Title: Right zeal, wrong zeal
Contents
title ; Right zeal Wrong zeal
main text ; Romans 10:2-3
I read this article while browsing online nursing homes.
"I don't know what to say, but... My father fell in love with the church too badly. When I see it, it's like this, but how would the people around me be terrified? All my relatives hate my father. Is there any way to fix this? It's really painful. At night. I have to listen to sermons that I don't want to give up... It's really ridiculous when I hear it. Satan says what's going on... I feel so sorry for my father! And I hate the church so much. I collect donations while preaching that I shouldn't. .. When you do something, give it a donation... When you do something, give an offering... There are a lot of types of donations. They collect them on Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday. Anyone who knows how to get out of the church, please teach me. .. Personally, I would appreciate it if you could send me a message. Then stop..."
Everyone, when we use the word 'fanatic' in English, we use the word 'fanatic'. In other words, it is a word used to refer to a religious person who is ignorant and zealous without being based on God's Word of truth.
Of course, it is by no means that the father mentioned in the preceding article is a fanatic. Rather, if you read this article, the son doesn't understand well about the father who believes in God, so he says, "My father is a fanatic!" And I think I'm mistaken.
In particular, there are those who think that Pentecostal and Full Gospel members are too fanatical from other denominations. However, a distinction must be made between fanatical zeal, false zeal, and right zeal based on the truth.
In other words, it is not the right attitude to accuse everyone of being fanatical just because they are zealous for God. Rather, showing zeal based on the truth is the Lord's great pleasure, and we should serve the Lord with zeal.
Guys, what exactly is passion? In English, we use the word 'enthusiasm' when we use the word 'zeal'. Analyzing this word, it is en (in: in) + theos (God). In other words, those who have God in them are those who have real zeal. On the other hand, zeal that goes beyond the will of God is not true zeal.
I also delivered the sermon last week at the Wednesday worship service, saying, "Do not be lazy in diligence, be zealous and serve the Lord" (Romans 12:11). For us believers, 'zeal' is a very necessary and good virtue.
But while there is right zeal in zeal, there is also wrong zeal. And that wrong zeal can ruin everything and cause even greater wounds and sorrow.
There is a saying in our proverb, "You stand next to a tough guy and you're struck by lightning." In other words, a person with false zeal also harms those around him. Therefore, we must cast away such false zeal and live a life of faith serving the Lord with true and right zeal. So, what is wrong zeal?
This is what today's text says. “I testify that they were zealous for God, but not according to knowledge; they did not know the righteousness of God, and, seeking to establish their own, did not submit to the righteousness of God” (Romans 10:2-3). Rather, it is a warning that he is paying more attention to his zeal for himself.
American Dr. Bonner had a dream one day. An angel appeared in a dream and said that he would weigh Dr. Bonner's zeal on a scale. Dr. Bonner was delighted to say that his zeal had been recognized by God and the angels. But the angel speaks. "Your zeal is 100 geun."
Upon hearing this, Dr. Bonner was delighted, as he felt heaviness in his heart. But the angel soon analyzed and showed the content of his zeal. Dr. Bonner's zeal was 100 Geun, of which 50 was selfish zeal, 25 was zeal used to build a faction, 22 was zeal for his own honor, and only 3 keun was genuine zeal for God.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are well aware of the zeal of the Jews in the days of Jesus. In particular, the zeal of the Pharisees to keep the law was remarkable. And even today, Jews are still zealous for keeping the law. But the problem was that that passion was the wrong passion. The more they had passion and zeal for God, the more they moved away from God's will.
They rejected Jesus because of their zeal for God, and ultimately committed the death of Jesus on the cross. And in the days of Jesus, there were people called Zealots among the Jews, who were so zealous for God that they did not hesitate to kill people.
That is, their zeal was not based on the knowledge of God. In other words, the Jews of Jesus' day were people who had ignorant zeal without knowledge and false zeal, which caused many difficulties in spreading the gospel.
On the other hand, today there are many people who have knowledge but are not zealous. It's good to be zealous for God based on what you know, but you don't show zeal, you just turn your head and try to play tricks.
It is a problem to be zealous without proper knowledge, but it is also a problem to have knowledge but not zeal. In other words, we can have good faith in God's sight only when passion based on right knowledge is harmonized together.
Take the case of cults and cults. Their zeal is truly terrifying. Especially, in the case of Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses, the passion for evangelizing in pairs is truly remarkable. But we are wary of their zeal because the truth about God's Word is distorted in it.
Everyone, let's say that someone bought a piano with a desperate desire to play it. And he played the piano passionately. However, he had never learned to play the piano, and he was completely ignorant of the piano. I was just playing the piano with passion.
Of course, it may sound pretty good to you, but the person who hears the dissonance starts to get annoyed. And hearing such a sound makes it even hotter on a hot day. No matter how passionately that person loves the piano and how passionately he plays the piano, if he does not learn it properly, he will not be able to create beautiful music.
In other words, it is only when zeal is accompanied by correct knowledge that it looks good, and good works can be produced. The same is true of the religious life. You can become a good Christian only if you have right zeal based on the right truth.
Let's think about this again. There was a young man who desperately wanted to drive a car. But the young man did not have a driver's license and did not know how to drive. What would happen if you just sit in the driver's seat with a desperate desire to drive, start the car and drive? It will certainly injure and kill many people.
In other words, even those who are determined to live a life that is in harmony with God's heart and who want to believe in earnest must have their passion based on the knowledge of the Bible and also fit the church order. Passion without proper knowledge risks ruining one's future, hindering the blessing of one's family, destroying the order of the church, and eventually breaking God's will and becoming an instrument of Satan.
Gentlemen, we must be wary of false zeal without knowledge. Of course, zeal itself should not be criticized and denied. When we exercise right zeal based on right knowledge, our faith will grow beautifully, our homes and churches will grow beautifully, and the Lord will be greatly pleased.
And I pray in the name of the Lord that you will always ask for the help of the Holy Spirit, who inspires us with a burning passion based on the right knowledge of God.