The Disciple and the Fear of God-1

Imanuel G. Christian

September 2012

One of the most significant differences between New Testament Christianity and other religions is the concept of the fear of God. God in other religions has been pictured as a capricious God, who is ready to zap anybody the moment he commits some sin. Because of this, people live in constant fear of God. Behind all their good works, sacrifices and offerings is this fear, the idea being that if God is not appeased, He will bring punishment. So sacrifices and offerings are offered, either to avoid punishment, ward off evil, or to remove evil that has already come.

            Religion is one of Satan’s most effective tools to keep the people in the bondage of fear. Because of this, there is no concept of having or even wanting a personal relationship with God and no opportunity to do things for the pure love of God. In contrast, in Christianity God is seen not as a capricious cosmic dictator ready to zap us at any moment, but as a personal and loving God, a Father who loves and is concerned for His children, and in return expects the same love from His children, instead of dread. Jesus Himself addresses God as, “Abba, Father” (Mark 14:36), and also taught His disciples to address God as Father (Luke 11:2; etc.). Paul wrote to the believers in Rome, “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you slaves again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry ‘Abba, Father’ ” (Romans 8:15).

            And so we can approach God without fear, like a child would his father, and we can have a personal and intimate relationship with Him. John wrote in his first epistle, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love” (1 John 4:18). What John means to say is that when we live life trying to please God out of fear of punishment, we have not really grasped the nature of God and our relationship to Him through the work of Jesus Christ on the Cross. For a believer, love for God and gratefulness for what He has done for him is the motivating factor, not the fear of punishment, or even the fear of losing eternal rewards.

            Closeness, however, can bring disrespect and aloofness. Familiarity breeds contempt. This is true in our human relationships. Job’s wife, for example, was the one who threw the first stone at him (Job 2:9). Jesus was ignored by his close relatives and townspeople with whom He grew up ((John 7:2-5; Matthew 13:55-57). Jesus said, “Only in his hometown and in his own house is a prophet without honor” (Matthew 13:57; also Mark 6:4; Luke 4:24; John 4:44). The reason was that they thought they knew Him, because He grew up among them, but they really did not know Him, and so made the biggest mistake of their lives and missed the blessing.

            What is true in human relationships and was true for Jesus during His earthly life, is also true in our relationship with God and with His Word. Familiarity, or perceived familiarity, with the Word of God robs us of the awe and wonder of it. When we read it, we just glance over it and it does not stir our emotions and produce the result in our lives that God desires. For example, think how often we would read the story of Abraham offering his son and never stop to think of the agony and emotions that both the father and the son must have felt because we know the end of the story. As a result, we never long for that kind of commitment to and love for God that we would be willing to pay any price to have it. Or, since we already know the end of Job’s story, how often we journey with him and feel his agony and frustrations as his own wife loathed him, closest friends accused him and God remained silent until the end, and as a result we miss the main point of the story, which is trusting God in any and every situation. And how about the suffering of Jesus and His agony on the cross? Since we know the fact of the resurrection, do we ever stop to think what it cost God to provide our salvation? As a result, grace becomes cheap and the Christian life loses its meaning and true commitment.

            This is also true of our relationship with God. Here too familiarity breeds disrespect. True, God is our Father and we can approach Him as our daddy. But He is an awesome God and should be thought of with reverence. This becomes evident in our corporate worship, in how we dress, how punctual we are, how much respect and awe we feel for God as we worship Him. Do we ever feel the real sense of being in the presence of God as Isaiah felt (Isaiah 6:1-5), or, as Ezekiel felt (Ezekiel 1:28), or, as Peter felt (Luke 5:8)? Jesus came down from heaven and emptied Himself of all His glory (Philippians 2:6-8).  His purpose in doing this was to raise us up to be like God in true righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:24) and to become more and more like Him, in the image of Christ (Colossians 3:10). Instead, what we have done with our “buddy, buddy” feeling of God is that we have brought Him down to our level and have lost the real sense of awe toward Him.

            This is also reflected in our contemporary architecture of church buildings. Church buildings today are not built as “sanctuaries” but as “auditoriums”. They are “functional” rather than having the purpose of creating a worshipful attitude. Yes, I do realize that God does not live in man-made buildings. But so did Solomon as he said, “The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!” (1 Kings 8:27). And yet the magnificence of the temple that Solomon built is beyond our imagination! If God did not consider the place of His worship so important, why would He give the detailed instructions for their buildings as He did for the Tabernacle (Exodus chapters 25-40, read 25:8, 9, 40), for Solomon’s temple (1 Chronicles 28:11-19, read v. 19), and the future millennial temple (Ezekiel Chapters 40-44)? The cathedrals of the bygone era had the purpose of creating a sense of awe of God and worshipful attitude as one entered them. Can you imagine anyone walking into them casually sipping coffee as we do today?

            The author of the book of Hebrews very well expressed the idea of the awe and reverence for God when he said, “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:28-29).

            How is the fear of God, the sense of awe, evidenced in our daily life? Well, we will see that as we continue this topic in the article next month. 

The Disciple and the Fear of God- Part 2

Imanuel Christian

October 2012

            Last month we talked about the disciple and the fear of God and saw that the concept of God in Christianity is of a loving Father who, like any other good father, longs to have an intimate relationship with His children. But because of that, the danger is that the familiarity, or perceived familiarity, breeds disrespect. Our God is an awesome God and cannot be taken too lightly as we often do in our corporate worship services or in our casual attitude in life.

            This month we want to see how the fear of God is evidenced in our daily life. For a disciple it is necessary to have a sound theology and an accurate concept of God. But that would be meaningless if that does not have a practical effect on daily life. How do others see  the fear of God in my life that kind of God would they think I worship? Here are some thoughts, although not an exhaustive list.

            First of all, the fear of God will be seen in our disciplined and holy life. Those who fear God will live by the moral standard that He has set in His Word. As Peter, quoting from the Old Testament says, “As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written, ‘Be holy because I am holy.’ Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your life as strangers in reverent fear” (1 Pet. 1:14-17). Peter here presents God both as a loving Father as well as an impartial Judge. We have, in our modern Christian culture, emphasized the idea of God as the loving Father, but have largely forgotten Him as an impartial Judge to whom one day we will have to give account of everything we do.

           

            Job provides the best example of this idea: “This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil” (Job 1:1). This was the commendation that God Himself gave him twice (1:8; 2:3). Moses told the people of Israel, “And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God and to walk in all His ways…” (Deut. 10:12).

            Secondly, the fear of God is evidenced in our daily life through our loving God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our might (Deut. 6:5). As Moses, in the rest of the verse quoted above, said, “What does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD God… and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul” (Deut. 10:12). Love for God is seen in rejecting anything and everything that competes for our attention and draws us away from our relationship with God. The disciple’s relationship with God is his first and foremost priority; everything else, and anybody else, takes a secondary place. Oswald Chambers in his well-known book, My Utmost for His Highest, writes, “There is only one relationship that matters, and that is your personal relationship to a personal Redeemer and Lord. Let everything else go, but maintain that at all costs, and God will fulfill His purpose through your life” (November 30).

            We may attain material abundance and great social respect and everything else this world offers, but without the relationship with God, nothing is worthwhile. That is why the Psalmist cried out in his anguish, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Those who are far from you will perish; you destroy all who are unfaithful to you. But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds” (Ps. 73:25-28).

            When Abraham put God first and not any material gain (Genesis Chapter 14), God came to him and said, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward” (Gen. 15:1). More than any other blessing, the greatest blessing of the disciple’s life is God Himself, the privilege and joy of having the personal relationship with Him. The Levites, as the servants of God, did not receive any inheritance in the land, because, God said to them, “I am their inheritance; and you shall give them no possession in Israel—I am their possession” (Ezek. 44:28, NASB; also see Num. 18:20; Deut. 10:9; 18:1, 2; Josh. 13:33). For a disciple there is no greater possession, no greater blessing than to have the personal relationship with God Himself. What do I desire more, God’s blessings or God Himself?

            Thirdly, the fear of God is evidenced in our daily life as we make God a most important part of our decision making process. Our financial, social or other decisions should be made in the context of how would it help me to serve God better, how would it help me to show God’s love to others better, and not primarily based on how would it help me financially or in social relationships. For making right decisions we need wisdom that can only come through our disciplined time in the Word of God. The Word of God helps us, “for attaining wisdom and discipline; for understanding and prudent life, doing what is right and just and fair” (Prov. 1:3, 4). Paul too said that the Word of God “is useful for teaching, rebuking, correction and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16). Actually, the Word of God is the chief basis of our relationship with God and everything else will naturally flow from that.

            Fourthly, the fear of God is evidenced in our daily life through resting secure in His loving care in any and every situation. When we recognize God not only as the sovereign Creator, but also as the One who lovingly controls everything that happens in our life, we will be free from worry and will rest secure in His loving care. David proclaimed in one of his psalms, “How great is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you!” (Ps. 31:19). Also, in another psalm, “But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine. We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name” (Ps. 33:18-21). Fear of the Lord is such a freeing thing!

            Fifthly and finally, the fear of the Lord is evidenced in our daily life by how much we are eagerly waiting for Him. The second coming of Christ is one of the cornerstones of Christian theology and nothing else would matter if we take that out. As surely as He has come, He will come again, and we will stand before Him and, “each of us will give an account of himself to God” (Rom. 14:12). All other things mentioned above— moral character, utmost desire to have a relationship with God, putting God first in every decision of life and resting secure in His care — would not be possible unless we are living with the one goal of standing before Him one day and being able to say, like Paul, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Tim. 4:7).

            Today what we need the most in the Christian culture, in the believer’s life, is the fear of God and of His Word that is evidenced in every aspect of our life. We would then be joyfully looking forward to standing before Him one day to receive His commendation. Again as the author of the book of Hebrews said, “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire” (Heb. 12:28-29).