God is your only fear..
In junior high, I used to wear a Rage Against the Machine tee-shirt that had the phrase on the back, “Fear is your only God.” I got called out on it by a coach who said, “God is your only fear”. I hadn’t really thought about it until recently, especially in my recent readings of Jonathan Edwards and The Religious Affections.
Fear.
It is an interesting idea that runs throughout the Bible. Edwards says, “The Scriptures place much of religion in godly fear; insomuch that it is often spoken of as the character of those that are truly religious persons, that they tremble at God’s word, that they fear before Him, that their flesh trembles for fear of Him, and that they are afraid of His judgments, that His excellency makes them afraid, and His dread falls upon them. Because the fear of God is a great part of true godliness, hence true godliness in general, is very commonly called by the name of the fear of God; as every one knows that knows anything of the Bible.”
Fear of God seems necessary, but in today’s culture, the idea of fearing God seems almost impersonal. True, it has both positive implications and negative implications. On one hand, fear is seen as a very positive, even a secure way to live. On the other hand, it is seen as an enemy, it’s an intrusion on ones spiritual life. Positively speaking: The proverbial and psalmic testaments state, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge” or the psalmist who says, “The friendship of the LORD is for those who fear him.” Negatively speaking: When the chief priests, scribes and elders challenge Jesus’ authority, Jesus baffles them into silence because of their fear of man. Or consider John’s first letter, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” Or consider Israel who transitions from the negative to the positive sides of fear. Take note of their opposing emotional states before and after their crossing of the Red Sea. They have just been led out of Egypt only to find themselves once again in danger of being overtaken. Their emotional state, fear. The scriptures say, “When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes,
and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly.” As God plays for keeps, Israel finds themselves delivered once again, their emotional state, completely different, yet the same, fear. How so? The scriptures say, Israel saw the great power that the LORD used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the LORD, and they believed in the LORD and in his servant Moses. If only they would remember this fear….
God seemed so brutal in the Old Testament. Fear was all around Him. But as I read the Gospel narrative throughout the Old Testament, you see how He has bound his name to Israel and His glory is at stake. As the Israelites choose their own way and try to make creation their god, their disobedience blasphemes him. However, He has made a covenant with Abraham; His mercy and justice are at odds it seems. So the Old Testament is a story about the Creator trying to deal with his attempt to remain faithful and just, while demanding the fear that His name deserves. But the New Testament gives us Jesus, who for the first time shows us justice and mercy kissing while maintaining that same fear, but in a different way. God seems so loving in the New Testament. He is satisfied now through Jesus, but we cannot forget the fear and respect that His Name deserves.
Fear. There is a difference. One is the fear of man and one is the fear of the Lord. One paralyzes you and throws you into despair, the other commands your allegiance and adoration. One makes you look to yourself for salvation; the other is the response of being saved by another. One is natural, the other is supernatural. One is oppressive in nature, the other is redemptive in nature. One requires your sacrifice, the other provides a sacrifice. In my own personal life I struggle with this from time to time. When I live for the praise of men, I fear them. My soul demands their approval and their validation. This spins me into a deadly cycle of resentment and bitterness because I find myself being denied what I want, which then usually plays itself out in socially awkward behavior. Unfortunately, this happens often. However, when I
relocate my security in Christ, I find my fear of man decreasing and my fear of God increasing. By claiming the Gospel, it will rid
me of this focus on self preservation and to the Gospel’s core, it is the selfless Christ on the cross completing the greatest act of love and glory any man will ever give to the Father. As mercy increases, my fear of God increases. When my pride increases, my fear of man increases.
Grace, costly grace, has a powerful way of increasing our understanding of the majesty of God. The cross, being the most grotesque event in history has demanded the utmost attention and consideration in history; it demands an increase in our fear of God. How is it that fear and love can go together? Also, as Jonathan Edwards said, is the fear of God the saved person’s response to salvation; can the unsaved
person fear Him? Or, do fear of God and salvation go hand-in-hand?
Fear and respect to our God is something that is lacking in culture today. In The Weight of Glory, C.S. Lewis says, “we become taller when we bow; we become lowlier when we instruct. It delights me that there should be moments in the services of my own Church where the priest stands and I kneel. As democracy becomes more complete in the outer world and opportunities for reverence are successively removed, the refreshment, the cleansing, the invigorating returns to inequality which the Church offers us, become more and more
necessary.” I love my church. I love its laid back feel, the hippie Christian, stylish, jeans wearing, comfortableness of going to church at The Village. However, when reading Lewis and Edwards today, I have to think that maybe there is a lack of fear in my life. There is a comfortableness with coming to the throne of my Lord, and by all means, there should be. But there should also be an element of fear and respect. This God of mine holds all things together. He has the power to destroy with the touch of his hand. Do I display the fear and respect that is due to him? Or am I prideful and at ease, feeling like all rights are mine and I can come before Him with no thoughts to His nature and power? Where is the balance? In some ways, I am jealous of Lewis’s church, the liturgical, proper church that demands respect before the Lord. Do I view myself as equal to my Father or do I remember that there is a reverence and a fear to His name that is demanded from my humility?
