Under the Sun / Week 6

                         

 

 

 Fearing God
Various passages  

August 7, 2022   

• Introduction:
  1. I do not know about you but when I hear the phrase “the fear of the Lord” I often take a pause in my heart and mind because it seems so vague way up there in the sky and so spiritual 
     1. Since the fear of God is the key application to the book of Ecclesiastes, we need to understand what it means to bring it down to earth and get the arms of our minds around it so this book can transform our lives! 
  2. Let’s look at it in Ecclesiastes:
     1. Turn to Ecclesiastes 12:13 where we see the conclusion to this whole book.  Read v13 
        1. We already saw this is the essence of the meaning of life
     2. Turn to 3:14 where we learned two weeks ago, that God is in control of everything and that everything he does is all a part of his eternal and beautiful plan and that everything he does is perfect and permanent.  
        1. Then he says this, read v14  
        2. So that …….   fear him
     3. Some people will say “wait a minute is that not an Old Testament concept that now has been replaced by the love of God in the New Testament?” 
        1. We all love to emulate the early church where in Acts 2:42 they were devoted to the apostles teaching, to fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayer.  Well listen to Acts 2:43 awe is literally fear
        2. In the book of Acts listen to the way he characterized the churches as they spread.  Read Acts 9:31, fear and Holy Spirit coexisting!
        3. In 1 Peter 1:17 speaking of the way every believer is to walk during our time on earth. Read 

• Let’s start by …

1. Defining the fear of the Lord
   1. The first thing we need to realize is that fear is a response to something or someone.
      1. So fearing God has to do with the way we respond to God, a disposition of heart that we have towards him!  
   2. Secondly, we need to realize there are two aspects to this word; this is true in Hebrew, Greek and our English word today.  Those two aspects are: 
      1. Being afraid - terror, dread, 
      2. Respect - profound reverence or awe
      3. And at times, a mixture of both dread and respect.
   3. Let me try to illustrate that with an experience I had with electricity when I was the custodian here at MVC
      1. The air conditioning was down and a man was called to come fix it.  We went down into the room with all kinds of electrical switches big and small all over the wall.  
         1. He was not sure which one he needed to turn off and I asked him if he wanted me to call the electrician in our church that knew all of that. He said there was no need
         2. All I know is a few moments later there was a flash of light that filled the room so that was all you saw and a loud boom that sounded like a bomb went off in that room!
         3. I literally did not know for a moment if I was dead or alive.
      2. Am I afraid of electricity, do I run frightened of it every time I am around it? No!  But I do have a great respect for it and every time I am dealing with it I walk very carefully and double check to make sure I am doing it right.
         
         
         
         
         
      3. We need to be aware of the greatness, holiness, wisdom and power of God and we need to walk in light of that awareness. Not afraid of him but respectful and careful of him, I walk carefully with what he says because ….
         1. I have such a high respect for God that I know when God says to fill my mind with truth and do not be anxious that if I do not do those, then my mind and emotions are going to go boom!   
         2. I have such a high respect for God that I know when God says do not get involved in lust, pornography or with someone other than my wife I walk carefully with every temptation that comes my way because I do not want my sexuality, my marriage, my kids and the church to go boom because I was not careful.
         3. I have such a high respect for God that I know when God says to forgive and do not hold onto anger with someone who has hurt me that if I do not then my own heart and relationships are going to go boom
      4. So this kind of fear of God produces a respectful carefulness in my relationship with Jesus not a terror that makes me want to run because he has the power to smash me.   
   4. So let me do my best to define it by saying the same thing in three different ways hoping that one of the ways will click for you.  The fear of the Lord is: 
      1. Such a deep respect and awe for God that I trust him, obey him and avoid evil. 
      2. It is a high view and value of God that so impacts me that I walk in his ways
      3. It is such a high regard and wonder for God’s holiness, power, wisdom, majesty and judgment that it cause me to trust and obey him and live a holy life.  

• So 
• Application 
  1. Since fearing God is a response to him that brings about something.
     1. Then a deep and intimately knowing of God precedes faith, obedience and holiness.
     2. So many of us live the Christian life backwards by trying to trust, obey and be holy without knowing deeply and personally the one who is the cause for these responses in the Christians life.
     3. We need to focus on knowing God as the top priority in our Christian lives and everything else in our life will flow out of that.
  2. We only had time to scratch the surface today on this all-important truth for our church and lives. This is a pursuit worthy of your time and energy to go deeper into it. 
     1. Read Proverbs 2:1-5
     2. As we come daily, prayerfully and drinking deeply from God’s word, not just to learn the word but to know God intimately and personally, and to see his holiness, his power, his wisdom, his majesty and even see him as our judge then you will discern and discover the fear of God not just for your head but for your heart and life!  
  3. As we take communion this morning, consider this:  do you have…...
     1. Such a deep respect and awe for Jesus that I trust him, obey him and avoid evil.
     2. It is a high view and value of Jesus that so impacts me that I walk in his ways
     3. It is such a high regard and wonder for Jesus’ holiness, power, wisdom, majesty and judgment that it cause me to trust and obey him and live a holy life.