Fear of God: “If I Make Every Effort- He Will Enable”
This week we are looking at “Making every effort” born out of a fear of God, sown in faith, the Holy Spirit will then “enable” us to overcome the things in our life that would hinder a relationship with Him. We are also going to look at how “making every effort” also entails us to do the work that God has called us to do.
In dealing with “making every effort” to overcome the sin issues in our lives, I would like to look to the story of Joseph. There are things that happen behind the scenes that lead to Joseph being sold into slavery. Jacob sins by showing favoritism to Joseph, Joseph sins naively, or intentionally, by showing off that favoritism, both from his father and from his dreams. Now he finds himself betrayed by his brothers, and in servitude to Potiphar. We are going to be dealing with how he has dealt with the temptation to sin.
Genesis 39:6-16, So he left everything he owned in Joseph’s charge; and with him there he did not concern himself with anything except the food which he ate. Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. It came about after these events that his master’s wife looked with desire at Joseph, and she said, “Lie with me.” But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Behold, with me here, my master does not concern himself with anything in the house, and he has put all that he owns in my charge. There is no one greater in this house than I, and he has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great evil and sin against God?” As she spoke to Joseph day after day, he did not listen to her to lie beside her or be with her. Now it happened one day that he went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the household was there inside. She caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me!” And he left his garment in her hand and fled, and went outside.
We look to Joseph in this passage as a great hero, and he is. I imagine as the wife of a powerful official, she would have been an incredible looker. I can already hear this as a “pump up” sermon. I grew up in a Pentecostal church, could you imagine how great of an illustration this would be? THAT JOSEPH, DID HE STAY THERE? NO! HE FLED! WHEN THAT TEMPTATION IS ENTICING YOU! YOU RUN! RUN LIKE JOSEPH! LEAVE YOUR SHIRT BEHIND, DON’T YOU WAIT JUST RUN!! I agree. I mean at the bare roots, the basic principal is indeed to flee temptation. Could we look at our lives though and if an opportunity to partake in something like that presented itself could we flee? Would we even want to flee?
Overcoming Sin
These are the types of sin that we focus on all the time. It’s that kind of sin that people can see in tangible ways. Things like stealing, pornography, acting out on our lusts, lying, drunkenness, adultery, gossip, acting out our anger.
This is what we focus on all the time. I believe that we often feel the most guilty of these sins, and the reason why is because it is well, obvious. I have a feeling that this is a powerful tool of the enemy. I think there is a couple of ways the enemy uses this highly to their advantage.
1. Keep you so focused on these sins, so focused on the guilt that comes in the acting out of these things that you never move beyond them.
2. Have you so focused on these sins that you never deal with the root. I think this is where the Pharisees were. They had their outer appearances tailored so well, that they never dealt with their pride or heart issues. They had everyone around them feeling so terrible about the way they were acting that people could never come to a hope that God would forgive them in presenting themselves at the temple, which was the whole point of the temple! Think to the story of the tax collector and the Pharisee.
There is also the “root” of the problem. Where sin begins, that is in our hearts. This I would like to think of in terms of our motives, this deals with things like pride, envy, lust (in thought form), anger, jealousy, fear (of man), false humility (not ever doing anything and suppressing our gifts because we constantly think our pride will get in the way), and in general our thought patterns. I believe this is what it is talking about in James.
James 1:12-15, “Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.”
James talks about how this is the beginning of sin. This is also something that we sometimes let ourselves get away with a whole lot because it isn’t vocalized.
There a couple of ways the enemy uses this as another powerful lie in our lives:
1. It’s only in my deepest mind. I am not carrying out the sin, as long as I don’t act out these thoughts I’m ok.
2. My motives don’t really hurt anyone, as long as I do the right thing, who cares if my heart is in it?
3. No one really cares whether or not I think this way.
How to overcome this:
1. Spend deeper time in fellowship with God. Earnestly seek for your mind, heart and will to be transformed. Think of a song that we sing,
“So, take my heart and form it
Take my mind, transform it
Take my will, conform it
To Yours, to Yours, oh Lord”
2. Asking for that way of escape when temptation to sin begins to creep into your mind, 1 Corinthians 10:13 says, “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.” Being completely honest when asking for a means of escape, “God I want to sin right now. If I don’t see the way out clearly I will let this overtake me.”
3. When a way of escape presents itself, TAKE IT! Let’s be honest, how many times are we presented with a means of overcoming these “obvious sins” and we don’t take it.
4. Watch for your warning signs your triggers. I had to learn this with overcoming smoking. There were places and different things that I did when I would smoke, and I had to learn to avoid them, until such a time that I could participate without craving a cigarette. Remember too, just because I craved cigarettes, did not mean that I had started smoking again. In the same way, temptation does not mean you are sinning, it depends upon how you deal with those thoughts, do you dwell on them, or flee?
5. In a very related step, cut it off before it begins! That starts by being careful of what you fill yourself with. How many times have you watched movies by yourselves or with friends and laughed, and enjoyed the movies and thought what an incredible movie it was, and then watched it with your parents? Or with other people who are careful with what the watch? Then, every swear, every joke, every nudity scene you found yourself cringing? If you deal with sexual temptation, do you think watching movies that glorify nudity, loose morals will help you overcome sexual temptation? I recall in one of my classes we watched an episode of Friends. Now I will admit to you there are funny things on there, it was a show I used to watch a lot. But watching it in this class, with a prof that I highly respected, I felt ashamed. The jokes and sight gags that were used, all of a sudden gave off nervous laughter. Why is that? Surely out of anyone that would be able to be at a place in his walk with God where this should be a non-issue, our prof, would be at that place, yet he would not fill his mind with those things.
6. FLEE!!
1 Corinthians 6:18, “Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body.”
1 Timothy 6:11, “But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness.”
2 Timothy 2:22, “Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.”
7. Don’t spend time focusing on these “outer sin” so much. I think the enemy loves to use this because we fail to deal with heart matters, and the roots of the sin because we focus so much on the externals. The more we foster our relationship with God, the more these things fail to have its pull that it once did.
8. Ask God to help you with your motives. When you feel the rising surge within your heart to lash out, or begin to incline itself towards evil, ask God in an honest way to help you overcome it. So much in the bible is talked about the heart and our motives. Ask God to help keep your motives clean.
Now I am going to be talking about “making every effort” in doing the work of God. For that lets take a brief look at Nehemiah. But before we do, I have yet another video clip to poke fun of our attitudes sometimes.
Nehemiah was called to a work. Nehemiah met with some of his kinsmen from Judah and asks them about the situation going on in Israel. Nehemiah is chapter 1:3 is told that, “The remnant there in the province who survived the captivity are in great distress and reproach, and the wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates are burned with fire.”
Nehemiah’s reaction? Verse 4, “When I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.” Nehemiah spent deep time with God, reminding God of what He had promised to Israel through their forefathers. Nehemiah is then able to being a rebuilding project through the king.
As you begin to read through Nehemiah, you watch the opposition Israel faced by a seemingly formidable enemy. Yet Nehemiah never quits. Instead he takes steps to protect the builders, protect the project that God had given to them to do, and continues on. Chapter 4 talks about the enemy pressing in really hard and trying to “frustrate their plans” and so they begin to pray and cry out to God. God responds by coming to their aid and (4:15), “God had frustrated their plan, then all of us returned to the wall, each one to his work.”
Not only that but you read about the conflicts within the congregation of Israel themselves, as the rich took advantage of the poor. Nehemiah’s response? He turns to the law and shows them their sin. They repent and continue on their work.
Their enemies continue to press in and because a physical attack did not work, they appeal to the lure of power, and deception about Nehemiah’s character. Nehemiah’s response? He continually gives it up to God, God in turn gives him discernment, and he sees through all their plots which fail miserably.
End result? God fights for them, He gives them discernment, and He also brings revival to the land. Nehemiah made every effort he could to preserver through intense opposition.
“Every effort” when it comes to sin:
1. Read Galatians 5:16-6:10. Dwell on them. Pray before you read it and after you read it.
2. Go into deep conversation with God and ask Him to reveal to you that which your heart naturally inclines towards and ask Him to change your heart.
3. Ask God what are those things that you fill your heart with that hinders your relationship with Him, and work towards fixing it. I am not saying that you throw away everything that is not labeled “Christian” or never go to another movie, unless of course He has asked you to do that. But as you watch T.V. and listen to your music, try to discern what God would tell you.
“Every effort” when it comes to God’s work:
1. First of all, find out what it is that God would have you do. Pray to God to give you His heart in your situation. Is it that you need to step out for Him more in your classroom? Do you need to be witnessing to your co-workers more? Is it getting involved with a ministry?
2. Read Nehemiah and watch closely his responses to opposition.
3. Expect opposition to come from outside forces and within. Take steps to protect yourself, a “trawl in one hand, and your sword by the other”, Nehemiah 4:9-23.
4. Pray, pray, pray, God blessed the efforts of Israel and Nehemiah because they feared God, Nehemiah 5:9, 15.
Fear of God: If I Obey
This part of the series was preached and prepared by Jeremy Jackson. Here is the link to his post.
Fear of God: Repentance and Forgiveness
Hey everyone,
I apologize for being away for so long. If anyone is interested in receiving the entire Fear of God series, email me at david@impactchurch.ca. Here are the last bits of the sermon.
Part IV: Repentance and Forgiveness
Caution: This is not a 3 step-program to intimacy with God. This is something that can help with your relationship with God. As I began to take over the duties as “prayer email guy”, I noticed that there was often a common email, “help to draw me into a closer relationship with God.” I believe that God outlines within the Bible how we can do this. Use these three things as a guide and a tool to help you understand how to come closer to God.
The first “step” in the chart has to do with repentance born out of a fear of God. I looked up in the thesaurus the other words for repent we have:
a. Regret
b. Be sorry
c. Apologize
d. Ask forgiveness
e. Feel sorrow
f. Be penitent
g. Atone
h. Be remorseful
These seem like rather strong words. What is it within us that make us want to repent to God? I feel as though we have these two sides, one that really wants to repent and walk with God, and the other side that says, well, we have screwed up way too much, why should God even care? It’s like we have the deep instinct that knows all we have to do is place our faith and our repentant to God and He will forgive, yet, there is also this survival mode that looks for any reason we can think of to not have to repent.
It reminds me a lot about the story of Adam and Eve. I have heard it said that in the story when it talks about them being ashamed because they were naked, that it was not just because they were physically naked, but because their sin was exposed. Think about that as we read this story.
Genesis 3:7-11, “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings. They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, ‘Where are you?’ He said, ‘I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.’ And He said, ‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?’”
Now I am not sure what exactly happened with the eating of the fruit. It seems to suggest that something psychologically, physically, and spiritually happened. The conversation continues as God pronounces judgment upon them and executes their “sentence”.
I want to kind of focus on Adam and Eve’s reactions. Something heralded God walking in the garden. Something told them God was there, they looked down at themselves and realized they had done exactly what He had told them not too. They were caught. Anyone been trapped in a lie, or in an act of sin? Do you remember the blood rush to your head as your face turns red with embarrassment at being caught? It seems I talk of from experience. I am.
I remember as a young child I was in piano lessons, most weeks I had theory homework to do, this week however, I had not done it. My friends house was right by my piano teachers house I went there for supper and then I was going to be heading home on my bike. I had not done the theory work, so I hid the book down the street in some bushes. But what I had forgotten about was the cheque that would pay for my lessons that month, was inside the theory book. For some reason it was really late when the lessons were over, my dad picked me up instead of me riding home and I did not have time to go back and get the book. I lied to my mom telling her that I lost the book at school; obviously upset she was going with me the next day to the school to find it. I finally admitted to her the next day, after a horrible night’s sleep, that I had hid the book because I had not done the theory homework. We went got the book, and the cheque was gone.
Did Adam and Eve take responsibility for what they did? Did they beg God for forgiveness? No, instead they shifted into survivor mode and placed the blame for their sin everywhere else. I wonder what would have happened if they had had David’s heart when after being caught in his sin with Bathsheba, immediately he recognized what he did, and begged God for forgiveness.
So how does repentance work with the fear of God? God loves a repentant heart. He looks and loves to forgive the repentant heart. I believe that for good reason this is the first part of the chart. It is the start of our relationship with God, but it is not a one time event, it is something we need to continually revisit. It continues on throughout our life.
In an effort to show how seriously God takes sin, I am going to look at the law a little bit and all the reasons why the sacrifices needed to be offered. In each case afterwards, God sets out specific instructions on how the animal was to be prepared in each case. I won’t get into that, it is the first part that I would like to focus on. I think this can help us realize why we should fear God as He pretty well covers a large gamut of sin in the lives of the Israelites.
Leviticus 4:2b-3, “‘If a person sins unintentionally in any of the things which the LORD has commanded not to be done, and commits and of them, if the anointed priest sins so as to bring guilt on the people, then let him offer to the Lord a bull without defect as a sin offering for the sin he has committed.’”
4:13-14, “‘Now if the whole congregation of Israel commits error and the matter escapes the notice of the assembly and they commit any of the things which the LORD has commanded them not to be done, and they become guilty; when the sin which they have committed becomes known, then the assembly shall offer a bull for the herd for a sin offering…’”
4:22-23, “‘When a leader sins and unintentionally does any one of all the things which the LORD his God has commanded not to be done, and he becomes guilty, if his sin which he has committed is made known to him…’”
4:27-28, “‘Now if anyone of the common people sins unintentionally in doing any of the things which the LORD has commanded not to be done, and becomes guilty, if his sin which he has committed is made known to him…’”
The law continues on in chapter 5 to deal with not witnessing in a public case that he knows the facts either good or bad, touching of dead carcasses, human “uncleanness”, making thoughtless oaths and becoming aware of them, that when
(verse 5), “he becomes guilty in one of these, that he shall confess that in which he has sinned.” Verse 15 of Chapter 5, “If a person acts unfaithfully and sins unintentionally against the LORD’s holy things…”…Now if a person sins and does any of the things which the LORD has commanded not to be done though he is unaware, still he is guilty and shall bear his punishment.’” He describes one more thing in chapter 6 and that is for a person he deals deceitfully in regards to monetary matters. He to is to make “restitution for it in full and add to it one-fifth more. He shall give it to the one whom it belongs on the day he presents his guilt offering.”
Now what does that tell me? Well, if you want to know what exactly the commands are, I encourage you to look through the law. Read through Exodus-Deuteronomy, you will find out some fascinating things about how much God truly did care for His people. This also tells me that God seemed to really understand the fact that we violate His principles whether we realize it or not. He makes provisions for people to repent from sins that they committed when they did not even realize they were committing those sins. God expects that when you sin that you would immediately go to make right what you have done and if you did not realize that you had committed the sin, and were made aware of it, then you would immediately confess and offer atonement. These statutes that I just cited, are for those who did not realize they were in sin, and then when it was brought to their knowledge, then they offered atonement for that sin.
I believe this whole sacrificial system shows us also of how to enter into relationship with Him. We cannot simply enter into relationship with Him based on our own merits. There are things happening within us, due to our very nature that we cannot enter into relationship with Him. We have already looked at examples of what happened when people were placed in God’s presence and experienced His glory. As a result we can see the importance of what Christ did on the cross, how He became the sacrifice for all those things that God required.
Moses emphasizes the importance of the law and loving God with everything within them. Deut. 6:5-6, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These, words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.”
Israel later discovered that it was not just a matter of doing the sacrifices and ensuring the proper method was followed, there was also a deeper issue that God looked at. There was a heart issue that God was deeply concerned about, He not only cares about the fact that they followed the proper procedure and offered sacrifice, but also that their hearts were in the sacrifices. Not that they did these things because it was simply their religion, or set of beliefs, but that they genuinely wanted to enter into relationship with Him. There is on particularly difficult passage that I really believe talk deeply of the “heart” of the sacrificer.
o Amos 5:21-27, “‘I hate, I reject your festivals, Nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them; And I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fatlings. ‘Take away from Me the noise of our songs; I will not even listen to the sound of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. Did you present Me with sacrifices and grain offerings in the wilderness for forty years, O house of Israel? You also carried along Sikkuth your king Kiyyun, your images, the star of your gods which you made for yourselves. Therefore, I will make you go into exile beyond Damascus,’ says the LORD, whose name is the God of hosts.”
I believe that God is addressing two things here:
1. He is dealing with repentance without action. They were doing things that God had prescribed through the law, but God was not blessing them because their motives were not in honour of God. God set up this system, so that they could be a nation that would actually be in a relationship with their God, and that through them, YHWH could reveal Himself to the entire world, so that YHWH could bless them, and the nations could actually see that!
2. They had other things on their minds. They were serving other gods while making sacrifices to Holy God. He, His name, His ways, was not truly feared in their hearts.
Where does this leave us today?
I believe that for us here today we can take away two things in regards to repentance:
1. There is our initial repentance that begins our journey with Christ. It is the exciting message that began with John the Baptist, a message that called for repentance. He started making these claims that he (John the Baptist), baptizes with water, but the one coming after was going to baptize people with the Holy Spirit. Then Jesus in Mark 1:15 says, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe the gospel.” Then throughout the gospels Jesus begins to call people to believe in Him, and to place their faith in Him. I encourage you to read Acts 3:11-26, it is titled “Peter’s Second Sermon”, it really stresses the importance of placing your faith and trust in Jesus as Lord and Saviour.
2. The one that I especially deal with is the ongoing repentance. Paul says something really incredible in 2 Corinthians 7:8-12, “For though I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it–for I see that that letter caused you sorrow, though only for a while–I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us. For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death. For behold what earnestness this very thing, this godly sorrow, has produced in you: what vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what avenging of wrong! In everything you demonstrated yourselves to be innocent in the matter.”
In the first two parts, we have looked at how the very nature of who God is causes a fear reaction from us that comes by very virtue of His glory, when He is even partly revealed it causes within us a true terror and fear. Yet we can discern through Scriptures that in spite of this, He still calls us to enter into relationship. We looked at the law and how God made provisions to atone and sacrifice for everything that would cause a hindrance to our relationship with Him. Once we have repented, we need to have the faith that God will forgive us! Fear for Him, motivates us to repentance, and repentance sown in faith brings us to His forgiveness which is born out of His love for us!
A careful study of the New Testament shows that Jesus has now become that sacrifice for us. If this is the case, think back to the laws for sacrifice. Were they able to make these atonements once in their life and never worry about it again? No, God prescribed when they were to make these sacrifices and it was to happen on an ongoing annual basis. Now that Jesus is our sacrifice we claim Him as our atonement for all those different things that we looked at in the beginning of the service.
Based on what we have talked about I would like to offer a few things to bear in mind:
1. Have a read through Leviticus 4-6, incorporate it into your prayer life, and use is it as a confession, or a repentance guide. God made provisions for atonement for those kinds of sin, ask God to bring to mind times that we have committed sins that would fall under some of those categories.
· To give an example of this, I had a bit of a lesson in this when I was trying to quite smoking. I had just rededicated my life and service to God, and was trying to quit. There were so many times where I would take the pack in frustration and was just like, “God I promise that was the last one!” Well the initial excitement of my new walk with God had worn off, and I felt like I had hit a wall with my walk with God. I could not figure out why. I prayed and asked God why, He laid it on my heart that all the times that I had said, “I promise God”, “I swear to God”, and I had not followed through, in particular with my many vows to quit smoking. I earnestly asked God to forgive all the oaths that I had made and not followed through on, or made carelessly, and I kid you not, I felt peace, and a huge sense of relief. Now before you all think I am crazy, Leviticus 5:4-5, “Or if a person swears thoughtlessly with his lips to do evil or to do good, in whatever matter a man may speak thoughtlessly with an oath, and it is hidden from him, and then he comes to know it, he will be guilty in one of these. So is shall be when he becomes guilty in one of these, that he shall confess that in which he has sinned.”
2. Check your motives and your heart. God is clear over and over again about what He really looks for, is a contrite heart as people enter into relationship with Him. If you are at a point here at church, at home, or anytime that it would just be lip service and the right thing to do, take time to stop and ask God to reveal to help check your motives in prayer and in bible study. What can help your motives to become proper is sowing your repentance with faith, faith that God will forgive.
· Psalms 51:16-17, “For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.” And Isaiah 57:15, “For thus says the high and exalted One Who lives forever, whose name is Holy, ‘I dwell on a high and holy place, And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit In order to revive the spirit of the lowly And to revive the heart of the contrite. For I will not contend forever, Nor will I always be angry; For the spirit would grow faint before Me, And the breath of those whom I have made.’”
3. Sorrow, guilt, things that seem to follow sin, in particular habitual sin, according to what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians, is an important part of change on the part of believers. Do not let it kill you, be genuine in your repentance, and allow it to motivate change.
4. My last point, stop dwelling on it, if you have sown your repentance and asked for your atonement, believe that because of God’s love, it is gone! That is the scandal of grace. God has been with us from the beginning, and has seen every possible sin. Yours isn’t particularly special, unique or shocking to God. God has forgiven you!!
I will leave you with this verse, Psalm 103:11-13, “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. Just as a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.”
Fear of God Chart
This is the chart that we showed in the middle of the series. We took four weeks to really explore what these things could mean, and how this could be practically displayed in our lives. This was taken from my Spiritual Formation class with Karl Hinderager. I am not sure where he got it.
Soldier Imagery
I was walking down Sherbrooke yesterday and had a few thoughts running through my head.
I had just had yet again another struggle and fight with the carnality of my mind, I do believe the Holy Spirit was desperately trying to give me a way out, but I refused to take it (1 Corinthians 10:13). I became angry and ashamed of myself. Did I not just preach about the Fear of God? As images began to come into my head, the question running throughout the entire ordeal was, do you not have the fear of God in you? I have never had that question come into my head before when dealing with habitual sin patterns.
I along with every believer who has read Paul’s writings can completely agree with his statement, “For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.” (Romans 7:15) So, feeling incredibly hypocritical, angry, and not really sure what to do, I decided to return a movie Jeannie and I rented from Blockbuster. I had a rather interesting thought. I looked up.
I know this does not sound significant, but I decided to keep my head straight up, and look directly in front of me, not looking to the ground, or the side, but up. This revealed to me two things, I could not help but have the verse in Hebrews 12:2 about fixing our eyes on Christ. As I was walking, I realized that I could walk forward completely confident. My normal walking gaze has me looking at the sidewalk. I end up having to do this sort of walking dance around people, almost bumping into them, objects, etc. I found that looking up I could already compensate for people walking towards me, and for more sharper and aware of things around me.
I found too that I was completely less distracted. Here in Montreal, there are many questionable billboards, and advertisements on phone booths, and I found that by looking up, and watching where I was going to, I was less prone to those sorts of distractions. Even when I was on Ste. Catherine’s, it was far easier to not allow my eyes to wander to the nudie shops, and sex stores that are so prevalent on that street.
I also had “health” benefits, my whole life I have had terribly posture, this all of a sudden forced my “BACK IN, CHEST OUT, SHOULDERS BACK EVERYWHERE!” I say it like this because I had another thought. I was reminded all of a sudden of being back on basic training. Learning to march. The Bible uses a lot of soldier imagery. After spending 9 years with the Canadian military I am understanding why.
Marching in step at the Old Port Canada Day
Besides the obvious of “fighting the good fight”, “war” and “battles” that is often used to describe Christian life. I had a different glimpse in something as simple as marching. Marching is probably one of the funniest, frustrating things to learn in drill. It really is a simple skill. It is merely exaggerated walking. Your hands are clenched in a fist, your arms swing up (no bends in the elbow) to your chest, when the right hand moves forward, your left foot moves forward, and visa versa. This is just a natural way to walk. It really is not difficult, yet, at the same time, add to the mix, trying to keep in step with everyone else, and people yelling at you, makes it a difficult skill to learn. Often recruits, (myself included) do what’s called “bear marching”, which when you are staff on a course, is hilarious to watch. What happens is your right hand and your right foot both move forward at the same time. It is completely unnatural, and the instructors delight in letting you know how unnatural it is.
What does this have to do with Christianity? A whole lot. When you watch a troop, squadron, regiment (what can I say, I am Armoured!), or any size of soldiers march, and nothing is more sharp then when they are completely in step and moving as one. This is accomplished, NOT by looking at the feet of the person in front of you, which is the natural tendency. When you watch the feet, you will always be out of step. To remain in step, you look straight ahead, watching the shoulders of the person in front of you, and timing your arms with theirs. Your feet will naturally fall in step. You exaggerate the left step. So you get this swish (hands on the pants), click (light right step), boom (left foot exaggerated). In a good march, the high ranks do not need to call out “left, right, left, right”, you can hear it, and you just know.
You also learn on basic training to listen for commands, this is especially unnerving if you are in the front rank, and a wall is coming up. You keep going forward, and you do not turn to the left or the right unless you are told to. You keep moving forward, until told to change direction. In the case you run into the wall, you mark time, but you do not stop. You do not move out of the way of mud puddles you walk straight through them, you do not move for snow, you have to trust your drill commander.
What does this have to do with what I was talking about at the beginning, habitual sin, and the Christian life? A couple things, when we keep our heads straight forward, we can anticipate the obstacles and obstructions. Focusing on Christ can help us with that, not looking right or left, we keep our eyes on Christ. Sometimes we are called to follow and walk in step behind Christ, if we do not look at His feet, and instead keep our eyes up, and follow His shoulders, and listen to His steps, we will be able to keep up, and not get our feet tripped up.
Sometimes we walk straight ahead, and we are about to walking into a wall. We keep moving forward wondering if the person calling out the commands notices the wall. We dare not slow down, we may have not been told to, we dare not move to the right or the left, because we have not been told to. Instead we keep moving forward waiting for the command to come, we either mark time and wait, or the command comes to “right or left wheel” around the wall. Either way, we have to wait and have trust in the “drill instructor”.
What did this do for me? It made me realize that I stopped listening to “drill instructor” and was trying to move on my own. Instead of keeping my head up and watching the shoulders, I put my eyes down to keep in step, and it made me trip up. I also panicked and tried to move on my own around the “obstacle” instead of allowing the one calling out the “commands” to safely move me around the obstacle.
Hebrew 12:1-3, “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”
Fear of God Part Deux
Continuing on the series from the last blog, fear, fear of God. We looked at examples of the OT of people experiencing fear in the presence of God. There were examples of them being terrified that they had seen God. There was something inherent about God that caused them to fear. The command, “not to fear” always preceded, God somehow choose to reveal Himself in a way that caused them to tremble, and fear for their lives, and yet in such a way that they did not die. Their worldview told them that they should die. It seems clear from Scriptures that God allows them to think that, and allows them to have that view of Him.
New Testament:
What does this have to do with the NT? Don’t we live in a new covenant of love and peace and hope? Surely this real fear has nothing to do with our relationship with God now, can we not still call Him friend? I would like to spend this service really exploring fear of God within the New Testament.
Angels:
I find it really interesting that characters in the New Testament are terrified of angels. In nearly every case, when angels appear to people they have to be reminded not to fear them.
Zacharias is visited by an angel in Luke 1:11-13, “And an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar of incense.” Pause there for a second, what sorts of stories do you suppose is going through Zacharias’s mind? Think Nadab and Abihu, and other stories of people being consumed in fire. “Zacharias was troubled when he saw the angel, and fear gripped him. But the angel said to him, ‘Do not be afraid, Zacharias…’”
Mary is also commanded not to fear when she receives news of the child she is to bear, Luke 1:30
The shepherds in the fields, Luke 2:9-10, “And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid…” and then tells them of Jesus being born.
Roman centurions saw the “angel of the Lord” who announced that Jesus was alive and rolled away the tomb, Matthew 28:2-4, “And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men.” When the women show up, the angel tells them not to fear.
To be fair, there are a couple of occasions where an angel made an appearance and there was no fear recorded. Twice one showed up to release Peter from prison (Acts 5 and Acts 12), and to give direction to Phillip Acts 8. My theory about this is because there was urgency, and the angel had probably veiled himself from Peter to help to release him from prison. If you notice in Acts 12:11, “When Peter came to himself, he said, ‘Now I know for sure that the Lord has sent forth His angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.’” Notice “Peter came to himself” there was something about the way he was woken up and led that he did not even realize what was going on.
John in his vision in the Revelation 19:9-10, “Then he (referring to an angel) said to me, ‘Write, “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the lamb.”‘ And he said to me, ‘These are true words of God.’ Then I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, ‘Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus; worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.’” It seems to me that it was the announcement that the angel was carrying the true word of God that caused John to fall down to worship. What a curious act.
Jesus
Reaction from Demons:
Jesus at the Gadarenes in Matthew 8:29 (Cf. Mark 5:6-7; Luke 8:28 ) say to Jesus, “What business do we have with each other, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?” Mark 1:23-24, “Just then there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, saying, ‘What business do we have with each other, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are-the Holy One of God!’”
Even after Jesus “left” in Acts 19:13-17, we have this story where these exorcists tried to use Jesus’ name for their advantage, the demons knew there was something wrong with their motives, and they were beat up. After this incident the writer of Acts writes in verse 17, “This became known to all, both Jews and Greeks, who lived in Ephesus; and fear fell upon them all and the name of the Lord Jesus was being magnified.”
From Others
When Jesus raised the dead son of a widow Luke 7:14-16, “And He came up and touched the coffin; and the bearers came to a halt. And He said, ‘Young man, I say to you, arise!’ The dead man sat up and began to speak. And Jesus gave him back to his mother. Fear gripped them all, and they began glorifying God, saying, ‘A great prophet has arisen among us!’ and, ‘God has visited His people!’”
Roman centurions: the one present at Jesus’ death, Matthew 27:54 (Cf. Mark 15:39; Luke 23:47), “Now the centurion, and those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the things that were happening, became very frightened and said, ‘Truly this was the Son of God!’” The ones at His tomb, Matthew 28:2-4, “And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men.”
Reaction from Disciples and His followers:
Jesus walking on water Matthew 14:25-33 (Cf. Mark 6:45-52; John 6:16-21), although that was born out of the fact that a figure was walking on the water, I would imagine that I would be rather frightened to see someone walking towards me on water. In a similar story, when Jesus calms the sea with His words, Mark 4:40-41 (Cf. Luke 8:22-25), “And He said to them, ‘Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?’ They became very much afraid and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?’”
The transfiguration, Matthew 17:1-13 (Cf. Mark 9:2-13, Luke 9:28-36), particularly verses 5-6, “While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud said, ‘This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!’ When the disciples heard this, they fell face down to the ground and were terrified.”
- The women when after He was raised from the dead, Matthew 28:8-10 (Cf. 16:1-8), “And they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to report it to His disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him. Then Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; go and take word to My brethren to leave for Galilee, and there they will see Me.’”
- Peter: When Jesus tells them where to cast their nets, and their nets became full Peter’s reaction in Luke 5:8-9 was, “But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, “‘Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!’ For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken…”
- In my minds one of the most significant displays of fear of Jesus comes from John in his Revelation. Understand that was one of Jesus’ closest friends, John had seen Jesus at the Transfiguration, and had seen Him at His ascension (Acts 1:9-13). Listen to what it says in Revelation 1:12-18, “Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands; and in the middle of the lampstands I saw one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His chest with a golden sash. His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters. In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength. When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man and He placed His right hand on me, saying, ‘Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.’”
Theological Considerations:
Looking at the reaction from people in regards to angels who have spent time in God’s presence indicates that there is something in just the very presence that requires a commandment to “fear not”. This is outside of realizing what God is capable of, who He is, there is something about His very nature that translates to those who spend time with Him. I believe that this would be the fact that they are in God’s glory, and they carry God’s glory with them, as Gabriel at least gives reference to the fact that he came directly from the throne of God to deliver the message Luke 1:19.
Remember too, that after Moses came from being directly with God, that he shone to the point that he had to hide himself because the people were too afraid of him. John’s reaction to the announcement that the angel was carrying the “true words of God” really lends an almost scary precedent to our handling of the Scripture which we contend to be the divinely inspired Word of God.
Judging from the reaction of the demons, I have a couple of heavy conclusions. It is not something that is easy to say, I believe it hurts God’s heart, and should hurt our hearts as well. We somehow have come to this “Little Nicky” idea of hell. As though somehow even demons are capable of grace, or the devil reigns in hell, or demons will be the tormentors. This is not what those passages tell me, I believe that these ideas of hell are heresy.
We are not to use Jesus’ name lightly. There seems to be this idea in the story of the seven sons of Sceva that they understand the attitude behind those that invoke the name of Jesus. (Changed from sermon) They were not walking with the Holy Spirit therefore, the demonic realm was able to understand that these sons of Sceva did not have the authority granted from invoking the name of Jesus.
I think we can conclude that, the demonic world is petrified of what is to come. I certainly do not believe that their motto is, “Better to reign in hell than serve in heav’n.” (John Milton) They are not yet “in hell”, hell is a judgment yet to come that the demonic realm is completely fearful of. As such, what does this do for your understanding of hell?
I think we can also conclude that Jesus is going to be the judge. Consider John the Baptists words, “…He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather his wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” (Matthew 3:11b-12). Continually when you look at Jesus’ own parables, and His own claims, He asserts that He will be judge. Revelation talks a great deal about Jesus executing judgment, throughout the gospels you can read about how Jesus is going to judge. If looking into Jesus as judge in Revelation is something that you want to explore, Chuck Swindol did an excellent series on Revelation.
I want to state here, that this is not Jesus’ desire, He does not desire this end for anyone, and neither do I. It is simply the fact of the matter. Consider Matthew 23:37, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.” (Cf. Luke 13:34)
Hear also the heart of God, Ezekiel 33:11, “‘Say to them, “As I live!” declares the Lord GOD, “I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live turn back, turn back from your evil ways! Why then will you die, O house of Israel?”‘” and Jeremiah 9:23-25, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,’ declares the LORD. ‘Behold, the days are coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘that I will punish all who are circumcised and yet uncircumcised…’”
The God we serve is a compassionate and loving God, who desires to give life and life abundantly but make no mistake, this does not mean that He won’t execute judgment. I believe Scriptures are very incredibly clear, if God says something will happen, and that He will do something, He will follow through with it.
As for the fear that was shown through the disciples and His followers, I believe that we can use this as a call to take very seriously the life and path you have chosen. This God we follow is God that by very nature causes us to tremble and fear. His closest friends, when the identity of who Jesus actually was and is, caused them to fear for their lives.
Practical Application:
I struggle with this portion. I struggle with it because I don’t practice it. I like the theory, I love the theology behind it, I love what it represents and talks about. I love searching the Scriptures about the what’s and who’s, but not the why’s.
So here we go, the only entity on this earth that is worth our fear is God, before future plans, money, people, ideology, governments, perceived and actual fear. The only thing in this universe that can actually do anything to us that is significant, is God. That’s why throughout Scriptures, in the wisdom literature, and in the prophets, it tries to stress that “the fear of the LORD the beginning of wisdom”. It should be the starting point of the recognition that God rules controls and is a part of everything. Imagine this God that says in Job, that He told the oceans where to go, this far and no further, placed the stars in the sky, called and formed the world by His very voice, wants and desires to be in relationship with us.
The fear of God should make us seriously consider our faith. This is not a movement or something we are a part of because it makes us feel better. It is something that we are a part of because it motivates us to make change. It motivates us to serve God with everything that we can. It gives us a tangible and real reason to devote ourselves to God.
It should motivate us to rely on God to remove our sins, and make us take into serious consideration how we worship and approach God. Imagine how motivated we would be to check our hearts attitude, our minds thought patterns during worship of Him, both during musical worship, in fellowship, in teaching times, and any other times in our lives we seek to glorify God.
It allows us take think seriously the commands of Scripture. It will begin to change your speech patters, thought patterns, even your joking. If we lived in the fear of God, think of the verse in Ephesians 5:4, “and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.” I will admit failure in this area.
Lastly, it gives us the freedom and boldness to stand and live for Him. If the only fear you have in your life is placed in God, what does this embolden you to do?
Fear of God
Fear… is an interesting emotion and is powerful in it’s potency. This Sunday we are going to be talking about how Old Testament believers and writings deal with the “fear of God” and next Sunday we will explore about the implications for New Testament and new covenant believers.
Wikipedia says that, “Fear can be distinguished into serious fear, metus gravis, and trifling fear, metus levis. Serious fear grows out of the discernment of some formidable impending peril. Trifling fear is that which arises from being confronted with harm of inconsiderable dimensions, or, at any rate of whose happening there is only a slender likelihood.” In other words I believe this is talking about a rational and an irrational fear.
Sometimes we play with fear, especially those of us with siblings. We have this “rational/irrational” fear. But growing up we used to try to scare each other all the time. Our TV was in the basement, and so our family would sit around and watch TV it inevitably came to that time of the night when we were told to go to bed. Sometimes we could sense when that was coming, and it was almost always a game to be the first one up to hide, and jump out and scare the other. There was anticipation as one of us (sometimes me, sometimes him) would creep down the dark hallway waiting for the big scare. Sometimes the tension was far too much for me to handle that I would race down the hallway into my room and thus surprise him, or make it easier. This is more of a rational fear. You know something is about to happen. It’s this fear that we like to play with. The surprise fear, the ones that make us chew our fingernails during a movie in anticipation of the bad guy jumping out from the closet.
The other “irrational fear” is something that I personally know really well. I have always had a very vivid imagination. It did not take long at all for me by the power of someone’s suggestion for my imagination to come up with what they were talking about. I remember in grade 2 the bloody Mary “trick” and everyone talking about it, had me petrified to be anywhere near a bathroom mirror in the dark. Even now it creeps me out to be in the bathroom in the total dark.
I only really have two irrational fears, that I overcome when I need to. That is Arachnophobia and Acrophobia, that is the fear of spiders and heights. Spiders just creep me out and they can bite you. I will kill them if I must, but I prefer not too. Heights however, probably have a far stronger grip on me. One time I remember skiing at Sunshine Village in the Rockies. You have to take the gondola up to get to the mountains that you can ski on. Halfway up, the gondola stops. I was fine as long as it was moving, but it just stops. Hanging in midair, Extremely high up. My dear loving brother apparently did not realize that we had stopped our competition of “scaring the other” as he started to shift side to side to make the car rock. I started to imagine the massive wire slowly start to snap and come apart. For ten minutes (seemed like eternity), the car finally started moving, and I didn’t die.
Both of those fears at various times in my life, I have confronted and faced numerous times. I have gone rappelling off a simulated helicopter skid, and side of a tower that was rated above the point of fear of heights. I have stood at the edge of cliffs, jumped off high diving boards, conquered and killed many spiders, and even stared in amazement as they ate their prey (prey that I threw in their web), even touched the leg of a tarantula.
There are hundreds of phobias, I found a list and you can find literally anything. Some of the things on that list literally blow me away, and I can not understand it at all. There are phobias handwriting, balloons, gravity, moon, mother-in-laws (completely rational if you ask me!), moon, stars etc.
Fear Quotes:
“All of us are born with a set of instinctive fears–of falling, of the dark, of lobsters, of falling on lobsters in the dark, or speaking before a Rotary Club, and of the words “Some Assembly Required.”
-Dave Barry-
“Am I afraid of high notes? Of course I am afraid. What sane man is not?”
-Luciano Pavarotti-
“Ultimately we know deeply that the other side of every fear is a freedom.”
-Marilyn Ferguson-
“What we fear comes to pass more speedily than what we hope.”
-Publilius Syrus - Moral Sayings (1st C B.C.)-
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments; His praise endures forever.”
-Psalms 111:10 (Cf. Job 28:28; Prov. 1:7; 9:10; 15:33 Is. 33:6; Micah 6:9)-
What does this have to do with the fear of God?
I think sometimes we read the Old Testament and read the fear of God and we read it as though this too is irrational, or we even read it as a “reverential awe”, albeit a deep “reverential awe” but it sort of stops there. This is how the word is translated and I believe that there are times when that helps with understanding, but as we explore, I believe we can come to the conclusion that it is infinitely more.
We read the New Testament and read things like Hebrews 4:16, “Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” We overemphasize this as the way to worship God and create this “buddy Jesus” image. I believe however, there is that grace but it needs to be held in tension with the realization of who God is. We read that into the Old Testament stories, and indeed the merciful, loving God of today is the merciful, loving God of yesterday.
We forget sometimes that Jesus calls us to place the fear in something very real threat in Matthew 10:28, “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
In this blog, I would like to focus on what OT believers would have believed about the fear of God. The reason is, it comes first, and another reason is, all of a New Testament believers framework, theology and understanding of God would come from a deep knowledge of the OT, it was the only Scriptures they had. Because we have both, we tend to start from the end, and read everything into the Old. But there were a couple of things that we need to bare in mind with the writings of the Old Testament that we will take this service to explore.
The first things has to do with the worldview of the ancient person. The ancient person, no matter the religion, believed that the gods were intimately connected with everything that happened in their life. There was good reason to fear the gods, they controlled everything, weather, crops, childbearing, outcomes of military campaigns. A simple glimpse, and I admit, this is based of the very simple glimpse that I have had, nothing extensive, into the ancient Mesopotamian religions shows how much they believed the gods to be a part of their world.
This is why God was so adamant about Israel fearing only Him. This worldview covered the structure of their whole lives. Probably one of the most important passages in the OT Law, Deuteronomy 6, God emphasizes and stresses the importance of fearing only God and it is my belief that this is because of how much this worldview structured their lives. God in the law gave them the method of how to worship and fear Him.
Deut. 6:13, “You shall fear only the LORD your God; and you shall worship Him and swear by His name. You shall not follow other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who surround you, for the LORD your God in the midst of you is a jealous God; otherwise the anger of the LORD your God will be kindled against you, and He will wipe you off the face of the earth.”
Deut. 6:24-25, talks about confronting the worldview about the control and the importance for having fear of God, “So the LORD commanded us to observe all these statues, to fear the LORD our God for our good always and for our survival, as it is today. It will be righteousness for us if we are careful to observe all this commandment before the LORD our God, just as He commanded us.”
I think it could be argued that in this way we can gain a “reverential awe” that deep devotion of worship of ensuring that you obey so your life goes well. I think this is very easy for us to understand. It makes sense for us to devote our lives to obedience and recognize the importance of reliance on God and the forsaking of “other gods.”
There were a number of examples of this fear of God, motivating people to serve God, Abraham is described as fearing God, Joseph says that he fears God, the midwives who saved Israelite babies were described as fearing God, Job, and other leaders were judged on their merit of being righteous based on where their fear laid, in God or other gods.
Is that it? Is that as far as it goes? I don’t think so. I think if it stopped there, there would be no difference in the religions. A person could just be more devoted to following the rules better and if things didn’t go well, well, I suppose we just didn’t worship properly or hard enough. If things went well, then we worshiped God well. Why did God demand fear for His Holy name? Because it was not just a means of changing a whole worldview, it was also a what happened when He revealed Himself.
There is within the OT fascinating accounts of people meeting and talking with God. In nearly every encounter with God the commandment is “Do not fear”. Why? What is it about God that inspires fear? I’ll be honest with you, I am not completely sure, there have only one time when I felt complete fear during worship of God. But certainly not to the level that is recorded in the OT.
The first story I will begin with has to do with Moses. Part of the reason why the fear of God is more then a reverential awe, is because of the complete holiness of God.
Think of it, you have just experienced and witnessed plagues to a terrible nature that devastated Egypt, they have witness destruction of an entire army. Now as Moses is receiving the Law, God appears in thunder and lightening, smoke and fire, people cannot cross a certain point or else they will die. The elders and the people had no desire to go talk with God and were perfectly happy to allow Moses to talk with God because they were so fearful of Him. God warned them that they would die, if they were to come up and cross the boundaries that He set (Ex. 19:18-25).
God sets up the whole structure of how He is to be worshipped (in the tabernacle, how it was to be set-up, taken care of, and how they were to camp around it), how He is to be enquired of in every way, rules for conquering, nearly every aspect of life, God covers. Moses is gone for 40 days and already the people are breaking the commandments, worship of a golden calf. God tells Moses that He wants to destroy the whole nation and start again with Moses, (it was only because of Moses entreaty that He did not destroy the whole nation Ex. 32:11-14). There is this interesting narrative of Moses having to intercede for the nation. Would God actually destroy them? I don’t know. Is He capable of it? Absolutely. Also, every time Moses went before the Lord, he would come back glowing and had to wear a veil, because it frightened everyone around him.
There is the story of Nadab and Abihu in Lev. 10. All that is said is that they “offered strange fire before the LORD which He had not commanded.” God consumed them with fire. Now consider this, Numbers 11, people complain, and God sends out a fire that kills them. If you look through the whole narrative of Israel within the desert you will find many times that God punishes them in real tangible ways. This begs the question, why did they continue in this cycle when they had tangible methods of punishment? I’ll be honest. I don’t really know. There were harsh punishments. Brutal deaths, leprosy, snakes, earth swallowing people, fire consuming them from the very sanctuary of the tabernacle. When you read through Revelation we have a picture of the exact same cyclical behaviour, through intense judgments and harsh times, people still refuse to acknowledge God as the one ultimately in control.
Now continuing on through the OT, I want to look briefly at Rahab. She talks to the spies of, “terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land have melted away before you.” (Josh 2:9) She talks about this fear, and it seems logical to me to assume that she also feared. Notice, Josh 2:11, “When we heard it, our hearts melted and no courage remained in any man any longer because of you; for the LORD your God, He is the God in heaven above and on earth beneath.” She asks for safety and she is granted it. She talks of this intense fear that motivates her to risk her life in saving the spies and sheltering them, and it motivates her to acknowledge God.
Now I just would like to show you some people who have feared for their lives when they realize that they have “seen” God. Gideon Judges 6:22, “Alas, O LORD GOD! For now I have seen the angel of the LORD and face to face.” Samson’s parents had an encounter with the “angel of the LORD” in Judges 13, and when they realized who he was, they began to tremble and thought they were to die. When God talks to Job, He talks to Him in such a manner that commands respect. He talks of having complete control of the universe. Job’s reply has a sort of sinking feeling to it, a deep apology. In Isaiah 6, Isaiah’s response is such that he feels ruined for having seen God (Is. 6:5), Ezekiel falls on his face before God when he seems Him in a vision (Ezekiel 1:28), Daniel has a vision that not only terrifies him, but the other “seers” around him, so much so that Daniel has an adverse reaction that causes him to faint, and “sleep” (Daniel 10), the sailors that were with Jonah once they saw who controlled the storm, they, “feared the LORD greatly” (Jonah 1:15-16).
So what?
In every case with exception of Samson’s parents and the sailors in the Jonah story, God allowed these people to experience that terrifying fear first. That fear and recognition that says, I should be dead. There is no reason why I am alive right now. How many people have been in accidents, or situations where it was only afterwards, that you started to shake when you realized how close you actually were to dying? I had that experience when I had my car crash two years ago. At first I was just mad that my car wasn’t able to go anywhere, and I had no idea what to do. But as I started to look around, when I realized how close I was to a major bridge and river, how steep the ditch was, and all the things that could have happened, I really began to shake. When God hid His appearance to people, and later they realized who it was, I believe it was that same reaction.
The cases when they actually saw God for who He was in visions, there was a literally petrified, a feeling of terror, not reverential awe. We experience reverential awe when we look at creation, when we look at amazing church buildings, when we see and incredible sunset, the power of a storm, the prairie night sky lit up from stars and northern lights, when we see the works of God, we have a reverential awe for Him. I firmly believe that the precedence set forth from Scriptures is when people are actually in the presence of God it is somehow more then reverential awe.
Jesus is discovered
Ok, so I know, what can I possibly contribute to the internet world, when all around people have weighed in on the whole James Cameron documentary that is airing on the Discovery Channel this Sunday. I have no intention on regurgitating all the arguments that have been presented, (although I am quite impressed with Fox’s coverage of the whole documentary and also Time’s coverage). A great many people far more educated and a whole heck of a lot smarter can argue back and forth why it is right or wrong, then can argue the litrary, historical reasons for why this can or cannot be. The thing that I wanted to address was the theological considerations presented by Discovery, and specifically the second one.
Ascension: It is also a matter of Christian faith that after his resurrection, Jesus ascended to heaven. Some Christians believe that this was a spiritual ascension, i.e., his mortal remains were left behind. Other Christians believe that he ascended with his body to heaven. If Jesus’ mortal remains have been found, this would contradict the idea of a physical ascension but not the idea of a spiritual ascension. The latter is consistent with Christian theology.
This to me is blatant heresy. Jesus’ resurrection simply cannot be merely “spiritual”. It seems at first glance to be a comfortable assertion and an easy reaction to the supposed “discovery” of Jesus’ bones. Where in lies the power of the resurrection if it was merely spiritual? Wherein lies the power over death and sin?
Luke 24, speaks to this directly. At the beginning of the chapter, the women come to tomb to prepare the body for burial. The tomb was empty, the stone was rolled away. An angel stood before them telling them that Jesus was not there, He had risen! They told the apostles, they were in complete disbelief until they came to the tomb as well, and lo and behold, empty, vs. 12, “But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings only; and he went away to his home, marveling at what had happened.”
Later on he appears on the road to Emmaus and the travellers were buzzing about the news that the body was gone. Jesus asserts in verses 25-26 that He had to suffer and had to rise again to fulfill the prophecy of the OT. Then Jesus exhorts His followers when He appears to them later to touch His hands and His feet to see that it was flesh and bones and not merely spirit. His reason comes later on in verse 46-47, “and He said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.’”
Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 talks in great length about the resurrection. Note in particular, 1 Cor. 15:12-19,
Now if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most pitied.
In other words, if Christ has not been resurrected from the dead, physically, then we are wasting our time. The whole reason for our faith, and striving to live according to biblical princepals are a waste of time.
Did anyone watch the documentary? Thoughts?
Visions of heaven
Scary title eh? I just finished listening to a Bill Gaither song. I know I know, putting a title like “visions of heaven”, and then talk about having listened to a Bill Gaither song, seems completely mix matched given my age and demographic. Yet, I stand by it. The particular song that I listened to was a medley of Amazing Grace/Old Rugged Cross/Because He Lives/Revive/How Great Thou Art, an incredible line-up of powerful hymns of glory. I am not afraid to say it, it brought me to tears.
I was imagining what it would be like to be in a choir with millions of people singing in worship of God, with God right there. Picture it for a moment. We are in this incredible place of heaven where the glory of God is the sun, we can stand and be in this presence because we are now in heaven and the fetters of sin no longer veils us from seeing God. Now imagine thousands of tenor 1’s and 2’s, soprano’s, alto’s, the in between bass and tenor guys, and basses. Not to mention the incredible array of instruments, all singing of God’s incredible glory, with God right there, along with all those who are dancers being in front of us, all the musicians from the dawn of time till the end of time!
I find that I am an incredible imaginative person, the pictures in my mind can be really powerful, to the point where I question whether or not it is my imagination or a “vision”. I have been moved to strong emotions through what I have visualized. My favourite is the picture of worship in heaven. I know that it will be beyond what I can even think to conjure up in my mind. What sorts of colours, how much better will our natural talents be, what sort of clarity will we have unhindered by sin? What will our excitment be like, what will our emotions feel like? What will it be like to feel the only kind of fear that is acceptable for a Christian, that is the fear of God? Conversely, what will it be like to experience pure joy and happiness?
I cannot wait to see how much more our talents and passions will come alive when we get to heaven. I want everyone I know to be with me in heaven. I know it’s selfish. I cannot wait to see how God will use us, what place He has for us in heaven.
Blessings,
David
The Question of Sexual Purity
Finding myself in a relationship, the question of purity is something that has come across my mind more then once. There was a point in time in my life, where I was completely selfish and lived with complete disregard for those I was involved with, and also for myself. I craved the desires of my flesh. I lived for the moment. Even when I dated a Christian girl a number of years ago, I still did not think too much about “honouring” her, or approaching her as a “sister in Christ”.
Now finding myself in a serious relationship, I find that there is a huge struggle and battle between seeking to honour her and God, and seeking to please my flesh. Not even necessarily physically but mentally as well. This past weekend at our retreat we looked at Ephesians 5, and a particular verse kind of hits me, its verse 3, “But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints…” The NIV puts it, “But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people.” Not even a hint. Not be named.
I have read a number of different articles, talked to a bunch of people about what “boundaries” mean, entail, and what they should be. Yet this has been an extremely frustrating task. It tends to be with people who are married who say, “we probably went to far dating, we probably shouldn’t have done what we did…” and then leave it at that. What does that mean? What does that entail?
Part of me really rebels against the thought or idea of setting a “boundary” or physical limitation, mainly because, we have a natural tendency to want to get as close to the line or edge as we can. The thought of making a “rule” of “no kissing” seems archaic, and ridiculous, but we have come to discover, that perhaps this is the best way we can help keep the commandment to not allow “impurity” to “not even be named” between us, (much to our chagrin).
The thing that really strikes me about purity within a relationship, is that my honouring her, involves me holding back. Is that not a crazy thought? We look at movies, and tv shows, and they decide that relationships and people who decide to “wait” or hold back physically, tend to be portrayed as “prudish”, completely out of touch of the feelings of their significant other and really selfish in that they only care about their values and not about the other person.
The deeper my relationship has developed, the more completely selfish and completely conceited that whole idea is becoming to me. Even relationships that will last a year without physical intimacy, at least according to Hollywood, “proves” the devotion of the other person, and the person holding out should get over it and give in. I have noticed, that “holding out” is shown as noble at first, but then that sort of value clouds their vision and becomes a sort of “crutch”. What a lie! We look so much for intimacy and the long lasting love, but it gets so clouded by the immediate desire of our own flesh.
One statement that has been running through my head lately, was “do not arouse love until it is awakened.” (I heard it in a sermon, and found it in Song of Solomon, and I am not sure it necessarily applies, so I am unsure of the exact biblical reference, it is in Song of Solomon 8:4). This makes me really think about applying that to physical cravings, satisfying those cravings, simply need to come within the confines of a marriage relationship.
I want to fight this, I want to say this cannot be, what is wrong with showing physical expressions of “love”? The problem with it is that it, is that somewhere along the line, it has to be stopped. I would never presume to tell people where they need to draw that line. I resisted wanting to draw the line and say no kissing, but it became harder and harder to gain clarity. One of the things that we enjoy the most is spending time in prayer and reading the bible. I found that I could not participate in those types of activities when my mind was “clouded” by physical actions that just happened.
By many standards, even Christian standards, we never crossed the line. We have strived hard to maintain an open dialouge with “how far is too far”, things that happen physiologically, and mentally and this open communication has helped a great deal. If something has made either of us feel uncomfortable or we may be moving in a direction that is no longer honouring God, then we talk about it. We have also been discovering that as much as we would like to resist, making those hard “archaic” rules that perhaps this is the best thing for us to do. In the context of looking to a “forever” type of a future (I believe that relationships that do not look to that, are simply a waste of time, at any age, but thats another discussion), a year is not that long to wait.
There is more that I could write, I have not even written about other peoples thoughts, or really gone into much of other peoples perspectives, they are just my thoughts so far.