“Fear of God: What Most People Miss” Script

 

INTRO

Let’s begin by reading a story about people becoming super-fearful. It begins in Exodus 19:16-19.  Then Moses was given the famous 10 commandments. And immediately after that, we read… Exodus 20:18-19

Now, don’t miss this part. It is super important. Exodus 10:20

God intended for the Israelites to fear him as a motivation to keep them from sinning.

Nehemiah, as the leader of Jerusalem during the reconstruction of the wall, could have lived sumptuously. He was authorized to make demands on poor, ordinary people. But he did not. Why? Because he knew what God was capable of doing to him. His fear of God prevented him from abusing the poor.

King David agreed. He wrote Psalms 111:10  The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; …  His son, King Soloman added Proverbs 1:7  The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge;…

Understanding what God could do to you is a cause for fear. And fear opens the door to wisdom and understanding.

The New Testament has a similar type of fear.

The Greek word is “phobos. We get the word “phobia” from it. It means “to be put in fear,” or “that which strikes terror”.

Matthew records a scary event. Jesus had been praying alone on a mountain. His 12 disciples were obeying him. They were in a boat rowing across the lake at night. Matthew recorded, “ When the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear.”  They screamed in fear. The “ghost” was the cause or force that caused terror.

For a moment, picture being one of those Roman soldiers charged with the duty of guarding the tomb of Jesus. Your whole duty is to not let that tomb be opened, or else. Suddenly, you feel the earth shaking. You see an angel coming from above. He rolls back the huge stone by himself and then sits on it. Why didn’t you stop him? Matthew said, “The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men.” They didn’t die from fright, but maybe they did pass out. Did you?

What about the time that Ananias and Sapphira told a lie? They had sold some land, kept some of the money for themselves, but told everyone, including the apostles, that they were contributing 100% of the sale. What happened next should scare anyone.  Peter told them, “…You have not lied to men but to God.”  And as he heard these words, Ananias fell down and breathed his last; and great fear came over all who heard of it.”

Let me make this clear. Fear is a good beginning point with God. The fear of suffering now because of sin is potent. The grief caused by adultery. Pain is caused by hatred. Every sin will dominate and become an addiction.

But fear as a deterrent to sin needs to change. Fear needs to become something better. There is more to living for Jesus than just avoiding hell.

Picture a gauge in your car. The needle points to one extreme, say the left side. Left is the fear-of-what-God-can-do-to-you direction. That is what we have been illustrating. But it needs to move.  But where should it go???

Paul, the writer of 2 Corinthians said, “Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”

This is a movement away from total fear. It is moving toward being sinless and a life filled with purpose. It is a movement away from the negative toward the positive side of God.

This movement needs to go further, beyond living sinlessly and more toward respect and reverence. The extremeness of fear is still there, but not the driving force of living for Jesus.

But don’t miss this critical idea. He is more interested in moving you toward a greater, more positive outlook on your life and your relationship with God.

So, where is this movement going?  Listen to Gal 4:4-7 But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law,  (5)  so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.  (6)  Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”  (7)  Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.

 Jesus, God’s son, came to redeem us. And the purpose of redemption is so we can be adopted as sons. And if sons, we have a close relationship with God. Those words, “Abba! Father”; conveyed to the Hebrew mind a form of strong affection. This is the same affection that Jesus called on when he prayed to his Father in the Garden of Gethsemane.

But this relationship leads us to being an “heir”. You can be an heir of God, understanding all his abilities and his will to give you a life to be enjoyed.

And the movement ends in us having a perfect love, an agape-type love for God. John the apostle wrote a definitive passage about the relationship between fear and love. He said, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.” Fear, or phobos, can not co-exist with agape-love. Where love is present, it has already cast out fear. Fear is based on the possibility of being punished. Anyone who fears is not made complete in the strongest form of love.

So, let’s put this together. Beginning with a terror of what God could do to us, we develop a relationship that moves us closer and closer to God and closer to God, and closest to God. We fear him. Then we respect him. Then we began to see his grace, his mercy, his patience with us, and we want more of it. So we strive to be sinless and useful to Him. And we end up having an agape-type love for God, and wanting to give him our very best.

It is ok to be scared, terrified of God. Like, being so scared of being sent to hell that you avoid sin. That is ok.

When we notice what he is doing with us, we will naturally begin the movement toward Him. (John 14:1-3) It can end in being given, by His grace and mercy, a place prepared by Jesus in heaven.

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