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But here’s the goal. I’ll tell you this morning as we start off in the topic, is that I believe as as people, as followers of Christ, we’re all created to get lost in the glory of of who God is and and how that relates to us as individuals. Uh, the tendency in, in humanity is to always elevate the position of man and, and bring down the position of God, and, and we lose in a scenario like that. But God has created us as individuals to really get lost in the glory of who he is. And I think it’s healthy for us to do. I think it’s important for us to even take opportunity to do that each day. And when we think about such an idea, there’s a theme within Scripture that paints in our mind what what it means really to to get lost in the magnitude and glory of who God is. And it’s a word that we’ve got to to deal with as people. And it’s it’s one that sometimes when you read it, you may not quite understand it and wonder what it’s it’s talking about. And that’s the fear of the Lord. In Proverbs chapter 14 and verse 27, it says this about the fear of God. It says, the fear of the Lord is a fountain of life. That 1st May avoid the snares of of death. And so by by the thought of this proverb, the idea is created within her mind that the fear of the Lord isn’t a isn’t isn’t a bad thing.
It doesn’t mean to be really afraid of God, but the intentions and purposes behind seeing the glory and magnitude of who God is in relationship to my life produces a fountain of life. And in fact, this phrase is used without throughout all of Scripture. And it’s something that that we as people should deal with when looking to God. And understand who we are in light of who he is. Some of the reasons I think that we we struggle with this word, fear of the Lord is because when we read such a terme, we we understand God, maybe through this word fear as one who’s perceived as overbearing, sort of this, this turn or burn. God. One that you are to be afraid of. But when you compare that to Scripture, this God who is authoritative, this God who does possess glory, at the same time seeing the judgment and justice of God, you also see the love of God. And Jesus says, I love you. In John three, I didn’t come to to condemn, but to the world, that through me they may receive life. And he sat with drunkards and sinners, being accused of being one himself. And sometimes people even portray him that way. You know, they’ll they’ll carry this thought around saying, uh, Jesus didn’t run around saying this, but I think some sometimes people will necessarily paint a picture of God.
That’s not not always biblical or skew the image of who God is and say, you know what you need to. You need to come to God so you don’t go to hell. Just come to God. Come. And so you don’t go to hell and just come to God so you don’t go to hell. And oh my gosh, you came to God. Good. I’m glad you’re not going to hell now, how great it is that you’re not going to hell. I’m glad that you came to God, that you’re not going to hell. And the whole point of the picture of God that they create is not what you’re becoming in him, but rather what you’re avoiding in him. You’re using God as a tool. Rather than your king who desires to be intimate with you. So sometimes when we think about the fear of the Lord, we we immediately picture this overbearing individual. But the truth is, when it comes to understanding fear and reverence and recognizing someone’s authority over us, you can’t make someone fear the Lord. Because truthfully, it’s a matter of the heart. And anyone who who tries to make someone Lord of your of your life, whether it be God, whether it be an individual without love. It produces an unhealthy relationship. The individual will simply submit to the one of of authority only because they’re afraid of him.
The minute they get the opportunity to leave because they feel safe to do so, they will. And maybe, maybe in your life you experienced that in a parental or guardian role over you. Maybe you had the type of relationship where someone made sure that you really feared them. But you never really loved him. And in that circumstance, as soon as you were given the privilege, you couldn’t wait to leave. And thinking about those types of relationships. When you hear this phrase about God, that the fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, that word fear immediately provokes within you this thought of of being afraid. But the the fear of the Lord is isn’t a bad thing. It’s not telling us to to be afraid of God, but it’s this word of reverence toward his authority and position and recognizing him. Or maybe sometimes we’ve seen the other extreme. The fear of the Lord looks absent. And the God that we’ve created. As more a. A pansy than a ruler. When you look within scripture, you see this idea of God that’s contrary to that. Yes, yes, Jesus loves and Jesus cares. And Jesus gives gives his life for you, that you may trust in him. But Jesus is also King of kings and Lord of lords. There’s there’s one verse in the Bible that I’ve just dubbed it, you know, different than probably what theologians do it, but I call it my, um, the pee pee my pants verse of the Bible.
Um, and if you want to join me in that, if I ever witness this, that’s going to be me. And you can join me in that. But in revelation 19. Just the return of Christ. It says this in verse 11, I saw heaven standing open, and there before me was a white horse whose rider is called faithful and true. With justice he judges and wages war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows, but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood. And his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on a white horse and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. He will rule them with an iron scepter. He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh. He has a name written King of kings and Lord of lords. And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying. And it goes on. Pee your pants first, right? I mean, that is a Jesus with authority. Sometimes we picture God as as one in his authoritarian ness, as overbearing.
Sometimes we we lack the the the authority of God and just choose to look at him as, as somewhat of a a grandpa God and in love, but but no justice. But here’s, here’s where the the problem is, is that the grace of God and the justice of God both demonstrate the love of God. In fact, in Christ. The justice of God is one of the most loving things you will ever experience in your life. Because the grace of God. Has been given to you in your life. So we read the Psalms. You see a psalm written, Psalms written by by David, that expresses one of a king who takes solace in his his creator, because he understands that his creator is the place in which he hides. His justice is a place of his protection. The Bible tells us in Galatians chapter six that God is not mocked. In Ephesians chapter five, there’s a beautiful passage of Scripture that describes the husband and wife and and creating the balance of of who God is. I think Paul does a beautiful job, and just describing the picture of God between the relationship of a husband and wife. If you were to read the text the very end of the passage, it says, husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her. A picture of the love of God.
And then he says on the other end of that, to the to the wives, wives, respect your husbands as unto the Lord. A picture of the position of God. Meaning within the relationship of of marriage. You have this beautiful picture working out of God in both of his attributes and quality, and his and his love and grace and his justice and judgment. And sometimes. And this one is as old as the Garden of Eden. Sometimes we don’t give in to the fear of the Lord or recognize the fear of the Lord because we like it our way. God, you can’t tell me what to do. I’m going to be Lord. And you’re not right. Adam and Eve in the beginning of the garden. They believed that that what God had was okay, but what they thought was better. And so they became this entitled individual. Saying phrases like I would say maybe within her culture, have it your way or you can’t tell me what to do. It’s my life. I can live it how I choose. I just need to be myself. In America today, we have the opportunity of so many choices in life. This entitlement for us is an individuals is easy to to buy into. Right. With all the different experiences that we can have. I mean you see someone just go five minutes without a cell phone. It’s like, what? How did I make it in the 80s? I don’t even know.
I mean, you got Heinz ketchup with 57 flavors, Baskin-Robbins with 31 flavors of ice cream. So many channels on TV now, it’s more friends than you’ve got on Facebook. Options after options for us. And and we even look at cultures and in some societies that do things like arranged marriages. And to us it looks so foreign, like give up our freedom. No way. Huh? And I have it your way mentality. We have to be careful not to approach God this way. To think God owes me. And he exists for me. Name is king and he is my servant. Or that God is just another drop in the bucket of the variety of life. It’s been sad. From the beginning of the Garden of Eden, God made me after his image and today I’m making him after my image. So what is the goodness of fearing the Lord? Truth is, for some of us, when we talk about fearing God and walking with him, in that sense, it’s it’s not that necessarily we feel like an entitled generation, but what we’ve we’ve learned is that when it comes to trusting in anything else, it’s it’s difficult to do. And so the thing that I’ve learned to trust in is, is in my own decisions, apart from someone else. And so trusting in God now becomes foreign to me because I’ve seen things in life that are untrustworthy.
But here’s here’s the perception that we create with ourselves and viewing God under that same circumstances that we we look at the the life that we lead and the opportunities that we have to make choices. As I sometimes in those choices we, we have in a in a consumeristic society, we have diluted the idea and fooled ourselves into thinking that we really have more control than what we do. That I have the power over things beyond just basic decisions of life. But when it comes to fear in God. Seeing him as a fountain of life. I think the the most helpful thing in the life of a, of a believer is just to get to know the God that you’re called to trust in. To taste and his goodness. To know that God has created you for Him and His good purposes, and coming to know Him and His desire for you is to get lost in the glory of who he is. That if you see God as one that you are afraid of, that you come to understand that his glory, his authority, his power is one for you to take solace under. That if you see God as a loving God, that kind of just serves the as many things within your life for your need that you come to recognize the the justice and the authority and power in which he possesses. So why fear him? Throughout the Bible this is used.
And so I’m just going to focus on two individuals that shared this thought. The first comes from the life of David in Psalm 36. We’re going to look at both David and Moses and their phrasing of this turn. But in Psalm 36 it says, this transgression speaks to the ungodly with his heart or within his heart. And it says, there is no fear of God before his eyes. For flatters him in his own eyes. Concerning the discovery of his iniquity and the hatred of it. And David writes, when? When the world lives like the world apart from God, there’s something that’s lacking within the life of the individuals or individuals that do this. And it’s the fear of the Lord. Now you can read a verse like this and say, you know, you get to verse three and it gets all happy after that, but it starts talking about beyond these individuals, and then you start talking down to someone like this and say, you know what? Those are horrible people. I’m glad that I, you know, just get let’s just get past that and read other verses. But here’s, here’s what I think David’s trying to provoke our thoughts to when he starts Psalm 36 is this for us to stop and just say, is this me? Do I live my life like he is Lord? And do I understand what it means to Revere him in my life? Yeah.
David shares this in Psalm 36, the people during his time. But Moses in chapter 20 of Exodus, when he’s leading the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt before Mount Sinai, he they’re going to experience the presence of God. And Moses is saying this in verse 18, when the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet, and saw the mountain and the smoke, they trembled with fear, and they stayed at a distance. And said to Moses. Speak to us yourselves, and we will listen. But do not do not have God speak to us, or we will die. And Moses said to the people. Do not be afraid. God has come to test you so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning. David talking about the fear of the Lord, Moses talking about the fear of the Lord, both of them saying it’s significant for the life of the individual. And let me tie these thoughts together for just a minute. Last night. I got a good opportunity to reflect on this because we had the night of of worship here as a church. And, and I start off as I’m coming and I’m asking myself this question as we’re dealing with these two passages, and I think God gave me an aha moment when I was thinking through just David and Moses coming to church last night.
And and that was this. Um, I was asking the question, what? What attracts people to worship? Now I know I can give you the broad answer. As far as God, I’m talking selfish for a minute, but. But the glory of God should inspire us and the worship of the Lord. But let me just think on a personal basis, what is it about you that you might crave or desire to worship? You think about just a little bit further. What about David? David wrote half of the Psalms. Why is that? Out of all the people in the world, God chose David to write half the songs of praise within the Bible. Not just praise, lament. Penitential psalms. Well, why did God choose David? I think I settled on the answer. I think. What attracts us as people to worship. Is the vulnerability. This is what I mean. In your life. You’ve got to wear all kinds of hats, right? Uh, you’re maybe a mom or a father or an employee or an employee or. I mean, you got different positions that you maintain. But even on top of those positions, you’ve also got a certain emotional attitude that you’ve carried within those positions. Sometimes it’s brokenness, and sometimes it’s one who has to rise above and just be the the leader through the circumstance. And we carry all these, these different positions within life. But when it comes when it comes to God.
You’re not any of those anymore. You’re just you. It’s a place of vulnerability. I think God worked in the life of David to write most of the Psalms, because out of all the people in Israel, even though he was a king, maybe, maybe we look at kings as sometimes people that can’t relate to the common man. But David wore many hats in his life. And he went through the emotional gamut of what life was about. If he didn’t write Psalms in the Bible, he would have been the world’s best country music singer. Probably. Will you think of the positions that David carried in life as king, as as as father, as husband, as shepherd, as son, losing his kingdom, gaining his kingdom, seeing God anoint him for ministry within life. All of those different hats that he has worn. But when it comes to him before God, when you read the Psalms, what you see exposed in his heart as a man of vulnerability before his King. I don’t know if that’s why you would say for you and yourself is what attracts you to worship from a personal basis before God. But when you look at the way that David writes his Psalms. That seems to indicate in his heart. That’s what took place. The come before God. Just empty. To Revere him. To fear him, to understand that that is a place of a soulless.
The expectations of God. Isn’t that King David could come before him, or Shepherd Dave would come before him. It’s just that David would come before him. And Moses in Exodus chapter 20 is trying to get the people of Israel to recognize the same thing. You could think in their minds. They’re wrestling through all of these thoughts, trying to work them out. They’ve they’ve just left Egypt. And they’re on this exodus into the Promised Land. And they’ve seen this God who has devastated the land of of Egypt. And they’re thinking about their future, and they have no idea what it’s going to uphold. But this God is leading them out, and he’s giving these these promises, and they’re thinking about the the magnitude that they’ve seen in this king, how it’s just buried Pharaoh’s army. And now this God is about to appear before them. And Moses is saying to them, listen, don’t be afraid of God. Rather than running away from his power and his authority and his position. See this God is coming for you in love. And rather than running from him, run to him. The fear of the Lord. As for your game. Told us in Proverbs chapter 14 that is the fountain of life. And sometimes we like to think about life as having two options as it relates to God. To some degree it does, but another degree it doesn’t. Moses isn’t saying, these people listen, come to God, and if you don’t like it, just go the other way.
What Moses is saying to these people is that don’t don’t run from God as if you can provide better from yourself. You’re not you’re not just running into fire. You’re already in the fire. Let let God. Let God be your place of solace. Let God be the place where you take comfort. Let the fear of the Lord, the reverence of who he is, direct your heart for which you were created. You know when you look in the Bible. You know, I think one of the most unhappy, unhealthy places that we could be as people. Is to be a believer that’s half committed to God. And the Bible tells us that there’s there’s some sort of happiness in in two ways. And listen to this in Hebrews chapter 11 verse 25, enjoy the passing pleasures of sin. Now the pleasures do pass, but it does cause sin as having pleasure. And Philippians chapter one and verse 25. At the bottom it says this I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith. Now Paul is saying that there is there’s joy within the Christian life and walking with God. But here’s where the unhappiness settles and the lack of joy and revelation. Three talking to believers, it says, I know your deeds, that you are neither hot nor cold.
So because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. This is the Lord talking. He’s talking, talking to the lay of the scenes and their position before God as as not really taking any stand, sort of riding the fence, their relationship to God. And if there’s anything that there is no pleasure in. It’s in that state. Fear of the Lord is the fountain of life. When you throw or look at this theme throughout scripture, the fear of the Lord. You see, even in the Psalms and Proverbs, the way that that Solomon and David communicate the benefit of understanding God in his position in our lives. It says this in Psalm 3034, the angel of the Lord encamps down around those who fear him. In Psalm 111, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. In Proverbs one. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. In Proverbs ten, the fear of the Lord adds length to life. Evil is avoided. That leads to life. In Proverbs 22, the true humility and fear of the Lord leads to riches, honor, and a long life. The struggle with the fear of the Lord. Huh? One is in making ourselves Lord. But. You know, one of the thoughts that I had when I first became a believer, when it related to the fear of the Lord. Following after God became more complicated for me because at first, in my mind I perceived it as this continue to do what I’m doing and now add God with it.
How in the world can I add more to my life? Now I’ve got these, these this way I’m living my life and now the fear of God. And then I began to really understand it in Proverbs 29. It kind of clears it up for us in verse 25. Fear of a man is a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe. And I begin to realize that God wasn’t just something that you add to your life. He becomes the focus of your life. He is the center for everything that you do. And rather than add more to your plate, what God ends up doing for us and our benefit in him is that he clears the plate. And reorients our lives. As we Revere him in his position. A few decades ago, there was this debate in Christianity that really got some attention, but it was this idea of calling God Savior and calling God Lord. And the question became, well, can God be your Savior and not be your Lord? I mean, can the Christian be saved and not walk with Jesus? And they begin to debate this in theological circles. And and it irritated me and I couldn’t, couldn’t ever pinpoint why. But but as I thought through it, I finally came to a conclusion as to why that was irritating to me.
And that is, God isn’t supposed to be exclusive in the titles of himself. And what I mean is this Terme, Savior and Lord, is never intended to be divided because all of it make up who God is. And God is Savior and Lord. And when you start dividing between this phrase of God being Savior and God being Lord, and you ask the question, Can God be your Savior but not be your Lord? What we’re asking a question for is, is it possible to be an unhealthy Christian? I don’t even want to answer the question. Because rather than simply divide our Savior and Lord, God calls us to to make him both Savior and Lord. And rather than look at a question from an angle of of building an unhealthy believer, my my desire and I think scriptures desire is to see us walking with God in a healthy way. And so what does it mean to fear God? The word for fear. Said, doesn’t mean to be afraid. This word for fear also carries this thought of just carrying a reverence. And honor who he is. To Revere and recognize him and his position. And the thought of Lord. Declares for us his authority. It means that he is the ultimate authority above us, even above ourselves. If I were to just put it in a practical definition, I would say this the fear of God is choosing to always follow God.
Even when it would be easier to follow something else. The fear of the Lord isn’t a half hearted devotion. The greatest evidence of whether or not you fear God. I seen in your obedience to him. If you were to follow this phrase of fearing the Lord throughout the Bible. You would see in Scripture that everyone that is a leader for the Lord and and guiding and seeing things happen for God. They’re fearing him. Even Abraham. When he offered Isaac. It tells us that he feared God. When it comes to fearing God. I’m not saying for us in our lives, we have to try harder. Right. Although we should. What I’m saying for us in the life of a believer is that it begins with an attitude of the heart. You can’t make someone fear God. But in the attitude of your heart. God’s called you to surrender to him. And if there’s hesitation within your life to do so, maybe I would encourage you this morning, get to know this God who has given his life for you. So sometimes we look at this fear as this authoritarian picture of an individual who just who just wants to beat us up. Who just wants to say, look, I got him under my thumb. Aren’t aren’t I impressive? You know when you read Matthew chapter 20, James and John’s mother come to Jesus and they ask a very important question.
She says, she says, can can my sons be first and second behind you in your kingdom? To which Jesus responds. He who wants to be great and my kingdom. Must be the least. And he goes on to say, The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve. The picture that Jesus creates. He even says, in the world of the Gentiles in verse 25, they lord the position of authority over others. But God then creates this picture of himself that’s contrary to that. God doesn’t look as his position of authority, as one to place you under his thumb. But to be a blessing to those he’s created for his purposes. Let me close with this story. There was a missionary that in the late 1700s that had a powerful effect in this world for Christ and the land of Myanmar. His name was Adoniram Judson. Adoniram was born in the late 1700s, lived into to 1850. He was he was the son of a pastor. But this is interesting thing about Adoniram as he grew up in his teenage years, he abandoned his faith that he was raised in, was a professed atheist agnostic, went to college, got connected with a college roommate that further encouraged him into a just a life of of sin. One. One day, Adoniram and some friends decided they were going to take a a tour of these American cities and visit.
And and one night he stops off in the city and he goes into an inn and he asks the innkeeper for for a room, and he says, you know, I’ll give you a room. But in the room beside of you there is a an individual who’s suffering severely, and we don’t expect him to make it through the night. He, in fact, may, may pass away. And Adoniram said, you know what? It’s okay. I’ll take the room anyway. And so he gets the room and he goes into there and he lays down his bed and he hears the the screams and the wailing of this individual in the room beside of him, fighting for his life. And Adoniram. As he’s laying there in bed, he starts to think what he could possibly do to help this person. What hope could he have to offer in case this individual dies? And he began to realize he’s abandoned his faith when it comes to this man, he has nothing to give him. And so he lays in his bed all night just thinking about this individual who’s who’s dying beside him. And late into the hours. Finally the the sound subsides and Adoniram goes to sleep. He goes to the front desk the next morning and asks the man what happened to the individual, how he was doing, and he said the the man passed away last night.
And so we ask, well, who was the individual? And Adoniram discovers. It was his friend from college. Who had encouraged them down the lifestyle of leaving the Lord behind. The flood of emotions comes over. And I realize as a young man he had been given hope in the Lord. And he abandoned it that night, and in a place of an opportunity which he could give hope in Christ to this man, he didn’t. And it turned out to be his own friend. Adoniram eventually from this story, becomes a believer. Trust in Christ at the age of 20, for he, he, he leaves for the land of Myanmar. When he gets to Myanmar, it’s over six years before he sees anyone come to know the Lord. In fact, someone wrote him in about the sixth year of of his ministry in Myanmar and and they asked him, how are things going? And his response, his response was, the future is as bright as the promises of God. In the sixth year of his ministry. He finally sees someone come to know Christ. By the time Adoniram dies, he’s. He’s spent almost 40 years of ministry in Myanmar. He’s. By the time he passes away, he sees over 60 churches planted. And over 7000 people in this country come to know Christ. Now think about what? What makes that story a success. In America. We love our storybook endings, right? We like reading and seeing.
And in the end, he got the victory. And and when we when we make decisions in our lives, we want to know, okay, how is it going to work out in the end? Will will I get the victory? Will this work out for my gain? How how is it going to end? Where’s the storybook ending here? Can I tell you with Moses and David? And I think with Adoniram. They give us the storybook ending. Before the stories lived out. The weight of that. As the fear of the Lord. The storybook ending for us is the fear of the Lord. Can I tell you as a as a pastor, I know in life, as people, we go through struggles and we look at different decisions that we’ve got to make in our lives. And we’re thinking, man, how in the world am I going to do this? But let me just tell you, there’s there’s a place where my heart settles, where it within me, even though even though there’s turmoil in our lives sometimes, and even though there’s struggles to find out answers. There is this place my heart settles when I hear the life of another believer. Just say you know I don’t know. But man, I want to trust in God in it. I don’t know how the picture is going to be painted, but. But I’ve got this deep conviction to place God at the center of whatever that decision is.
The truth is, and I think David and Moses would echo this to the children of Israel, not knowing what tomorrow holds. I would say this I would rather have the Lord not knowing what tomorrow holds, than to hold tomorrow without the Lord. It’s the fear of the Lord. Isn’t God’s design to suppress you and place you under his thumb? But for you to experience him as a fountain of life. Not a half hearted devotion. But one of joy. One that when they look at it, as Moses said to the children of Israel, they don’t run away afraid, but rather they run to him because they recognize him as a resting place. One, as David exposes within the Psalms, not, not, not a king to be afraid of, but finally Lord of Lord of Lords, one who I can take off my hats, I can take off my place. I am in life and just come before him. It’s just me. And rest in his sovereignty. So here’s my encouragement. Don’t worry about what tomorrow holds. For you right now in our lives, the most important thing is that God holds us. I know God desires for us to make plans and think according to his purposes. But it’s far better to do it with him not knowing what tomorrow holds than than to hold tomorrow without the Lord. Trust in him.