Fear can be a powerful motivator. It’s one of the
problems with our world today; we don’t fear God
anymore.
God is a God of both love AND justice; both grace
AND wrath, and sometimes I think we need to hear Him
roar to remind us of His holiness. God said He would
be a vengeful God. That’s hard to reconcile; love
AND vengeance!
The Bible instructs us to fear the Lord over 100
times through scripture. After several plagues had
already happened, Moses said to Pharaoh, “I know
that you and your officials still do not fear the
Lord God.” (Exodus 9:30) That was too bad for them
because the death angel was on his way.
“Serve the Lord with fear and celebrate His rule
with trembling.” (Psalm 2:11) “Let all the earth
fear the Lord; let all the people of the world
revere Him.” (Psalm 33:8)
Even during the crucifixion as one thief was
taunting Jesus, the other criminal rebuked him.
“Don’t you fear God?” he said. (Luke 23:40) “There
is no fear of God before their eyes.” (Romans 3:18)
Whenever God appeared to people in Bible times, the
results were an overwhelming sense of terror and
dismay, a terrible sensation of sinfulness and
guilt. Today, we experience such a shocking
disrespect for God that the idea of God being
someone we should have a healthy fear of couldn’t be
more foreign.
When the Bible talks about the fear of God, it’s
talking about the fear that we feel at the Grand
Canyon, in which there is a realistic danger. There
are fences to remind us of the dangers of falling to
one’s death. And in some places, there is nothing
more than a sign, a written word, to warn us. And
yet, the Grand Canyon is such a beautiful thing,
such an awesome grandeur, that you are drawn to it.
The fear of God is not a fear that drives you away;
it is a fear that draws you in. It is fear that
causes us to bow and acknowledge He is Lord. If you
are the Lord of your own life, look out! God is to
be feared…no question.
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I know the New Testament says, "God has not given us
a spirit of fear…"(II Timothy 1:7) and it also says,
“Perfect love cast out fear.”
(I John 4:18)
We’re told both of those passages are writ-ten to
people who have a relationship with Christ. If you
have Jesus in your life, you no longer have a reason
to fear God. I’m not so sure of that. Fear can also
mean respect, but on a much deeper level. It doesn’t
matter how many times you visit the Grand Canyon or
how well you may feel you know it, maintaining a
healthy level of fear would still be wise.
Perhaps no one has captured the character of God
better than C.S. Lewis in his Chronicles of Narnia,
a series of 7 fantasy novels in which he portrays
the Lord Jesus Christ as a lion, as John does in
Revelation chapter 5.
"As the Lion passed by they were terribly afraid He
would turn and look at them, yet in some odd way
they wished He would." The question was asked to one
who knew this Lion well, "Is He safe?" His reply
was, "Safe? Who said anything about safe? Of course
He isn’t safe. But He’s good. He’s the King, I tell
you."
We don’t like the fact that God can be scary
sometimes, but the Bible pictures Jesus as both the
Lamb and the Lion.
Join us as we look at Great Comebacks of the Bible.
“Out-numbered” is a series of sermons looking at the
seemingly unwinnable battles we find throughout
scripture. They are there to inspire us. They are
there to teach us about God. They are there to give
us hope!
[Ron Otto, Preaching Minister, Lincoln Christian
Church] |
