Are You Not in Awe

Intro:

Psalm 147:10–11 “His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of the warrior; the Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.”

Philippians 2:12–13 “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.”

What was the last thing that made you go WOW? When was the last time you found yourself in AWE? In AWE of God?

What do you believe about God? To help answer that question I want you to think about how you live. What does the way you live say about how you view God?

Are you in AWE of Him? Do you Fear him?

What is the Fear of the Lord?

YARE- fearing, awe-filled, reverently aware of God’s holiness and authority

It is not to be scared- that drives us from God- the fear of the Lord doesn’t drive us from him it draws us to him. Those who fear him are not afraid of him they are afraid to be away from Him.

If your fear of God drives you from him- that’s not the fear of the Lord. God desires to be in intimate relationship with his people. How can we be in relationship with someone you are scared of.

This AWE of God draws us to Him- WHY?- because he is worthy of everything I have to give him.

High view of God vs. Low view of God

High View

To Fear God- John Bevere

Is to stand in AWE of God and tremble before him

To tremble at His presence:

Isaiah 6:1–5 “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.””

Job 42:5–6 “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.””

John when he recieved the Revelation 1:17 “When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last.”

Reverence, Honor and Value him to the utmost

Tremble at His word is to:

obey God immediately

obey God even if it doesn’t make sense

obey God even if it hurts

obey God even if we don’t see a benefit

obey God all the way to completion

You know who demonstrated this- Abraham-

What is the conclusion- Genesis 22:10–12 “Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.””

To prioritize him far before anything or anyone else

To love what he loves and hate what he hates

Proverbs 8:13 “To fear the Lord is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech.”

Low View

Treat God’s word casually

Ignore convictions and rationalize sin

Know what God says but do what you want

So what’s the big deal? The problem we have that we face- is not unbelief- its not that we don’t believe it God its that we have reduced him. It’s not that people are rejecting God we are just reducing him to something or someone that we can understand, that fits into the box we have created for him.

Barna did a study that found that in the last 25 years 30 million believers have walked away from God, that is one out of every ten

These people never planned on walking away but over time they got bored with church, bored with God, they got comfortable/casual with who God is- they lost the AWE of God

It’s not that we reject him we just reduce him

Luke 7:36–50 “When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.” Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.” “Tell me, teacher,” he said. “Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?” Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.” “You have judged correctly,” Jesus said. Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.” Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.””

The Pharisee had gotten comfortable with who Jesus was-they were casual

This woman she recognized who Jesus was- she had awe, reverence- fear of the Lord

Share my own story of loosing the AWE of God-

I am a fixer- and I can pretty much fix any problem that I create or someone else creates- so that what I do I just fix things myself- including myself

I don’t really need a God- our AWE of God draws us to him because we realize he is worthy of everything I have to give

As a Pastor- I read the Bible- but I read not to feed myself but so that I can have something to preach to you

Over the last 5 months there are things that have happened that I can’t fix

What have I learned- Romans 11:33–36 “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?” “Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them?” For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.”

Conclusion:

Where has God become casual for you?

Language that you use

Casual with sinfulness- in what you watch, listen too, expose yourself to

Body- this temple of the holy spirit and you fill it with trash

Time- spend hours doom scrolling, wasting time- when are lives are a mist

Casual with his word- that you don’t read it- if you do you don’t follow it- you rationalize sin

What do we do? We do that which God delights in-the thing that he treasures:

Philippians 2:12–13 “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.”

NLT Translation

12 Dear friends, you always followed my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away, it is even more important. Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. 13 For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.

Obey God- with deep reverence and fear John 15:14 “You are my friends if you do what I command.”