Rev. David Holwick ZK
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
November 14, 2010
Luke 12:4-7
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I. Fear is a sign of our times.
A. Recent rally in Washington to "Restore Sanity and/or Fear."
Comedians Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert teamed up to make
some serious points.
Colbert's portion was originally called "Keep Fear Alive."
On his Comedy Central fake news show he portrays a stuffy
conservative.
In reality he is spoofing conservatives for their attitudes,
like the tendency to use fear to motivate voters.
Fear is certainly one of the best motivators going.
We are confronted by radical Islam, global warming, Iran,
North Korea, financial meltdown, galloping national debt...
The list changes but never seems to get shorter.
B. We fear different things at different times.
You can tell a person's level of maturity by observing the
things they fear:
At 4 we fear the barber.
At 8 we fear the dentist.
At 16 the driving examiner.
At 30 the loan officer. [1]
C. When do we come to fear God?
II. The fear of God makes us uncomfortable.
A. Fear doesn't seem to fit well with Christianity.
1) Is it desirable to scare someone into God's Kingdom?
2) Fear makes God sound cruel and harsh.
a) It reminds us of the old-fashioned Puritan view of God.
b) Should we fear a God we call "Father"?
3) But fear is deeply rooted in the Bible - maybe one reason
many people turn away from the Bible.
B. The concept of fear goes against our culture as well.
1) Not just uncouth feeling of it.
a) We see fear as a sinister, unhealthy emotion.
2) Our culture centers on the self.
a) Fear requires recognition that we are not the center.
b) We have made God small and man great.
1> "Man is the measure of all things" has been the
guiding light since the Renaissance.
2> We make God in our own image and worship that.
C. We don't fear God because we really do not know him as GOD.
1) To know God is to fear him, to be "stunned," as A.W. Tozer
put it.
2) We prefer a folksy, sentimental, non-threatening God.
A couple of years ago I received an email that was making
the rounds.
It was one of those "Chicken Soup of the Soul"-type
messages that are composed from real experiences.
It went like this:
Last week I took my children to a restaurant.
My six-year-old son asked if he could say grace.
As we bowed our heads he said, "God is good. God is great.
Thank you for the food, and I would even thank you more if
mom gets us ice cream for dessert.
And liberty and justice for all! Amen!"
Along with the laughter from the other customers nearby I
heard a woman remark,
"That's what's wrong with this country.
Kids today don't even know how to pray.
Asking God for ice-cream!
Why, I never!"
Hearing this, my son burst into tears and asked me,
"Did I do it wrong? Is God mad at me?"
As the mom held him and reassured him, an old guy came up
and said,
"I happen to know that God thought that was a great prayer."
Then in theatrical whisper he aimed at the other woman
he said,
"Too bad she never asks God for ice cream.
A little ice cream is good for the soul sometimes."
After the meal they of course got ice cream, and the little
boy took his sundae over to the accusing woman.
With a big smile he told her, "Here, this is for you.
Ice cream is good for the soul sometimes and my soul is
good already."
Isn't that heart-warming?
While God can certainly bless us with ice cream, I think
the rebuker may have been on to something.
"Cute" prayers like this can trivialize God.
It almost seems as if they are worshipping the six-year-old
rather than the Maker of the Universe.
#5343
III. How should Christians approach the fear of God?
A. Some want to limit it to "awe" or "reverence."
1) Sometimes appropriate.
a) But generally this confuses the issue.
b) Other words were available to express "awe" or "respect."
2) Literal fear is demanded by many passages.
a) Mount Sinai - they feared for their lives. Exod 20:18f
1> They were in the presence of One bigger than them.
2> Fear is connected with God's majesty 300 times.
b) New Testament parallel of the same event:
"The sight was so terrifying that Moses said,
'I am trembling with fear.'" Heb 12:21
c) God is even called "The Fear of Isaac."
B. Some believe Jesus has ended our fear of God.
1) We fear God because we are separated from him.
a) In Jesus Christ, this separation has been overcome.
b) "Perfect love casts out fear." 1 John 4:18
2) Yet Jesus also taught the fear of God.
"I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who
kill the body and after that can do no more.
But I will show you whom you should fear:
Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power
to throw you into hell.
Yes, I tell you, fear him." Luke 12:4-5
IV. Christians ought to be very afraid.
A. Fearing God means we take him very seriously.
1) The Bible says the fear of God is wholesome and healthy.
(Psalm 19:9)
B. You can fear God and run.
1) It is a natural response to avoiding God.
a) The Bible is only 66 verses old when fear stalks into
the Garden of Eden and seizes Adam by the throat.
Adam is terrified and cries to God, "I heard your voice
in the garden and I was afraid." Gen 3:10
b) Adam and Eve's response had been what fear-filled people
do - they hid from God.
Max Lucado once preached:
"Fear, mismanaged, leads to sin.
Sin leads to hiding.
Since we've all sinned, we all hide.
Not in bushes but in 80-hour workweeks, temper tantrums
and religious busyness.
We avoid contact with God.
We are convinced that God must hate our evil tendencies.
We sure do. We don't like the things we do and say.
We despise our lustful thoughts, harsh judgments and
selfish deeds.
If our sin nauseates us, how much more must it revolt a
holy God!
We draw a practical conclusion: God is irreparably
ticked off at us.
So what are we to do except duck into the bushes at
the sound of His voice?"
#12307
2) Some people try to hide from God permanently.
Yesterday at our Senior Citizen Thanksgiving dinner
we sang a golden oldie that dates back to WWI -
What's the use of worrying?
It never was worthwhile;
So, pack up your troubles in your old kit-bag
and smile, smile, smile.
Felix Powell, who wrote that song with his brother,
sang it for the last time in 1942.
When he finished, he walked into a bedroom, took out
a rifle, put it to his heart and pulled the trigger.
His words encouraged the world to "smile, smile, smile."
But his words had no power to satisfy the deepest
longings of his heart.
They were empty.
#62887
C. You can fear God and come.
1) God takes the initiative in saving fearful people.
2) Peter and net of fish. Luke 5:8
"When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees
and said, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!"
a) Peter was unaware his was resisting God.
b) Yet God touched and healed him.
3) Admit God's majesty and our unworthiness.
a) Conventional wisdom does not come up with this.
b) But Bible teaches that if we want to be wise, we must
humble ourselves.
V. Two great results of fearing God:
A. Life is made meaningful by fear of God.
1) To be a whole person we must encounter God.
a) To encounter God is fearsome.
b) David - Ps 86:11
"Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name."
2) Fear is the beginning of the journey and love is the end.
B. Morality is motivated by the fear of God.
1) "Why should I be moral?"
a) The Bible appeals to fear. 1 Cor 10:11-12
"These things happened to them as examples and
were written down as warnings for us,
on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.
So, if you think you are standing firm, be
careful that you don't fall!"
b) God encounters us with "terms" and threats.
1> Fear and obedience are one and the same.
2> We need to be spurred to place where love can work.
2) Love alone is not enough.
a) No evidence love is sufficient motivation for morality.
1> Much evidence to the contrary!
2> What motivates more to be pure and self-controlled:
Desire to please God?
Or fear of AIDS?
b) We need to understand natural penalty of disobeying God.
1> Dr. William Eisenhower:
"In my discovery of the Savior who is also my Judge,
I discover several reasons to obey him.
Fear is one of these.
VI. Fear doesn't have the last word.
A. The world is not our ultimate threat.
1) Conventional pattern: Threatened by world, reassured by God.
a) Actually, God is the ultimate threat. Matt 10:28
b) The world's threats are only temporary.
2) What issues would a holy God have with you?
a) Your habits?
b) Your relationships?
c) Your priorities?
d) Your beliefs?
B. God's advice is, "Do not be afraid." (KJV - Fear not) Luke 4:7
1) Jews at Mount Sinai. Exod 20:20
2) Disciples at the empty tomb on Easter. Matt 28:10
C. God wants to rescue us, not condemn us.
In 1981, a Minnesota radio station reported a story about a
stolen car in California.
Police were staging an intense search for the vehicle and the
driver.
They even placed announcements on local radio stations, asking
the thief to contact them.
On the front seat of the stolen car sat a box of crackers that,
unknown to the thief, were laced with poison.
The car owner had intended to use the crackers as rat bait.
The police and the car owner of the Volkswagen "Bug" were more
interested in apprehending the thief to save his life than
to recover the car.
So often when we run from God, we feel it is to escape his
punishment.
But what we are actually doing is eluding his rescue.
#1922
a) Jesus takes our wrath.
b) We must accept his salvation.
=========================================================================
SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
This sermon was adapted from the article "Fearing God," by Dr. William D.
Eisenhower, Christianity Today, February 7, 1986; pp 32-34. It was
originally preached May 27, 1990.
[1] I forget where this little ditty came from.
# 1922 “Eluding His Rescue,” by Pat McBride of Windom, Minnesota,
Leadership, February 16, 1992, page 36. Derived from
“Illustrations For Preaching & Teaching,” editor Craig Brian
Larson, Baker, p. 207.
# 5343 “Ice Cream Is Good For the Soul,” author unknown; submitted by
Rev. Dick Lewis. It probably originated with “Chicken Soup
of the Soul.”
#12307 “Sin Leads To Hiding,” by Max Lucado, from his sermon “Can God
Forgive Me?” Preaching Now, <www.preaching.com>, originally
in Preaching Magazine, Sept/Oct 2009.
#62887 “Packing Up Your Troubles In Your Old Kit-bag?” by David Holwick.
Material adapted from Wikipedia.org and a sermon by Rev. Ian
Chapman (Kerux sermon #20678).
These and 35,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
=========================================================================
"The Fear of the Lord: Seeing God as He Is"
Sinclair Ferguson
Discipleship Journal #52, July/Aug 1989, page 41.
I. Fear doesn't seem to fit in Christianity.
A. Peter's "Fear God" in 1 Peter 2:17 is perplexing.
B. Should we fear a God we call "Father"?
1) We see fear as a sinister, unhealthy emotion.
2) The Bible says the fear of God is wholesome and healthy.
(Ps 19:9)
3) Divine fear can deliver us from earthly fears.
II. "Fear of the Lord" used two ways.
A. Terror or horror of God.
1) Unpardoned sinners are antagonistic against God.
B. Authentic fear.
1) Psalm 130:4 - "With you there is forgiveness; THEREFORE
you are feared." (emphasis added)
2) Synonymous with heartfelt worship of God.
C. Love and fear of God are not incompatible.
1) The Bible portrays them as companion emotions.
III. Why we have lost our fear of God.
A. We have made God small and man great.
1) "Man is the measure of all things."
2) We make God in our own image and worship that.
a) Luther told Erasmus, "Your God is too man-like."
b) Only when we can say with Luther, "Let God be God,"
can we truly fear God.
B. Lack of fear of God is not a liberation from Old Testament
harshness, but because we really do not know him as GOD.
1) To know God is to fear him, to be "stunned," as A.W. Tozer
put it.
2) "Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my
fears relieved." (John Newton)
a) Newton is not saying grace removes our fear of God.
b) Instead, grace removes fears by teaching us the fear
of God.
IV. Fear of God produces holiness in our lives.
A. It is the spirit in which we work out our salvation. Phil 2:12
1) Joseph's promise to his brothers was his bond,
"for I fear God." Gen 42:18
2) Fear of God should motivate us to a new honesty.
a) It is a key to personal integrity. Exod 18:21
b) To fear the Lord is to hate evil. Prov 8:13
V. Fear of God simplifies our lives.
A. It clarifies our vision of the world.
1) It charts our course in a sea of relativism.
2) Usually our best guidance comes from a simple question:
Will this action please the Father I honor,
or will it call forth his displeasure?
B. It delivers us from desires for other things.
1) We are taught how little we need.
VI. It is an incentive for evangelism.
A. We will all appear before Christ's judgment seta. 2 Cor 5:9-11
B. Our Christian service will be assessed. 1 Cor 3:10-15
C. We should not want to disappoint our Master.
VII. It evokes heartfelt worship and is a springboard to praise.
VIII. Jesus delighted in the fear of God.
IX. We can learn healthy fear.
A. Use the "means of grace" - prayer, worship, sermons, reading...
1) We tend to want worship that appeals to us.
2) We have lost the sense of the vertical, of God breaking
into our lives from above.
a) Means of grace show us how unworthy we are of his love.
B. Value the company of those who fear God.
C. Reflect on the providence of God in your own life.
D. Live under the shadow of the cross.
Copyright © 2024 by Rev. David Holwick
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