MISDIRECTED ZEAL
by Pastor Jim May
Romans 10:1-3, "Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God."
Don’t you just love to be around people who have a dream, a vision, and a plan of action to get something done for the Lord? I get excited about people with zeal for the things of God. It’s like their energy spills over on to me and I get a renewed zeal to join in with them.
I think that the Apostle Paul had a lot of zeal for the kingdom of God too. Even before he was converted on the Road to Damascus, Paul had a lot of zeal after God. But like so many in the church world today, that wonderful zeal, that great desire to see the laws of God fulfilled in the nation, that Paul had was totally misdirected.
Here he was, a well educated, Pharisee that lived by the Law of Moses to the letter, who was sold out to the God of Israel and to the religious leaders of the temple. He was doing God a service by bringing tremendous persecution upon these heretics who were being called “Christians”. Don’t these people know that they are deifying a man? Don’t they know that the man they worship is dead? How can a dead man, who once led a revolt against the established church, possibly be called God? That kind of blasphemy just simply could not go unchallenged and unpunished, and Saul was just the man to do it.
He stood by, holding the coats of those who stoned Stephen. I wonder what he thought as he heard Stephen and watched him die from the rocks crushing his body when Stephen said, “I see the Heavens opened and Jesus is standing at the right hand of the Father.”
How could anyone die so peacefully and be so disillusioned at the truth? Was this Stephen a madman, or was there something really true about all of this talk about Jesus being the very Son of God?
It was about this time that Saul, seeking to continue his work of eradicating the followers of Jesus, started out with great zeal on another of his trips. This time he would carry letters of recommendation from the very High Priest of Israel, to carry out his duties as a bounty hunter.
Acts 9:1-2, "And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem."
I can just see Saul, as he rode out of Jerusalem with blood in his eye. He was a man on a mission to right the wrongs of his day. Young or old, men, women and even children; anyone who dared name the name of Jesus was fair game. The land of Israel had to be cleansed of such heretics for the good of the nation.
In fact, Paul bragged a little about his zeal for the work of God in Philippians 3:6, "Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless." There was no one more “righteous” in the eyes of the Law than Paul, but his was a self-righteousness and not the righteousness of Christ. There was no one more zealous than Paul, but his zeal was misdirected.
Yes, zeal is a wonderful thing, but only if that zeal is aimed in the right direction. Otherwise, our zeal can become a deadly weapon to destroy the lives of other people.
How often have we seen this in the church? How often have I seen a young Christian, who was really on fire for God, zealous for the work of the Lord, chomping at the bits to do something useful, and the first thing you know, they either can’t be found anymore, or their zeal is utterly destroyed and you can’t get them to do anything anymore. It’s not hard to find the reason. Most of the time, they step into uncharted waters, where their zeal leads them into the deep where the “church sharks” are just waiting to pounce on “new blood”.
Some dear old “saint of God” who has been “in the way” for a long time, and I do mean “in the way”, will quickly put a stop to the misdirected zeal and passion to work for the Lord that the young Christian exhibits because it makes the old “saint” look bad. “What makes you think that you can do that? I sure couldn’t and I’ve been trying for a long time.” I think some folks carry a wet blanket with them everywhere they go just to put out the zeal and fire of a “newborn” Christian.
Even though this scenario happens often, I must also say that overzealous people are often responsible for driving away weaker Christians who will no longer darken the door of a church. Some well meaning, but misguided, Christian has destroyed their desire to serve the Lord.
In fact, just a few days ago I met someone told me that very thing. In one minister’s zeal to force everyone to reverence the House of God, he overstepped his authority and kicked this person out of the church permanently just for talking during a sermon.
My friend, what’s more important, that we do justice and show mercy, allowing the Holy Ghost to change that heart and life, or, that we develop a Pharisaical zeal for proper behavior in the church?
I know that your desire would be like mine, and that we would agree with Paul in saying, “My heart’s greatest desire is to see the Kingdom of God grow and to see the church grow; to see souls won to Jesus, and to see our nation turn back to God.”
I want to be zealous after God; zealous after His Kingdom; zealous after His Word; zealous after revival; zealous after turning our churches and our nation back to God! But I also have to direct that desire to proper action, lest I bring a reproach upon the House of God and upon the Lord Jesus Christ.
Overzealous people can be downright dangerous. Take this example for instance:
When he pastored the Methodist church in Scarborough, William Sangster had an eccentric member who tried to be a zealous Christian. Unfortunately, the man was mentally deficient and usually did the wrong thing. While working as a barber the man lathered up a customer for a shave, came at him with the raised razor, and asked, “Are you prepared to meet your God?” The frightened man flew out of the barber’s chair and out the door with the lather on his face and the barber’s cape flowing in the wind!
Overzealous Christians have been guilty of murdering those who performed abortions.
Overzealous Christians formed the Crusades to take Jerusalem back from the Muslims and in the process, slaughtered thousands of people who could have been reached with the gospel if they had only followed the will of God and not their own.
Overzealous Christians in the church of today bring division in the church because they haven’t rightly divided the Word of God and they establish legalistic doctrines that no one could live up to, and drive multitudes out of the church in total frustration because they can’t seem to live up to the rules and regulations imposed by the church.
Illustration:
It’s hard to believe, but in May 2000 a British man, living in the land down under, was fined for eating a Kit Kat candy bar. The trouble began when Kevin Storey was driving down the road on his way to church in the city of Poole. Just outside Winchester a policeman pulled him over.
A fair cop, you might have thought because Mr. Storey was doing 68mph in a 50mph speed zone. The officer, however, was less interested by Mr Storey’s speed than the fact that he had been driving while eating a chocolate Kit Kat bar with two fingers of one hand. According to the officer, although the Kit Kat had actually been unwrapped by Mr Storey’s wife, it nonetheless presented a serious hazard to other drivers, since the mouth-watering combination of crisp crunchy wafer and rich milk chocolate could distract his attention from the road ahead. The policeman cautioned Mr. Story about such dangerous practices and then issued him a $50 fine for reckless operation of a vehicle. The ticket was eventually dropped on court appeal.
That’s what I call misdirected zeal. The policeman was unbelievable zealous in seeing that all things were done “decently and in order”. He was extremely legalistic, imposing the letter of the law to its full extent in a way that was quite ridiculous. This is commonly the way with legalism. It focuses on minor faults and blows them out of all proportion.
In order for zeal to be useful, it must be founded and directed according to the knowledge of God’s Word and according to God’s will.
It’s fine to step out in faith and trust in God, in fact that’s what we all are required to do, but we had better make sure that when we take that step of faith, that it is God’s will for us to take it.
Many a zealous Christian has fallen into error because in their overzealous state they decided to go out on a limb that God never told them to climb on. Their lives and ministries have been shipwrecked because of a lack of knowledge.
King David knew what it was to have a great desire; a zeal to do something for God.
Psalms 69:9, "For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me."
David wanted more than anything to be the one to build God a house. David had his palace, with all its marbled floors and granite walls, but God’s house was still in the tabernacle, an old tent that was weathered, beaten and worn. Wouldn’t it be great to build God a house? What a worthy cause!
But it was not to be. No matter how zealous David was, or how noble his intentions, God was not in it and David couldn’t do what he wanted to do.
Paul wrote these words to the church in 2 Corinthians 7:10-11, "For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter."
Having zeal for the work of the Lord and for the things of God is a wonderful thing, but let’s control that zeal according to God’s will. When we move and work according to the will of God, there is no limit to what the Holy Spirit will help us to accomplish.
Let’s be excited about what God is going to do in our church and in our lives. Let’s exhibit enthusiasm and zeal to get the job done as quickly as possible. Let’s have a great zeal to see the righteousness and love of God manifested in and through our lives.
But let’s not get so zealous that we become careless in our actions and hurt other people.
What good would zeal be, if that zeal destroys the very thing that we are working for?
