Zechariah 07: Be Kind First

What if the most faithful thing you do today is the kindest thing? We take a straight path through Zechariah 7, where a simple question about fasting exposes the deeper issue of motive. God answers with a clear charge: judge fairly, show mercy, be kind, and refuse to exploit the vulnerable. The message lands with surprising clarity—practices without love miss the point, but ordinary acts of justice and compassion become worship that moves heaven.

As we unpack the historical moment—exiles returning, a temple rising, people wondering what still counts—we explore why rituals can drift into self-focus and how God calls us back to the heart of the law. The conversation then bridges to Jesus’ two great commands: love God and love your neighbor. We revisit the Good Samaritan to flip the question from “Who deserves my care?” to “How can I become a neighbor?” That shift reframes spiritual maturity as a habit of going first—seeing needs, showing mercy, and choosing kindness before it’s reciprocated.

You’ll come away with a practice you can do today: find one person and double their joy while cutting their sorrow in half. It’s small enough to try immediately and strong enough to reshape how you see God at work around you. Along the way, we reflect on hard hearts, open hands, and the way generosity thaws spiritual numbness. If you’ve ever wondered whether God notices your rituals, this conversation points you to something better—everyday justice, humble mercy, and kindness that looks like Him.

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Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation (NLT).
Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Series Context
• 1:27 Zechariah’s Return-And-Repent Theme
• 2:27 Apocalyptic Imagery To Plain Talk
• 3:16 Reading Zechariah 7: Fasting Question
• 5:02 God’s Charge: Justice And Kindness
• 7:00 Hard Hearts And Scattering
• 8:15 Jesus’ Two Commands And Neighbor

Transcript

Welcome And Series Context

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hey everyone and welcome to the Bible Breakdown Podcast. In this podcast, we will be breaking down the Bible one chapter a day. Whether you are a new believer or have been following Christ for a while, we believe that you will learn something new and fresh every single day. So thank you for joining us and let's get into breaking down the Bible together.

Zechariah’s Return-And-Repent Theme

Apocalyptic Imagery To Plain Talk

Reading Zechariah 7: Fasting Question

God’s Charge: Justice And Kindness

Hard Hearts And Scattering

Jesus’ Two Commands And Neighbor

SPEAKER_01 0:23

Well everybody, welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, Pastor Brandon. Today, Zechariah chapter 7. And today's title is Be Kind First. Be kind first. God does a really uh just just an amazing job of simplifying the entire law today. And if we were to simplify what he says even first, I almost titled it Just Don't Be a Jerk. But I figured that might actually get a couple people upset. So I just went with Be Kind First, but you and I both know what we actually wanted to call it. So we're gonna jump into that in just a moment. So if you have your Bibles, want to open up with me to Zachariah chapter seven. While you're doing that, take just a moment. Like, share, subscribe to the YouTube channel and the podcast. Leave us a five-star view on the podcast. It really does help. And make sure you're going to the Bible breakdown discussion on Facebook. There's an amazing group of people doing a wonderful job. And if you would like to comment on how you felt about my original title, be sure to let them know there. Don't let me know. Okay. But no, I'm just playing. Make sure you go to the Biblebreakdown.com. Well, if you've been with us for the past few days, we are working through this idea of after the nation of Israel came back from Babylonian captivity, they are trying to rebuild their lives. And they really felt like they had been forgotten by God. And so God sends this amazing prophet named Zachariah, and his number one message was, man, it's time to come on home. You guys have come home physically. It's now time to come home spiritually. Come home back to the Lord. He's doing more than you realize. And he's just saying, listen, if you just return to me, I want to return to you. And as we talked about in the early parts of this, this is not God being passive aggressive. He's not, he's not trying to say, well, if you will, I will. He's saying, no, no, my hands are always open. Like I've I brought you back here. I want you here. So if you'll return to me, my hand's already open, ready for you to grab it. And that's what God is telling them through Zechariah. We've also talked about how Zachariah's genre of literature is very similar to that of the book of Revelation. So it's called apocalyptic literature, which means it primarily uses metaphor and stuff like that to make a spiritual principle point. And we've been talking about women in baskets, flying scrolls, all these other things. And today it's really going to be talking about how God speaks directly to his people. So if you're ready, we're going to jump into this be kind first. And it really is a call to God's justice and mercy. So if you're ready, it says in chapter 7, verse 1, it gives a very specific date. It says, on December the 7th of the fourth year of King Darius' reign, that's of Persia, another message came to Zechariah from the Lord. The people of Bethel had sent Shrazezer and Ragamelach along with their attendants to seek the Lord's favor. They were to ask this question to the prophets and the priest at the temple of the Lord of Heaven's armies. Should we continue to mourn and fast each summer on the anniversary of the temple's destruction, as we have done for so many years? And the Lord of Heaven's armies sent me this message in reply. Say to all your people and your priest, during these seventy years of exile, when you fasted and mourned in the summer and in the early autumn, was it really from me that you were fasting? And even now in your holy festivals, aren't you eating and drinking just to please yourselves? Out Verse 7. Isn't this the same message the Lord proclaimed through the prophets in years past when Jerusalem and the towns of Judah were bustling with people, and the Negev and the foothills of Judah were well populated? Then this message came to Zechariah from the Lord. Here it is. This is what the Lord of Heaven's army says. Listen, judge fairly, show mercy, and be kind to one another. Don't oppress widows, orphans, foreigners, and the poor, and do not scheme against each other. Your ancestors refused to listen to this message. They stubbornly turned away and put their fingers in their ears to keep from hearing. They made their hearts hard as stone, so they could not hear the instructions or the messages that the Lord of Heaven's armies had sent them by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. That is why the Lord of Heaven's armies was so angry with them, since they refused to listen when I called to them, I would not listen when they called to me, says the Lord of Heaven's armies. As with the whirlwind, I scattered them among the distant nations, where they lived as strangers. Their land became so desolate that no one even traveled through it. They turned their pleasant land into a desert. Wow. So I love this idea where he says, You really want to get my attention, you really want to get it right, do these things. Judge fairly, show mercy, and kindness to one another, and don't oppress each other, and don't work against each other. So basically, don't be a jerk. Be kind. Be kind first. You know, I love how in the New Testament Jesus was talking to someone and they had asked the question, and it was actually a rather common question of the time, and that is what is the most important commandment of the law? And really what they were doing is they said, listen, there's hundreds of laws in the Old Testament. There's no way to get these all right. Is there any way? Like if we keep one, it's almost like a master cheat code. You know, if we if we get one, will that lead into all the others? And Jesus said there's two. And that's what was actually really interesting at the time, is at the time there was a great debate on what it was. And Jesus said, one of the reasons why you're getting it wrong is you're trying to make it one, it's two. Love God with everything you have, love others as yourself. And Jesus said, if you do that, you're going to do it. And here was what was interesting in the book of Luke. A guy looked at Jesus and said, Well, then who is my neighbor? Other words, who's going to be nice to me? And Jesus tells the story of the Good Samaritan. And Jesus actually basically was telling him, he was like, You're looking at this completely wrong. You are wondering who is going to be your neighbor. What you're supposed to do as a follower of God is you go looking to be a neighbor to someone else. In other words, you're not trying to be a universal receiver. You're trying to be a universal giver. You go first in being kind. And when we do that, we're going to get most of this stuff right. And I wonder how many times in our lives do we go looking to be chosen. We're looking to be loved. But really, it truly is more blessed to give than to receive. And when we go looking to be a blessing instead of looking to be a blessing, it's amazing what God does in our life. And so here's my challenge for you today. God said this. He said, Judge fairly, show mercy, be kind to one another, don't oppress each other, don't work against each other. And he said, The ancestors of the past refused to do that and they got themselves in hot water. What would it look like today if today you made it your number one goal to double someone's joy and cut their sorrow in half? Let me say that again. Your number one goal was to find one person, at least one person, but just like one person. Double their joy, cut their sorrow in half. Do something to make someone smile. And here's the thing if you're married, don't make it your spouse. Okay, that that's a whole nother conversation. Like other words, in my mind, we should be doing that for one another all the time anyway, right? Don't do it for your kids. Someone in your life, someone you work with, extended family member, a friend, double their joy, cut their sorrow in half. Watch what it does to your relationship with God. Because you'll start to realize that as you start doing good things for others, you realize that you can never outgive God. The Bible said, for God so loved the world that he gave, and you realize that giving to others such a blessing, you start realizing, man, God, what a blessing you've given me over and over again. And just watch what happens. I'm telling you, double their joy, cut their sorrow in half, go first being kind, and watch what happens. Let's pray together. God, I pray right now you'll open doors for us today. Help us to see people that need to have their double, their joy doubled, their sorrow cut in half. Kind word, a kind gesture, just kindness. And Lord, I pray that you will open our eyes to see that there is opportunities all around us to make a difference, and we don't have to look to be chosen because we've already been chosen by you. We've received salvation. So therefore, there's never a day when we're anybody's victim, when we're anybody's second, but we are your first, and that is where our joy comes from. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Well, God's word says in Zechariah 1, verse 3, it says, Return to me, and I will return to you. Christianity is a constant coming back home to the Lord. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow for Zechariah chapter eight.