Deuteronomy 10.12-13
I came upon this bit of Scripture during my daily Bible reading recently. As I read it I thought that it could be a good text to preach. It had a good question, 'What does the Lord your God require of you?' It answers that with a checklist, and we all like checklists. So, I thought it would make for a good sermon or maybe two. But as I considered the text, it became clear that the Spirit was directing me to preach on only one of the items. Today's sermon is about the requirement to fear God. This, as you can appreciate, is a challenging topic. It's an area that is not at all clear within the Church these days. And that's why I need to preach on it. As I studied the topic the Spirit made some things clearer to me. It's my hope that He will make some things clearer to you as well. Let's find out.
Let's start with a working definition. What is the fear of the Lord? There are several of suggestions that have been offered, things like reverence, respect or awe. All of those are expected of us in our attitude to God, but I think that you'll agree with me that none of them really feel quite right, that with each it feels as if something is missing. So, let me suggest this as a definition: fearing God means fearing God. The fear of the Lord is our being afraid of God. Now, why would I say that? Well, as you might guess, I have reasons. For one thing, if God wanted His people to reverence, respect or be in awe of Him, He could have and would have said that. But He didn't. He used the word 'fear'. And 'fear' means fear. Even after just a moment's reflection you know that's right. 'Fear' means fear. So, to fear God means to be afraid of Him. Now, on top of that, I have verses. Why did Adam hide from God in the Garden of Eden? Here's Adam's answer: 'I heard the sound of you in the Garden and I was afraid.' Then there's the time that God came down on Mount Sinai. 'Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid.' Then there was the time that Jacob had his dream. 'Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it." And he was afraid.' In each case we see people interacting with God and in each case they are described as being afraid. I think that it's pretty clear that the fear of the Lord is being afraid of God. If you're not yet persuaded, keep listening.
One part of our problem with understanding the fear of the Lord is that we've never been in a situation of deeply fearing someone who loved us just as deeply. Those who have lived under that authority of an absolute monarch understand fear, fearing the sovereign. These people feared the king because they knew that he could have them executed for whatever reason, even just a whim, just like that. There was a reason to fear. Is God an absolute monarch or is He limited by some constitution protecting our rights? Could He decide to execute someone just like that? Or does He need to go through a trial? Do you remember Korah from last week? There was no trial when Korah and those with him were swallowed up by the earth. People fear absolute monarchs and with good reason. You would. Now, let's add something to the picture. Add the fact that this absolute monarch really loves you. He wants to see you flourish. His authority over life and death isn't changed. He can still order your execution – just like that. But that power is tempered by the love He has for you.
Our experience in a modern democratic republic hurts us here. Having an absolute monarch to fear is not a part of our political experience. In fact, we have been taught not to fear those in authority over us. We've been told that we have rights and that we should insist on them being respected. So, no government official is going to bug us, not without a good reason. And even if does does, we'll have a good lawyer at hand. But God is a sovereign, an absolute monarch, who holds in His hands the power of life and death. And we have no rights before Him. He doesn't need to have a trial. He really is the absolute monarch. But He loves us deeply. He wants to see us do well. So, we are to fear this loving sovereign.
There are other things that trip us up. One of them is that we assume that once someone becomes a Christian the hard part is over. To be sure, there are some things to be cleaned up here and there, but these are no big deal. Once you're in it's just a matter of enjoying being a Christian. But in reality once someone becomes a Christian it's the beginning of the process not the end. Remember the goal of God's salvation is not to get you to heaven. He goal is to make you like Jesus. And it is specifically the work of the Spirit to perform that transformation. So, He will teach, guide, correct and do all those other things He does to transform us. And when He does these things to us, it's best for us to respond in faith. When He teaches, we should heed what He says. When He guides in a certain direction we should turn and follow. When He corrects we should repent. Those who fear God listen to the Spirit and thus become like Jesus. They have this attitude because they know that if they don't submit to the Spirit, there will be consequences. They fear what the Spirit might do in response to their sin.
Uzziah was a king in Judah and he was a very good king – that is, until one day. 'But when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction. For he was unfaithful to the Lord his God and entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense. But Azariah the priest went in after him, with eighty priests of the Lord who were men of valor, and they withstood King Uzziah and said to him, "It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Go out of the sanctuary, for you have done wrong, and it will bring you no honor from the Lord God." Then Uzziah was angry. Now he had a censer in his hand to burn incense, and when he became angry with the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead in the presence of the priests in the house of the Lord, by the altar of incense. And Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked at him, and behold, he was leprous in his forehead! And they rushed him out quickly, and he himself hurried to go out, because the Lord had struck him. And King Uzziah was a leper to the day of his death, and being a leper lived in a separate house, for he was excluded from the house of the Lord.'
Asa was another king of Judah. God had blessed him greatly, giving him amazing military victories. But when he was about to be invaded by a powerful enemy he depended on international diplomacy instead his God. As a result, a prophet showed up one day with a message from that God. 'At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, "Because you relied on the king of Syria, and did not rely on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped you. Were not the Ethiopians and the Libyans a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet because you relied on the Lord, he gave them into your hand. For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him. You have done foolishly in this, so from now on you will have wars."' Asa did it right when he faced the Ethiopians, but he later failed and bore the consequences.
David wrote about his life after his sin with Bathsheba but before he confessed that sin and repented of it. Listen to how he described how the Spirit dealt with him. 'For when I kept silent [about his sin], my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.'
Now, let me read to you some places where fear as a motivator is actually encouraged and that by God. First there's this from Deuteronomy. 'If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and, though they discipline him, will not listen to them, then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gate of the place where he lives, and they shall say to the elders of his city, "This our son is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard." Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall purge the evil from your midst, and all Israel shall hear, and fear.' Then there's this from Jesus when He sends the Twelve on a preaching mission. 'It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household. So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.' Did you catch Jesus' point? When people threaten to do you harm because you are preaching the Gospel, don't think about what they might do to you. What you really want to do is think about what God might do to you. Fear God and proceed with the mission. So, you see, the fear of God is a great motivator.
The goal of conversion is that we become like Jesus. We will achieve that goal by quietly submitting to the Spirit. It's good to know that failure here, failure to submit, has consequences. The Spirit holds the rod of correction in His had, and He's not afraid to use it. The fear of God is a great motivator.
There's another assumption that can trip us up here. Once someone is converted he can be tempted to think that making it to heaven is a done deal. Again, there are some things to work on, some heavy going here and there, but the end result is never in doubt. Really? Listen. 'Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years. Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, 'They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.' As I swore in my wrath, 'They shall not enter my rest.'" Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.' Now, there's an interesting exhortation to preach to a church. Be careful how your heart responds lest God, in His anger, excludes you from heaven. And bear in mind that there is only one alternative to heaven. The fear of God is a great motivator.
Do you see why I said that the fear of the Lord is our being afraid of God? Fearing God means fearing God. And do you see how the popular god of just about no expectations isn't the God of the Bible? 'And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God?' However – and this is very important – stopping now would only replace a god who is a doting grandfather with a god who is an abusive parent. Fearing God works only if you can grasp that the God whom you are to fear is the God who loves you more than you know. The reason that He is so serious about your sin – and He is very serious about your sin – is that He really wants you to flourish. But how can that happen if sin is not dealt with? The absolute monarch really loves you. The fear of God is a great motivator to get you to deal with your sin – so that you actually would become like Jesus and flourish.
This is where the cross comes in. A little meditation here is so fruitful. Consider the cross. The cross is a revelation of God's heart. It reveals that God hates sin! On that cross Jesus suffered the Father's rage against sin. 'Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. It was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief.' The Father engulfed the eternal Son with His awful rage against sin. God hates sin – and the cross is all the proof that we need. But, at the same time the cross also reveals God's startling love for you. 'For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son.' 'The Son of God loved me and gave Himself for me.' It is only because of the surprising love of God for terrible sinners that you aren't already damned and on your way to hell. Remember that God is an absolute monarch. He runs this universe. So, while you remember and relish God's love for you, you also need to remember that He hates sin. That isn't changed. He hates sin. And He loves you. That isn't changed either. What has changed is that you don't atone for your sins. Jesus paid it all, the entire debt. So, when it comes to your sin, He is the God whom you must fear because He loves you too much to let your sins undo you.
I am blessed with five great kids. I love each of them and they each love me. And the reason why we have such good relationships is that I spanked them. And I spanked them because I loved them. So, there was a certain kind of fear in them that has blossomed into a beautiful love. If the efforts of a sinful father like me with my terribly inconsistent love can produce such relationships with my kids, how much more will the efforts of a perfect Father who always loves perfectly produce beautiful relationships with you? The fear of God is a great motivator to get you to understand how much He loves you.
So, what are you supposed to do now? You know what I'm going to say. Repent and believe the Gospel! The Spirit puts His finger on some area of your life and says, 'You know, you're not doing so well here.' The next thing that has to happen is repentance and faith. Repent of the sin that the Spirit has pointed out. Agree with Him, 'Yes, it is sin!' Then resolve to do what is good and right instead. And if you find yourself a little slow here, if you find that you're getting a little lazy when it comes to dealing with your sin, remember that the Spirit holds the rod of correction in His hand and that He isn't afraid to use it. The fear of God is a great motivator. Then, once you've repented come again to Jesus for the grace of forgiveness and the grace to be able to keep that resolve. If you respond in this way as the Spirit does His work in you, you will be blessed more than you can imagine. But if you don't, then fear what He will do.
I came upon this bit of Scripture during my daily Bible reading recently. As I read it I thought that it could be a good text to preach. It had a good question, 'What does the Lord your God require of you?' It answers that with a checklist, and we all like checklists. So, I thought it would make for a good sermon or maybe two. But as I considered the text, it became clear that the Spirit was directing me to preach on only one of the items. Today's sermon is about the requirement to fear God. This, as you can appreciate, is a challenging topic. It's an area that is not at all clear within the Church these days. And that's why I need to preach on it. As I studied the topic the Spirit made some things clearer to me. It's my hope that He will make some things clearer to you as well. Let's find out.
Let's start with a working definition. What is the fear of the Lord? There are several of suggestions that have been offered, things like reverence, respect or awe. All of those are expected of us in our attitude to God, but I think that you'll agree with me that none of them really feel quite right, that with each it feels as if something is missing. So, let me suggest this as a definition: fearing God means fearing God. The fear of the Lord is our being afraid of God. Now, why would I say that? Well, as you might guess, I have reasons. For one thing, if God wanted His people to reverence, respect or be in awe of Him, He could have and would have said that. But He didn't. He used the word 'fear'. And 'fear' means fear. Even after just a moment's reflection you know that's right. 'Fear' means fear. So, to fear God means to be afraid of Him. Now, on top of that, I have verses. Why did Adam hide from God in the Garden of Eden? Here's Adam's answer: 'I heard the sound of you in the Garden and I was afraid.' Then there's the time that God came down on Mount Sinai. 'Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid.' Then there was the time that Jacob had his dream. 'Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it." And he was afraid.' In each case we see people interacting with God and in each case they are described as being afraid. I think that it's pretty clear that the fear of the Lord is being afraid of God. If you're not yet persuaded, keep listening.
One part of our problem with understanding the fear of the Lord is that we've never been in a situation of deeply fearing someone who loved us just as deeply. Those who have lived under that authority of an absolute monarch understand fear, fearing the sovereign. These people feared the king because they knew that he could have them executed for whatever reason, even just a whim, just like that. There was a reason to fear. Is God an absolute monarch or is He limited by some constitution protecting our rights? Could He decide to execute someone just like that? Or does He need to go through a trial? Do you remember Korah from last week? There was no trial when Korah and those with him were swallowed up by the earth. People fear absolute monarchs and with good reason. You would. Now, let's add something to the picture. Add the fact that this absolute monarch really loves you. He wants to see you flourish. His authority over life and death isn't changed. He can still order your execution – just like that. But that power is tempered by the love He has for you.
Our experience in a modern democratic republic hurts us here. Having an absolute monarch to fear is not a part of our political experience. In fact, we have been taught not to fear those in authority over us. We've been told that we have rights and that we should insist on them being respected. So, no government official is going to bug us, not without a good reason. And even if does does, we'll have a good lawyer at hand. But God is a sovereign, an absolute monarch, who holds in His hands the power of life and death. And we have no rights before Him. He doesn't need to have a trial. He really is the absolute monarch. But He loves us deeply. He wants to see us do well. So, we are to fear this loving sovereign.
There are other things that trip us up. One of them is that we assume that once someone becomes a Christian the hard part is over. To be sure, there are some things to be cleaned up here and there, but these are no big deal. Once you're in it's just a matter of enjoying being a Christian. But in reality once someone becomes a Christian it's the beginning of the process not the end. Remember the goal of God's salvation is not to get you to heaven. He goal is to make you like Jesus. And it is specifically the work of the Spirit to perform that transformation. So, He will teach, guide, correct and do all those other things He does to transform us. And when He does these things to us, it's best for us to respond in faith. When He teaches, we should heed what He says. When He guides in a certain direction we should turn and follow. When He corrects we should repent. Those who fear God listen to the Spirit and thus become like Jesus. They have this attitude because they know that if they don't submit to the Spirit, there will be consequences. They fear what the Spirit might do in response to their sin.
Uzziah was a king in Judah and he was a very good king – that is, until one day. 'But when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction. For he was unfaithful to the Lord his God and entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense. But Azariah the priest went in after him, with eighty priests of the Lord who were men of valor, and they withstood King Uzziah and said to him, "It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Go out of the sanctuary, for you have done wrong, and it will bring you no honor from the Lord God." Then Uzziah was angry. Now he had a censer in his hand to burn incense, and when he became angry with the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead in the presence of the priests in the house of the Lord, by the altar of incense. And Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked at him, and behold, he was leprous in his forehead! And they rushed him out quickly, and he himself hurried to go out, because the Lord had struck him. And King Uzziah was a leper to the day of his death, and being a leper lived in a separate house, for he was excluded from the house of the Lord.'
Asa was another king of Judah. God had blessed him greatly, giving him amazing military victories. But when he was about to be invaded by a powerful enemy he depended on international diplomacy instead his God. As a result, a prophet showed up one day with a message from that God. 'At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, "Because you relied on the king of Syria, and did not rely on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped you. Were not the Ethiopians and the Libyans a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet because you relied on the Lord, he gave them into your hand. For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him. You have done foolishly in this, so from now on you will have wars."' Asa did it right when he faced the Ethiopians, but he later failed and bore the consequences.
David wrote about his life after his sin with Bathsheba but before he confessed that sin and repented of it. Listen to how he described how the Spirit dealt with him. 'For when I kept silent [about his sin], my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.'
Now, let me read to you some places where fear as a motivator is actually encouraged and that by God. First there's this from Deuteronomy. 'If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and, though they discipline him, will not listen to them, then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gate of the place where he lives, and they shall say to the elders of his city, "This our son is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard." Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall purge the evil from your midst, and all Israel shall hear, and fear.' Then there's this from Jesus when He sends the Twelve on a preaching mission. 'It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household. So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.' Did you catch Jesus' point? When people threaten to do you harm because you are preaching the Gospel, don't think about what they might do to you. What you really want to do is think about what God might do to you. Fear God and proceed with the mission. So, you see, the fear of God is a great motivator.
The goal of conversion is that we become like Jesus. We will achieve that goal by quietly submitting to the Spirit. It's good to know that failure here, failure to submit, has consequences. The Spirit holds the rod of correction in His had, and He's not afraid to use it. The fear of God is a great motivator.
There's another assumption that can trip us up here. Once someone is converted he can be tempted to think that making it to heaven is a done deal. Again, there are some things to work on, some heavy going here and there, but the end result is never in doubt. Really? Listen. 'Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years. Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, 'They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.' As I swore in my wrath, 'They shall not enter my rest.'" Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.' Now, there's an interesting exhortation to preach to a church. Be careful how your heart responds lest God, in His anger, excludes you from heaven. And bear in mind that there is only one alternative to heaven. The fear of God is a great motivator.
Do you see why I said that the fear of the Lord is our being afraid of God? Fearing God means fearing God. And do you see how the popular god of just about no expectations isn't the God of the Bible? 'And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God?' However – and this is very important – stopping now would only replace a god who is a doting grandfather with a god who is an abusive parent. Fearing God works only if you can grasp that the God whom you are to fear is the God who loves you more than you know. The reason that He is so serious about your sin – and He is very serious about your sin – is that He really wants you to flourish. But how can that happen if sin is not dealt with? The absolute monarch really loves you. The fear of God is a great motivator to get you to deal with your sin – so that you actually would become like Jesus and flourish.
This is where the cross comes in. A little meditation here is so fruitful. Consider the cross. The cross is a revelation of God's heart. It reveals that God hates sin! On that cross Jesus suffered the Father's rage against sin. 'Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. It was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief.' The Father engulfed the eternal Son with His awful rage against sin. God hates sin – and the cross is all the proof that we need. But, at the same time the cross also reveals God's startling love for you. 'For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son.' 'The Son of God loved me and gave Himself for me.' It is only because of the surprising love of God for terrible sinners that you aren't already damned and on your way to hell. Remember that God is an absolute monarch. He runs this universe. So, while you remember and relish God's love for you, you also need to remember that He hates sin. That isn't changed. He hates sin. And He loves you. That isn't changed either. What has changed is that you don't atone for your sins. Jesus paid it all, the entire debt. So, when it comes to your sin, He is the God whom you must fear because He loves you too much to let your sins undo you.
I am blessed with five great kids. I love each of them and they each love me. And the reason why we have such good relationships is that I spanked them. And I spanked them because I loved them. So, there was a certain kind of fear in them that has blossomed into a beautiful love. If the efforts of a sinful father like me with my terribly inconsistent love can produce such relationships with my kids, how much more will the efforts of a perfect Father who always loves perfectly produce beautiful relationships with you? The fear of God is a great motivator to get you to understand how much He loves you.
So, what are you supposed to do now? You know what I'm going to say. Repent and believe the Gospel! The Spirit puts His finger on some area of your life and says, 'You know, you're not doing so well here.' The next thing that has to happen is repentance and faith. Repent of the sin that the Spirit has pointed out. Agree with Him, 'Yes, it is sin!' Then resolve to do what is good and right instead. And if you find yourself a little slow here, if you find that you're getting a little lazy when it comes to dealing with your sin, remember that the Spirit holds the rod of correction in His hand and that He isn't afraid to use it. The fear of God is a great motivator. Then, once you've repented come again to Jesus for the grace of forgiveness and the grace to be able to keep that resolve. If you respond in this way as the Spirit does His work in you, you will be blessed more than you can imagine. But if you don't, then fear what He will do.
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