Zeal without Knowledge
Devotions for Growing Christians
Zeal without Knowledge
Romans 10:2 - For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge.
Matthew 17:2-5 - He was transfigured before them... Then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus. Peter said to Jesus, "Lord it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three tabernacles--one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah." While he was still speaking a bright cloud enveloped them and a voice from the cloud said, "This is My Son whom I love; with Him I am well pleased."
Luke 22:49-51 - When Jesus' followers saw what was about to happen, they said, "Lord, should we strike with our swords?" And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear. But Jesus answered, "No more of this!" And He touched the man's ear and healed him.
When religious zeal is on target, it can be extremely effective for the kingdom of God. The early Christians were zealous Christians. They were more than committed to the cause of Christ - they were zealously committed to the Lord and His kingdom. Many of them even sacrificed their lives in order to share and to spread the Good News. No wonder there was the phenomenal growth of Christianity in the first few centuries after Christ!
When religious zeal is off target, however, it can have extremely destructive effects on the kingdom of God and the cause of Christ. The Judaizers, who tried to undermine the Gospel efforts of the apostle Paul, had religious zeal - but it was "zeal without knowledge" (Romans 10:2). Following the example of the Pharisees who had zealously sent their Messiah to the cross in the name of religion, these Jews attempted to distort and even destroy the simple faith in Christ of many early Christians.
But non-Christian religious people are not the only ones who are guilty of “zeal without knowledge.” Even well-meaning true believers can wreak havoc because of misguided zeal. Many times the advance of the kingdom has been hindered or held back, and the cause of Christ has been hurt by Christians whose zeal lacks knowledge. Religious zeal can be misguided in the area of doctrine (how we think), and in the area of means (what we do). Let's consider two incidents in the life of Peter that illustrate misguided zeal.
Building Shrines
Peter's response to his experience at the Mount of Transfiguration is an illustration of misguided zeal in the area of doctrine. "Let us build three tabernacles...." Peter must have thought that this was an appropriate gesture of a doctrinally sound faith, but he couldn't have been further from the truth! His motive is to be commended, but his theology was way off-target. In his religious zeal, he actually demoted Christ, the Son of God, to the level of mere men! God the Father had to remove Moses and Elijah from Peter's vision, and speak audibly from the cloud to get Peter's thinking back on the right theological track. "This is My Beloved Son, with Him I am well pleased. Listen to Him." The idea of building three shrines to commemorate this event certainly involved commitment and zeal, but it was misguided zeal.
Misguided religious zeal in the area of doctrine is certainly seen in Christendom today. It can be evidenced in literal shrine-building. When distorted thinking elevates buildings and lands to an unhealthy importance, the person of Jesus Christ receives a secondary place.
But it can also be evidenced in ways other than literal shrine-building. When a social gospel is preached, misguided doctrinal zeal will be practiced. In a social gospel, the value of the saving work of Christ - which is of the utmost importance - is demoted to a status below the material needs of humanity. While Christians are to bring relief to hurting people, and we should establish relief ministries and build relationships with suffering people, our primary focus must always be on their need for salvation from sin.
Getting Health and Wealth
Another example of misguided zeal in the area of doctrine is the teaching that God wants to make every Christian healthy and wealthy. Many Christians today zealously promote this false doctrine. The "prosperity gospel" actually teaches that the faith of Christians is somewhat suspect if they aren’t experiencing good health and financial security. How devastating this false doctrine must be to Christians who have been called by God to a life of suffering!
The distortion and sin of this misguided “doctrine” is clearly seen when the Christian prosperity lifestyle is contrasted with the lives of those believers who, in this life, have sacrificed all opportunity for personal gain to do the work of the Lord. The commitment to serve of God’s faithful servants is definitely more in line with Scripture than the obvious commitment to self of many teachers of the prosperity gospel. (See Luke 9:23-25, Philippians 4:12 and 2 Timothy 3:12 for starters!) Health and wealth are not guaranteed for any Christian - regardless of the teachings of the prosperity evangelists.
The religious zeal of activists for the acceptance of homosexual marriage within the Christian church, the zeal of feminists for the ordination of women, and the zeal of "Christians" who favor a One-World-Religion are further examples of doctrinal "zeal without knowledge.” The fact that false doctrine may become popular and be promoted by many people (perhaps even the majority!) doesn't make false doctrine any less false! Let's be careful that the doctrine we hold is not distorted by zeal without knowledge!
Cutting off Ears
Peter's defense of the Lord in the Garden of Gethsemane is another occasion on which the apostle Peter illustrated "zeal without knowledge." In this case it was misguided zeal in the area of action or method. When Peter cut off the ear of the high priest's servant, he was zealously committed to defending the Lord. (He probably was aiming to cut off the servant's head, but in the excitement and emotion of the moment he missed and only got an ear!) His intention was to defend his Lord and Master at all cost - even to death. Perhaps Peter wanted to prove that he really meant what he had said a few hours earlier in the Upper Room (John 13:37). In any case, Peter showed a lot of zeal - but it was misguided zeal!
Zealously standing up for the Lord was not the problem. Even the use of physical force was not the real problem. The Bible indicates that there is a time and place for physical force as a means of expressing religious zeal. The Lord asked Gideon, for example, to physically pull down and destroy the idol that his father had set up in their back yard (Judges 6:25). Our Lord Himself used physical force to drive the merchants and moneychangers from the Temple (John 2:15). On that occasion He quoted Psalm 69:9, "The zeal for Your House has consumed Me." So the use of physical force per se was not Peter's problem.
The problem was the means Peter used. He lashed out with his destructive sword without even the slightest direction from the Lord. Peter was not sensitive to the Lord's mind and direction at this point. The result was an action that God would never approve. Without direction from the Lord, religious zeal is an accident waiting to happen.
Religious zeal out of control (God's control) can disrupt and destroy the work of the Lord for years to come! And it can happen suddenly, as in Peter's case. We need to be extremely careful of the means we use to channel our religious fervor and zeal.
Disciplining without Grace
Misguided zeal in methods and means comes in all sizes and shapes. Everything from discipline in the church to fundraising techniques can be mishandled by religious zealots. In the area of church discipline, for example, many churches have been destroyed because of a few overly-zealous perfectionists. While church discipline needs to be employed more frequently these days, carrying discipline to extremes is misguided zeal. The biblical emphasis in discipline is always on restoration. Unfortunately the history of the church is filled with examples of graceless discipline carried out with destructive zeal.
It often seems that the Christians who are most zealous for discipline are those who need to listen to these words of Jesus: "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?...You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye" (Matthew 7:3-5). Zeal in church discipline must be tempered with wisdom, gentleness and humility: "If someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted" (Galatians 6:1).
Evangelism is another area in which misguided zeal can wreak havoc. There are many methods, techniques and means to reach out to unbelievers. Without the Lord's direction, however, misguided evangelistic zeal can actually drive people away from Christ! Should you shout across the fence to your new neighbors that they are going to hell if they don't trust in Jesus as their personal Savior? The truth of your statement may be doctrinally sound, but the means of communicating the gospel may be better served by building a friendly relationship and "earning the right to be heard"! The Lord often practiced this means of evangelism, when He deliberately went out of His way to rub shoulders and build relationships with unbelievers.
Breaking the Law
Another example of misguided evangelistic zeal would be "breaking the law" in the name of the Lord to spread the gospel. Often the Lord gets blamed for the mistakes of misguided zealots who think they can do anything - including breaking the law - as long as they’re obeying the Lord's command to evangelize. We are not speaking here of smuggling Bibles or situations where "we ought to obey God rather than man" (Acts 5:29). We’re talking about religious zealots who consider themselves above the law, who think they can use any means - even actions like breaking anti-graffiti laws by spray-painting "Jesus Saves" on highway overpasses! This attitude goes directly against the commands of God (Romans 13:1-5). This kind of misguided zeal is a blemish on the testimony of Christ!
Breaking the law also applies in areas that are not literally the law of the land. What about breaking the law of love by manipulating people, and using excessive emotional pressure to "force" professions of faith? What about breaking the law of truth by zealously preaching a gospel that the Bible doesn't proclaim - such as implying that "all your problems will disappear if you'll accept Christ"? There is a place for emotional persuasion, but let's not break the law in evangelism by using unbiblical pressure and preaching unbiblical promises. That would be misguided evangelistic fervor--zeal without wisdom.
Fundraising without Scruples
Zealous means used in fundraising can certainly hinder the growth of the kingdom of God. Think of the damage that has been done to the cause of Christ by unscrupulous fundraising schemes--made in the name of Christ! Christians are certainly not immune to the biblical truth that "the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil" (1 Timothy 6:10).
The desire for unnecessarily large church buildings, or elaborate programs, or lavish salaries often justifies the fusion of religious zeal with the sinful nature of man. Fund-raising strategists actually develop never-ending lists of new programs or projects, ensuring that funds will never cease to flow from Christian givers!
Unbelievers have been turned off and new Christians have been stumbled by a constant emphasis on money. The name of Jesus Christ has been mocked and maligned by skeptics when religious leaders zealously raise funds "for the Lord's work" by offering gimmicks (like "blessed prayer cloths"), or unbiblical promises of material rewards for giving. The means we use to raise funds for the Lord's work is an area where Satan knows he can get an easy foothold. The subtleties of the enemy are easily masked because we all are so vulnerable in the area of money!
A biblical example of fund-raising is found in 2 Corinthians 8. Here the believers were encouraged to share in a project to help fellow-Christians. These funds were not for a building, or a program, or a salary, or a nice home for the apostle Paul. These funds were raised to help needy people! And when funds were raised for the biblical building project of the Tabernacle, the people were actually told to stop giving when the funds for the project were sufficient (Exodus 36:5-7)! Has such a letter ever been sent out by a Christian ministry in modern times?! Or are “new projects” announced to keep funds flowing? Let's be very careful not to employ "zeal without knowledge" in fundraising!
Peter meant well. He loved the Lord. But he actually demoted and defamed the Person of Christ by his misinformed doctrine. How many "Moses and Elijah" items will the Lord have to remove from our crowded vision, so that we will learn to honor Jesus above everything else - and combine our zeal with sound doctrine? And by his misguided means, Peter temporarily disrupted the program of Christ! How many "slashed ears" will the Lord have to heal before we learn to ask Him before acting? How long before we learn to combine zeal with His wisdom?
Let's be zealously committed to Christ and His kingdom - but let's be sure that our doctrine is sound and our methods are Christ-like. Zeal that is knowledgeable in doctrine and wise in means!
- Dave Reid