Mr. Ken Martin
Sermon Transcript
June 16, 2001
The Matter of Zeal
Well the interesting thing of it
is, this apathy and this indifference that is around the world, has a very dangerous
side effect. It can bleed into the church of the living God and affect you and
me or anyone else if we're not careful. We're told in the book of Ephesians
that we are living in a time, it says we have to "redeem the time for
the days are evil." We've explained that before, the term evil there
is the Greek word poneria, meaning hurtful in its affect upon you.
There are a lot of things going on today that can hurt you whether it be in
mind body or spirit. This world is in a very very dangerous state of affairs,
we're not in the kingdom of God yet, although some people think we have the
kingdom of God in our hearts and they're walking around in kind of a euphoric
state, but that's not what the scripture is addressing.
God wants us to understand that the things that matter to Him should matter to you and to me and in order to do that, there is an ingredient that you and I need and everyone who professes to be a Christian actually needs in his or her life in order to be effective as a Christian and that is the subject of zeal, which we're going to talk about today. The matter of zeal, because it plays a very very important and strategic part in the lives of God-fearing men and women and we're going to take a closer look at that today in the time remaining. Some lexicographers, when they go through the scriptures and they analyze the various words, they've discovered that there's basically four different Greek words in the New Testament that are translated into the word that we in English call zeal. It basically can be utilized; these words can be as many as forty times used in the Greek.
New Testament. Now basically that
would be the word zelos, is where they translate the Greek word, zeal
and you and I need to be mindful of this because it is translated from Thayer's
Greek-English Lexicon in the following manner, and I love this definition: "Excitement
of mind." There is something about the things of God that should create
an excitement of mind, just like we have in the physical secular world, there
are many things that excite the mind of human beings on a physical and secular
level. You can get a brand new car, that excites the mind and boy, you get in
that brand new car and you say, "Whoo, I've always wanted one of these."
That's a fulfillment, but see in the process of time that excitement wears off
and you can become kind of apathetic toward that new car in the process of time.
Maybe for a lady its, "Oh that's the dress I've always wanted." Excitement
of mind, or for a fellow, "Oh my suit, I've been waiting for this suit
for a long time." Or a new pair of shoes, I mean we're talking just physical
things, but when you bump it up on the higher level, which we're talking about
today on God's Sabbath, we're talking about the things of God, not the things
of men. And the Sabbath deals with one of the things of God.
Are we excited when we come before
our God on His Sabbath? Are we excited when we have the opportunity to have
placed before us the plan of God through the annual holy days? All this becomes
very very important because God says, Hey, I haven't revealed all this to everybody
at this time, I've only called a handful and are you excited over it? Does it
excite your mind, do you show a fervency of zeal toward the things of God? In
the Old Testament God talks about His commandments and how He said that He shows
love, He is jealous - He uses the term "jealous God" and that
Hebrew word can be translated either "jealous" or more properly
"zealous." God is a zealous God and He is very zealous, or
full of excitement with regard to His mind and the plan and purpose of salvation
that He is working out with mankind. Do you realize how exciting that is for
God, to realize that which is lost can be saved and He's going to do it through
Jesus the Christ, His beloved Son - and you and I have the wonderful honor to
be the firstfruits in this great dynamics that God is working out in the lives
of men and women. That is an exciting thing for God. God doesn't look and say,
"Oh brother, how long am I going to have to bear with these human beings
and play around with this thing of salvation?" Ho-hum. You just can't even
picture God that way. You see God on the edge of His chair, excited, He loves
His children, He wants them in the kingdom of God and He is determined to bring
us there with the help of the spirit of God working in our lives and with our
cooperation. It is a marvelous picture that is brought and that excitement of
mind, order or fervency of spirit is what that term zeal is all about. Now you
see we're living in world today where people, they get excited about certain
things, but religion is on the wane in the lives of many people, it's on the
back burner, people are not zealous as they were back in the 19th
century when they used to write a lot of things about that, and in the 19th
century you would have things like the Encyclopedia Britannica 11th
Edition and you could read some things interesting in there that you won't even
find in modern day Britannica's anymore because the influence is not there any
more. Other things have come in.
We've become a multi-cultural secular
society and the influence of spiritual things is not what excites people, although
there are people out there who want a spiritual experience but that's quite
different from understanding about the things of God and what the scripture
is addressing.
Now W. E. Vine, in his Expository
Dictionary of the New Testament, also touches on this and he refers to the
word zeal and he uses the common noun, zelotes, which is sometimes
translated zeal. He uses and defines the word as this is what is defined
as a zealot. "One who is an uncompromising partisan." Now the
zealots were named after a group of individuals who were considered, back then
in that period of time of Josephus' writings - and you'll find this in Josephus
Antiquities, all this material that I'm touching on. He calls them "an
extreme section of the Pharisees." He references them, he says,
"They were bitterly antagonistic to the Romans." Interesting
because Jewish historian Josephus goes on to say, "They were considered
the fourth sect and they were broken down as follows: you have the Pharisees,
the Sadducees, you have the Essenes and this what is considered more radical
or more agitating group called the Zealots who were kind of an off-shoot of
the Pharisees."
Now what is interesting, it is the
Zealots who stirred the fires of revolt in the mid-60's A.D. that finally brought
about the Roman intervention into the area of Jerusalem and brought about the
destruction of Jerusalem under Vespasian and Titus and the invasion of the Roman
armies at that time and destroyed the temple of God at the time in Jerusalem
and of course the true Christians according to history, we can trace them back
in 69 A.D., they fled, they got out of there, they saw the handwriting on the
wall, that trouble was coming. It is interesting to note that today, people
kind of have the same idea that when anybody is uncompromising in their religious
convictions about something, notice back then they were called Zealots and they
were an extreme section. Interesting today that we hear when religion
is defined in people's minds, we have liberal, we have moderate and then we
have the "religious right" that extreme religious right. Sometimes
it bumps into the political area and they call them the religious conservative
right and they'll dump them into that arena and of course nobody wants to be,
if you're politically correct, you don't want to be extreme now do you? No,
you don't want to be extreme. But you see, you don't want to be compromising
either, you want to be uncompromising, so there's something here that we need
to understand, that being zealots like they were, they were taking this whole
matter of zeal in a wrong direction and of course it backfired and it brought
the Romans down on them.
That's what we want to look at today
because zeal is a very powerful ingredient that is needed in our lives to keep
us moving in the right direction, keep us excited about the things of God because
then the spirit of God working in our lives keeps feeding and providing what
is necessary to keep us going in the right direction, that straight and narrow
that leads to life, otherwise you can just wander all over the place like Christ
said and "broad is the way that leads to destruction" and many
can go in that way and many unfortunately are.
Now what we want to look at is this
thing of zeal in terms of, if you were to define it, you could just put it in
simple terms, it is simple fervor, it is getting excited or "turned on"
to use the modern vernacular today, turned on by the things of God. Now there
are people that we have known who were once turned on by the things of God but
they're not turned on anymore, they're turned on by other things and that's
unfortunate because again, God says the things of God must be looked upon in
the same way that that God in the Old Testament, as He says, I am a jealous
(or zealous) God, showing mercy unto thousands of them…notice…that
love Me…so He's not going to get you for something like that, that's
not the representation there, but He is a God who says these things are important
to Me and if you love Me and you keep My commandments, I show mercy unto thousands
of them that love Me and keep My commandments.
So again, the zeal of God is directed to show mercy and that is a very important
ingredient that we all need, it's one of the weightier matters of the law, that
mercy of God is very very much appreciated, we all appreciate it.
But now looking at some very very
simple things that we want to study today to help get a proper definition on
this thing because if we don't you see the world we live in today is creating
an atmosphere of apathy and you and I can't afford to get into an apathetic
spirit with regard to spiritual things of God, we've got to maintain zeal for
the things of God, that's very very clear in the scriptures and we're going
to see some examples of how the apostle Paul ran into individuals who had zeal,
but it was going in the different direction, it didn't have the zeal that had
the stamp of approval of God. You and I must have the stamp of approval of God
in our zeal or our zeal is going in the wrong direction and we don't want it
to go in the wrong direction, so how do we find it? We let the spirit of God
guide us through the word of God and show us how to get on track and keep on
track so that God can continue to work with us and reveal more and more about
the things that are important, that excite His mind and that should excite your
mind and my mind.
For example, do you remember the
first time you encountered the subject of the Sabbath and you had to study and
prove that to yourself? That became an exciting revelation because you'd always
wondered about things like that and then of course the holy days began to add
another wonderful dimension and then of course, the idea, what about my loved
ones? And then you discovered about the Last Great Day - this isn't the only
day of salvation! It isn't a matter of people are going to be lost if they don't
"accept" Christ right now because there are a lot of people who have
died and never accepted Christ, the only name given under heaven whereby we
can be saved, so what did God do? Study the word, the word tells us what? Oh
my, you get excited with fervor of mind again, the zeal comes to the fore because
it says that God is not willing that any should perish. That's His will,
but all come to the knowledge of the truth - well, they're not all given that
yet. Well, then God has to have a plan and a purpose that is going to give them
that opportunity - wonderful! It's exciting, it gets rid of the fears and the
worries about, What about my loved ones, what will happen to them, are they
burning in hell or are they in heaven? What is the truth of the matter of this
story? The things of God become very very priority to the men and women of God.
It's a priority thing that God wants us to understand, but like everything else,
as the years go by, familiarity breeds contempt and I think that is what has
happened to a lot of people, when we look back and see what we have experienced
in these last years. But a lot of people took things for granted instead of
keeping and maintaining the zeal for the things of God.
We're going to look at that a little bit more now. Let's go to the book of James
4:2. Zeal here in verse 2 is the word zeloo, it's the verb
form and it merely means "desire to have." Now notice what
we learn from the apostle James beginning in verse 1. He addresses something
today that our world leaders should really be listening to, but they don't,
they sit down trying to decide how they're going to bring peace to the world,
but listen to what the spirit of God, inspiring James to record, and notice
what he says:
James 4:1 - From whence
come wars…well there are wars in this world all right…and fighting's
among you? Come they not hence even from your…notice…lusts…now
that word lusts means inordinate desires, anytime the word lust comes up, that
has more a connotation of an inordinate desire not with the blessing of God
as opposed to a legitimate desire that has the blessing of God. God wants you
always to have His blessing and He wants to honor your desires in harmony with
His will, but notice here, He says here is all this fighting going on and he
says…you lust and these desires that war in your members. So here
is human nature with all these desires raging pictured here in this and notice
in verse 2:
Verse 2 - You lust, you
desire and you have not and you even kill and…notice it emphasizes
clearly…you desire to have and cannot obtain. So what do you end
up doing, the world's nations? You fight and you war and yet you have not
because you ask not. They don't go to the true source where blessings come
from, El Shaddai. They try to take other people's blessings and go to war to
do it.
Now we live in this world in what
is called the political "have" and "have not" nations. We
are blessed to be a nation that is a "have" nation but there are other
nations that don't have certain things and so they envy the nations that have
things. If you study right now Africa and you see what is going on in Africa,
it's a terrible terrible state of affairs, especially in countries like Sierra
Lyon where we have civil war raging. Now this country is rich in diamonds, diamonds
that could produce wealth for all the people, but we've got political factions
warring against one another and so what they end up doing, they take these diamonds
and apparently the rebels right now control the real rich diamonds, the big
stuff, and they take that and they put them on the market and they either get
monies for it or they get illegal weapons with it and they can use this to further
their so-called war of liberation. What they do to the opposing side, and you
may have seen this and it is really sad to see, they go around and they butcher
some of the other people, the civilian population, they chop off their hands,
they chop off their legs and so you see a beautiful young little lady coming
on the line, 13, 14, if that, and here she is, she's walking with no hands because
her hands have been decapitated, wiped right off by opposing forces. Now her
life is going to be greatly restricted because of that, but here again, all
of this comes from illicit desires, lusts, to have things at the expense of
other people. He goes on to say:
Verse 3 - You ask and
you receive not because you ask amiss that you may consume it upon your lusts
(or your desires). And that is what is happening in this world today.
So we see that warfare is a classic
arena where this type of wrong application of zeal, because see people get excited
in their minds, they want things, they desire things, all the world wants what
we have here in the United States, they're getting in boats and coming over
here in droves, they'll run the risk of dying in the Caribbean over there and
get on some little trashy boat and try to fight the currents to get over and
touch U.S. soil so that they can have the chance of a new life. What others
are trying to do here in this country, others are trying to do even in England
because England has a standard of living that is above many of the others and
they want to have access to that. They'll run the risk of that, their own lives
in many cases. Well here we see very clearly then that the desire to have is
normal and right and good, but when it's in a wrong context, when things excite
the mind and take you in a wrong direction, it produces something very very
wrong and in this particular case it defines where warfare comes from in this
world among the nations in which we find ourselves living.
Now another definition can be found
here in Acts 5:17. A lot was happening because of the dynamics of the
spirit of God working in the early New Testament Church, there were tremendous
healings, a lot of things, signs and wonders going on in those earlier years
of the Church and in verse 17 it says:
Acts 5:17 - Then the high
priest rose up and all that were with him which were of the sect of the Sadducees
and they were filled with indignation… They were filled with
indignation.
Now that word indignation
here is that Greek word zelos again and it means zeal. I mean their minds,
they were just literally, they were not apathetic in this matter at all, they
were all excited in their minds, they were just moved with a fervor of spirit
- but it was against what? Against all the good things that were being done
by the apostles in the early New Testament Church because they were looking
at it as a threat to their power and their control as a religious body among
the Jewish community of that day. So what we end up having here, it says:
V. 17 - They were filled
with indignation and they lay hands on the apostles and they put them into prison.
Well you know the rest of the story,
an angel of the Lord came because the people were praying and they were let
loose and that caused no small stir, but here again, the opposition was demonstrating
zeal and it was a zeal against the servants of God for all the kindness and
the good that they were doing.
Now if you'll move back again a few more chapters, let's go to Acts 13:45.
Going back and recognizing the context we see that here the apostle Paul was
describing how God was working a work in your days, he says that no one is going
to believe it, how powerful and how dynamic the work of God started.
Acts 13:42 - When the
Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought him and said that
these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath.
Well of course I think you know,
this is a very important scripture we've used many times to look and prove the
Sabbath, showing this was Paul's glorious opportunity to do away with seventh-day
Sabbath keeping and say, "Hey you Gentiles aren't under the bond of seventh-day
keeping, all you got to do is come back tomorrow on the first day of the week,
that's your day." But he didn't do that, he said, We'll see you fellows,
see you ladies next week, on the seventh-day Sabbath. And he was so powerful
in what happened, in Verse 44 it says:
Verse 44 - And the next
Sabbath day came almost the whole city had gathered to hear the word of God.
The apostle Paul was quite a powerful speaker in capturing the minds and
hearts of those who were to listen to the truth of God being preached at that
time. Listen to Verse 45:
Verse 45 - And when the
Jews saw the multitude…they didn't care what they were speaking about,
what they were concerned about, all the people were going there instead of coming
here, to us, following the Jews religion of that day and so what happened…when
they saw that they were filled with envy.
They were all inflamed, their spirit
was all up in the air, they were all excited about, but what were they all excited
about? This is the Greek word again zelos, they were showing a zealous
reaction but it was motivated by envy. Their zeal was turned in the context
of envy because they were jealous of what was going on by the servants of God
at that time. The book of Galatians - we find that the apostle Paul had an encounter
with a group that was causing no small stir to the Galatian people of God at
that time. He had come into that area, he had taught people the things of God,
he'd showed them the importance of these things and then what ended up happening?
Here came, as many of the commentaries will tell you, Judiaziers, individuals
who came in behind the scene, tracking the movements of the apostle Paul and
when Paul was out of the way they would move in and preach the opposite and
undo certain things that Paul was trying to show the people. One of the things
that got them so bent out of shape was the subject of circumcision and some
of the other things, the days that they were observing, all these things became
hot issues and these were buttons that were being pushed on the people at that
time.
Now Paul, at first he didn't know
who it was, at the first part of the chapter he says, he says, "Who
O foolish Galatians has bewitched you?" Who is working this over? Now
for somebody to do that means that these individuals had a certain charisma
or zeal about what they were doing. They were zealous in coming in to try to
undo what the apostle Paul had done. I think we realize very clearly that you
don't undo sound doctrine, sound teaching by coming in and being very passive,
very easy, laid-back, don't sweat it…No! you come, you run into and encounter
dynamic individuals, people who are, as we say, fired up and they're just as
fired up for the wrong as you might be fired up for the true things of God and
you need to always understand that, it becomes a very valid point. That's why
people can be led astray by wolves in sheep's clothing, because sometimes those
wolves come and they get fired up, but since they're wearing sheep's clothing,
you can't quite discern unless you're mindful of what the scripture is warning.
In this case, where are they going
with this? Are they taking me to the laws of God or are they taking me
away from the laws of God? Do they perform miracles to take me to
God or to take me away from God? And why does God allow some of these things
to be? To see, to test the faith of the people, to see how easy it is, where
are we going to go, are we going to be easily led astray, will we be tossed
to and fro by every wind of doctrine? You see to have the zeal for the things
of God means uncompromising. You cannot picture Jesus Christ as a compromiser,
He never once compromised with the things of God and because He didn't, He ran
awry of the locals in that day who constantly kept at Him and said, You're not
doing this right, you're not doing that right, you're breaking the law, you're
breaking the Sabbath, you're doing this…and Jesus would constantly throw
it to the ground, He'd say, You're ignorant about this because you do not understand
the scriptures. He'd nail their hide to the wall, He'd come right back at them
and He made it very very clear. He said, You full well put aside the commandments
of God. For what purpose? So that you can teach the commandments of men. The
commandments of the Jews religion of that day. That's why Galatians, in Sterns
book, New Testament Bible makes it very clear in the book of Galatians. It says
when the appointed time came, Christ was born into a perverted Judiastic society.
He understood where the deceptions were, He knew what was in men's hearts and
He was able to target these areas and expose it. These people got hot under
the collar, their zeal was going in a different direction. Christ's zeal was
always to demonstrate the will of God, which you and I must do.
Our zeal must always be directed
to uphold the things of God that are important to God Himself, otherwise why
would God want to put any of us in His kingdom to be teachers and to teach others?
If the things of God are not ours, and you know a lot of people today when they
went to school, why did they not like going to school? Why did they not enjoy
certain classes? Do you remember why? You remember the same as I do, it's boring,
the teacher puts me to sleep, the teacher just drones and I don't see any relevance,
how is this going to help me pay bills when I get out in the real work-a-day
world, diagramming sentences and things of this nature. You say, Well that's
the same way it's going to be, we're not going to be a bunch of, (said in a
low small voice) "Well we're here to teach you about the laws of God, we
just want you to be so happy in the kingdom." So happy? People look at
that and say, what kind of teacher is that? You've got to be excited about the
things of God and that excitement generates and because you are happy with the
things of God, it translates, the people pick up on that and they say, I want
a piece of that. I want a piece of that, I want a part of that kingdom of God.
Oh, now they're starting to desire the right things you see. This is the way,
walk you in it - showing people how to do it. Well the apostle Paul here makes
it clear in Galatians 1:14. He had some problems and difficulties, he
goes back a little bit about his history in some of the prior verses, he talks
about how at one time he had to be taught these things himself because he was
ignorant of it and he says in Verse 13:
Gal. 1:13 - For you have
heard of my conversation…or my conversion or my conduct…that
in times past…notice…in the Jew's religion…you see
Paul now understood it, he used to be a part of it, but now he sees it for what
it is because Christ has taught him. He says:
Verse 13 - …how that
beyond measure I persecuted the Church of God…I went after this new
group hammer and tongs and why did I go after them?…I wasted it.
I did it because…
Verse 14 - I profited
in the Jew's religion above all my equals. In other words, I profited, I
gained certain respect, certain monetary benefits and what have you I'm
sure, he says…being more exceedingly…notice Paul's problem,
what did he do? He was…exceedingly zealous…
Here again the apostle Paul was
so zealous, but he was going in the wrong direction, this is not the kind of
zeal you and I want, to go out persecuting the Church of God. Paul is talking
about himself, he says this is when I was in error, my zeal was misdirected
and I was persecuting the very body of Jesus Christ in so doing and I had to
come to see the error of my ways.
Verse 15 - But when it
pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace,
to reveal in His Son in me…
You see, he was to realize Christ
was to come into his life and be a part of him to transform him, to have sins
forgiven, as we heard in the sermonette and then to move on from that point
on. So Jesus Christ, the head of the Church is a God who is a zealous God and
He wants his sons and daughters, His brothers and sisters in this case, when
we're talking about the Father as opposed to the Son, the Father wants the sons
and daughters to be zealous toward His things, zealous toward the Christ and
Jesus wants us to be zealous in our service to Him and to the Father because
this is part and parcel of what they have demonstrated in their life.
So zeal we see is a powerful motivator
in terms of getting past apathy, it ignites the mind, but it can go either way.
Now zeal without knowledge is very dangerous. Without knowledge it's very dangerous
and we've seen some examples right there. In Galatians 4:18, notice the following:
Gal. 4:18 - It is good
to be zealously affected, always in a good thing and not only when I am present
with you.
So in other words, zeal must always
be directed into a good channel, a good area. If zeal goes into a different
direction, such as warfare, envy, the things we saw there, some of those scriptures,
that takes it totally away from God's blessing. Now Romans 10:2, the
apostle Paul, who was very well versed in dealing with the people of that time.
He explains in verse 1 that it is his desire:
Rom. 10:1 - Brethren my
heart's desire and my prayer to God is for Israel that they may be saved.
That is what he desired for the people of God as a whole.
Verse 2 - For I bear record
that they have a zeal of God…oh they did, there definitely was a zeal
for God, but notice…but not according to knowledge.
They did not have the right balance of knowledge to direct the zeal where it
needed to go. The apostle Paul said prior to that, he didn't. Before conversion
he said, I was overly zealous, I was going after the Church of God and then
I realized that's not right because he had his conversion experience on the
road to Damascus. Then he began to see where the Jews religion was breaking
down, where they didn't have knowledge of this critical understanding that the
bible reveals. What ended up happening? He said, they have a zeal for God but
not according to knowledge and that knowledge is based on knowledge that comes
that brings conversion to the life of an individual, a man and a woman.
Verse 3 - For they being
ignorant…notice, they just did not have a clue of God's righteousness,
what is the defining factor of that word righteousness?
Psalm 119:172 - All Thy commandments are righteousness. God defines what
He means by that.
You and I are to learn with the
help of God how to bring the commandments of God into our lives through the
spirit of God so that we can keep them in the way Jesus Christ kept them, in
the context of love and devotion, love to God, love to our fellow human beings.
That's the summarization of it all, very simple, a child can understand. God
makes it that way. But he says they went about trying to establish their
own righteousness, now that's what Jesus said when He was encountered by
them on various occasions. He said, Full well you put aside the commandments
of God that you may…do what?…teach the commandments of men.
So here you are, instead of weighing
the weightier matters of the law, you're worried about pots and pans and washing
hands and all this kind of stuff instead of the super stuff that really counts.
He says, I don't fault you on the tithing and things, you go above and beyond
on that, you shouldn't leave the other undone, but the weightier matters of
the law, where is that in your life, in your religion? Then He gave parables,
examples of that that you and I can relate to very clearly. He said, Look, here
comes a Levite, a Levite walks down the road, he sees this guy down there, he's
been whipped to pieces, beaten up on the highway, what does the guy do? He really
practices his religion, his belief, he walks on the other side of the road so
he's not defiled. Finally another one walks, he does the same thing. Then here
comes the outcast in most people's minds and the Jew's minds of religion of
that day, the Samaritans. Oh man, what does the Samaritan do? He comes by and
does what they should have done, took care of the man, fixed him up, took care
of his wounds, took him back, paid the bill, did kindness to him, showed kindness
to him. In other words, he practiced the Golden Rule - do unto others what you
would have others do to you. You would want someone to pick you up, you would
want someone to tend to your wounds, you would want someone to give you a place
to rest and you would be deeply in their debt. You see this is the acts of love
that God wants His people to practice. Well the Jews did not have it, they went
about establishing their own righteousness and have not submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God, that was their problem and that's why Jesus and
those religious leaders of that day were always banging heads, simply because
they were on different pages, they just didn't know or understand and they weren't
being called at that time.
All right, then the happy combination
that you and I are seeking is zeal in our personal lives with knowledge
that is directed by the spirit of God, because remember when the holy spirit
comes into your life, the book of John makes this clear, it's going to add to
you that which…you will suddenly understand the knowledge of God in a way
you've never understood before. It's going to mean something to you now, the
things of God are going to become very very important to you and what you used
to slough off and say, This doesn't matter, now you see it matters a whole lot!
Why? Because it matters to God and it matters to Jesus who is the head of the
Church. Now we find in an example of Jesus' own life Himself, that Jesus was
a powerful example of this. John 2:17. There was a situation and encounter
that Jesus came into, this was just prior to the Passover and He had come to
the temple and as was their custom, because of the sacrifices and the various
things that were required of the people, V. 16, Jesus saw all the sheep, the
oxen, the money changers and so forth and what did He do? Well I guess they
thought He was…You're getting a little bit radical, Jesus. Why? He overthrew
the moneychangers, He takes a cord and starts - Get these animals out of here.
Why? Why was He doing all that? He said:
John 2:16 - "Take
these things hence and make not My Father's house a house of merchandise."
That's what it had become and what did He say here?
V. 17 - His disciples
remembered as it was written, "The zeal of Your house has eaten Me up."
Jesus walked in there and said,
This should not be going on in the house of God. Zeal for God, the things of
God, Jesus demonstrated that zeal and they picked up on it and so again, certain
things God shows should never go on in the house of God, in the lives of the
men and women of God in the Church of God. Why? Because you are the temple of
God. And just like they were doing things that shouldn't be going on in the
house of God at that time, the temple of Jerusalem, God says, Make sure your
conduct, your life, what you're trying to accomplish as men and women, husbands
and wives, fathers, mothers, children, make sure it reflects honor and glory
to God the Father and Jesus Christ. These things should never be mentioned,
the things that you hear about going on in the world, these things should be
away with. You see why it's a battle on our hands, why we need zeal? Because
once you walk out that door, what are you going to do? You're going to get peppered
by every unbelievable influence in the world. They've even got a new program
coming on now, they're advertising it, it's called Tainted Love, a new series
on television. Why can't they have wholesome love? Why do they have to have
tainted love? Because it's more exciting to watch the tainted you see, they
mentally tease the mind with it, don't you want stolen waters, don't you want
to see what it might be like? NO! You don't want that! That's not how people
are going to find happiness. It's going to be just miserable and it's going
to be misery and it's going to be exactly what their season title is, it's going
to be tainted.
God does not want you, myself or
any of His sons and daughters to be tainted because we were tainted from the
world and God has called us out of the world and He has removed that cloud of
sin hanging over us through Jesus Christ's great sacrifice. Passover reveals
that to us and so we can, with joy in our hearts and zeal, come before God to
show that appreciation that we thank Him for what He has opened up for us, a
new way of life that we could never have discovered of and by ourselves. Zeal
is a requisite for being a Christian man and woman. If you try to live life
without zeal, you're in trouble because if you allow apathy to affect your spiritual
relationship with God, and your zeal begins to flag, meaning to wane, it begins,
you're not as interested anymore, not as excited about the things of God as
you once might have been, then what it ends up doing, it takes you away from
God rather than brings you to God and this is what we can't afford to do. Revelation
3:19 gives us a very stark warning in the end time showing that a whole
group of people that we reference here, called the Laodicean Church of God.
It's a group of people that are kind of a "come see, come say." I
guess the old saying of "when they're hot they're hot and when they're
not, they're not" and that's why they're called lukewarm. Jesus Christ
said, I don't like this condition I see in these people, I wish they would be
much more involved, hot rather than cold. That word hot there is the word zelo,
which means again, I wish they'd show more zeal for the things of God.
But it's a problem that I submit
to you, has bled into the minds and hearts of these men and women of God who
will comprise the Laodiceans in the end time. This is why you and I must guard
our heart and our mind that this doesn't influence us because I don't think
any of us want to be in this category.
These are people loved of God but these are people that are in a very serious
state of affairs that are going to face a terrifying day of reckoning. Notice
that God goes on, you say one thing, you think this or that, but God goes on
to say:
Rev. 3:17 - …"you
know not…you haven't really considered what you've turned into, what
you've developed, you're not looking at yourself properly from the mirror of
My word and what ends up happening He says…you think you're rich, you're
increased with goods, I counsel you to buy gold tried in the fire."
Now here's the interesting point, Verse 19 - look what it says:
V. 19 - "As many
as I love…so we know God loves the daylights out of the Laodiceans,
wherever they are, whoever they may end up being in that final analysis…as
many as I love, I rebuke and chasten." This is a rebuke and chastening
from a loving heavenly Father to a group of people who claim to be people of
God, who fall in that category and He says, notice…be zealous therefore
and repent.
The thing I want to stress here
is that zeal helps to promote repentance, this is what the context is showing,
it's showing that for them to have to repent in the state of affairs they're
in, they've got to turn up the heat, they've got to get the zeal quotient back
up to par. The things of God have got to be important to them. Matthew 25, they've
got to go back and get oil for their lamps while they still have a chance, before
the light goes out.
Now I'd like to emphasize something
here to you just to show you how serious it is. When I made the statement about
the outside world, how it can creep in and why we have to guard against this
in our personal lives. I went to Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary
and I looked up the word "flagging" because I've heard that
term and I've heard the term "flagging zeal" - you know, your
zeal is flagging. What does that mean, so I wanted to be sure I got a clear
definition. Here's what it said, listen to this and ask yourself - is this what
you want to be? Flagging zeal…and that's what the end time, Revelation
3:19 says, that the zeal of many people will be flagging, it will be dropping
low because of the influence of hurtful things…means to become unstable.
Do you want to become unstable? Do I want to become unstable? No, not at all.
It goes on to say…feeble…do you want to become feeble in the
things of God? No, you don't. But here's the kicker…spiritless.
It means you have no spirit, you have no get-up-and-go, nothing turns you on
anymore, you're so jaded by the world you live in, that your zeal, the desire
to get excited over the things of God, has been neutralized and you have no
spirit. I mean even in the physical application, if you leave the spiritual
dimension out, look how the world… "get into the spirit of things,"
they say, get into the spirit of this and the spirit of that, they're trying
to stir you up, they're trying to motivate and get your zeal, your interest
and excitement in this particular product, or whatever it is they're selling.
God says, Look, what they're selling can't even compare to what I've got for you, and you're going to let your zeal flag when I offer you eternal life in the kingdom of God as My firstfruits? This doesn't excite your mind, this doesn't turn you on? You see God wants you to look at yourself and do a self-analysis and an appraisal on these matters.
To find a declining interest in or attraction to…that's also part of the definition. And you know, that's what I have seen. I have seen people now who years ago were excited over the truth of God, the things of God, but I see their zeal has flagged and they're just not with it anymore and what has happened to them is that they, in some cases, have become unstable, some people. Some have become have become very spirit-less, they have no spirit for things anymore, they've just turned off "religion" they don't want any part of religion anymore. That's a shame, that means they've been had, they've been spiritual shipwrecked, the adversary's gotten them. That's not where a person wants to be.
Titus 2:14, I'll begin in
verse 12 where Titus is stressing the importance of what is it that God is teaching
us. He's:
Titus 2:12 - teaching
us that by denying ungodliness and…notice…worldly lusts…
that's those illicit desires again…that we should live soberly, righteously
and godly in this present world…that we are living in at this time.
We should be…
Verse 13 - looking for
that blessed hope and glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus
Christ. Now notice v. 14:
Verse 14 - who gave Himself
for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity…or lawlessness…and
purify unto Himself a peculiar people.
Now that doesn't mean peculiar odd or weird or crazy and I believe that is something
we should look seriously at because I think maybe sometimes in years past, you've
heard sermons and things that people have mentioned different times and different
places where the reference was that if you keep the truth of God, people will
think you're weird and crazy and odd. No, that's not what that means, they'll
only think you're weird and crazy and odd if you act weird crazy and odd! But
if you act normal, sound and balanced and you set the example of God's way of
life and what it means as a peculiar people, you have become unique - peculiar
in the sense that you are unique in being what? Zealous of good works, that's
where zealousness comes in. We're zealous to respond to do the things of God.
You know if you ask children growing up, and children grow up in the Church
of God and they hear things, if they hear things like, "Do you want to
be part of the dynamic kingdom of God, do you want to be part, the honor, glory
and immortality?" Boy, they hear that, it sounds exciting. I might get
a little more turned on with that. Or over here, somebody says, "You want
to become weird and crazy and an outcast?" I don't think I want to be part
of that. See what I'm saying?
It's very important how we represent
the truth of God. The world may one day say the truth, speak evil of it, they
may say some bad things about the people of God, that doesn't matter at that
time. What matters is what kind of example are we now? Are we the balanced God-fearing
people that God wants us to be? That's where we manifest ourselves by the way
we conduct ourselves. I Corinthians 13, you're familiar with that, called
the love chapter. The apostle Paul talks about this and I'd like to share with
you something in here that you might have missed. In verse 4 where he talks
about the importance of love and how it operates, he says:
I Cor. 13:4 - Love suffers
long…in other words it's tempered, like you temper steel…love
suffers long and is kind…notice…love envies not…
Now do you remember we went back earlier and we showed how the Jews were filled
with envy? That was the same word, zealous. Well what does that say? That you
can have zeal and be without the spirit of God and go in a wrong direction or
you can have zeal for the things of God under the governing power of the spirit
of God which is what? A spirit that energizes love, because Paul said the holy
spirit sheds the love of God abroad in our hearts, which means your zeal will
always be for the good and the right and the wholesome, you'll never use your
zeal to be hurtful, demeaning or trying to take advantage of in a wrong way.
That's why this is in the context of the love chapter. A husband will always
appreciate his wife in that context; a wife will appreciate her husband in that
context you see. There will always be that zeal, that fervent spirit that is
demonstrated. The word here envy in I Cor. 13 is zeloo - it's one of
the derivation words again of this. Now the required acts of a Christian man
and woman, as demonstrated in the bible shows a need for fervor and zeal in
execution and implementation. You can't just do the things of God in a half-hearted,
ho-hum manner, it's got to be important for you, it's got to be a life pursuit.
Let's notice a few scriptures as we draw to conclusion here. In Acts 17:11
the apostle Paul was addressing the Church of God in Berea in opposed to Thessalonica
and these individuals that heard him, he mentioned this very thing.
Acts 17:10 - Then the
brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night to Berea. When they
came to the synagogue of the Jews he said:
V. 11 - Now these were
more noble than in Thessalonica in that they received the word of God with all
readiness of mind and searched the scriptures daily whether these things be
so.
Now what that comes from is a word,
the readiness of mind is prothymia in the Greek, it's a compound
word, pro meaning forward and thymia - mind, eagerness.
Hence they had an eagerness of mind, a mind that was forward looking to listen
to, without casting judgment against what Paul was saying, they wanted to hear
it and then they went back and checked it out to see if these things be so.
And that shows again a readiness, an eagerness, a fervency that God desires
in His children. Romans 12:11 - here conduct is mentioned, various types
of conduct and in verse 11 notice here it says we are not to engage in conduct
that is slothful, slothful in business, but we are to be what?
Rom. 12:11 - …fervent
in spirit…this carries this same connotation of being filled with a
zeal and a desire to do things honorably, according to the word of God. Several
other scriptures here, lets take a look at I Corinthians 15:58.
I Cor. 15:58 - Therefore
my beloved brethren, be you steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the word
of the Lord, for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
What God has called us to, and the
reason He has given us this marvelous understanding is that He is looking for
individuals who will share the zeal that God has for His way of life, the zeal
that brings happiness and joy, not only to God and Jesus Christ, but can be
transmitted to the sons and daughters of God through conversion and through
the spirit of God. But it has to be directed the right way, with the spirit
of God. If you leave the spirit of God out of it, you just can get all excited
about certain things, but it will be on a physical level, but in the end time
we are told, that people can't even get excited about certain things anymore.
Now it's, Don't sweat it, take it easy. They don't say, Work hard, they say,
Take it easy. Well no boss pays you money for taking it easy, you have to work
hard, you earn those dollars by working hard. And this is exactly how God shows
we have to do the work of God, we have to be zealous about it, be about our
Father's business. It's important to God, is it important to us is what God
is asking. How do we feel about it? Two final scriptures. Colossians 3:23.
We are admonished:
Col. 3:23 - Whatsoever
you do…whatsoever you do in living life…do it heartily
as unto the Lord and not unto men.
In other words, husbands, love your wives with zeal as unto the Lord, because
that pleases God to see you doing that. Wives, love your husbands. Those of
you who have families and loved ones, love your loved ones, give of yourself
in zeal, but do it heartily, as unto the Lord, knowing that this is what pleases
God. You're not trying to manipulate anyone, not trying to take advantage, you're
trying to do the right and proper thing that has God's blessing. Galatians
4:18 in conclusion to be reminded once again:
Gal. 4:18 - It is good
to be zealously affected always in a good thing.
That's what God wants us to do,
to be zealously affected in a good thing. As Paul said, not just when somebody
is present, but just to live life to the glory of God, and to look, as we must
in our day and age, we must look at ourselves and ask ourselves, Is my zeal
flagging? Is my zeal flagging in my prayer, in my fasting, in my study, in my
love and expression of love to one another? Love toward God, love toward my
fellow human beings. If it is, then what should we do? What does zeal do? It
pushes you toward repentance, because the goodness of God leads you to repentance
so that you can change with the help of God. May God help us all to repent where
we fall short and we all do.
This is just a message to help us
all realize that a very critical element that we need, to stir the fire in our
lives for the things of God must not be seduced into wrong directions where
we get our mind and our desires off on other things, not that some of those
things can't be desired, you know, I'm not saying just live like a stoic and
strip your life. God wants you to have an enjoyable life, to live joyfully in
this physical life to the best of your ability, but He wants you to understand
that the things of God are being eroded fast. Look around you folks, look at
the society and the world around you and if you can't see the erosion of spiritual
things and then the warning, be careful that it doesn't bleed off into your
life where you no longer have the zeal for the things of God, and most important,
what did Jesus demonstrate when He walked this earth? What shall we liken unto
the kingdom of God? The kingdom of God was the zealous driving factor that He
educated His disciples in and you and I are to be looking for that glorious
return of our Lord and Savior who will initiate the kingdom of God and where
do we come in? We must take up our posts and our responsibilities as kings and
queens in the kingdom of God - kings and priests, we have a royal responsibility,
a royal priesthood, called to do the will of God and to do it with zeal. May
God grant us all a greater increase of our personal zeal and our devotion to
our God.