On Fearing the One for Whom You Live
It is all too easy to convince ourselves that we are fearers and worshipers of God because we attend church and sing songs. Yet Scripture clarifies for us that external shows of worship do not always reflect the heart: “…this people honors me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men” (Isaiah 29:13).
Revelation 19:5: And from the throne came a voice saying, “Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, small and great.” (ESV)
There is something striking to me about the idea of fearing the one for whom I live. A moment’s thought leads me to consider that the fear of God is one way of describing the entire motivation for living for him in the first place. If there is a supreme reason for living our lives and an ultimate aim to which they ought to be directed, then it stands to reason that not living for him should strike the greatest fear in our hearts by definition. What could be more fearful than missing the entire purpose of our existence?
And yet, there is something positive here as well. It is not just that we fear the lack of God, but that we fear God himself. The fear of God is not fundamentally one of privation (“What if I don’t have God?”), but is intensely God-directed. It is not the absence of God that we fear, but God himself.
And not only that, but it is a fear that is marked not by servile subjection but by heart-filled praise. The fear of God is a wondrous thing! It is the first step in an entire economy or ecosystem of dynamics in the relationship between us and God, us and each other, and us and the rest of creation.
Fear and Worship
This train of thought, combined with continued meditation on this passage, leads me to something closer to the reason why fearing the one for whom I live is so striking: fear and worship are inseparable. This may not break new ground for many, but I have never explicitly drawn some logical inferences which now present themselves to me: if fear and worship are connected, then our fears and our gods are also linked. We cannot separate what we fear from who or what we worship.
Nevertheless, we do this often enough. We prefer to limit our conception of worship to lip service. There may be a root of motivation in laziness here. Worship is so intrinsic to our being and nature, so deep in the well of our hearts, that it takes work to draw it out and know it. Oftentimes, we prefer to leave our hearts on autopilot to taking hold of the controls and attempting to steer in the proper direction.
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How the History of Israel Proves Postmillennialism
Jesus will be the one who indeed obeys the covenant stipulations of Yahweh and, as Solomon prayed, would bless all the peoples on earth (1 Kings 8:60; 2 Chronicles 6:32-33). He is the one who delivered Hezekiah from Assyria and who will ensure the world will know who God is (2 Kings 19:15, 19). He is the one who, unlike the kings of Judah, will not lead His people into idolatry or fail in righteousness but will establish and uphold justice and righteousness from this time forth and forevermore (Isaiah 9:7).
An Analogy of Relationships
In human romantic relationships, progress is made through promise. When a man enjoys the company of a particular woman, and natural desires begin bubbling up in that man for her, well, he ought to be the one to ask her if she will become his woman. This is not an open-ended promise where he reserves the right to desire and spend affectionate time with a throng of women, but a personal pledge that she will be the lone object of his affection moving forward. His commitment and promise carries with it exclusivity.
When the relationship advances beyond the dating stages, progress is again precipitated by promise. Without new pledges of increased loyalty and commitment, the relationship will stagnate and usually wither into a relational bramble. But after a pledge of lifelong fidelity, the dating couple becomes engaged with a ring of promise, and the engaged couple standing at the altar with rings becomes lawfully wed.
This normative period is filled with promises that progress every relationship from strangers and acquaintances to friends, from pals to dating and betrothal, and eventually into marriage. This period is a finite allotment of time to establish interest, trustworthiness, and commitment before the era of promises is over. And I mean that the era of promises must end because no woman wants to marry a man who continually rattles off guarantees and assurances but never ends up keeping any of them. Once all the promises have been made, and the man and woman say I do, he does not need to go on making oaths and pledges and explaining his intentions. He must transition the relationship from being a promise maker to a promise keeper, or the only progress he will make will be toward separation and divorce. This movement from promise to fulfillment is the most natural step toward maturation for any marriage; it is how trust is baked in time and how marriages become iron-clad centers of love, life, and community for a clan of burgeoning people.
In some ways, we can apply this to what we spoke about last week. We transitioned away from the wrong views of eschatology to the correct view. And we saw how God Himself littered the book of Genesis with monumental promises. He promised to fill the world with worshippers through Adam. He repeated those promises to Noah. He kept those promises during the rocky era of Babel. He made those promises even more explicit and exclusive through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Judah. And like a young man making covenantal promises to the woman that He loves before their wedding day, God in those early years of Genesis was showering His people with all of His promises and was letting her know what He was going to do in covenant union with her and for her. And as we saw last week, the content of those promises was that God Himself would make His people into a fruitful, world-wide, people, who fill the earth with worshippers. Worshippers in the sciences, worshippers in local and national governments, worshippers in technology and engineering firms, worshippers in law practices, libraries, restaurants, public squares, plumbing and electrical businesses, and worshippers in faithful churches. God is going to fill the world, and every sector of this world, with His joyful human worshippers so that everything on this rebel planet will come under His dominion and will.
Yet, in just the same way a man shouldn’t keep making promises with no intention of fulfilling them, God does not go on speaking without a plan for doing. He transitions the relationship from promise maker to promise keeper as we turn the page from Genesis to the book of Exodus. He continues that posture through the conquests and the histories of the people of Israel and Judah. And while Israel and Judah will be unfaithful to her husband and maker (Isaiah 54:5; Hosea 2:2), provoking Him to jealous fury (Deuteronomy 32:21), playing the harlot with the nations instead of bringing them into God’s covenant family (Ezekiel 16:15), causing Him to issue a decree of divorce to the ten northern tribes of Israel (Jeremiah 3:8), God is never once unfaithful to His promises. He will fill the world with worshippers who worship Him in spirit and truth (John 4:23-24). And what we will see in the history of Judah and Israel is textual evidence that this is God’s plan and that God will accomplish it with Israel’s help or not!
In what follows, I would like to sketch out how all of the promises made in the book of Genesis, where the entire world will be filled with worshippers (Genesis 1:28), where all the families on earth will be blessed by the seed of Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3), all the nations on earth will come under God’s blessings through the seed of Jacob (Genesis 28:14) and will obey Yahweh their King through the promises to Shiloh as promised to Judah (Genesis 49:10), are now beginning to come true in the life of Israel. Like an acorn transitioning from seed to sapling, the Exodus, the conquests, and the Kingdom of Israel will show how God is committed to what He initially said and is delivering on those promises in the life of Israel. In the weeks ahead, we will see how those promises are fulfilled ultimately in Jesus, but for now, let’s trace the promises God made for a postmillennial and optimistic future out of the book of Genesis and see how they begin sprouting roots in the nation of Israel.
The Exodus and a World Filled with Worshippers:
After God had given promises to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and eventually Jacob’s fourth-born son Judah, the family of a dozen men and their wives and children settled in the land of Goshen, a providence of Egypt. You will remember from the book of Genesis that a massive famine hit the entire region. Yet, God, through wonderful providence, allowed Joseph to be sold into slavery and imprisonment, only to be elevated to the second position in the kingdom of Egypt, perfectly positioned to rescue Jacob’s family (and the future nation that would come from his own body) from starvation and death. That family was reunited in Egypt and began growing in Egypt. For four hundred silent years, where the Bible does not speak, they continued being fruitful and multiplying in that foreign land.
In fact, this is precisely where the book of Exodus begins. God promised Adam and Noah in the earliest parts of Genesis that He would make them fruitful and multiply them. And now, in Egypt, in the earliest parts of the Exodus narrative, God keeps that promise on the ground and in their families. Here is what the text says:
“But the sons of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly, and multiplied, and became exceedingly mighty, so that the land was filled with them. – Exodus 1:7
Do you see how God is fulfilling His promises? Do not overlook the significance of this moment. God created a world in Eden where His covenant people were destined to thrive under His blessings, a key component of which was their call to be fruitful and multiply, to expand and populate all the lands, establishing dominion over them. These events unfold within this passage, though not yet on the universal scale envisioned for the future, but significantly on a local scale within Egypt. The people of Israel proliferated exceedingly, their numbers swelling to such an extent that they filled the land, indicating that God’s hand of blessing was upon them.
In typical fashion, the native occupants, the adversaries of God, perceive this divine favor and are seized by terror at the prospect of losing their sovereignty. Egypt’s apprehension, fearing that Israel’s expansion and dominion will continue to the point of usurping their own, highlights a profound understanding lost on many today. God has not devised a plan destined for His people’s failure but has laid a strategy where the foes of God will be stripped of their places, nations, and statuses. In this divine plan, God’s people are destined to dispossess their lands, thereby extending Yahweh’s dominion far beyond its current boundaries.
The Egyptian Pharoah and his advisors grasped the enormity of God’s plan with all the visceral clarity needed, filling their hearts with dread and spurring them into a dark, desperate strategy of Jewish genocide, which became a futile attempt to thwart God’s holy intentions (Exodus 1:9-10). Yet, as is the inevitable fate of all who dare to challenge the Almighty, their sinister schemes crumbled into dust flakes. Moses recounts with poetic justice that the harsher Egypt’s tyranny became, the more prolifically God’s favor was poured out, blessing His people with unimaginable success and growth (Exodus 1:12). In a twist of irony, when Egypt sought to drown the Hebrew legacy in the Nile, God orchestrated a covert resistance led by fearless midwives. These unsung heroines, under God’s watchful eye, not only safeguarded the lives of countless infants but became unwitting architects of Israel’s burgeoning population, further frustrating Pharaoh’s draconian decrees (Exodus 1:20).
As we saw last week, God will not give up on His plans. He made promises to Adam and Noah. He came and elected a sinner named Abraham. He gave that man children in his old age who would eventually settle down in Egypt. And now, under the mighty hand of God, who is pouring out His blessings and favor upon them, they are doing what Yahweh promised. They are being fruitful, multiplying, spreading out, and threatening the enemies of God’s security and dominion. Sounds a lot like postmillennialism. If you ask me, it sounds like God is ensuring He will extend His dominion globally until the world is filled with worshippers.
This plan, of course, ran afoul of the Egyptians, who whipped the Israelite’s backs a little harder each day, all the while increasing their miseries in labor, that is, until a breaking point occurred. At first, the strapping forty-year-old Moses, whom God miraculously orchestrated by divine providence to grow up in the palaces of Egypt, took matters into his own hands, killing an Egyptian and attempting to work for the freedom of his people by his own strength and Vigor. This was not God’s plan, so God exiled Moses into the wilderness for an entire generation so that he could cool his jets a bit and trust that the Lord would do precisely what he promised.
As an octogenarian, God summons Moses back to Egypt with a mandate to reassure His people that He had not left them to languish in the desert sands, He had not turned His back on them, and He would assuredly rescue them from the shackles of Egyptian servitude with a mighty hand (Exodus 3:7-10). This liberation was aimed not just about freeing them from bondage but at relocating them to a land reminiscent of Eden — a garden land brimming with milk and honey and other beautiful blessings. There, they were to flourish, tend the garden land, extending Yahweh’s sovereignty across its breadth, and transform it into a region where God’s will had come on earth as it always had in heaven (Exodus 3:8). This elaborate plan traces its way all the way back to the pages of Genesis. This was not merely for the benefit of the Israelites alone, but it was being enacted by a God who wanted the entire earth to hear about Him and worship Him because of His awe-inspiring deeds. God had appointed Israel as His emissary to bring His blessings to all the world. And He announced that purpose to the obstinate Pharaoh just before He crushed Him. God says to the Pharaoh in Exodus 9:16:“But, indeed, for this reason, I have allowed you to remain, in order to show you My power and in order to proclaim My name through all the earth.” – Exodus 9:16
Why would God tell the egotistical Pharaoh that His intention was to fill the earth with His name, stories of His power, and glory if He had no desire to fulfill it? Would God boast in a plan He had no intention of completing? I think not.
God rained down a furious assortment of ten devastating plagues on Egypt, crushing their egotistical pride, crashing their agriculture, farming, shipping industries, and the entire economic system that kept them afloat as an empire, bankrupting them for generations. More importantly, God was laboring to set Israel free so that Yahweh’s name would echo in every hole, hollar, cave, plain, and hilltop on earth. This alone reminds us that God is still committed to His original plan and purpose. He will make His name great by multiplying His worshippers everywhere the sun shines, everywhere the shadow falls, and no one in hell or on earth will stop Him. If you doubt that, ask the Pharaoh of Egypt, who hardened his heart and got the unenviable opportunity to see all the wealth and power that remained within his empire flushed down the Red Sea toilet.
The Law and a World Filled with Worshippers:
From there, God brought this newly freed nation of Jews along with an assortment of Egyptians (Exodus 12:38), consisting of a couple of million people who walked out of Egypt (Exodus 12:37), to the base of Mount Sinai, where He would enter into a covenant relationship with them. Like all covenants, this one would have specific stipulations, rules, and precepts that the people of God were to follow in order to be in a relationship with this holy God. If they followed these stipulations, they would inherit the blessings of the covenant, which God describes in various sections of the Law. For instance, He promised to walk among them as God walked amid Adam and Eve in the garden (Leviticus 26:11-12). He promised they would be fruitful and prosperous in a garden land (Leviticus 26:9). He told them He would give them dominion and authority among the nations on earth (Deuteronomy 28:13). And He told them He would partner with them in filling the world with worshippers, as He had said to Adam before, reminding them: ‘I will be your God and you will be my people’ (Leviticus 26:12).
God also encouraged them that if they were holy (Leviticus 20:26), they would obey His voice (unlike their Father Adam). They would follow His decrees, and He would make them fruitful and multiply them (Leviticus 26:9). He would bless them in the land that He was giving them (Deuteronomy 6:3). He would use them to bring His covenant blessings and extend His royal dominion to all the nations (Exodus 19:5-6). In the Law, God promises to enter into a Genesis 1:28 relationship with Israel and allow them to assist Him in accomplishing His Genesis 1:28 outcome of filling the world with worshippers.
From the outset of national Israel, God invited them into a covenant whereby they could partner with Him – like Adam long before – to bring God’s glory into all the earth (Numbers 14:21). They were commissioned to live such holy and fruitful lives, aided by the Law and sacrificial system, that the nations would see the glories of God and would either stream into Israel to know this benevolent deity (Deuteronomy 4:5-6) or they would tremble in fear of Him and His people (Deuteronomy 28:9-10). Either way, the Lord was committed to His earth-filling promises. As long as Israel was faithful to Him, God would allow them to join Him in that work, using them as a light to the Gentiles (Isaiah 42:6). But, as we know from the story, Israel was regularly unfaithful to the Lord, they refused to be obedient to the terms of the covenant, instead of reaching the nations and filling the nations with the knowledge of God they polluted the land with the idols of demons. Instead of inheriting the covenant blessings, they often languished under the torrent of covenantal cursings (Deuteronomy 28).
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Why We Must Emphasize A Pastor’s Character Over His Skill
It is the man of character whose confidence is not in the messenger but the message. It is the man of character who cries out to God in his weakness and pleads with God to display his strength. Because he cannot rely on his human skill, he must rely on divine power. And the gospel shines through his weakness.
The New Testament clearly, repeatedly, and unapologetically lays out the qualifications of a pastor. What is so remarkable yet so often overlooked is this: Pastors are called and qualified to their ministry not first through their raw talent, their finely-honed skill, or their great accomplishments, but through their godly character. Of all the many qualifications laid out in the New Testament, there is just one related to skill (he must have the ability to teach others) and one related to experience (he must not be a recent convert). The rest of the nearly 20 qualifications are based on character. What fits a man to ministry is not first accomplishment or capability but character.
We cannot emphasize this too strongly or too often. I really mean that: We cannot overemphasize the primacy of character. A great many of the problems we see in the local and global church today are caused by the failure to heed this simple principle. So many Christians could be spared so much trauma if only their churches would refuse to put a man in leadership who is lacking such character. So many congregations would be spared so much pain if only they would remove men who prove they don’t have the kind of character God demands. This failure to heed what God makes plain is a terrible blight upon the Christian church.
From a human perspective, it’s not difficult to understand why the church gets this wrong. We are naturally drawn to people of remarkable charisma and outstanding talent. We love to listen to naturally-skilled communicators and to be led by accomplished leaders. We rejoice to bask in the residual glory of respected men and their noteworthy achievements. We convince ourselves that our measure of success is undeniable proof of God’s blessing. We are willing to overlook character if only we can have results.
Perhaps we need to ask why it is that God so values character. Why is it that God entrusts his church to men of character rather than men of talent or achievement? Why would he prefer that his church be led by unremarkable men instead of accomplished ones? Why would he choose an undistinguished but honorable man over a talented man who is known and celebrated for his many skills?
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Monergism in Acts(ion): Seven Texts That Affirm the Priority of God’s Grace
In Acts, we see the doctrines of grace in action. And this gives us confidence for our salvation and for God to save those to whom we proclaim Christ. God is a God who opens hearts (Acts 16:14) and grants salvation, at the proper time, to all those whom he has appointed (Acts 13:48).
…I am sending you, to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me (Acts 26:17–18).
When it comes to the doctrine of salvation (soteriology), monergism is doctrine that says God alone accomplishes salvation. Etymologically, the word means one (mono) energy (energos), and suggests that all the power for salvation comes from the triune God. Monergism stands against any form of cooperation in salvation whereby God’s work is joined with or completed by man.
Historically, monergism stands upon the writings of Augustine, Calvin, and others in the Reformed tradition. But more importantly, those writings stand upon the words of Scripture. Recently, as I read through the book of Acts, this doctrine stood out, in thinking about the way Luke often spoke of salvation and attributed the faith of believers to the antecedent work of God. In other words, Luke makes it apparent, salvation comes by faith and repentance, but faith and repentance come from the grace of God. (I also spent time laboring this point in my last two sermons on Romans 3 and Colossians 1–2).
In Acts, we find at least seven instances where Luke stresses God’s singular work in salvation. And for the sake of understanding this doctrine and our experience of salvation, not to mention its impact on evangelism and missions, we should see how the pattern of God’s monergism runs through the book of Acts.
Seven Monergistic Texts in the Book of Acts
Acts 4:5–12
Forced to give an answer for the hope they have, Peter and the apostles testify before the Jerusalem leaders, that salvation comes in no other way, but by faith in Christ. And importantly, such faith comes because Christ raises people to life.
5 On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem, 6 with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. 7 And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” 8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, 9 if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, 10 let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well.11 This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. 12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Acts 5:31
If the Christ-centeredness of Acts 4:12 is not sufficiently monergistic, Acts 5:31 begins to fill in the details: the exalted Lord gives repentance.
31 God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.
Acts 11:18
God’s salvation comes to the Gentiles, just like it came to the Jews—God granted repentance that leads to life.
18 When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”
Acts 13:47–48
After Luke records Paul’s sermon in Acts, he reports how the Gentiles heard the Gospel and believed. But instead of leaving it there, he also declares that those who believed were the one’s God appointed to believe (cf. Eph. 1:4–6; Rom. 9:1–23; 1 Thess. 1:5).
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