The Might of Jesus
Sunday, October 11, 2009 Posted by Pastor Fred Wolfe
How can you not weep? How can you not fall on your face before our God? How can you not tremble before His might as He fills you with His love?
These three questions have been buzzing through my head a lot as of late. They were provoked by a question from my seven year old son.
"Dad, you said in your sermon on Sunday that we are supposed to fear God. But why are we to be afraid of God when He is Love?"
It's a valid question. At first glance it may seem that God being love must mean there is nothing to fear of him. I began to question myself inwardly. Have I portrayed God to my children in this way? Is he simply a cuddly teddy bear in the sky that watches over my kids and grants them wishes after our nightly worship time? This exaggeration seems preposterous, until you really start to scrutinize how you treat God. Take a look at your prayer life. Do you find yourself trying to get it over with so that you don't have to miss a television program? How much of your time to you spend in the word of God? Do you use the word of God as an intellectual pursuit? If you say yes to any of these, I have felt your pain. My emergent roots have poisoned me yet again, and as fast as I hack at them, I still find little repugnant feeder shoots influencing my orthopraxy. My God is Thuderous, Mighty, Powerful, and beyond my knowledge of adjectives. He will not be mocked. For as long as I have seen God as soft and cuddly, I had absolutely no fear of Him. I feared cockroaches more than Him.
Listen to Mark Driscoll talk about the greatest challenge to young Christians in the next 10 years:
“There is a strong drift toward the hard theological left. Some emergent types [want] to recast Jesus as a limp-wrist hippie in a dress with a lot of product in His hair, who drank decaf and made pithy Zen statements about life while shopping for the perfect pair of shoes. In Revelation, Jesus is a pride fighter with a tattoo down His leg, a sword in His hand and the commitment to make someone bleed. That is a guy I can worship. I cannot worship the hippie, diaper, halo Christ because I cannot worship a guy I can beat up. I fear some are becoming more cultural than Christian, and without a big Jesus who has authority and hates sin as revealed in the Bible, we will have less and less Christians, and more and more confused, spiritually self-righteous blogger critics of Christianity.”
I couldn't agree more. The fear of the Lord is a necessary, yet untaught principle of the Christian faith. Don't buy it? Look at what scripture says:
Matthew 10:28 says, "And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell."
This teaching is reiterated in Luke 12:15: "But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!"
This teaching is reiterated in Luke 12:15: "But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!"
Psalm 2:11 exhorts: Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
Paul teaches it as well: "Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling," Philippians 2:12
Job 28:28- Job 28:28 "And to man He said, 'Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding."
Psalm 111:10 "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom."
Proverbs 9:10 "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding."
And finally, the Psalmist says of UNBELIEVERS, "There is no fear of God before their eyes" Psalm 36:1
Now if we should try to mistake this fear simply as "awe" or "respect", the greek word in the NT for fear is "φοβέω". which is used to describe "fearing king Herod" or the disciples when they were "frightened" by the wind and waves on the sea. It means fear, plain and simple.
Paul teaches it as well: "Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling," Philippians 2:12
Job 28:28- Job 28:28 "And to man He said, 'Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding."
Psalm 111:10 "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom."
Proverbs 9:10 "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding."
And finally, the Psalmist says of UNBELIEVERS, "There is no fear of God before their eyes" Psalm 36:1
Now if we should try to mistake this fear simply as "awe" or "respect", the greek word in the NT for fear is "φοβέω". which is used to describe "fearing king Herod" or the disciples when they were "frightened" by the wind and waves on the sea. It means fear, plain and simple.
I explained the proper view of God this way: We are to fear the awesome might of Almighty God. If we were to come into His presence, we would fall flat on our faces, trembling at the sight of Him. We would remain there, for millenia if necessary, until the Lord saw fit to reach down and lift us up, cradling us in His love.
We should never forget the power of our omnipotent God. The day we realize what kind of a God we serve, is the day we can answer the three questions, "I will weep, I will fall, I will tremble."
"Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying,Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades." Revelation 1:12-18
October 11, 2009 6:49 PM
October 11, 2009 7:37 PM
Matthew, I appreciate your sentiments. I have also been concerned with Driscoll's approach at times. On the other hand, I probably would have said the same thing about Micah or Isaiah, were I to be alive with them. I guess when it comes to Mark, what I have seen, (which is limited) was pretty solid. I will have to research him some more before I quote him further. Thanks for the "heads up".
I agree, Robert Schuller has led many astray, and if Mark has called him a brother, it is disconcerting.
October 12, 2009 5:00 AM
(This comment was reposted with the correct name at the request of the writer of the comment. It was originally the first comment on this post.)
Hey,
Thanks for the post.
I see it has quite a large call for Mark to be saying "I fear some are becoming more cultural than Christian".
I see him as the man who ministers in this way; "so how would you like me to reach you? Shall I speak like you, meet you at your level of carnality? Sure. I will".
The way in which he ministers is like a 15 yr old boy telling his parents how they should raise him.
That is not right.
Do not take me the wrong way. I do not think Driscoll is a false teacher. I do believe he incorreclty contextualises. And must not continue to meet the carnal at their level.
The fact he has such a large influence over so many younger folk (like me) is quite scary considering his speech and seemingly large obession with sex.
I have seen him stand in front of congreagtion and say "masturbation is not sin". Sure, he qualified his statement by saying "but lust is". This, to a large group of young men is wrong.
I dont say these things just to jump on the wagon . I have taken some time to look into his minstry and all the issues that have risen.
Calling Rob Schuller a borther is of concern to.
Blessings in His name,
Matthew