Don't rust away from the inside out; base your zeal on the truth!
Romans 10:1-4 (NIV)
Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. 2 For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. 3 Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. 4 Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.
Listen to passage & devotional:
Belgic Confession of Faith, Article 25: The Fulfillment of the Law
We believe
that the ceremonies and symbols of the law have ended
with the coming of Christ,
and that all foreshadowings have come to an end,
so that the use of them ought to be abolished
among Christians.
Yet the truth and substance of these things
remain for us in Jesus Christ,
in whom they have been fulfilled.
Nevertheless,
we continue to use the witnesses
drawn from the law and prophets
to confirm us in the gospel
and to regulate our lives with full integrity
for the glory of God,
according to his will.
Summary
Paul's greatest ache in life didn't come from any of the beatings he endured or imprisonments he suffered through. Rather, it came from the fact that his own people - his family and the communities he'd been part of before his ministry - rejected the truth of the gospel. In fact, a chapter earlier at the beginning of Romans 9, Paul describes this pain as "great sorrow and unceasing anguish," writing that he would gladly trade his own soul if only his fellow Israelites would receive Christ.
It's not that they weren't zealous for God. Quite the opposite. Their entire lives and society revolved around performing daily, weekly, monthly and annual religious rites and celebrations. The great mistake they made was thinking that the more they did on God's behalf, the more righteous they became. Their zeal, writes Paul, was not based on knowledge.
This is a tradeoff many Christians in our own day and age have made. They're zealous for the Lord for sure, but yet they don't really know the God they think they're living for because they don't really engage much with His Word. They've traded certain knowledge for deep feelings, and as a result they're unwittingly "establishing a righteousness of their own" in which their acceptance by God is based on how strongly they feel.
Your salvation doesn't depend any more on the depth of your zealousness for God than it does on the number of goats you've sacrificed in your life. Your salvation is based on the fact that Christ is the culmination (the goal / end / purpose) of the law, "so that there might be righteousness for everyone who believes."
Dig Deeper
When I was manufacturing truck equipment, often there would be a metal component that didn't look so good before it was sent of for powder coating. But then when it returned, it looked fantastic. The little pits and gouges in the metal were filled in by the melting plastic powder, so that the finished product was as smooth as could be. Our joke was that powder coating covered up a multitude of sins.
The problem was that the part wouldn't stay looking that nice. Moisture would seep in under the powder coat, settle in the deep crevices that were only partially covered and the part would begin to rust from the inside out.
This is the problem when God's people cover up a lack of theological knowledge with overly zealous emotional expression. It looks really good and even holy from the outside, but the reality is that the people are rusting from the inside out. Entire communities and congregations fracture and flake away.
Certainly the solution isn't to ditch zealous emotions for the Lord! This 'powder coating' is created by God and serves a good purpose. Besides, if you want to be faithful to God's Word, your feelings better be aligned with your theology!
Know that your righteousness is based on Christ having fulfilled the law on your behalf, and base your zeal on this knowledge.
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who expects all people to submit to His righteousness;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that your joy would be based on your knowledge of Christ, who is the culmination of God's Word;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
Read the New Testament in a year! Today: 1 Corinthians 7
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