Godly Fear

Introduction

When I was a small child, our homeschool group took a trip to a firestation in the small, Albertan town we lived in. While there, they pulled up a TV with a VCR set and showed us a short video about fires. It was meant to be child friendly, with cartoon characters showing the different ways a fire could start, the importance of a fire alarm, and so on. I remember specifically it showed a lamp with a freid wire starting a fire. I was terrofied for months afterwards, always checking the wires of every electronic in our house and at night being unable to sleep because of the possability of fire at any moment.

Now this, of course, was unhelpful and no where near what the firemen showing me the film had in mind. Their goal was not to inspire terror and dread over something I couldn’t control, but to give a healthy dose of fear along with the knowledge I needed to make sure I would be safe if I should ever be in a burninig building.

Proverbs famously begins its teachings on biblical wisdom with a foundational principle:

Proverbs 1:7 ESV

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.

While it may not sit well with our modern sensabilities, and while may feel uncomfortable or even terrorfied as I was after watching that video at the firestation, this fear is not meant to inspire hopeless dread, but rather a healthy caution which is the mark of any faithful follower of Christ who makes it to the end by his unending mercy.

So far in this section of the text, which began at the beginning of chapter 3, we have been presented with the most excellent example of Christ as faithful over God’s family, overshadowing Moses’ good, yet imperfect example of a servant in God’s family. This was followed by a classic OT warning from Psalm 95 which brought up the bad example of the Israelites who, despite their experience of God’s power and grace, was unable to enter God’s promised rest because of their unbelief.

With our Lord as our example and the Israelites under Moses as our warning, the author of Hebrews gives us a very blunt but necessary warning: let us fear that any of us should fail to reach God’s rest.

“Let Us Fear”

The idea that our relationship with God must include a measure of fear is certainly not popular, either among modern evangelicals or in society at large. Its uncomfortable and seems to fly in the face of the radical and immeasurable love of God. And yet, in Greek this is the word that opens chapter 4: let us fear. It is the word from which we get the word phobia and does not refer simply to care or concern, but a serious apprehension of potential danger for the listeners.

So, how do we square this exhoratation to fear with the words of the Apostle John in 1 John 4:18?

1 John 4:18 ESV

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

And furthermore, how can we secure the peace that Jesus promises to his disciples if we are called to entertain fear?

Fear is not always a bad thing. In fact, our very survival can often depend on fear. There is a common misconception among modern Christians that we should never feel negative emotions. This is evidently not true. Christ himself felt pain, exhaustion, grief, shame, anger, and even fear. All emotions are part of the human experience and are not themselves bad, provided they are used to our benefit. Grief helps us come to terms with loss. Anger helps us recognize the seriousness of injustice. Shame tells us that we have become isolated from others and signals that we may need to reconcile our relationships. Fear tells us to be cautious and careful in our actions. All of these emotions can lead to a wrong, destructive, and sinful response, but they do not have to. All of these emotions can be experienced in inappropriate settings; there are times when we shouldn’t be afraid or angry or ashamed and yet will feel that way. So instead of seeing our relationship with God in this life as one devoid of negative emotions, we should see our walk as one in which these feelings are redemptive and used to bring us into a closer walk with God.

With that being the case, it is important to take 1 John 4:18 in it’s proper context. It is true that the ideal and perfected walk with God lacks fear, but look at the previous verses in that passage. Verse 7 says to love is to be born of God and whoever does not love has not been born of him. Verse 16 tells us that we have come to know the love of God through faith and that God abides in those who believe in this way. Verse 17 tells us that this walk of faith in love makes love perfect in us so that we may have confidence on the day of judgement because his perfect love makes us like him in this world. This is where verse 18 comes in and says that there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.

So here’s a question, do you have perfect love? Do any of us have perfect love? Do any of us have a perfect faith in the love of God? No, and so a level of fear is still relevant. Why? Because of what our text says: there is a possability for us both to enter God’s rest or to fall away from it as the Israelites did. Someone with perfect love, like Christ, cannot fall away and need not fear it. But the less complete our faith and love is, the more of a danger this becomes. Again, this does not deny the sovereign election of God, for those who are elect will endure to the end. But the proof of our election is our endurance, and so far as there is endurance yet to go through there is still a place for a healthy dose of godly fear.

If this still feels wrong to you, recognize that this is how we live our lives every day. As long as risk exists, a healthy amount of fear is appropriate. This fear should not overtake your life, it should not be something you obsess over and should not normally fill you with terror, which are all signs of an unhealthy, and in this case an ungodly fear.

For example, most of us have a healthy fear of large trucks. Its not a debilitating fear, I hope, but it certainly is going to stop you from walking out in front of one barrelling down the 401. Its a fear that keeps you from doing things that will get you killed and motivates you to take appropriate precautions to keep you safe. I’m sure you can think of any number of things that you have an appropriate fear of that makes you careful and wise in how you live your life. Someone with no fear at all is not courageous, they are mentally ill. Someone who is controlled by fear without wisdom or honour is a coward and craven. A courageous person has a healthy amount of fear, they understand their danger, and takes worthy risks, usually for the sake of others.

Now, when we are in glory there will be no need for fear of any kind, simply because there will be no danger of our own rebellion. There is no need to fear trucks if there is no chance of being hurt by one. There is no need to fear if our sanctification and glorification is complete, and the closer we are to that end the less need there is for fear. However, as long as there is a realistic risk to our souls of falling away, there is a cause for healthy fear.

So when we read that we should fear in our text, this does not mean to live in dread of God. This doesn’t mean that we should live in constant terror and never feel any comfort in Christ. In fact, read the rest of this chapter and you will find the author of Hebrews saying exactly the opposite: that we should come to Christ for comfort, help, and sympathy. Joy and peace are both fruits of the Spirit and no fear should mitigate this reality.

Instead, this fear is a wise awareness that crossing the starting line is not the same as crossing the finish line of the Christian life. We are in the process of running the Christian life and, as we saw last week, not all those who experience the power of God’s salvation end up being saved.

Two Kinds of Listeners

In verse 2 we see again why this warning is so necessary. The author of Hebrews reminds us of the failure of all those who left Egypt led by Moses, and how, although they exprienced God’s saving power in their deliverance from Egypt, they were unable to enter into God’s promised rest, the end of their salvation, because they did not continue in faith and so they died in the wilderness.

So the author now links the history of these Israelites to Christian in the New Covenant and what we have in common. We are told that “good news came to us just as to them.”

This is not to say that the good news was the redemptive message or of the same quality. The good news they were given was the promise of freedom from slavery, deliverance from their human enemies and their gods, a fertile land where they could build their nation, and the blessings of life which God had promised. Of course, all of these promises are shadows of the true blessings that Christians would one day have in Christ, but it nevertheless was good news. While they were under the Old Covenant, the author of Hebrews will later show us how that covnenat was always pointing to the new covenant, and so while the specific content of the promise is different, or rather, was a shadow of the promises we now have in Christ, we share this reality of having heard good news of God’s holy promises for his people.

And so we also share the reality of there being two possible kinds of people who receive the good news of God’s promised rest. Like the seed that fell among the different types of soil, some do at first receive the Word with joy. They experience the joy of salvation, they taste of the Spirit’s power to some degree, and their experience of Christian living is identical to the experience of the elect.

This is where this healthy fear should come in. Have you ever heard of someone getting into a horrible car accident on a highway you often drive on and thought, “wow, that could have been me!”. This experience will hopefully encourage you to drive carefully, which is the healthy fear that leads to watchfulness and care. Whenever we see some Christian fall into unrepentant sin or just forsake the faith altogether, this should be a similarly fearful experience. After all, “good news came to us just as to them.” If they could fall, so could I if I am not careful and take the grace of God for granted.

United by Faith

Now, it is crucial that we take the point of this warning to heart. Again, the author here is not writing to take away the confidence and peace his readers should have in Christ. Instead, it is because there is a danger of falling away and there is something you can do to make sure this doesn’t happen to you. The difference between someone fails to reach God’s promised restt and those who succeed is simple: unity of faith with those who listen.

It is one thing to hear the Gospel and causually accept it, it is another to litsen carefully to it and work out its implications in our lives. However, the difference between these two kinds of people may not make themselves known until they are tested. In the book of Job, Satan believes that the only reason Job has lived such a righteous life and not cursed God is because his life had been so prosperous up to that point. Indeed, in that position it was impossible to tell whether Job was a “faith weather believer” or a true worshipper of God. Job himself couldn’t even know until he came to experience the test. Isreal, on the otherhand, although they were quick to agree to God’s covenants, as their faith is tested in the wilderness they are proven to have had a shallow faith. Just as a murkey pond cannot be seen to be shallow or deep unless you plunge in, faith cannot be proven shallow or deep unless tested.

Notice, also, that the author of Hebrews does not simply say that they did not have enough faith, or that they did not listen. Instead, it says they were not united by faith with those who listened.

They are united, that is, they exist is community with other believers. There is no such thing as a lone Christian, and a very sure fire way to destroying your faith is by isolating yourself from those who believe. Like a burning coal which, in the fire is kept hot but by itself is smothered and dies in the cold, the reason those Israelites didn’t make it into God’s promises was their lack of unity with those who listen to God and live by faith. Faith attracts faith and sustains it as well. The best way to make sure you never fall away from the faith and recieve God’s promises is by surrounding yourself with faithful people and following the example of their life.

On the contrary, the Israelites who did not enter God’s rest were united with those who did not believe or listen. In the story of the 12 spies, they unite with the 10 who gave a bad report rather than the faithful minority.

This means paying attention to the people we unite ourselves with. Not just that they are Christians, but are they people of a character of faith? I don’t mean, do they talk about the Bible all the time, I mean do they, by the habits of their life, the decisions they make, and the general focus of their thoughts and actions, show that they listen to God in true faith and reverence. They do not merely speak about God, but they actually believe God and listen to his Word. They take what they hear to heart, they put God’s commands into practice, they actively fight sin in their lives, they speak words of edification to others, they humbly accept correction, they engage in prayer and fasting, and they have endured tests in the past.

We mean our church to be full of such Christians, and while not all believers are mature all need to strive for it and all need to seek our the kind of Christian friends and companions that surround you with faith. Unite yourselves to such people, immitate them, surround yourself with them, and you will create the perfect conditions for your faith to grow, and the danger of failing to reach the end will deminish.

Conclusion: The Promise of Entering His Rest

Now, as we draw to a close, let us think more carefully about what is at stake. The author says that “the promise of entering his rest still stands.” We will explore this idea of rest more going forward, but it does give us the nature of the danger which we are to fear: the danger of missing out on God’s promised rest. In verse 3, the author will focus on the word today from Psalm 95 as a reminder that God’s rest, which is the end and fulfillment of our salvation, the full experience of all of God’s promises, is still available to us today. The reason the same danger exists for us is because they same opportunity, and yes even a greater opportunity, exists for us as well. When there is so much to gain, there is also so much to lose. The way to enter God’s promises is open, but the possability of falling away is also very real.

So, knowing this, let us take care to do what the text tells us to do as a caution for our souls. Do not be overcome with fear, but rather let your fear motivate you to action. Be intentional in your faith, and keep yourself close to Christ. He will bring you to the end. He will give you grace for every temptation and trial. He will not leave you on your own. The closer you are to him, the more you take this warning seriously, the less you need to be in fear or dread of any kind. All this warning leads us to is this, cling closely to Christ and he will fulfill the promise of entering God’s rest.