TOPIC: ZEAL WITHOUT KNOWLEDGE
Zeal is not good and profitable without knowledge.
Zeal without knowledge is dangerous because we can be deeply and sincerely passionate yet completely misguided due to a lack of understanding of the truth or a refusal to accept it.
Prov 19:2(NIV)2 It is not good to have zeal without knowledge, nor to be hasty and miss the way.
Paul says in Rom 10:1-4(KJV) Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.2 For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.3 For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.
They were expending their efforts sincerely, working hard, but on all the wrong things.
For example, the Jews who were faithful to their religion, worked hard, extremely hard, to maintain their religion, but their zeal was without knowledge.
Matt 23:23-33(NLT)23 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things. 24 Blind guides! You strain your water so you won’t accidentally swallow a gnat, but you swallow a camel! 25 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and self-indulgence! 26 You blind Pharisee! First wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the outside will become clean, too. 27 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity. 28 Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness. 29 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you build tombs for the prophets your ancestors killed, and you decorate the monuments of the godly people your ancestors destroyed. 30 Then you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would never have joined them in killing the prophets.’ 31 “But in saying that, you testify against yourselves that you are indeed the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Go ahead and finish what your ancestors started. 33 Snakes! Sons of vipers! How will you escape the judgment of hell?
Some Christians, in their zeal missed the righteousness of God.
Phil 3:5-8(NLT)5 I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. 6 I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault.7 I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done.
Zeal without knowledge has wrecked incalculable havoc through history.
When the Jews killed Jesus, they did not believe they were sinning. They thought they were doing the right thing.
Matt 27:24-25(KJV)24 When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it. 25 Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.
Luke 23:47-48(KJV)47 When the Roman officer overseeing the execution saw what had happened, he worshiped God and said, “Surely this man was innocent.” 48 And when all the crowd that came to see the crucifixion saw what had happened, they went home in deep sorrow.
Paul was guilty of hauling men and women who believe in Christ into prison until his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus, where the truth was suddenly revealed to him . He apparently thought he was on God’s side.
Paul realized that he was nothing but a fool when the revelation of the Holy Spirit appeared to him .
The Spirit of God is a revealer of truth and knowledge.
Acts 26:12-20(NLT)12 “One day I was on such a mission to Damascus, armed with the authority and commission of the leading priests. 13 About noon, Your Majesty, as I was on the road, a light from heaven brighter than the sun shone down on me and my companions. 14 We all fell down, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is useless for you to fight against my will.’ 15 “‘Who are you, lord?’ I asked.”And the Lord replied, ‘I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting. 16 Now get to your feet! For I have appeared to you to appoint you as my servant and witness. You are to tell the world what you have seen and what I will show you in the future. 17 And I will rescue you from both your own people and the Gentiles. Yes, I am sending you to the Gentiles 18 to open their eyes, so they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God. Then they will receive forgiveness for their sins and be given a place among God’s people, who are set apart by faith in me.’ 19 “And so, King Agrippa, I obeyed that vision from heaven.
Lack of knowledge/ignorance is deceitful and costly when a person is caught by it. It prevents one from accepting input.
1 Sam 15:17-23(TLB)17 And Samuel told him, “When you didn’t think much of yourself, God made you king of Israel. 18 And he sent you on an errand and told you, ‘Go and completely destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, until they are all dead.’ 19 Then why didn’t you obey the Lord? Why did you rush for the loot and do exactly what God said not to?” 20 “But I have obeyed the Lord,” Saul insisted. “I did what he told me to; and I brought King Agag but killed everyone else. 21 And it was only when my troops demanded it that I let them keep the best of the sheep and oxen and loot to sacrifice to the Lord.” 22 Samuel replied, “Has the Lord as much pleasure in your burnt offerings and sacrifices as in your obedience? Obedience is far better than sacrifice. He is much more interested in your listening to him than in your offering the fat of rams to him.
Without the Spirit of God, there is no knowledge of God.
When your eyes are blind, you can’t see knowledge/truth.
2 Cor 4:3-4(NLT)3 If the Good News we preach is hidden behind a veil, it is hidden only from people who are perishing. 4 Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.
THERE ARE 4 KINDS OF PERSONS
1. Zeal without knowledge
2. Knowledge without zeal
3. Neither knowledge nor zeal
4. Both zeal and knowledge
The first three condemned Jesus and the last acquitted him.
The only people who followed Christ and who were subsequently persecuted were those with both zeal and knowledge.
We can live, sing and speak loudly and passionately and yet live, sing and speak without true knowledge If our lives and words are devoid of his truth.
To grow in knowledge, we must constantly return to the sacred scriptures which give us wisdom, and equip us for every good work – 2 Tim 3:15-17(KJV)15 And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
Make yourself available for judgment – 1 Cor 14:29-30(NKJV)29 Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge.
This is the current problem in Christendom: a young person opens a church without any knowledge of doctrine.
Most of the time, they stretch a doctrine until it becomes heresy.
This is the reason of our emphasis on using LWTC, where the natural and supernatural are taught and balanced.
Equipping believers for the work of ministry
Studying and interpreting the Word of God. Etc.
