Thinking About Zeal
Psalms 119:137-144
February 20, 2022
We’ve been on quite a fiery ride with our Psalmist
Over the last few stanzas.
Our Psalmist has been dealing with his oppressors.
It is those who bring suffering to him because they don’t like his message.
Our Psalmist however has been unyielding in his commitment.
• We’ve talked about his conviction.
• We’ve talked about his refusal to compromise.
• We’ve talked about his steadfastness.
• We have seen this passion for several stanzas now.
Psalms 119:113 “I hate those who are double-minded, But I love Your law.”
Psalms 119:126 “It is time for the LORD to act, For they have broken Your law.”
Psalms 119:136 “My eyes shed streams of water, Because they do not keep Your law.”
Tonight we talk about another attribute that fits in that same category.
WE TALK ABOUT ZEAL.
He says, (139) “My zeal has consumed me, Because my adversaries have forgotten Your words.”
The English definition is: “fervor for a person, cause, or object; eager desire or endeavor; enthusiastic diligence; ardor.”
The Hebrew word here that the Psalmist uses is: QINA (kin-ah)
And it also can mean ardor and enthusiasm.
An interesting note however is that most of the time in the Old Testament
The word is not translated “zeal”.
Most of the time the word is translated “jealousy”
Our Sunday school class is currently studying Zechariah and we are familiar then with the Lord’s statement.
Zechariah 1:14 “So the angel who was speaking with me said to me, “Proclaim, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, “I am exceedingly jealous for Jerusalem and Zion.”
Zechariah 8:2 “Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘I am exceedingly jealous for Zion, yes, with great wrath I am jealous for her.’”
Last Sunday morning when talking about how salvation is for the glory of God we looked at Ezekiel 36.
• Ezekiel 36 is all about God’s jealousy or zeal.
• He is jealous for what is rightly His.
• He is passionate that He does not give what is rightly His to another.
You simply understand then that there is a connection.
• God is jealous and zealous for His own glory.
• Believers then are also jealous and zealous for His glory.
Often times in our day zeal brings with it a NEGATIVE CONNOTATION.
Zeal is associated with things like being rigid or harsh or too dogmatic.
But I would remind you that zeal is often seen in Scripture
And it is often demonstrated in a very positive light.
John the Baptist was called the greatest man born of woman and he dripped with zeal.
• Who can forget him demanding repentance lest a person suffering the burning wrath of God?
• Who can forget him calling the Pharisees a “brood of vipers” and questioning their very motives for baptism?
• Jesus Himself said that John was not reed shaken by the wind.
• Ultimately John’s zeal cost him his head when he rebuked even Herod.
A few weeks ago we talked about Phineas, that man who stopped the plague in the wilderness when he speared to death the arrogant transgressor of God’s Law.
Psalms 106:30 “Then Phinehas stood up and interposed, And so the plague was stayed.”
Or we think of Samuel.
God had commanded Saul to kill everything living when he attacked the Amalekites but Saul had chosen to spare King Agag.
When Samuel arrived his zeal for God showed forth.
1 Samuel 15:33 “But Samuel said, “As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women.” And Samuel hewed Agag to pieces before the LORD at Gilgal.”
That is zeal.
We think of David who was only a shepherd but had had enough of that uncircumcised Philistine taunting Israel and her God.
1 Samuel 17:26 “Then David spoke to the men who were standing by him, saying, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should taunt the armies of the living God?”
That zeal then led David to slay the giant.
We think of Elijah standing firm and then ordering the slaughter of the 450 prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel.
One of the defining characteristics of these men of faith
Is that their faith also came with tremendous zeal for the glory of God.
And that doesn’t let up in the New Testament.
Certainly at times zeal CAN BE MISGUIDED.
We think of James and John wanting to call down fire on the Samaritans.
But often the zeal of the New Testament saints is very commendable and necessary.
• We remember Peter telling Simon the Magician, “may your silver perish with you because you though you could obtain the gift of God with money.”
• We remember Paul telling the Galatians, “if anyone preaches a different gospel…he is to be accursed.”
• We remember Paul confronting Peter to his face.
And certainly when we think of zeal we must think of Jesus.
Isaiah 59:17 “He put on righteousness like a breastplate, And a helmet of salvation on His head; And He put on garments of vengeance for clothing And wrapped Himself with zeal as a mantle.”
And was that ever true!
• Do you hear Jesus pronouncing woe on the religious leaders calling them hypocrites and a brood of vipers?
How about this one:
John 2:13-17 “The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables; and to those who were selling the doves He said, “Take these things away; stop making My Father’s house a place of business.” His disciples remembered that it was written, “ZEAL FOR YOUR HOUSE WILL CONSUME ME.”
Can you see Jesus actually making a whip and driving people out of the temple?
He did.
Turning over tables, pouring out money bags,
And swinging a whip at everyone.
Mark 11:16 “and He would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple.”
• I guess He was knocking stuff out of people’s hands.
• It was tremendous zeal.
The point is, it is not a bad thing when it is properly aimed.
In fact, a couple of passages in the Bible EVEN COMMAND ZEAL.
Titus 2:11-14 “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.”
• Paul said that believers should be “zealous for good deeds”
Revelation 3:19 “‘Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent.”
• That was the church at Laodicea.
• If you will remember they were “lukewarm”.
• They were apathetic and complacent.
• They had no passion, they had no zeal and Jesus rebuked them and called for repentance.
And so I first just sort of want you to THINK ABOUT ZEAL here.
And I want to ask you:
Should a child of God not demonstrate zeal for the things of God?
Indeed they should!
• There ought to be passion.
• There ought to be jealousy for the things of God.
• There ought to be righteous indignation.
• There ought to be zeal.
God’s people should care about the things of God
And they should care about them deeply.
Charles Spurgeon said:
“If you never have sleepless hours, if you never have weeping eyes, if your hearts never swell as if they would burst, you need not anticipate that you will be called zealous. You do not know the beginning of true zeal, for the foundation of Christian zeal lies in the heart. The heart must be heavy with grief and yet must beat high with holy ardor. The heart must be vehement in desire, panting continually for God’s glory, or else we shall never attain to anything like the zeal which God would have us know.”
Now in our culture, we often see zeal, just not always for the things of God.
• Go to a high school basketball game and see if you don’t see passion and zeal and jealousy come gushing out.
• All it takes is one missed foul call or one bad foul call and immediately the zeal will come forth.
• I see grown men and women demonstrate tremendous amounts of passion and zeal over the game. (And it’s easy to get caught up in that)
BUT ZEAL FOR THE THINGS OF GOD…
Where is it?
People will stand up red-faced, vehemently screaming at a referee who mistreats a basketball player,
But sit silently by when God is blasphemed in the world.
THERE IS A TIME WHEN ZEAL FOR GOD IS CALLED FOR.
THE REASON WE DON’T SEE IT MORE IS BECAUSE
ZEAL OFTEN BRINGS BACKLASH.
When DAVID rose up in offence over the blasphemy of Goliath it was David’s brothers who instantly rebuked him.
1 Samuel 17:28 “Now Eliab his oldest brother heard when he spoke to the men; and Eliab’s anger burned against David and he said, “Why have you come down? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your insolence and the wickedness of your heart; for you have come down in order to see the battle.”
When ELIJAH zealously removed heresy from the land of Israel he felt a swift backlash from his culture.
1 Kings 19:10 “He said, “I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”
As we already noted JOHN THE BAPTIST was beheaded in return for his zeal.
And JESUS was hung on a cross for the zeal He demonstrated.
Zeal is necessary, but zeal will get you in trouble.
(That’s why so many prefer to rather bit their tongue and sit on their hands)
And if you’ll notice that is precisely where the Psalmist finds himself.
• (141) “I am small and despised”
• (143) “Trouble and anguish have come upon me”
I AM A HATED MAN.
WHY?
(139) “My zeal has consumed me,”
That’s a strong word that the Psalmist uses.
“consumed” translates TSAW-MATH
Literally it means “to put an end”
Often it is actually translated “destroyed”
What the Psalmist is saying is that my zeal for God
Has put an end to every other passion or calling or emotion in me.
My zeal for God has destroyed
Every other desire or mission or purpose or hobby.
I’M A ONE-ISSUE GUY NOW.
If you were to split me down the middle
You’d find nothing in me but zeal for God,
For my zeal has rooted out every other passion.
And WHAT IS IT specifically that has him so consumed?
“Because my adversaries have forgotten Your words.”
He is passionate because everyone else has become complacent.
• No one seems to care about what God says.
• No one even seems to know what God says.
• He lives in a day of arrogant Biblical illiteracy.
• Men don’t care.
And it has lit a fire in him that cannot be extinguished.
And, as we said, this zeal has GOTTEN HIM IN TROUBLE.
“I am small and despised”
“small” there can actually be translated “young”
It could be that they hated him because he was young.
We remember Elihu:
Job 32:6 “So Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite spoke out and said, “I am young in years and you are old; Therefore I was shy and afraid to tell you what I think.”
We remember Timothy:
1 Timothy 4:11-13 “Prescribe and teach these things. Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe. Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching.”
It could be that no one wanted to hear the passion of this young man.
That word can also be translated “insignificant”
Which is to say he is just unimportant and no one should listen to him.
2 Corinthians 10:10 “For they say, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his personal presence is unimpressive and his speech contemptible.”
They just didn’t want to hear from this unimportant man
And as a result he was “despised”.
Furthermore (143) “Trouble and anguish have come upon me”
• Like Herod who beheaded John the Baptist
• Like David’s brothers who despised him
• Like Jezebel who wanted Elijah dead
• Like the chief priests who crucified Jesus
HIS ZEAL HAS WALKED HIM INTO A WHOLE HEAP OF TROUBLE.
And this is why so many avoid it today.
• But does God not deserve our zeal?
• Should we not be passionate about the things of God?
• Should there not be a holy jealousy for God’s glory?
Of course there should, even if it brings trouble down upon our heads.
But many even condemn the church if she gets too zealous.
But I DON’T THINK the problem of the church today
Is that they are too zealous for the things of God.
If anything, the church is too passive.
• Everyone ought to carry a soapbox around with them and be ready to stand upon it at a moment’s notice.
• Something ought to light our fire.
YOU MAY NOT REMEMBER THIS, but back when we did our study called “It’s All About Jesus” we actually talked about the Zeal of Jesus.
And in that sermon we talked about
How to know if a situation deserves a zealous response.
There were 3 questions you should ask.
1) DOES IT DISTORT THE GOSPEL?
• Remember Paul said if anyone preaches another gospel let him be accursed.
• Peter rebuked Simon because he though salvation could be obtained by money.
• Jesus rebuked the Pharisees because they make men twice as much a son of hell as themselves.
If it distorts the gospel then it deserves a fiery rebuke.
2) DOES IT DEFAME GOD?
• This was David’s passionate issue as that uncircumcised Philistine taunted God’s armies.
• Were not the kings routinely rebuked because they would not tear down the high places?
• When Peter quit eating with the Gentiles and pulled away Paul rebuked him because Peter made it look like Jesus was a minister of sin.
If God is blasphemed then it is time to pull our sword in zeal.
3) DOES IT DISTURB THE CHURCH?
• Christ purchased the church with His own blood.
• He died to unify her.
• He is sanctifying her and interceding for her.
• And she must be defended.
• Can you see the zeal of John in his letter of 1 John?
• Can you hear Paul say that he wishes who ever was troubling the Galatians would emasculate himself?
Those are areas where zeal is certainly the response of the day.
There are times when the TABLES MUST BE OVERTURNED,
In fact it is a sin if they are left standing.
BUT ZEAL CANNOT BE FAKED.
You can’t just decide to be more zealous.
Zeal is a byproduct of intimacy with God.
And so tonight, in the time we have left,
I want to show you both the source and the sincerity of our Psalmist’s zeal.
#1 THE SOURCE OF HIS ZEAL
Psalms 119:137-138
These two verses are PURE PRAISE.
• He starts the stanza with a doxology.
But it is also THE FOUNDATION OF HIS ZEAL.
He truly believes this.
“Righteous are You, O LORD, And upright are Your judgments. You have commanded Your testimonies in righteousness And exceeding faithfulness.”
The simple question at this point is “Do you believe that?”
• Do you believe God is righteous?
• Do you believe God’s judgments are upright?
• Do you believe God’s requirements are good?
• Do you believe God is faithful?
And I suppose we could furthermore ask: DO YOU CARE?
What if God gets accused of not being those things?
If someone gets on social media and says something that is blatantly false about someone you love.
• Does something well up in side of you?
• Does a fire light in your belly?
• Are you compelled to rise up and defend the one you love?
We see that kind of zeal all the time don’t we?
Well if you believe God is righteous are you willing to quietly sit by when someone proclaims that He isn’t?
If you love God are you ok with someone questioning His motives or why He does what He does?
If you love God’s word is of no consequence to you that someone might question its ACCURACY or AUTHORITY or SUFFICIENCY?
If you love God are you ok when people accuse Him of anything less than perfection?
Is there no emotion at all?
Is there no concern at all?
John Calvin said:
“A dog barks when his master is attacked. I would be a coward if I saw that God’s truth is attacked and yet would remain silent.”
And yet a dog might not bark if anyone else is attacked.
A dog’s zeal is forged out of his love and intimacy with his master.
This is where it starts.
One has to wonder, if there is no zeal is there any knowledge of God at all?
Perhaps to say it another way.
If you are not zealous for God it might be that you do not know Him.
The great men and women of faith throughout the Old Testament
Could not help but unleash their passion
When God was blasphemed or God’s word was distorted.
The man that comes to mind at this point is NEHEMIAH.
• The children of Israel had come back to Jerusalem after a lengthy stay in
Babylon.
• When they returned with Ezra intermarriage quickly became a problem again
an Ezra wept and tore his clothes and called on the people to put away their
foreign wives.
• Nehemiah came 100 years later and the problem had resurfaced.
Nehemiah 13:23-29 “In those days I also saw that the Jews had married women from Ashdod, Ammon and Moab. As for their children, half spoke in the language of Ashdod, and none of them was able to speak the language of Judah, but the language of his own people. So I contended with them and cursed them and struck some of them and pulled out their hair, and made them swear by God, “You shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take of their daughters for your sons or for yourselves. “Did not Solomon king of Israel sin regarding these things? Yet among the many nations there was no king like him, and he was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel; nevertheless the foreign women caused even him to sin. “Do we then hear about you that you have committed all this great evil by acting unfaithfully against our God by marrying foreign women?” Even one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was a son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite, so I drove him away from me. Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites.”
That’s called zeal.
That was Nehemiah’s temple clearing moment.
Why?
• Because they defamed God.
• Because they disturbed the church.
• Because they distorted the gospel.
But do you also see that his passion and zeal
Where born out of a love for God and love for God’s people?
That is the source of zeal.
• If you are lacking zeal then spend time with God.
• If you are lacking zeal then ask God to reveal Himself to you.
This Psalmist’s zeal which had consumed him
Was born out of his great knowledge of God and love for God.
That is the source of his zeal.
#2 THE SINCERITY OF HIS ZEAL
Psalms 119:140-144
On one hand I suppose we could measure
The sincerity of his zeal by the presence of his oppression.
The very fact that he was attacked
Is a tremendous evidence to us that his zeal was real.
But we also see evidence in his testimony.
(140-141) “Your word is very pure, Therefore Your servant loves it. I am small and despised, Yet I do not forget Your precepts.”
There again you see the Psalmist’s love for God’s word.
• He says it is “pure”
• It has been tested and tried and run through the ringer and the furnace and it has come forth pure and true.
And so no matter how much he is hated.
• No matter how much he is maligned.
• He is not leaving.
“I do not forget Your precepts.”
What he means there is that
I do not suddenly go mute when the battle rages.
• He was not one who was prone to just bite his tongue and shrug his shoulders when God was under attack.
• When men had forgotten God’s word and spewed the most idiotic logic our Psalmist refused to play dumb.
God’s word is perfect and it deserved to be spoken.
Everyone else may conveniently forget
What God has to say about an issue, but he won’t.
Even if it causes him to be despised.
That is sincere zeal.
(142-143) “Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, And Your law is truth. Trouble and anguish have come upon me, Yet Your commandments are my delight.”
I love the statement “Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness”
Who else can you say that about?
Men have so many VARYING DEFINITIONS
Of what is “true” and “good” and “righteous” today.
BUT IN THE END there will only be one righteousness left standing
And that is God’s righteousness.
• Every other belief system of good and evil will be obliterated.
• The sinner will not be allowed to proclaim evil good forever.
• God’s righteousness is the only one that is everlasting.
And the Psalmist says that he will delight in that
Even if it brings trouble and anguish.
His zeal is not a fair-weather zeal.
I CAN REMEMBER several years ago we took the youth to a “Hot Hearts Conference” in Lubbock.
It was a massive youth evangelistic rally.
As the conference was getting started the youth broke out into a chant.
One side yelled “We love Jesus, yes we do, we love Jesus how ‘bout you?”
And of course the other side responded in kind.
And it got louder and louder.
But that is easy.
That zeal may or may not be sincere.
Let one man stand alone in his locker room for the word of God and I’ll show you a ZEAL THAT IS SINCERE.
Let one coworker speak of and interject God’s truth into a conversation and I’ll show ZEAL THAT IS SINCERE.
That is the zeal of our Psalmist.
He’s not letting it go, even if it is hard.
Is that your zeal?
• Does your passion for God run beyond this room?
• Does your conviction show up at the coffee shop?
• Does your zeal rear its head in secular circles?
We are talking about zeal that is sincere.
And then this stanza closes with the ONLY REQUEST OF THE STANZA.
(144) “Your testimonies are righteous forever; Give me understanding that I may live.”
We see the sincerity of his zeal
Because he only wants more
Of that which gets him in the most trouble.
You DON’T FIND him standing up and then saying,
“Well I’m never doing that again.”
This man doesn’t retreat he reloads.
• He goes right back to the word.
• He goes right back to a prayer for understanding.
• He doesn’t want less zeal, he wants more!
That is the encouragement here.
• For the church of God to rise up and be passionate for God.
• For the church of God to rise up and be zealous for God.
That we might care about His reputation and His truth and His church
And that we dare not be silent when those things come under attack.
And so we seek to draw near to God
And we pray that God might light a fire in us which cannot be quenched.
