ZEAL! THE STUFF CHRISTIANS ARE MADE OF!
Zeal Zeal, it�s not a word we hear all that much anymore. Words like Enthusiasm, Excitement, Commitment, and interest have seemed to take the place of the word Zeal. But can any word truly take the place of the word zeal. It is a word that Paul used several times in both positive and negative ways and it is what the life of a Christian should be filled with. You see, Zeal goes beyond just being excited, committed, or interested in a particular thing. Zeal is the sum total of all of those attributes and a little more. Zeal is being able to fervently, excitedly, follow after something with the utmost commitment. It is no accident that in Romans 12:11 Paul commanded us, his readers, to "Never be lacking in Zeal, but to maintain our spiritual fervor serving the Lord." The Christian�s life must be one of excitement, commitment, enthusiasm, and basically any other word that could be used to describe the word Zeal, and why not? We serve the Creator of the Universe, the Risen Savior, the one True God, and the best friend we could ever have. Zeal is not an unrealistic act of us pretending that we are always happy, excited or perfectly fine, but rather is the way in which we incorporate our faith through every aspect of our lives. If we are to have a strong zeal for our God and Savior, then we must be willing to love as Jesus loved, hurt as he hurt, and share as he shared. We are to live our entire life for him. What exactly happens when there is a loss of Zeal? I remember a story I once heard about a woman who had been married for about 10 years and simply could not take it any more. Her husband had simply become the most boring person she knew and no matter what she did to try and make him become more active or interested in her life he simply would not get the message. Frustrated and angry she went to a lawyer to talk about getting a divorce. Feeling somewhat bitter about the whole situation and his lack of interest in her life, she told her lawyer that she wanted to somehow get back at him for letting their marriage reach the low it had so she and lawyer decided they would devise a plan of revenge. They decided that for the next 2 months she would involve herself in every part of her husband�s life, the way she had wanted him to be involved with her, and act like she loved every bit of it then she would drop the bomb on him and divorce him. So the plan was implemented and she showed as much interest as possible in his life and cared for him and talked to him whenever she could. After the two months had gone by the lawyer called and asked if she was ready to drop the bomb and go through the divorce to which she replied, "You have got to be kidding, I am married to the greatest man in the world! We have had more fun and more interesting conversation in the last two months than I ever thought was possible! I don�t want a divorce!" I sometimes picture our relationship with God as being that kind of messed up exchange between two people. A loss of Zeal often times results in our blaming God for his silence and lack of interest when really it is our own silence that is causing the problem. We want God to act a certain way when the problem is really in our own attitude. We become selfish and closed minded. Zeal seems pretty important when you look at what a lack of Zeal causes. What first catches my attention with this passage of Scripture is the fact that Paul used the word "Never." It seems that there is not even a topic for discussion for Christians not possessing zeal. Paul was emphatic. We are never to be lacking in Zeal. This is not a suggestion that Paul has placed upon the reader, it does not read "You should never be lacking in Zeal, but if you are its ok." It reads "NEVER BE LACKING IN ZEAL." A loss of Zeal wasn�t even a choice for the Apostle Paul. Why? Because he had understood all to well that a person could do more harm than he/she thought possible by losing or misguiding zeal. You see, Zeal is not a personal issue, but is a complete reflection to others of the faith you possess in your life. Paul kept himself full of zeal because he knew that others were watching him everyday of his life after he became a Christian. Just look in the book of Acts. When he was converted he was already known by his incredible Zeal for the law and Old Testament Rituals. That is why he persecuted the church. He wanted to do his best and give his all for the fulfillment of his obligations to his God. The only problem was that he had been misguided in his understanding and hurt many people in the process. But Thank God, he was not to continue down that path of his life. He came to a saving knowledge of Jesus and began to spread the Gospel to everyone he met. If you read the account in the Book of Acts you can sense the hesitancy of the Christians to accept him even after God had assured them of his salvation, but they were all eventually won over because of his insatiable Zeal with which he followed the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Nothing was going to stop him from serving his Lord, and nothing should stop us. If we possessed the kind of Zeal Paul is talking about then we would never have to tell anyone that we were Christians, our lives would SPELL IT OUT. But you may ask, "This sounds great and wonderful, but how are we supposed to keep this incredible Zeal for God with the stresses of Daily life and Satan constantly attacking me from every angle?" I am glad you asked, because Paul tells us specifically that we are to maintain zeal and spiritual fervor "Serving the Lord." The key to zeal and fervor is action. Service is the means to excitement and true commitment in the Christian life. Why? Because true unselfish service involves a willful giving of your person to the cause of Christ, in effect making you 1.) Personally involved in the cause of Christ, by allowing God to use you and 2.) Letting you know that there is more at stake in serving God than just our own spiritual health. By willfully serving our Lord we take our eyes off of ourselves and place them on Christ and on all others for whom Christ died. There is nothing worse than for a Christian to stop serving because he/she has a fit of self-pity, selfishness, or false-humility. If God has saved you, then God has called you plain and simple. But service is costly to the heart. Victories become personal in nature and not just something good for the church, and the responsibility for failures becomes personal in nature. I am not saying that a Christian should blame him or herself for every failure that occurs, but when a Christian gives him or herself in service, they will without fail feel the victory or failure very strongly. One needs only look at the world of sports to see that this is true. When a professional sports team wins a championship is it only the players that feel the joy and sweetness of the victory? Is it only the players that feel the bitterness of the defeat? Definitely not! Why? Because every one of those fans has at least in some small part given themselves and their zeal to the service of that particular team. They feel the victory along with the players. They identify with the players and feel in some small way partly responsible for the team winning or if the team loses, they feel depressed and saddened by the loss. Now, how much more will a Christian who has given him or herself to the service of God feel the victory or defeat? It is no wonder that Paul is often writing about his tears, about his pain and agony of soul because those he was trying reach were not getting the message. Or how was he able to say that he was filled with Joy while he was in chains in a cold prison? Because he had a zeal for the Lord and had given himself in complete service to the cause of Christ to the point that he was willing to allow it to control his emotions and actually take away a part of who he was. Paul became a servant of the Lord. It is who he was. Some translations read "Serving the season" rather than serving the Lord, but the emphasis is clear, we are to do all we can while we can. The service of the Lord is not something we can get to later or something that we can pass to someone else, which is much of what has happened in today�s churches. Many times we think: "Oh, that is the pastor�s job. He gets paid to visit those people in the hospital or he gets paid to preach, why should I do it? I have enough trouble in my life." It�s a good thing Christ didn�t take that approach. He could have said: "The Pharisees are here to teach the people the Scripture, why should I do it?" But he gave himself and served the season. Service is the means to excitement. If we are going to serve our Lord then we must be willing to do it with a whole heart a whole of the time. Will it cost us something? You bet it will, it is going to cost you your life. That is what it cost Christ. That is what it cost Paul, that is what it cost Peter, and that is what it has and will cost every Christian since the death of Christ. Now I am not saying that every person will die a martyr, but you should live like one! Live like every move you make is going to make the difference in someone else�s salvation. Live like every move you make is being watched. Because it is and it will have an effect. So how is your zeal? Is your Christianity something that burns in your life like an eternal flame, pushing you to do as much as you can or do you have to push yourself to get a little zeal so you can sing aloud in church on Sunday morning or maybe even answer a question in Sunday School? Do you possess zeal? If so, where is it directed? Just like Saul, we can possess a zeal that simply eats us alive and still be dead wrong. One example is the LDS church. The Mormons. They have a zeal that puts most modern day Christians to shame. TO SHAME! They are emphatic about following their religion, and for what? For disappointment. We serve the one true God and have the keys to following Him in the 66 books we call the Bible. It just tears me up that Christians have the answers for a hurting world. We have the answers to those that would go on a shooting rampage in Columbine High School or Wedgewood Baptist Church but many times refuse to give of ourselves for fear of the cost in order to reach them. We are willing to skip church to watch the Super Bowl, World Series, or even a movie, but we aren�t willing to talk the stranger in the supermarket. Why? Because our zeal is misplaced. We wonder where the power of Christian living is and why we don�t see the great movements of Conversion that have occurred in the past, but don�t give thought for a moment that maybe it is because we have not shown the world that our God is worth giving our lives for. When Paul sang about being whipped, I promise it got some people�s attention, just as when a church cancels services for the Super Bowl, IT GETS PEOPLE�S ATTENTION. So where is your zeal? Where is your heart? Matthew 6:21 tells us that where a man�s treasure is there will be his heart. What is your treasure? Is it service for Christ? Or is it something that the world offers? I leave you with the decision. You have heard and now you are responsible. You must now decide whom you will serve.
