Introduction
1. Well, we have finally come to the end of our Alphabet!!
Tonight, we will study the word “Zeal”..
Zeal in the dictionary...
great energy or enthusiasm in pursuit of a cause...
eagerness...
excitement...
passion...
In the Bible...
Zeal is found in the Bible almost 40 times...
in both the Old and New Testament...
2. But more importantly that how many times zeal is found in Scripture...
is if zeal is found in our hearts!!
Do we have zeal?
Do we have passion for the Lord?...
Illustration:
When he was pastor for the Methodist church in Scarborough,...
William Sangster had an eccentric member who tried to be a zealous Christian.
Unfortunately, the man was a little bit off-center...
He usually did the wrong thing.
He was a barber...
And one time he had lathered up a customer for a shave,...
(this was in the old days when you would get a shave with a strait razor)...
Well, the barber came at him with the poised razor, and asked,
"Are you prepared to meet your God?"...
The man was so scared...
he ran out of the barbershop with the lather on his face!1
3. I want us to be zealous...
But, witnessing like that might not be the most effective way to go about it!!
I would like for us to look at zeal as it appears in Paul’s letter to the Romans...
and Paul will give us some instruction about how to get and keep the zeal for the Lord
Read Text: Romans 12:11-12
1. What:
A. First of all, Paul said, “Never be lacking in Zeal”...
Obviously zeal can ebb and flow...
Sometimes we can be more zealous than others...
Some of you have noticed that I’ve been on a diet...
controlling my weight has been a battle since I was in college...
and it hasn’t always been easy...
When I start out on a diet...
I usually start out being passionate...
zealously keeping to the structure of my diet...
but as time goes on...
I find that my zeal begins to ebb and flow...
The key for me isn’t just being zealous for the first few days of the diet...
the key for me is to KEEP the zeal for the long haul...
when I get discouraged and struggle...
am I just going to throw up my arms and give up...
or am I going to stick with it?...
That’s where I’m at right now...
16 weeks into my diet I am down 46 pounds...
but the last several weeks have been a real struggle...
and there is the temptation to just quit...
But I don’t want to lose what I’ve gained...
B. Well, it’s one thing to lose passion for a diet...
but its another thing altogether to lose passion for the Lord!!...
We don’t want our zeal for the LORD to ebb and flow...
we don’t want to be lacking in our zeal for the Lord...
Illustration
Halford Lucock says, "I was impressed several years ago when I read that Eugene Ormandy dislocated a shoulder while directing the Philadelphia Orchestra. I do not know what they were playing, but he was giving all of himself to it! And I have asked myself sadly, ’Did I ever dislocate anything, even a necktie?’"2
B. Paul says to “Keep your spiritual fervor”...
In Galatians 4:18, Paul also says...
It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good,
and to be so always and not just when I am with you.
And again in 2 TImothy 1:6, Paul says...
I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God,
which is in you through the laying on of my hands.
How do we do that?...
How can we keep our spiritual fervor?
Let me give you another Weight Watchers example...
when I attend the meetings each week...
it helps me get excited about sticking with my diet for another week...
I find if I miss a meeting...
then, I am not as diligent as I should be...
For motivation to maintain our spiritual “diet”...
we need to attend the meetings...
we need to come to church and allow ourselves to be encouraged by one another...
we need to come and hear the pastor speak about some subject relating to maintaining and improving our spiritual walk with the Lord...
Maintaining our spiritual disciplines...
Not only attending the meetings...
but also our prayer life and Scripture reading...
helps us to keep excited about our relationship with the Lord...
C. Paul goes on to say...”never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor...serving the Lord!!”
Serving the Lord helps us to maintain our zeal...
As a Pastor, I am sure that I get much more out of my sermons than the people that listen to them...
All the study, prayer, and preparation that goes into a sermon...
that helps me to get more out of it...
The same is true for a Sunday School Teacher...
they will profess that they get more out of the lesson that they have prayed over and studied than their students!!
The point is that as we DO something in serving the Lord...
we naturally get blessed by it...
When we put feet to our faith...
and we are actively involved in serving the Lord...
that helps us maintain our zeal!
If you find that your zeal isn’t what it should be...
perhaps you need to become more active in serving the Lord!!
2. In Romans 12:12, Paul offers some real practical advice on keeping the spiritual fervor...
A. He writes, “Be joyful in hope”...
As Christians, we have this hope in heaven...
we have the realization that this life is not the end...
there is something more than what this life has for us...
something much better...
If you sense that you relationship with the Lord is cooling off...
perhaps you need to re-read some of the Scriptures about heaven...
Perhaps you need to sing some of our favorite songs about heaven...
It’s not that we want to become “so heavenly minded we are no earthly good” (as the saying goes)...
But when we are struggling...
It is good to get our minds off ourselves...
and meditate upon good things.
B. Paul says, “be patient in affliction”...
This is a tough one...
Often, when we begin to struggle...
when our health begins to falter...
or the health of someone we love...
or our home is in chaos...
our spiritual fervor can be affected...
and we can lose our zeal for the Lord...
But, if we can find strength in God’s Word...
it can help us through those temporary difficulties...
by remembering that they are temporary...
Psalm 30:5 says,
“weeping may remain for a night,
but rejoicing comes in the morning
2 Cor. 4:17 says,
our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us
an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
When we remember that our troubles are “light and momentary”...
and When we realize that if we remain faithful during times of difficulty...
that we will achieve eternity in glory...
and that will make our afflictions seem like pretty small potatoes...
And while that realization doesn’t take our afflictions away...
hopefully, that realization will help us to be patient in the face of our difficulties.
C. And finally, Paul says, “Be Faithful in Prayer”
Prayer is the means of access to Almighty God...
if you have found that your zeal is not what it should be...
perhaps you need to take another look at your prayer life...
are you spending time each day in prayer and communion with God?...
That time spent with God each day has a way of reinvigorating us...
it fans the flames of our spiritual desire...
it helps us keep our spiritual fervor.
Conclusion
1. Well,
We’ve gone through the entire alphabet...
The ABCs and XYZs of the Bible...
I have endeavored to focus on positive, encouraging words from the Bible...
and I trust that this study has been encouraging to you...
and, I would encourage you to continue to find continued sustenance and encouragement from God’s Word!
1 W. Wiersbe, Wycliffe Handbook of Preaching & Preachers, p. 215.
2 Progress Magazine, December 31, 1992.
