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Your God Is Too Safe (5/17/09) |
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Written by Pastor Darrell Cooper
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Monday, 18 May 2009 15:02 |
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Fear of the Lord Proverbs (p. 620 in Daily Bible)
May 17, 2009 - Lindsborg Cov.
“Your God Is Too Safe”
(Fear of the Lord)
Sermon
Let me ask you a question. How many of you would like to have knowledge? Would you like to know lots of things? I will go one better. How many of you would like to have wisdom? Would you like to have keen insight into the way things work in this world? What about honor? Would you like others to honor you?
Would you like a life of peace, contentment, and safety from trouble? What about money? Would you like to be wealthy? How about long life? Would you like to have physical health and well-being? Would you like to be free of fear of harm from any calamity? Would you like to not only be kept safe yourself, but also know that your children will be protected as well?
Would you like these things? Well, who wouldn’t, right? Who wouldn’t want these things in his life?
Well, I have good news for you. Now you can! I am going to share a secret with you today that will offer you all of this and more. Now this is really starting to sound like an infomercial, isn’t it? This offer won’t last long, so order now!
This secret I have to share with you is not a pill. It is not a new diet program. It is not the latest self-help book. You do not have to call a toll-free number and you cannot purchase it with $19.95 plus shipping and handling. This secret I am going to share with you is not new, nor is it improved. It is old, and it needs no improvement.
As I said, this secret is not found in the latest self-help manual, but in an ancient manuscript. But here is the irony of the whole thing: the irony is that this secret is really no secret at all. It has been explained and promoted in the best-selling book in the history of publishing. This book has been translated into almost every language in the world and distributed to almost every people group on the planet.
But the irony deepens. The greater part of the irony is that while it is not a secret, you might think it is a secret since so few people seem to know anything about it. What I am talking about, of course, is the fear of God.
How many of you have heard the phrase: “Fear of the Lord” or “Fear of God”? Raise your hand if you have heard this. (Pause for response) OK, good. Now, what do you suppose that really means? Here is what I want you to do: turn to the person next to you and explain the fear of God to them. Go ahead. JUST KIDDING!
But think about it. What if I did ask you to do that? What if I asked you to define the fear fo the Lord? What would you say? What if I asked you to explain what it means, perhaps offer a description and an example? What would you say?
It is kind of a strange concept, isn’t it? It is almost a bizarre little figure of speech, the fear of the Lord. What in the world does that mean?
Are we really supposed to be afraid of God? That doesn’t sound right, does it? After all, God is loving, right? Well, at least He is in the New Testament. He seems to be in a much better mood these days. When we read in the New Testament we see a God who is merciful, kind, gentle, humble in heart, compassionate, gracious, forgiving, and patient. The bottom line is that He is loving. God is a loving Father, right? Surely He does not really want us to cower in fear and run away and hide from Him, does He?
So, what in the world does it mean to “Fear the Lord”? What does it mean to have a “Fear of God”? Well, I have been giving that a lot of thought lately, and I am going to do my best to answer that question today. We are going to use the book of Proverbs to do it. If you look inside your bulletin you will find on the back of the insert a list of Proverbs about the fear of God. This is not an exhaustive list. It is only about 1/3 of the total proverbs which deal with the fear of God, but these are the ones selected for the Daily Bible reading that some of you are doing this year.
Perhaps you have heard sermons or teachings on this topic before. Occasionally I hear teaching on the topic of the fear of the Lord. Often times the teacher is quick to point out that we are not actually supposed to be literally afraid of God. They often say that to fear God means to have a deep respect for Him, to have a deep reverence for God which borders on awe. Many have taught that it is really just a figure of speech. We are to stand in awe of God, not be afraid of Him.
I am not so sure about that. When I read the Bible I often encounter stories and ideas that sound scary to me. There are so many examples that it is hard to know where to start. Let’s start with the Old Testament. Remember when King David wanted to return the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem the first time? It was being carried by oxcart and accompanied by a throng of worshipers. At one point, the oxen stumbled, the cart tipped, and the Ark of the Covenant was about to slip off and fall to the ground. A man named Uzzah instinctively reached out his hand in order to steady it, something they were told never to do, and God struck him dead, on the spot. (1 Chronicles 13:9-10) The story goes on to say that David was afraid of God that day. It also says that he was angry, but he was afraid of God. I would be afraid too if that happened in my presence.
What about the New Testament? Remember Ananias and Sapphira? They were two Christians in the early Church. They told a little fib. They led the church leaders to believe that they received less money from the sale of a property than they actually made, so God killed them. First He struck down the husband, and then the wife. Keep in mind that this was after the resurrection of Jesus. He sounds like a dangerous deity to me. (Acts 5:1-11)
Perhaps Ananias and Sapphira were not sincere believers. What about people who were really committed to Jesus, someone like the apostle John? John was arguably closest person to Jesus. He sat in the honored position at the table of the Last Supper next to Jesus and he was the one who leaned back against Jesus. He is the one Jesus honored by trusting him with the care of His mother. John often referred to himself as “The disciple whom Jesus loved” (John 13:21-25) Jesus and John were tight.
Yet, years later, when John was exiled on the island of Patmos and saw a vision of the glorified, risen Christ, he was so terrified that he fell down at Jesus feet as though dead. (Revelation 1:17-18) He was scared to death to be in the presence of the risen Christ, and that was John, the beloved apostle!
I read a quote this week that was so helpful I want to read it to you at length. It is from a book by Barbara Brown Taylor. Listen to what she writes.
“If the Bible is not a book about admirable men and women, neither is it a book about a conventionally admirable God. It is a book in which wonderful and terrible things happen by the power of an almighty God, whose steadfast love for us does not seem to preclude scaring the living daylights out of us from time to time.
People who claim to have no fear of the Lord have clearly not read the Bible. Someone needs to sit them down with a selected reading list that includes the ten plagues sent upon Egypt, the murder of Sisera, the slaughter of the Amalekites and the prophets of Baal, and perhaps the mauling of forty-two boys by the two she-bears in the name of the Lord. If they protest that these are stories about what God does to bad people, then they should read the book of Job straight through, and if they insist that their God is the God of the New Testament, then they should study the passion narratives in each of the four gospels and see what happens to those who obey the will of God. We can run but we can’t hide: if early death on a cross is how God rewards a well-beloved son who knows no sin, then what hope is there for the rest of us?” (Barbara Brown Taylor, The Preaching Life. Cambridge/Boston: Cowley Publications, 1993, 59)
Often, when we read the Bible we encounter a dangerous deity, a frightening God who does threatening things. Regarding this notion that we have nothing to fear in God, I think Jesus Himself put the nail in that coffin when He talked about fearing God in Luke 12:4-5. Keep in mind, these are the words of our Lord Himself. Jesus said,
“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.”
Jesus sure seems to be saying that it is entirely appropriate and even wise to be just plain scared of God. To stand in the presence of a God so holy, so powerful, so pure, and so fierce, can be and should be absolutely terrifying. This is why Hebrews 10:31 says, “It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
So, I want to argue this morning that to fear God includes, among other things, being just plain scared of Him. But it is also more than that. The fear of God certainly includes the emotion of fear, but it is broader and deeper than mere emotion.
If you were here last week you might remember that Pastor Steve talked about Psalm 139. In his sermon he explained that Hebrew poetry works differently than ours. Instead of a convention like rhyming, it often uses parallelism. This is a technique which arranges the words in a couplet. Each of the two lines essentially restates the same thing in different words.
We have an example of this in Proverbs 9:10. It reads, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” The second line, “knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” essentially repeats the sentiment of the first, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” If this were an equation, wisdom would be equated with understanding and the fear of the Lord would be synonymous with knowledge of the Holy One. So, if we take our cue from this verse, perhaps we can derive a working definition of the fear of God: To fear God is to know Him. To fear God is to know Him, to know God for who He really is.
All of us have an image of God in our minds. We all have an idea of what we imagine God to be like, His heart, His character, and His will. The trouble comes when our image of God is not accurate, when we imagine God to be something different than He actually is.
For example, some people’s “fear of God” borders on paranoia. They live with a constant sense of dread that Big Brother is watching, not watching out or watching over in protection or pardon, but watching in waiting, waiting for them to mess up so He can squash them like a bug. Their image of God is as a stern judge whose only pleasure is to convict and condemn criminals and who takes a gleeful delight in harsh sentencing. Some people imagine God to be this kind of mean and fearsome person and so they are naturally afraid of Him.
Other people imagine God to be a semi-senile grandfather type who sits idly on his throne stroking his long, white beard and smiling benignly at his cute little grandchildren as they play at His feet. He simply winks at their mischievous behavior. They imagine God to be warm and compliant, one who would never tell them what to do, let alone punish them for failing to do it. Theirs is a god who is passive, permissive, and pathetic.
The problem is that neither of these is true. Both of these pictures is a caricature, a gross distortion of the true image of God. Why does it matter? What’s the big deal if someone has the wrong image of God. The reason it matters is because our image of God will color and influence our relationship with Him, and our relationship with God is foundational to every other relationship in our life. So, if we have a wrong understanding of who God is, it can damage and even destroy many of our other relationships.
So, it is important that we understand and see God for who He really is. We need to recognize and embrace God in His fullness, to remember that God is holy, but He is also loving. God is righteous, but He is also merciful. God is perfect, but He is also patient. God is faithful, but He is also forgiving. God is a lion, but He is also a lamb. That, by the way, is my favorite image of God in all of Scripture. In my office I have a painting of a lion and a lamb for that reason.
In Revelation 5:5-6, in two adjacent verses, Jesus is depicted as both. In verse five He is pictured as “the Lion of the tribe of Judah”, and in the very next verse He is the lamb that has been slain. . . . a Lamb as though it had been slain. You see, God is not one or the other, and He is not first one and then the other. He is both at the same time and all the time.
Even though we may know this about God, most of us still have a tendency to lean towards one of these images or the other. It can be helpful to know which direction we tend to lean. I would say that overall, the Church in the West tends to err on the side of the lamb. We want to hear about God’s love and grace and kindness. That is also what we assume others want to hear as well. People will not love and follow a mean Jesus, so we tend to read and teach and preach selectively so as not to emphasize those parts of the Bible which are disturbingly blunt about the fiery wrath of a holy God.
On the other hand, while there is a sense in which to fear God literally means to tremble in terror in the awful presence of a holy God, if that is all we know of God, then we have not yet “feared” Him. Let me say that again. If all we know of God is His holiness and wrath, His righteousness and anger, His purity and His power, then we have not yet feared God. We have not yet known Him. Remember, God is more than a holy terror. He is not just a fearsome lion, He is also a tender lamb. He is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.
When I was in seminary I had a professor named Dr. Paul Koptak. He has written extensively on the Proverbs and said something that bears repeating. He said, 1. “It is important to understand and teach that the same God who inspires fear tells us not to fear.” (Paul Koptak, The NIV Application Commentary on Proverbs, p. 274) Isn’t that great? The same God who inspires fear tells us not to fear.
You remember, whenever an angel of God appeared to someone in the Bible, what were usually the first words out of their mouths? “Fear not!”, or “Do not be afraid.” God was constantly having to comfort and encourage people because He, and His heavenly creatures were forever scaring people. I looked it up this week and counted over 90 times throughout the Bible when God had to tell His people, “Do not be afraid”.
How many of you have read the book or seen the movie, The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe? OK, if you are not familiar with it, it is a children’s classic written by C. S. Lewis. It is the story of four siblings, Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy. They literally stumble into a strange magical world called Narnia in which they encounter all kinds of talking animals. Early in the book they meet Mr. and Mrs. Beaver, who tell them about the great King of Narnia called Aslan. The children are surprised to hear that Aslan is a huge lion.
Let me read to you the conversation that follows:
“Ooh!” said Susan, “I’d thought he was a man. Is he—quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.”
“That you will, deerie, and no mistake,” said Mrs. Beaver, “if there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly.”
“Then he isn’t safe?” said Lucy.
“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver. “Don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.” (p. 75 of my copy)
To fear God, I believe, means to know God for who He really is. It means to embrace Him in all His fullness. It means that when you appear before Him, your knees knock in the presence of one so powerful and fierce, but you are also comforted by His voice that says, “Do not be afraid.” It means to know God as both the Lion and the Lamb.
So what are the results? What happens to those who know God for who He really is? Well, there are a number of side-effects, if you will. I mentioned several of them at the beginning of the message, and I won’t take the time to go over them again now, except for one.
Perhaps one of the most important blessings that comes from fearing God in this way is wisdom. The proverbs teach that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Which is particularly interesting in our culture, I think, because it seems that our culture assumes that education is the beginning of wisdom. We tend to assume that if we just give our kids enough accurate information then they will automatically become wise and make the right choices.
For example, when it comes to the issue of drug abuse, we develop programs like “Just Say No!”. We host school assemblies in which we tell the students about all the bad things drug abuse can do to them, and then we say, “If anyone ever offers you these drugs, just say, ‘No.’”
And how is that working? Have these kinds of programs stemmed the tide of illicit drug abuse in the youth culture? No. Why not? Because while our education system may be very effective at conveying accurate information it is not effective at changing hearts and shaping character. Making right choices requires more than adequate knowledge. It requires a heart bent on loving and honoring God, and only people who fear God are inclined to do that.
So, while our culture assumes that education is the beginning of wisdom the Bible assumes that the fear of God is beginning of wisdom. In fact, it goes so far as to assert that if we fear God, if we know Him for who He really is, if we meditate on His statutes and walk in obedience to His commands, then we will become even wiser than many of our teachers. We will be wiser than the community elders who sit in the city gate. (Psalm 119:97-100)
So, perhaps the appropriate closing question is simply, “Do you fear God? Do you know God and embrace Him in all His fullness? Do you relate to God as both the lion and the lamb?
How would you even know? How can you tell if you fear God or not? Well, let me offer two very quick litmus tests, if you will, both drawn from the Proverbs.
The first test is quite simple. Do you hate evil? In chapter one, three, eight, and fourteen, we are told that to fear God is to shun evil. Do you despise wickedness? Do you reject sin and darkness? This is an attitude of the heart, so only you can answer this question.
The second test is much easier to see, because it is external. If we walk in righteousness, it demonstrates a heart that fears God. If we walk in deviousness, or sin, it demonstrates a heart that hates God. I am drawing this from Proverbs 14:2. What we do exposes the true condition of our heart. Again, if your life is characterized by righteousness, by reverent submission to the authority of God, by radical obedience to His commands, then that indicates a heart that fears God. If, on the other hand, you life is characterized by selfishness, sin, a defiant attitude toward God and rebellion against His commands, that demonstrates a heart that does not fear God. Again, what we do exposes our true heart. Do you fear God? Do you know God in this way?
To fear God is to know Him, to know Him as He really is. It means to tremble in the presence of the God who inspires fear, but to also hear His voice tell us not to fear. It means to embrace God as both the lion and the lamb.
I will close with that same quote from Lewis, the wisdom of the ages in the words of a woodland creature: “Safe? . . . Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”
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Last Updated on Sunday, 31 May 2009 16:11 |
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