Articles
For Whom?
The prophets Zechariah and Haggai were sent by God to the faithful remnant of Israel to stir them up to complete the work of rebuilding the Temple, and their prophesying did much good (Ezra 5:1; 6:14). After delaying the completion of the Temple's rebuilding for a dozen years or so, they finally returned to the work and completed it about four years later (Hag. 1:14; Ezra 6:15).
While they delayed rebuilding the Temple, they weren't just biding their time and sitting back doing nothing. In fact, they were quite busy! They were putting off the work of rebuilding God's house, saying, “The time has not come, the time that the Lord’s house should be built” (Hag. 1:2), but they had built themselves “paneled houses” while the Temple lay “in ruins” (Hag. 1:4). It seems they had gone back to their old ways of putting the Lord and His house second — if they thought about Him and His house at all!
To further stir up the people and to remind them they had been brought back out of captivity to serve the Lord and not themselves, Zechariah questioned their practices, asking them if when they fasted and mourned during those seventy years of captivity, “did you really fast for Me—for Me?” (Zech. 7:5). He likened their superficial service, fasting, and mourning to their forefathers, when they were eating and drinking, and noted they were doing it for themselves — not for God. The reality was, the mourning and fasting of those in captivity was only for themselves, too; they mourned their situation, not their sins. They mourned their captivity, but not the very factor that sent them there.
At the heart of this text that records God's challenge to His people, we find a challenge for His people today, too; the challenge now is for all profess to be believers in Jesus as the Christ and Son of God: For whom are doing what you do? Good question!
Our System of Faith. Within what the world recognizes as 'Christianity,' there are over 1200 different denominations here in the United States, and over 41,000 worldwide, according to one particular organization [religioustolerance.org]. Much of what is practiced by individuals is an adoption of what our ancestors believed and practiced [i.e., we follow what our parents and grandparents believed and practiced], with a few exceptions. Especially for the older 'mainline' denominations, this is the case, and attempts to teach an individual within one of these denominations is met with disinterest because, as some have said, "This is what they believed, so it's good enough for me." Even when one opens the Bible and is able to show beliefs and practices do not agree with what is revealed in God's word, and is quite often contradictory to what is found in the Bible, some refuse to change because they declare their allegiance to their family's traditional beliefs, which means they have chosen to please their family over pleasing the Lord Himself.
Here, the question cuts to the heart: For whom do we do this — for God, or for our family's sake? Please understand: If we do what we do to please our family, rather than to please God, we cannot expect His blessings and reward of eternal life in the final Judgment. Jesus once said, “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me” (Matt. 10:37).
Our Worship. As the people of God today — disciples, believers, Christians — we naturally have a desire to worship God; worship, after all, is an expression of our love for God. But just because we love God and want to worship Him does not mean we have the right to determine how that worship is offered, no more than a servant gets to dictate to the master how he serves. God is our Creator and we are the creation; Christ is the Savior and we are the saved; He is the Master and we are merely servants. If it is God whom we truly seek to please, and not merely ourselves, then we must examine our worship and examine ourselves to see, again, for whom we do what we do. Is it for God, or is it merely to please self?
It is easy to look at others who are offering up worship to God in ways He never approved and identify what is wrong; all the external things can be easily identified. But what about errors that reside in the heart? What about misconceptions and erroneous attitudes that we may have?
Since worship is an expression of our love for God, it must first meet the requirements He has set forth if it is to be pleasing to Him. He seeks worshipers who will “worship the Father in spirit and truth” (John 4:23, 24), and if it is not done in that way, it is not pleasing to Him. He is simply not interested in those who worship in word only, while their hearts are far from Him (cf. Matt. 15:8, 9). He is not interested in worship that is primarily about musical quality, and less about glorifying Him or “teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord” (Col. 3:16). Note that the emphasis of that passage was not the absence of musical instruments, but on worship from the heart.
When I hear brethren praise the quality of the singing and nothing about how they have been edified, taught, or admonished, or how good it was to glorify God, then I sense our focus is misdirected. When I hear brethren tell me they choose one congregation over another with whom they will work and worship solely on the quality of singing, I sense our worship is becoming more a matter of pleasing self, rather than pleasing God. For whom do we worship?
Our Churches. Within the last decade or so, we have heard and seen an emphasis on churches becoming "seeker oriented," meaning they are focusing on whatever the audience desires so they can increase their numbers and keep the crowds coming back. Such thinking has led to churches adding in-house coffee shops and restaurants, indoor skate parks and stages for concerts and other entertainment offering, and it has also led to softened messages and an absence of any mention of sin, repentance, or eternal punishment. Some have at least admitted the fact that if they preached on sin, they would lose half their number.
But what if our church doesn't offer those things? Is that a guarantee that my choice is correct and proper? Well, no it isn't. Even if the church I attend does all the right things, I still have to examine myself — that is, I have to look at my own motivation — to see why I chose this church. It very well could be that I have the wrong concept, and was looking for what the church offered me, rather than what I could offer for the church. It could be that I ignored or rejected some churches because they didn't give me enough attention, or they weren't doing things I thought they should be doing. Maybe my choice of churches is more about me than it is about what Christ wants, or what I can be doing for my fellow believers.
For whom do we do what we do? Is it for God, or is it really all about self? Are we truly interested in pleasing God, or are we simply looking for something to soothe our consciences? Only you can answer, but know that God knows. — Steven Harper
