayed, and cried every fifth and seventh month. The fifth to seventh month was the time when Babylonians attacked Jerusalem and destroyed it together with the temple. Therefore this was a time to remember their shame and pain as a nation.

During Zechariah’s time, Jerusalem and the temple were now being rebuilt. The question therefore was, should they continue fasting, praying, and crying on the fifth and seventh month as they did during 70 years of captivity, Zechariah 7:2-3. After asking this question, God responded in our text today. God tells them that their question is hypocritical because all the fasting, praying, and crying that they did was never because of God, but for their own selfish reasons. God asks them a rhetorical question, was it really for me that you fasted? Was it really for me?

God responds to their question of whether to continue fasting, praying, and crying every fifth and seventh month, by condemning fake worship. God tells them that He had condemned their fasting even before the Babylonian captivity, Zechariah 7:7. God condemned their fasting because, they seemed very religious during fasting, but after fasting or before fasting they did not follow God’s will. Before fasting and after fasting, they oppressed the poor and did injustice to each other, Zechariah 7:9-11. God tells them if you disobey Me throughout the year and then come and look very religious during fasting, is it really for me that you are fasting?

If you disobey God throughout the year. Throughout the year your heart is hard and doesn’t respond to God’s word. Your heart is hard the whole year, Zechariah 7:11-13. Then during fasting you suddenly become so religious and faithful, you are faking it. You are pretending. God rejects your fasting, praying, and crying. Was it really for me?

The whole year you sin against God. The whole year you do not attend worship. The whole year you refuse baptism and rebaptism. The whole year you do not reconcile with each other. The whole year you oppress each other. The whole year you commit sin. Then on Christmas, you come and behave very religiously. Then at the new year celebration, you look very religious. Then during camp meetings or easter or a week of prayer, you look very religious. God says you can’t fool me. Was it really for me?

If before and after the religious occasion you continue sinning deliberately, God rejects your religious occasion. If before and after a religious event you are wicked, hating each other, insulting each other, God says, I am not interested in your religious events. It is fake. God watches us before and after worship. He expects changed lives. God rejects any pretense at the place of worship. Children who look very polite and obedient at worship, yet before and after, they terrorize their parents, God says, I have rejected your worship. It is fake. If you put up a show of being nice and pious during worship, but the whole week your workers suffer under you, your spouse is going through hell, your neighbors are terrorized by you, God says, I have rejected you fake worship. Was it really for me?

Secondly, God rejects their worship because the fasting and praying were not because they regretted their sins, but because they disliked the consequences of sin. God expects us to hate sin and not just worry about its consequences. The problem of fornication and adultery is that it is a sin against God. The problem is not sexually transmitted diseases, pregnancies, getting caught, and scandals. If we pray and cry in fear of diseases, scandals, getting caught, and pregnancies, then it is not remorse against sin but just a concern for our welfare. That is why in our text today God tells them, you were praying and crying not for Me but for your own selves. Was it really for me?

If we are passionate prayer warriors and passionate participators in worship God wants to know why. Is it because we are broke? Is it because we are lonely? Is it because we are praying for success in something? Is it because we are afraid. God wants to know is it about Him or ourselves? God asks them, therefore, was it really for me?

Why do you attend choir meetings? Do you love the LORD or you love singing? Why do you preach? Do you love the LORD or you are jobless and have nothing else to do? Why do you love leadership? Is it satisfying your ego or actually progressing God’s work? Why are you afraid or angry about being removed from that church position? Is it because you fear God’s work may fail or you have your own interests? Was it really for me?

Thirdly, fasting, praying, and crying had become routine. For seventy years they did this. It had no meaning to them. It never touched their hearts. God knew they were just on a dry empty routine. They were satisfying themselves that they have met the bare minimum requirements, it wasn’t really about God. It was just to satisfy their consciousness that they have met all the expectations for that year. They went through the process without God in mind. That is why God rejects that worship and asks them this question to expose the problem. Was it really for me?

We too can go to church to just satisfy our routine and guilt. We arrive late and leave exactly when the time comes. We do not care whether the church needs us or not, we just meet the requirements and leave. We will not attend any extra program, in the afternoon, mid-week, or any other time. We just do the bare minimum. We give any amount of tithe and offering just to seem like we gave, to satisfy the routine. We don’t love God or the church, we just want to meet the requirement. God says that such worship is about us and not Him. He has rejected us and that worship because it is never about Him. Was it really for me?

When we serve God by doing the least that is expected, God wonders the same way. Was it really for me? You add no creativity or passion to your service of God. You do the least that is expected. God wonders the same way He wondered during Zechariah’s time. Was it really for me?

God interrogates and scrutinizes every worship. Family worship. Prayer sessions. Sabbath worship. Weeks of prayer. Camp meetings. End year and new year celebrations. God wants to be the center and reason for worship and service. God asks us to make Him the focus of worship and demonstrate throughout the year in our lifestyle. That is why He asked Israelites this poignant question. Was it really for me?

May this question, was it really for me, elicit a process of change in us on how we serve God and worship God, in Jesus’ name, Amen!

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