Zeal

Tonight we have the privilege of hearing Ben Peterson bring the fire. That's all the honor Ben. Yay! She's eager to eat a crunch.

That's my order. She's eager to eat a crunch. You get the nacho sauce, add the fire sauce, mix it together, dunk. That's it.

Thanks for coming. We've been in a little bit of like a flamethrower series. We've been talking about what Christian teachers throughout the ages and theologians and disciples they call it spiritual formation. That's some of the vein that we've been in the last couple of weeks as we're talking about, okay, but how do I actually follow God?

I love hearing the stories about what he did. I love hearing about who he is. Those things are incredible and will always be incredible, but there's a specific vein called spiritual formation that kind of asks that question, so then how do I live? Right?

So we've been kind of in that zone as we've been looking at, man, following Jesus looks a lot like laying down your entitlements and like giving up offense. It's about actually choosing to take on his portion as opposed to my own and there's these things we've been talking about. And it's kind of a guide through all of it. We've been looking with seriousness at the passage where Jesus says that in the last days, the love of many will grow cold.

And we're going, oh, Father, I don't want to cold heart. Like, would you teach me how to keep my heart burning? And my hope is that that's not just up here, but that there's been moments in the last couple of weeks where you've actually felt that like, oh, that's there's sometimes, you know, not to get all spiritual, but you know how like Romans says, there's like, groaning is too deep for words. And there's like times where you're just like, we just like feel it, you know?

Hopefully you've felt something like that. Maybe you haven't, or maybe this is your first time and you're like, wait, what did you guys talk about? But I'm hoping that you have something in your life you can look back on where it's like, your heart is like, like you feel it. There's a desire in you.

It's not just like that's cool information. It's actually moved to your heart. Here's the word picture that I'm going to use and we'll reference this a lot tonight, but it's like the embers of a fire, right? The coals down out of fire.

I love making bonfires in my backyard. Just a fire guy. Just love it. And so my wife and I will put the kids down and then we'll grab a warm drink of something.

I'm hot chocolate. She's tea. We'll sit outside and we'll have a bonfire and I love sitting by the fire. But what I started doing, my kids love bonfires, but they can't stay up late enough for it to be nighttime.

So we'll start it after they go down. But I'll put a big log on the fire right before we head in for the night. And that log just slowly burns all night. And by the time you wake up in the morning, you come out and it looks like it's all just ash.

It's like white and black and it looks like the fire's out. But I'll take my kids and we'll, again, warm drink coffee this time. And I'll go out and we'll put some like sticks and leaves on what looks like a dead fire. And I'll go, and you see it start to glow.

And what was black and white is now like red and orange and burning. That's what it feels like. That's the word picture of like this when your heart starts to like warm up and the cold starts to burn a little bit. We want to name that tonight.

We want to talk about that tonight. That's called zeal. We're going to talk about zeal tonight where you feel the colds in your heart start to heat up, starts to glow a little bit. Okay, so if you've heard me teach you know that I love the nuts and bolts and the practicals and let's take complex things and make them simple and that might happen tonight on accident.

But my goal tonight is to come in like Coach Ben. Okay, so coaches can get away with stuff that normal people can't because they're your coach and you're like I know he's on my team so he can get away with that. Normally I'd be enraged and want to fight him but that's okay in this context because he's my coach. I ran track in high school not well but I ran track in high school and I ran the 800 which is the word yeah okay it's the worst because it's two laps around the track.

Okay so you can't sprint because the human body can't sprint that long but you can't really take it easy because then you're going to get lapped and so you have to find that like perfect balance of going as hard as you can but with summer strength and it's awful and I wasn't good at it and I'd round the last curve like a penguin just like like not doing well and my my coach my coach would be running next to me faster than me because I was dying but he's just like screaming at me as he's running next to me and if you've been in track you've probably seen this the coach is just like lit up. You got a coach you got a kid you got a gun you're like ahhhhhh there's just like this moment where you're like trying at your heart and the coach is just kind of getting after you very inappropriate in like a Starbucks line or anywhere else in the world but but in that moment you're like oh he's a good coach so my hope is to step into coach Ben mode a little bit and so so if you know me you know that I love you and I love pastoring people and I'm known for being so kind of shepherding and if I say something that feels a little sharp here as a coach not as the accuser okay okay great we're talking about zeal we're talking about zeal tonight turn in your Bible to Romans 12 we're talking about spiritual formation right read Romans 12 like that's it's it's Paul's kind of simplified version of here's how you follow God he each sentence is like could be a sermon series or like you could write your doctorate on each sentence because it's so rich but he's just kind of laying out the ground rules if here's what it looks like to be a faithful consistent follower of Jesus Romans 12 verse 11 what my version says is don't be lacking in zeal but be fervent in spirit as you serve the Lord your version might not say zeal but I looked up the the Greek and it's the word zeal it's zeal he's talking about zeal don't be lacking in zeal but be fervent in spirit there's this intensity there's this thing that Paul's saying don't don't let that coal go down don't be lacking in zeal stoke it stay hot right it's a mark of those that follow Jesus and coach Ben here okay we we as a community find ourselves in a spot where if I'm honest I look at it and I go I I think that we are for most of us in our lives we're leaning into wisdom at the expense of zeal and those two things are both godly and both good so hear me out okay it's like we're standing on a seesaw right in the middle and there's zeal and there's wisdom and you're trying to find the right balance you're just like this is what I've observed as people follow Jesus there's a tension there right because you'll read the Bible and one day you're reading and it's like sell everything you have and give to the poor and you're like okay like the zeal of the Lord starts coming I don't even know why we have a car like like what are we doing you know there's like zeal mode and then the next day you're reading in Proverbs and you're like oh wait a second now it's not talking about stewardship and it's talking about like the man who doesn't provide for his family's worst and unbeliever and you're like oh babe take it off craigslist car's thing and we're just trying to find the balance right it feels like zeal and wisdom compete sometimes right like can we just admit like I'm just gonna I'm just gonna drop out of like I was playing I go into college but I love God so much and the way that I know how to do that I'm gonna drop out of college but I'm gonna let go of this scholarship and I'm gonna run and do a like mission school I'm gonna do something like wild and crazy and it's like awesome go for it that's good you can find a ton of verses in a bunch of situations where that's the right thing and then there's this other thing that goes like man God's called me to be a doctor and you have to go to a lot of school to be a doctor and my mom and dad are not on board with this decision there's all these verses about honoring your mother and father and it's like well and so we're trying to find the balance between zeal and wisdom and I feel like the Lord has kind of helped me understand this by saying it's two sides of the same sword or like the machete is you're going through the like the tall grass I don't know the brush that you're like trying to follow God and you're just like and both sides need to be sharp zeal and wisdom if you have all wisdom but no zeal you're dead inside and if you have all wait what I'm saying wisdom if you don't have one or the other it's it's not you're not alive on the inside because if you're just all zeal no wisdom then it's like then your your blade is just like wounding people constantly and if you're all wisdom and no zeal then you're you're not swinging hard enough you're not gonna get through like you need both we need both but I think that for most of us we're in a point where we need to sharpen the zeal side we need to to um to ask dangerous questions and do dangerous things for the Lord because we've we've so hunkered in to good wisdom but wisdom has become a safeguard against risk and um and against extravagance and so we we want to talk about zeal tonight um but before we do um just want to just want to have us just pause because the overarching thing of tonight is that I can't make you zealous there's nothing I can say that's going to be good enough or persuasive enough that you leave with actual zeal on your heart that's God's job God needs to be the one that breathes on your heart and so I might pause intermittently and have us just interact with him um I just want us to ask ourselves which side of my sword is sharper right now? Zealer wisdom what do I find myself using more what's that sharper go ahead and just ask yourself that it's not even asking the Lord just do an audit of your life awesome so if if you realize that your zeal side needs a little sharpening lean in that's what tonight's for okay um I have been all over the map on the zeal wisdom spectrum um but I just kind of naturally personality wise have leaned a little more naturally on the like expressive zeal side like growing up I was in a faith tradition that was not super expressive but I like I loved God like I really loved God and so I was the bold one that would raise his hands or like I was the first one to pray out loud in the small group setting like uh what's the meat you have to like pull thing see you have to pull that's it praying outside your public school like a radical and and I was like I was like the first one like like so it's like wow in that context it's like whoa Ben is fired up um and like genuinely loved God um and then through a crazy set of circumstances found myself in a YWAM DTS a discipleship training school in Kona Hawaii with this group called fire and fragrance and didn't realize I've been dropped into like the bubbling cauldron of zeal um but when I got dropped in there I was like it was like I got saved all over again so I'm like wait a second God talks today to me hold on you're telling me that I can that I can hear you're telling people get healed are you kidding but I didn't know any of it and I got lit up for God and the zeal monster was let off the chain I I was in a context that like celebrated like be passionate for God go wild for Jesus I'm like are you sure and I went I went ballistic I was a one-man mosh bit during worship I it's like everyone singing how great is our God by christon when and I'm just like just raging at the time I um I had dreadlocks I put them in quotes because I looked like a palm tree more than it like looking cool I found the picture on facebook at the zeal monster do we have that one there he is Ben Ben Ben strong palm tree vibes um on on the rights I'm sure that I was like singing let it rain in the public park as loud as I could like just going for it um yeah that guy okay we can get rid of that if you want um yeah that guy was just like unleashed and during like prayer times I was like oh it's time to pray like I didn't pray quiet prayers and it's like all right we need someone to bless the food Jesus oh father we thank you for this but I just like fired up constantly I was uh like I said I had found out that God spoke and I was like this is the craziest thing in the world so if anything has legs I'm about to prophesy over it like anything with legs I you get a word and you get a word and you get a word and it's like oh you don't have legs I found out he heals come on come on come on over and I was like I was just I was unleashed and an absolute nightmare to disciple probably but just like zeal zeal zeal zeal zeal right I had a buddy with a hurt knee in one ministry night I just get like and I like move over and I'm like you're gonna heal tonight he's like okay um and I was convinced it was the Lord and I had this talk in my head um the story where Jesus spits in the dirt and that's how he heals him yeah there so there there wasn't any dirt around we were inside so I had enough self-awareness and self-retection to ask him I'm like hey I'm supposed to spit on your knee and he was like okay and so just right there the palm tree just spits on him and and like be healed in the David Jesus just fiery prayer didn't get healed but it was great um and and I would like I but guys here's the thing like we're all laughing and I'm laughing because it's funny but it's like I I was lit up on Jesus I was like he's real like you couldn't stop me because he was real and I knew it and I was in Hawaii at the time right and so on the weekend it's like there's a beach 200 yards that way in Hawaii and my friends would go and after spending four hours a day in the house of prayer because I was part of our like discipleship school four hours a day that week I'd be like I just want to be in the prayer room you guys go to the beach I'll be here just just burning right Friday night so I'll go and get ice cream I'm like who's not for worship time and I just just four cords and not much else but like it was it was genuine it was so immature and it was so um it was I'm sure there was pride in it that was just like loved being noticed I'm sure there was something that liked being the culture setter I'm sure there was things I was trying to gain acceptance for sure because I was 18 and it's like I'm immature but there was something genuine in that there was something in it where I look back at that and in spite of the that that we saw I'm like man what if like oh that was that was good there's something good about it something sharp about it and I remember times of just like opening up the Bible I remember one night I don't know I didn't share this in the first I remember one night I was reading through Romans at like you know 10 30 at night I'm in the prayer room with a bunch of other hippies with you know all their hemp necklaces and whatever like I had and we're and I'm reading and I got to Romans 5 where it talks about like God's grace and I just like bawled my eyes out like didn't care that it was quiet there's no one else in the room was completely unconcerned that I was disrupting everybody just like like couldn't contain it bawling because I'm like has anyone ever read this before like I was just like bonfire right and so I I share all that to say that that's that's a part of my it's a part of my history and a part of of what's in there and also I I then got married and had a job and had kids and got a mortgage and like life happened and what I've realized is that that that zeal side that was so sharp that was it was far too sharp and was wounding a lot of people probably had started to get started to get dull and if you would have known me 10 years ago it'd be like anybody but Ben would probably flame out but like Ben's gonna be this way forever because I was just so zealous and then if I stop and look at the last 10-12 years I'm like huh that wisdom side sure got sharp and it was really good and there's a lot of maturity that came in there's a ton of like discipleship and a lot of a lot of good but the zeal side's a little bit dull and so I've been stirred up to just kind of say man I don't I don't want to be 50 60 70 and accidentally find that I've got a cold heart because I didn't intentionally lean into cultivating zeal in my life and so when you look at the like the word zeal in both Hebrew and Greek it's it's tied to the word picture of something on fire it's tied to burning and so if you're trying to say like is zeal just like mosh pit dancing or like what does zeal look like it's like zeal is what we talked about when we started it's that inner flame that just starts to rumble a little bit that's like I'm I'm feeling it right zeal is an emotion but it's an emotion that's intrinsically tied to a goal okay so zeal says that that's what I want target identified and then we move that's that's what zeal is it's fervency intensity passion it's these different words that you can use but it's the it's the grit it's the lean in it's the push through the obstacles thing that's what zeal is and it's different than hunger okay so let's talk about this really really quick hunger is what we talked about earlier like I've identified that there's a lack I've identified that there's more that I'm not where I could be that's what that hunger identifies that okay and that's the catalyst because if you think that you're full you're never going to go after anything so come to the hunger conference get lit up with hunger because there's always more but zeal isn't just I'm hungry zeal is the wolf in the woods who's hungry who starts to like stalk around a little bit and is like I'm gonna get fed tonight and like wolves will live my son is really an animal so if you have any questions on wolves give me a read him up one one wolf has a territory like 16 miles and it just prowls around and it's just like a hunting machine and it's not just hunger it's like whatever it takes however long I have to wait here however long I have to stop however long I have to okay now pause and now sprint and not but all I know is I'm about to eat it's that it's a pursuit okay so that's that's zeal and then for more definition we can look to God because how many of you know that God has zeal in him there's an aspect of God that is burning that's like it's sometimes translated like jealous or it's like like there's this part of God that's burning and I think I mean just observation it seems like Isaiah had a specific window into God as like the zealous one because it pops up in his book a lot um let me read some of these okay Isaiah 9 verse 7 you know the first part of the verse of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end upon the throne of David and over his kingdom to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward even forever then the zeal of the lord of hosts will perform this he's not passively going justice judgment increase kingdom there's like a burning it's like the zeal of God is what's going to make this happen because he's jealous here's what's gonna happen right Isaiah 42 13 the lord goes out like a mighty man like a man of war he stirs up his zeal let this break your brain a little bit what does it look like for God Almighty to stir up his zeal holy smokes makes me think like Psalm 18 right where it's like like the lord thundered from on high lightning was his arrows it's like there's an intensity god it's the classic aslan line right I think I quote chronicles of narnia so much when I teach um but it's like is he safe no but he's good but he's not safe right there's just like like there's like rumbling thundering lightning fire god Isaiah 59 the lord wrapped himself in zeal as with a cloak it's intentional he's like putting on zeal and then when I say god has zeal most of us probably thought that was the story in john two where jesus walks into the temple and starts flipping tables because it's desecrating his father's house and his disciples look at him and say this is what david wrote about in Psalm 69 zeal for your house has consumed me how many of you know that there's a lot of really good wisdom that would say do not flip tables in the temple but we need to be provoked by the fact that that god in the flesh at certain times found it appropriate to just go a little buck wild okay so we need to let that kind of like stoke us up a little bit because we don't for most of us we don't understand zeal zeal is um gimme on this most of us would have a negative connotation when we think of zeal we would think it's either immaturity or like a like a aggressive legalism but like if I say the word zealot negative connotation for most of us maybe it just makes us kind of navyon but like most of us would have like a negative view towards like zealous we think of it as immaturity where it's like well you just need to grow out of that thing so dear sweet sister just got saved and look at her dance freely up in the front oh sweetie that's so precious and in the back your head going and then life's gonna hit you and then you're gonna grow up and you'll eventually be just like me guy just gets encountered by the love of god he met jesus and he's like my life is different he's telling all of his friends about jesus and you're like keep it up and there's this subtle condescension that's like yeah zeal is kind of how it starts but just don't get too excited we don't understand zeal we we have so leaned on the side of wisdom and maturity that we've made zeal less than or we think of it like the Pharisees where it's like this zealous angry like do the thing and it's about the box and you have to fit in the box and if you're not in the box and I tell you you're not in the box I remember rebuking all of my friends in the zeal monster mode when they were watching some movie and I think that there was maybe like a kissing scene or something it was like a PG movie and I was like are you kidding me and walked out just like just like just like wow okay that's an example of like you've gone to like that's not that doesn't sound like love that sounds more angry that sounds more rigid that so we think of zeal and we think of either being immature or like wounding people and so we go I don't want to I'm just gonna mature past it for most of us and so what I want to do is just talk about those two things specifically where we call zeal immature or we'd call it like this aggressive legalism I want to kind of take that apart and say here's yes that can be the case or it can not be the case so hear me out on this okay I'd say for most of us we think of zeal as being like somehow immature so I'll start there there's a story in second kings chapter 10 but a guy named Jehu just sounds like a zeal monster Jehu Jehu was a commander in King Ahab's army okay so he was working for the king as a member of the military he was a warrior what he did was he fought people he killed people he was a warrior and at this time in Israel's history there was a lot of bad stuff going on Ahab and Jezebel were in charge and they're like generational bad guys they're not just like they're they don't do good stuff it's like they're the boss at the end of the video game bad guys Ahab and Jezebel and God's like had enough we're doing this right now I love them they're being led astray into bail worship this is garbage let's do something he taps a few people and gives him assignments Jehu's one of the people God taps and he says Jehu I want you to go and rid the nation of bail get rid of every trace of Ahab and Jezebel it's a desecration zeal monster Jehu who is a warrior by trade goes yes and amen and just goes crazy and if you read the story like Jehu just goes completely like freight train just slaughters just like goes nuts and he's he's like there's one scene where he pretends to be a bail worshiper and says I want all the prophets of bail to come and like tricks him into like meet something that just kills him all just like going like nuts okay there's this there's this story where he's riding in his chariot on his war path and there's a random citizen off to the side and he's like maybe this guy's got to go and so he's reveals over challenges this guy says no I'm not I'm not like I'm on your side and the quote from Jehu in the bible is come and see my zeal for the lord brings him up puts him in the chariot and continues on his war path there's this really he's zealous and he knows that he wants you to see it but he's doing what God said he's actually that was his assignment and so when it's all said and done the nation is actually freed up from Ahab and Jezebel and God validates Jehu and says you did what I asked for then Jehu becomes king and here's the summary of Jehu's kingship in the same chapter 2nd Kings 10 verse 31 but Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the lord there were other false gods there were golden calves that were still up in Bethel and some other spot I can't remember there was like there's still like some pagan stuff going on there was still unrighteousness and Jehu didn't touch it because he's like ah did my job I love the warrior stuff man it was the word of the lord just matched up perfectly isn't he kind to just use me in my giftings and I'm a warrior and use me as a warrior and I'm all in on that but then walking in the law of the lord oh that's a lot of rules don't really eh and suddenly that zeal that was so fiery hot you don't see it anymore reminds me of the story the parable of the sower sowing seeds and there's one seed that falls on stony soil and it receives the word with joy and shoots up but then there's no real root to it so withers and dies so can zeal be immature absolutely can it be something that in some way kind of gratifies ourselves and we're doing the right thing or even being obedient but there's not a real depth of maturity to it absolutely God gives you a word to be wild in worship and you're naturally expressive and you're naturally an extrovert you're an artist and so you're like I love being wild in worship and there's a big S&A men in your heart and that's beautiful you're obedient God talks to the introvert and says come away with me to the secret place and they're like yes lord and there's and it lines up so well but zeal isn't limited by is this what I want to do am I excited about it zeal is burning and consuming and it says whatever's in front of me it's going to get consumed because I'm burning so here's where we come to the question that everyone has to ask so what if I don't feel it though right what if I don't feel it there's this uh coach ben there's a um there's an addiction to authenticity that we have that is uh good but misguided where we so badly just want to be authentic that it feels like in a front to ourselves to do something that we don't feel like doing so that's actually selfishness just to call it what it is that's that's actually self-centeredness so coach ben okay um so so it's like man but I just I just gotta I just gotta find a way to do this authentically and I just it doesn't really feel like me have you met you without Jesus you don't want to be you right I don't want to be me I don't want to I just want to be me I sign up to follow him I sign up to look like him and so there's a discipleship that happens where I go I know I don't feel it but that's never been the barometer for what I do with my life I laid down my right for that so why is that even a consideration right now so zeal just consumes and so what I'm not saying is take it till you make it okay a lot of people say that phrase and and I think that they mean something different because all of us kind of know that if I was like hey you don't feel like worshipping just go in the front and like be really bold and dancing like worship because that's faith you'd be like oh that doesn't feel right something's right so here's what I here's what zeal looks like zeal says to the father I got nothing I feel like I've got nothing it was a really hard week you know you were there so really hard week I'm tired my kids were up at 2 a.m. and my dog threw up all over the floor and I'm distracted and I've got that bill that I'm thinking of and oh the car is broken awesome and I'm trying to worship God I got two pennies here you go zeal says I'm I'm still going and my goodness it cost me something and my goodness is it unimpressive and my goodness does is everyone is that anyone around me to validate that no not at all but zeal says still you though I'm still gonna get what I got and it's two pennies today slide them to the table that's what godly zeal looks like and so we see this in the life of David David has all the zeal of j-hoo but with with the humility David's the man so you find him as a shepherd boy burning just singing songs by himself and fighting off wild animals with all his confidence and he meets Goliath and he's like who is this uncircumcised let me add him like just burning and then he gets thrown out into the wilderness and saw us hunting him burning and then he becomes the king burning and he makes a mistake he totally fails burning he doesn't he doesn't stop burning he's the same guy that that wrote I'd rather be a dorky brother gates of my god than anywhere else oh my soul is like longing and panting like a deer who hasn't had anything to drink I'm dying for this I want him there's only one thing that I want I just want to be in your courts I just want to ask you questions and meditate on you it's all I want he's burning at the very end of his life as he's giving his charge to Solomon who's about to be king he said he read it it's nuts second kings too I think he says all right come here be a man follow God he like gets in Solomon's grill and is like here's what you're gonna do young man as he's on his deathbed burning David never stopped burning you made mistakes he did it wrong there were times where it was weak there's times where his selfishness got in the way but he just was like I'm no I found it target acquired it's him and at all costs it's him there's a way for zeal to be present and matured over time it's not just immature it's not just flighty it's not just selfishness it's not just self-seeking there can be an internal burning that's actually committed for the long haul my my father-in-law candies dad burning 65 back in pain feet in pain painting in his house just singing in tongues burning wakes up at 5 a.m.

slams on his guitar just worshiping the whole house at 5 a.m. is just echoing burning first time that I met him literally I'd go to see candies family when we're dating to meet her family because we were in Hawaii and they're in California so I go there late crash wake up in the morning breakfast burning here's the word of the Lord to you young man like burn he's it's possible it's I'm just saying it's possible you don't need to look back and say man my most of the days were when I was younger and didn't know quite as much you can burn okay so hopefully we've laid to rest this notion that says that zeal is immaturity it can be but it's not inherently immature okay flip side okay so you're just saying I just got to do all the stuff you're saying that that I can like just constantly stir up all these works and I'm gonna be oh shoot well now I'm thinking about Pharisees and I'm thinking about legalism I'm thinking about this kind of gross angry aggressive form of religion that I want nothing to do with so he's saying that then of course not okay here's we'll see this the same little journey all right so Paul talks in Romans 10 about the Jewish people and he loves them they've abused him more than any other people group and he's still like Romans 10 why he's like my earnest desire for Israel's that they be saved his affection and tenderness in his heart still and he says this for I bear witness that they have a zeal for God but not according to knowledge he's validating their zeal he's like this is good I can see that in him but they're going after the wrong target it's not an informed zeal that's actually locked onto the right target and then he goes on to talk about how Israel was still trying to do all of this stuff to earn their righteousness and he's saying you you're tying your works and you're like how hard you work and the amount of zeal that you have the amount of laws that you follow you're quating that with him you're off target that's not actually going to buy you anything zeal is intrinsically not like good or bad it just needs to be aimed and you're off target right and so there's all this work that goes into it I was helping my dad build a gazebo yesterday and part of what you do is you got to hold this thing onto this thing really tight this piece of wood enough piece of wood really tight well someone else comes in screws it in and like secures it and so I'm up on this ladder just quaking holding this post and this beam and like pinching it together so that my dad can get a screw through it and my head's up like this and I'm like heavy breathing sweating like it's a really hard work so I'm like pulling this thing together and then after a while my dad's like hey you can like go now because the screws were already in it and I was like I was still pushing just it's hard but it wasn't doing anything the screws had already gone in so all of my work was just like it was literally just tiring me out there there wasn't like a value in it it wasn't contributing to the success of the project it's just been up there having zeal without knowledge holding it together and like zeal that is that errors on the side of like this religious thing it's a form of self-righteousness it's a form of people saying well I think this is how I can earn the praise of God the praise of man or an internal peace of mind that says that I'm doing good enough right and so if if I commit to read the Bible for an hour a day and then I share the gospel with at least two people a day and then I make sure that my prayers have a little bit of extra Jesus and then I'm gonna be okay and that makes me feel good that makes other people validate me people think that I'm burning and and now I somehow think that I'm burning because I'm valuing myself and I'm in the cycle that eventually ends up wounding people and leading to more and more legalism and it's leading me further away from God it's zeal that's not aimed properly quick pastoral note here a lot of us have been raised so much in the grace message that then we hear that we go yeah you're right I should stop reading the Bible because it's been tiring and it's probably just religion and like I see like let go and have grace myself like again coach Ben we as a house don't typically struggle with we're doing way too much works and it's like we we need to lean in a little bit and so don't hear what I'm not saying don't hear that anytime that you commit to something and there's a commitment that's done completely out of a sense of like man I think this is the right thing don't just start cutting off all of that and call it religion we're we're we're too prone to that we actually need to actually need to have consistency it just needs to be aimed at the right thing our zeal needs to be aimed properly and there are all these examples specifically in the new testament that we can look at of people who had this fervency and this ridiculous extravagance and they were doing things that no one else would do but they were aimed at him right Mary cracking open all of her inheritance a little bit would have been enough it would have communicated the message it would have it would have been a powerful story if she took the bottle that was set aside for her inheritance and poured some out we'd all be impressed but it's not about that for Mary she's going are you are you kidding it's him breaks it uses her own hair to white like just like this unbelievable extravagant affection right the the book of acts where the apostles see the risen Jesus and then he ascends and then fire comes down they're like I've seen enough I'm sold and they just they are unwavering and they're burning and they're preaching in the streets and they're saying no it's him it's him and then you come to the fairs he's going I'm just going to need you to tone it down young man you're causing a bit of a disturbance and they're like sorry can't burning then we're going to throw you in jail shoot me burning and they don't stop Steven the first martyr who's about to get killed he knows he's about to die stands up with confidence and preaches the gospel burning Paul Paul if anyone had a good excuse to just tone it down a little bit whoa you look at all that you've done for God you got 39 lashes just like Jesus wow you you must know what it feels like to be like him wow good job brother he's like no he told me to preach the gospel God told me that I was going to be his witness in the Gentiles God showed up to me and told me that I would know what it meant to suffer so of course this is all part of the plan I can't stop because I'm burning I'm consuming I've got a zeal for what I see I've got a vision for what's ahead Paul says I'm letting go of all of that he's like oh great so I was raised by a manly and I did the screw it like he's like burning you hear in his letters where he just there's times where he just starts to get almost overcome by it you know that verse where he's like I wish they'd cut themselves off like he like there's times where he just gets like fired up and he's just burning and Paul is like an old man who seems so much pain who has every reason to rest on his laurels a little bit gonna finish the race I see what's ahead and he's burning and here's the key distinctive of what godly christian zeal looks like here's how you stay safe in the journey on the seesaw is it immature is itself righteousness burning love for Jesus do not make it about the fast don't make it about the giving don't make it about the bible reading all of that is unto him there needs to be a burning love I've never once looked at a husband who has outrageous affection to his wife and said whoa but he got to calm that down a little bit I've never once seen a bride getting ready on her wedding day like okay it's good enough like it's it's fine I've never seen a young man who wants to get engaged he's going to buy a ring and gone like I don't know it's kind of expensive to buy a no extravagance makes sense in the context of love extravagant makes sense in the context zeal makes sense in the context of love so that's our that's our target where's going I love him I love him lovers will always outwork workers someone who's in love will always a hundred times out of a hundred work harder than someone who's doing it for paycheck there's there's a limit when you're working for paycheck and you go again it's just not worth it like I did the cost analysis you're paying me how much and I'm gonna do this not worth it but when you're in love burning you're gonna find me outside of my girlfriend's house singing love songs like an idiot burning you're gonna find me being outrageously extravagant with my kids the amount of times that I do stuff from like I would never imagined that I would have done this but it's in love for my kids it's like I'm finding myself doing all these things but it's because I love them it's the story that's hardwired into us that's why we all resonate with every single like fairy tale of the prince who goes at any cost I'll climb any tower I'll fight any dragon this has been happening for centuries and centuries there's this this theme story of a pursuing love that doesn't take no for an answer it makes sense in the context of love we need to reorient how we view our pursuit of God it needs to be about showing him love and affection John shared this in his story right the guy who's interviewing him just going wait it's about love a lot of us have been following Jesus for a long time and we need to hear that again we need to hear that your zeal needs to be focused in love during the first great awakening there's this quote that came out of the first great awakening and said let a man on fire in the world will come to watch and burn there was these revival meetings like what do we do how do we spread this they're like just burn they'll come just burn because they saw a picture of what it looked like to actually like pursue him and they got a picture of what he looked like and they're like I'm not taking over answer burn Paul he's praying for the church second Corinthians 11 the word in your Bible might say jealous it's that word again zeal y'all zeal I am jealous I'm burning for you church with a godly zeal a godly burning I've betrothed you to one husband and I want to present you as a pure virgin to Christ he's saying I'm committed to this I'm burning I want him to have you I want you to have him and so I want you to hear the intensity in in my voice is this much of like the Pauline is zeal that's going like I want you to know him I want you to have your sights set on him I don't want you to look at your bank account and go so this is my ultimate authority on what I do with my finances I don't want you to look at your portfolio for work and say so this is this is what I'm working with and this is this is my job now and this is what I'm good at I don't want you to look around at the body and say okay well my skill set is more maybe this and so I'm not going to do that because that's gonna be my door there's skills over there burn burn had there be something that's consuming in you that looks at him and goes whatever it takes banger come up I want to read this I I wrote this for us because like I said at the beginning I can't create zeal I can't I can't preach good enough I can't coach good enough to get you to a place where your your heart starts burning that's God's job but as a as a brother as a as a shepherd however you consider me what I can do is I can be winged in your sails and I can give you permission sometimes we just need permission we seem to be told you can do this it's okay so I want to read this to my younger brothers and sisters the ones who are younger than me who are in your high school college early adult phase where you're still trying to figure things out to my younger brothers and sisters zeal doesn't have to be a mature self-righteous you have permission to burn with love you have permission to be the most passionate radical one in your friend group you have permission to spend long hours stirring up love for God in the secret place you have permission to fast from food or media and not just for a day and not just for a week you have permission to take risks and fail you have permission to give a year or a decade or your lifetime to the Lord in singleness you have permission to ignore your culture's obsession with self-image and money you can give large sums of money away you can intentionally live in simplicity you have permission to love and you have permission to lead us it's my older brothers and sisters to the ones that have seen more years and I have lived more life than I have who have more experience than me who have been further down the road to my older brothers and sisters zeal doesn't have to be immature or self-righteous you can burn with love you have permission to be the most radical passionate one in your friend group you have permission to spend long hours stirring up love for God in the secret place you have permission to fast from food or media and not just for a day or a week you have permission to take risks and fail you have permission to give the rest of your life to the Lord in singleness you have permission to ignore your culture's obsession with self-image and money you can give away large sums of money right now or intention of a simple life you have permission to love and you have permission to lead us we don't outgrow seal for God we don't outgrow burning for God you have permission to burn I'm not going to tell you what that looks like came up with a little list but I'm telling you this there's a place of extravagant zealous burning love that we have not touched yet and it's intimidating and we start noticing all of the insecurity in our hearts and all the things we might have to let go of forget it just forget it just let let zeal burn it all up I love being pastoral and giving the qualifying statements I'm not going to give any of them to anything that I just said I'm not going to try and soften anything because I want you to know that I'm actually serious that we're actually serious there's a place of intensity and a place of burning you have permission to go where it feels a little dangerous you have permission to step into something that feels a little wild do not be lacking in zeal but be fervent in spirit as you serve the Lord I want us to just let's all let's all stand and spread out we're just gonna take a moment to process with the Lord to ask him some questions to worship him go ahead and spread out if you want to go to the elbow room I want us to just ask ourselves first just look inside and look at that like inner flame that cold that if you're saved I promise you it's in there you gave your heart to Jesus I promise you there's a cold that's in there it might look white and black and it might feel cold to the touch or maybe it's a bonfire I don't know but I want you to imagine that what does it look like right now in your heart the burning coal of zealous love now just ask Father God would you blow on that coal Jesus I want to burn Jesus I want to burn I can't make you say anything I cannot stir up zeal for you anything that's happening in your heart right now is purely because the spirit of God is blowing on it not because of anything that I'm saying but if there's something in you that you just want to communicate to and just like I want to burn man there's that thing gosh there's that thing that's been in the way I can picture it my mind right now there's that thing that's been in the way I want that thing to be burned up with zealous love in my heart there's been that person's opinion and I'm completely slave to that person's opinion no more let it let the fire increase let it burn up I love wisdom God but don't ever let it keep me from burning for you