Introduction
Today we conclude our series, “Why settle for Fool’s Gold?” In our first sermon, we talked about the places where real gold can be found. And if you are looking for real treasure in your life, it is found in the person of Jesus Christ and His Word.
In the second sermon, we discussed the challenges that you and I face digging deep into the Word to get the treasure that is there for us. But if we can dig deep, it will bring us to Christ.
In the third sermon, we talked about how that relationship with Christ grows over time and we indeed treasure Him with all our heart, mind and soul which Jesus Himself told us is the first and greatest commandment. And if Jesus is our heart, we make less excuses concerning the things of God and we begin to see things like God sees them.
In our final sermon in this series, we want to look at what a heart looks like that is sold out to Jesus Christ. A heart that can truthfully say I love God with everything that is within me. Understand that Christians’ hearts are not all the same. Let me just mention a couple of them to you. First, there is the lazy heart. It does not work on its own to dig out the treasures of God from His Word. It relies on someone else to do all the work. The second heart is the half-hearted heart. This heart goes along with God and His Word unless something better comes along. I do not want for our people a lazy heart or a half-hearted heart, I desire that each one of us has a totally committed heart to Christ. And if you have that type of heart, we have this one thing in common, it is that we fear the Lord. People who have a totally committed heart, fear the Lord.
But once again, I must ask myself, “what does that look like?” If I have the fear of the Lord, what does it look like in my life? And so today, we conclude this series by what fear of the Lord looks like in the life of a Christian.
Scripture
Proverbs 19:23 (NKJV)
23 The fear of the Lord leads to life,
And he who has it will abide in satisfaction;
He will not be visited with evil.
Doesn’t that sound like a treasure? To have life and the way Jesus described it, life abundant. To be satisfied in a world that is totally unsatisfied. To be able to avoid evil in a world that is full of evil. I would say that if you possess all those things that you have a great treasure. So, I desperately need to recognize if I have the fear of the Lord in my life. What does it look like if I possess the fear of the Lord?
Point #1
If I possess the fear of the Lord, I should have a daily sense of awe because I know God is doing incredible things in my life each day.
Philippians 2:13 (NKJV)
13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
The idea of this verse is that God is working in my life in a continuous action. He does not work in my life today and then takes a couple of days off and then comes back and works some more in my life. God is always working in my life.
From the moment that I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, God has been continuously at work in my life conforming me to the imagine of Jesus.
2 Corinthians 3:18 (NKJV)
18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
In doing that, there are times that God does those big things in my life that I certainly can recognize that is from God. And those times I ought to be in awe. But God is also at work in the small things in my life, and I need to recognize those small things as God doing that and stand in awe just like I do the big things.
Those who do not fear the Lord do not see God at work in either the big or small things of their life. They give the credit to the doctor; they give credit to luck; they give credit to happen stance- I was in the right place at the right time.
But those who fear the Lord see things happening in their life as a God-thing. God did that. God brought healing to my body. God had me at the right place at the right time. And I stand at awe of what God is doing in and through me.
And if I possess the fear of the Lord, I ought to be in awe of something each day that God has done in my life.
Point #2
If I possess the fear of the Lord, it opens the door for my faith to grow in Jesus and His Word.
There are some incredible stories in the Bible and those that do not have the fear of the Lord have big problems with each one of those stories. For example, let us take the creation account in Genesis. The non-God-fearing world cannot believe creation occurred just like God say that it did. Instead, they invented an even wilder story how mankind began from a single cell animal and then through an evolutionary process advanced through various stages of the monkey family until mankind is what it is today.
Maybe, it is because I have a healthy fear of the Lord, but the Genesis story makes a whole lot more sense to me than that crazy evolution story. It is my fear of the Lord that opens my faith to grow to accept the Bible creation account as the actual way life formed.
Fear of the Lord opens the door for faith to grow. There is a story in the Gospel where one of the disciples lacked fear of the Lord and the result His faith was shut off.
Let us look at John 20:24 -25
John 20:24–25 (NKJV)
24 Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.”
So, he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”
Prior to His death on a cross, Jesus had told His disciples that He must die and be resurrected so that they can have life. And Thomas was among them. In our Scripture, we are told the other disciples that he lived with Thomas for the time of Jesus’ early ministry told Thomas that they have seen the Lord. And Thomas answer tells us it is not a faith issue but a fear of the Lord issue. Listen to what Thomas says: unless I put my hand in His side, I will not believe. And some versions tell us how strong a statement this is. Some versions say: Unless I put my hand in His side I will never believe.
Let me ask you a question if you fear the Lord, do you ever say when it comes to God: never? Never is not a word that a person who fears the Lord ever uses. It is because you know how great, how powerful, how mighty our God is. You know His ways are higher than our ways. You know that His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. Thomas shows that he lacked a healthy fear of the Lord and his faith suffered.
Point #3
If I possess the fear of the Lord, it causes me to be a doer in my Christian life.
Matthew 7:24–25 (NKJV)
24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
Look at what Jesus says in verse 24. Therefore, whoever hears these sayings of Mine and does them. That is interesting Jesus did not say whoever hears these sayings of mine and believes them will do them.
Fear of the Lord says I will do what God ask even if I do not fully understand the why.
Ms. Pat gave a great story two Wednesdays ago about going to eat with someone. She said they always go to eat at Wendy’s and today she did not want Wendy’s, she wanted something different, Santa Fe. As they are driving to Santa Fe, a voice in his head says you want a Wendy’s baked potato with chili. So, they turned around and went back to Wendy’s. After they start eating a homeless person came in that was hungry. Ms. Pat was there by God to buy that homeless person a meal.
Have you ever found yourself doing something without initially knowing the reason why, but you felt God was telling you to do it. You were being motivated by the fear of the Lord to do it.
Fear of the Lord and the act of doing go hand in hand. And it is as you do what God has laid on your heart that your faith is strengthen.
Conclusion
The real gold in your Christian life is when God has your full attention, commitment and awe today. The warning is to stop chasing after fool’s gold.
