The Deal With Zeal

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!”