Welcome to this Come to Jesus Daily Devotional. Today, we reflect on how The Holy Spirit wants to fill us with zeal for God as Jesus had zeal for God.
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‘His disciples remembered that it is written: ‘Zeal for your house will consume me.’’ (John 2:17)
This week, our devotionals have had a theme of getting our hearts right with God. We began the week by reflecting on Jesus’ rebuke to Peter: ‘“…you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.’ (Matthew 16:23). Today, we look at Christ who had ‘in mind the concerns of God’ completely and perfectly.
In this chapter of John, we read of Jesus clearing the temple courts of those who were misusing this holy space. John describes the account:
‘When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!”’ (John 2:13-16)
Seeing Jesus’ zeal for God, they recalled and applied the words of Psalm 69 to Him: ‘Zeal for your house will consume me.’ ‘Zeal’ (zēlos) means, ardent concern, deep earnestness, jealousy, indignation. Jesus’ heart was on fire with jealousy for the glory of God. The misusing of the temple was an affront to the honour of His Father and so He confronted it.
Zeal is like a fire; a fire is wonderful when it’s in the fireplace but it’s a terrible thing if it escapes into the house! God wants our zeal to be inspired and directed by the Holy Spirit. We see much misplaced zeal in the gospels - zeal that led to the crucifixion of Christ! Zeal that inflamed Saul (later to become Paul) into leading the crowds in stoning Stephen (Acts 7). Of Such zeal, the converted Saul, renamed Paul, would write:
‘For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge.’ (Romans 10:2)
May our zeal be ‘based on knowledge’ and modelled on Christ. Without zeal, little gets done. Zeal is like the petrol in a car, without which there is no energy and motion. A church or Christian who has lost zeal becomes stationary and, like Peter, is no longer captivated by the concerns of God but human concerns.
Jesus’ zeal for God’s house, motivated Him to leave heavenly glory, descend to the earth as a man, and die on the cross. His zeal that humans gain restored zeal for the glory of God drove Him to sacrificial love. Likewise, the Spirit wants to put Jesus’ zeal into us - zeal to worship, zeal to build a church for His glory, zeal that those who currently have no love for God, come to a place of zealous worship. Let’s ask the Holy Spirit to fill us so that it can be said of us, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”
Community group notes and study
1. Notices
It might be good to begin with notices. Please share from this week’s Church News.
2. Icebreaker
How has God been speaking to you from His Word this week and how has this helped you?
3. Worship together
Let’s begin our time together by lifting our eyes and hearts to worship our great God. Perhaps you have readings and songs that you would like to use together. Let’s be open to the gifts that the Spirit wants to give in order to encourage one another.
4. Study and pray together
Our message on Sunday was based upon Jesus’ rebuke aimed at Peter in Mark 8:31-33. Here we see the importance that Jesus’ places on our seeking to put God’s will - His ‘concerns’ - as paramount in our lives. God is not to be our servant. We don’t follow Him to make our lives better. Rather, a Christian has died to their old life; they have been purchased by Jesus; His will is to become our delight and our will. Jesus wants all of us to ‘have in mind the concerns of God, [not] merely human concerns.’
Please read Matthew 16:21-23
What would you say is the main point of this text?
Did God speak to you about anything specifically from Sunday’s message?
What is Satan seeking to do in this account and what does this teach us?
How is what Peter is doing following the pattern of Eve in Genesis 3:1-7?
How do you ensure that your zeal for God and His will is kept central in your life?
SIV - How will a correct application of this account lead us into a life on God’s mission?
SIV - Do we have any stories of how we have ‘Served, Invested, and inVited’ recently?
SIV - Spend some time together talking and praying about who and how you are seeking to bring your community to Jesus.
Let’s pray together that, this week, we will have opportunities to SIV; and pray for anything else that's come out of our time in God’s Word.
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