ZEAL WITHOUT KNOWLEDGE

“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. It is fine to be zealous provided the purpose is good, and to be so always, not just when I am with you. My dear children, for whom I am again in travail in the pains of childbirth until Christ be formed in you, how I wish I could be with you now and change my tone because I am perplexed about you.” Galatians 4:17-20.

Bull’s eye! Paul hit the nail on the head.

Those who were going behind his back, teaching the new converts that they had to become Jews in order to be Christians had a hidden agenda. They were more concerned about being right so that people would follow them rather than following Jesus. Just like the Pharisees who were constantly in contention with Jesus over the interpretation of the Torah because they wanted to dominate people, so these men were trying to draw new believers to themselves by alienating them from Paul.

We have to ask the question: Was Paul doing what they were doing – attaching people to himself rather than to Jesus? No, a thousand times! It was always his passion to point people to Jesus – he never gave up on his fiery contention for the completeness of Jesus’ work on the cross for salvation. He could not bear for a moment to take anyone away from absolute loyalty to Jesus and absolute confidence in His finished work.

“When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” 1 Corinthians 2:1b-2.

Paul’s passion for Jesus was so strong that he felt as though he was in labour, travailing for these beloved spiritual babies like a mother about to give birth. He felt the pain in his heart like a woman feels labour pains in her body. What was his passion? That Christ be formed in them. What did that mean?

The gospel of Jesus Christ is ultimately about God’s plan to have a family of sons and daughters who resemble His Son. Jesus came to earth to reveal the Father and to reconcile us to the Father so that we can be restored to Him as His children. Living under rules and regulations defeats His purpose because those who do that are acting like slaves and not like God’s children. They are more concerned about trying to be perfect and win the Father’s approval (and never succeeding) than about relating to the Father in love because they are already His children.

It is a good thing to be zealous, “But,” said Paul, “zeal for the wrong reasons is worse than no zeal at all.” Religion makes people zealous for doing wrong things, even evil things, like murdering those who do not subscribe to their beliefs, even if they murder their own family members. How can ruthlessly killing someone who has the right to choose what to believe, ever be right, just because your god says you must?

Zeal, like sincerity, that is misplaced, is dangerous. Zeal for the one true God demands that we always do the right thing according to God’s nature.  He gave every person the right to choose, whether we choose to do right or wrong and He jealously guards and honours that right even if our choices destroy us. God never uses force or coercion. He tells us the truth and appeals to our minds to think and choose what is true and right.

Everything God does for us and to us is governed by His love for us. He is always nudging us towards Jesus because He is the model of a true and perfect son. When we are joined to Jesus by the Holy Spirit through faith and obedience, He can change us from the inside to become like His son so that we can be fashioned into a family of people who are one with Him and with Jesus.

The Holy Spirit in us replaces God’s demand that we obey the rules. He leads us from within if we listen to Him. He is Jesus’ personal representative, always guiding us towards Jesus and into the truth about Him and about ourselves. He is like a mother-figure who tenderly nurtures us, feeds us, teaches, and corrects us in order to produce the family likeness in us so that we will wear the family name with honour and integrity.

We are not slaves; we are sons.

Acknowledgement

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.