The Fear of the Lord (1) (Is 33:5-6)

“The Lord is exalted, for he dwells on high; he will fill Zion with his justice and righteousness. He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure” (Is 33:5-6)

The Fear of God
There are many important topics that we should know about as Christians, and there are many topics that I personally want to study more and preach about, but the first topic that came to my mind was the fear of God.
 
Around 10 years ago, after I finished discipleship training school in Denver, Colorado and went back to Korea, my cousin asked me to study the fear of God with her. She was the one who introduced me to DTS.
  
I didn’t know why she asked me to study the topic of the fear of God. Even though one of the books I had to read and write a report on during DTS was “the fear of the Lord,” I don’t think I cared about it that much.
 
So, when she asked me to study the topic with her, I didn’t refuse, but my heart wasn’t really in it. I think at that time I focused more on God’s loving character and His mission.
 
So, the study ended up fizzling out, but that was the first time I became aware of the importance of the fear of God. Since then, I’ve had the desire to know more about it, so I chose to talk about this subject during young adult worship.
 
Even though it’s not often mentioned by Christians, the fear of the Lord is one of the most important subjects addressed repeatedly in the Scriptures. The Bible emphasizes the fear of God from the beginning to the end. Nevertheless, it seems that many Christians aren’t really interested in the subject.
 
Many Christians like to talk about God’s love for them and their love for God, but not many of them speak about honoring God in holy fear.
 
I think one of the reasons for this is because of the negative feeling the word ‘fear’ gives us. The word “fear” is typically used in a negative context. And it does have negative meanings.
 
Fear can be defined as “an unpleasant, often strong emotion caused by anticipation or awareness of danger; anxious concern; or unpleasant alarm”—Merriam-Webster Dictionary
 
I think that’s the usage of the word ‘fear’ we normally think about. In that sense, the fear of God sounds somewhat negative. But, the dictionary also notes another meaning of ‘fear.’
 
Fear can also mean “profound reverence and awe especially toward God”—Merriam-Webster Dictionary
 
I think the second usage better conveys the real meaning of the fear of the Lord. It’s not to be afraid or terrified of Him. It’s more like being overwhelmed by God’s majesty and glory and our natural response to His glorious eminence.
 
In other words, holy fear is reverence and awe toward the Lord because of who He is. So, the first thing we need to know is that the concept of the fear of God is not something negative. That’s because the target of our reverence and awe is not a negative being, but an eternally good God.
 
We see the importance of the fear of God simply through the fact that the Bible keeps telling us over and over again, sometimes explicitly and sometimes indirectly, that we should fear and be in awe of the Lord, for He is God.
 
As God’s people, we need to know the meaning of the fear of God because it is not only beneficial, but critical to maintaining a strong, close relationship with God.
 
Many Christians seem to know the importance of the fear of God but it also seems that they don’t really comprehend how necessary and essential it is in their faith in God and their relationship with Him. That was me once.
 
When my cousin asked me to study the fear of God together through the Bible, I didn’t really feel like doing it because I didn’t see its importance that much.
 
How about you? How much do you think the fear of God is essential in your relationship with God? How much are you trying to go before God in reverence and awe in your life? What would it look like to really fear God? I hope that through this sermon series about the fear of God, we come to have a better understanding of its meaning.
 
Love for God and Fear of God
There’s something that should be mentioned along with the fear of God. That’s the love of God. They seem to contradict one another, but they don’t. In fact, they are closely related to one another.
 
I think I have always seen God’s love as the only foundation for my relationship with Him. So, I’ve concentrated more on His love for me and my love for Him.
 
But the more I read the Bible, especially the parts about fearing God, the more I understand that the fear of the Lord is just as foundational as having love for Him. Along with the love of God, it composes the very foundation of our lives.
 
In fact, love for God and the fear of God go hand in hand. We can’t truly love God until we fear Him, nor can we properly fear Him until we love Him.
 
It seems that many Christians today have a tendency to think more about loving God while overlooking the importance of fearing Him, just as I did.
 
But we should know that love without fear can’t be true love. If you say you love God without having any fear of Him, that only reveals that you love Him only the way you want to love. If you really want to know how to love God, you need to also know how to go before Him in reverence and awe.
 
I’ve seen many Christians who say “I love God” without any effort to build their relationship with Him or obey His words. It seems to me that their definition of love is only limited to the modern concept of love as an emotion, not the biblical meaning of love.
 
But what the Scriptures say about love is that even though it definitely includes emotion, it’s much more than that.
 
Jesus said,
“Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them… If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.” (Jn 14:21, Jn 15:10)
 
So, the biblical concept of love always includes willing obedience to God’s word. Even Jesus proved that He loved God and us by keeping His commands. And obedience is very closely related to the fear of God because our willing obedience must be based on our respect and honor for God.
 
What the Bible makes clear is the fact that we can’t love God without fearing Him or obeying His commands. We should beware of applying the modern concept of love to our faith in God. The world says that love is a feeling and an emotion. But the Bible says that love is more like sacrifice and actual practice.
 
So, I think we need to have the courage to say “I don’t think I actually love God, looking back on my life” It might break our hearts but that will enable us to face where we really are spiritually. It is that recognition that will bring us the desire of true repentance.
 
 To say “I love God” without really loving Him is not helpful at all. That’s only to justify our deficiency. We shouldn’t deceive ourselves by saying ‘it’s alright’ when it’s not. Rather, we should be able to see exactly where we are spiritually in light of the Scriptures and through the Holy Spirit. I think that’s the starting point to learn about the real meaning of fearing God in our lives.
 
Today we read a part of the book of Isaiah. It says,
“The Lord is exalted, for he dwells on high; he will fill Zion with his justice and righteousness. He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure” (Is 33:5-6)
 
The prophet Isaiah said that holy fear is the key to God’s sure foundation and the treasures of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge.
 
Proverb 9:10 also says,
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding” (Pr 9:10)
 
Again, fearing God is an important foundation that we should never neglect in our relationship with Him. Fearing God is the key to His spiritual blessings for us. Our faith and our relationship with God must be firmly built on the foundations of both love and fear.
 
Then, we’ll truly understand what it means to walk with God in holy fear. That’s what I want us to learn about through this time.
 
Today is an introduction to fearing God. I really hope and pray that God would fill us with the Holy Spirit and His wisdom so that we can deeply know what it means to fear Him, and so that our relationship with Him can become much stronger than ever on the proper foundation of the fear of God.