This week at Church the sermon was delivered by a guest speaker. He bravely tackled the potentially controversial subject of ‘The Fear of God’. While the message as a whole probably lacked a little balance he did raise one or two interesting points.
The basic thread of the sermon was that the Church has many ‘gods’ within it. All of them are actually the same God but as Christians we tend to focus on one aspect of Him and hold that up as God. For example, some might focus on the god of forgiveness while others the god of miracles. Of course both of these aspects are true but focusing on one will give us an inaccurate and distorted picture of God.
The particular ‘god’ that our guest felt to be the main problem in the Church today was the god of unconditional love. He suggested that the worship of this god was a major problem, not only because it has led to Christians being happy to live lives that fall short of the life which God expects from us; people are simply able to return to God, claim forgiveness, then carry on regardless, but also because this has led to the fear of the Lord is no longer being in the Church.
I think here is where he had a point. If you take a look at the people of God on the in Old Testament, as well as the early Church as talked about in the Acts of the Apostles, those who we successful and fruitful in their walks with God were characterised by their fear of God. This fear was encouraged as the correct, even the most helpful way to be in relation to God. But what does it mean to live and move in the fear of the Lord.
I think I would best describe it as a realization of who God is. God is the awesome creator of the universe. Think about that for a second. With a spoken word He created everything that is seen and unseen. All that our science has led us to understand, as well as all which we are yet to fathom. He has the power to do anything; whenever, wherever and to whomever He chooses.
When we come before God; especially to ask for his forgiveness, we need to understand that while His forgiveness comes for free, and while His love is completely unconditional, it pains Him when we go against His wishes for our lives. God doesn’t just love Christians, or even Christian who are ‘good’. He loves all mankind. It was for sinners that Christ came. He loved us before we met him. As Bono so eloquently puts it in a recent song; “Blessings not just for the ones who kneel, lucky!” But with this in mind, a reverent fear, a respect of God is necessary so that we don’t kid ourselves into thinking we can abuse God’s grace, instead focusing on building the relationship with Him that He so desires.
If the Church as a whole grabbed hold of this then we would see a radical change in the way in which we do things, and in the fruit we produce. Of course all of these things start with us. So I encourage you all to move in the fear of the Lord.
