Transformational Fear and
the Spirit of Power, Love and a Sound Mind
October 23, 2010
Gregg Forster
2 Timothy 1:1-8
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear
(dilee’ah = timidity/fear; related to
dilos which implies being faithless);
but of power (doo’namis = miraculous power, might, mighty power),
and of love (agape),
and of a sound mind (so-from-is-mos’ = discipline, self
control, sound mind).
Verse 8 goes on to show the result: Be not therefore ashamed of the
testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the
afflictions of the gospel according to the power (doo’namis) of God.
Second Timothy is an encouragement
to Timothy and an admonition to stand strong in effective ministry despite the
hardship and persecution that would come.
After Paul’s greeting and brief history of Timothy’s spiritual heritage,
Paul gets immediately at the heart of the matter: God hath not given us the spirit of
fear. Rather than fear of man, fear of
circumstances, fear of hardship, we are to manifest the spirit of power, of
love and of a sound mind. When we have
the spirit of fear, we will not be successfully living with power, love and a
sound, unshakable mind.
The
following scenario has floated around the internet to encourage Believers to
stand strong and true to the Lord.
Imagine the surprise one Sunday
morning during the service at a 2000 member church, when two men enter, both
covered from head to toe in black, carrying sub-machine guns. One of the men shouted, “Anyone willing to
take a bullet for Christ stay where you are!”
It was not merely surprise that this
congregation experienced, it was fear.
Immediately, the choir fled…. the deacons fled… most of the rest of the congregation
fled. Out of the 2000, there only
remained 20.
The man who had spoken took off his
hood… He then looked at the preacher and said, “Okay Pastor, I got rid of all
the hypocrites, you can start the service.
Although
that little story may have been manufactured, a similar true story did occur where
the supposed “terrorists” were actually Believers that wanted to know who they
could trust in a small house church.
Those that stood fast feared God rather than man.
This little scenario to cause contemplation,
not only on whether we would stand steadfast for the Lord if threatened, but on
the implications of the fear that caused so many of those believers to
flee. Why does fear well up in the human
heart at times? The instruction is given
throughout the Bible to “Fear Not”, so we must have a choice when it comes to
fear. We are to have the spirit of
power, love and a sound mind, not a spirit of fear.
Is there anything in our lives that
has us afraid? Do the events of the world today stimulate a sense of fear in
the hearts of men? What if a gunman
burst in on our church service? What if a terrorist or other criminal
threatened our lives? Would we tremble?
In 2 Timothy 1:7, we are told here
that we were not given a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love and of a
sound mind - a stable, God-focused mind that results in appropriate focus and
self control. Here the spirit of fear is contrasted to the
spirit of power, of love and of a sound mind.
If you are living in fear, do you think you will be manifesting a spirit
of incredible, explosive power? Of
course not - you will be more self
protective and cowering, not stepping forward in battle. And will you be reaching out in selfless,
agape love? Or will you rather, be
fearfully, trying to protect yourself, unwilling to reach out where life can be
dangerous? And what of a sound
mind? Can a person gripped with fear,
think clearly? Can he be rock solid in
God-focused thoughts? Or will the
dangers and hardships or other types of fears be racing around in his
mind?
The spirit of fear is not compatible
with the spirit of power, love and a sound mind. And the spirit of fear is not from the
Lord. So if we want to live in power,
love and a sound mind, you must shed the spirit of fear.
2 Timothy is not the only place that
the scriptures instruct us to walk without fear - the Bible has some very
specific teaching about fear and its implications.
What is God’s view of fear? Over and over, we see God encouraging mankind
to set aside fear and trust Him. God
does not want us living in a state of fear.
Dreadful situations may arise, but we are not to be in dread.
Frightening events may present themselves, but we are not to be afraid. We may encounter terrorist activity, but we
are not to let terror grip our
hearts.
We can see an early example of God’s
thinking on fear in Deuteronomy 1:1-28. Israel was facing
a formidable foe. They had slipped into
a state of dread, their hearts discouraged because of the reports of the
strength of the Amorites. In verse 28,
the people said “Whither shall we go up? our brethren have
discouraged our heart, saying, The people is greater and taller than we;
the cities are great and walled up to heaven; and moreover we have seen
the sons of the Anakims there.” They were shaking in their sandals – afraid of the Amorites.
Seems like a natural response.
But how did God respond? Continuing in verse 29: “Then
I said unto you, Dread not, neither be afraid of them. The LORD your God which
goeth before you, he shall fight for you, according to all that he did for you
in Egypt before your eyes; And in the wilderness, where thou hast seen how that
the LORD thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye
went, until ye came into this place. Yet in this thing ye did not believe the
LORD your God, Who went in the way before you, to search you out a place to
pitch your tents in, in fire by night, to shew you by what way ye should
go, and in a cloud by day. And the LORD heard the voice of your words, and was
wroth, and sware, saying, Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil
generation see that good land, which I sware to give unto your fathers, Save
Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him will I give the land
that he hath trodden upon, and to his children, because he hath wholly followed
the LORD. (vs 29-36)” The people failed to keep in their minds the
deliverance the Lord had provided in the past, and they allowed fear to settle
in. Even after the admonition from Abraham
came to "Dread not, neither be afraid of them” they feared man rather than
God.
This type of instruction continues
throughout Deuteronomy:
Deuteronomy 7:19&21: Thou shalt not be afraid of
them: but shalt well remember what the
LORD thy God did unto Pharaoh, and unto all Egypt. . . . Thou
shalt not be affrighted at them:
for the LORD thy God is among
you, a mighty God and terrible.
Deuteronomy 20:1 & 3: When thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, and seest horses,
and chariots, and a people more
than thou, be not afraid of them:
for the LORD thy God is with
thee, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. . . . Hear, O Israel, ye approach this day unto
battle against your enemies: let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not
tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them;
Deuteronomy 31:6 -- Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them:
for the LORD thy God, he it is
that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.
Joshua 1:9 sheds further light. Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid,
neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou
goest. It does not say that “God would like his people to be fearless.” Being without fear was an actual command!: "Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good
courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed." God earnestly wants men to trust in Him, and
to have no fear of their enemies, or
of what their future might hold.
Human enemies can certainly trigger
fear, but in the Scriptures when an angel (not an enemy) appears to man, the
natural response is one of overwhelming fear.
The human response to significant glory or power, like that of an angel,
is a response of fear. Interestingly, the
angelic response to that demonstration of fear is often the statement
"Fear not!" Was that response just
a considerate statement to comfort the overwhelmed person? Probably not.
The Scriptures teach that there is a relationship between fear and worship. If we fear something or someone, could that
be the same as worshiping the them, and if so would being afraid be a form of
idolatry?
It is evident from the Biblical
descriptions of angelic appearances that fear is a natural human response to
the glory of these beings. The
experience of Zacharias and Mary are two examples.
Luke 1:11: “And there appeared unto him an angel of
the Lord … And when Zacharias saw him,
he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said unto him,
Fear not, Zacharias …”
Luke 1:29:
“And when she saw him, she was troubled
at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.
And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary….”
In Mark 16:5-6, after the Lord’s resurrection,
we see this again. The angelic
instruction was given to fear not: “And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the
right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted. And he
saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen;
he is not here: behold the place where they laid him.”
Be not affrighted. Was it simply that the angels had compassion
on the poor human soul that quaked in the presence of their glory? Angels have beheld the intense glory of God;
they were eye witnesses of creation; they saw the fall of Lucifer when his own
glory became magnified in his mind. They
know the frequent admonition in the Scriptures that drive men to fear God and
God alone. They know God is a jealous
God and that he will not share his glory with another.
I think the angelic admonition to “Fear
not”, was likely much, much more than a kind comforting
word. The prospect of fear, which is
indeed a form of worship, going to anyone
other than God is unthinkable to these angelic beings.
So far it looks like God's desire is
that those he loves would not be afraid, but this fearlessness is interestingly
not really absence of fear, but
absence of the fear of man, of circumstances,
of spiritual wickedness in high places. Having the fear of the Lord, however, is
something that God most definitely wants in our hearts. The fear of the Lord is something that persists
across the dispensations, and is absolutely key to our ability to live without the spirit of fear.
Although the Lord wants us to live without
fear, there is a large emphasis in the Bible on the fear of the Lord and its
results. Consider the first three verses
of Deuteronomy 6. "Now these are the
commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD your God
commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to
possess it: That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his
statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy
son's son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged. Hear
therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and
that ye may increase mightily, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised
thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey." (Deu 6:1-3)
The word so often translated as
fear, as it is here in Deuteronomy, is also translated as affright, be
afraid, make afraid, dread, dreadful, reverence and terrible. When translated
as reverence, the word is most often used to describe a reverent response to
another human being, but when describing the response to God, it is almost
always translated into stronger words such as fear, terror and dread.
Instruction is
given in Deuteronomy 8:6 to "keep the commandments of the LORD thy
God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him." This was in the context of being joyful
with what God had provided the nation of Israel, and fearful/wary of what
would become of them if they attributed their wealth and prosperity to
themselves and not to God. It may seem
that the fear referred to here is fear of the negative consequences that could
lie ahead for them. That is part of it,
but there is a more fundamental aspect of this fear that is not so human
focused. The concept has to do with God himself, not what he may do for or
against a people. The Hebrew word for
fear here also carries the concept of reverence. God's statements in verses 17-18 make it
clear that God is the source of
blessing and all things good: "And thou say in thine heart, my
power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth. But thou shalt
remember the LORD thy God: for it is he
that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which
he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day" (Deu 8:17-18). He will not (and should not) share His glory
with another (I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not
give to another, neither my praise to graven images. -- Isa 42:8). To take the credit for what God is
doing, is ascribing glory to man rather than the Lord. That is lack of reverence for God, it is not
fearing the Lord. Aggrandizement of man
is the first step toward diminishing God and stealing his glory. When we take
our focus off God, and attribute achievement to self, we inflate ourselves, and
in our own minds narrow the gap between man and God. The glory that should be going to God is
directed away from him and toward man.
In Deuteronomy
10, God's expectations for Israel
with respect to fear are made clear. The
chapter is also a clear statement of the greatness, the terribleness, the
awesomeness of God. "And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require
of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to
love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy
soul, To keep the commandments of the LORD, and his statutes, which I command
thee this day for thy good? Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the
LORD'S thy God, the earth also, with all that therein is. Only the LORD had a
delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even
you above all people, as it is this day. Circumcise therefore the foreskin of
your heart, and be no more stiffnecked. For the LORD your God is God of gods,
and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which
regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward: He doth execute the judgment of the
fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment.
Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.
Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt
thou cleave, and swear by his name. He is thy praise, and he is thy God, that
hath done for thee these great and terrible things, which thine eyes have
seen." (Deu 10:12-21) In this passage, there are a number of
external actions God demanded of Israel, but two expectations were
of the heart alone: "fear the LORD thy God" and "love
him." The very first
expectation listed, even before loving the Lord, is that man fear the Lord. The
heart of man needs to have appropriate reverence for the Almighty. It could well be that the depth of our love
for God is proportional to the height of our fear of Him.
There is a
difference between the fear of the Lord that a believer has and the fear of the Lord that an unbeliever has, but
the core of that fear is still rooted in the intense nature of God. 2 Chronicles 20:29 sheds light on how the
fear differs. Here the kingdoms around Israel heard that the Lord fought for Israel, and this
caused the fear of the Lord to come upon them.
“And the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of those countries, when they
had heard that the LORD fought against the enemies of Israel. (2Ch
20:29) The phrase "the fear of God" used there comes from a different
word for fear than the passages previously addressed. It does not indicate worship or
reverence, but rather sudden fear, dread or terror. It is more of a self-focused dread than
a God-focused awe. It aligns well
with the modern word scared or frightened (suddenly alarmed with danger). There is a difference between being
afraid due to a threat, and being overwhelmed with the sheer power and awe of
the Omnipotent. Our fear is properly focused on the glory of the Lord, not on what
he might do to us.
Psalm 33 helps
understand that the fear of the Lord should extend beyond the children of wrath, who would naturally tremble and be
afraid of the judgment of the Lord. It
extends to all of mankind. “Rejoice in the LORD, O ye righteous: for praise is
comely for the upright. Praise the LORD with harp: sing unto him with the
psaltery and an instrument of ten strings. Sing unto him a new song; play
skilfully with a loud noise. For the word of the LORD is right; and all his
works are done in truth. He loveth righteousness and judgment: the earth is
full of the goodness of the LORD. By the word of the LORD were the heavens
made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. He gathereth the
waters of the sea together as an heap: he layeth up the depth in storehouses. Let
all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe
of him.” (Psalm 33:1-8)
Psalm 33 is
ascribing glory to God for his wondrous capabilities: "Praise
the Lord...Sing unto him a new song...For the word of the Lord is right... all
his works are done in truth...He loveth righteousness and judgment: the earth
is full of the goodness of the Lord. By
the word of the Lord were the heavens made...He gathereth the waters of the
sea....the counsel of the Lord standeth forever... he is our help and our
shield…” The fear
identified here is not mankind
dreading the hand of an omnipotent judge.
This is the sense of fear that recognizes the immense glory of the
Creator. When we are fully whelmed,
actually overwhelmed with the
attributes of the Lord, we stand in the fear of the Lord. God intends that all the earth stand in awe
of him. The Lord loves his children, and
our fear of our Heavenly Father is a
holy fear that makes us quake with awe when we contemplate who he is.
Psalm 34 gives
another look into the meaning of the fear of the Lord. It can
be seen in this short psalm both that God will deliver from fear AND that it is important that we learn
the fear of the Lord.
Verse 4: I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and
delivered me from all my fears.
Verse 9: O fear the LORD, ye his saints: for
there is no want to them that fear him.
Verse 11: Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I
will teach you the fear of the LORD.
Two seemingly opposing concepts exist here: 1) fear is
something God does not want us to have (He was willing to deliver David from
it), and 2) fear is something God does
want us to have. To reconcile this, we only
need to look at the object of the fears.
It is not good for us to be
afraid of any creature, nor the
circumstances brought about by elements of the creation (men, animals, fallen
angels, weather, flood, fire, …). However,
when the object of the fear is the Creator himself, fear is no longer bad.
Fear be both good and bad. That statement can be somewhat of a struggle,
but what if the word "fear" is replaced with the word "worship"?
There should be no difficulty understanding
that it can be both good and bad. The
Believer recognizes, almost intuitively, that worship ascribed to elements of
the creation is wicked, but worship
ascribed to the Creator is wholly appropriate and pleasing to God. Fear is
worship, and that is why we are told many times in scripture both to "fear
not" and to "fear the Lord."
When the loving, caring, comforting nature of the
heavenly Father is considered, the idea of fearing him can seem odd or
uncomfortable. God has many attributes
that can seem at odds with each other, but they are all still true and do not
conflict with each other. A rich
appreciation of the grandeur of God is by itself so intense, that it overwhelms
the human soul, and we cannot help but tremble. A believer will begin to
understand the coupling of fear and worship when comprehension of the immensity
of God grows.
Thinking back to the verses on angelic appearances, the
instruction they gave to be not afraid, makes a lot of sense when it is
understood that fear is
a form of worship. Worship going to anyone other than God is unthinkable to
angelic beings, and should be unthinkable to us.
The angels are well aware that God is the only one worthy
of worship and therefore the only one worthy of fear. The angels witnessed Lucifer’s attempts to
take glory unto himself. They know that
all worship, all awe, all trembling and fear belong to God alone. They saw the consequences of
self-glorification and misplaced worship.
The Lord is a jealous God (Exodus 20:5; 34:14;
Deuteronomy 4:24; 5:9;6:15; Joshua 24:19) and will not share his glory with
another. He is also unwilling to share
fear with others. 2 Kings 17 is a good
example of this. 2 Kings 17:35-39: "With whom the LORD had made a covenant, and
charged them, saying, Ye shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves
to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them: But the LORD, who brought you
up out of the land of Egypt with great power and a stretched out arm, him
shall ye fear, and him shall ye worship, and to him shall ye do sacrifice.
And the statutes, and the ordinances, and the law, and the commandment, which
he wrote for you, ye shall observe to do for evermore; and ye shall not fear
other gods. And the covenant that I have made with you ye shall not forget;
neither shall ye fear other gods. But the LORD your God ye shall fear;
and he shall deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies."
In this passage the Israelites are commanded not
to fear other gods, nor to bow before them nor to serve them nor to sacrifice
to them. That is reserved to God
alone. In these three verses, they are
told three times that they must not
fear other so-called gods. Only
Almighty God is worthy of fear and he will not share that worship with any
other.
So, when angels comfort, “Fear not!”, they are also
redirecting glory to its rightful recipient: Almighty God. Fear directed to false gods, or even to
glorious beings like angels, is contrary to the will of God, but so are other
manifestations of fear. It is so important
that we get a hold of this. We are not
to live in fear. Living in fear is
stealing worship from God.
Deuteronomy 1 further emphasizes this. The form of fear addressed there is called
dread. Dread is something more than
simple fear, but less than terror. It
tends to be a chronic, ongoing weighty concern.
As with all fear, it is tied to an improper view of God, an inadequate
or distorted relationship with the Almighty, and it should not reside in our
hearts.
In the first chapter of Deuteronomy, vast numbers of
Israelites are being denied access to the Promised Land. They had some knowledge of the inhabitants of
that land and had allowed themselves to lose sight of the powerful, delivering
hand of God. They had such supernatural
deliverance, provision and protection throughout their journey, but when they
recognized the people were "greater and taller" and that the cities
there were "great and walled up to heaven" and that there were
"sons of the Anakims there",
their hearts sank, and dread settled in.
This was a pivotal point in Israel’s history. Moses admonished the people "Dread not, neither be afraid of them." Their dread must have been a slap in the face
to God. He had done so much for them. He brought the incredible plagues upon the Egyptians;
he supernaturally delivered them from the pursuing chariots of Pharaoh
literally clearing a path through the sea for them; he was their deliverer; he
was their guide; he was their source of sustenance. Yet their response to the obstacle before
them now was not trust. It was not an
overwhelming sense of God's great power and a sense of wonder at how he would
glorify himself in this new situation.
It was not a strong sense of confidence in their God. Their attention was not on their God, but on
themselves. And really, what they were
saying through their dread was that the new foe before them was greater than
God. Who were they worshiping? It was not the God of Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob!
Because of this lack of trust, the underestimating of the
power of God, the resulting dread that was essentially ascribing glory to the
enemy rather than to God, judgment came upon Israel. In verses 32 through 40 Moses said:
Yet in this
thing ye did not believe the LORD your God, Who went in the way before you, to
search you out a place to pitch your tents in, in fire by night, to shew you by
what way ye should go, and in a cloud by day.
And the LORD
heard the voice of your words, and was wroth, and sware, saying, Surely there
shall not one of these men of this evil generation see that good land, which I
sware to give unto your fathers,
Save Caleb the
son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him will I give the land that he hath
trodden upon, and to his children, because he hath wholly followed the LORD.
Also the LORD
was angry with me for your sakes, saying, Thou also shalt not go in thither.
But Joshua the
son of Nun, which standeth before thee, he shall go in thither: encourage him:
for he shall cause Israel
to inherit it.
Moreover your
little ones, which ye said should be a prey, and your children, which in that
day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in thither, and unto
them will I give it, and they shall possess it.
But as for you,
turn you, and take your journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea. (Deut.1:32-40)
There can be a
human tendency to think God's judgments are harsh sometimes. After bringing these people through so much,
God forbids them from entering the land promised to their fathers -- banishing
these people from the Promised Land because they were afraid?! But when we see an elevated response from
God, it ought to help us realize that God has strong feelings about the
subject. God will not share his glory
with another. He does not find it
acceptable for men to doubt his word. He
does not think it a small matter for us to be in fear, in dread or in
terror. Any dread of circumstances, of
man or of other creatures is a diminishing of the worship and glory we ascribe
to the Omnipotent One. It takes what is
reserved to God alone, and gives it to another.
It is very
interesting that the word translated as dread throughout the old testament is
also translated as idol in Jeremiah 50:38: "A drought is upon her
waters; and they shall be dried up: for it is the land of graven images,
and they are mad upon their idols."
In this verse, the Chaldeans and Babylonians were noted to be single
minded, focused, overwhelmed and celebratory in the worship of their idol,
"mad upon their idols." It is
quite noteworthy that an idol of carved wood, stone or metal could be so associated with dread and fear that
the very word for dread can be translated as idol. This certainly joins the concept of worship
(of an idol in this case) and fear or dread.
No matter what
difficult circumstances rise before us, whether it is a huge enemy with walled
cities and giants or a kingident driving a nation to its demise and integration
into a single world governing structure; a healthy, Biblical perspective of God
should bring peace, joy, confidence and hope.
God reminds us through the apostle Paul, that God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of
power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
Now, keeping in
mind the strong response God had to the Israelite fear when they were so near
to entering the Promised Land (forbidding entry because they were afraid),
think back to that terrorist-in-the-church-building scenario. Was the fearful response from the majority of
the congregation an acceptable human response?
Sure it was a natural response, but would God think it was ok to behave
that way? Absolutely not. Being afraid of the terrorist is actually worshipping
the terrorist.
What does a
terrorist (or torturer for that matter) do?
They exercise power over another person.
They demand obedience. They may
take what’s not theirs. They command
fear from others.
Well, who is it
that really has power over us? Who
is it that really deserves our
obedience? Who is it to whom all things ultimately belong? Who is it that is worthy of fear, and is not
willing to share that worship with any other?
It is God alone.
Giving fear to
a created being, terrorist or otherwise, is wholly inappropriate. Aren’t
terrorists behaving like Lucifer did when he said “I will be like the most high!”?
We are not to
be in fear of them, nor of any other dreadful circumstances. God has given us a different spirit, not of
fear. The spirit we have been given is
one of explosive power, agape love and a clear, rock-solid mind. Until we let God occupy a proper place in our
minds and hearts, the fear of man will naturally and consistently overshadow
our holy fear of the Lord. And the spirit
of power, love and a sound mind will be thwarted.
Let’s face it - there are many things in this world that can naturally make man afraid. And as this world moves closer to its final days,
dreadful circumstances will continue to increase. Paul reinforces this truth in 2 Timothy
3:1-5. This
know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be
lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient
to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false
accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors,
heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form
of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
And in verse
12:
Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer
persecution. But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving,
and being deceived.
We are not to
be discouraged by this progression. This world will continue to falter, and as
evil grows, it is likely to touch the lives of believers in difficult ways, but we are not to live in discouragement or fear. God desires that we live here in incredible
victory. Paul wrote to the Corinthians
that even “though our outward man perish,
yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is
but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of
glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which
are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which
are not seen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)
Keeping our
focus on things above, on things eternal, is key to our being able to manifest
the spirit of power, love and a sound mind.
Developing an increasingly high view of the Lord is also absolutely
fundamental.
How should the
fear of the lord, impact our daily lives, and how we face the trying world in
which we live? God’s word indicates that the fear of the Lrod can result in
seriously transformed lives; lives with increased intimacy, increased courage
and a perspective on life that is aligned with the perspective of God.
Fear --> Intimacy --> Fearlessness/Power
In Psalm 19:9, we are told that "The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever." The
word for clean is used other places in the Bible to describe a
"clean" animal for sacrifice, pure gold, pure incense, pure perfume
and the state of being ceremonially clean. Here in Psalm 19 we are given the
idea that fearing the Lord is a very special thing, a pure thing that is
vitally important to our relationship with our Creator. To be without the fear of the Lord, is to
have an impure relationship with the Lord. We ought to desire a pure , clean relationship
with the Lord, and having the fear of the Lord is a key component of that.
In addition to impurity of relationship, there is another
problem when the fear of the Lord is lacking. Psalm 25:14 says "The secret of the LORD is with them that fear
him." What secret is
that?? It is not actually a specific secret; the word translated “secret"
is used throughout the Old Testament primarily to indicate intimacy or close
counsel. We can gather from this verse
that in David's time, those who were intimate with God were the ones that also
feared God. The fear of the Lord was a
pre-condition to intimacy. There is no
reason to believe that this is different today in the dispensation of
grace. We do have a position of being in
the body of Christ, but we will not
avail ourselves of true intimacy with Him unless we truly KNOW him. When we truly know Him, we will by very
nature, drop before Him awestruck and trembling. When we truly understand what the Bible calls
“the fear of the Lord," we will be enabled to have sweet intimacy with
Him.
In describing the especially close intimacy that caused
Eve to conceive, God said Adam “knew” Eve.
And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and
bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD. … And
Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth …” (Gen
4:1,25) The sexual union is the most personal and
intimate of human relationships, and God uses the term “know” or “knew” to
describe it. To know God, similarly, is
to have deep and intense connection with him, to have a oneness of purpose,
nothing hidden, barriers removed, facades eliminated. When we know God deeply, have no illusions
about our own grandeur and see him for the infinitely glorious being that he
is, the resulting openness, vulnerability, and honesty will invigorate and
intensify our relationship with him.
Increasing intimacy results when we fear the Lord, and the fear of the
Lord results when we have increased intimacy with him.
Most wives feel safer in a dangerous situation if their
husband is with them. God designed that
response. The stronger that marital
relationship, the better for feelings of safety and security. Think of the courage we could have if we were
on extremely intimate terms with the Almighty Creator. When we know God and the intensity of his
greatness, his power and his love, the awesomeness
of that; (not merely awesomeness , but the aweFULLness of that) will drive out fear
and bring about a spirit of power and courage within us, no matter what is
going on around us.
Back in Isaiah 8, I find verses 9-13 pretty
interesting. The passage is describing Israel's enemies aligning themselves together
against Israel. The prospect of an invincible confederacy
that could wipe out Israel
was a frightening thing to Israel.
But Isaiah speaks forth God's wisdom, that indeed, no ganging together can
withstand the power of the Almighty.
Isaiah issues the warning to avoid all fear but the fear of the Lord,
ending in verse 13 with this: neither fear ye
their fear, nor be afraid. Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let
him be your dread." God's incredible power must hold our attention when the world around us is particularly
dangerous or frightful.
I Peter 3:14-15 is another indication that we are to be
without fear of man, but steeped in the fear of the Lord. Peter wrote: “if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be
troubled; But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give
an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with
meekness and fear.” When persecution comes and
suffering occurs for being righteous, when others desire to bring terror into our
hearts and minds, the result ought not
be a fear of the “terrorist,” but fear of
the Lord. A holy fear of the Lord
ought to drive out the fear of man.
When you realize that, yes, persecution and other trials
are to be expected, and we stand in the fear of the Lord, we can have an
incredible boldness and power and a
tremendous outreach of love toward the world as did many in the church when
Paul was imprisoned. "But I would ye should understand, brethren,
that the things which happened
unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel; So that my
bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places; And many of the brethren in
the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word
without fear.” (Philippians 1:12-14) The Psalmist said it so well, "The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom
shall I be afraid? (Psalm 27:1)
Now here is a
bit of a paradox. In Proverbs 14:26 King
Solomon penned this, "The fear
of the Lord is strong confidence."
Does that seem a bit odd? We are
often told that fear usually comes from lack of confidence, aren’t
we? But the scripture did not say the fear of the Lord is strong self-confidence!
"The fear of the Lord is strong
confidence." It is confidence
in the Lord himself. When we fear the
Lord, we will have NO doubts about his love, his power, and his
capabilities. If we do not have full confidence in victory in
this life; if we do not have the
spirit of power flowing forth from us; if we do not reach out with agape love; if our minds are found weak and
undisciplined; it is likely that we are walking in fear and have not yet laid
hold of the fear of the Lord.
Should we fear
the government? Should we be afraid of what may be happening with the food
supply? Should the daily reports of earthquakes shake us? We certainly ought to have a reverence for
government as an institution established by God. And we certainly ought to have a healthy
respect for dangers. But whatever the
danger, we are to go forward into the battle without fear.
Psalm 96
instructs "Declare his glory among
the heathen, his wonders among all people. For the LORD is great, and greatly to be praised: he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the LORD made the
heavens. Honour and majesty are
before him: strength and beauty are
in his sanctuary. ... Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name ... O worship the LORD in the beauty of
holiness: fear before him, all the earth. Say among the heathen that the LORD reigneth ..." A natural human response to anything or
anyone that is great, glorious, majestic, mighty and full of wonders is fear -
the deep recognition of the magnitude and intensity of that great thing before
us. God is the only being worthy of
commanding such a response from the human soul.
Our flesh tends
to interfere with this. Once saved, we
may even have more trouble with this, pushing the concept of godly fear out of
our minds, and the fear of the Lord might not come easily. We too easily push the grandeur of our Lord
out of our minds. In the dispensation of
grace that we now live in, God interacts with us on a different level than in
times past, and the incredible and obvious manifestations of his power are not
the norm of the day. In Israel’s early
days, God’s powerful intervention was abundantly visible. Their minds were taught the fear of the Lord by his incredibly miraculous interventions. We need our
minds to be taught the fear of the Lord as well. The evidence of God’s incredible glory is all
around us, but we need to be taught the fear of the Lord. We know where to go
for that teaching. 2 Timothy 3:16 tells
us that all scripture “is profitable
for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” The
Word of God is what will bring about the fear of the Lord in our hearts and
minds. Deuteronomy 17:20 indicates that
regarding the Law, man (in this case the king) shall "read therein all the days of his life:
that he may learn to fear the LORD his God…"
Back to 2
Timothy again. God has explicitly
designed our new nature to be one of power, love and a sound mind, with fear
explicitly excluded. "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of
a sound mind. Be not thou therefore
ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou
partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God."
(2Ti 1:7-8) We are not merely
to endure, but to endure with power.
When we recognize the source of our strength, and tremble only before his awesome power, there is no room for fearing others. Again, the Psalmist said it so excellently, "The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom
shall I be afraid?” (Psalm 27:1)
Saturating our
minds with God's Word is absolutely essential to developing a fear of God and
the resulting transformation of our hearts and minds that drives out fear and
equips us to live for Christ – no matter what the circumstances - according to
the power of God.
May we have no fear, but the fear of the Lord. May we tremble before the Lord as we
contemplate the overwhelming awe of his glory and as we recognize the incredible
love he has for us. May we go forward
each day with no fear of man, no fear of hardship, no fear of lack, no fear of
future events, but rather a fear of the Lord that moves us forward in power,
love and a sound mind.
Related messages
were preached at Berean Bible Church,
Chippewa Falls, WI on October 3, 10 and 17, 2010 and are
available in mp3 format at www.BereanBibleChurch.com