Multiply Your Zeal Series

Number of spam e-mails sent each day in 2006: 183 billion? Number of work hours U.S. employees spent deleting spam in 2006: 22.9 million?Each of these spam emails are sent in order to create a desire in you. They are sent in order to increase your cravings. What do you crave? One person craves horror movies while another craves attention. Some crave their mother’s approval… While still others of us simply crave junk food. The dictionary defines “crave” as “to long for; want greatly; desire eagerly.” Perhaps the word crave can best be defined by a picture rather than a dictionary. Picture a child opening his first gift on Christmas morning – the sports car the sixteen year old girl had been wanting for months.

The world has deep-seated longings. It tries to satisfy the longing with scenic vacations, stunning cinematic productions, sexual exploits, sports extravaganzas, hallucinogenic drugs. Nevertheless, the world’s longing remains. Yet, how many of us can say we crave God or we long for God Himself? Peter commands us to crave or long for God’s Word and God Himself.

“So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good” (1 Peter 2:1-3).

If you are new to Christianity, you may think the Bible is a collection of rules. A book that tells you not to cheat, etc. Yet, this doesn’t give a totally accurate picture of the Bible. For the Bible demands more of us than simply to stop bad actions while starting better actions. The Bible commands us to experience a dozen different emotions rather than just to perform certain actions. This is a moment of discovery for many of you who are new to Christianity. For Christianity is based on the Bible. Some might suggest that such a practice might very well confine contemporary people. Instead of viewing this practice as a mental prison, we see it as an opportunity for growth. Instead of it confining us like a straightjacket, it releases us. For you to really see this, you see just how radical the Bible is. We are commanded to bear no grudge (Leviticus 19:18) but to forgive “from the heart”. Note, the Bible does not say, “Make a mere decision to drop the matter.” Rather it says, experience an event in the heart (Matthew 18:35). Similarly the intensity of the heart is commanded in 1 Peter 1:22 (“Love one another earnestly from the heart”) Other examples of emotions that the Scriptures command are hope in 1 Peter 1:13; fear in 1 Peter 1:17); grief in Romans 12:15; and desire in today’s text.

Peter’s main point is not to add rules to your already crowded life. Instead, Peter commands you to desire something. The Bible wants you to have zeal. Today we want to talk about Multiply Your Zeal for Christ. I want you to experience a radical transformation of life and not just a fresh coat of paint. There are a lot of people attending church and having the “life-change” equivalent of a fresh coat of paint.

A cowboy walked into a Texas bar, ordered three bottles of beer, and sat in the back room, drinking a sip out of each one in turn. When he finished them, he came back to the bar and ordered three more. The bartender told the cowboy, “You know, a bottle goes flat after I open it. It would taste better if you bought one at a time.” The cowboy replied, “Well, you see, I have two brothers. One is in Australia, the other is in Dublin, and I’m in Texas. When we all left home, we promised we’d drink this way to remember the days we drank together, so I drink one for each of my brothers and one for myself.” The bartender admitted this was a nice custom and left it there. The cowboy became a regular in the bar and always drank the same way. But one day, he ordered only two bottles. All the regulars took notice and fell silent. When he came back to the bar for the second round, the bartender said, “I don’t want to intrude on your grief, but I wanted to offer my condolences on your loss.” The cowboy looked puzzled for a moment, then a light dawned and he laughed. “Oh, no, everybody’s just fine,” he explained. “It’s just that my wife and I joined the Baptist Church in Amarillo, and I had to quit drinking. It hasn’t affected my brothers though.”

This kind of change is this cowboy experienced was nothing more than a fresh coat of paint. Radical transformation comes from an experience with Jesus Christ. A radical transformation with Christ will cause you to: