To Be Zealous
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
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Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable forces? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you.
I know it has been a little while now since we continued our study through the letter to the Galatians but for this Sunday and Next Sunday we are going to be back in it. In the last sermon we laid out the theology behind Justification by Faith and the gifts that come with being part of the family of God. This week is going to be a tougher teaching as we look towards the concerns that Paul had for the Galatians and I think you will see that these concerns that Paul had for Galatians are same concerns we need to have today.
So let us go back to verses 8 and 9
Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable forces? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?
One of the most dangerous tactics from the enemy and one of the dangerous effects of sin is that people do not realize they are slaves to it. You cannot know the full extent of how deeply sin has gone through your system until you know the full freedom of Jesus Christ. Especially when the culture at large touts such as actions as being free. It can be very confusing, I will admit to that but that is the very reason why we must cling to the Word of God with everything that we have because of this very tactic. Even when we are known by God people can fall away, people can return to sin or return to their worship of false gods. It can happen to any one of us. I want to show you just a couple of examples through the Biblical history where people despite miracles turned back to what they knew before God.
When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”
Here in the Exodus story, the people of Israel were set free from slavery. There were guiding out of Egypt by God , they saw miracle after miracle. Yet when Moses left to go to the top of Mount Sinai, what happened? They decided they needed a golden calf. They decided they need a new god. This is important that Moses is gone when this happens. While they complain and almost rebel a few times. It is when the leader is gone that they turn back to idolatry. I think this is very important part of the story. They would not have suggested this had Moses been there. By the way Moses was getting the 10 commandments from God. 10 simple commandments that would revolutionize the world and be the basis for conduct for an inconceivable amount of people. To make this parallel to the Galatians, it is after Paul leaves that they start to fall away. We must strengthen our own faith, we must study the Bible, we must pray to God. We must put Jesus first, we cannot rely on other people for our own faith. It must be ours and then in community we learn more and we worship together.
Let us look at another example
So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.”
Now appoint us a king such as all the other nations have. Now here is the very sad part of that statement. Israel was never supposed to be like all the other nations. They had what is called a theocracy. Which means a government that is run by God. Hindsight is always 20/20 but I bet they wish they made a different choice that day. Samuel is old and because his sons weren’t like him. They decided their only choice was to be like the other people. Israel’s faith wasn’t based on God, it was based on Samuel. The dangerous of being like the world are more prevalent than we think.
Let us look from the New Testament for one more example.
When John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”
Should we expect someone else. John the Baptist who a few verses later in this came chapter Jesus would call the greatest of those born from a woman. He questioned. He needed to make sure that he got it right with Jesus. Doubt can creep in and it can spread through your life like a virus. John the Baptist was in prison and would soon be beheaded for speaking against the king. In those dark moments, he questioned.
I want to share a quote from C.S. Lewis on this notion of being half-hearted
“It would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” — C.S. Lewis
This is why John the Apostle is so very staunch about the difference between the world and those who follow Jesus in his letters. Now what is the difference between the Old Testament examples and John the Baptist. John went to the source of all knowledge for answers.. What happened to those in the Exodus story? Many never saw the promised land. Israel would break into two nations. John the Baptist, though he doubted never strayed away from Jesus. That is why the most important question you can ask yourself isn’t how deep is your faith. It is how powerful do you believe God to be? Who is Jesus ? You must go to the source. You must go to God for these answers. Here was Jesus’s answer to John the Baptist
Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.”
The blind can see, people can walk. The good news is proclaimed. This is the lion of Judah that came to set us free from those that wish to keep us trapped in our sins and bondage. This is what we must keep on our hearts at all times. If Jesus did not set me free, I have no idea what my life would look like right now. Do I fit in with the world? Not particularly. But I follow Jesus and Jesus never fit in with the world.
I want to make one quick observation about verse 10 in Galatians
You are observing special days and months and seasons and years!
It would be easy to think that this doesn’t apply to us anymore. What Paul was talking about in these verses was the Mosaic calendar and the traditional Jewish holy days that they had put into place. When you have a few minutes on your hands I would encourage you to look the vast amount of specials days and months that this country observes now. To be honest, I never really noticed until the last couple of years with Rowan in school and the amount of days he didn’t have to go to school. However it is much bigger than just school days. It is things like special days and months that go unnoticed and creep into people’s lives pulling them away from God.
We move into the main point of the sermon today.
Galatians 4:16–17 (NIV)
Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth? Those people are zealous to win you over, but for no good. What they want is to alienate you from us, so that you may have zeal for them.
When the truth becomes the enemy, then we are in trouble. This does not mean that the truth is not hard or difficult to hear. It does not mean the truth will make our lives easier. We have a serious problem in our society with telling the truth. It is a widespread problem. The Galatians were moving back towards mosaic law because telling the truth was a problem in their society. This isn’t new what we are experiencing in our time. It maybe faster because of the way we can send communication but it is the same game by the enemy. To distort the Word of God and pull you away. I want to be very clear about this truth is not subjective. You cannot have your truth and I have my truth, that defeats the very definition of the word. There is only one truth and that is the Word of God.
Let us look at the definition of zealous
Zealous: Showing great energy or enthusiasm in pursuit of a cause or objective.
This is a great word for a lot of what is happening in culture today. When notice another thing in the both Old Testament examples and here again in Galatians, the leader is gone and it is people that come in with false teachings. Never once has God led anyone astray. It is always people that lead other people astray. Particularly when it comes to the Word of God people have always and will always try to find loopholes and anything else to dull the edge that is the double sword of God.
The problem is not being zealous, the problem is what we are zealous about
It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good, and to be so always, not just when I am with you.
Provided the purpose is good. We need to be zealous about Jesus, we need to embody and live out the teachings of Jesus in our daily lives. We need to get excited. Let us look at what Jesus calls us
“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
These are the words of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Savior that has set us free. This is what He thinks of you. My question is , Do we see ourselves this way? Do you see yourself as the light of the world? Do you see this church as the light of the world? We need the light in this world. It is dark out there. These are some of the verses that the church at large needs to start to embody again. We all pray for revival and we should. But revival starts right here and right now we each one of us. It starts when we are not half-hearted in the way we live our lives. It starts that we have full belief that the Lion of Judah is the only person that can truly set us free. He is the only person that can set us on the right path.
It is good to be zealous about Jesus and to be that way all the time. It is especially good to be that way even in our own private lives when no one is leading or watching us. Because the truth is that the God is always leading and watching us. This is what Israel got wrong. It wasn’t Samuel that was leading the nation, it was God. It wasn’t Moses that was leading , it was God.
I spent a lot of years not letting God do the leading. I thought I knew better. The very truth of the matter is that I didn’t know better. I thank God every day and in every prayer for His grace because without it , I would be lost in the wilderness still. We look at John the Baptist and we see his doubt for a moment. But the difference between John the Baptist and the other examples. John took his questions to the source. He took his questions to Jesus and Jesus answered. There will be times when you question and times when you doubt. Who gives wisdom to all those who ask? Go to God with those doubts and questions. Do not waver in your pursuit of God.
There will be times in your life where you will wander , there will be times in your life when it seems like the whole world has turned their back on God. I wish I could say that they will change but I fear we are heading into darker times to be honest. But I want to close with another verse from Jesus that I want us all to write on our hearts.
Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
Thomas asks such an important question. How can we know the way? Jesus is the way
Let us pray