Month: January 2021

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Remember Those in Isolation

“Remember the prisoners, as though in prison with them, and those who are ill-treated, since you yourselves also are in the body.” – Hebrews 13:3

Since nearly the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, many people have chosen to isolate themselves completely or in large part, due to concerns about contracting the virus or spreading it to others. Many of us have directly felt the effects of that isolation, especially with our loved ones (I, for example, haven’t seen my 95-year-old grandmother since this all began). It has been a strange and difficult season. 

Included in this number of those who are isolating from others are some fellow believers from our own churches. And whether you think such isolation is absolutely essential or a complete overreaction, or somewhere in between, the fact it is that it is happening. So what does God’s word call us to do? The exhortation above from the author of Hebrews provides one very important element of that response.

Voluntary social isolation isn’t the same thing as being a prisoner, of course, or as someone who is ill-treated. The suffering that came with those situations was intense. In comparison to such things, isolating in one’s own home is an easy lifestyle in many ways. 

But not in every way. Self-isolating believers today share one key challenge with the imprisoned Christians of that day: they are missing the privilege of direct interaction with other believers. 

It’s all too easy for many things in our lives to be “out-of-sight, out-of-mind.” Sadly, that also easily includes those with whom we are united in Jesus Christ as members of the same body (1 Cor. 12:12-26). 

So what can we do for those who are isolated? The challenge from Hebrews 13:3 is an appropriate one for us to take on:

  • We are to remember them – to keep them in mind, to think about them, and to not simply let them drift out of our head until they may show back up one day. 
  • To remember them as though in isolation with them. This means that our heart toward them is not one of condescending judgmentalism (even if you think that it’s necessary to challenge someone’s reasons for isolation!). Rather, our heart should overflow with sympathy toward their isolation. 

As I heard one person in our church wisely say early on during the pandemic, there are plenty of understandable and non-sinful reasons why someone might choose not to attend church during a season such as this, but we can’t pretend that it won’t have an effect. We as fellow believers in Christ should strive to mitigate and overcome that effect for those who can’t attend, and to show love to those who are part of the body of Christ with us. And a major way we do this is by remembering them as if we are in isolation just like they are. 

Here are a few ways you might remember those who are isolated:

  • Calling and/or texting them on a regular basis, or even just once
  • Finding ways to visit with them that they are comfortable with
  • Asking them about the hardships and the joys of the past several months
  • Scheduling video hangouts 
  • Interacting with them on your church’s worship service livestream (but not during the sermon, of course!)
  • Delivering items to them or for them 
  • Praying for them 

Let’s not just go about our business and forget our isolating brethren. Let’s instead demonstrate the love of Christ by making the effort to remember them as if we were in their position ourselves!

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Know Fear and Know No Fear

So, how is your New Year going? 

Wednesday, January 6th, 2021 is a day that will live in our memory for a long time.  At the very least it is the day that we realized that the New Year was not going to provide a magic cure for the things that ailed us in 2020.  Our capitol was occupied, people died, social media erupted, and the accusations and recriminations began to fly. 

Where will it all end?

If you were hoping for an erudite analysis of where everything is headed socially, politically, or even evangelically, then you will be sorely disappointed.  I am not a prophet.  I really have no idea what the ramifications of such chaos will be.  However, I do know this.  In the midst of the craziness that is 2021, it is time to focus on, and be consumed by, the one thing that really matters – our relationship to the Mighty, Awesome, Sovereign, Loving, Gracious Creator.  Your thoughts about God and your response to what you know about Him are the things about you that matter the most.

Perhaps our greatest need in this fearful hour is to cultivate the one fear that replaces all others.  The fear of the Lord.

We live in a culture where God has no “weight.”  Many claim to believe in Him and even to trust Him and yet have no understanding of His character or His requirements.  The evangelical church has become guilty of presenting a “consumer friendly” God who adapts to our every whim and accommodates our every desire.  We have retained the proper terminology about God with little of the Biblical content.  Thus, we sing powerful songs of worship and praise to God and yet in practice treat Him as a sort of loving grandfather who indulges our desires and coddles us in our rebellion. 

Additionally, we have allowed ourselves to depend on idols such as circumstances, political and economic stability, family happiness, and physical health for our joy and security.  Unrestrained idolatry has produced in us rampant fear when our gods do not respond as we desire.  We have relegated God to a secondary position in our lives and refused to properly honor and trust Him.  A whirlwind of anxiety, anger, and hopelessness is the end result.

In Romans 3:10-18, the apostle Paul begins his description of the depravity of the human condition with the statement, “there is none righteous, not even one.” After seven more verses of similar, condemning verbiage, he summarizes the nature of man’s heart with, “There is no fear of God before his eyes.”

If it is the basic nature of the unregenerate heart to have no fear of God, then a true fear must be embedded in the heart of believers by the Holy Spirit at the time of regeneration.  So, every Christian has the “raw material” of godly fear in the core of their being.  Unfortunately, even true believers can often be described as having “no fear of God before our eyes” when we do not cultivate this virtue.  We need to regain a proper vision of God, one that encompasses all His attributes and gives Him the awe, respect, love, submission, and obedience that His nature deserves.

The fear of the Lord is not some outdated Puritan doctrine, nor the result of a psychological imbalance leading to irrational anxiety in the presence of God.  The fear of the Lord is a Holy Spirit empowered attitude of the heart which is the foundation for a true understanding of God and thus provides the proper motivation for a saving and sanctifying response to God’s Word.

At its core, the fear of the Lord is the appropriate incentive for all other responses to God and His word.

My purpose in this first article is to introduce a biblical definition of the fear of the Lord.  But, before providing an in-depth explanation, I need to make a convincing case as to the importance of having this fear. In this way, I hope to provide motivation for keen attention to the meaning of Biblical fear. To ignore this step is like launching into an analysis of the mechanics and mathematics of the forces that enable an airplane to fly, without first whetting the appetite for the benefits of air travel!

The Definition of the Fear of the Lord

There are more than 150 verses on the fear of the Lord in the Old and New Testaments.  A synthesis of these usages moves us toward a full orbed definition as follows:

The delightful, dreadful, consuming, reverential awe of God that flows from an understanding of His holy character and results in a life of principled obedience for the purpose of bringing glory to His name. 

This description includes our heart attitude toward God, the knowledge of the character of God, and an obedient response to God.  We will explore these components in detail in my second post. 

For now, however, my purpose is to present the biblical evidence for the importance of having this fear.  There are five major areas of the Christian life that have Biblical fear as their foundation.

The Product of the Fear of the Lord

1. The Fear of the Lord is the Beginning of Wisdom

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. Pr 9:10

Wisdom is the Spirit-empowered application of biblical principles in any given situation in order to produce a God-glorifying result.  If the church is characterized by anything today it is a lack this kind of discernment.  We have more Christian books and more spiritual information at our disposal than at any time in history, yet we grow increasingly shallow and weak.

Proverbs tell us that no wisdom is possible apart from a fear of the Lord. And so, even repentance and faith, the first acts of wisdom that the believer performs, must be preceded by Holy Fear.  Then, as we cultivate a proper appreciation and submission to God’s holy character and mighty power, we will begin to pursue conformity to the image of Christ “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col 2:3).  We must first honor and respect the all-wise creator before we will exercise the wisdom He desires for His people. 

2. The Fear of the Lord is the Foundation of Holiness

Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid; for God has come in order to test you, and in order that the fear of Him may remain with you, so that you may not sin.” Ex 20:20

A proper awe, reverence, dread, and delight in the absolute beauty and perfection of God’s character prompts in us a longing to imitate God and a passion to eliminate anything that might displease Him.  He is so holy that merely being in His presence causes us to recognize our sinfulness and inadequacy.  This was true of the prophet Isaiah who, when He saw the Lord Jesus in His thrice holy perfections, stated:

“Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” Is 6:3-5

Joshua “fell on his face to the earth” before the captain of the Host of the Lord (Josh 5:14-15). Peter told Jesus, “Depart from me for I am a sinful man,” (Luke 5:8), John fell at the feet of Jesus “as though dead” (Rev 1)

Not only is God intrinsically holy is His nature, He has a holy hatred of sin.  For this reason we need to be very careful of our actions lest we dishonor His Holy name.

“Now then let the fear of the Lord be upon you; be very careful what you do, for the Lord our God will have no part in unrighteousness or partiality or the taking of a bribe.” 2 Ch 19:7

This call to holiness motivated by true fear is not only an OT concept.  While faith enables us to believe that God will keep His promises, only holy fear will motivate us to pursue the holiness He requires for those promises to be fulfilled.

Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. 2 Co 7:1

Jerry Bridges says in his book, The Joy of Fearing God, “Simply being afraid of God will lead to distrust and disobedience, but fearing God in the biblical sense . . . will keep us from sinning.”

3. The Fear of the Lord is the Origin of Love

One of the greatest areas of confusion regarding Biblical fear is its relationship to love.  Most believers see a conflict between fear and love.  This is only true if the fear referenced is a cringing, shameful, fear of ultimate punishment.  The Bible teaches that true fear drives out unbiblical fear and is the foundation of a true love of God. The progression is as follows: God loves us, the Holy Spirit enables us to be stunned and overwhelmed by love, this understanding ignites true biblical fear, out of that fear we love God and others. John Bunyan explains, “Christian, let God’s distinguishing love to you be a motive to you to fear Him greatly. Remember that this fear of the Lord is His treasure, a choice jewel.”

Love without an honor, respect, awe, and dread of a holy, all powerful God is an earthly love – full of emotion, good intention, and desire for intimacy, but with no real understanding of who we are entering into a relationship with. Theologian John Murray states, “The fear of God in which godliness consists is the fear which constrains adoration and love.  It is the fear which consists in awe, reverence, honor, and worship, and all of these on the highest level of exercise.  It is the reflex of our consciousness of the transcendent majesty and holiness of God.”

The link between love and fear is seen in multiple passages of Scripture of which Deut. 10:12 is representative:

“Now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require from you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, Dt 10:12

Old Testament commentators Keil and Delitzch provide an insightful interpretation of this verse, “The fear of the Lord, which springs from the knowledge of one’s own unholiness in the presence of the holy God, ought to form the one leading emotion in the heart prompting to walk in all the ways of the Lord, and to maintain morality of conduct in its strictest form. This fear, which first enables us to comprehend the mercy of God, awakens love, the fruit of which is manifested in serving God with all the heart and all the soul”

And now for the verse that you have been holding in reserve as I have made my case for fear being the foundation of love, 1 John 4:18.

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.

Whenever the concept of Biblical fear is raised, this passage is nearly always quoted in rebuttal.  This prejudice demonstrates the danger of using words without understanding their context.  “Fear” in 1 John 4:18 involves punishment and so is not the Holy fear that the Bible commends.  The fear that love “casts out,” is craven, ungodly fear: the terror of Christ’s presence brought on by a refusal to repent of sin and submit to His Lordship.  In contrast, the one who truly fears God, has a true love for Christ and looks forward to His return with confidence and joy.

4. The fear of the Lord is the essence of Worship

When there is no fear of God, only shallow, hypocritical, self-serving worship exists. Jerry Bridges writes, “In order to render heartfelt worship to God, we must be gripped in the depth of our being by His majesty, holiness, and love; otherwise our praise and adoration may be no more than empty words.”

Even in heaven where worship is perfect, the fear of the Lord remains.

And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sits on the throne saying, “Amen. Hallelujah!” And a voice came from the throne, saying, “Give praise to our God, all you His bond-servants, you who fear Him, the small and the great.” Re 19:4-5.

Job is perhaps the greatest Biblical illustration of Godly fear producing true worship.  God introduces Satan to Job by stating that Job is, “a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil” (Job 1:8).  Satan questions whether Job only fears God because of the protection he has received, “does Job fear God for nothing? Have you not made a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side . . . But put forth your hand now and touch all that he has; he will surely curse you to your face” (10-11).

Yet, when God allows Satan to take all that Job has, he demonstrates his true fear with heartfelt (and heart wrenching) worship.

Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head, and he fell to the ground and worshiped. He said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked I shall return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God. Job 1:20-22

5. The Fear of the Lord is the basis for Security

True rest in God as our strong tower of deliverance can only come through godly fear. 

There is no need to be afraid of circumstances when we have a true fear of the sovereign Lord of all. No set of events can take us outside His comprehensive love and power.  Just knowing God is sovereign is insufficient – fearing the God of sovereign providence will enable you to lay your head on the pillow at night without anxiety.

The fear of the Lord leads to life, So that one may sleep satisfied, untouched by evil. Pr 19:23

Why should we fear the greatest of men or the mightiest of their armies. God is infinitely greater and He is working on our behalf.

The king is not saved by a mighty army; A warrior is not delivered by great strength. A horse is a false hope for victory; Nor does it deliver anyone by its great strength. Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, On those who hope for His lovingkindness, To deliver their soul from death And to keep them alive in famine. Ps 33:16-19

Even death has no sting when we fear the one who conquered the grave and is the very essence of life itself.

and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. Heb 2:15

It only makes sense that true fear should be reserved for the one Being in the universe who is worthy of it.  To fear anyone or anything else is neither logical nor beneficial.

 “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. Mt 10:28

When we fear God we take comfort in His power to care for and preserve us. 

Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’ Is 41:10

In fact, until we cultivate true fear of the Lord we will not be able to benefit fully from the richness of the Holy Spirit’’s comfort. And the church will not grow as it should.

So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace, being built up; and going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it continued to increase. Ac 9:3

Conclusion

In our next post we will take an in-depth look at the meaning of fear, but for today, what will you do with what you have learned? Will you consider your responses to the difficulties you face in 2021 and choose to grow in wisdom, holiness, love, worship, and trust?  Or will you continue to be consumed with your circumstances.

Know Fear and Know No Fear!

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Contentment and the Idol of Optimization

Christmas is over, and for many, though that bring sadness, it also brings with it some relief. Decorations, cooking, gatherings, wrapping presents… it’s a lot to handle, even with a reduced schedule in other areas.

One of the most challenging parts of Christmas might be buying gifts for others. Not the act of spending money – which is a joy to do for those you love – but the act of finding just the right thing.

Remember the days when Christmas lists were simple? A doll, a rocking horse, a BB gun… how could you go wrong?

Not so today. Instead of a world where anything that fits the general category will do, we live in an “Amazon wishlist” world – a world where failing to follow the exactly hyperlink provided on a digital wishlist results in a sad child, a disappointed gift-giver, and a long wait in line at the UPS store to return the “wrong” gift in exchange for the “correct” one. To be fair, gift-givers generally delight to find exactly what a recipient wants, and this kind of specificity helps; but it also reflects the fact that there seems to be an endless array of options for any possible item someone could want.

This is a product of our times, where, paradoxically, choices are seemingly infinite, and yet it is increasingly rare for someone to be able to satisfactorily find exactly what they are after.

We exist in a world light years removed from that of the Ford Model T, which Henry Ford said could to be offered, during a large portion of its lifespan, in any customer a color wanted – that is, “so long as it is black.” In contrast to this approach, product developers today seem to go out of their way to offer as many custom options as possible.

The list of possibilities is dizzying. The Sonic Drive-In website boasts “1063953 fountain drink and slush combinations to choose from”; and while I’m tempted to break out my rusty knowledge of permutations to fact-check such an audacious claim, for my current purposes it’s enough to acknowledge that businesses are keen to cater to customers’ desire for ever-increasing choice. “Have it your way” is no longer Burger King’s slogan (literally, they changed it a few years back) – but it is now the mantra of a huge number of business all over the world. Customization and choice are the name of the game, and only the most confident entities stand firm against the approach of featuring a broad array of product options in the name of widespread customer attraction.

For all the benefits this can bring, though, there are some drawbacks as well. On the surface, there is the problem of “paralysis-by-analysis”: having to choose from 100 menu options instead of just buying a hamburger can definitely become a burden.

But even more than this, and of direct concern for Christians who want to please the Lord, an environment of extreme choice and customizability brings in a more subtle and sinister enemy: discontentment.

How does this discontentment manifest itself? What dangers to our soul should we watch out for in a world of endless choices and custom options?

Dissatisfaction over things that we should be thankful for

In a world filled with choices, what ought to be a reason for us to thank God for his gracious provision to us (1 Tim. 4:4) often transforms into an occasion for grumbling and complaining (Phil. 2:14)

What would have been a perfectly fine Instant Pot that brings great joy and usefulness turns out to be something that nags at you because you got the 7.5-quart version instead of the 8 and because it only has 9 customizable settings instead of 11. Instead of a blessing that you explicitly take to God in thankful prayer, all you can think about is how you wish it were better.

The shirt you have is comfortable and durable, but ugh, why can’t the sleeves be just the tiniest bit less bulky!

The home you have is great, but what about the one down the street that has that one feature you don’t have?

The car you bought is slick, high quality, and fun to drive – most of the time! It’s just that the turn radius is just a little wider than the car you’re used to having and you won’t be able not to notice every time you try to make a U-turn, park in a small space, or do donuts in the parking lot (…if you’re so inclined).

We have to be on guard to fight for thankfulness for what we’re tempted to see as sub-optimal things. Otherwise, as soon as the purchase is made, and often even before, the item that God has provided as a blessing and a provision (or even an unnecessary but enjoyable luxury) is something we’re not even happy with. Instead of something to rejoice over, it’s something we merely settled for.

Greed to never be content with what we have

We live in a world ruled by comparisons and reviews. We don’t just want to find a toaster that will work; we want the best one for the money. We don’t just want a hotel to stay in; we need to make sure we find the best hotel we can find for our budget. We don’t want to miss any opportunity to squeeze maximum joy out of our opportunities, purchases, and experiences.

The problem is: if you are always optimizing, always researching, always trying to find out what is the best, there is a real possibility that you are often acting out of greed.

The author of Hebrews tells us: “Make sure that you character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have” (Heb. 13:5).

It can be easy for someone to convince himself that he isn’t greedy simply because he isn’t always hustling and trying to make more money. But the same greedy heart can manifest itself simply by trying to squeeze every bit of utility out of the money you already have.

To be sure, there is a lot of wisdom to be had in avoiding bad deals and in not making reckless, foolish purchases. But the danger of greed lurks quietly on the other side of this kind of shrewd shopping – a greed that is only satisfied if one maxes out the resource-acquiring capacity of his bank account.

Money buys things. And we are tempted to love money because we are tempted to love to have more things. If what drives our hearts is a constant desire for more or better things, it really doesn’t matter whether we’re obsessed with doing it through bringing home more money or through using the money we have more shrewdly. The bottom line is that we’re discontent with what we have.

And, by the way, Scripture directly equates greed with something we must always flee from: idolatry (Col. 3:5).

Obsession with the things of this world

Vastly increased options and vastly increased awareness of these options causes us not only to be discontent, thankless, and greedy with what we do have or could have, but also to spend a lot of time making sure that we never come into that dreaded state of making a mistake on an investment of our resources.

I’ll be the first to admit that when I want to get something, I’m inclined to go directly to researching it at length. Far from risking the danger that I might buy the “wrong” item, I want to make sure it is absolutely the best thing possible and that I won’t regret the purchase. From that point, it’s easy to spend far more time learning about and thinking about this pursuit than is probably wise to do.

If I were to act in wisdom, however, I would realize that I generally miss out on much more by obsessing in my research than I would if I severely limited my investigation and instead spent the recovered time invested in things of spiritual and eternal value, including cultivating the relationships I have.

The Apostle John loves us not to “love the world” (1 John 2:15-16); and though much of what we try to optimize doesn’t fall into the broad categories of evil that he warns about, part of the basis for avoiding such a love applies across every type of temporal matter, whether it is intrinsically moral or amoral: “The world is passing away.” (1 John 2:17)

What may seem like a very wise stewardship of divinely-given resources may actually be a clever use of resources but spent on the entirely wrong type of project – one which will not bring an eternal return.

Instead of this, what if we were content to settle for the less-than-optimal in our temporal activities and acquisitions? And what if we were, instead, to apply the same level of diligence and rigorous inquisition into the state of our soul and the best things we could do to enable us us to grow in godliness? My assertion is that it would be a far wiser use of our energy and possessions than making sure to optimize our temporal resources.

So let’s trade in our never-satisfied quest for the perfect set of possessions and experiences, and instead dive deeply into a pursuit for contentment from the God who enables it in every circumstance (Phil. 4:11-13).