\u201cWho would not fear you, O King of the nations? For this is your rightful due. For among all the wise of all the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like You.\u201d<\/i>\u00a0(Jeremiah 10:7)<\/p>\n
Fear may be the greatest motivator in the world.<\/p>\n
Fear makes the pilot do one more last-minute check before taking off. Fear makes the passengers buckle up and pay attention to the flight attendant\u2019s instructions. Fear keeps the air controller attentive to the blips on her screen.<\/p>\n
Fear restrains us from driving too fast or following too closely on the highways. Fear causes me to replace my tires before they get too bald, to slow down in school zones, and not violate that downed arm at the railroad crossing.<\/p>\n
Fear drives us to take our vitamins, see our doctors, and keep making those insurance payments. Fear gets us out of bed and into our sneakers for our exercise.<\/p>\n
Fear is a great motivator.<\/p>\n
Fear of God is the best motivator of all.<\/b><\/p>\n
Now, everyone has his\/her own definition of the fear of the Lord, what it means and how it works. This is mine.<\/p>\n
By saying \u2018I fear God,\u2019 I mean a lot of things, but mostly these three:<\/i><\/p>\n
\u2013I fear His power. (Take a look at the physical universe, then stand in awe of the power of Almighty God.)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u2013I fear His wrath. (Just the glimpses Scripture gives concerning judgement fills us with dread.)<\/p>\n
\u2013I fear His displeasure. (This is one Person I do not want to disappoint at all\u2026ever!)<\/p>\n
His power is mighty and awesome. His wrath is biblical and fearsome. His displeasure is scary and then some.<\/i><\/p>\n
Scripture says repeatedly the starting place for getting smart and wising up is fearing God. (Proverbs 9:10; 15:33)<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s a great quote on that subject.<\/p>\n
<\/span>Curt Schilling, baseball superstar now retired, was being interviewed on ESPN radio. The radio guy said, \u201cCurt, your regular season record is good but a lot of pitchers have done just as well. However, your post-season record is phenomenal. You were almost unbeatable. What motivated you in those games?\u201d<\/p>\n Schilling, whose post-season record is an amazing 11 wins with 1 loss, said, \u201cFear. I fear losing.\u201d<\/p>\n He explained, \u201cPeople react to fear in two ways. They\u2019re either motivated by fear or paralyzed by it. I\u2019m motivated by it.\u201d<\/p>\n The living God fully intends that fear of Him should do both things in humanity.<\/b><\/p>\n PARALYZE. Once we come to a realization of the reality and nearness of this Great, overwhelming Deity who rules the universe, we should be stopped in our tracks.<\/p>\n \u2013We should halt doing anything He has forbidden.<\/p>\n \u2013We should cease saying anything disrespectful to His Name.<\/p>\n \u2013We should stop mistreating other people, who are God\u2019s ultimate creation and prominent in His heart.<\/p>\n \u2013We should call off living for our own pleasure and purposes, and seek His will.<\/p>\n MOTIVATE.<\/p>\n The writer of Proverbs says, \u201cThe fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom\u201d or knowledge. We might say, \u201cThe first step toward wising up is becoming aware of God!\u201d<\/p>\n Andrew Murray, prominent preacher of another generation, was once asked for the most profound thought he had ever had. \u201cMy accountability to God,\u201d he answered without a moment\u2019s hesitation.<\/p>\n That\u2019s what we mean by \u201cthe fear of God.\u201d\u00a0When we speak of fearing God, we mean becoming aware of His reality, His nearness and power, and His complete involvement in every detail of what happens in this world and our part in it.<\/i>\u00a0The result will be fright.<\/p>\n FRIGHT: \u201cnoun. Sudden intense fear. Alarm.\u201d<\/p>\n Oh my goodness. Holy cow. What in the world am I doing?<\/p>\n That\u2019s the idea.<\/p>\n Like the way Jacob felt that night he awakened from a dream in which he had seen God. He said, \u201cSurely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.\u201d Shaking and shivering, he said, \u201cHow awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!\u201d (Genesis 28:16-17)<\/p>\n Show me the individual in church or out of church without this kind of fear of God, this awareness of the Lord\u2019s awesomeness and of his own accountability, and I\u2019ll show you an unbeliever or a backslider.<\/p>\n Look at how Isaiah felt when He \u201csaw the Lord on a throne, high and lifted up.\u201d Struck to the depth of his being by the awesomeness of God, the prophet managed to mumble, \u201cWoe is me, for I am destroyed!\u201d He saw himself as a dirty rotten sinner and the people around him in the same boat. Why? \u201cBecause my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts\u201d (Isaiah 6:1-5).<\/p>\n The fear of God\u2013in the proper sense\u2013can be seen by what we do, rather than detected by what we say or claim.<\/b><\/p>\n The individual who comes face to face with the reality of God, His power and His nearness, and of his own accountability to Him, will be like all other believers in these regards:<\/p>\n 1. HUMILITY.<\/b><\/p>\n Nothing, absolutely nothing, cures man\u2019s ego problems like seeing himself as the puny sinner he really is. And nothing does that like seeing God up close.<\/p>\n It\u2019s what Peter saw the day Jesus told him where to fish and the haul was boat-breaking. \u201cWhen Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus\u2019 knees, saying, \u2018Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!\u201d (Luke 5:8)<\/p>\n It\u2019s what Peter saw again the day Jesus died. He went out and wept bitter tears (Matthew 26:75).<\/p>\n In humility, we see: a) Ourselves\u2013our sinfulness, our helplessness, our weakness; b) Jesus\u2013our need of Him and Him only; and c) His mercy\u2013that we were not given what we deserve, but were spared and loved and blessed.<\/p>\n Humility drives a stake through the heart of our boasting, drives us to our knees in prayer for strength and direction, and drives us to our task.<\/p>\n Listen to the man or woman who makes much of God\u2019s mercy. They know.<\/p>\n 2. ACCOUNTABILITY.<\/b><\/p>\n Here\u2019s an assignment you will find profitable: sometime go through the teachings of Jesus and make a list of every time He speaks of servants being accountable to their masters. It\u2019s a big thing with Him.<\/p>\n \u2026so then each of us shall give account of Himself to God<\/i>\u00a0(Romans 14:12).<\/p>\n The servant who lives in an awareness that he\/she must report in at the end of the day and account for every person, every dollar, every minute, and every assignment will serve far differently from the one who gives no thought to anything beyond his own pleasure.<\/p>\n A half century ago, the inimitable R. G. Lee built an entire career around the preaching of one sermon. \u201cPay Day Someday\u201d told the story of old King Ahab and his wife Jezebel who abused a faithful citizen for their own purposes, and were held accountable by the living God (I Kings 21; 2 Kings 9).<\/p>\n Jesus said, \u201cBut I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgement\u201d (Matthew 12:36).<\/p>\n 3. TEACHABILITY.<\/b><\/p>\n I am a child; lead me. Show me thy way, O Lord.<\/p>\n Again and again, throughout the Old Testament, God faulted Israel for their headstrongness. His people were not teachable, but had their own agenda, their own plans, and their own philosophy, one that did not include God.<\/p>\n Elsewhere, the religious leaders are called stiff-necked, an epithet meant to convey an unwillingness to humble themselves to anyone.<\/p>\n One of the first traits visible in new believers is their teachability. In fact, we can say its absence reveals that the individual not to be a believer at all.<\/p>\n Let the little children come to me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.<\/i>\u00a0(Mark 10:14-15)<\/p>\n \u201cLead me in your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me; for you are the God of my salvation; on you I wait all the day\u201d (Psalm 25:4-5).<\/p>\n 4. A SERVANT HEART.<\/b><\/p>\n The kingdom individual with no desire to serve is an anomaly. Even our Lord said, \u201cI am among you as one who serves\u201d (Luke 22:27).<\/p>\n Readers of this blog need no scriptures listed here telling us to serve, for they are throughout the Gospels and well-known.<\/p>\n Our problem is not in the knowing, but in the doing. And as for that, Jesus said, \u201cIf you know these things, blessed are you if you do them\u201d (John 13:17).<\/p>\n The blessing is not in the knowing (or learning or loving or teaching), but in the doing. Obedience.<\/p>\n Only the humblest can serve. Only those with an awareness of the reality of God, a gratitude for His mercy, and a full expectation of standing before Him in Judgment, only they will humble themselves and serve.<\/p>\n We said that fear of God shows up in the same ways in believers. However\u2013other side of the coin now\u2013it\u2019s interesting that the opposite is not true.<\/i>\u00a0People with no fear of God will react in their own ways.<\/b><\/p>\n (This is reminiscent of the line that goes: Healthy families are all alike, but unhealthy families are unhealthy in their own ways.)<\/p>\n Scriptures\u2013especially the Old Testament\u2013are saturated with references to those with no fear of God in their lives. Here are a few.<\/p>\n Abraham resorted to trickery in Egypt because he felt \u201cthe fear of God is not in this place\u201d (Genesis 20:11).<\/p>\n Moses told Pharaoh that further plagues would be coming because \u201cyou will not yet fear the Lord God\u201d (Exodus 9:30).<\/p>\n David said there is no fear of God before the wicked (Psalm 36:1).<\/p>\n David\u2019s enemies were too set in their ways to change and fear God (Psalm 55:19).<\/p>\n Other scriptures in the New Testament include Luke 18:4; 23:40; and Romans 3:18.<\/p>\n Say all we wish about how the concept of fearing God simply means to reverence Him, but I suspect it\u2019s far, far more than that.<\/i><\/p>\n Our home church\u2013Birmingham\u2019s West End Baptist Church\u2013saw a revival of unprecedented fruitfulness in the Spring of 196l. Some nights, the altar was filled with forty or fifty people praying for salvation. On Tuesday night of the second week, God called me out of the choir and into the ministry. In all, some four hundred people came to Christ over those two weeks.<\/p>\n Pastor Bill Burkett was telling how it felt to be standing at the altar during the invitation times when the aisles were filled with people coming to Jesus. \u201cSometimes the Lord feels so close, it is the scariest thing I\u2019ve ever known.\u201d<\/p>\n Oh, Lord, scare us like that again today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cWho would not fear you, O King of the nations? For this is your rightful due. For among all the wise of all the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like You.\u201d\u00a0(Jeremiah 10:7) Fear may be the … Continue reading