An examination of the roles of zeal and doctrine in reaching the lost.

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"But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. - Matthew 23: 14-15 (ESV)

""your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn't stop to think if they should." - Dr. Ian Malcolm

The renowned actor Jeff Goldblum played Dr. Ian Malcolm in the box office hit "Jurassic Park." His snarky character had some of the best lines in this movie including the one above, which offered that being able to do something is not justification for whether it should have been done to begin with. When I think of the state of the modern Seeker-Friendly Industrial Complex this famous movie quote comes to mind. The church has been purposefully driven into the ground. The Gospel has been purposefully driven out of the church. When Rick Warren's heretical theology first appeared in the 1995 in The Purpose Driven Church the promises were of growing massive mega-churches beyond a small town pastor's biggest dreams. The methodology concluded that if followed correctly, this new brand of religion and new way of doing church would transform the church culture. Everyone was so excited when they started applying the principles and saw these huge Christ-corporations dotting the landscape. They were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn't stop to think if they should. There is a word for that. It is called zeal. The dictionary defines zeal as:

great energy or enthusiasm in pursuit of a cause or an objective

Zeal in and of itself can certainly be a good thing. If the cause for which one is zealous about is good and correct. One prime example of misspent zeal is Judas Iscariot. Most biblical scholars believe he was part of the political faction of the day known as the Zealots. These were Jewish people zealous about resisting the Roman occupation and devoted to revolution. They actually believed if they could incite such revolution that it would bring the Messiah to deliver the Jewish people. The beginnings of Jesus' ministry no doubt sparked great hope in the Zealots. His message was in line as being one of national repentance and His miracles confirmed His deity. Towards the second half of His ministry however, Jesus started all that talk about dying, the cross, and sin. Scholars believe that in his zeal for the cause, Judas may have justified the betrayal.

What we see today in Seeker Friendly Industrial Complex is a great zeal. There is no denying the fervor. I think this is what makes it difficult for some people to examine who they follow at a deeper level. One of the most common defenses someone offers up for false teachers is their zeal. I hear all the time how I do not "know them." I do not see how "passionate they are." How much they "love the Lord" or are committed to "reaching the lost." As if these personal traits should trump doctrine.

Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers. - 1Timothy 4: 16 (NIV)

Beloved please note first of all that this verse is from a pastoral letter. Paul was writing to his protege Timothy who was commissioned to be the Pastor at Ephesus. As such, these instructions are for pastors, church leaders, and preachers. Paul tells them to only watch two things closely. Their life and their doctrine. You watch your life so you yourself are saved. It serves as a reminder that their position does not exclude the possibility of living wrong, backsliding, or even walking away from the faith. One just needs to look at the Rob Bell's of the world to realize that one day you can pastor 12,000 people and the next day be Oprah's darling preaching that there is no place called hell. Watching your doctrine however is crucial for the salvation of those who would listen to you preach! Not smoke machines and relevant messages. Not skinny jeans and faux hawks. Not your annual "missions" trip to build a playground in Guatemala. Certainly not your zeal. Without correct doctrine, exactly what are you being zealous for? This was Paul's lament regarding his own people:

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. - Romans 10: 1-2 (ESV)

These verses spell out for us in no uncertain terms that a zeal for God is not enough! It has to be rooted in and grounded upon correct doctrine! It must be "according to knowledge." There are plenty of Mormons who are zealous but their zeal does not make them right. No one would argue that the Jehovah's Witness cult members are not zealous! Their zeal however does not make them right. While most people who fancy themselves Christians can easily agree with these truths they cannot see it within mainstream Christianity. They see prosperity gospels, hyper-grace, word-faith, false signs and lying wonders, watered down seeker friendly gospels, sugar-coated purpose driven drivel and anything else that comes across the mega church landscape as being acceptable. I think the reason is they have accepted the error that a zeal for the lost is more important than a zeal for sound doctrine.

Because those that preach these heresies all claim to do so for the cause of reaching the lost. They have actually transformed the role of the church, which is supposed to exist for the saints, into a machine designed to reach the "unchurched." Think about it. The logic Creflo Dollar tried to use to defend asking for donations to buy a 70 million dollars Learjet was so he could bring his "spreading the Gospel" to the lost across this world. Look at some of the poorer continents today and you will find we have exported our heresies to them. Prosperity preaching has exploded in South America and Africa. The richest pastors now hold court in Africa. In the days of Jesus' ministry the zealous false teachers of the day were the Pharisees. They were respected like Osteen, Meyer, Jakes and Warren are today. If there was television back then they would have had their own satellite channel with Share-athons every year. Yet just like the purpose driven church model seeks to only replicate itself and protect the model, so did the system the Pharisees had set up. They were the top dogs in the food chain and they protected this at all costs. Jesus however warned them in our key verses and there is a stark application to the Seeker Friendly Industrial Complex today. Let us reason together and break down the key verses:

"But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!

Let us not lose sight of what these warnings actually are in Matthew 23. The biblical definition of woe is an "exclamation of judgment upon God's enemies." Then He lays the charge against them. They are hypocrites; something that Jesus was quite critical of in His ministry teachings. It is not merely ironic that the number one complaint against the church today from unbelievers is not that they are not relevant but that they are in fact hypocrites. These charges being made by Jesus should not be glossed over. They should not be taken as some mere trifle. He is in fact passing judgment upon them for their various hypocrisies.

For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.

Remember the charge to Timothy! Guard your doctrine for the sake of the salvation of your listeners! This judgment does not speak about intent, desire or zeal. None of those things will allow someone to become born again. Only doctrine can. Without correct doctrine, the kingdom of heaven is shut. To be truly regenerate and enter into the kingdom means to sacrifice oneself. It means to carry our own cross. It means to partake in the sufferings of Christ. It means to deny this world for the one that is to come. The Pharisees had no intention of doing any of this and neither does the false teacher today. They may be well intended beloved. They may truly believe that they are right but in the end it is only faith in their own wicked hearts that is leading them. They themselves do not wish to enter the kingdom and lose their earthly empire. Paul Washer once quipped that everyone wants to go to heaven it is just that most do not want to see God when they get there. Not the real God who wrote the Bible. So they recreate God into the image they want. The earthly blessing dispenser who is never angry with us. The parlor trick magician who dazzles the crowds with carnal oohs and ahhs. The God who must heal us. The God who must do whatever we say. Thus, they do not enter in.

But the false teachers like the Pharisees before them do not stop at harming themselves. They also insist on shutting the kingdom of heaven in the faces of those who genuinely seek after God. Those who may indeed want to enter in are denied access by the false teacher. They are led to believe that the three sentences they repeated but did not understand guarantees them heaven. They are taught that their darkness is light. They are taught that involvement in the church is akin to a walk with Christ. This is how so many will stand before Him on the last day and say, "Lord Lord" only to discover He never new them. The kingdom of heaven was shut in their faces and they did not even know it. As we continue in the key verses however, we come to the concept of zeal:

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.

Based upon these verses there is little doubt that the Pharisees were zealous. But as Paul lamented in the verses from the Book of Romans, their zeal was not based on knowledge. It was not based upon sound doctrine. They would travel across the sea and land, without a Learjet, to make a single convert. Is this not the same zeal we hear from the cacophony of false teachers today? When asked about the obvious compromises of the Bible we are met with the "reach as many for Jesus" mantra. Why do you poll the unbelievers and model church for them when they think the things of God are foolishness? We have to reach as many as we can for Jesus. Why do you do carnal, secular songs during worship? We have to reach as many as we can for Jesus. Why do you dumb down salvation to nine words and a cloud of dust? We have to reach as many as we can for Jesus. The problem? They are not reaching them with Jesus. By insisting on skewered doctrine their zeal for the lost is as misguided as Judas' zeal for the deliverance of the Jews from Roman oppression. The real Messiah walked right in his midst and he could not even see Him. In fact, he betrayed Him. That is what the false teachers of today do when they insist that their zeal for the lost means they can do anything to the Gospel. It is a betrayal of Jesus Christ. They need a zeal for the Gospel and correct doctrine and let God's Word draw the lost. Because they do not the result is tragic. According to our key verses their proselytes becomes twice the son of hell as they are. Why twice as bad? Because the average false teacher can realize his errors where as the convert has started from a place of utter deception. It is hard enough to come to Christ for salvation and deny this world but to think you have done it and discovered you were lied to? How deep is that darkness beloved. Take a long serious look at what theologian Matthew Henry had to say about this series of Scriptures involving the "woes."

The scribes and Pharisees were enemies to the gospel of Christ, and therefore to the salvation of the souls of men. It is bad to keep away from Christ ourselves, but worse also to keep others from him. Yet it is no new thing for the show and form of godliness to be made a cloak to the greatest enormities. But dissembled piety will be reckoned double iniquity. They were very busy to turn souls to be of their party. Not for the glory of God and the good of souls, but that they might have the credit and advantage of making converts. Gain being their godliness, by a thousand devices they made religion give way to their worldly interests. They were very strict and precise in smaller matters of the law, but careless and loose in weightier matters"- Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

Those who preach falsely, regardless of their sincerity or zeal are enemies to the Gospel of Christ beloved. They are not brothers and sisters in Christ. They are enemies to the Gospel. By being such, they are actually enemies to the souls of men! It is bad enough to decide to keep themselves from the glorious salvation found in Jesus Christ but to make your living denying others the chance to experience this glorious salvation and eternal life? To live to provide a false Christ, a false salvation, and a false hope? Yet this is no new thing beloved. To create a form and show of godliness and use it as a cloak to disguise the enormity of your falseness. Oh, there is nothing new under the sun.

At least we have the assurance that their dissembled piety will be reckoned with double iniquity. Using God to work against God at the expense of others will be doubly charged against the offenders. I love the relevance of the next part of Henry's comments. That they seek to make converts for their own credit and not for the glory of God or the good of souls. I think of the mega church pastors bragging about how may "accepted Christ" or the self-serving counts in the thousands of "spontaneous baptisms" and see this correlation so starkly. Oh beloved! By a thousand devices, schemes, and church growth models have they made religion give way to their worldly interests! Very prescient words from Matthew Henry into what we see play out every Sunday today.

The presence of zeal simply means one is zealous. It does not mean one is right. One can always be sincere and sincerely wrong. Do not fall for the error that promotes zeal as proof of righteousness. The only thing that matters is the true Gospel. The New Testament constantly warns against false gospels. Only the real Gospel is the power of God unto the salvation of men. You may have the best public speaker as a pastor. You may have the best trained musicians and singers. You may have the smoke machines, light shows and stagecraft of the highest grossing rock band but none of it matters without correct doctrine. You may desire to reach as many as you can. You may travel the land and sea to make one proselyte. Without sound doctrine you do not reach them with the real Christ. You do not reach them with the real Gospel. You only serve to make them twice the son of hell that you cannot see you are according to your preaching. Oh that those who would seek to bring the Gospel would have a genuine zeal for the Gospel itself. A zeal for doctrine is a zeal for Christ. A zeal for the lost without Christ is simply an error. For those who would fall prey to it; it is an eternal error.

Reverend Anthony Wade - December 26, 2015

Authors Bio:
Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.