In the Name of Jesus, Dear Fellow Redeemed and Fellow Christians,

Could this be the same Jesus Who just a few days before had been the hero at the Wedding of Cana?   Up to this moment the new disciples of Jesus had watched him work in a kind and friendly way.  Now He drives money changers from the temple with force.  He speaks angrily to them, accusing them of using His Father’s house to exchange money and sell things for a profit. 

What could Jesus’ strange behavior mean?   Then the disciples remembered Psalm 69:9, where David had said to the Lord: “Zeal for Your house has eaten me up.”  Of course, these words of King David were being fulfilled again by the Son of David, the Messiah.  As one who loved God’s house, Jesus could not tolerate the abuse of it.

But Zeal is a misunderstood word, isn’t it?    In the minds of many people, zeal is equal to obsession and fanaticism.   No one wants to be obsessed or fanatic.  An obsessed person is driven and haunted by a desire which is beyond his control.  The fanatic expresses an unreasonable and nonsensical devotion to something or someone.  Fans will tear clothing off Hollywood entertainers, or camp outside a sports arena for a night and a day, or spend hundreds of dollars for a ticket to the Super bowl.  But Zeal is neither uncontrollable obsession nor unreasonable fanaticism.

                                                                             CHRIST CANCER — 

                                      (JESUS WAS “EATEN UP’ BY ZEAL FOR HIS FATHER’S HOUSE!)

                                                                                            I.

Zeal is enthusiasm’s devotion.   Do you know what enthusiasm means?   Coming from the Greek, enthusiasm literally means “God dwells within.”  Every true Christian has enthusiastic faith.  By Faith, God dwells within us.  God has also enthused or  inspired every believer with joy, comfort, peace, hope, love, wisdom, and all the other divine gifts which come from faith in Christ. 

And Spirit-generated enthusiasm of faith does not just boil and bubble up with in us without ever getting out of the pot.  Often, by the gracious operation of God, our enthusiasm moves out to reveal energetic devotion to our God and our fellowman.  Such enthusiastic devotion on the part of the believer is zeal.

Our Savior demonstrates this zeal in our text.  Not only was He true God Himself, but the Spirit of God was poured out upon Him in special measure.  His zeal was not obsession or fanaticism, but enthusiastic devotion to His Father’s business of saving us.
 

Christ’s zeal was knowledgeable love in action.  Did our Lord show the emotion of anger in his forceful cleansing of the temple from those who polluted it?  Sure He did!   But this was not the anger which arises because of pride or selfishness, or impatience.  His anger was the righteous and godly type which arises out of love for God and for others.   This is the same type of righteous anger that moved Moses to break the stone tablets of the Law when he came down from Mt. Sinai and saw the idolatry of the people.  This is the same righteous anger that causes a loving parent to zealously paddle the bottom of his rebellious child so that the child does not become lost to His Savior by the spirit of pride and rebellion. 

Jesus never touched any of the moneychangers with His whip as He drove them out of the temple.  Yet He was indeed “spanking Jewish bottoms.”   The abuse of the temple He knew was a symptom of the materialistic idolatry and rebellion of the people He dearly loved and had come to save.  Such deep spiritual corruption had settled in, that even His Father’s house was not free of it.  Christ’s zeal was aroused by the love which knows the way of salvation.

The Apostle Peter also showed this kind of zeal for the Lord when he tried to keep Jesus from going to Jerusalem to die.  But Jesus told him that He was not thinking the way God thinks.  Rather, Peter was thinking like a man.  (Mt. 16:23) Again, in the Garden of Gethsemane, Peter’s zeal caused him to draw his sword in an apparent attempt to defend Jesus, but Jesus rebuked him: “Peter, put up your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup My Father has given me?”   Peter’s zeal was not according to knowledgeable love.

Do you remember the time that John and James wanted to destroy the Samaritan village by fire because it rejected Jesus?   What happened?   Jesus’ zeal for the salvation of sinners was opposed to their zeal, because their zeal was without a knowledgeable love.  Jesus said to them: “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of!”  (Lk. 10:55)

A Father or a Christian congregation will want to zealously defend the truth of Christ and preserve the Christian family and congregation from sin and error.  But if he or they are interested in a “search and destroy” mission as John and James were — if we are zealous only to punish and discipline the erring, and NOT to save and restore them, then our zeal is without the knowledgeable love of our Savior in the temple.  Christ’s zeal did not come from hatred or the desire to punish.  His zeal came from the warm love which knows that without respect for the gracious presence and things of God, sinners cannot be saved from their sins. 

So too, without the knowledgeable love which respects the power of God’s Word alone to save sinners, churches can actually oppose the saving zeal of Christ.  Missionary zeal in our churches should never mean that we take matters into our own hands and forsake the Word of God “in order to bring people in.”  This happens when the emphasis is placed on mission “programs,” slogans, and number-goals.  Then Peter is taking up his sword — then we are thinking like men rather than as God thinks. 

With a false sense of love, missionary zeal opposes the zeal of Christ because it wants to set aside or ignore the unpopular teachings of God’s Word in order to fill the churches.   Yet, in His holy zeal to save people from their sins, Jesus commanded His Church to “observe all things whatsoever” He has commanded us.  (Mt. 28:18-20) 

Oh that God would grant us and all Christians such a zeal for the Word of Christ that our missionary zeal may be according to His own knowledgeable love.  May we all be given such a zeal for Christ and our neighbor that we are deeply grieved, even angered by the treachery of those who deceive and kill the souls of men by preaching  works-righteousness and indifference to Bible-doctrine — teaching others to despise the grace and Word of their only Savior-God!

                                                                                          III.

But how much zeal should we seek in our prayers?   Is it possible to have too much of the right kind of zeal?  Most people prefer to be gluttons in regard to the things of this world. We can’t seem to get enough of drink, clothing, and pleasure.  But when it comes to the things of God, we think it’s better to be a bit “laid back.”  We don’t want people to think that we are too zealous.  Why do you think Joseph and Mary spent three days looking around Jerusalem for the 12-year-old Jesus, before they found Him in the temple?   Was it because they couldn’t imagine such zeal for His Father’s house and business on the part of a young boy?

We’ve heard people who attend false-teaching churches make this foolish boast: “You are too zealous about the doctrine of the Bible; our church is more moderate and accepting of  other ideas.” 

Not many want to be “consumed” or eaten up by zeal for the Lord’s things.  Let each one of us ask himself: “Do I really want to have this Christ-cancer” — this consuming zeal for the salvation of myself and others, zeal for faithfulness to the Word of my God, zeal to praise and serve Him in this life with all that I am and have? 

Do we want the Christ-Cancer that consumed King David, as you heard in the O.T. reading this morning.  Are you willing, as David was,  to endure all kinds of insults from relatives and friends because of your zealous devotion to the things of the Lord?  Do you prefer to be known as one who is “eaten up” by love for Christ, or as one who is just a regular guy, who doesn’t take his faith too seriously?

Before you answer, may God direct you to the image of Him who endured the suffering and punishment of our sins. . . . During His entire life our Lord Jesus was CONSUMED by His zeal for His Father’s business of saving you and me and all sinners.  This temple scene was only the beginning!  He wept in His zeal for the people of Jerusalem as He looked upon the city that would not receive Him by faith: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often I would have gathered your children together, . . . but you would not!” 

          In the Garden, blood mixed with sweat dropped from His brow, and on the cross of death our Lord’s consumption was completed for our sakes!   NOW let us pray:  May Thy rich grace impart, strength to my fainting heart, My zeal inspire!  As Thou hast died for me, Oh, may my love to Thee, Pure, warm and changeless be, A LIVING FIRE!”   Amen