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.