F.e.a.r.

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

F.E.A.R.

10-03-01

1. What is it to FEAR God? In Ray Stedman’s book “Is This All There Is To Life” he uses Fear as an acronym to define what kind of fear we are talking about here.

a. F= Faith in His existence, according to Hebrews 11:6 you can’t even come to God unless you believe He is there. Therefore the first part of fear is faith.

b. E=Experience of His grace, until you have felt his awesome forgiveness how can you even start to have respect and awe for him? Until you have experienced guilt lifted off your shoulders because of his grace, how could you fear Him/

c. A=Awe at the majesty, the wisdom, and the wonder of God. When you stop to think that the Bible tells us to approach His throne boldly. The creation talking to the creator boldly? Just how complex is a human life that God has breathed out of the dust? God is majestic, He is awesome, He is worthy of our FEAR!!

d. R=Resolve to do what he says, to obey his word, to keep his commandments. A preacher taught me years ago to not make obedience to God an option, but make it an obsession! Jesus asked, “ Why do you call me Lord, and do not the things I have commanded you?”

F=Faith

E=Experience

A=Awe

R=Resolve

This is what it means to Fear God.

Everything Solomon has wrote about before Chapter 12 vs 13-14, can be summed up in these two verses. All is truly vanity without God, but with God comes a life complete. A life that is whole and meaningful. A life that realizes one day we will be held accountable for how we lived this life. Was it lived in vanity or was it lived according to God’s sovereign will?