Psalm 111
Can I start this evening by asking: What do you fear? Perhaps take it one step further and ask: What is the primary fear in your life right now?
Can I start this evening by asking: What do you fear? Perhaps take it one step further and ask: What is the primary fear in your life right now?
Now, there are different types of
fears, aren’t there? If you want to see me jump (why am I telling you this?)
say: RAT … or … BAT !!! They terrify me. So that’s one type of fear.
Here’s another: I’m scared, I’m
afraid of the sea. But it’s not a fear that makes me jump when I see the sea.
And it’s definitely not a fear that keeps me from swimming in the sea and
enjoying the sea … No, it is rather a fear that says: Here is something to be
respected, here is something to be held in awe, … here is something that must
not be taken for granted, … here is something that is potentially very
dangerous … here is something not to be messed with.
Our Psalm today contains the line The fear of the Lord is
the beginning of wisdom and my
subject is The Fear of the LORD and we will see that Scripture commands fear of the Lord, Scripture commends fear of the Lord and Scripture expects fear of the Lord in the life of
Christ’s disciples. I would hope we can see that the second type of fear I
mentioned comes closer to describing the fear of the Lord than the first.
Really, we are not meant to jump in fear every time the preacher or the song words
mention God! But having said that I
would suggest that we live in a world, and perhaps even in a church, where we
have lost the fear of the Lord.
A very elite military
battalion had as its motto: We Fear Naught but God
But we live in a world today which seems to fear everything but God … we fear disease, unemployment, crime, the future, old age, global warming, the safety of our pensions, … we fear so much, but we don’t fear God.
Scripture,
on the other hand, Old and New Testaments, speaks of only one fear, the fear of
the Lord, and it speaks of that fear over and over and over again. I’ll just
mention a few New Testament occasions, because we are sometimes tempted to
believe this is an OT idea:
“Do not fear those
who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to
destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28). “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come”
(Revelation 14:7). Acts 9:31 says that the early church walked “in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit.”
Did you catch that: the church was powerful and multiplied because they walked
in the fear of God (not man), and in the power of the Holy Spirit. Anointing
and fear go hand-in-hand. Paul reminds us in Philippians 2:12 that we should
work out (not work for) our own salvation with “fear and trembling.”
Some OT references: He gave them these orders: “You must
serve faithfully and wholeheartedly in the fear of the Lord.
Job
28:28And he said to the human race, “The fear of the Lord—that
is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.”Psalm
19:9The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring
forever. The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous.Psalm
34:11Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of
the Lord.Psalm
111:10The fear of the Lord is the beginning of
wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs
eternal praise.Proverbs
1:7The fear of the Lord is the beginning of
knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.Proverbs
2:5then you will understand the fear of the Lord
and find the knowledge of God.Proverbs
9:10The fear of the Lord is the beginning of
wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.Proverbs
10:27The fear of the Lord adds length to life,
but the years of the wicked are cut short.Proverbs
14:27The fear of the Lord is a fountain of
life, turning a person from the snares of death.Proverbs
15:16Better a little with the fear of the Lord
than great wealth with turmoil.Proverbs
16:6Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for; through the fear
of the Lord evil is avoided.Proverbs
19:23The fear of the Lord leads to life; then
one rests content, untouched by trouble.Proverbs
22:4Humility is the fear of the Lord; its wages
are riches and honor and life.Proverbs
23:17Do not let your heart envy sinners, but always be zealous for the fear
of the Lord.Isaiah
11:2The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and of
understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge
and fear of the Lord—Isaiah
11:3and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.
He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears
with his ears;Isaiah
33:6He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of
salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord
is the key to this treasure.
So what is
the fear of God: The fear of God is reverential awe and respect for Him. It is
a heartfelt conviction that He is not only loving and personal, but holy and
just.
Why do you
think God wants us to fear Him? Perhaps because there are benefits to us for
fearing Him.
Jeremiah 32:38-40
38 They will be my people, and I will be
their God. 39 I will give them singleness of heart and action,
so that they will always fear me and that all will then go well for them and
for their children after them. 40 I will make an everlasting
covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire
them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me.
Here we see
that God wants to do us good and promises He will not turn away from us. But He
also does not want us to turn away from Him. Let’s look at a few reasons why:
First, the
fear of God is the fountain of life for the believer. Proverbs 22:4 says the
fear of God, along with humility, leads us to wealth and honour and life. Psalm
111:10 says that it gives us skill in life and provides wisdom. A healthy
respect and fear of God is the key to life. Are you experiencing the promise of
abundant life here and now?
Second, the
fear of God builds faithfulness in the believer. This passage in Jeremiah seems
to imply that the fear of God has been riveted into our souls by the Holy
Spirit to keep us faithful. The true test of a man or woman is not what we do
when everyone is looking. The real test of a man or woman is what you would do
if you knew no one would find out.
Fearing God
means I practice His presence in my life daily – nothing is hidden from him. He
sees everything. I can’t sneak away from His all-seeing eyes or omnipotent
mind. And, yes, that does keep me faithful.
Third, God fulfils the desires of those who fear Him and
saves us, in other words doesn’t just keep me from sin, but leads me out of
trouble.
How do we
develop a healthy fear of God?
Begin
practising the presence of God…be aware He is watching and evaluating
everything I think, say or do.
Have you
noticed how people begin to obey the law when they see a policeman driving down
the freeway? Speed demons suddenly lose their heavy feet and spend a while
driving at the speed limit – until the policeman is no longer in sight.
God is much
bigger and has more authority than any policeman with a radar gun. He knows
exactly what you and I are thinking right now and whether Christianity is just
a spare tire for us … He knows what our real attitudes and values are. On the
one hand, God’s divine authority and presence in my life is a terrifying thing.
But it is also liberating. We are created after all, for this moment by moment
relationship with God. When we have a clean conscience (which comes with the
confession and repentance we looked at two weeks ago)we are able to enjoy His
love and His freedom. Practice the presence of God.
There’s a
story of some boys who were tempting a young lad to pull a prank with them. The
three young men taunted the other chap: “Come on, do this with us. Nobody will
find out.” Finally the boy mentioned his father and so they teased him even
further: “Ha, you’re just afraid that if he finds out he might hurt you.” The
boy looked back at the others and said: “No, I’m afraid if he finds out, it’ll
hurt him.”
There we get
closer to the meaning of the fear of the Lord: We are afraid of hurting Him,
disappointing Him, saddening Him. This leads to another truth that we can’t
explore this evening, namely that a fear of the Lord is a prerequisite for
leadership and this is laid out in Ex 18:21. You see leaders who are not too
concerned about hurting God, are even less concerned about hurting the people
they exercise leadership over.
The more you
fear God – the more you spend time in His presence – the more you dread
displeasing Him. His presence in our lives shouldn’t be a heavy yolk around our
necks, but we do need a healthy dread of displeasing or hurting or
disappointing Him.
I asked at
the beginning: What are you afraid of? Now I’ll ask: How scared are you of
upsetting God?
The fear of
the Lord should be a powerful, motivating factor in our lives. We shouldn’t be
legalistic about it – viewing God with a giant fly swatter in the sky, ready to
crush us when we displease Him. Rather, a healthy fear of the Lord should
refresh us, as practising the presence of God in our life sets us free, saves
us, from sin and sinning.
What are you
scared of, what are you afraid of? Let’s commit ourselves as part of God’s
army, to saying
