The Deal With Zeal
Romans 12:11
Rev. Brian Bill
8/29/10
Have you heard about the traffic jam in China that has reached 60 miles long and lasted more than two weeks? Instead of hustling down the highway, cars have come to a crawl and in some places, no vehicles are moving at all. Some drivers have given up and have been playing cards with other stalled citizens and a few have just gotten out of their vehicles and taken naps on the pavement.
Likewise, some Christians have stalled out and have either become spiritually sleepy or taken to just playing games. Are you spiritually stuck today? Are you in a spiritual standstill? Do you wonder where all your passion has gone?
Over the last several years, I’ve tried to take popular spiritual slogans and analyze them from the perspective of Scripture. Let me tackle another one: “Let go and let God.” Now, I understand the heart behind this. For many of us controllers, we’re holding on to way too many things when God calls us to surrender to Him. But in another sense, this phrase is way too passive. We can’t just sit kick back on our couch and hope to grow in character or in Christ-likeness. The Bible speaks of an imperative urgency and the need for disciplined diligence. We can’t be spiritual slackers.
Many of us are way too passive either because we no longer care or maybe we think that somehow we’ll just become this super Christian with the passing of time. I have a friend who refers to this as the “Phantom Christian Life.” This is the belief that there’s a victorious, problem-free life out there somewhere for me and someday I’ll somehow get there, I just don’t know when. It’s a life filled with bliss and beauty and all things spiritual.
This idea of passivity has crashed into our pop culture as well. Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt, in a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, predicted that in the future, Google will know so much about its users that the search engine will be able to help them plan their lives. Using profiles of its customers and tracking their locations through their smart phones, it will be able to provide live updates on their surroundings and inform them of tasks they need to do. Here’s what Schmidt said, “I actually think most people don’t want Google to answer their questions. They want Google to tell them what they should be doing next.” (“Google and the Search for the Future,” August 14, 2010: http://online.wsj.com/article/).
I listened to a sermon podcast this past week from Wayne Cordeiro. He made a statement that I haven’t been able to shake and I hope it sticks with you as well: “Life will not give you what you want, neither will it give you what you think you deserve, life will give you what you’re willing to settle for.”
He used an illustration to make his point. A college freshman named Smitty became the field goal kicker for the football team. At the end of a game he was called on to go in and kick a game-winning field goal but Smitty wanted to make his mark so he changed plays in the huddle. The ball was hiked directly to him and he started running and was clobbered and fumbled the ball. The ball was picked up and the opposing player started running toward the other end zone. The other players couldn’t catch him and then out of nowhere someone starting gaining ground on him. He was running like a streak of lightning. It was Smitty! He caught up to the other player and tackled him before he could score.
The assistant turned to the head coach and remarked, “Did you know Smitty had wheels like that? He beat our best athletes and made the tackle!” The head coach replied, “I’ll tell you why. The other guys were running because they were supposed to. Smitty was running because his life depended on it.” Friends, you and I must live like our life depended on it. And we must live wholeheartedly for Christ because the lives of others depend on it.
I’ve been contemplating something for quite some time and I want to address it this morning. I think in general, though certainly not across the board, PBC has lost some of its passion. And since PBC is made up of people like you and me, if my assessment is correct, then many of us have lost our zeal. Let me get more personal. My own zeal has wavered.
I want to propose that if you know that you lack, and you want to get back, then you can’t slack.
Please turn in your Bible to Romans 12:11: “Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.”
I recognize that Pastor Jeff preached on our passage less than a year ago but I can’t think of another verse that so captures our condition. I encourage you to go back and read his sermon from 9/27/09 at www.pontiacbible.org. One of my goals today is to have us memorize this short verse so that it sticks in both our heads and in our hearts and then works its way out into our hands. Let’s say it together: “Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.”
Our outline today comes right from this verse.
1. Never be lacking in zeal. This is a warning about not being a spiritual slacker. I like how Pastor Jeff put it: “The literal translation is ‘in zeal, do not be lazy.’ The word ‘zeal’ carries with it the idea of intense effort and motivation, doing something whole-heartedly, or with great enthusiasm. It is an attitude that leads to action…” One commentator put it like this: “Whatever is worth doing in the Christian life is valuable enough to be done with enthusiasm and care.” This is reflected in Ecclesiastes 9:10: “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might…”
I need to say that sometimes crazy things are done in the name of zeal. It’s easy to become zealous about a whole bunch of things like brats and cheese but we’re cautioned in Proverbs 19:2 to make sure our zeal is tied to truth: “It is not good to have zeal without knowledge, nor to be hasty and miss the way.”
Literally the first part of Romans 12:11 reads this way, “In the diligence not slothful…” Let me list some words that go along with diligence to help open up the meaning: speed, haste, passion, seriousness, urgency, eagerness, readiness, and dedication. One pastor offers a super definition: “The persistent and passionate pursuit of divine directives in spite of discouraging difficulties.” The word “lacking” can be translated as slothful and has the idea of hesitating, delaying, idle, and lagging behind or being as slow as a sloth. Did you know that slothfulness is one of the seven deadly sins?
Derek Kidner, in his commentary on Proverbs, identifies four signs of the sluggard. A sluggard is an idle, slothful person. See if you have any of these tendencies.
(1) He will not begin things. He does not commit himself to a refusal, but deceives himself by the smallness of his surrenders. So, by inches and minutes, his opportunity slips away. We see this in Proverbs 6:9-11: “How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest - and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man.”
(2) He will not finish things. The rare effort of beginning has been too much and the impulse dies. So his quarry goes bad on him (12:27) and his meal goes cold on him (26:15). One of my favorites is found in Proverbs 19:24: “The sluggard buries his hand in the dish; he will not even bring it back to his mouth!”
(3) He will not face things. The sluggard comes to believe his own excuses, rationalizes his laziness, and makes a habit of the soft choice. We see this in Proverbs 20:4: “A sluggard does not plow in season; so at harvest time he looks but finds nothing.” We know that we’re being a spiritual sluggard if we keep putting off dealing with habits and sins that are harmful to our spiritual lives.
(4) Consequently he is restless with unsatisfied desire according to Proverbs 13:4: “The sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied.”
Kidner concludes: “The sluggard is no freak, but, as often as not, an ordinary man who has made too many excuses, too many refusals and too many postponements. It has all been as imperceptible, and as pleasant, as falling asleep.”
God calls out his watchmen who were supposed to be alert in Isaiah 56:10: “…They lie around and dream, they love to sleep.” Jesus spoke strong words to the one who did not use what was given to him in Matthew 25:26: “You wicked, lazy servant!” Someone has defined laziness this way: “The tendency to remain where we are in life instead of moving to where we could and should be.” With that definition, who among us is not lazy? What are we going to do about it?
If you know that you lack, and you want to get back, then you can’t slack. Let’s take a shot at quoting our verse again. Romans 12:11: “Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.”
2. But keep your spiritual fervor. If we’re urged to “keep” our fervor that means that we can lose it, right? We need to fight against our tendency to head south spiritually. I was really challenged by what our missionary Rebecca Cox said last Sunday about how she puts on her “spiritual armor” every day because she knows she’s in a battle. This past week in my morning Bible reading, I came across this passage from 1 Chronicles 28:9-10. David wants to make sure that his son Solomon does not become a spiritual slacker: “And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind…Be strong and do the work.” There’s nothing passive about this, is there? Oh, to hear dads plead with their children like this today!
This second phrase in Romans 12:11 literally reads, “In the spirit boiling over.” I turn to Pastor Jeff again: “The Greek word ‘fervor’ means the sound that water makes when it comes to a boil. It can also refer to the glow of metal when it is super-heated. Jesus is interested in followers who boil in the depths of their souls for Him.”
I was in a church recently and picked up one of their hymnals. When I opened it up I came across John Wesley’s seven instructions for singing from 1761. These directions were given because at that time the hymns were brand new and even daring and some people didn’t like how they sounded. As a result, they stopped singing. I wonder if we have anything like that going on here. I think we can work more diligently at our singing so that our spirit boils over in profound praise.
Listen to #4: “Sing…with a good courage. Beware of singing as if you were half dead, or half asleep; but lift up your voice with strength.” I also like his seventh instruction: “Above all sing spiritually. Have an eye to God in every word you sing. Aim at pleasing Him more than yourself or any other creature.”
This last one makes me think of Phinehas from the Old Testament because he was known for his zeal for God’s honor. Here’s what God said about this man who aimed to please God more than himself or anyone else in Numbers 25:11: “Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, has turned my anger away from the Israelites; for he was as zealous as I am for my honor among them, so that in my zeal I did not put an end to them.” God is still looking for men and women and boys and girls to be zealous for His honor. Will you be that person?
Before you answer too quickly, Psalm 119:139 says that if you do have zeal for the Lord, you will probably be lonely and people’s apathy will get under your skin: “My zeal wears me out, for my enemies ignore your words.”
A fire broke out in a small-town church building. When the fire brigade arrived, the minister recognized one of the men as a long-absent church member. “Hello there, Jim. I haven’t seen you in church for a long time,” he chided. To which the man replied, “Well, it’s been a long time since there’s been any FIRE in this church.” Our zeal should be noticeable and verifiable as illustrated in 2 Kings 10:16: “Jehu said, ‘Come with me and see my zeal for the Lord…’”
I want to be more like Jonathon Edwards. When he was a young man, he wrote seventy resolutions. His sixth one captures the essence of Romans 12:11: “Resolved: To live with all my might while I live.” We could say it like this: Wherever you are, be there!
If you know that you lack, and you want to get back, then you can’t slack. Let’s quote our verse again. Romans 12:11: “Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.”
3. Serving the Lord. Our attitude will eventually spill over to action. Zeal must be in our hearts and then work its way out through our hands. We need to be eager and active, passionate and practicing, feeling and focused. If we are fervent for the Savior we will be faithful in serving Him. And it also works in reverse. If we have stopped serving it may be because we have lost some of our love for the Lord. The word “serving” is in the present tense, which means it should always be our lifestyle or habit to serve. There is no room to say, “Yah, I used to serve but know I don’t do anything.” Our serving assignments may change but our serving identity doesn’t. A Christian who is not serving is a contradiction in terms.
It’s helpful to come back to what the word “serve” really means. It comes from the Greek word doulos, which refers to a slave or one who is in bondage or bound to another. It was used of someone who dutifully obeyed the master’s commands. A bondservant was surrendered wholly to the Master’s will and devoted to Him to the disregard of his own interest. We are not simply “volunteers” signing up for an hour or two of our time; we are servants who are bound to our Master and what He wants. Look at how our verse ends – “serving the Lord.” Jesus is referred to some ten times as Savior and some seven hundred times as Lord. He is supreme in authority. Jesus reframes our anemic understanding in Luke 17:10: “So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”
Let me say that God is not interested in us just getting all excited or pumped up spiritually with some ecstatic experience. Spiritual energy is meant to be unleashed in serving the Lord, not to make us feel good. It’s not about us. It’s all about Him. We need sold-out servants who don’t just do enough but go way beyond like Baruch in Nehemiah 3:20. After finishing his work, he went on and tackled others’ jobs: “Next to him, Baruch son of Zabbai zealously repaired another section…” By the way, this is the nickname I gave to Robert Guth after watching all he did pouring concrete for our parking lots! It makes me wonder who will take leadership in our church in the next 5 to 10 years. Where are the Robert Guth’s today? It was D.L. Moody who said: “The world has yet to see what God can do with a man fully consecrated to him. By God’s help, I aim to be that man.”
I don’t know who came up with this but it messed with me this week: “We’re doing little of eternal significance and calling it enough. We put in our token time and call it commitment.” I love the picture found in Psalm 123:2. The servant doesn’t take his eyes off the master’s hands so that when he motions for anything the servant is ready to spring into action: “As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, till he shows us his mercy.”
The first question to settle is the servanthood issue. Let’s get it straight once and for all. He is our Master and we are His servants. That’s my identity. The second question is this: “What is it that He wants me to do?” That’s my job description. Like Pastor Jeff challenged us a couple weeks ago, it’s time to get out of the boat. How is that we can serve the Lord? The possibilities are endless. Titus 2:14 tells us that we are to be actively, energetically and passionately serving, “…eager to do what is good.” Here are some ways to serve…
* Serving in small groups. We’re challenging each of our small groups to find a service project this fall.
* AWANA.
* Sunday School and Nursery.
* Corporate prayer. Next Sunday morning at 8:10.
* Growing in your giving. If you’re looking for a giving guideline I like to say that a tithe (10%) is a good place to start. 2 Corinthians 9:6-7: “Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
Yesterday was the anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Without minimizing what he stood for and recognizing that we still have a long way to go to see all races as equal, I thought I’d share a two-part dream with you this morning.
* I have a dream for men to minister. I believe that there are way too many mediocre men…and sometimes I’m one of them. One of the ministries I follow is called “The Resurgence.” They recently hosted a conference called an “Event for Men Who Aren’t Boys.” In their write-up they said this: “We live in a world full of males who have prolonged their adolescence. They are neither boys nor men. They live suspended between childhood and adulthood, between growing up and being a grown-up.” They’ve even developed a new name, ban, which is a hybrid of boy and man. It continues: “Ban doesn’t like responsibility so he extends his adolescence and sets his focus squarely and supremely on himself. Half of American males between the ages of 18 and 34 play video games every day – for almost three hours.” Guys, it’s time for us to man-up, to be real men. 1 Corinthians 16:13: “Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong.” I like this prayer that they suggest: “God make me a man with thick skin and a soft heart. Make me a man who is tough and tender. Make me tough so I can handle life. Make me tender so I can love people. God, make me a man.”
* I have a dream for parents to disciple and discipline their children. If you’ve been here for the past year, you no doubt have picked up on the fact that we’re serious about helping our families live out their faith at home. In the past 10 months, almost 35% of our sermons have dealt with faith in the family and marriage matters. Pastor Jeff is working on something for this fall that we’re not quite ready to announce yet but we’re serious about giving parents the tools they need to connect and equip their children to be growing and faithful followers. Check out the admonition for passive-free parenting in Deuteronomy 4:9: “Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.” Do you need to step up your discipline? Need to establish better boundaries? Proverbs 13:24: “He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him.” If you don’t disciple and discipline your children, who will?
The Wheel Illustration
When I first became a Christian, I was introduced to the “Wheel Illustration.” I’ve come back to this again and again over the years and have used it as a way to evaluate how I’m doing in my walk with Christ. Some of you have been through the 2:7 Discipleship Program and you’ll recognize it from there (see www.navigators.com). Let’s take a look…
The Hub: Christ the Center. Listen to Galatians 2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Making Christ central in your life is an act of your will. Have you ever done this? If not, why not?
The Rim: Obedience to Christ. Check out John 14:21: “Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me.” The proof of your love for God is your demonstrated obedience to Him. Is there an area that you are not obeying Him in today? Jesus wants us to give our all. In our obedience to Christ, we should be, like one of my friends likes to say: “All gas and no brake.”
The Vertical Dimension: How You Relate to God
The Word Spoke. I love what we read in Joshua 1:8: “Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” A vital personal intake of God’s Word is essential for health and growth. Are you in God’s Word every day? What will it take for you to make this happen?
The Prayer Spoke. Jesus said in John 15:7: “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.” Prayer is a natural response to God as you hear Him speak to you through His Word.
The Horizontal Dimension: How You Relate to Others
The Fellowship Spoke. Psalm 122:1: “I rejoiced with those who said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” How are you doing in your involvement with other believers? Are you consistent in your Sunday attendance and are you plugged into a small group?
The Witnessing Spoke. The natural overflow of a rich vibrant life in Christ should be sharing with others how they too can have this life. And when we share Jesus with others, our own faith grows according to Philemon 6: “I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.”
Where are you weak? Is there a spoke that is stronger than the others? What happens when one spoke is broken on a wheel? Is Christ at the center of your life? Are you obeying Him?
If you know that you lack, and you want to get back, then you can’t slack. Let’s quote our verse again. Romans 12:11: “Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.”
Open the Door
In Revelation 3, Jesus speaks some pretty tough words to a mediocre church that was just going through the motions. The church at Laodicea is the only one of the seven addressed in the opening chapters that receives no word of commendation. Listen to Revelation 3:15: “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other!” Jesus compared their deeds to the water supply in their town. Since water was sparse, they built an aqueduct to carry water from a source six miles away. They had one spring of cold refreshing water and another supply for steaming hot water from a hot springs. By the time the water traveled the six mile distance, the cold became lukewarm and bitter and the hot became lukewarm and useless.
The only use for lukewarm water is to induce vomiting. And, according to verse 16 that’s exactly what Jesus wants to do: “So, because you are lukewarm – neither hot nor cold – I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” Jesus is nauseated by our lukewarm, lazy lives.
Drop down to verse 19 where we see that Jesus rebukes and disciplines those He loves. And then he says this: “Be earnest [zealous] and repent.” Jesus wants us to reconnect with him and turn from the way we’ve been living. And then we come to verse 20, which is often used in our evangelistic invitations but in context is directed to spiritually stagnant believers. This tells us what we need to do: “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” Jesus wants intimate fellowship with us…but we have to open the door and invite Him to make Himself at home in our lives.
Jesus is knocking. Do you know why? Because He is both jealous and zealous for you! Follow this thought. When Jesus went and cleared the temple of the moneychangers and salespeople, John 2:17 says that the disciples remembered that something was said about this in Psalm 69:9. Here’s what we read: “His disciples remembered that it is written, ‘Zeal for your house will consume me.’”
Stay with me. Jesus had a never-ending passion for the Father’s house to be a place of worship. This ate at Him. Check this out. 1 Corinthians 3:16 says that God now dwells in believers, in you and I. That means that Jesus wants to entrust us with the Father’s reputation and yet, He probably needs to clean some stuff out, right? What things don’t belong? Open the door and let Him clean out His house. He wants to throw out those things that keep Him from being revered within you.
Will you be sold out to the Savior or will you sell out to sin, self and Satan? It’s time to get out of the jam you’ve been in. Put the games away and stop sleeping spiritually. If you know that you lack, and you want to get back, then you can’t slack.
Missionary martyr Jim Elliot is known for this motto that kept him from living a mediocre life: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” He also wrote a prayer in his journal shortly before he was killed by Auca Indians at the age of 28 that I would like to use for our closing prayer: “God, I pray Thee, light these idle sticks of my life and may I burn for Thee. Consume my life, my God, for it is Thine. I seek not a long life, but a full one, like you, Lord Jesus. Saturate me with the oil of the Spirit that I may be aflame. But flame is often short-lived. Canst thou bear this, my soul? Short life? In me there dwells the spirit of the Great Short-lived, whose zeal for God’s house consumed Him. Make me Thy fuel, Flame of God.”
