God’s Word for You

Zechariah 7:4-7 Fasting, feasting, and liturgy

by Pastor Timothy Smith on Thursday, July 28, 2022

4 Then the word of the LORD of hosts came to me: 5 “Say to all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for these seventy years, was it for me that you fasted? 6 And when you were eating and drinking, weren’t you eating and drinking for yourselves? 7 Weren’t these the words that the LORD proclaimed by the earlier prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and prosperous along with the cities around it, and the Negev [in the south] and the western foothills were inhabited?”

We have already explored the idea of fasting. Now, in answer to the question, “Should we keep fasting?”, the Lord answers simply: “I never asked for that fast. Who was it for? Wasn’t it for you, and not for me? I don’t need help remembering the sins and tragedies of the past. Eat, drink, stay awake all night in a vigil, or go to bed like someone with common sense. It’s all the same to me. What I want from you is faith and a pure heart. Repent of your sins! When have I ever asked anything else from you?” This was God’s message from ancient times, when Jerusalem was not a ruin, and the whole land was filled with the people of God.

God had already voiced his displeasure on man-made additions to his laws. Jeremiah 7:21-26 is one of these places. He says especially: “When I brought your ancestors out of Egypt, I didn’t just give them commands about burnt offerings. I also commanded this: Obey me and walk in my ways, and I will be your God. But they did not listen to me” (Jeremiah 7:23).

And through Isaiah, the Lord said: “You complain about all your fasting, but on the day you fast, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists” (Isaiah 58:3-4).

And through Asaph, David’s musician, he said: “If I were hungry, I wouldn’t tell you (because I have the whole world as a pantry). Do I eat bulls’ meat or drink goat’s blood? Go and sacrifice thank offerings to God and fulfill your vows” (Psalm 50:12-14). “And,” the Lord adds, “call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver you and you will honor me” (Psalm 50:15).

So whether it is a feast or a fast or some other thing that we do, what is our motive for doing it? “Worship the Lord and serve him only” (Luke 4:8). And he tells us: “I show love to the thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments” (Deuteronomy 5:10).

We see something like this growing in churches that reject the liturgy. There is a call for worship that has no liturgy at all, but which only focuses on songs and music and is more of an experience than a conversation. The form of worship, they say, is not commanded by God, as long as we set aside time to worship. On the surface, the words they speak are true. “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free” (Galatians 5:1). “But be careful that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak” (1 Corinthians 8:9). Christ commanded us to teach everything (Matthew 28:20; Mark 16:15). But if I omit the confession and absolution, am I preaching law and gospel with clarity? If we take away this focus on sin and grace, then we have diverted the attention of the church away from Christ altogether apart from Christ as an example, and even the Muslims and Mormons use Christ as an example. But wouldn’t we have failed to “teach everything I have commanded you”?

If I omit a creed, then I have removed the concise reminder of who our God is and what he has done for us. Some of our music includes some of these things, but never with the comfort of the repeated assurance we have in the steps of the humiliation and exaltation of Jesus our Savior. To omit a creed or to use a substitute in a given week is no sin, but to do away with creeds altogether is a dangerous step, since our faith is correctly expressed in our creeds, agreed upon by the whole church, whereas a substitutional song is only the focus of attention of a single writer, and may comfort or communicate to no one else apart from that writer, living or dead. And some parts of the creeds are rarely if ever expressed in any of our music, such as the Lord’s descent into hell, the conception through the Holy Spirit, the only-begotten origin of the Son, and other things. It is much wiser to retain the creeds and sing about portions of their unique and carefully-worded summaries.

If I omit the Lord’s Prayer, do I deprive God’s people of seven ideal petitions given by God and under divine inspiration which cover every need of our lives? I can include those things in my sermon, but doesn’t that carry away half or two-thirds of my time in the text, and then does the sermon become, in effect, the liturgy, and then isn’t the sermon removed entirely from the service?

In Medieval times, before the Reformation, most of the liturgy was sung, usually through the form of the Gregorian Chant. This was not non-liturgical at all, but had every part of the liturgy in song, chant, and response. The idea of removing the liturgy is not a matter of removing something that is man-made, like fasting or feasting, but of depriving most of the congregation with their regular contact with the basic truths of God’s Word. And so the burden is on the person who wants to remove the liturgy: Is this for your sake, or for the sake of the people of the church, or for God’s sake? What does God want us to know, to remember, and to praise him for?

Whatever happens in the world, even when trees are twisted by storms and the land is distorted by earthquake or fire, the people in God’s temple all cry, “Glory!” (Psalm 29:9). When there is terrible flooding, the Lord sits enthroned over the flood (Psalm 29:10). When we hear his word and are reminded that our sins are covered by the blood of Christ, “the Lord blesses his people with peace” (Psalm 29:11). He has lifted us up out of the depths, and he has delivered us from the enemies of the world, the devil, and our twisted and wicked human natures. He does not let these enemies gloat over us. We call on him, and he heals us through Jesus our Savior. Let this always be our worship.

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith

 

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