Fervour

Romans 12:11- Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervour, serving the Lord.

We are justified through faith in Christ alone. I hope we all understand that. But I also hope that we do not use this glorious truth of ‘justification through faith in Christ alone’ to justify disobedience of any sort.

So let’s be really clear on this. A person is saved by faith and trust in Christ alone, and not by works and good deeds. We are sinners by nature and by choice, so our righteous works and good deeds if not accompanied by faith and trust in Christ are unfruitful and insufficient for justification from sin and for salvation. The good news of the Gospel is that it is ‘the power of God for the salvation of all who believe, for in it a righteousness from God is revealed’; in other words, we are saved by the grace and the righteousness of God and our salvation is a gift from God, not a consequence of any righteousness of our own. A person is saved by faith and trust in Christ alone, and not by works and good deeds.

However, in saying that;

James 2:14-17- What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

So, while works and good deeds should not be the point, they should serve as evidences of the reality of the point and the authenticity of your fellowship with the point.

Jesus is the point.

The deeds themselves do not justify, but they are a fruit of, and an evidence of the authenticity and the life of the faith that does justify. And our faith is suffocated when it is not given the opportunity to express itself in good deeds.

So, Paul wrote to the Colossians, ‘whatever you do, in whatever context you do it in, (work, study, family, recreation…whatever) do it as service to the Lord’. (my paraphrase). Because Christ is Lord of all, we have opportunity to worship and serve Him in everything that we do and to do so is to ‘offer our bodies as a living sacrifice’.

Paul commands that we ‘never be lacking in zeal, but that we keep our spiritual fervour’. This is a hard teaching.

That word ‘fervour’ is a very good translation- it means ‘very hot; glowing’, ‘exhibiting or marked by great intensity of feeling’; that’s exactly what the original language of this text conveys and commands. So, Paul is commanding us that we keep our love for God glowing hot at all times; seeking and serving Him with great intensity of feeling. Do not resign yourself to passionless and half-hearted spirituality and empty, meaningless religion- be on fire for God, always.

‘Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervour’- What Paul is saying here is that though there are times and seasons, trials and circumstances in life which can make being zealous and fervent in seeking and serving the Lord very difficult, there is not a time or a season, a trial or a circumstance, where being ‘lukewarm’ in your seeking and service to the Lord should be acceptable to you.

‘Keep your spiritual fervour’.

This is one of the reasons why the fellowship of the church is so vitally important for the believer- because there will be times in life where you feel like shrinking back and giving up and drifting into lukewarmness and you need people to ‘spur you on towards love and good deeds’.

Because He gave His all to secure freedom for us, let’s give our all for Him, serving Him in all of the strength that He provides.