JW subtitle extractor

Our text today focuses
on the subject of fine conduct.
And we have to say that our audience today
is full of brothers and sisters
who display fine conduct,
and you’re to be commended for that.
But this morning,
I wanted to take time to talk a little bit
about the motivation behind such fine conduct
—why we do what we do.
I would like to use as a theme a question
that Jehovah asked his people
after they were released from captivity.
The question is recorded
at Zechariah 7:5.
Jehovah expressed these words
through the prophet Zechariah.
He says:
“Say to all the people of the land
and to the priests,
“‘When you fasted and wailed
in the fifth month
“‘and in the seventh month for 70 years
[and here’s the question],
did you really fast for me?’”
Jehovah didn’t approve of those fasts
because the Jews were fasting and mourning
over judgments
that came from Jehovah.
Their fasting should have been connected
with rejoicing because of the restoration,
but instead they were fasting
over the calamity that befell them
because of them,
because of their wrongdoing.
So they were fasting
but for all the wrong reasons.
So Jehovah asked the question:
“Did you really fast for me?”
Well, just as Jehovah
asked those Israelites that question,
he is in a way asking us
the same thing today.
Do you, do I,
do we really fast for Jehovah?
‘Why do I do what I do?
What is my motivation each day
when I handle my assignment?’
The vast majority
of our listening audience today
is involved
in some sort of full-time service.
And that’s commendable.
That’s fine conduct.
That’s truly fine conduct.
But isn’t it true
that sometimes you can get so busy
and absorbed in your work or activity,
running from one thing
to the next thing to the next thing,
that maybe we don’t stop
and ask ourselves: ‘Why?
‘Why?
Why am I doing this?
Why do I serve Jehovah?’
‘Why do I serve at Bethel?’
‘Why do I preach the good news
day after day?’
‘Why do I serve congregations
week after week?’
‘Why do I maintain and build
theocratic facilities?’
‘Why do I teach SKE students?’
‘Why do I teach circuit overseers?’
‘Why do I teach the elders?’
The true value of our service
is not measured solely in numbers
or in what we do.
Jehovah is more concerned
with why we do it,
so Jehovah examines the heart.
Note how this is emphasized
in what Jehovah told Samuel
when he was looking
for the next king of Israel.
Let’s look at 1 Samuel 16:7,
a familiar text.
Remember, it says: “Jehovah said to Samuel:
“‘Do not pay attention to his appearance
[and, of course, that was Eliab]
and how tall he is,
for I have rejected him.’”
Now, why did Jehovah reject him?
Because he was too tall?
No.
Jehovah looked past the height,
and He looked into his heart,
and He saw a warrior;
but He didn’t see a king.
In his heart,
Eliab lacked two things important for a king:
He lacked courage,
and he lacked good judgment.
Why do we say that?
Well, later in chapter 17, verse 11,
remember,
Eliab was among those who were terrified
at the Philistine giant Goliath.
So he lacked courage.
And then later, in chapter 17,
David stands up for Jehovah,
courageously asking,
‘Who is this Philistine who is taunting
the battle lines of the living God’?
And then in verse 28,
Eliab is the one who misjudges David,
calling him presumptuous and ill-intentioned.
So he lacked good judgment.
Eliab wasn’t ready.
He was on the battle lines,
but he forgot whom he was fighting for.
So Jehovah told Samuel
later in verse 7
and in chapter 16:
“For the way man sees
is not the way God sees,
“because mere man sees
what appears to the eyes,
but Jehovah sees into the heart.”
So that gets to the very core
of what Jehovah is looking for
when we serve him.
He appreciates what we do
—we’re on the battlefield—
but he is more concerned
with why we do what we do,
whom we’re fighting for.
At Jeremiah 17:10,
it says: “Jehovah [is] searching the heart,
“examining the innermost thoughts,
“to give to each one according to his ways,
according to the fruitage of his works.”
Another translation puts it this way.
God says:
“I get to the heart of the human.
“I get to the root of things.
I treat them as they really are,
not as they pretend to be.”
Now, in line with that,
there was a very sobering comment related
in the June 15, 1995, Watchtower.
In fact, the article was entitled
“What Motivates You to Serve God?”
This is what it said:
“Imperfect humans have a tendency
to judge others
by what they do
rather than by what they are.”
Then it says:
“At times,
we may even judge ourselves this way.
We may become obsessed
with performance”
[that we’re on the battlefield,
you might say],
“as if it were the sole criterion
of our spirituality.
We could forget the importance
of examining our motives”
—whom we’re fighting for.
Now, I read that,
and I said to myself:
‘Wow!
Sometimes that’s me.’
I can get, or we can get, so absorbed
and busy in the work that we forget to ask:
‘Why?
What’s in my heart?
‘Why do I do this?
Why do I do what I do?
Whom am I fighting for?
What are my motives?’
One sister stated this:
“I would go out in service,
go to the meetings, study, pray
“—but I did it all on automatic control,
never feeling anything.”
Well, what should motivate us
in our service to Jehovah?
Do we do it for the privilege?
Do we do it for our overseers?
Do we do it for everlasting life?
Well, when we really stop and think
about what we do and why we do it,
our primary motivation is love for Jehovah.
Now, the extent of that love
is described by Jesus at Mark 12:30.
Let’s look at that—Mark 12:30.
It says:
“You must love Jehovah your God
with your whole heart
“and with your whole soul
“and with your whole mind
and with your whole strength.”
Now, the strength of this love is explained
in the study note connected with verse 30.
This is what the study note says:
“The four terms used here
“(heart,
“soul,
“mind,
“and strength)
“are not mutually exclusive;
“they are used
“in an overlapping sense,
“emphasizing in the strongest possible way
“the need for complete and total love
for God.”
That (what you see)
should be the strength of our love
that motivates us to serve Jehovah.
It is whole.
It is complete.
So Jehovah expects each of us to love him
with our whole heart, mind,
soul, and strength.
Yet, how heartwarming it is to realize
that Jehovah recognizes “we are dust”!
So all he asks is that we do the best we can.
Our abilities, our stamina, our circumstances
can change from year to year,
sometimes from moment to moment.
But remember, Proverbs 21:2 says:
“Jehovah is making an estimate of hearts”
—not of statistics.
He understands any limitations
over which we have no control
—whether they’re financial,
whether they’re physical,
whether they’re emotional, or otherwise.
Jehovah is perfect,
but he’s not a perfectionist.
He is neither unreasonable in his dealings
nor unrealistic in what he expects of us.
If we are motivated by love
—the best love that we can give—
then we will do
all that we can in Jehovah’s service
according to our circumstances.
So from time to time, stop.
Ask yourself: ‘Why?
‘Why do I do what I do?
What motivates me to serve Jehovah?’
And when Jehovah asks us,
“Did you really fast for me?”
we can confidently say, “Yes!”
and that we did so out of a heart
that was motivated by love for Jehovah
and appreciation
for our God-given assignment.

Anthony Griffin: Do You Really Fast for Jehovah? (Zech. 7:5)