The Lord Be With You

When I'm talking to people about our church and they hear that a thousand people come on a Sunday, they often say, 'Wow, that's unusual.' And thank God we are that number. But when JPC was started back in 1861, three of the Newcastle city centre Anglican churches were bigger than we are now. People often say it's great that we get so many children along – and 300 to Holiday Club. And thank God for that. But Newcastle has 20,000 primary age children, and probably only 1,000 have any regular contact with the gospel. New students are often amazed to find there are 200 plus other students coming along here. And thank God for that, too. But there are 40,000 students in Newcastle which means 99.5% are unreached by us.

And the point of saying all that is not to discourage us, but to dissatisfy us. Because it's easy in a church like this – where, by God's grace, good things are happening – to feel quite satisfied, when in fact we ought to feel a godly dissatisfaction. By which I don't mean we should be ungrateful for what we are. I mean we should be troubled by what we're not – by the gap between the Bible's vision of what church should be, and the reality of what we are. Because that's what'll motivate us to change.

And in today's Bible passage in our series on Zechariah, that's what God was doing for his Old Testament (OT) people through the prophet Zechariah: he was facing them with the gap between his vision for them, and what in fact they were – to motivate them. So would you turn in the Bibles to Zechariah 7.3. We're looking today at Zechariah 8. But we need to start by looking back to chapter 7, because both chapters 7 and 8 are the answer to a question which God's people ask at the beginning of chapter 7. So look at chapter 7 and v2 and let me remind you of the question:

Now the people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-melech and their men to entreat the favour of the LORD, saying to the priests of the house of the LORD of hosts and the prophets [including, I take it, Zechariah] , "Should I weep and abstain [ie, fast] in the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?" (7.2-3)

Let me remind you of the background to that question. 1) God had allowed his OT people Israel to be invaded, with many being taken into exile – as a judgement on their unfaithfulness to him. And in the process, the temple in Jerusalem, which symbolised his presence with them, had been destroyed. So 2) during the exile, the faithful remnant of Israel had fasted as a way of showing their sorrow – especially for the way God's temple had been reduced to a pile of rubble, which totally dishonoured God. But then 3) God had allowed them to come back from exile and, through the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, he'd told them to rebuild the temple. And they'd started, then stopped, then re-started. Which gets us to where we are in Zechariah 7, when the temple walls were, maybe, up to head height. And that prompted these people in v2 to ask, 'So should we carry on fasting – or can we knock off now?' And we saw last week that what Zechariah did first was not to answer their question but to challenge their attitude. Because he basically says, 'That question betrays a very superficial commitment to the Lord and his glory.'

The equivalent of their attitude today might be something like this. If you've been around JPC a while, you'll know that David, our vicar, has set before us the vision of growing to become a church of 2,000 over five years. And he's called us to pray regularly for that. Well, imagine you said to yourself, 'I'm not just going to pray for that – I'm going to fast once a week to show I really do want that for the Lord's glory.' But imagine that, twelve months on, you hear that twenty people have come to faith over the past year. And you say to yourself, 'I think I can knock off fasting now. Because I've done my bit – and twenty's quite good really, when you think what's happening in other churches.'

And behind this question in chapter 7 verse 3, Zechariah detected that kind of superficial commitment. He detected people who were satisfied with very little happening, when godliness would have meant being very dissatisfied for the Lord's sake. So he challenges that attitude in chapter 7. And then in chapter 8, he's out to change that attitude by making three points:

Firstly, BELIEVE THAT THE LORD IS COMMITTED TO YOU, FOR HIS GLORY (vv1-8)

God's people back then were very conscious of just how badly they'd failed him – badly enough that he'd brought the judgement of the exile on them. So it was tempting for them to think, 'He must have given up on us. How could he possibly use us anymore?' Which we, as individuals or as a church, can also be tempted to think at times of failure. But Zechariah says to them and us, 'Not true: believe that the Lord is committed to you, for his glory.' Look on to Zechariah chapter 8, v1:

And the word of the LORD of hosts came, saying, 2 "Thus says the LORD of hosts: I am jealous for Zion [ie, for Jerusalem and my people back there] with great jealousy... (8.1-2)

Now we often think of jealousy as a bad thing – which it can be. But there is also such a thing as right jealousy – eg, the jealousy of a husband for his wife. In that context, jealousy means that he's committed to be the lover who really loves her as he should, as well as wanting her love in response. So first and foremost here, God was saying to his very flawed people, 'I haven't given up on you – and won't – despite your unfaithfulness and superficial commitment to me. I am committed to you.' And living this side of Jesus' first coming, we know he can say that on the basis of Jesus' death on the cross, where he paid for the forgiveness of all our sins – past and future. That's why he won't give up on us even for sins we have yet to commit; that's why he can and will remain committed to us from the time we first trust in him to the time he takes us to be with in in heaven.

So God says to them (and us), 'I am committed to you.' And next he says, 'I am committed to changing you.' (He accepts us as we are but that doesn't mean he's going to leave us as we are.) Look on to v3:

Thus says the LORD: I have returned to Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem shall be called the faithful city, and the mountain of the LORD of hosts, the holy mountain. (v3)

Now 'faithful' and 'holy' are the last words you would have used to describe the people of Jerusalem before the exile – which is why God brought the judgement of the exile on them. But here God is saying, 'Now I've brought you back, I'm going to dwell among you, sinful people that you are, and I'm going to work in you to make you more faithful and more holy.'

So he says that he's committed to them, that he's committed to changing them; and next he says he's committed to changing their fortunes. Look on to v4:

Thus says the LORD of hosts: Old men and old women shall again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each with staff in hand because of great age. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing... (vv4-5)

The point being that the first casualties of the exile had been the vulnerable old and young (which is what we're seeing in the horrors going on in the Middle East right now). So by contrast, verses 4 and 5 are a cameo of restored fortunes. And if you'd been one of Zechariah's original audience, you'd have found it almost unbelievable – which is the point of v6:

Thus says the LORD of hosts: If it is marvellous [or you could translate that word 'incredible'] in the sight of the remnant of this people in those days, should it also be marvellous [or 'incredible'] in my sight, declares the LORD of hosts? (v6)

Ie, the Lord was saying, 'If you find it incredible that I can change you and restore your fortunes… well, I don't – because I can make everything I promise happen.'

So how does all that apply to us today? Well, we're not a church just back from being exiled for gross unfaithfulness. But our levels of commitment to the Lord may be much more superficial than we think. We don't know what our commitment levels really look like to God. But we do know they're always less than they should be; and we know that whatever factors in the culture have contributed to our recent lack of growth, we must have contributed to it as well. Which is not to say we've been doing everything wrong. But ten years with no numerical growth at JPC suggests we certainly haven't been doing everything right.

And yet God says to us now, the same three things he said to them then: 1) 'I am committed to you – despite the fact you're a flawed church in lots of ways. And 2) I'm committed to changing you, individually and corporately. And 3) I'm committed to restoring your fortunes – eg, I want to get you growing again.' (To which he might well add, 'And by the way, growing you by 1,000 over five years is well within my ability – remember I grew the early church by 3,000 in one day, if you read Acts chapter 2.')

And the reason we can be confident of God's commitment to us as a church is that his glory is at stake. Going back to v2, part of the reason he's jealous for us is that, just like a husband's reputation or honour is bound up with his wife and how she is and how she's doing, so God's reputation and honour is bound up with us, his church. Now sometimes that means God bringing judgement on the church– like back then, when he sent Israel into exile for unfaithfulness; and like today, when he's sent large parts of the church in Britain into decline and irrelevance for unfaithfulness. Because where there's unfaithfulness in the church, he acts for his glory by judging it. But where there's faithfulness – albeit imperfect faithfulness in flawed churches like ours – he acts for his glory by blessing it.

So as we face the unprecedented challenges of this coming year as a church, as we go multi-site through St Joseph's Benwell, let's believe that the Lord is committed to us, for his glory. And Zechariah says, 'If you do really believe that first point, you'll step up in doing the second point, which is:

Second, WORK HARD AT BUILDING THE CHURCH AND BEING THE CHURCH (vv9-17)

Now Zechariah would have said to them, then, 'Work hard at building the temple...' Whereas I've put it in New Testament (NT) terms, because at this point in God's plan, our job is not to build a building but a people – as people come to faith in Jesus through our witness and then grow in faith through our church life together. So remember: when I say 'church' I'm not talking about a building; 'church' is the Bible word for God's people who are trusting in and living for his Son the Lord Jesus. So having clarified that, let's skip on to v9:

Thus says the LORD of hosts: "Let your hands be strong, you who in these days have been hearing these words from the mouth of the prophets who were present on the day that the foundation of the house of the LORD of hosts was laid, that the temple might be built. (v9)

So, 'let your hands be strong' means 'work at rebuilding the temple'. And Zechariah knew that the more they believed God was committed to seeing it happen for his glory (point 1), the more they'd be motivated to work hard at it (point 2). But he then gives them another motivation – which is that God will provide for it to happen. Look on to v10:

For before those days there was no wage for man or any wage for beast, neither was there any safety from the foe for him who went out or came in, for I set every man against his neighbour. But now I will not deal with the remnant of this people as in the former days, declares the LORD of hosts. For there shall be a sowing of peace. The vine shall give its fruit, and the ground shall give its produce, and the heavens shall give their dew. And I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things. (vv10-12)

So in v10, Zechariah was reminding them of the time before the rebuilding of the temple really got going – when they were back from exile, but lacking the commitment to get on with it. And, as v10 says, 'there was no wage for man or... beast'. They were bad times, economically – which Zechariah's fellow-prophet Haggai said was God's judgement on their lack of commitment to him. But in verses 11 and 12, things change and God says, 'But now I will not deal with the remnant of this people as in the former days.' And he promises to provide all they need – to live on and to build the temple. And we know from the book of Haggai that their harvests and income did begin to pick up again almost as soon as the building of the temple re-started in earnest. So their working and God's providing went hand in hand, just as their not working and God's chastening them with lack had gone hand in hand.

And that illustrates the saying of Hudson Taylor, the great pioneer missionary to China. He said, 'God's work done in God's way will never lack God's provision.' And I'm not claiming that we've done God's work in God's way anywhere near as well as we might have done. But in my twenty years at JPC that's been our experience: God has provided. Eg, through what he gives us to give, he provided £1.2 million for the launch of Holy Trinity Gateshead. And last year he provided more than that for the launch of multi-site ministry through St Joseph's, Benwell.

And, as they discovered in Zechariah's day, it's often only once you've started giving and working that God then provides all of what is needed. And we will need to trust him to do the same this coming year. Because we've committed ourselves to this new work through St Joseph's by that Gift Week last year; but it may yet turn out that the hard realities of costs mean we need more money given to get the building ready; and beyond that we'll need to be giving to cover the ongoing ministry costs both there and here. And we will need to trust that God's work done in God's way will never lack God's provision.

So, we're to work hard at building the church – but also at being the church. Skip on to v16, where Zechariah says to them, then:

These are the things that you shall do: Speak the truth to one another; render in your gates judgements that are true and make for peace; do not devise evil in your hearts against one another, and love no false oath, for all these things I hate, declares the LORD. (vv16-17)

So he suddenly switches from the issue of the temple building project to the issue of their holiness – the issue of whether their lives reflect the character of God and attract people to him. Because the temple was just a giant symbol of God's presence among them. Whereas what would make people think God really was among them, what would attract people to what they believed, was their holiness. That, eg, is what happened to the husband of a couple who were here some years back. His wife came to faith through JPC, and the change in her was so obvious that he started coming. And the first time I met him on a Sunday I asked him what had brought him along. And he said, 'I'm here because of the change I've seen in my wife, and because I know I need the same myself.' That's the power of individual and corporate holiness.

So, later this month, God-willing, our new church website will be launched. And I hope and pray it will help many more people to find us. But it's not the website that will attract people to Christ, but us and our holiness. And, likewise, God-willing, this time next year we'll be having our first preview services in a refurbished St Joseph's. But again, it's not the building that will attract people to Christ, but us and our holiness.

So, Zechariah says: believe that the Lord is committed to you, for his glory; work hard at building the church and being the church; and lastly he says:

Third, BELIEVE THAT LARGE NUMBERS FROM ALL NATIONS WILL COME TO CHRIST (vv18-23)

It's hard to imagine how small and uninfluential the remnant of Israel back from exile must have felt. But (skipping vv18-19 for time) just look on to v20 at what the Lord says is going to happen through them:

Thus says the LORD of hosts: Peoples shall yet come, even the inhabitants of many cities. The inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, 'Let us go at once to entreat the favour of the LORD and to seek the LORD of hosts; I myself am going.' Many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem and to entreat the favour of the LORD. Thus says the LORD of hosts: In those days ten men from the nations of every tongue shall take hold of the robe of a Jew, saying, 'Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you. (vv20-23)

Which is a vision of large numbers from all nations coming to faith in the Lord through their witness. From our vantage point, we'd say 'coming to faith in the Lord Jesus', because we have the privilege of living 2,000 years after his death, resurrection and ascension triggered the world-wide fulfilment of this vision, and when the world-wide church numbers billions.

So if point 1 was a reminder that God is committed to those who are already his people, point 3 is a reminder that he's committed to reaching out to countless more – to the 19,000 primary children in Newcastle with no regular contact with the gospel; to the 99.5% of students we never see here; to the 97% of the population of Tyneside who won't be in church today.

So let me end with this. David, the two Jonathans and I were on a conference earlier this year for large churches seeking to grow more. And one of the speakers was Paul Scanlon, senior pastor of Life Church in Bradford. And under God, that church saw remarkable growth and they were reaching a great range of people way beyond their own type, if I can put it like that. But Paul said that one Sunday at coffee time he looked around and noticed that everyone had quite happily left their belongings and bags and phones on their seats to go off and chat and so on. And he said, 'I suddenly realised that was wrong. I realised that in the early days, no-one would have risked leaving anything on their seats because of the range of people who were coming in. And I realised that what I saw that morning meant that we weren't reaching them anymore. And, in fact, it was the beginning of realising we were hardly reaching anyone new with the gospel anymore.' And he said they had to go through a painful but ultimately fruitful time of facing up to the fact that they were largely in maintenance mode, and needed to get back into missionary mode.

And that's what vv20-23 are calling for, isn't it? Missionary mode – which starts with believing that there are large numbers from all nations whom the Lord intends to bring to faith in him through us. And that leads to re-shaping our church life accordingly. Paul Scanlon's comment was,

Everyone had come to think we were a good church because there was so much that was good for those of us already in it. And I had to persuade them that we weren't a good church – not because of what we were doing, but because of what we weren't doing.

Which brings us back to where we began – godly dissatisfaction. Are you dissatisfied with JPC? I hope you are. Because the point of Zechariah 7 and 8 is not to leave us discouraged, but to leave us dissatisfied –and therefore freshly motivated to work together for his glory.