The Fear of God (3) Exchanged Glory (2) (Rom 1, 20-23)

“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.” (Rm 1:20-23)

​We’ve been talking about the fear of God, and last Sunday we mainly discussed the relationship between the fear of God and God’s glory.
 
I said that what prevents us most from fearing God is to not perceive who He truly is. God is worthy of all our praises and glory because of who He is and what He has done, but if we fail to see how glorious, holy, and mighty He is, we can’t truly worship Him or fear Him the way He deserves.
 
In other words, how we go before God and worship Him depends on who we profess and acknowledge Him to be. The more we see wonderful and glorious things in Him, the more we can ascribe to Him the glory due His name. So, the way we worship God must not be based on our circumstances, emotions, or standards but solely on who God is.
 
But the Israelites failed to worship God with reverence because they exchanged God’s glory for the image of a golden calf. When God manifested His glory at Mount Sinai with great signs such as thunder, lightning, a thick cloud, and a loud trumpet sound, the Israelites were overwhelmed by God’s presence and trembled with fear before Him.
 
But after a few weeks, the way they worshiped their God changed dramatically. Rather than going before Him with fear and awe, they indulged themselves in revelry, eating, drinking, shouting and dancing.
 
It was so loud that when Joshua and Moses came closer to the camp, Joshua even said to Moses, “There is the sound of war in the camp” (Ex 32:17). But Moses replied, “It is not the sound of victory, it is the sound of singing that I hear” (Ex 32:18)
 
The reason their worship style changed so dramatically was mainly because they made a golden calf and worshiped it the way they wanted instead of worshiping God the way He deserved. There was no reverence or awe, or sacrifice or commitment, but only indulgence and revelry because they exchanged God’s glory for a mere golden statue.
 
What’s worse, they called it ‘Yehovah’ which was the unique name only used to refer to the God of Israel. They still needed God’s power and guidance they had experienced when they left Egypt, but they didn’t want to worship God in fear the way they had at Mount Sinai.
 
They still wanted God’s blessings, but they didn’t want to give Him the appropriate glory and honor due His name. I think that’s the mindset that caused them to make a god in the image of a calf.
 
They called the golden calf ‘Yehovah’, but it wasn’t Yehovah at all. No matter what they called it, the fact that they worshiped it in vain without fear of God showed that the target of their worship wasn’t really God. Needless to say, God wasn’t pleased with their worship, nor did He accept it, but brought severe judgment on them.
 
It teaches us a very important lesson that the fact that we come to church every Sunday to worship God itself doesn’t have any meaning if the target of our worship is not really God. So, whenever we worship God, we should always remind ourselves of whom we’re worshiping. Otherwise, we will find ourselves worshiping a golden calf without realizing it.
 
But if we intentionally and intensely try to focus on how glorious, holy, and worthy of our praises God is, we will worship Him in holy fear, reverence, and awe. That’s how we can truly experience His presence in our worship and our daily lives.
 
Exchanging the Glory of God
Sadly, this false perception of God and false way to worship Him repeated throughout the history of Israel in the Old Testament, and it continued in the New Testament and even until today.
 
The gospel of John starts with the amazing proclamation that the Creator of the universe came into the world. He was God’s word through which all things were created. He was the light of all mankind. He deserved the best glory and honor since He was the King and the Lord of the whole world.
 
But how did people treat Him? John 1:9-11 says,
“The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him” (Jn 1:9-11)
 
The world didn’t recognize the King and His people didn’t receive Him. There was no reception or honor for the One who had created the universe. His people didn’t give Him the glory and honor that He deserved. Instead, they disregarded and disrespected Him.
 
Paul said in the book of Romans,
“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.” (Rm 1:20-23)
 
Again we see the one true God’s glorious image reduced. This time it is not to a calf but rather to the image of corruptible human beings.
 
There are many ways through which we can perceive God’s existence. They can be divided into two categories—general revelation and special revelation.
 
General revelation refers to God’s creation, our conscience, and so on. When we see the nature and moral desire to be good inside us, we naturally come to know that there’s a God who made the universe and our minds, hearts, and consciences. On the other hand, special revelation refers to God’s word written to reveal to us who God really is and what He does for us more specifically.
 
Paul’s point is that even those who don’t know about the special revelation of God have the ability to perceive God’s existence through general revelation so that no one has an excuse.
 
According to Paul, all people can perceive the existence of God. Then, what should be their response to God? They should glorify Him and give thanks to Him who created them. That’s the natural response.
 
But, rather than giving Him the glory He deserves, they became fools and exchanged God’s eternal glory for corruptible, futile images. And this includes worshiping other people.
 
Israel was surrounded by societies that worshiped golden images in the likenesses of animals. Likewise, today, even though we don’t worship those kinds of images, we’re also surrounded by a culture that worships people—celebrities, politicians, CEOs, and more. And this mentality also permeates the church. And it certainly affects our faith.
 
Exchanging the glory of God for other things is still happening in the church. Just as the Israelites made the golden calf, called it ‘Yehovah,’ and worshiped it the way that they liked, not the way God deserved, we have worshiped God in the image we have made. I think that’s one of the main reasons we’ve lost the fear of God in many churches today.
 
And, as a result, God doesn’t receive the honor and reverence He deserves. We say we worship God, but we don’t really worship the one true God, but a somewhat different God that we’re more comfortable worshiping. I think that’s worse than saying ‘I don’t believe in God’ because if we think we’re doing the right thing, we don’t realize we need to repent and go back to a true relationship with Him.
 
There are many Christians who read the Bible on a regular basis and go to church and listen to sermons on Sunday, but it seems that God’s word has been filtered through our culturally influenced way of thinking.
 
We’re often quick to accept things in the Scriptures that sound good to us, but also quick to judge and reject ideas that make us uncomfortable. So, we’ve filtered God’s word and His commands, taking only what sounds good to us, while ignoring parts that we don’t like.
 
Many Christians speak about God’s love, but few speak about fearing Him even though they are both equally important foundations for our worship and our relationship with Him.
 
We like to talk about Jesus being our Savior, Healer, and Provider, but not many Christians truly profess Jesus as their King. They want to believe in Jesus because they want salvation that can guarantee their lives after death, but they don’t acknowledge His Lordship or absolute sovereignty over their lives. They believe in Jesus without any effort to be like Him.
 
That was me. I believed in Jesus because I had heard about Him and I needed a kind of guarantee of life after death, but I didn’t want Him to be the Lord of my life. I hadn’t surrendered to Him. I believed in a Jesus I made. And since that Jesus was different from the real Jesus, my faith had nothing to do with spiritual growth or changed life.
 
It seems that money has replaced God’s place. Even many Christians believe in God to be rich. The prosperity gospel has swept through many churches all around the world. As a result, the church has been getting bigger and richer outwardly, but poorer spiritually.
 
The church has become a fancy place where the poor, the marginalized, and the homeless can’t easily go. I even heard of a church that drove out a person because of his appearance and smell. How can such a church reflect Jesus’ heart?
 
For us to truly worship God, love Him and love people the way He wants us to, we must first recover the fear of God. If our thinking, our emotions, or our standards are at the center of our worship rather than God, we must first proclaim that God is the Lord of our worship.
 
I’m not saying these things to make you depressed. It’s even hard for me to stay upright in my relationship with God. Because of my sinful nature still working inside me, I keep facing my weaknesses, stubbornness, self-centered thinking and unholiness. That’s what makes me frustrated the most.
 
But we can’t just ignore this part while justifying our faith. Even though it is indeed hard to face reality of our faith, we should never stop checking if our faith is built upon the right, firm foundation of Jesus Christ or not.
 
Godly Sorrow
Paul wrote in his second letter to the church in Corinth,
“Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it - I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while - yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.” (2Co 7:8-10)
 
In first Corinthians, Paul rebuked the Christians in Corinth for the sinful things they were doing in the church there. And Paul said that he had regretted it for a little while because he knew that his letter had likely caused them sorrow.
 
But Paul didn’t take back what he wrote in the letter because he knew that what was much more important than their feelings was for them to have the right faith before God.
 
And, his letter indeed caused them sorrow. But that sorrow was good, godly sorrow since it led them to repent of their wrongdoings. Paul continued,
 
“See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done. At every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter.” (2Co 7:11)
 
This is the sorrow we always need to have as Christians. We need godly sorrow that brings true repentance in our lives. We should always check if our faith is on the right track or not and if not, we should return to the right path with sorrow and repentance.
 
No one is perfect. No Christian is perfect. But those Christians who have godly sorrow in their hearts are willing to repent and change themselves according to God’s word whenever they find an inconsistency between God’s commands and their lives, and their lives will become more in line with God’s will day after day.
 
So, I’m saying what I’m saying through this sermon to myself first. It is the message I need first. We all need godly sorrow that produces repentance, earnestness, eagerness, longing, and readiness in our lives.
 
We should never exchange God’s glory for anything else. We should never take His place—God must be at the center of our worship. Only then can we really start to understand what it means to believe in Him and worship Him with the fear of God.