Zechariah 3: Obedience and the Responsibility of the Leader

Introduction

"There are no bad troops, only bad leaders in an army." With this saying, Deacon Déo of Église Nice Métropole sets the theme of his message: obedience and the responsibility of the leader.

He draws on two main texts: Zechariah's vision, where Satan stands beside the high priest Joshua to accuse him, and the beginning of the book of Job, where the accuser slips in among the sons of God. Between the two, one and the same reality: the accuser watches, God's grace lifts up, and God expects a response of obedience.

The leader he speaks of is not only the pastor. It is the head of the family, the deacon, the team leader, and ultimately every Christian. And to support his point, the preacher tells of the day he almost gave up everything.

Outline of the Message

1. The Accuser Walks Among Us

In Zechariah's vision, the high priest Joshua stands before the angel of Yahweh, and Satan is at his right hand to accuse him (Zechariah 3:1).
In Job, the accuser comes to "sneak in" and "infiltrate" the sons of God. God notices him and asks, "Where have you come from?" He answers, "From going back and forth in the earth, and from walking up and down in it" (Job 1:7).
"The accuser is here. He walks among us. He watches us everywhere." From the day we give our lives to Jesus Christ, he does not let go: he looks for the slightest fault so he can go and accuse.
In the vision, Joshua wears filthy clothes. He represents the people of Israel who returned from the captivity in Babylon, whom the devil accuses before God of having lived in defilement and sin.

2. Joshua, the Leader Who Carries the People's Burden, Lifted Up by Grace

Because Joshua is the high priest, he is the leader. "When you are a leader, you are responsible."
The leader, Deacon Déo explains, is the head of the family, the pastor, the deacon, the political leaders of the country, the head of a department or team in the church.
All the people's defilement is placed on Joshua. And Joshua, "or Yeshua," is a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ: at Golgotha, all the sins of the world were laid on him. He carried our sins and our burdens.
Whoever is responsible also carries a burden for others. The preacher's question is direct: "And how are you carrying it?"
Facing the accusation, God's grace steps in: "Take the filthy garments off him" (Zechariah 3:4).
Yahweh rebukes Satan and speaks of this people as "a burning stick plucked out of the fire" (Zechariah 3:2). The preacher sees in it a remnant that God has pulled out of the fire.
Joshua's filthy clothes are taken off, he is dressed in festal robes, and a clean turban is set on his head (Zechariah 3:5).

3. The Condition: Obedience

After grace comes responsibility. The angel of Yahweh declares: "If you will walk in my ways, and if you will follow my instructions, then you also shall judge my house, and shall also keep my courts, and I will give you a place to walk among these who stand by" (Zechariah 3:7).
"The condition is obedience." If you walk in God's precepts, you will judge the people.
Deacon Déo connects this verse with Joshua 1:8: meditate on God's law, put it into practice, and you will succeed.
Jesus calls those who put his word into practice his friends (John 15:14-15). "Do you put God's word into practice? Do you respect God's commandments?"
This responsibility does not concern parents only. Jeremiah was just a child when God called him, and he protested. But God had chosen him and set him apart before his birth (Jeremiah 1:5-6). No one can shift the burden by saying, "Dad has to do everything, Mom has to do everything." "We are all in the same boat."

4. As for Me and My House, We Will Serve Yahweh

In the book of Joshua, the people led by Joshua, the successor of Moses, begin to disobey and to adopt the gods of the peoples among whom they live.
Joshua then says: "Choose this day whom you will serve [...] But as for me and my house, we will serve Yahweh" (Joshua 24:15).
Seen up close, this looks like "an admission of failure" on the part of a leader. The preacher mentions someone who admitted he had not been able to transform the Congolese people, for lack of finding fifteen people to work with.
But Joshua does not let go of his own house. "You are not going to come to church alone and leave your wife at home, leave your children at home, telling yourself: if I pray, that's enough."
A father's disobedience does not go without consequences: it reaches down to the children and the whole household. If obedience leads to success (Joshua 1:8), disobedience leads to failure.

5. Our Behavior Attracts or Drives Away

"What kind of men are we? What kind of women are we?" At home, with our children and our spouse, with the neighbors, at work.
The preacher warns against duplicity, the leaven of the Pharisees (Luke 12:1): a Christian in the presence of Christians, a completely different person once outside.
The accuser sees everything and counts everything, as he did with Job: "Since you have blessed him, he respects you. Dare to take away everything he has, and you will see that he will deny you" (see Job 1:9-11). But Job did not deny Yahweh, even when his own wife told him to curse God and die (Job 2:9).
We will be judged on our actions and on our behavior before people. "By our behavior, we can bring many to the Lord, and by our behavior, we can drive others away."

6. The Day He Almost Gave Up Everything

As a young Christian, Deacon Déo saw the person who had brought him to Christ behave "in a strange way." Unloved, he found himself out on the street: just after finishing university, he spent a year without a home, with nowhere to stay in the place where he lived, even though everyone there was a practicing Christian.
He told himself: "There is no point in continuing to serve the Lord." To this day he weeps over brothers who abandoned the Christian life and died in sin.
At the time he was secretary-treasurer of the prayer cell. On the day he had decided to leave, he had put all the accounts in order, noted the debts, and prepared the money, to hand everything over at the end of the meeting and say: "Today, as for me and the Christian life, it's over."
That day, the preacher of the meeting told his own story: despised in his church, he had wanted to give up. In a vision, the Lord passed by like a commander in front of ranks, stopped, and said to him: "You, you want to abandon me? If those like you have made you suffer, what have I done to you that you could abandon me?"
"He was giving his testimony, but I heard myself being spoken to." He left with his accounts and his money, wept and asked forgiveness, because he had understood that the Lord had a mission for him.

7. The Branch Announced, a Word Still Relevant Today

In verse 8, God announces: "Behold, I will bring out my servant, the Branch" (Zechariah 3:8). It is the prophecy of the coming of the Messiah.
Luke 1 and 2 tell how Jesus was born, and in Luke 4:18-19, Jesus announces his mission: good news to the poor, healing for the brokenhearted, freedom for captives, recovery of sight, liberty for the oppressed, the year of the Lord's favor.
"This word is still relevant today. When you hear it today, know that it is being fulfilled in your life too."
God asks for one thing: obedience and responsibility. "Don't tell yourselves that the other person is responsible, it's my husband, it's my wife. We are all responsible." And if we respect his commandments, God will lift us up.

Key Takeaways

The accuser watches and counts our faults, but God's grace takes off the filthy garments and clothes us anew.
Grace received calls for a response: "The condition is obedience."
Being a leader, at home, at church or at work, means carrying a burden for others. And every Christian is responsible before God.
"As for me and my house, we will serve Yahweh": faith is not lived alone while leaving one's family at home.
Our behavior can bring people to the Lord or drive them away. The Lord has a mission for you, even on the day you want to give up everything.

Personal Application

Where has God placed you in charge: in your family, in a team, at work? How are you carrying this burden?
Is there an area where you listen to God's word without putting it into practice?
Are you relying on someone else's faith, your spouse, your parents, your pastor, instead of taking on your own responsibility before God?
Are you the same person at church, at home and at work? Does your behavior draw people to the Lord or drive them away?
Have you been hurt to the point of wanting to give up? What do you hear in the Lord's question: "What have I done to you that you could abandon me?"

Verses Cited

Frequently Asked Questions

What does Joshua represent in Zechariah 3?

For Deacon Déo, Joshua, the high priest, represents the people who returned from the captivity in Babylon: all the people's defilement is placed on him. He is also a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ, on whom all the sins of the world were laid at the cross.

Who is concerned by the leader's responsibility?

The head of the family, the pastor, the deacon, the leader of a team or department, political leaders. But the preacher insists: every Christian is responsible before God. No one can shift the burden onto Dad, onto Mom or onto a leader, "we are all in the same boat."

What does "as for me and my house, we will serve Yahweh" mean?

In Joshua 24:15, the people turn to other gods, but Joshua chooses to serve Yahweh with his whole household. Deacon Déo draws a call from it: you do not come to church alone while leaving your wife and children at home, thinking that your own prayer is enough for the whole family.