Obedience – the Proof of Your Fear of the Lord
June 4/5, 2005
Don Jaques
MAIN IDEA: You know you have the fear of the Lord IF you obey instantly, joyfully, and wholly. We obey not because of WHAT we’re asked to do, but because of WHO asks us.
INTRO:
Dale Rooks, a school crossing guard in Florida, tried everything to get cars to slow down through the school zone. But nothing worked…until he took a blow dryer and wrapped it in electrical tape, making it look like a radar gun.
Dale just points the thing at cars, and it’s incredible how quickly they hit the brakes.
"It’s almost comical," Dale says. "It’s amazing how well it works."
Citation: The Connection newsletter, ChristianityToday.com (9-8-04)
Hold that image in your mind. I’ll be coming back to it later.
REVIEW: The fear of the Lord is to have an appropriate awe and respect for God’s holiness and power, and to hate evil as God hates it.
But how do we know if we really are living in the fear of the Lord? If we OBEY Him.
One of the things that strikes me as I think over some of the major characters in the Bible is that God asked them to do some pretty CRAZY things. Things that sounded illogical. Things that would make others scratch their heads or call them strange.
Here are some of my favorite places where this happens:
Noah –
Gen. 6:13-15 So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high.
Abraham –
Gen. 22:1-2 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!"
"Here I am," he replied.
2 Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about."
Ezekiel –
Ezek. 4:1-9 “Now, son of man, take a clay tablet, put it in front of you and draw the city of Jerusalem on it. Then lay siege to it: Erect siege works against it, build a ramp up to it, set up camps against it and put battering rams around it. Then take an iron pan, place it as an iron wall between you and the city and turn your face toward it. It will be under siege, and you shall besiege it. This will be a sign to the house of Israel.
“Then lie on your left side and put the sin of the house of Israel upon yourself. You are to bear their sin for the number of days you lie on your side. I have assigned you the same number of days as the years of their sin. So for 390 days you will bear the sin of the house of Israel.
“After you have finished this, lie down again, this time on your right side, and bear the sin of the house of Judah. I have assigned you 40 days, a day for each year. Turn your face toward the siege of Jerusalem and with bared arm prophesy against her. I will tie you up with ropes so that you cannot turn from one side to the other until you have finished the days of your siege.
“Take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and spelt; put them in a storage jar and use them to make bread for yourself. You are to eat it during the 390 days you lie on your side.
Isaiah –
Is. 20:1-3 In the year that the supreme commander, sent by Sargon king of Assyria, came to Ashdod and attacked and captured it — at that time the LORD spoke through Isaiah son of Amoz. He said to him, “Take off the sackcloth from your body and the sandals from your feet.” And he did so, going around stripped and barefoot.
Then the LORD said, “Just as my servant Isaiah has gone stripped and barefoot for three years…
Hosea –
Hos. 1:2 When the LORD began to speak through Hosea, the LORD said to him, “Go, take to yourself an adulterous wife and children of unfaithfulness, because the land is guilty of the vilest adultery in departing from the LORD.”
Ananias –
Acts 9:10-17 In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!” ¶ “Yes, Lord,” he answered.
The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”
“Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”
But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel.
I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”
Then Ananias went to the house and entered it.
Why were these events recorded? Not just because God asked – but because the people had the audacity to OBEY!
• Noah built the ark.
• Abram went up the mountain to sacrifice Isaac.
• Isaiah went stripped and barefoot.
• Ezekiel lay on his side for over a year.
• Hosea married a prostitute.
• Ananias healed Saul.
And by their obedience they proved their fear of the Lord.
Gen. 22:12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”
In each of these examples obedience cost something. It cost time, it cost reputation, it cost pride.
I’ve been reading a book called “Intimate Friendship With God Through Understanding the Fear of the Lord” by Joy Dawson. In it she says something about this:
The consequences of disobedience are always far worse than the act of obedience, no matter how hard! We always have God’s grace to enable us to obey. We come under His judgment when we disobey.
Joy Dawson “Intimate Friendship With God through Understanding the Fear of the Lord”, p. 22.
In the well-known story of Jonah, he is given the instruction to head Northeast to Ninevah and preach repentance to them. Instead, he boards a ship heading southwest. While on board he has the audacity to say this in verse 1:9.
Jonah 1:9 (NASV) He said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the LORD God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land.”
Jonah says he fears the Lord, but his lack of fear of the Lord is shown through his disobedience. The consequences for him included endangering the entire crew of the ship, and eventually being swallowed by a great fish. When finally he comes to his senses, repents, and acts in accordance with his professed fear, God delivers him.
We don’t want to be like Jonah. God doesn’t want us to be like Jonah. He wants to see us obey him when he gives us instructions, not because of what the instruction is, but because of WHO HE IS.
Remember that crossing guard with the hair dryer pointing it at cars?
Why does this work? Because people aren’t afraid of the crossing guard and what he can do to them, but they are afraid of the police and what the police can do to them. They obey not because of what they are being asked to do (slow down) but because of WHO is asking them.
When it comes to doing what the Lord asks us, we need to make sure our emphasis is on WHO gave the order – not WHAT the order is.
Obedience that demonstrates fear of the Lord is instant, joyful, and full. Delayed obedience is disobedience. Partial obedience is disobedience. Murmuring obedience is disobedience.
This is just the way it is with our children. When I give them instructions – they often don’t’ understand why I’m asking them to do a certain thing. But if they could just remember that I love them, that I have their best in mind, and that I would never ask them to do something that will destroy them, they would find obedience to come much more easily.
The point is this – sometimes we will not understand why God commands us to do something or to NOT do something. At that moment we will demonstrate whether we truly fear the Lord or not.
But God, how can it be wrong to live together and be involved sexually – it feels right!
But God, how can you be serious when you say homosexual acts are sinful? Weren’t people born that way?
God, how can you really expect me to forgive that person and go and try to make things right? It wasn’t my fault!
What do you mean I shouldn’t buy this? I have the money right here in my hand! You don’t expect me to live like a peasant do you?
God will often ask you to do something that seems strange (remember the prophets!) but it only seems strange until we can see the whole picture. As a parent of two children, I can see the far-reaching implications of their attitudes and behavior. I can see where certain habits will lead them if they are not redirected as they grow. THEY can’t see these things.
Now if we know this to be true in human parenting, how much MORE true must it be in God’s parenting of the human race. He knows what needs to be done. And he reveals it to us through his written word and through the internal work of the Holy Spirit. It is not our job to understand why – it is to obey.
God is speaking to us. He speaks through…
1. His word, which is unchanging.
2. The instruction of the Holy Spirit to our inner being.
3. The voice of another Spirit-empowered person – through voice, print, radio, TV, you name it.
The important thing is that we live our lives seeking His input, and then following through on what input he gives on how we are to live our lives and re-present Him in this world.
TESTIMONY:
At this time I’d like to bring up a couple of men in our church who have stepped out into a faith venture which they believe God has called them to do – and I’d like for you to hear about what’s going on. I hope you’ll be encouraged to listen and obey the voice of the Lord in your own life, and that you’ll want to get involved in whatever way you can with them.
BRING UP JIM and PHIL.
It is because Jim and Phil fear the Lord that they are stepping out in faith and following the dream that God has given them.
It is because Ken Mann fears the Lord that he has followed through in helping to see a CTK church planted in Kenya.
It is because Stephanie and Leann fear the Lord that they are stepping out in faith to go back to Romania and be His hands and feet.
CONCLUSION:
What about you?
Is there something the Holy Spirit has been speaking to you about? Something that needs to be done?
Is there a dream God has been giving you that sounds illogical to pursue?
Is there something in God’s word that you know you have not obeyed?
Remember, fearing the Lord – as evidenced by our obedience to His commands – is in our best interests.
Deut. 5:29 Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever!
It will not always be easy, comfortable, well-spoken of. But when we fear the Lord enough to obey Him, and we make that the rule of our lives, we can look forward to hearing those words, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into your rest.”
Those are the words I want to hear more than any else. How about you?
