Monday: Fearing and Obeying God
What else does the Bible teach us about what it means to fear God?
Read Deuteronomy 6:2; Psalm 119:73-74; and Ecclesiastes 12:13-14. What do these texts reveal is the result of “fearing God”?
Image © Steve Creitz from GoodSalt.com
These passages reveal a linkage between fearing God and keeping His commandments. Fearing God is an attitude of reverential respect that leads us to obedience. Heaven’s urgent appeal is for those saved by grace to be obedient to God’s commands (Ephesians 2:8-10). Grace does not free us from obeying the commands of God. The gospel sets us free from the law’s condemnation, not from our responsibility to obey it.
Grace not only delivers us from the guilt of our past, but it empowers us to live godly obedient lives in the present. The apostle Paul declares that “we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations” (Romans 1:5, NKJV).
There are some people who have the strange idea that salvation by grace somehow negates the law of God or minimizes the necessity for obedience. They believe that any talk about obedience is legalism. They have declared, All I want is Jesus. The question is, “Which Jesus?” A Jesus of our own making, or the Jesus of Scripture? The Christ of Scripture never leads us to downplay His law, which is the transcript of His character. The Christ of Scripture never leads us to minimize the doctrines of the Bible, which reveal more clearly who He is and His plan for this world. The Christ of Scripture never leads us to reduce His teaching to pious platitudes that are nonessential. Christ is the embodiment of all doctrinal truth. Jesus is truth incarnated. He is doctrine lived out.
Revelation’s final appeal calls us through faith in Jesus to accept the fullness of everything He offers. It calls us to “fear God,” which is expressed by faith in His redeeming power to empower us to live godly, obedient lives.
| How do Jesus’ words here “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28, NKJV) help us understand what it means to fear God? |
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It is so much better to be on the side of the truth than error. If Jesus is the revelation of the truth about God, it is worth being on His side. Yes, we do obey for a few reasons. Because we want to get paid, fear losing our job, or do not want to get into a fight. We may find several motives to meet specific codes. But the best way to get obedient is through love! And this requires knowledge, which requires investment in time together and a relationship. To obey God is to get to know Him! He is everything we need!
“And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Matthew 10:28, NKJV).
How does this thought help us understand what it means to fear God?
The text is not so much saying that we should be afraid of God because He can destroy body and soul; rather, it is saying that we should reverence, obey, and glorify Him Who is able to destroy us, but chooses, instead, to save us from destruction.
I find a difference between obeying God's commandments and keeping His commandments.
With the law that Jesus puts in our hearts and minds comes all His love, for the laws of God reveal His Love. (Hebrews 8:10). This love naturally keeps all His commands, even the laws new Christians who are born again haven't learned about yet. In this we find we desire to do all that He requires (walking in the Spirit).
Whereas, obedience to me means that I have to do all His commands even when I don't want to, or when it hurts (walking in the flesh).
The true obedience is not about us, but about Jesus, for we who live according to the flesh are unable to please God. (Romans 8:5)
When we love God, fear is cast out because there is no fear in love. (1 John 4:18) Therefore, our works of obedience do not come from being afraid of what God will do if we go against Him. It comes because we love Him with all our hearts and minds and souls. (Matthew 22:37)
Yesterday, my iPad was behaving very strangely, and I took it to my neighbor, Robert, who is an IT genius -- so much so that he has the security clearance and abilities to work with DMV's website and remote registration renewal machines. He also handles the security for Home Depot.
I used to be a tech guy. In fact, in the Navy, I worked on some of our top tech gear in a secure facility that even our captain could not enter without giving us three minutes to secure some of our gear. But that was during the Vietnam era and yes, I was over there.
I am unable to keep up with my own stuff, my iPad, my phone and my Microsoft-based laptop, so it's good to have a neighbor like Robert.
It is good to have an expert to rely on, and the only expert I can rely on for my faith and understanding is the Holy Spirit, through the gift of God, our Lord Jesus Christ! Fear not who can kill the body?... That is a hard one, but we will continue to grow in faith until that becomes true in our lives.
Be blessed… Royce.
Good thoughts, Royce, from your practical life experience.
Jesus always relied on God‘s leading, trusting Him in everything He did, with full obedience and reverence.
I like this quotation from Jerry Bridges:
What else is our faith good for than to believe and follow the one in whom our faith rests? If we do, does this not imply that we also trust that He will share with us all Truth given to Him by the Father? If we seek the Father's truth to guide us, where else would we find it but by searching the Scriptures and listen and follow God’s Spirit of Truth?
God knows that we are imperfect, but when He finds us covered by the love Jesus Christ has for us – this solicits the Father's grace. When a child loves his parents, does he fear them, or does he trust the parents' authority because he believes their genuine love and concern for him? 2 Cor. 12:9-10
Our heavenly Father seeks to establish a strong, unbreakable bond between Himself and His children through His 'righteousness'. This includes the contributing factor of the love our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has for those given to Him by His Father; they are safe. - John 10:27-29
The lesson writer states that: “Christ is the embodiment of all doctrinal truth. Jesus is truth incarnated. He is doctrine lived out.” May I add to this that Jesus Christ is therefore the embodiment of the love our Father has for His children? Without expressing His divine, personal love for us through His Son in the form of man, we would not know a personal, heavenly Father to worship and obey. We are His children through faith based on love. - 1 John 3:1; 2 Cor. 6:18
Last week, the lesson mentioned Deuteronomy 6:4 (the Shema). Does it not link neatly with the first angel's message? Other gods (multiple gods and idols of the Canaanites and other nations) were touted to do many things, but none of them was like Yahweh who created all things by His Son. The first angel's call to worship of the Creator is linked to His being the one true God as well. As E. G. White says, we are called as Adventists to preach the third angel's message, but there is no third without the second or the first (CW 26.2). May God give us the courage, desire and zeal to preach all three (and the fourth as well, in Rev 18:1-2).
I think this is caution for when people threaten you, or coerce you to do something contrary to God's will. We may face persecution, urged to give up our faith or die. It can be frightening when powerful people use intimidating means to get us to do something we know is wrong, and would bring dishonor, or cause us to reject our Savior.
The verse suggests -- don't fear the evil ones even if they kill you, for if you are following Christ and remain faithful to Him, you will live eternally with Him. But if you yield to the one who is coercing you to do something against Christ, and renounce HIM, you would be choosing to obey the evil one rather than Christ and the end of those rejecting Christ is to lose out on eternal life and end up in the lake of fire.
Don't let the fear of what people can do to you, deprive you of your eternal life!
This was mentioned in today's lesson:
Do you have biblical texts to support this? As far as I know this is a false statement.
Thank you.
Hi, Phil. Good question! To my mind, this statement is well supported by such Scriptures as Matthew 5:17-20, Mark 10:19, Luke 18:20, Romans 3:31, Romans 6:15, and Revelation 12:17.
That said, I would also add, on the basis of Romans 6:14, Galatians 3, and other such passages, that we are set free from a legal religion, in which we are trying to earn merit or God's favour by our own efforts in keeping the law. Our only hope is in the grace of God.
I hope this helps.
Can you shed more light from your own understanding?
Hello Phil,
The purpose of the law is to keep us out of trouble and bring us to Christ. I like the way The Message version frames Paul’s explanation of the law's role:
Christ’s explanation of the law (Matthew 5:17-48) makes it very clear that perfect obedience is not humanly possible because it requires a change of heart and mind that only he can accomplish. Note the words of 2 Corinthians 3:3; Ezekiel 11:19; Ezekiel 36:26; Jeremiah 31:33; Hebrews 8:10. We can never write his law into our hearts and minds because that is beyond human power. Instead, that is the work of his Spirit.
When Christ spoke “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery” (Exodus 20:2) to the children of Israel, he was making it very clear that only he can deliver us from slavery to sin and our broken relationship with him. And deliver us he will if we will choose to follow him regardless of our circumstances, feelings and thoughts. The law is like the red lights on the dashboard of our vehicles. Each commandment is like a dashboard light that indicates we need to get to our “Mechanic” as soon as possible. We ignore them at our peril.
But it is not on us to change our hearts and minds—that is God’s responsibility. Our role is to align our will with his and let him do his work. We do this by keeping the focus of our attention on Jesus so that we can follow him wherever he leads (Revelation 14:4). And if we lose that focus, the law makes sure we know it, so we can get it right back on track. Our “work” is to constantly strive to be in Christ regardless of what we think and feel because there is “no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1 NASB1995.)
Our fundamental responsibility is to obey Christ because the law can never save us. If we are doing that, the law cannot condemn us. Our confidence is based on his accomplished work, not our works. Our praise of his saving and sanctifying work in our lives is glory to God.