Zealous with the Zeal of God Introduction: the Text Accounted As Righteousness

ZEALOUS WITH THE ZEAL OF GOD

INTRODUCTION: This story of Phinehas is not one that I remember growing up with. The children’s story bibles usually skip over it because it’s bloody and graphic and involves a couple flaunting their sexual immorality. In a day when the demand for tolerance is the air we breathe, the story of Phinehas needs to be burned in our minds. This is, simply put, a story of a man of God taking a stand against sin.

THE TEXT: “…Now when Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose from among the congre- gation and took a javelin in his hand; and he went after the man of Israel into the tent and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her body. So the plague was stopped among the people…” (Numbers 25).

ACCOUNTED AS RIGHTEOUSNESS: In Psalm 106:28-31, the psalmist summarizes the story told in Numbers 25. He says that Phinehas stood up and intervened in the sin of Zimri, stopping the plague. Then the psalmist says, “That was accounted to him for righteousness.” What exactly does the psalmist mean? This phrase, “accounted to him for righteousness”, is used three other times in the Bible. The first is in Genesis 15 when Abram believes God’s promises. The second is in Romans 4 when Paul is explaining what the faith of Abram was like. Paul makes it clear that it is Abram’s faith that was accounted to him as righteousness. Righteousness was not based on any work that Abram did. And, Paul argues that this is the normal relationship between faith and works. The former is effectual in justifying us before God, and the latter is ineffectual.

The third other place this phrase is used in James 2:23. Like Paul, James quotes Genesis 15:6 in his argument about faith and works. But James’ point is that faith without works is dead ( James 2:17,26). It is not a living, and thus not a true, faith. James says that works justify, and faith without works cannot. Is James contradicting Paul?

Returning to Psalm 106, the psalmist seems to argue contrary to Paul as well. What is it that is accounted to Phinehas as righteousness? Psalm 106 indicates that it is Phinehas’ act of standing up and intervening in the sin of Zimri. But if we go back and look at Numbers 25 again, it should become evident that Moses, the psalmist, Paul, and James would all agree. FAITH AND ZEAL: In verses 11-13, God commends Phinehas and covenants with him. The reason God gives for promising a covenant of peace with Phinehas and his descendants is “because he was zealous for his God” (v. 13). Phinehas took action because he was full of the zeal of the Lord. He took action because he believed God’s promises, like Abram did. The Lord had said that He would be Israel’s God and they His people if they kept His command- ments. And so Phinehas, believing God’s promises, took the same view of sin that God has: “…because he was zealous with My zeal among them” (v. 11). Israel as a whole, and Zimri in particular, were flagrantly rejecting God’s statutes. They were worshipping other Gods and pursuing sexual immorality.

Throughout the Bible, godly zeal is intimately related to godly faith. It is also intimately related to faithful actions. We see this when Jesus drives out the moneychangers from the court of the Gentiles ( John 2:15-17). Paul connects our being in Christ (and thus our faith) to being zealous for good works (Titus 2:11-14). David was a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14, Acts 13:22). While the text does not explicitly mention 4 David’s zeal, we see it lived out in his confrontation with Goliath (1 Samuel 17).

While Psalm 106 may seem to say that Phinehas’ actions (or his works) are accounted to him for righteousness, this is not contrary to what Paul argues in Romans 4. Phinehas’ righteous deeds come out of his zeal, his faith. They were accounted to him as righteousness, but not because of any justifying worth in themselves. Phinehas’ actions become righteousness for him before God because of his faith in God. They are accounted as righteousness because of what God has done.

If you have true faith in Jesus Christ and in His Father, then you should be zealous with His zeal. James says that faith without works is dead ( James 2:17,26). This is because our faith is like a flint and our works like a fire. The fire is what we can see and feel. The spark that comes from the flint and ignites the tinder is zeal for the Lord. As Christians, you should be blazing fires, doing good such that all those around you feel your heat. And the reason you burn is because you are zealous for God and His holiness and glory. Do you love what God loves and hate what God hates? This is what it means to be zealous with God’s zeal.

TWO SPEARS: Being zealous with God’s zeal like Phinehas, like David, like Jesus, means that you will not tolerate what God hates. The people of Israel in Numbers 25 were all kinds of tolerant. But to be tolerant of what God hates is idolatry. Our culture is much like that of Israel in Numbers 25. We worship false gods. We pursue sexual perver- sions and immoralities of all sorts. And so, having been purified by Christ, we must be zealous for good works and stand against such so-called tolerance.

Again, being zealous with God’s zeal means that you will not tolerate what God hates. This zeal must start its attack on sin in our own hearts and lives. You must not tolerate your own sin.

The way to handle sin in our day is not to pick up a spear like Phinehas did and start hunting down the sexually immoral people. We are however, given a weapon to wield. Hebrews says that Word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. It is so sharp that it can divide bone from marrow and soul from spirit (Hebrews 4:12). We wield the sword of the Spirit like Phinehas wielded his spear. We wield it first against our own sins and then against the sins of the world. We must put to death the sins of the flesh and of the world with the weapon God gives us. And we know that we can only do this because Jesus took the spear that was intended for us into His own side.