Zealous, But Not Saved

There are certain verses in the Bible that should literally scare Christians when we read them. What I am talking about are those verses that describe you, as a Christian, but end with "hell, fire and damnation." For example, in Matthew 7:22-23 Christ tells of a time when people will prophesy in his name and cast out devils. Sounds like a pretty blessed Christian. Must be doing something right. And what does Christ say to this group? "Depart from me: I never knew you, you worker of iniquity." Strong words from our Messiah. These guys cast out devils in Jesus' name and were still not saved.

A passage that has recently bothered me is Romans 10:1-2. It says, "Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge." Anytime you read a passage like this you must read and meditate on it to fully grasp what God wants us to know.

In Romans 10, Paul is talking about his Jewish brothers and sisters. He genuinely wants them saved. Here's the part that makes me nervous -- they have a zeal for God, but somehow are not saved! It is irrational. If you are not saved and have no relationship with Christ, then you should have nothing to do with God, His work, or His word. Unsaved people do not typically have zeal or passion for God's purposes and plans. Paul knew that his Jewish brothers loved God and had zeal for Him, except that their zeal was founded in the wrong place. It was founded in the law and their own intellect and tradition and pride; they missed Jesus altogether. They did not love God "according to knowledge" that Christ is the Messiah. Paul later explains that they did not submit to God's righteousness (vs. 3) and Christ is the end of the law of righteousness (vs. 4). It is sad, really, to think that people who saw Jesus and heard Him teach missed the Gospel completely. Worse even, the entire time they lived with misguided zeal, they thought that they were doing right. These people died thinking with 100% certainty that they would be greatly rewarded in heaven, only to find out that they were wrong the entire time.

This makes me so nervous because I wonder how the church today is analogous to the Jews of Paul's time. Does this represent us? Do we have a zeal for the wrong things? Are we focusing on ourselves and on our outward appearance and tradition more than on God? Are we just doing things because someone else, like parents or preachers, tell us to? Or maybe Jesus is just the social thing to do right now, but it is no more than a fad to you. This is the heart of legalism and pride, just like the Jews were living in Paul's day. The pursuit of Christ is perverted because our intentions are to glorify ourselves, not Christ. We miss the gospel altogether.

I hope that this passage makes you think. I recommend reading chapters 9-11 together, don't just pick out a couple verses. Pray for understanding and ask God to show you how you are lacking in your knowledge of Christ's salvation, His gospel. Then you will know you have genuine zeal for Christ because it is based on His grace and mercy!