Over the years I have heard and read many messages on love and how critical love is. We are often reminded of the two greatest commandments found in Matthew 22:37-39, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Even this Sabbath in the sermon I will begin with He who does not love does not know God, for God is love (I John 4:8). By this will all men know that you are my disciples if you love one another (John 13:35). In this sermon I will discuss how fear is one of, if not the greatest, impediment to love. So, it’s easy to focus on and talk about love and yet Christ Himself said: “But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him!” (Luke 12:5) Fearing God, the fear of God, or the fear of the Lord, is mentioned over 300 times in Scripture. Does this mean that God wants us to cower in fear when we come before Him in prayer or worship? Does it mean that we are to live in constant anxiety that God is waiting for us to slip up so that He can punish us? I thought loving God was the greatest commandment. Isn’t this a contradiction? Fearing God is an extensive subject that I want to begin to work through, as loving God and fearing God are in fact complementary and are qualities that must be grown within us together.
I began to bridge into this vital topic last week by looking at what we tend to focus on when we think of fear. Fear has been described as a tricky human emotion as it can paralyze you, yet it can also keep you safe. However, wrong fear can keep you out of God’s kingdom. We must learn to recognize which fears are healthy and which are not. As human beings, we naturally fear anything that is physically or emotionally threatening. Many also often tend to fear anything that is greater than we are or different from ourselves. Irrational fear can grow until it controls your life with unreasonable thoughts and emotions. Psychologists call these fears phobias. Fear is such a powerful emotion it is an easy way to control another. Throughout human history it has been exploited and even weaponized for this very reason. Phobias aren't emotions based on normal respect for danger which we must have, they are an overwhelming emotion of anxiety and irrational fear. Some people have become so overwhelmed by a fear of the dangers and challenges of everyday life that they lock themselves in their homes and refuse to leave. In the environment we find ourselves in now with the global Covid 19 pandemic we must be careful we do not find ourselves developing irrational fear, while maintaining wisdom in what we do.
Last week we considered one example of irrational fear within a population of God’s people. The Israelites were on the verge of entering the Promised Land, 10 of the 12 spies sent in brought back a pessimistic report. Their report was so discouraging that the people became filled with fear and discouragement to the point that they were ready to rebel against Moses and return to Egypt! This account is found in Numbers 14:1-4: “So all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, ‘If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if only we had died in this wilderness! Why has the Lord brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?’”
Because of the negative report the people were ready to quit, return to Egypt, and again become slaves. Remember, this was the generation that had recently witnessed the mighty miracles of the plagues brought upon Egypt and the parting of the Red Sea. They had been led by the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night and had witnessed the awesome display of power at Mount Sinai. They were being miraculously fed and sustained in the wilderness! But when faithless fear gripped their hearts, they forgot about God’s presence and promises and wanted to give up. That is a lesson we must never forget, as indeed the wrong kind of fear will keep us out of God’s kingdom (Revelation 21:8; consider also Matthew 15:14-30)
Today people's lives are filled with all kinds of fears, anxieties, and phobias. God desires us to experience a life of peace, not one filled with irrational fear. The proper fear of God is almost non-existent in today's society. To illustrate this, consider these proverbs that stress the importance of the proper fear of God. Proverbs 15:33: The fear of God is the foundation of wisdom. Proverbs 22:4: Through the fear of God a person receives riches, honor, and life. Proverbs 1:7; 9:10: The fear of God is the beginning of knowledge. Proverbs 10:27; 14:27: The fear of God prolongs life. Proverbs 19:23: It makes life more abundant. Proverbs 16:6: By the fear of God men depart from evil. Proverbs 14:26: The fear of God is strong confidence. These are all concepts that are foreign to our society. In Psalm 24:11 King David also tells us about learning the fear of the Lord: “Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD”.
We must dedicate our life to learning a proper fear of God and we can only do this from God’s Word, the beginning of knowledge and wisdom. Moses recorded instructions for future kings of Israel to write out a copy of the biblical laws. “And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes, that his heart may not be lifted above his brethren, that he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel” (Deuteronomy 17:19-20).
As we learn the fear of God, the irrational fears that weaken faith will be driven away and we will delight to fear His name. “O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name.” (Nehemiah 1:11) We will grow to delight in fearing His name as did our saviour Jesus Christ who enjoyed fearing His Father. Consider this prophecy in Isaiah 11:2-3, about the Lord Jesus: “The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him. The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.” Jesus enjoyed fearing God, and we can learn to as well.
God mentions that those who fear Him are being written into His “book of remembrance”: “Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, and the LORD listened and heard them; so a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the LORD and who meditate on His name” (Malachi 3:16). Referencing back to the Israelites in Numbers 14 we want to be like Joshua and Caleb. They had a healthy fear that always deeply respects God and His promises and were not paralyzed by the human fears expressed by the other 10 spies. They told the congregation: “The land we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, ‘a land which flows with milk and honey.’ Only do not rebel against the Lord, nor fear the people of the land, for they are our bread; their protection has departed from them, and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them” (Numbers 14:6-9). God rewarded the living faith of these two young men. While all the rest of that generation were not allowed to enter the Promised Land, Joshua and Caleb were able to go in because they had “a different spirit,” meaning the right attitude of trusting in God (Numbers 14:24; Numbers 14:38). The closing words of Jesus’ parable of the persistent widow are on my mind as I conclude this pastors message, “However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:1-8). Next week we will continue this vital thread of study distinguishing Godly fear from the paralyzing fear that abandons faith.