ZEAL – Part 1 – What Is Zeal?
Passage:
“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you to not think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith God assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually member of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them; if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.”
Intro:
Zeal: wholehearted surrender and fierce devotion to God rooted in the Gospel.
I want to talk about three important aspects of Zeal and what they look like in the life of a believer –
- Zeal always starts with the gospel.
- Zeal is a posture of wholehearted surrender to God.
- Zeal is a verb that compels fierce devotion.
Let’s look at that first one here –
Zeal always starts with the gospel.
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship
The first thing I want to direct your attention toward is the word therefore –
What “therefore” reveals is that Zeal – always starts with the gospel.
Zeal is a posture of wholehearted surrender to God:
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship
one of the most interesting phrases in this verse is that phrase “living sacrifice”
- in another place Paul says “do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
What you surrender to – what you give your life to – is where you will find your zeal.
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
- Zeal is not just a posture of surrender to God – but it’s a mindset of submission to God to be renewed by Him. so that we make decisions that advance his kingdom rather than ours.
Zeal is not about making decisions that make my kingdom bigger or my kingdom come – or what I define as good and acceptable and perfect, Zeal is about valuing God’s opinion and God’s heart so much that the decisions we make focus primarily on making God’s kingdom come – that lines up with God’s definition of good and acceptable and perfect!
Zeal is a verb that compels us to fierce devotion
For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you to not think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith God assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them; if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.”
Paul says that the natural response is that we step into the mission of serving Christ with all of our might in the places that he has gifted us to serve.