Fear and Trembling
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Can I clean your windshield?
Can I clean your windshield?
(Can I clean your windshield Picture)
Have you ever had someone come up to your car when at a stop light and offer to clean your windshield? There is a certain amount of fear there for most are homeless and you don’t really know their intentions.
Sometimes we need things clean up so we can see better. Maybe the glass around a light house needs to be cleaned up so it will shine better.
Previously we looked at
Developing Christ like character so as to let our personal light shine and that when we come together we can be a city on the hill that cannot be hidden.
We also looked to developing Christ like service and that our light shines in and through that.
12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;
Do you want your personal light to shine brighter? our passage tonight is focusing on letting our light shine brighter when we work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Not it is not working out for our salvation, it is working out your own salvation. Salvation is done, this has to be with continuing to develop Christ like character and Christ like service.
Today we are looking at the definition of working out our salvation with fear and trembling.
We will look at why we should do it
How to develop it, how to apply it
I think we can all agree there is no shortage of passages that discuss “fear of the Lord” and that they have been taken at times to the extreme of “hell fire and brimstone” preaching and then others have gone so far the other way that they are “ear tickling” preaching with only feel good messages and nothing about the fear of the Lord. It is important that we have the right understanding, the right application and the right balance of fear and trembling so we can be a brighter light in a world where light is needed.
May we consider a few things still here in the introduction section.
Fear and comfort (Act9:31)
31 So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace, being built up; and going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it continued to increase.
We need to go on in the fear of the Lord, we need to walk in the fear of the Lord. Even if it is unpopular to talk about. Everyone likes to hear about God’s love and God’s mercy and grace, but who wants to hear about God’s righteous indignation?
Indignation means: Wrath, anger (be sure to qualify this by righteous anger)
Be sure to walk in the fear of the Lord (Ps7:11; Isa34:1-2)
Consider this
11 God is a righteous judge, And a God who has indignation every day.
God has indignation everyday, but He is also longsuffering too. Praise God for that!
Consider what Isaiah has to say
1 Draw near, O nations, to hear; and listen, O peoples! Let the earth and all it contains hear, and the world and all that springs from it. 2 For the Lord’s indignation is against all the nations, And His wrath against all their armies; He has utterly destroyed them, He has given them over to slaughter.
We need to have balance of His mercy, grace holiness, righteous indignation and justice. Even though some say “my God is not like that.”
In our culture today in the church today we have strayed too far, too far where there is no concept of “fear and trembling” Could this be why there are so many sleep walkers in their Christian walk where they have become apathetic?
So, how can we develop a healthy balance of the “fear of the Lord” without going to one extreme or the other?
Fear of the Lord defined.
Fear of the Lord defined.
Fear of the Lord, there is a strong connection with reverence and awe of the Lord. Let’s look together at the definition and scriptures too.
In the Hebrew it is:
Yir’ah - defined as fear, tear, awesome or terrifying thing; fear (of God); respect, reverence, piety.
In the Greek it is:
Phobos - defined as panic, fright, fear, dread, terror, that which strikes terror
So, I’m sure you can agree there is a strong connection as I mentioned a moment ago. Does this go far enough? We can get the fear part, but what about the trembling? The fear of the Lord should include a place for trembling too.
12 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,
So let me define trembling
Greek it is:
Tromos - defined as trembling or quaking with fear.
When we try to balance properly, when we have a proper view of the fear of the Lord it should include, reverence an awe.
Commentator Hendrickson says it like this.
“Being afraid to offend God in any way.”
Trembling, being in awe of God (Heb12:28-29)
28 Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; 29 for our God is a consuming fire.
Oh yeah, expand on this (fear, trembling can be demonstrated in gratitude and in acceptable service with reverence and awe)
Trembling, terrifying expectation of judgment (Heb10:26-27)
26 For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries.
Now written at a time to the people that had seen the glory of Jesus or sat at the feet of those who did. Can this not still be something we can learn from too, the fury of the Lord has not changed.
Fear and trembling, terrifying thing (Heb10:30-31)
30 For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge His people.” 31 It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Look at (v.31) terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God, why? because the people then were loosing focus on the reverence of God. People then were not in awe, in wonder, no longer astonished by the Lord. They had become apathetic and they had no fear of the Lord. Could that not be said about today too?
Having the right attitude, the right balance of “fear and trembling” leads us also to know why we are to have it.
Why have fear and trembling?
Why have fear and trembling?
I think it is best we let the scripture tell us why we are to have it.
Fear of the Lord is _____________ of knowledge (Pro1:7)
7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Fear of the Lord will cause on to _____________ evil (Pro8:13)
13 The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverse mouth I hate.
Fear of the Lord ____________ days (life) (Pro10:27)
27 The fear of the Lord prolongs days, But the years of the wicked will be shortened.
Fear of the Lord is a _____________ of life (Pro14:26-27)
26 In the fear of the Lord there is strong confidence, And His children will have a place of refuge. 27 The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, To turn one away from the snares of death.
Fear of the Lord will prompt you to _____________ from evil (Pro16:6)
6 In mercy and truth Atonement is provided for iniquity; And by the fear of the Lord one departs from evil.
(expand on this verse some!) because of mercy truth and atonement, one will wan to flee, depart from evil!
So, we are talking about balance, balance so that our light will shine and when we come together as light we are a city set on a hill that cannot be hidden. When we don’t have balance, when we don’t have the fear of the Lord there are these things.
We close ourselves off from God’s wisdom and knowledge
We can easily be persuaded, lured into and corrupted by evil
We will not know the love of God and the surety of our salvation in Him.
Other scriptures to consider
We need to press on to maturity (Heb6:1)
1 Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,
Leave the elementary things behind and dead works behinds and press on to maturity.
When we are not diligent we have no confidence (2Pt1:10; Heb4:16)
10 Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble;
Confidence is assurance that we will never stumble, so you need to practice, have diligence in the things that are beyond the elementary things of repentance.
16 Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
We need to be able to go to the throne in confidence!
Without fear of the Lord you cannot please God (Isa66:1-2)
1 Thus says the Lord, “Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool. Where then is a house you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest? 2 “For My hand made all these things, Thus all these things came into being,” declares the Lord. “But to this one I will look, To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.
Look at the end of the verse who the Lord looks on, the one who is humble, contrite and trembles at His Word
With proper fear we have promise (Ps103:17-18)
17 But the lovingkindness of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, And His righteousness to children’s children, 18 To those who keep His covenant And remember His precepts to do them.
So, it is well worth it for us to take time to develop and to grow in fear and trembling when it comes to the Lord.
Developing and Growing in fear of the Lord.
Developing and Growing in fear of the Lord.
Fear, like faith of the Lord comes from the Word of God (Rom10:17; Deu31:10-13) so let’s look historically and then look for application so we can develop and grow in the fear of the Lord.
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.
Historically look at what they did to learn to fear the Lord (Deu31:10-13)
10 Then Moses commanded them, saying, “At the end of every seven years, at the time of the year of remission of debts, at the Feast of Booths, 11 when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God at the place which He will choose, you shall read this law in front of all Israel in their hearing.
12 “Assemble the people, the men and the women and children and the alien who is in your town, so that they may hear and learn and fear the Lord your God, and be careful to observe all the words of this law. 13 “Their children, who have not known, will hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, as long as you live on the land which you are about to cross the Jordan to possess.”
They gathered together so they could hear so they can learn
They gathered together to learn from the Word of God
As we read, as we study God’s Word together it helps us to gain a healthy understanding of the fear of the Lord.
Fear of the Lord is needed by all (Rom2:4-11; also see 1Chr16:34)
4 Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? 5 But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,
Don’t be flippant about God’s kindness, don’t take it lightly. Those who do have wrath in store for them.
6 who will render to each person according to his deeds: 7 to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life;
Be one who through perseverance in doing good seek glory and honor as well as eternal life, immortality.
8 but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation. 9 There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek,
10 but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 11 For there is no partiality with God.
May we be a people, be light that seeks the Light of the world through the Living Word of God so that we can have a proper balance of fear and trembling. We need to know the full counsel of God, for there are some:
Who focus on the promises only
Others read, study the sections on God’s love and mercy
Both lack the fear of the Lord.
Others emphasize the “hell fire and brimstone passages” and forget about God’s lovingkindness
34 O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; For His lovingkindness is everlasting.
Balance is needed. Whereas there are extremes that can be seen here
One creates permissiveness that belittles God’s holiness and justice.
The other creates psychosis of terror and negates God’s grace and compassion
Again, we need to be deliberate, we need to be careful how we use the Word of God. First the Word needs to be known, and it must be applied if you want to develop a healthy, proper balance of fear and trembling.
Summing it up
Summing it up
So, why do we need to fear the Lord? We need to fear the Lord so that we will work out our salvation with fear and trembling (Php2:12)
Fear and trembling bring reverence (Ps89:7)
7 A God greatly feared in the council of the holy ones, And awesome above all those who are around Him?
We have ability that others did not, so fear the Lord (Heb4:1-2)
1 Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. 2 For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard.
Fear the Lord for we have a final rest coming (Heb4:11)
11 Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience.
Let us work it out perfecting holiness in fear of God (2Cor7:1)
1 Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
(Encouragement slide- work out your salvation - php2_12-13)
Encouragement (encouragement slide2) prayer (exit slides)