Markers of Maturity - Zeal

Series: Markers of Maturity

Are you living with Zeal - or are you lukewarm?

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Man, isn't it good to be in God's house? Um yeah, man, it's good. Listen, just as um as the kids were going out this morning, Michael came and said, Listen, I feel like I've got a word, right? So we want to be we want to be a church that moves in the things of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Amen? Yeah, we're a Pentecostal church, alright? Um, I want to see the healing. Come on. I want I want to know that the Lord is speaking. And uh so when I say this, you know, um when we bring a word, okay, and and I guess I already brought one this morning, you know. I brought the word, but it was one that was specific for us in this moment. Does that make sense? Okay, so when there's a word brought like this, what do we do? We wrestle it, we test it, okay? We we weigh it up, we weigh it out, and it's nothing I've built, I've bigged it up now, eh, Michael? I'm sorry. But but what I mean is we we take it and we we question, is this me? Is this for me? So I want it as I just said and it's dead simple, I've bigged it up, but I want you to sit with it for just a moment. Michael said, Word of the Lord said, press in, press in, allow God to break through. Okay, so in a minute, I'm gonna preach a word that I I've wrestled with this week, okay? And I want you, in the light of that, you know, and it's it's it's scary bringing a word, all right? So we honor Michael, but press in, lean in, really listen, really pay attention, and allow God to break through. Now, that word breakthrough is something that I feel is over our church at the moment. We're tarrying God's presence, we're waiting on him to break through. So maybe, just maybe, as you lean in, as you press in to the things of God this morning, maybe it's breakthrough time. How does that sound? Weigh that one up, please. Can I read to you? From do you know what? Let's pray. Lord, we we pray, God, that you'll you'll help us to lean in, to press in. We'll press into your Holy Spirit, we'll press into your words, we we draw our attention and focus in on you now, Lord. Help us, God, because we're believing. You're good, you're faithful, and you're all about the breakthrough, Lord. So we pray these things in Jesus' name. Be with us, Lord. We pray that your word will not return void this morning. In Jesus' name, amen. Psalm 69, verse 6 to 9. Um Lord, the Lord Almighty, may those who hope in you not be disgraced because of me. God of Israel, may those who seek you not be put to shame because of me. For I endure scorn at your sake, and shame covers my face. I am a foreigner in my own family, a stranger to my own mother's children. For zeal for your house consumes me, and the insults of those who insult you fall on me. For zeal for your house consumes me. So King David here is is obviously going through some stuff. All right, there's a lot going on there, he's going through a bit of a tough time, and in the middle of seemingly maybe everyone being against him, even his own family, he's still dedicated to the house of God, to the things of God, to the word of God. And there's a word there for us, I believe. And I hope that that can be said of me. I hope that you can sit there honestly this morning and say, you know what? I yeah, that's me. You know, when times are tough, zeal for his house consumes me. Because I I don't know, I feel like I'm pretty zealy for God's house. Like, I hope that I hope that some of you look at me and go, that guy, it's a bit over the top. He's a bit, he's well, he's I wish he'd stop going on. Do you know what I mean? Like, I hope that you you look at me and seal, see at least a little bit of passion for God and for his house. Um but it hasn't always been that way. Who knows that there's ups and downs in our walk with God, there's ups and downs in in our relationship with church, right? Um over the years, there's been dry seasons, seasons of hurt, pain, and seasons of just laziness. Um seasons where I've gone through the motion, served on the worship team, but not been that bothered. Played the songs, loved the music, maybe even more than I love the Lord. I've led that event out of obligation, served out of habit. And I pray that from this day on, I don't see that stuff again. I want to know that the zeal for his house consumes me. But I wonder where you're at with your zeal this morning. How zealy are you feeling? Um, are you consumed? Or are you not that bothered? Can you not contain your passion? Or is it kept in a nice tidy box? Are you fighting for his cause, or will you watch your friends and family walk to their death? See, we're right in the middle of a series talking about maturity. And and I don't know if you've noticed, I've tried to kind of aim for the things that maybe weren't the obvious things. We've done a little bit of obvious stuff, you know, but we're kind of going for a little bit of maybe not some of the obvious things. And I felt led today to talk about zeal as a marker of maturity. Okay. Um, these markers of maturities are the signs that we're growing into the person or the people that God wants us to be. Um, so yeah, I felt led to talk about zeal today. Is that okay? Um, zeal for his word, his glory, his people, his church. So let's maybe define what zeal is, hey. Zeal refers to great energy, intense enthusiasm, fervent devotion towards a person.

unknown 7:24

Jesus.

SPEAKER_00 7:26

Cause or objective, his kingdom. Okay? It implies passion, eagerness, fanatic dedication. Is that you? Got a little bit of a journey to make with your zealiness this morning, maybe. Um you know, as we've been looking at maturity um over the last few weeks, I've you've probably noticed I've found it really easy if we're defining what zeal is, to define what the opposite of zeal is. Yeah. Um, so you know, we've looked at last week we looked at um new wine versus old wine, self-control, lack of uh versus lack of restraint, mature faith versus immature faith. That was a good one, wasn't it? Um and it's easy to think, we fall into the trap sometimes of thinking that zeal for his house is maybe showing disdain or being an opponent to the church, you know, especially the political climate that we find ourselves in. There's a whole lot of stuff going on. Um, maybe, you know, the atheist, someone who's involved in the demonic, that being the opposite of our zeal, you know, the opposite of that passion. But I think maybe that's maybe not quite right. Let's see what scripture says about we're gonna some of y'all know where I'm going already. Um, we're going to Revelation 3, 14 to 21. This is awesome. Okay, lean in, press in. Let's see if we can see some breakthrough today, hey. To the angel of the church in Ladicea, right. These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation, Jesus. I know your deeds, and that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other. So because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, I am rich, I have acquired wealth, and I do not need a thing, but you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy gold refined in the fire, so that you can become rich, and white clothes to wear, so that you can cover your shameful nakedness, and salve to put in your eyes so that you can see. To those who I love, I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. Here I am. I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person and they with me. Thank you, Lord, for your word. See, I don't think the enemy of zeal is atheism or the occult, it's not other religions, it's not even hate. The enemy of zeal is indifference, lukewarm, somewhere in the middle, a little bit passionate. That's an inner battle that we fight, isn't it? Here in the book of uh Revelation 2 and 3, um, there's this beautiful moment. Jesus is writing letters to the seven churches, he brings loads of insights for them, and we can apply that to us today. And Laodicea kind of gets the brunt of a lot of it. And it's like, so you know, if at all you feel judged or burdened or any Jesus said it. Jesus said it, not me. So let's unpick some of it, okay? We can be hot, full of zeal, passion for God, or we can be cold, not interested in God at all. Or we can be lukewarm. Okay, maybe come along to church on a Sunday, but have no real deep conviction of faith. That's okay for you. Serving, that's for the leaders. Martin Judith do such a great job. Giving? We've been challenged this morning. Supporting the ministry financially? No thanks. Jesus said he would spew the lukewarm person out of his mouth. The indifferent, the yeah, okay, maybe spew out of the mouth. I don't know if you've ever grabbed a bottle of water that's maybe, you know, like in a hot car, bottle of water in the hot car, and you take a little and it's like it's it's horrible, innit? It's it's even worse if it's precisely 37 degrees. The same as your body temperature. It just no, I can't drink that. Just imagine turning the stomach of God. What if we make Jesus sick and we don't even realize it? What if we're going through our Christian lives and we're lukewarm, guys? What about even a step worse than that is being aware of our lukewarmness and thinking, oh, it'll be alright. That's dangerous ground. I think if we search, truly search our hearts, we'll know, and I know, there's areas of all our lives that need to be a bit more zealy, right? For me, this there's kind of three things to focus in on here: the indifference, the lukewarmness, the lack of passion, the lack of get up and go. But Jesus says he sees their deeds. I wonder if the serving that they do, all the stuff that they do for Jesus, maybe it's out of habit, maybe it's out of obligation or routine because it's the done thing. What if what will people think? Don't fall into the trap, and I know most of you probably know this, like, but don't fall into the trap of thinking your deeds are the things, the stuff that you do are the things that save you. And don't even fall into the trap of thinking that your deeds are the things that automatically please him. He wants our hearts, amen. So the stuff we do, and some of you guys do amazing things week in, week out. I think of our kids' team, the cleaning, the people who come in and just silently serve the church. It's incredible, right? Um, it needs to be deeply rooted and motivated out of a zeal for God. Amen. And the third thing, the Laodiceans, they think they're rich. They think they're okay. There's a smugness about them. I've done enough. I've done enough, I'm okay. But really, they are, it says they are wretched and poor. They're blind to their lukewarmness. And that's likely happened, let's face it. These things creep in, right? The little foxes, these things creep in over months or years, allowing themselves, allowing people to just be, you know, complacent. Imagine walking blind into wretchedness. Jesus said it's better to be cold than it is to be lukewarm. Cold people maybe, maybe they don't turn his stomach. Cold people might be rebellious, disinterested in God, full of sin, who knows? Actively running from him, but at least they're honest about it. Lukewarm people don't realize the danger they're in. But I don't want to turn the stomach of God. Amen. Um Lord, if there's any indifference in me, will you point it out to me, Lord? We want to lean into your word. We want to see the breakthrough, Lord. Let the breakthrough happen, God. So let's be people who can search ourselves, amen. Corinthians 2 says verse 13. Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Don't walk away from this challenge that Jesus is bringing. Here we go. How do we know if we're lukewarm? Because you see, people can tell if you're cold, and people can tell if you're hot, but from the outside, you know, I can't even tell if you're lukewarm because us humans are really good at hiding it. So you've got to search your own heart for this stuff. Alright? I can't, I don't know how many of us are feeling a bit lukewarm, and I'm not here to judge, I promise. There are inward signs, I believe. Here's some signs for you. Lukewarm people live on mute, they don't share their faith. Maybe, maybe you don't want to. Maybe you don't have a heart for the lost. Maybe you think it's not your job. Maybe you think that we should have an evangelistic strategy. Call in the evangelism, run a little rally, do a little something. That's not our strategy right now, guys. Because I can't reach your friends and family. Only you can reach your friends and family. Um we've got a biblical mandate, okay? Um, it's literally why we exist. So if you find yourself living on mute, doing Sunday, and going and just, you know, not having a passion to see the lost saved, then maybe you're a little bit lukewarm. Number two, they starve their spirit. Lukewarm people starve their spirit, they neglect spiritual disciplines. Maybe you don't know the last time, you can't remember the last time you opened your Bible. Maybe it's been so long, you know, on your iPhone when the app deletes itself when you've not used it for a little while. Maybe it's been that long. Maybe when you pray, it's out of frustration or a desperation rather than wanting to spend time with him. Maybe it looks like irregular attendance coming to church as a tick box. I don't know. But if that's you, maybe it's a sign of a little bit of lukewarm. And you know, we've all been there. Remember the ebbs and the flows, the ups and the downs of our walk. But if this is the norm, yeah, maybe it's a sign that we're feeling a little bit lukewarm. Number three, they spectate the saints. Lukewarm people spectate the saints, they keep community at arm's length. Maybe when you come in on a Sunday, you just hang out on the outskirts. That's okay for them. I'll let those people crack on. I can't get too close because I might get hurt again. That's real. I understand that. I'm not downplaying that. Um maybe you avoid going to groups, maybe you avoid joining a team. Maybe you're happy with just consuming rather than contributing. I don't know. But if that's you, maybe, and it's for you to search your heart, maybe that's a sign of your lukewarmness. See, I believe that God designed us to do life together, properly, together, not at arm's length. Okay? Hebrews 10, 24, 26. Let us think of ways to motivate one another into acts of love and good work. Let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near. Do you neglect the together? Or does that zeal for his house consume you? We can't afford to be lukewarm. Number four. Lukewarm people neutralize their conviction. They've got numb hearts. Maybe when you watch the news, you don't feel anything. Maybe when you hear stories of pain and suffering, you take a really pragmatic approach. Maybe too pragmatic. Maybe you've got very little compassion for the lost, the broken people around you. When I walk down Prada High Street, get me. Alright. Um maybe maybe your heart become just used to it. Proverbs 21 13 says, Whoever shuts their ears to the cry of the poor will Will will also cry out and not be answered. Having a hard heart to the lost and the broken, to the poor, to the people who are hurting in your world. That's dangerous territory. Okay. You with me? We okay? Sometimes coming to church is fun. Sometimes coming to church is exciting. Um, but come on, let's be challenged by his word this morning. Number five, they misplace their why. Luke 1 people misplace their why, their motivation is wrong. You see, Jesus sees everything you do, but he also sees your motivation for doing it. Okay? I don't see your motivation for what you do. You know, anyone who serves in God's house, and we thank you for it. But he sees your motivation. I can't help but thinking, doing anything for God with the wrong motivation for any other reason than having deep passion and humility to serve Him. Serving for the wrong reason is probably one of the things that maybe turns his stomach. 1 Corinthians 4 5 says, He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and expose the motives of the heart. Galatians 1 10. I'm now trying to win the approval. Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings or God? Philippians 2 3. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Matthew 6, verse 1, be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. Let's not fall into the trap of doing stuff out of obligation, out of habit, because it's the done thing. And definitely, let's not try and show off to other human beings. But we want to be motivated by a passion, a zeal for God, for his word, for his people, for his kingdom, for this part of the world that he's entrusted to us. Let that burn in our hearts and be our reason for getting out of bed and serving in the house, for going to work and doing what you know God has called you. Not for any other reason. Let's get our motives right. So I ask again. How's your zeal? How's your passion? Are you on fire? Are you hot? Are you cold? Or are you lukewarm somewhere in the middle? Cool, we're done. I'm joking. Who wants to know how to get their zeal back? Yeah? Because, you know, there's all we've all got the areas, right? Where maybe we're lacking a little bit. I know I do. Number one, let's come to him. Let's read again. Revelation 3, verse 18. I counsel you to buy from me, not me, him, gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich, and white clothes to wear, so that you can cover your shameful nakedness, and salve to put on your eyes so that you can see like anointment. We have to come to Jesus, and we have to be open, honest with ourselves, and honest with Him. Should we do it now? Come on, let's close our eyes. Open your hands to heaven if you wish. Lord, we come in humility. We ask, Lord, that you will open our eyes to the areas where we haven't got it right. Lord, we we ask, Lord, that it's not just fix the problem, Lord, that we will fix right at the root. We come to you, Jesus, the one who can fix us, the one who can help us. We open our hearts to you, God. Amen. We've got to come to Him and buy gold refined in the fire. We've got to we've got to buy the gold. It's weird that, innit? Buy the gold. What on earth does that mean? And and I'd struggled with it. I didn't struggle with it, but I I dug round in my heart for this one. See, number one, we've got to come to him. Number two, we've got to understand the cost. Our relationship with him. It's gonna cost you something. I'm not talking about getting out of bed early and coming to church or sweeping the floor or cleaning the toilets. Yeah, that's a different type of cost, isn't it? But our relationship with Christ should cost us something. Not even the money that we, you know, we do our giving talk every week, don't we? Our giving encouragement. But we've got to part with our sin. We've got to part with our self-sufficiency. We've got to come to Christ with a sense of poverty, a sense of emptiness, that we might be filled with hidden treasure. This is about coming to Him, counting the cost, repenting of sin, changing, laying it down at the foot of the cross. And who knows that that can be a painful process. It's gonna cost us something. Number three, I've already said it really, but Jesus says in verse 19, those whom I love, I and maybe we've been rebuked, but those of whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. See the rebuke can be harsh, can't it? It can be hard to hear. I don't know. Maybe maybe the word this morning has been hard to hear. I don't know. We'll talk about that in a minute, but it's a marker of maturity, isn't it? Our ability to take the rebuke from God, to take the discipline. Let's welcome it this morning with an open heart. But it says, be earnest and repent. Repent means to turn around, choose a different direction, go in a different way. Repenting is more than just e Lord, I'm really sorry. Maybe that's the starting point. Lord, I'm so sorry. I don't want to do that anymore. I want to do this instead. It's a physical sometimes turning away, a change of heart deep down in our spirits. See, we've got to stop doing the thing that turns his stomach. And it's got to be earnest. We've got to step into it. There's got to be a stepping into it. And this morning, I would encourage you, if you've been challenged, if you feel like you've been rebuked this morning, don't leave until you've taken a moment to say, Lord, I don't want to be the same. Ask for help from the Holy Spirit. Ask for help from someone in the room that you trust. Yeah? Let's earnestly repent. Last one. And this might just be the number one thing, okay? We've got to spend time with him. And I've said it before. This is one of the things that you can do. Your spiritual discipline, sitting, silence, solitude in the word, in prayer, listening to him. It's probably the number one thing that you can do that will transform your heart, that will transform your life. It says in Revelation 20 3.20, here I am. I stand at the knock and door. Well, that was a moment loss, wasn't it? I stand at the door and knock. Do you know what those are called spoonerhisms? You know, come and talk to me about spoonerhhythms afterwards. I've got loads of them. Um sorry. Oh man, let's focus. Here I am, I stand at the door and knock. See, he's just rebuked us. Feeling rebuked? Yeah, it's a good thing. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person and they with me. See, yeah, he might be about to spew you out of his mouth, but actually, he wants to come because he's knocking. He wants to come and spend time with you, he wants to hang out, he wants to eat a meal with you. There's this beautiful moment where he's told us he's about to spew us out of his mouth, but actually, his real heart is to spend time with us. And like I said, I believe most of our problems, most of our misdemeanors, most of our struggles can be fixed just by carving out some time to spend with him. Amen. How's your zeal? May his zeal for his house, for his word, for who he is, for to spend time with him. May it burn in our hearts. Lord, let us not be indifferent to who you are. Let us not turn your stomach, Lord. Help us, God, we pray. Help us. Holy Spirit, help us. If that's you this morning and you've been living lukewarm, just as your eyes are closed. I'm gonna keep my eye closed because I don't need to know. But just maybe you need to make a physical moment. You need to do something to signify prophetically, maybe, that repenting. So I don't know, you can raise your hand up, you can stand in your seat, turn around and sit back down. I don't know. But physically, why not do something to signify to yourself, to your heart, to your spirit, and signify to the Lord that you want to be different. No one's looking. Please keep your eyes closed, guys. Because actually, you know, that you can tell if someone's hot, you can tell if someone's cold, but this stuff's done inside, isn't it? So, right now, we'll just take a moment. If that's you and you're feeling a little bit lukewarm, maybe you're feeling the rebuke of the Lord this morning, just do something physically to signify to yourself and to God that you mean business from now on and you don't want to be lukewarm anymore. Let's do that now. We don't want to lack zeal, we want to be full of passion. And I pray, Lord, that you'll help us. Lord, help us as we've made decisions to change, to stay on that path, not to be tempted to fall back into old habits. Lord, help us to step into what it is you're calling us to. Help us to be the people you want us to be, Lord. We pray against the inclining to just not care about the lost. Lord, we pray that we'll have hearts that burn to uh that burn for the lost and the broken things in this world. We don't want to be indifferent, God, to spending time with you. We don't want to be lukewarm in our approach. God, will you help us in Jesus' name, amen.