Sunday 9 February 2020

The Fear Of God


Father Ignatius waited until the congregation sat down and then he started his sermon.

“We often read in the Bible about people fearing God, and the fear of God. And that’s an issue which I would like to address today.

“What is meant by the fear of God?

“Do we fear that unless we obey Him and do as He commands He’ll send thunder and lightning from heaven and destroy us and our cities? Like in Sodom and Gomorrah?

“Or perhaps He would allow illness and terrible things to happen to us because we failed Him in some way or other?”

The priest stopped for a few seconds to gauge the mood of the congregation; and then continued.

“There are, of course, many kinds of fear. If a tiger were to suddenly enter this church we would all fear for our lives and we’d run out from every available exit. Most of us would even forget to genuflect as we rushed out of the building.”

The congregation laughed.

“But that is not the fear I speak of …

“If we believe that our God is a loving, caring fatherly God, whose only wish is that some day we all join Him in Heaven; then what is there to fear?

“Our fear is not, and should not be, a fear borne of the possibility of punishment and retribution. A fear that, unless we do as He says, we’ll end up in hell and eternal damnation.

“That is not the fear that God wishes for us. After all, He gave us the choice to love Him or not.

“Sadly, many do not either love Him or fear Him. And they seem to be thriving all right! He has not punished them or turned them into pillars of salt! In His loving nature, He has allowed them the luxury to choose as they wish.

“So … what fear is there for us then, who proclaim to believe in Him and to love Him?

“It is the fear of hurting Him.

“I repeat … the fear of hurting Him. Just as when we have a loving father or mother who do the utmost for us; and they set their standards and values to teach us how to grow up as decent, kind human beings. We, their children, follow their rules, through gritted teeth perhaps, just because we love them and do not want to hurt them.

“That’s the kind of fear we owe our God, our Creator and our loving Father in Heaven. The fear of hurting Him. The fear of disappointing Him by our behavior. A fear borne out of respect for Him; a fear nurtured by true love given to Him freely just as He has loved us.

“Not a fear of what He might do to us. But a fear of hurting someone who loves us.

“Remember … even the devil fears God. But he fears Him in a different way. He fears Him because he knows Him very well. The devil certainly knows God better than any of us does; because he has met Him face to face.

“And yet, having been close to God and experienced His love, the devil chose to disobey and strike out independently on his own. He thought he could do better than love and follow his Creator.

“And God’s loving nature let him go. He did not punish him and destroy him once and for all. He just allowed him to walk away free out of Paradise.

“It is that very act of rebellion by the devil which resulted in death for all of us. We were not destined to die, but to share Paradise for eternity with God. But the devil in his destructive, impudent rebellious nature has upset what was meant to be and his sin resulted in us undergoing death.

“God our Creator favors life. He created life.  In order to redeem us and save us from death, He loved us so much that He sent us His only Son, Jesus, so that we may have life, and have it to the full.

“All we have to do to receive this eternal life is to accept Jesus as God’s only Son, our Savior, and to fear the possibility of ever hurting Him again by our behavior.

“God will never send us to hell. It is we who choose to go there by our way of life; and by choosing the devil instead.”

25 comments:

  1. Hi Victor,
    'fear, to me, is to 'respect'. We are told in the scriptures to not just be 'hearers' of the word, but to be 'doers' of the word. So when we are spoken to through that living Word as we seek our Lord daily we must be aware that the spiritual enemy will say, as he has said from the beginning, 'Did God really say?' to try to turn us away from the teaching of the Holy Spirit Who leads us into all truth.
    God bless.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good words except I would disagree with what the 'fear of God" is. As Brenda stated above, I believe the "fear of God" is respect that is due Him. it is honoring Him, worshiping Him, giving Him His rightful place. As His child, I am never out of His hand and His sight.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree, Bill. Our fear is that we may lack respect that is due to God. The fear of having missed out on honouring and worshipping Him. The fear (regret) of disappointing Him by our behaviour.

      However, in the Old Testament, and to some extent in the New Testament, and even in modern times, people fear God because of the alternative. In the Old Testament we read about God's wrath and punishments often. In modern times, like today, some people fear God because they do not want to be sent to hell. They fear that unless they "walk the line" they will be sent down without a parachute. Is their fear justified? Probably not. But it is there all the same. How does God view this fear? As a benevolent Father who forgives childish innocence and misunderstanding? I hope so.

      In reality, we should not fear God but love and respect Him knowing full well that He has our interests at heart. But many don't understand that and fear Him in the real sense of the word. I have known such people, Bill. People who go to church, pray, and try to "be good" because they fear His punishment.

      We seem to be on the same page on this, Bill. Sadly, many perhaps are not.

      God bless.

      Delete
  3. I totally agree with you Victor. I think the fear of God that comes from "not walking the line" comes much from a works-oriented salvation vs grace-oriented. If we think doing works gets us into heaven then we will live in fear of being out of God's favor. Thanks for getting back to me on this.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi again Victor, just to add as I read more comments here:- I agree with you where you say we should love and respect God.
    Jesus was the express image of God, being the Word of God made flesh, and He says in John ch. 14 v.15:-“If you love me, keep my commands.' His commands are not the ten commandments, they are what He teaches us through the Word being enlightened to us by the Holy Spirit.
    Verse 23 of ch. 14 amplifies what Jesus said in verse 15:- 'Whoever has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me. The one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and reveal Myself to him."
    John ch. 14 is an enlightening chapter referring to what I meant regarding 'respect' .
    God bless you and Bill.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Brenda. We seem to be in agreement. Yet, there are those who fear God in the real sense. In the sense that He will punish them otherwise. I can understand their worries and fears.

      God bless.

      Delete
  5. This is a wonderful interpretation, Victor! I suspect my late uncle -- like his father and grandfathers before him -- imparted fear of retribution to their congregants. In no small measure, it was Uncle Luther's stern (German Lutheran) discipline which drove me away from the church for a time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Time ago people used to fear God in the real sense of the word, Mevely. Maybe it was the style of Christian teaching of the time. Today, the sermons (here any way) are all about God's love and compassion. This is good up to a point, and accurate; however, I feel they no longer warn the congregation about the real existence of the devil and the havoc he can sow in peoples' lives. It's gone so far "the other way" that many here in the UK do not believe in God at all - never mind believing in the devil. Church attendance is about 5% of the population.

      God bless, Mevely.

      Delete
  6. I love your concept here, Victor, that to fear God is to respect Him and His authority, never wishing to disappoint or hurt Him in any way. And as you know, I always treasure the wisdom of Fr. Ignatius!
    Blessings!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you once again for your kind words, Martha. You are so encouraging in my writings.

      Indeed we should respect and love God; very much as we would respect a loving father who cares and loves us dearly.

      Wishing you well my friend. God bless you and yours.

      Delete
  7. I know that kind of fear, and do agree with you. My father never struck me, but when he was disappointed in you he had a look that would make you wish he would just smack you and get it over with.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well said, JoeH. It is that kind of fear which was preached once in sermons. Perhaps rightly so; I don't know. The reality is, unless we love, respect and obey God, and not disappoint Him, (as you say), we would be banished from Him. How we would feel as a child, if our earthly father banished us?

      God bless you, JoeH.

      Delete
  8. It is my belief that God, to me, is a father figure. Do I fear Him? You bet...IF I have done something terribly wrong.
    But also being a father figure God is a loving parent and has a gentle side as any parent would with a child that is good.
    He is only trying to teach us good from bad, right from wrong... He is also a forgiving Father.

    Just my two cents worth...another great post Victor.

    God's Blessings ✝

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So wonderfully put, Jan. You have this great gift of getting straight to the point. Yes, I agree ... a loving and forgiving Father. I hope I don't test His patience too much.

      God bless you always, Jan.

      Delete
  9. I can only add to all these comments, "Amen!" Have a grand week!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I interpret fear of the Lord in a different way. Not afraid of Him but to hold him in utmost esteem; to revere him, to respect him, to be in awe of him. I don't fear that I'm going to disappoint him. I know I'm going to sin because all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and we continue to sin, that's part of our sinful nature. Even when we try not to sin we end up sinning and He'll forgive us every single time we ask. But that's just my thoughts about it :)

    betty

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, you make a good point Betty, and Happyone. It's nice to see you visiting us here Betty. Please call again and soon. Thank you to you, and Happyone.

      God bless.

      Delete
  11. This post that should be read by many. Thank you for writing it.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Fearful reverence, and love, because He first loved us.

    ReplyDelete

I PRAY FOR ALL WHO COMMENT HERE.

God bless you.