The Fear of God - Sermon - Kulm Baptist Church

Self-intro and Call to Prayer

Please join me in prayer. Father God, we come before you today with all of our joy, all of our grief, all of our questions, all of our failures, all of our fears, all of our doubts, and all of our victories. You know us Lord better than we know ourselves. Your word tells us in Psalm 100 that we are to enter your gates with thanksgiving and your courts with praise, giving thanks to you and blessing your name in all situations and circumstances. And you ARE worthy of all our praise! Today, Lord, we come before you in humble acknowledgement that you are God an we are not; that you have our best interests at heart because you are faithful, and we confess that we are not; that in our times of hopelessness, you lift up our heads. You are our shield and our buckler, providing protection for us in the face of the enemy of our souls. You shower us with your mercy and grace to restore our hope. You are awesome in this place, Mighty God, and we desire that you would touch each of our hearts that we would have a deep and abiding hunger for your word, for understanding, for wisdom, for discernment, for holiness and the awe of you. Lord God, we need you and we thank you that each day you are working in us to make us more lovely and more Christ-like, and that you will continue to sanctify us until the day you take us home. We praise you and thank you for that, and it’s in the name of Jesus, the most awesome and powerful name throughout the entire universe that we pray today. Amen.

Please open your Bibles with me to the book of Proverbs, chapter 7:1-7. I’ll be using the English Standard Version today, and if you are taking notes, please be aware that I’ll be referring to a number of verses throughout the Bible today, and it might be better to make note of those references rather than trying to look each one up as we go.

So from Proverbs 1:1–7 we read, “The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel: To know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight, to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity; to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth— Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance, to understand a proverb and a saying, the words of the wise and their riddles. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

The title of today’s message is: THE FEAR OF GOD AND WHAT IT MEANS TO US

God placed every word in the Bible for a reason, so one might ask,

Why was the Book of Proverbs written?

Sometimes you don’t have to look too far to get an answer as the writer tells us up front in the verses we just read.

To instruct the young

To impart wisdom and understanding to every reader across every area of their lives

To declare the awesomeness of God and how we should revere, honor, and fear him

The key theme of Proverbs is to teach wisdom to God’s people on a wide variety of topics, from personal character development to relationships with friends; from how we should speak to each other to the covenant of marriage; from child rearing to peace in the home; from work ethics to manners; from the view of eternity to godliness in every part of the reader’s life; and the list goes on. These wise sayings cover a lot of ground, and they aren’t just spiritual in nature. In fact, many of the proverbs address very practical, everyday secular issues.

In preaching about the fear of God and the book of Proverbs, the great English Baptist preacher, Charles Spurgeon once said: “The more I read the Book of Proverbs, the more thankful I am that there is no such division [between the spiritual and the secular], because the hard and fast line by which men of the world, and I fear some Christians, have divided the secular from the spiritual, is fraught with innumerable injuries… Instead of profaning the spiritual, the right thing is to spiritualize the secular till the purity of your motives and the sanctity of your conscience in ordinary pursuits shall cause the division to vanish.”

So, indeed, the Book of Proverbs is not just for Sunday morning reflection. It’s not just for spiritual enlightenment or even just for “spiritual people”. In fact, the Book of Proverbs is for everybody, anywhere they are and in whatever circumstances they find themselves in, believers and scoffers alike. That sounds like the Gospel to me!

Applying godly wisdom in every area of our lives, from farming to working in an office; from personal relationships to family dynamics; from serving in the church to serving customers at work, applying godly wisdom has a way of making everything better, more profitable in personal growth, easier in bearing burdens, and more joyful for those who live by godly wisdom, which has a way of blessing people around us whether they are our employers, co-worker, customers, friends, family, and even those who would contend with us. Godly wisdom is also a powerful antidote for stupidity AND for building healthy relationships.

What is the Fear of God?

The exclamation point of today’s passage I believe is found in verse 7, but also elsewhere in Psalms, Ecclesiastes, and in the book of Job, and that is the Fear of God. Proverbs 1:7 declares, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

Let’s come to a common definition of “fear” and what it means to fear something.

I think it’s safe to assume that all of us have experienced fear at some time in our lives. Fear is a human emotion, and while some of our fears are well-grounded, others may not be.

Some people are absolutely terrified by the thought of standing up and speaking in front of a group of strangers, while others aren’t. Some people are petrified of being alone in the dark, while others find themselves at peace in that same situation. Being without fear doesn’t make you any better that anyone else, nor does being fearful make you any less.

I believe the issue for all of us is captured in this question: What or who do we fear and why? Put another way, what is the nature and object of our fear?

As I look back at my own life it’s not too difficult to recognize how fear has driven me at various times. We usually think of fear as a bad thing, but it isn’t always. If you don’t know how to swim, having a healthy fear of jumping off the high dive at the local swimming pool is not all bad. But being afraid to wade into the kiddy pool might be another thing.

I remember as a young man with a new wife and new responsibilities starting my flying career in the Air Force. I had a healthy fear of failure that was in serious competition with my low self-esteem. The two were constantly at war with each other. One was bound to win and the other had to lose. By this point in my life at 24 years of age, I had already experienced a few huge failures that caused me to doubt myself and whether or not would amount to anything in life.

But there I was, and I put all my money, so to speak, on one big bet, one role of the dice. The way I saw it, my whole life - my hopes, my dreams, my aspirations, my identity, my ego, my career, my future - everything - was dependent upon my successfully completing Air Force pilot training. I didn’t know Jesus at the time, but even if I had, knowing me, I doubt that I would have seen things any differently than I did then.

In my case, the fear of losing my future drove me to overcome any other fears, real or imagined, that came against me that year. Before long, flying upside down and pulling G’s became an everyday experience that was exhilarating, exciting and way more fun than anything I could have imagined. By the way, thank you for paying your taxes. I had a great life and a great career.

But not all our fears are healthy. Sometimes they keep us from becoming everything that God planned for us. Sometimes our fears keep us hiding in the corner where we’re afraid of something someone else might think or say about us. Or we might fear being found out; that if people actually knew who we are when the doors are closed and the curtains are pulled, they wouldn’t want to be our friends any longer. Maybe we fear the loss of control, the loss of autonomy, the loss of security, predictability, harmony, or acceptance.

Whatever the fear, we should remind ourselves of this truth from Paul’s letter to Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:7 “for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”

In the New King James Version, we read the same verse: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”

Being afraid of something or someone in the negative sense is not the kind of fear God wants us to have toward him. I’m reminded of what Jesus said in John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

If you are battling unhealthy fears, those that hold you down, beat you up, or keep you from experiencing the joy of the Lord - and all of us have had that experience because Satan absolutely despises and hates us and attacks us in our thoughts and emotions whenever and wherever he can - it’s time to go on the offensive in prayer and take the enemy down.

I encourage you to read with me and meditate on Philippians 4:4–8 which says, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”

And in Romans 8:31 Paul encourages us by reminding us saying, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?”

As Christ-followers, you and I know that every good gift comes from our heavenly Father who isn’t stingy but generous in his mercy and good will towards us. So when we realize the truth of the promises of God, the Fear of God should be our natural response.

The Bible speaks about the Fear of God in several places in both the Old and New Testament. I’ll share a few of them with you here:

Exodus 20:20 “Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.””

Job 28:28 “And he said to man, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.’ ””

Psalm 25:12 “Who is the man who fears the Lord? Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose.”

Matthew 10:28 “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”

2 Corinthians 7:1 “Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.”

Hebrews 12:28–29 “Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.”

Here’s my point: As you begin to meditate on the Fear of God, expect the Lord to open you eyes and your heart to his call to be holy, even as he is holy. Having the Fear of the Lord makes us want to be holy. We want to please God and be closer to him. The closer we get, the closer we want to be.

To have the Fear of God is not the kind of fear we might have when we imagine the awful things that might happen to us if we make a mistake or do something foolish, and again, all of us have experienced things that have caused us to lose sleep.

To have the Fear of God is to be so in awe of him that we don’t want to do, think, or say anything that would displease him; anything that would put distance between us and him.

In his book, The Awe of God, John Bevere helps us to understand the Fear of God by saying, in part:

To fear God is to esteem, respect, honor, venerate, and adore him above all else.

To fear God is to take on his heart.

To fear God is to hate sin… to hate injustice… to depart from evil in every sense.

To fear God is to walk in authentic humility before God and man.

To fear God is to give him the praise, adoration, thanksgiving, and worship he deserves.

To fear God is to give him everything that belongs to him.

To fear God is to tremble before him in wonder and awe.

To fear God is to obey him and abstain from any kind of complaining, murmuring, or grumbling.

The fear of the LORD shapes our intentions, thoughts, words, and actions. And what are the benefits of the Fear of God?

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, knowledge, and understanding,

The fear of the LORD produces true holiness, and it is a gift from God himself.

How Should We Respond to the Fear of God?

The fear of the LORD makes us want to be close to Jesus, and on this point I want to share something that I found to be rather fascinating when reading the book Believing Is Seeing by Michael Guillen, who holds a PhD in physics and advanced degrees in math and astronomy. He grew up in a strict, conservative Christian home in East Los Angeles. His father and both grandfathers were ministers. Ethnically, he is five-eighths Mexican, one-quarter Cuban/Spanish, and one-eighth Austrian. He was drawn to science at a very early age and was fascinated by how the universe worked. He was a scientist, and he was an atheist.

His hunger for knowledge and understanding of what makes the universe work eventually led him to study scripture, but his intent was to use science to disprove the Word of God. Instead, what he found is that science and religion are not the mortal enemies of each other that he once thought, and he eventually came to realize that not only does God exist, but his Word is trustworthy and true. That in itself is amazing, but here are some interesting tidbits from the fields of physics and quantum dynamics that have a direct correlation to the Fear of God.

1 John 1:5 says, “This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.”

We know that light brings illumination and clarity in the darkness, which is simply the absence of light. We also know that light travels at 186,000 miles per second. Light is unique in that it does not obey the rules of ordinary matter and when you combine all the colors of light, you end up with white. According to nuclear physics, light can transform into matter and vice versa. Light exists in a timeless world. The faster you go, the slower time goes until, at the speed of light, time ceases. There is no past, no future, only the now. God is eternal. He is light. He exists in an eternal now. He always has been and always will be. He is worthy of our awe because he is awesome.

Here’s another fascinating thing to try to wrap our heads around. According to quantum physics scientists, there are four forces that act upon the universe itself. The strongest of these is simply known as The Strong Force. It exists to hold everything together. Everything.

What makes it particularly amazing and interesting to me is that it doesn’t act like gravity, where the farther we go from its source, the less there is - like astronauts going up into space and experiencing weightlessness, or freedom from the force of gravity.

Instead, there is an extraordinary phenomenon that takes place, and that is the closer an atomic particle, called a quark, gets to The Strong Force, the freer is becomes. In fact, ultimate freedom comes only when there is zero distance between the particle and The Strong Force.

Think about it. The closer we are to God, the freer we become. Free from sin, free from guilt, free from shame, free from oppression. Free.

But the more we try to exercise freedom the way the world defines it, which is freedom from rules, freedom from responsibilities, freedom to do whatever we want, the more trapped and in bondage to our sinful nature we become until we get to the point where we might finally realize that we are lost and that the lies that the world and Satan told us about what it means to be free, tastes bitter and disgusting in our mouths.

When we realize how awesome our God truly is, and the closer we get to him, the more we want to be with him, the more we want to please him, the more we want to be on our face in awe and wonder and fear him.

To fear God is to want to be close to him, not just for a moment, or a day, but forever.

As Solomon rightly concludes in Ecclesiastes 12:13–14 “The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.”

If you know Solomon, you know that he was the wisest man who ever lived. Because he asked for wisdom, God blessed him with wisdom and as a bonus, God also blessed him with wealth, success and a peaceful reign. But in 1 Kings 11:1-13 we learn that Solomon’s heart and his affections were turned away from God because he did what was evil in the sight of God. He did the very things he warned against in Ecclesiastes 12:13. In violation of God’s commands, he married foreign women. In fact, he had 700 wives and 300 concubines, all of whom worshipped foreign gods, and they drew him away from the One True God. He came to worship these foreign gods himself. Unfortunately, he started well but ended poorly because he lost the fear, awe, and reverence of God.

If the wealthiest and wisest man who ever lived could fall, how much more should we run to the cross to seek God’s face? How much more should WE desire to be so close to God that nothing and no one could get between us and our LORD?

Praise God for his son Jesus Christ who willingly came to the earth he created, to live the life we could not live, and pay the price for our rebellion that we could not pay.

We praise God that the closer we are to him, the freer we are. In his presence we are free from the guilt and shame of our sins. We are free from the lies of the enemy who seeks to steal our peace, kill our joy, and destroy our witness. But praise God. We overcome Satan by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony.

Call to Salvation

Today if you feel trapped by your sin and held captive by what you thought was freedom, the Holy Spirit is inviting you to receive true freedom at the foot of the cross. Don’t delay. Come to Jesus now. Ask him to wash you in his blood and restore you to right relationship with him right now. When we repent and ask him to forgive us, the Word tells us that he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.

Let’s close in prayer:

Father, we are humbled to know that you want such a close relationship with us that there would be nothing between us. Indeed, that is the only relationship you want with us. But God, we know that we don’t have the strength, the ability, or the willpower to live a godly life on our own. Every day we need your Holy Spirit in us to revive us, to rejuvenate us, to shine light in the darkest recesses of our souls so that we can see those things that keep us from a closer relationship with you. Lord, we ask that you would forgive us for holding onto those things that separate us from you. Lord, you know us because you look into the heart of a person. If there is anything in us right now that is displeasing to you, show it to us so that we can bring it now to the foot of the cross and ask that you wash us in the blood of Jesus and make us whole and clean once again.

Lord, we thank you for your Word, we thank you for the good news of Jesus Christ, and we thank you that you call us your own. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.