Live In Reverent Fear

introduction (v17)

what is your greatest fear?

you know, what is sad today is we have fear of anything, except God.

the influence of justfication by faith through grace to the whole christianity - cheap grace

people no longer fear of the Lord. The Lord is more like a loving grandpa with limitless, than a strict father with principles.

can you imagine if we do not fear of fire? what would happen to our Children? The writer of Hebrews said that we should worship God “with holy fear and awe. For our God is a devouring fire” (Hebrews 12:28-29).

paradox with “faith without fear” - reverent fear. Holy living is motivated by a God-fearing faith.

v17 talks about the fear out of the judgment, but that is not all about the reasons that brought us into fearing God

Fear the Lord As a response to the redemption work (1:18-21)

the sacrifice strengthen the fear of God.

despite the redemption, we should not forget that there is judgment as well. it is also a response towards God’s punishment. God calls us to stand before him, our hope of salvatoin brings accountability as well as triumph. knowing that God will judge each person’s work, it must inspire reverent fear. The apostolic teaching about God’s judgment has been misunderstood. On the one hand, some have considered that God’s justifying grace must remove accountability to God in the day of judgment. They have therefore denied that the Christian will stand before God’s judgment seat. On the other hand, many have affirmed accountability in the day of judgment, but have interpreted God’s final verdict as justification by works added to an initial salvation by grace. No Christian could then be sure of heaven until the last judgment.

In view of the fact that the Father lovingly disciplines His children today, and will judge their works in the future, we ought to cultivate an attitude of godly fear. This is not the cringing fear of a slave before a master, but the loving reverence of a child before his father. It is not fear of judgment (1 John 4:18), but a fear of disappointing Him or sinning against His love. It is “godly fear” (2 Cor. 7:1), a sober reverence for the Father

The New Testament writers do not share the confusion of either error. The reality and finality of God’s judgment are often affirmed; we are taught that Christ will be the Judge in that day. At the same time we are told that God’s verdict on us has already been pronounced; in Christ we are justified; we have passed from death to life. The Judge in the last day is our Saviour.3 God’s final judgment will glorify his justice; he will pronounce for all the redeemed the satisfaction of Christ’s atoning death and the merit of his perfect obedience. Yet the faithfulness of the Lord’s people will also be displayed, not as the basis of their acceptance, but to show the reality of their faith in the Saviour. To those who have been unfaithful, the Lord himself will declare the folly of their hypocritical confession: ‘Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!” ’ God’s examination of his saints will also make evident the worthlessness of shoddy ministry. Heavenly reward will be proportionate to the faithfulness of the Lord’s redeemed stewards.

Peter, therefore, does not call us to soul-destroying dread. The Judge is our Father, who has begotten us to be his children and given us a sure hope as heirs of his blessing. Yet Peter does call us to reverent fear. Our Father is the living God. He is holy: holy in the high mystery of his deity, holy in the perfection of his righteousness. Because he is holy, we too must be holy, for we are his people. Holy confidence in God as a Father, an awful fear of him as a Judge, are very consistent; to regard God as a Judge is a singular means to endear him to us as a Father. (4.) The judgment of God will be without respect of persons: According to every man’s work. No external relation to him will protect any; the Jew may call God Father and Abraham father, but God will not respect persons, nor favour their cause, from personal considerations, but judge them according to their work. The works of men will in the great day discover their persons; God will make all the world to know who are his by their works. We are obliged to faith, holiness, and obedience, and our works will be an evidence whether we have complied with our obligations or not.

our response should match his sacrifice. So precious in God’s sight is this death and the blood which represents it that it should never be lightly esteemed by us.

‘Conduct your lives with fear of God’s discipline (v. 17), because you know that God redeemed you out of a sinful manner of life at great cost—with the precious blood of Christ (vv. 18–19).’ (Therefore, Peter implies, God will not be pleased if you casually disregard the ethical purposes of his redemption.) The blood of Jesus Christ is the only price of man’s redemption. The redemption of man is real, not metaphorical. We are bought with a price, and the price is equal to the purchase, for it is the precious blood of Christ; it is the blood of an innocent person, a lamb without blemish and without spot, whom the paschal lamb represented, and of an infinite person, being the Son of God, and therefore it is called the blood of God, Acts 20:28. [5.] The design of Christ in shedding his most precious blood was to redeem us, not only from eternal misery hereafter, but from a vain conversation in this world. That conversation is vain which is empty, frivolous, trifling, and unserviceable to the honour of God, the credit of religion, the conviction of unbelievers, and the comfort and satisfaction of a man’s own conscience. Not only the open wickedness, but the vanity and unprofitableness of our conversation are highly dangerous

The high cost of salvation—the beloved Son’s precious blood—calls for believers to live in reverent fear before God. Holy living is motivated by a God-fearing faith which does not take lightly what was purchased at so great a cost.

When only a young lady, Frances Ridley Havergal saw a picture of the crucified Christ with this caption under it: “I did this for thee. What hast thou done for Me?” Quickly, she wrote a poem, but was dissatisfied with it and threw it into the fireplace. The paper came out unharmed! Later, at her father’s suggestion, she published the poem, and today we sing it.

I gave My life for thee,

My precious blood I shed;

That thou might ransomed be,

And quickened from the dead.

I gave, I gave, My life for thee,

What hast thou given for Me?

A good question, indeed! I trust we can give a good answer to the Lord.

Fear the Lord as a mark of holy living with obedience (1:22-25)

mark of obedience/purification. the holiness of the true Israel was now to be seen in the fruits of an obedient life. Israel had been summoned to Sinai to enter into covenant with the Lord. They had vowed to obey him, to be his true and devoted people. Now Peter writes to those who have heard and heeded the call of the gospel. They are, literally, ‘children of obedience’. This Hebrew form of expression is not the same as obedient children. It is an idiom describing those who are characterized by obedience, as though obedience were their parent. The term for ‘obedience’ derives from the word for ‘hearing’. Christians are those who have ‘hearkened’ to the gospel.6 They have turned from sin to submit themselves to Christ as Lord and Saviour. Reverent submission to God furnishes the key to Peter’s exhortations in this letter.

the Word teaches the fear of God. Fearing God means having such a reverence for Him that it has a great impact on the way we live our lives. The fear of God is respecting Him, obeying Him, submitting to His discipline, and worshiping Him in awe.

The pattern of holy living cannot be reduced to a limited number of ‘holy’ actions. God’s righteous deeds flow from his holy nature; holiness patterned on his must express transformed hearts. On the one hand, this seems to set an impossible standard: how can we be like the holy God? On the other hand, there is a marvellous simplicity in a holiness patterned on God himself; it does not require encyclopedic grasp of endless directives and prohibitions. It flows from the heart; its key is love. To be holy is to love the Lord our God with heart, soul, strength and mind, and to love our neighbour as ourselves. We imitate the love of grace that saved us, the love of God’s compassion poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.4

Fear of God is a process of active obedience that a Christian purifies his or her soul.

the fear of God is a a way to acknowledge the fragility of our lives. The remarkable thing about fearing God is that when you fear God you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God you fear everything else.

we once lived “to satisfy [our] own desires” (1 Peter 1:14). Our lives were marked by sin, disobedience to God, and other unholy ways. But now “the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God” has allowed us to be “cleansed from [our] sins when [we] obeyed the truth” and believed in Him

Peter reminded his readers that they were only “sojourners” on earth. Life was too short to waste in disobedience and sin (see 1 Peter 4:1–6). It was when Lot stopped being a sojourner, and became a resident in Sodom, that he lost his consecration and his testimony. Everything he lived for went up in smoke! Keep reminding yourself that you are a “stranger and pilgrim” in this world

Fear the Lord as a sign of maturity (2:1-3)

fear the Lord for our growth in salvation - a sign of spiritual maturity. having purified your souls by your obedience to these true commands to holiness … love one another earnestly.’ Peter thus expects that growth in holiness will lead to deeper love among Christians. A sincere love of the brethren means love that is genuine, not simply an outward appearance or profession of love. This ‘love of the brethren’ (philadelphia) is probably seen by Peter as somewhat less intense than agapē. By translating this phrase for a sincere love of the brethren, the RSV understands it to indicate purpose. But love for fellow Christians is seen in the New Testament more as a component or a result of sanctification than its goal. So it is preferable to understand this construction (eis with accusative) to indicate result (so NIV, NEB, Phillips; cf. 1:3; 2:9, 21 for the same construction used this way): ‘Until you feel sincere affection towards your brother Christians’. It is a reminder that one of the first marks of genuine growth in holiness in individuals and in churches is earnest love for fellow Christians

fear of God is the sign of New Testament church growing in maturity and growth in holiness (Acts 5:5, 11; 9:31; 2 Corinthians 7:1, 15).

As children, the fear of discipline from our parents no doubt prevented some evil actions. The same should be true in our relationship with God. We should fear His discipline, and therefore seek to live our lives in such a way that pleases Him.

v1-3 So put away resumes the line of argument which was interrupted by verses 23 to 25. The word so, or ‘therefore’, refers back to the command ‘love one another’ in verse 22. This verse explains in more detail what is involved in loving one another ‘earnestly’: one must put away (give up, get rid of) attitudes and habits which are harmful to others. one of the greatest sign of our reverent fear is to love one another.

Genuine love requires ridding one’s life of all malice (the Gk. term kakia is broader, nearer to English ‘evil’ or ‘wickedness’, including not only ill intent but also any actions harmful to others), all guile (i.e. deceitfulness that harms others through trickery or falsehood), insincerity (or hypocrisy, the masking of inward evil by an outward show of righteousness—note this word in Matt. 23:28; Mark 12:15; Gal. 2:13), envy (the opposite of thankfulness for good which comes to others), and all slander (any speech which harms or is intended to harm another person’s status, reputation, etc.—the related verb is used in 2:12; 3:16; Jas 4:11). All these sins aim at harming other people, whereas love seeks the good of others.

the love here is not just about tolerance or acceptance, but sincere love without pretene or hypocrisy. our love must be deep and intense. The deep, heartfelt love that Peter urges is in no way artificial. It is the brotherly love that unites the family of God. Paul says to the church of Thessalonica, ‘Now about brotherly love we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other.’

How can such love be commanded? Peter writes to people divided by the jealousies and hatreds of their past; some were Jews, some Gentiles. To bind them in family love Peter directs them to the one source. The love that binds the redeemed flows from the love of the Redeemer. Christian love is the love of grace, the love of compassion. For such love to appear, the pride and selfishness of our alienation from God must be swept away. They must be replaced by a heart made new with the motives of grace. Peter shows how both needs are to be met. It is the word of God, the good news of the gospel, that is the means both of our new birth and of our nurture in holiness. Peter compares the life-giving power of the word of God to human procreation. It is the seed of life, sown in our hearts to create new life. God’s word is creative: he speaks, and it is done; he commands and it stands fast. ‘By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth.’ Since God’s word is his vocalized breath, it goes forth with the power of his Spirit. The word of the gospel is God’s call; it communicates and converts.

Like newborn babes does not imply that Peter thought of his readers as young or immature Christians, for some of them had been Christians for thirty years (see Introduction, p. 39). It only says that they are to long for spiritual milk in the same way that new babies long for milk (eagerly, frequently)—a metaphor easily understood by any parent whose sleep has been interrupted by the crying of a young baby hungry for milk. Milk in this context does not represent elementary Christian teaching (as it does in a different metaphor in 1 Cor. 3:2 and Heb. 5:12–13, where milk is contrasted with meat or solid food), but rather something to be eagerly desired for nourishment. long for God.

Christians who have been given new birth by the word must also grow. They are cleansed by the converting power of the gospel, but they must mature in their new life. What will advance their growth? What will deepen their love? The same truth of God that gave them birth also nourishes them. If the word of God is water to wash us, it is also milk to build better bodies in Christ. Christians must be addicted to the Bible. Like newborn babies, crave the pure milk of the word. The wonder of a mother at the birth of a child becomes delight at the readiness of her infant to feed. Any delay at feeding-time brings a powerful reaction from the tiny person. For an infant, milk is not a fringe benefit. Peter writes to young churches; he has in view many who have only recently confessed their faith in Christ and been baptized. Some were no doubt senior citizens; they are nevertheless newborn in Christ. They must have an infant’s desperate desire for basic nourishment.

Peter commends a milk product that is free from additives. The word of God abides without preservatives. Consumers in the ancient world were well aware that milk or wine could be watered down; when Paul says that he was not a huckster of the word of God, he alludes to the common practice of selling diluted wine. Peter uses a word that was employed by merchants to describe pure, unadulterated products. The term contrasts with the ‘deceit’ that Christians have renounced (2:1). While this letter does not contain the warnings against false teaching that we find in 2 Peter, it is clear that the growth of new Christians must be in the truth of the apostolic word. What quickens our desire for the life-giving word of God? Peter answers that we know the taste. Our culture makes the image clear; advertisers spend millions to promote the taste of a cola. Reading the Bible is addictive when we begin to get the taste. What we taste in Scripture is not simply the variety and power of the language. What we taste is the Lord

Conclusion

Fear of God is not just an idea in the Old Testament, which has been replaced because of Christ’s sacrifice. As God’s children, we need to be serious about sin and about holy living. Our Heavenly Father is a holy (John 17:11) and righteous Father (John 17:25). He will not compromise with sin. He is merciful and forgiving, but He is also a loving disciplinarian who cannot permit His children to enjoy sin. After all, it was sin that sent His Son to the cross. If we call God “Father,” then we should reflect His nature. Fear God so that we do not continue in our sin.

Rev 14:7 Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water

Rev 19:5 Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, both small and great

the true understanding of God’s grace should lead us to the fear of God, a kind fear with reverent.