Why Being Needy Isn't So Bad
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September 25, 2013, two boats battle one another for the oldest trophy in international sport, the America’s Cup. That year, Oracle Team USA made the largest comeback in the race’s 162-year history.
Larry Ellison, the billionaire who sponsored Oracle Team, reportedly spent more than $100 million to win the race. He commissioned a 72-foot catamaran yacht that weighed seven tons, sported carbon fiber sails 131 feet tall, and reached incredible speeds of over 50 miles per hour. He hired an experienced 11-member crew to man the ship and put veteran captain Sir Ben Ainslie in charge.
But none of those things were the most essential part of the ship’s victory—not the expert crew, not the high-tech sails and engineering, not the big money, not even the tactics of the captain. None of those things were the most essential part. As with any sailing race, victory ultimately depends on the wind.
Exalting Jesus in Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi Our Strength, or God’s Spirit? (Zechariah 4:1–14)
The Hebrew term for “Spirit” is ruach, a word that also means “wind” in some contexts. The Greek word for “Spirit” used in the New Testament, pneuma, also can mean “wind.”
To finish what God has called us to do, we need God's Spirit more than “me”. Zechariah 4 says this is true in everything in life, marriage or family, career or ministry. We need God's Spirit because He can do what only God can do.
Why Being Needy Isn't So Bad
Why Being Needy Isn't So Bad
1 And the angel who talked with me came again and woke me, like a man who is awakened out of his sleep. 2 And he said to me, “What do you see?” I said, “I see, and behold, a lampstand all of gold, with a bowl on the top of it, and seven lamps on it, with seven lips on each of the lamps that are on the top of it. 3 And there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.” 4 And I said to the angel who talked with me, “What are these, my lord?” 5 Then the angel who talked with me answered and said to me, “Do you not know what these are?” I said, “No, my lord.” 6 Then he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts. 7 Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain. And he shall bring forward the top stone amid shouts of ‘Grace, grace to it!’ ”
8 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 9 “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also complete it. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. 10 For whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice, and shall see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel.
“These seven are the eyes of the Lord, which range through the whole earth.” 11 Then I said to him, “What are these two olive trees on the right and the left of the lampstand?” 12 And a second time I answered and said to him, “What are these two branches of the olive trees, which are beside the two golden pipes from which the golden oil is poured out?” 13 He said to me, “Do you not know what these are?” I said, “No, my lord.” 14 Then he said, “These are the two anointed ones who stand by the Lord of the whole earth.”
Faced with rebuilding their temple and city, the chosen people felt small, powerless, and overwhelmed. In the midst of their hopelessness and discouragement, the Lord sent a message of hope to Zerubbabel.
Zechariah seeing a 5th vision.
Surreal golden lampstand - central bowl on top, with seven lamps on it, with seven lips on each of the lamps.
Next to it are 2 olive trees that has 2 golden pipes delivering the oil in the central bowl.
The vision has connections to the temple being rebuilt not just a message of hope for Zerubbabel.
There is a lot to unpack!
Zechariah 4:6–7 (ESV)
6 Then he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts. 7 Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain. And he shall bring forward the top stone amid shouts of ‘Grace, grace to it!’ ”
I want to make a connection point to what the NT teaches that God’s Spirit lives in us individually and corporately. How we desperately need to live God’s calling (to bear His Name found in Exodus and Numbers) through God’s providence of His Spirit in us, that In order to actually “finish” our calling, is for God’s Spirit to be our all.
God’s people pre-2nd temple period, it would not be hard to imagine them feeling like “where is God when we don’t have a temple?” “how are we suppose to be a light in this world with our conduct and character if we have no temple to point them to Yahweh?”
11 And many nations shall join themselves to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people. And I will dwell in your midst, and you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you.
The enormity (“mountain”) of such dilemma would have been in the minds of God’s people.
God’s Spirit can overcome mountainous obstacles in our way and reduce them to level ground so that we can do what God is calling us to do. God calls us to live lives evident of the outworking of being Spirit-filled.
9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
16 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?
To trust God’s Spirit does not equal idleness on our part.
15 Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep,
and an idle person will suffer hunger.
6 Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us. 7 For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you, 8 nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you. 9 It was not because we do not have that right, but to give you in ourselves an example to imitate. 10 For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. 11 For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. 12 Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living.
13 As for you, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good.
We may need to rethink when we pray for “Holy Spirit fill me!” Eph 5:18 does not automatically mean God’s Spirit is not in us so we need to be filled but it simply describes the outworking of being filled with the Spirit.
14 And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and, kneeling before him, 15 said, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he has seizures and he suffers terribly. For often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. 16 And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him.” 17 And Jesus answered, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me.” 18 And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly. 19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” 20 He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”
The unbelief was that of the whole generation, but was focused in the disciples’ failure to help the sufferer, through their little faith. Indeed, v 20 implies that on this occasion they had no faith at all, since there is nothing smaller than a mustard seed! In this context, the ‘amount’ of faith is not important; even the smallest is enough. What matters is the God in whom that faith is placed, who can achieve the proverbially impossible (moving mountains).
The vision of the golden lampstand along with the 2 olive trees points to Jesus Christ as the central figure.
The New Bible Commentary 6:9–15 An Oracle
When we remember that ‘Branch’ is a term used of the Messiah, and apply the prophecy to Jesus, many features fall into place: he is both king and priest; he is the reality that Joshua and Zerubbabel imperfectly pointed to; he is the builder of the temple of God, the church.
That whoever is in Jesus is filled with the Spirit that provides an abundant
our unfaithfulness, weakness, frailty and lack is contrasted against the grandeur of God, his faithfulness, strength, power and abundance.
Let us not be driven by how much we can be or do - cleverness, strength, willingness, resources, money.
But let us trust God’s Spirit who will finish the good work He began in us.
6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
Let us pray at all times despite of many reasons we can come up with not to pray. Ephesians 6:18
Let us learn God’s Word that we may know what is true and false. Romans 12:2
Let us bear one another, encouraging each other, building up another, forgiving each other. Galatians 6:2, 1 Thessalonians 5:11, Ephesians 4:32
Let us not be ashamed to share of the Gospel of Christ. Romans 1:16
Zechariah 4 prescribes to us God’s Spirit.
Zechariah 4 prescribes to us God’s Spirit.
To be in Jesus Christ is to be abundantly empowered by God’s Spirit in calling us to carry His light (the Gospel) in the domain of darkness.
To be in Jesus Christ is to be abundantly empowered by God’s Spirit in calling us to carry His light (the Gospel) in the domain of darkness.
Using a coin to make an analogy of God’s calling to all people, it simply has 2 sides. The one side is all people are called to worship the one true God, Jesus Christ. And the other side is to love others. One cannot simply worship God and not love others nor we could love others and forsake God.
But in order for us to finish this
Our calling is accomplished by God’s Spirit. God gets the credit - for all faithful believers of Jesus, they are not bothered by not receiving credit for the work they got involved in.
How many times have we found ourselves doing it by our might, resources only to find the result of it all to be frustrating and futile?
Our greatest need is God’s Spirit. Heavily implies that God will never leave us nor forsake us. Deuteronomy 31:6-8
6 Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”
7 Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land that the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall put them in possession of it. 8 It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”
What does it look like to rely on God’s Spirit?
Prayer life.
We get our cues on living for God’s will.
Zechariah 4:1–2 (ESV)
The Golden Lampstand - represents Israel as God’s chosen people. Isaiah 49:6 “6 he says: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.””
Zechariah 4:3 (ESV)
Two Olive Trees - represented Zereubabel as king (governor/ruler) and Joshua as priest of that present time.
The New Bible Commentary 6:9–15 An Oracle
When we remember that ‘Branch’ is a term used of the Messiah, and apply the prophecy to Jesus, many features fall into place: he is both king and priest; he is the reality that Joshua and Zerubbabel imperfectly pointed to; he is the builder of the temple of God, the church.
5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” 6 So we can confidently say,
“The Lord is my helper;
I will not fear;
what can man do to me?”
The New Bible Commentary 12:3–8 Humility and Gifts
Paul urges us not to think to highly of ourselves, but to look at ourselves honestly and objectively. We are to measure ourselves, not by each other, but by the measure of faith (metron pisteōs
The New Bible Commentary 12:3–8 Humility and Gifts
The context, however, suggests that Paul is speaking here of our common Christian faith, against which each of us is to measure himself or herself (JB: ‘the standard of faith’). When we do this, comparison of ourselves with other believers becomes relatively unimportant—particularly since God has given different gifts to the members of the church. Christ’s body (4–5). What is needed is a recognition of the beautiful God-given and Spirit-led diversity and complementarity within the church (see 1 Cor. 12:4–31 for a similar emphasis)
New Testament (Second Edition) 12:1–8: Serve One Another
By affirming (in 12:3) that each member has “a measure of faith” (NASB; probably not “the measure of faith”—KJV, NRSV) apportioned for different functions (12:6–8), Paul affirms diversity within unity. He will apply this principle to the ethnic conflict in the church (see the introduction) in chapter 14.
New Testament (Second Edition) 17:14–23: Inadequate Faith for Exorcism
Jesus is thus telling the disciples that nothing God asks them to do will be impossible if they trust him; the issue is not how small their faith might be, but how large is the God in whom their faith rests.
emphasising our unfaithfulness, weakness, frailty and lack against the grandeur of God, his faithfulness, strength, power and abundance.
To be in Jesus Christ (put our believing loyalty in Him alone) we are called to bear the light of His kingdom (the Gospel) in the kingdom of darkness where the Holy Spirit is the never-ending supply of oil for the burning light.