Fear of the Lord
Lately I have been working together with Jesus to give the church a powerful message. A message that will not only bless you, but will exalt the Lord in the process. And to those who take this message seriously, may you be blessed abundantly, as you have also chosen to exalt the Lord in your life…
Today I am going to be speaking on what it looks like to have a relationship with the Lord. I will share what a relationship with Jesus is about and why we should have one with Him. How to start a relationship with Him and how to keep pursuing Him no matter what circumstance we are in. And lastly, why it is so important for all of us to have an intimate relationship with Him. This is what we will all come to know as the Fear of the Lord.
We either have it or we don't.
The Fear of the Lord is determined by our obedience to God. The more we obey, the more we fear. If we do not obey then we do not fear. I always tell myself; “I will never go wrong as long as I obey the Lord.” However, a lot of people do not know how to obey Him and it’s usually because we don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus like we might think we do.
How can we obey something or someone when we have not taken it upon ourselves to read the handbook? To provide an example to help us through this, there was this class I would attend every Tuesday and Thursday. For each class of the semester, I am given a syllabus to tell me and inform me of the do's and don'ts, the requirements, the expectations, the due dates, and any other basic information I need to know or be-aware of. My syllabus for class is usually accessible to me before my very first day of class. Now in this class, specifically, I chose to not read the syllabus prior to attending. So I had no choice but to come to class completely unaware and unprepared for what this class had set for me. I ended up arriving to class with a coffee, only to find out during class no food or drink was allowed. Coming to class with my coffee was not the problem. The problem arises when and if I were to end up making a mess by spilling my coffee, because my environment is not set up for food or drink. Now I would like to think I am of the exception, for whatever reason, so I may continue to do what I want… but what happens in that one off moment when my coffee does happen to spill..? Will I leave it and say “Oh well” or “that's not my problem”, because what I am actually saying is I don't care regardless of my remorse. Or if I do clean it up, more than likely a stain is left behind along with some residue and I don't tell my professor about it because maybe I’m embarrassed or maybe I'm scared of the repercussions. What I am actually doing is saying I don't really want to deal with it. Or how about what happens if my coffee gets spilled, not only on me and the environment around me, but it got on my classmate, as well? Now we’re both a mess. And they get angry at me, and in return, I get angry at them because what they see is someone who brought a coffee into a drink free environment but to me it was just an accident. I tell them I’ll never do it again, but the issue still lingers because my apology doesn’t clean up the mess I made.
So at what expense did it cost me? It cost me money. Money that was spent on something that ended up not bringing myself fulfillment because it resulted in my coffee getting spilled. Whether by accident or not, the situation just wasn't the time or the place for coffee, regardless. It cost me a potential friend, because now they won't sit next to me, or maybe it was a friend, but now there's tension because of this mess I created. It cost me time, because now I’m focused on the mess I made, possibly even distracting others around me, and now I’m worried about what others may think of me instead of being in-tune with class.
At the end of it all, someone else will have to come clean up the mess that I made because, not only was my environment unequipped for such situations, but I did NOT equip myself prior to class by reading my syllabus; which would have told me that no food or drinks were allowed. And if I did read it, yet still showed up with my coffee, I am nothing more than just a fool who disobeyed instruction. Or yet, just a lucky fool if I got away with it…
With all of this being said… God will now have to come in and help us clean up the mess we made. A mess that could have been avoided if we had read the Bible so we could obey Him to avoid making a fool out of ourselves by remaining in sin.
If anyone hasn’t caught on yet, the coffee is representing our sin.
Our obedience is vital to our walk with Jesus because it keeps us out of sin. As Paul said in Philippians 2:15, “that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,” but Paul said something else prior to this verse. We're going to go back a few verses to Philippians 2:12. Paul says, “therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;” verse 13 “for it is God who works IN you, both to will and to do for HIS good pleasure.” Notice it says “for His good pleasure.” Not yours, not mine, not anyone else’s… His… It’s God’s pleasure.
But let's pause here and go back. Paul had said, “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;” When I first read this I was confused. This verse gave me very good insight into why people assume the Bible is contradicting. This being said, I was given the tools prior to my study of Philippians. I had Google. I had the Blue Letter Bible. I had YouTube and I had the whole Bible. More specifically, I had access to other letters of Paul in the Bible. And not to mention, I had access to other people well-versed in their knowledge of the Bible.
The question was never whether or not I had the resources to dissect the verse; the question becomes did I USE my resources at all?
Thankfully, I have already dissected and rephrased the verse for you, but if I hadn't I would probably have thought Paul had contradicted himself and thought he just told his ministry to work for their salvation with fear and trembling, even though Paul meant something completely different.
And trust me, I definitely was confused and unsure of what to think of this verse originally. And if I chose not to dissect it, I would have probably avoided this verse because I simply just didn’t understand.
So, Paul already said back in Ephesians 2:8 “for by Grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves” it is the gift of God. Your salvation cannot be worked for. EVER! it has already been bought by the blood of Jesus Christ. If you ever read any of Paul's writings, he is very clear on this. So what did he mean by work out your own salvation with fear and trembling?
In the Greek, fear is translated from the word Phobos, which means reverence for one's husband. Reverence means to have a deep respect. Our husband, for we are the church, thus, His bride… our husband is Jesus Christ. So we must have a deep respect for Jesus Christ.
Trembling, in Greek, is tromos. Tromos means distrusting your own ability to meet all requirements to fulfill your duty. So we must humble ourselves to understand we lack proficiency to fulfill God's duty. But I left out part of that definition. The other part is, “but religiously does the utmost to fulfill their duty.” We are not called to be religious, but we are called to obey.
We now know, so far, Paul is saying to have a true respect for Christ, distrust ourselves, and obey the Lord.
Then we have the words “work out” and in the Greek, it is katergazomai - meaning to perform, to accomplish, and to achieve. To do that from which something results and to render one fit for a thing.
My favorite definition from the Greek was the definition ‘to perform’ because, in my opinion, it just seemed to fit best with the rest of the verse, and I'm going to share why…
We can never achieve our salvation because we can never work for it. Salvation is a free gift.
Romans 6:23, “for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”
So to rephrase what Paul said about work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, I believe the meaning behind his words would be something like, ‘Perform within your own salvation with deep respect for Christ, and understanding your own proficiency lacks the ability to meet God's requirements. Yet obey the Lord with all your might.”
Once we receive salvation, our purpose becomes doing the will of God. So, though we do not work to receive salvation, we do, however, work in our salvation and are called to be humble while doing so.
If you are humble, you are obedient. If you are obedient, you are humble towards the Lord.
This is how a relationship with the Lord is formed; by obeying and respecting the Lord. You cannot obey Him if you do not pick up the Bible and read it. All of the answers are in the word of God. The word of God is in the Bible.
If we never choose to willingly read the word of God, do we really respect Him?
God already gave you your syllabus for life, are you going to use it to prepare, or are you going to choose to spill some coffee?
In other words, are you willingly going to choose to live in sin, even when God has given you what you need to either A. avoid it or B. get through it?
In Proverbs 1:7, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.’
The fear of the Lord lies in the wisdom and instruction of God. God has already done His part. He sent Jesus down to die in the cross for our sins so we could receive the gift of salvation all for the hefty price of believing Jesus is our Lord and savior.
Stop complaining and take up your cross and walk. It is our turn to make a move towards God.
James 4:8 “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.”
You move first. God will meet you right where you're at.
In the Book of John, Jesus goes up to the mountains while the disciples waited in the boat. Eventually, they moved along on their journey. They didn't complain Jesus wasn't with them and they didn't complain that He made them wait too long. No, on their journey across the waters, Jesus met them ON the water.
And what was their response? It wasn’t anger, or sadness, but it was actually fear, yet Jesus said “Fear not” and the disciples accepted Him immediately. And then what happened?
They appeared at the destination because they were obedient and they did not complain! They trusted Him even when they did not know how Jesus would make the situation workout.
An important lesson we can learn is in our obedience, we should keep ourselves from complaining.. Paul says in Philippians 2:14, “Do all things without complaining and disputing,”
Complaining in Greek is the word gongizmos, meaning - muttering, a secret debate, and a secret displeasure not stated publicly. The word disputing in Greek is dialogismos, meaning - careful consideration of oneself, reasoning, questioning, hesitation, doubting, and arguing.
Paul is telling us that as we obey the Lord, to do everything the Lord asks of us without talking under our breath, without debate, without reason, without arguing, and most importantly, without consulting yourself first.
As Nike says, Just Do It!
A relationship with God is born out of spending time with Him. If we choose to not give God the time out of our day, we don't respect Him. Therefore, we do not have the fear of the Lord.
If you want to have a fruitful life, obey Him.
If you want to have an abundant life, obey Him
If you do not obey, you do not respect Him.
If you do not respect Him, you don't love Him like you may think you do.
Our love is rooted in our actions.
When you love something, you usually make it a priority. To prioritize something or someone is a direct reflection of your love and obedience to whatever or whoever they are.
How you carry out your priorities is a reflection of your heart and the respect that lies within.
Did you know you can be infatuated with God, but not love Him?
This might start to shatter the illusion of your delusion in your relationship with Christ.
I am not saying this to condemn anyone. I am not saying this to say my walk with Jesus is better than any of yours, because my walk also falls short from time to time and more often that I am aware or I'd like to admit.
I am saying this because if God is telling us anything, He has repeated Himself from time to time, again and again, over and over, that He wants a personal and intimate relationship with you.
He wants you to be obedient and submissive to Him so you may carry out His will by performing in your salvation to bring more people to the cross so they may also become children of God.
What is salvation to you?
Is it just your ticket to heaven?
Is it just a safety net to keep you out of hell so you can keep living in sin without the repercussions?
Is it something you wear to flaunt in front of others to become higher and mightier than those around you?
Salvation is all of those, but none of them at the same time.
Salvation is your ticket to heaven, but it is so much more than just a ticket. Salvation is a safety net, but you will still be judged before the Lord. Salvation is something you wear proudly, but it is not meant to be dangled in front of others’ faces like a master with a piece of meat waiting for the dog to do a trick.
Salvation is meant for ALL; even despite the most heinous crimes one could ever commit. I'm talking about rapists, murderers, pedophiles, cheaters, thieves, and the list goes on.
Salvation is the path and the will of Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God, our Father in Heaven. All of our judgments, as righteous as they may or may not be, will never determine whether or not someone is worthy of salvation.
In the book of Titus, Paul says in 3:2-3 “To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men. For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.”
We should never allow our judgments of another man's sin cloud the salvation that awaits for them to walk into the light of Jesus Christ. So many of us today know OF Jesus, but we don't really KNOW Him. We constantly allow our egos to inflate, disrupting the will of God by knocking Him off the pedestal and placing ourselves above Him. And sometimes, we never even put Him on the top in the first place.
I have, so far, shared how to start a relationship with Jesus and how to continue it. It is not just about believing that Jesus is Lord, for that is just one step of many; but it is about obeying Jesus and respecting Him
If you remain obedient to the word of God, you will prevail in all circumstances. The importance of having an intimate relationship with Jesus is so we may submit ourselves to the will of God and become close intimate friends of the Lord's. The will of God is to keep us believers out of sin in order to bring non-believers to the cross to walk alongside us to have a personal relationship with Jesus and He with us. And most of all, to take back everything from death that it once conquered.
A majority of people that we read about in the Bible were sinners. Many sinned even while they were following Jesus. Even in the Old Testament, when it was definitely not the time to sin because it was a lawful and religious time frame of Christianity, and it wasn't even Christianity, it was a Jewish religion; but God had favor among these men and women, and cultivated intimate relationships with them despite their sins. And they weren't even obedient 100% of the time because they still sinned from time to time. God had mercy on them because of their relationship.
This is why a relationship with God is so important. A lack of sin in our life is simply a bonus to following Jesus, but the real treasure is an intimate relationship to Christ.
How privileged are we to get to know God the Father through Jesus Christ?
So, so privileged.
The fear of the Lord is not something we should shy away from and the fear of the Lord is not being afraid of Him; because we can't be intimate and personal with someone we are afraid of.
The fear of the Lord is coming to understand God's sovereignty of his Divine Providence. That God is above all, for He created all. He knows all. He sees all. He controls all. And can destroy all. Yet, seeing and knowing how sinful we are against Him, He mastered a plan that would destroy the grips of sin that once threw us out of Eden to lead us back into the arms of our Father of Fathers and gifted us the authority to conquer death that once conquered us as the children of God.
As it was said by Moses in Deuteronomy 10:12, “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul,”
I know there are many of us who choose to not be obedient to the Lord on a daily basis. We choose to constantly refuse to pick up our cross and walk. We think constantly that the ball is in God's court and He needs to make a move, when it's quite the opposite.
Times are changing, the spiritual realm is always in battle, the physical world is under attack by forces we cannot see, and it's only going to get worse.
Choose to become a warrior of God today by becoming obedient and submissive to the will of God through Jesus Christ so you can become strong like you've never known strong before.
Matthew 11:30 says, “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” but I say, the path of Christ is still a burden.
Are you going to allow the world to bring you to your death or are you going to grab Christ's hand and walk alongside him to victory?
The choice is always yours, but I want nothing more than to know you as my brother or sister in Christ.
Come home today by believing Jesus Christ is your lord and savior, who is the Son of God and walk alongside me on the path of obedience so we may get to know God personally as our Father of Fathers.
Peace be to all, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
