The Seeker
So, you want to join this Christian army, I mean you are not the Sunday morning pew sitter; you have a passion to know God. Watch out, for many, have gone before you, they also have had zeal for God, but lacked knowledge. Paul a servant of Christ Jesus, who was called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, warned us of this in Romans 10:2-4, “I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For being ignorant of the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”
What is wrong with having a zeal for God? I looked up the word and it is defined, (as passion, ardor, love, fervor, fire, avidity, devotion, enthusiasm, eagerness, keenness, appetite, relish, gusto, vigor, energy, intensity; fanaticism.) No one should have any problem with the word zeal, but Paul does not stop at zeal, but zeal without knowledge. How many times have I begun a project with zeal, but did not have the knowledge to do what I set out to do? One that comes to mind is the octagon gazebo that I was going to build in our backyard in Odem, Texas. Now I had zeal, but I did not have any plans, nor had I ever seen plans to build an octagon gazebo. I bought materials without any plans or drawings; how do you think it came out? It was the biggest mess, but I began with zeal and ended in total frustration. That is the path for many who have a zeal for God but do not have knowledge of the Scriptures.
Paul tells us they had the following; “For being ignorant of the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.” What is this righteousness that comes from God? The Psalmist tells us in Psalms 97:2, “Clouds and thick darkness are all around him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.” We are told that righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. Any word with more than one syllable has always been a challenge for me, so I went for help. W.E. Vine, Merrill F. Unger, and William White, Jr. have an Expository Dictionary of Biblical words, and that is where I’ve gone for help. “Righteousness is the character or quality of being right or just; it was formerly spelled ‘rightwiseness,’ which clearly expresses the meaning. It is used to denote an attribute of God, e.g., Romans 3:5, the context of which shows that “the righteousness of God” means essentially the same as His faithfulness or truthfulness, that which is consistent with His own nature and promises; Romans 3:25,26 speak of His righteousness as exhibited in the death of Christ, which is sufficient to show men that God is neither indifferent to sin nor regards it lightly. On the contrary, it demonstrates that quality of holiness in Him which must find expression in His condemnation of sin.”
We have many examples of men and women in the Bible that God refers to, as being in right standing with God, one such man is Job. Job 1:1, “There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.” Now Job was the kind of man that God finds joy in, we know this because God brought up Job to Satan. And you know the rest of the story. We need to be very careful in trying to put God in our box, a box that says God must do this or that, you fill in what’s in your box that you keep God in. God gave Satan the right to do everything to Job but kill him, and that included killing his family.
Since the fall of man, we have all been seeking righteousness on our terms. God has said in Romans 3:10, 11, “as it is written: None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good.” Now this looks like a bigger problem than I understood, we are told to submit to God’s righteousness, and yet the Scriptures tell me, I have no desire to seek for God. We must clear this up before we throw in the towel and become a pew person on Sunday morning.
If we return to Romans 10:4, “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” MUCH OF MY LIFE IN CHRIST WAS LOST, BY NOT KNOWING, I HAD BEEN FREE FROM THE LAW. In Galatians 2:20,21, I have found life. “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if justification were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.” For so many years no one told me what died on that cross, but God has shown me through men like Bill Gillham and Dan Stone, who have opened the Scriptures up to me. Dan Stone in his book, “The Rest of the Gospel” in chapter 13 titled (The Rules of Grace) page 145, “We usually quote Galatians 2:20 apart from its context. It immediately follows Paul’s admonition to Peter concerning the law. When Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ,” he was referring to his death to the law. Paul was saying, “The old me died on the cross with Christ, and when I died, I died to trying to keep the law. Trying to keep the law is living according to the flesh, with me and my efforts as my point of reference. I died to myself as my point of reference. Now, Christ in me is my point of reference. He is living His life through me.”
On page 146 we read the following; “There is no law that can impart life because law is always tied to self-effort. And self-effort can’t produce life, because only Jesus is the life. He has come to live His life in and through us. The law can only reveal our sin, condemn us for it, and show us our need for a Savior (Romans 3:20). Once it has done that, it has fulfilled its function. We are no longer under it (Galatians 3:24-25). Isn’t it amazing how the Bible gets interpreted these days, marrying law and grace? I used to do it. So did the Judaizers 2000 years ago. But Paul withstood their teaching with his life. He knew that marrying law and grace would always be the death knell for the complete gospel: Christ in you, the hope of glory. Few in Paul’s day understood that you can’t marry law and grace. Few today understand it. As a result, it can be a lonely life out there without the law. It isn’t the easiest path, to walk in oneness with God, because no one ever sees Him. Yet you are believing that He lives in you and that your body is a temple of the living God, and you, like Jesus, say, “I just do what I hear from the Father.” And you are going to live like that? There won’t be many Christians around you affirming that kind of walk. But the Spirit will affirm it.
If you knew me well, in my business life, I was known as a salesperson who could close the sale. I like the bottom line and that’s what Dan has done on page 148 of his book. “The bottom line is this: law and grace won’t flow together. They are not compatible. One is sensible in appearance, but it is death. The other is absurd in appearance, but it is life.” Paul has made it very clear in Galatians 5 that Christ has set us free from the law. Galatians 5:16-18, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”
Many years of my life in Christ were wasted, I wanted more of the Christ life, and I even sought gifts that God had given others as if by my performance, I could earn what God had given to others. If only I could pray more, read more Scripture, have a better quiet time, somehow, earn the right to this fellowship that evaded me. In hindsight it could be said, I had a zeal for God that lacked knowledge. My life in Christ was somewhat like building an octagon gazebo without plans. I read 2 Peter 1:3,4, “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desires.” If I were to summarize 2 Peter 1:3,4, we are told the following: You already have all that God has to give when you trusted Christ as your life. “He hasn’t got anything else to give you. He has given you Himself.” (Page 141 The Rest of the Gospel by Dan Stone)
So, zeal is not bad Christian soldier, but you must have understanding and knowledge of the Scripture, or you will be taken captive. The Bereans were special to Paul for this reason; Acts 17:11, “Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.” We are instructed to study to show ourselves as workmen who never should be ashamed.
From the Back Porch,
Bob Rice
