Living In The Fear Of The Lord
Text: 1 Peter 1:17-25
Introduction
1. Illustration: One time many years ago, the king of Hungary found himself depressed and unhappy. He sent for his brother, a good-natured but rather indifferent prince. The king said to him, "I am a great sinner; I fear to meet God." But the prince only laughed at him. This didn't help the king's disposition any. Though he was a believer, the king had gotten a glimpse of his guilt for the way he'd been living lately, and he seriously wanted help. In those days it was customary if the executioner sounded a trumpet before a man's door at any hour, it was a signal that he was to be led to his execution. The king sent the executioner in the dead of night to sound the fateful blast at his brother's door. The prince realized with horror what was happening. Quickly dressing, he stepped to the door and was seized by the executioner, and dragged pale and trembling into the king's presence. In an agony of terror he fell on his knees before his brother and begged to know how he had offended him. "My brother," answered the king, "if the sight of a human executioner is so terrible to you, shall not I, having grievously offended God, fear to be brought before the judgment seat of Christ?"
2. The term "fear of the Lord" is not a popular one today.
a. Those who do not follow Christ think there is no reason to.
b. Those who do follow Christ don't want to mention it because it might scare someone away.
c. So it is neither politically or religiously correct in our society.
3. Yet the Bible talks about it a lot...in fact the phrase is mentioned 73 times in the NLT!
4. Today we are going to examine three questions:
a. What is the fear of the Lord?
b. Why should we fear the Lord?
c. How can we demonstrate the fear of the Lord?
5. Read 1 Peter 1:17-25
Transition: First we need to understand...
I. What Is The Fear Of The Lord (17)?
A. In Reverent Fear Of Him
1. Part of the reason, I believe, people struggle with this concept is that we simply do not understand it.
2. Peter gives us several things that helps have a better handle on this subject. First he says, "And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites. He will judge or reward you according to what you do..."
a. Peter did not want believers to forget that though they have an intimate relationship with their heavenly Father, they must conduct themselves in holiness during the time of their stay on earth because God is also the One who impartially judges according to each one's work (MacArthur, 68).
b. The image of God as an impartial judge was standard in Judaism, which also addressed him as “heavenly Father” in most of its prayers (Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary – New Testament).
c. We must remember that just because we give our lives to Christ and are given the hope of eternal life, does not mean that we are free to do as we choose.
d. We will still have to answer for how we live our lives hear on earth
3. Then Peter says, "So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time as “foreigners in the land.”
a. What does the Bible mean that we should live in "fear of the Lord." Does it mean reverence or terror?
b. Abject terror doesn't seen to fit with the joy and boldness of the Christian life.
c. However, we can water down reverence so that it loses it's significance.
d. Peter talks about the final judgment, where believers will be assessed by their works and heaven and hell will be at stake.
e. This is a kind of fear that does not contradict confidence. A confident driver also possesses a healthy fear of an accident that prevents him from doing something stupid (New American Commentary).
f. This fear is neither dread nor anxiety; rather, it is the healthy response of a human being before an altogether different kind of being, God, and is a sign of spiritual health and gratitude.
g. This holy Judge we now call "Father," a term indicating intimacy and love but also respect and submission (McKnight, The NIV Application Commentary – 1 Peter, 89).
B. Beginning Of Wisdom
1. Illustration: David McCullough in his book Mornings On Horseback tells this story about young Teddy Roosevelt: Mittie (his mother) had found he was so afraid of the Madison Square Church that he refused to set foot inside if alone. He was terrified, she discovered, of something called the "zeal." It was crouched in the dark corners of the church ready to jump at him, he said. When she asked what a zeal might be, he said he was not sure, but thought it was probably a large animal like an alligator or a dragon. He had heard the minister read about it from the Bible. Using a concordance, she read him those passages containing the word ZEAL until suddenly, very excited, he told her to stop. The line was from the Book of John, 2:17: "And his disciples remembered that it was written, 'The ZEAL of thine house hath eaten me up'" People are still justifiably afraid to come near the "zeal" of the Lord, for they are perfectly aware it could "eat them up" if they aren't one of His. Our Lord is good, but He isn't safe.
2. Fear of the Lord is one of the best things a person can gain in this life.
a. Proverbs 9:10-11 (NLT)
Fear of the LORD is the foundation of wisdom. Knowledge of the Holy One results in good judgment. 11 Wisdom will multiply your days and add years to your life.
b. First, the fear of the Lord will make you wise.
c. It will enable you to make good decisions because you will realize what is at stake.
d. You will understand that bad decisions come with consequences.
e. That's the problem today, we want to enjoy the pleasures of sin so much that we ignore the consequences.
f. There is a way which seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.
g. Second, the fear of the Lord will add years to your life.
h. It will keep you from make stupid mistakes.
i. It will cause you to be careful not to do things that can harm you.
j. It will enable you to see the big picture.
k. It will help you answer the question, "Is it really worth it?"
Transition: Now that we understand what it is...
II. Why Should We Fear The Lord (18-21)?
A. God Paid A Ransom
1. We should certainly fear the Lord because he is a just and holy God, but we should also fear him because of all the things he has done for us.
2. Peter tells us, "For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver."
a. Ransom is the key word in this passage. This term (lutroō) means “to purchase release by paying a ransom,” or “to deliver by the payment of a price.”
b. To the Greeks the word was also a technical term for paying money to buy back a prisoner of war (MacArthur, 72).
c. The former life of his addressees was an "empty life handed you inherited from your ancestors."
d. What had been considered venerable tradition was now considered "empty" thus, a new tradition, one rooted in Jesus was needed.
e. From this former life believers have been ransomed, that is, purchased with a price—the blood of Jesus Christ.
f. The plight of humans is moral offense, sinfulness, and bondage to that vicious condition; the price paid is the atoning death of God's Son.
g. As a result, we are now back in God's ownership as his servants, free from sin and death.
h. Since we know we have been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, we should be grateful to God for our new family and live in fear and holiness before him(McKnight, 89).
3. Next Peter tells the extent of God's love for us because this ransom price, "It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. 20 God chose him as your ransom long before the world began, but he has now revealed him to you in these last days."
a. Peter appealed to his readers' basic knowledge that there was nothing available to mankind that could meet that price.
b. Knowing emphasizes that believers know that they were not redeemed with perishable things. Redemption's price was not some valuable earthly commodity—like silver or gold.
c. Having stated what believers were not redeemed with, Peter declared the means by which God did redeem them—with precious blood.
d. He used blood as a vivid synonym for sacrificial death involving the shedding of blood.
e. The blood was not just any blood but precious because it belonged to a lamb unblemished and spotless.
f. Peter's words implicitly picture the immense sacrifice the owner of such a lamb made when he killed his flock's finest, purest, most perfect animal, the very kind of animal God always required for sacrifice.
g. No sacrificial lamb or any other animal sacrifice could ever really take away sin (MacArthur, 77).
h. But since God paid so high a price as a ransom for us, the price of his own Son, shouldn't we show our appreciation by living our lives in reverence and respect of his holiness?
B. Look What The Lord Has Done
1. Illustration: "The fear of man is being more impressed with man's reaction to our actions than with God's reaction. That's bondage. When we have the fear of God upon us, we are impressed only with God's reaction. We are freed from the concern of what people think. That's freedom! That's release! That's great relief!" (Joy Dawson, Intimate Friendship With God Through Understanding the Fear of the Lord, 33).
2. We should fear the Lord out of a sense of gratitude for his goodness to us.
a. 1 Samuel 12:24 (NLT)
But be sure to fear the LORD and faithfully serve him. Think of all the wonderful things he has done for you.
b. Fear the Lord for he has done great things for us.
c. Fear the Lord for he loved us so much that he was willing to send his only Son to die for us.
d. Fear the Lord for he provides for us.
e. Fear the Lord for he protects us.
f. Fear the Lord for he allows us sinners to be called his children.
Transition: So we know what it is, and why we should do it, but...
III. How Can We Demonstrate The Fear Of The Lord (22-25)?
A. Show Sincere Love To Each Other
1. So how can you tell that someone truly fears the Lord? Very simply by how they love.
2. Peter says, "You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart."
a. Peter's final exhortation is again rooted in the "before and after" of conversion: Since you have been purified, love one another, because you have been born again.
b. The foundation for love that Peter builds on is that "you were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth."
c. The word "deeply" speaks of the effort required for that love, the depth of it for one another, and the duration of it (until the end).
d. The word is frequently associated with characteristics of prayer: fervency, constancy, and effort.
e. Peter expects his churches to be filled with people who love one another in that way, who try to understand one another, who give the other person the benefit of the doubt, and who reach out to others in the same love.
f. Peter wants churches filled with people who love one another and where intimacy is the inevitable result of being made holy by God's grace (McKnight, 90-91).
3. And why should we love each other deeply? Again it goes back to gratitude. Peter says, "For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God."
a. The new birth gave them a new likeness to a loving God and a new family, which had the characteristic and ability to love one another.
b. Their new birth came about by means of an "imperishable" seed; like the precious blood of Jesus (1:19), that seed was rooted in the living God (1:23) and, because it was eternally effective (1:24-25a), gave them an ultimate foundation for loving one another deeply.
c. Humans and humanly created things are like grass in that they will perish and vanish away.
d. But the Word of God, planted in Christians, is eternal and grows in those same Christians to give them an eternal existence.
e. This effective seed is, in fact, the sure word of God that they heard in the gospel that was preached to them (McKnight, 91).
B. Love One Another
1. Illustration: One of my favorite stories about love, which is actually a true story, revolves around the Apostle John. It is said that when John was very old he was the Pastor of the church in Ephesus. So old in fact that he had to be carried into the assembly on the Lord's day on a mat. He would sit in the middle of the congregation and teach. It is said that for months he would do nothing except mutter the phrase "beloved love one another; beloved love one another!" After several months of this one of the elders of the church came to him and said, "Brother John, that is a wonderful message, but don't you think we could hear about something else?" The wise, old Apostle looked at this elder and said, "When we learn this lesson we will move on the next one!"
2. Fear of the Lord is exemplified by love.
a. 1 John 4:7-8 (NLT)
Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. 8 But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
b. We should fear God because he is just, but we should also fear God because we love him.
c. But how can we say we love God and not love one another?
d. If God is love, how can we say we love him and not love one another?
e. Love shows that we fear God.
f. Love shows our gratitude to God for his goodness.
g. Love shows that we truly are a child of God, because children display the characteristics of their parents and God's essential characteristic is love.
h. 1 John 4:11 (NLT)
Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other.
Conclusion
1. So what is the fear of the Lord?
a. Fear of his justice
b. Respect for his power
c. Reverence for his holiness
2. Why should we fear the Lord?
a. Because he loved us enough to pay the ransom for our sins by sending Jesus to die for us.
b. Because in doing so he has given us new life.
c. Because we could never be thankful enough for all that he has done for us.
3. How can we demonstrate that we fear him?
a. By loving him with all our hearts.
b. By loving each other deeply because he loved us first.
c. Proverbs 2:3-5 (NLT)
Cry out for insight, and ask for understanding. 4 Search for them as you would for silver; seek them like hidden treasures.
5 Then you will understand what it means to fear the LORD, and you will gain knowledge of God.
