Zeal

This week, I did a study on Christian zeal. I sometimes am tempted to base the hotness of zeal on emotional displays. Yet this is not the case. As with joy, the presence of zeal can show forth in emotions but its source is a love of God which is far more than a feel good emotion towards God.  

Although our love of the Lord involves emotions, emotions cannot be used like litmus test to determine our love. God says in John 14:15: "If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” Zeal is a determination, born out of love, to follow the Lord at all costs. It is the opposite of spiritual sloth. The Lord is zealous toward us. His zeal flows out of him into the lives of believers. Any good in us is a fruit of the vine (Christ.)

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise Psalm 51:17

Spirit wrought repentance and godly sorrow is a gift and flows out of a heart that has been made to love the Lord.  Those that are zealous for the Lord repent (Revelation 3:19.) A heart that loves the Lord desires to please him in all things because he first loved us (1 John 4:19.) A believer knows they are wretched and their only hope of righteousness is in the Lord’s atonement for sins. Spirit wrought repentance calls on the Lord for mercy with a broken heart knowing that an offense has been made to the One their soul loves most.

The hymn Rock of Ages, by Augustus Toplady, expresses what repentance looks like in a believer:

Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
let me hide myself in thee;
let the water and the blood,
from thy wounded side which flowed,
be of sin the double cure;
save from wrath and make me pure. 

Not the labors of my hands
can fulfill thy law's demands;
could my zeal no respite know,
could my tears forever flow,
all for sin could not atone;
thou must save, and thou alone.

Nothing in my hand I bring,
simply to the cross I cling;
naked, come to thee for dress;
helpless, look to thee for grace;
foul, I to the fountain fly;
wash me, Savior, or I die. 

While I draw this fleeting breath,
when mine eyes shall close in death,
when I soar to worlds unknown,
see thee on thy judgment throne,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
let me hide myself in thee.

Verse two is a good reminder that emotional displays of sorrow or rigorous law keeping cannot earn the Lord’s favor.  The only sacrifice that atones for our sins is Jesus Christ. He offered himself up for our sake, a worthy Lamb. “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” (1 Peter 2:24)

A heart set free, does offer the sacrifice of a broken and contrite heart but this is a gift from God. It is not a work that can earn us favor before him. By grace we are given eyes to see our nakedness, our helplessness, and foulness before God. By grace we are able to see his everlasting love toward us (Jeremiah 31:3.) By grace we are able to respond to his call and follow him until the end of our earthly pilgrimage.

“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.” Romans 5:8-9

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5

In my study of zeal, I came across this article: The Scent of the Gospel. In the article, Donny Friederichsen writes: “The proper worship of God’s people results in a pleasing aroma and God delights in it.” The article referenced 2 Corinthians 2:15-16. I included verses 14 and 17 below. I had not really noticed this passage, although I’ve read it before so I was very grateful to come across the article referencing it.

But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God's word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ. 2 Corinthians 2:14-17

When we are justified by Christ’s atonement for our sins, the scent of his perfect sacrifice is applied to us. In his article, Friederichsen writes: "Jesus was the proper sacrifice made to cleanse and remove the defilement of the people. And now those who are in Christ carry that same aroma." In thinking upon this, I began thinking upon John 15:5. The scent of Christ can be smelled on us through our fruits. I thought of a sweet smelling orchard. We are branches. He is the vine. He gives us life, and keeps us alive. A branch cannot live without the vine and it cannot bear fruit without the vine; a branch needs the sap of the vine. God’s love redeemed us and his love flows into us through our union with the second person of the Trinity- Jesus Christ.

The zeal of the God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is seen in God’s gift of salvation. Christ submitted himself to his Father’s will in a plan of redemption for mankind, a plan that he carried out with perfect humility. Jesus "emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men." (Philippians 2:7.) Christ’s zeal wasn’t driven by emotional highs. His zeal, as his zeal always is, was driven by love. In thinking of God’s zeal, I thought of him in the Garden of Gethsemane. Although he was in agony and sweat drops of blood knowing his hour had come, his prayer was: “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” (Luke 22:42- 44.) He went to the cross willingly and stayed on the cross until it was finished, until he had borne every drop of God’s wrath for the sins of his people. He then rose after three days, triumphing over the grave and now reigns in heaven at the right hand of his Father. God’s zeal for us has always been and will always be driven by love. God looks upon the Savior’s merits not our own. The Father’s zeal was seen in sending his only begotten Son to die for us. He loved his lost children enough to send his beloved Son to take our place on the cross. We see the Spirit’s zeal in coming to abide in the hearts of sinful men, pointing them to Christ alone for salvation.

God’s zeal will never be swayed by emotions like a man’s. He does not look upon outward appearances but upon the heart (Samuel 16:7.) Only hearts of flesh are acceptable unto God. The hearts of men are made of stone in their natural state. By the power of God in salvation, stony hearts are turned to hearts of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26.) His zeal for our salvation is ever present in our lives. Only by his grace do we have zeal for him. Only by his grace is our zeal for him renewed when we grow cool.

In thinking of zeal in the Christian the following verses came to mind:

He must increase, but I must decrease. John 3:30

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. 
Colossians 2:6-7

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 1 Peter 2:9

Believers are zealous to grow in Christlikeness and mortify the flesh. Christians are not to glory in anything of themselves but in all things we must give God the glory. Those zealous for Christ, walk steadfastly in his ways with a love for God that cannot be broken by hardships and distress, a love that is held intact by the power of God (Romans 8:35-39.) Those around us will smell Christ’s fragrance on us as we proclaim his praises and walk in his ways.

In addition to the article mentioned, another recourse I found very helpful in my study of zeal is this sermon by J.C. Ryle: Christian Zeal. If you have time for further reading, I highly recommend it.