Office Signage: 3 Observations
When was the last time you saw Jesus getting coffee in the workroom?
Zechariah 3 says: 8 Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who sit before you, for they are men who are a sign: behold, I will bring my servant the Branch. 9 For behold, on the stone that I have set before Joshua, on a single stone with seven eyes, I will engrave its inscription, declares the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day. 10 In that day, declares the Lord of hosts, every one of you will invite his neighbor to come under his vine and under his fig tree.”
God says: When you need Him most, Jesus is going to be in the next cubicle.
And He’s looking to take your job. Just kidding.
God is pleased to allow us to work in our vocations, and He promises that we won’t be isolated without access to His help. Jesus might just be at the water cooler, or typing up a TPS report. Maybe He’s helping the boss. Maybe He’s helping the receptionist. Maybe He’s down in the mailroom. He’s available to talk about the struggle, hear your thoughts on your future, help you as you prepare to give your big sales presentation, and when you consider asking the boss’ daughter out on a date.
God told Joshua that he and those around him would have help. The servant of the Lord, The Branch, would come. That Branch, is Jesus Christ. They would be the sign to those around them that the Lord helps His people. Something would be different if they allowed the Lord to intervene into the dark places of their lives and the daily struggles that they would face. People would take notice. Even the high priest needs the intervention of God to help with the rigors of the job.
And here’s the thing: that help isn’t just for the high priest, or those in ministry, that help is available to all. Some people, even pastors, believe that the job of a pastor is the most difficult of all. Not true! Sure, it’s busy and difficult, but so is hauling furniture all day, so is leading a Fortune 500 company, so is marketing with 30 deadlines, so is construction… It’s not more difficult, it’s just different. God doesn’t favor one occupation over another; all have their opportunity for worthiness and all have the chance to be a place to give glory to God.
But in these words are also challenges. Jesus isn’t there to do your job for you. You’re not going to be put in a trance and wake up 8 hours later with a $100 million sales presentation on your computer, ready to go. You have a responsibility to work well. Yet, when the drama gets to be too much, or that deadline is coming and suddenly you have an entirely new project that magically shows up in your job description for the day, God will listen, God will comfort, God will calm, and God will overcome. We have our responsibilities; when the responsibilities seem too great for the day, or we need a touch of grace to redeem what we broke, God is there.
Here are three insights into God’s words to Joshua:
(1) Listening is a form of waiting
Sometimes we need to wait. Waiting for the Lord is not a passive thing. It is an active pursuit in which we are engaging our senses, and ready to take actionable steps when called. Listening means we set aside our habitual need to respond and act when there is a pause. It takes great discipline not to interrupt the process of God. Hear what He would have you do. Wait until it’s time. Respond as God leads.
God has just forgiven Joshua of his sin and rebuked Satan in a vision to Zechariah. God calls the people to be a remembrance of how God has removed the accusations of Satan from His midst. He willingly puts the words of Satan away, so that the people of God know that the Word of the Lord always stands against what Satan would remind us of.
In these words of grace are also a challenge: BE THAT SIGN. Live out the message of being a sign of grace. No longer live according to those accusations of Satan. No longer live as if you take those promises of God for granted.
And what God said of the Israelites would one day ring true for the nations. Salvation would come from One who could shelter and protect all. He would extend His grace far and wide. Their grace and salvation was a small step toward what would be a message to all who would receive what The Branch provided.
Being that sign sometimes means we have to wait to hear how best to do that. There are things we must be about always, but in our daily work, when we invite God into our circumstances, sometimes He will ask us to do that one thing we weren’t expecting, and that might exemplify the sign we are of God’s watchful eye and powerful Spirit.
(2) God’s inscriptions are complete in and of themselves (they don’t need our help for validation or functionality)
God wants everyone to remember that He does not forget His promises. He continually uses imagery of engraving, writing with a lead pen, and other terminology that invokes a vision of things that will never pass away. For a world that is constantly insecure, that is security beyond measure. When we question our worthiness before God, it is good to know that we can return to His promises with the grace that He provides. The signature sign of what He brings is measured in God’s great name and reputation.
Nothing we do will make those promises more valid or less valid. They are triumphs because of who God is and because He chooses to convey their merit. This should give us hope in our situations, because they transcend our difficult circumstances. For Joshua and those around him in the temple, God needed to remind the people that He was in control of His mercy. Think of every piece of office furniture, every electronic device, every emotion, every weakness, and every win, as an opportunity for God to inscribe the message of grace in a way that cannot be removed. It is an everlasting promise, no matter what the day brings.
(3) We can choose whether God’s Word feels like a command or an opportunity
In that day, declares the Lord of hosts, every one of you will invite his neighbor to come under his vine and under his fig tree.
Is that a command or an opportunity? You tell me. How has the Lord worked in your life? What has the Lord left undone? Are your circumstances incomplete? Do you see blessing in the heart of God or a taskmaster calling you to account? Those questions will determine how you respond to God. May the Lord always bring you to a place where His voice presents an opportunity.
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Zechariah’s prophecy to Joshua, the high priest, welcomes a time when all who know and experience what The Branch has to offer will willingly invite others to share in what He brings. Our lives are there to be a sign of what God has done. What will we do when we are presented with that possibility? Amen.
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