Sunday, May 17, 2015

The Grace of Fervency

(Transcript of a message preached at Bible Believers' Baptist Church, Madison, AL; May 5, 2015.)

Editor's note: My apologies in advance of any formatting inconsistencies hereafter. I cut and paste my Word notes into the blog template, and sometimes the formatting translates better than others. Thank you for your patience. 


Text: Acts 18:24-28

INTRODUCTION
Our text is the first place that the word fervent or fervently appears in scripture.  These words only appear in the NT canon, in a total of seven books. 

·       Now that certainly doesn’t mean that people in the OT weren’t fervent.  One of the NT references is actually to a prominent OT figure, Elijah, as we’ll see. 

·       But since the word is only used in the NT, it behooves us, to whom much of the NT is addressed, to note what the scriptures say about fervency. 

·         Personally, I tune in on any word used in a Pauline context, since he’s our apostle and pattern (2 Tim. 1:13). There are three such references, plus six others in Jewish contexts, and we’ll look at all nine references in this study.

·         Before we begin looking at these references, let’s do two things:
a.       First, let’s see how the scripture defines fervency.  I think that 2 Pt. 3:10-12 supplies us with this. Remember the AV’s built-in dictionary, folks. You don’t need to know the original languages nor even own a Webster’s 1828. Comparing scripture with scripture will give you the most precise definition above any help you may consult. Now look at 2 Pt. 3:10-12 and I’ll show you how this works.  In vv. 10, 12 we see “fervent heat,” but “fervent” is an adjective, so it’s not just “heated.” Now look at v. 12 again for further help: by parallel construct, “fervent heat” matches “being on fire.” So fervent heat is a fiery heat, and personal fervency is having a fiery or burning spirit about something (“fervent in [the] spirit”). It’s interesting that all of references to fervency except this one in 2 Pt. deal with spiritual fervency vs. physical.
b.      I’d like to refer you to 2 Cor. 8:7 for the spirit of my message.  2 Cor. 8:7, “…see that this grace [giving] abound in you also.” It’s our duty to see that all of the graces abound in us, not just some, and there’s something we can and should do to foster each of them. 

·        So we need to study the graces to learn these things. Bear in mind that all scripture is not only given for doctrine but also for practical matters (2 Tim. 3:16-17). Bro. James Knox did a series years ago on the fruit of the Spirit, and he prefaced it with a reproof of Bible students who are always chasing “divers and strange doctrines” (Heb. 13:9) instead of studying graces. Now you need to be able to handle the meat of the word, which is the context of Heb. 13:9 (“meats”), but pay close attention to the establishment of your heart in grace as well. Paul said, “Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth” (1 Cor. 8:1b), so if you’re going to grow in knowledge, as you should, make sure that you’re using that knowledge to help others; as Paul says elsewhere, “speaking the truth in love” (Eph. 4:15), and not to make yourself look good. 

·      To summarize the nine verses dealing with fervency, I find six things that believers in general, through the ages, should be fervent about. 
1.       Truth (Acts 18:24-28)
2.       Service (Rom. 12:11)
3.       Leadership (2 Cor. 7:7)
4.       Prayer (Col. 4:12; Jas. 5:16)
5.       Brethren (1 Pt. 1:22, 4:8)
6.       Holiness (2 Pet. 3:10-12);


REFERENCES

1.       Truth (Acts 18:24-28)
I think that it’s appropriate to start here. Why would you want to be fervent about something that’s not even true? Yet the sad truth is that millions of people in this world are. One could even argue that many worldlings, even hereticks, are more fervent about their false beliefs than Christians are. 
        But it’s clear from scripture that we need to be fervent about the truth. In Jer. 5:3, we that God’s eyes are “upon the truth,” and he laments that the Jews “are not valiant for the truth upon the earth” (Jer. 9:3).  Remember the character from Part II of Pilgrim’s Progress, Mr. Valiant-for-Truth? He’s a holy warrior with a sword en route to the Celestial City. We need to be fervent for truth from the beginning of our divine life until the end. Apollos was “fervent in the spirit” even before he received Christ, and I think that showed that his heart was prepared for further light, since he was obeying and applying the light that he already had. 
        For most, however, “truth is fallen in the street” (Is. 59:14), but it doesn’t have to be you!  I remember Bro. Ruckman telling a group of his students that their lifelong task was to find and disseminate truth. Solomon said to “Buy the truth [acquire it, literally if necessary], and sell it not” (Prov. 23:23). Are you fervent about the truth? You should be. In describing “the whole armour of God” in Eph. 6, Paul mentions “having your loins girt about with truth” first (Eph. 6:14). You cannot prevail in spiritual warfare without truth, folks, so it’s quite fitting to be fervent about it, amen?

2.       Service (Rom. 12:11)
In Rom. 12, Paul expounds the practical applications of the doctrinal truth in Rom. 1-11 [not just 1-8; note that 12:1 (“the mercies of God”) refers back to 11:30-32, where God’s mercy is mentioned three times). Part of godly living in this age is fervency of spirit, not apathy or indifference. Notice the integrity of v. 11. “Not slothful [lazy] in business (any business)”—a negative command. What’s the answer?  Being “fervent in spirit”! Paul always give you a positive alternative to a negative command.  Of course he does. The positive alternative is an expression of Christ’s life instead of the Adamic life. Both are already in you, and it’s your choice which you will feed and follow. You have fervency in you; you don’t have to beg God for it. But you do need to feed that fervency with the fiery word of God.  Every Christian should be a “fire-eater” in this sense: he should have a regular diet of the fiery word of God if he wants to be fervent in spirit.
Let’s look at an OT example: Jeremiah again. In Jer. 15:16 he talks about eating the word of God.  Note the effect it has on him, when he considers not preaching, in Jer. 20:9b; “But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.” Do you see the connection? Doesn’t this explain why so many believers are lukewarm, if not cold? It’s simple, they don’t have a steady diet of the fiery word of God. Truth is, if you take that book it, believe it, and allow it to work in you, do you know what it will do? It will work its way OUT, praise the Lord. Jeremiah said “I could not stay,” and so does every believer who takes in the word like they should. Remember Elihu in the book of Job? He sat through 29 chapters of argument between four older men, but after that, he couldn’t contain himself and had to speak (Job 32:18-20). You should feel the same way, if you’re reading “the words of the wise” (Prov. 22:17), namely the scriptures, like you should. 

3.       Leadership (2 Cor. 7:7)
Here’s one that you may not have expected. In this passage, Paul mentions the Corinthians’ “fervent mind toward [him],” their spiritual leader. We need to be fervent toward our spiritual leaders as well. Let’s look at 1 Thes. 5:12-13. Here Paul beseeches the Thessalonians “to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; And to esteem them very highly in love [there’s some fire] for their work’s sake.” Here’s where many of God’s people have failed over the years. I remember A.W. Tozer, who preached in the mid-1900’s, how the typical minister of his day (evangelical, I suppose) was underpaid, though they normally had large families. Folks, that’s a shame! Paul tells us, “Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things” (Gal. 6:6). You are in debt to those who teach you the word of God. You owe them carnal things for the spiritual things they minister to you. If not, you’re defrauding them and don’t expect to prosper.
Nobody likes a mooch, folks, esp. a “spiritual mooch.” Your spiritual leaders put in long hours with the scriptures, and you owe them the necessities of life. Paul said to the Philippians in Phil. 4:16, “ye sent once and again to my necessity.” Excellent; but look at v. 15b, “no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving but ye only.” How sad! Here was the man that brought them the gospel that saved their souls, and they won’t even give him an offering! If that makes you mad (and it should), how do you think God feels about it? Let’s see; please turn to 1 Thes. 4:6, an oft-overlooked verse that’s terrifying in its implications (maybe that’s why it’s ignored): “That no go beyond and defraud his brother [so the context is believers] in any matter [intimacy in context, but anything else as well]: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified.”
So if you deprive other believers of their due, including ministers, don’t expect good results. Now I know that Paul said that we’re not to give “grudgingly, or of necessity” (2 Cor. 9:7), but he also said, “Render therefore to all their dues” (Rom. 13:7), and if you don’t give other believers their due, why should you expect good things from God? Don’t be a “spiritual freeloader.” Generously repay those who minister the word to you, no matter who they are. And don’t just “pay” them; pray for them, submit to their authority (the word of God and their example), and be fervent about your relationship with them, like the Corinthians were toward Paul.

4.       Prayer (Col. 4:12; Jas. 5:16-18)
In these passages we read about two ministers, one an OT prophet, the other an evangelist in the body of Christ, but they have this in common: they both pray fervently. Real prayer springs from spiritual fire. Years ago, James Montgomery, an Englishman, wrote these words, “Prayer is the soul’s sincere desire, uttered or unexpress’d; the motion of a hidden fire, that trembles in the breast.” Elijah and Epaphras were concerned about the things they were praying about, not just saying prayers like millions of devotees around the world. Real prayer is an outpouring of the heart; cf. Ps. 62:8, “Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah.”
        I know what you’re thinking. What if I don’t feel anything? There’s that phantom again: feel is real right? Wrong! How many mornings do you really feel like going to work? Never, right? Well, you can follow those feelings all the way to poverty. “Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty; open thine eyes, and thou shalt be satisfied with bread” (Prov. 20:13). We don’t live by feelings, folks. We live by our wills. Feelings follow decisions; they don’t dictate them. I didn’t say that feelings may notinfluence decisions; Christ himself can “be touched with the feelings of [men’s] infirmities” (Heb. 4:15). If you don’t have feelings, there’s something wrong with you.  I’m just saying that feelings, or lack thereof, should not stop you from doing your duty. “You can do anything you ought to do,” said Bob Jones, Sr., including pray when you lack deep feeling. FĂ©nelon put it this way (read quote from Joy and Strength, p. 126)…
     Amen! Wachovia’s slogan used to be, “Let’s get started,” and that’s how you need to approach prayer. The fervency will come, but I think that it’s foundation, besides the word of God, of course, is desire and commitment. “Prayer is the soul’s sincere desire…” You’ve got to have a desire and act on it, no matter how you feel. I think that lack of understanding about feelings has caused great confusion among believers; don’t let them get in the way of a powerful, fervent prayer life. You can have one too, not just Elijah and Epaphras. The same Spirit that was in them is in you (Elijah wasn’t in Christ, but he did have the Spirit, per 1 Pt. 1:11), and he will bring you to experience fervent prayer, if you sow to him (Gal. 6:8) and yield to him. 

5.       Brethren (1 Pt. 1:22; 4:8)
Here I’d like to make an obvious spiritual application, since I believe that Heb.-Rev. are primarily aimed at saints in the early Acts period, historically, and the great tribulation, doctrinally. If you study this last portion of the NT canon closely, you’ll notice numerous references to brotherly love. It’s legal evidence of salvation in the great tribulation; in other words, during that time, if you don’t love the brethren, it’s because you’re not saved. In this age, however, it’s also evidence of salvation, but lack thereof doesn’t mean you’re lost; it just means that you’re carnal (1 Cor. 3:1-3). Ever since Paul received his gospel, three heresies concerning good works have troubled the church: (1) works are needed to obtain salvation; (2) works are needed to retain salvation; and (3) works are needed to prove salvation. None of these, including the last one, is true. Now, Eph. 2:10 says regarding good works that “God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” not that we must, beloved, “otherwise “grace is no more grace” (Rom. 11:6), or that we even will. That’s entirely up to us, just like receiving Christ was. I read about a man in 1 Cor. 3:15 whose works were burned up, “but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.”
        Most people cannot handle this, since we’re by nature legalistic and self-righteous and think that we must have something to do with our salvation. You only deceive yourself if you believe that. God is so gracious that he’ll save you with the foreknowledge of a carnal life afterward. That to me magnifies his grace, though it’s not the response he’s looking for. He’s really looking for grateful obedience, including fervent love for other believers, like we read about in Peter’s letter. Spiritually applied, obeying the truth should lead any saint, in any dispensation, to love other believers. 

·         Ps. 119:63, “I am a companion of all them that fear thee, and of them that keep thy precepts.”
·         1 Thes. 4:9, “But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.”

You see how it’s natural for believers to love one another, and that “birds of a feather flock together.” And I must add that it’s natural for you to love other believers fervently, even more than your earthly relations, since it’s a spiritual love that comes from God. Rom. 5:5, “And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” Such fervent love will be harder and harder to find in these last days, where iniquity abounds and the love of many, including believers, waxes cold. But don’t let it be you!
        Look at Paul’s prayer regarding  this in 1 Thes. 3:12, “And the Lord make you to increase and abound in your love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you.” Why is this so important? Look at v. 13. If your love for the brethren is not growing, it shows that you have heart issues that aren’t holy which will be settled at the judgment seat of Christ if not down here. So you may not lose your salvation for not fervently loving the brethren in this age, but you’ll certainly lose rewards if you don’t apply yourself to it. 
        You say, “The brethren aren’t very lovable, Bro. David.” Two things: (1) if you mean likeable, that’s often true, but you choose to love them, i.e. seek the best for them, whether you like them or not; there are many Christians that I don’t like, and probably never will, despite Will Rogers, but I love them and hope that my love for them grows over time; (2) it’s not them you really love anyway, but the one in them, and the one that they’re in; look at Phile. 6—what will really make your love for other saints effectual is remembering who is in them, Christ. I know that their flesh can obscure that, sometimes overwhelmingly, but if they belong to Christ, you should love them for that reason. That doesn’t mean you’re intimate with them or, in some cases, even fellowship with them, but it does mean that you acknowledge their identity in Christ and seek their welfare as much as possible.

6.       Holiness (2 Pt. 3:10-12)
As we saw earlier, the fervent thing here is the heat that burns up the heavens and the earth, just before the white throne judgment.  2 Pt. 3 is a great passage to show that the day of the Lord is 1000 years long, since this burning is said to be a part of the day of the Lord. Now since the heavens and earth don’t burn up at the second coming, the obvious conclusion is that this event follows the millennial reign of Christ and matches Rev. 20:9, where Christ burns up Satan and the rebellious host of nations after Satan is loosed from the bottomless pit. 
        Now this fervency is important, but it’s not the only fervency in the passage.  Do you see another type of fervency? How about in v. 11? What’s the proper response to the knowledge of the fervency up ahead? Fervency in your Christian life right now! Doctrine: dissolution of all things by fire in the future; practice: burn out for God in the present. After Henry Martyn read David Brainerd’s journal, he said, “Now to burn out for God,” and off to the mission field he went.  This passage agrees perfectly with Paul’s exhortation in 2 Cor. 4:17-18 (read). In other words, be fervent about eternal things since everything temporal will burn up.


CONCLUSION
In conclusion, I’d like to point out three things about fervency: (1) This isn’t an exhaustive list of things that believers should be fervent about, but we should pay close attention to the things connected with fervency in scripture. (2) Nine references total; since nine is connected with fruitfulness in scripture, could be hint that fervency is connected with fruitfulness.  Most fruitful believers I know are fervent to some degree, but there’s always room for growth in this grace. Seven of these references are connected with personal fervency; may be another clue, since seven is the number of perfection.  Personally, I don’t see how a saint could reach spiritual maturity without being “fervent in spirit.”  If you’re not fired up about Bible study, prayer, and communion with God in general, it’s not likely that you’ll be spiritually mature. It’s going to take fervency to keep you in the book, on your knees, and in tune with God. (3) Fervency is not just for the young. You can and should be fervent when you’re older. A great passage on this, which I include in a lot of my correspondence with older saints, is Ps. 92:12-15; and a great example of this used to grace this church, Bro. Melvin Pratt. That man had tracts in his pocket till his last days. Praise the Lord! Fervent in spirit; on fire for souls. How about you? Are you fired up about anything spiritually? God wants you to be; if you’re not talk to him about it. Yield yourself to the fire that’s already in you, and watch him do wonderful things in your life and the lives of others.  

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