Be Afraid but Don’t Live in Fear

 

Hmm.  With a title like this you are probably thinking I am crazy.  In the words of Lucille Ball, “Let me explain.”

I think Christians have lost sight of the idea that God is holy and that he cannot and will not tolerate sin.   We live with the philosophy that we can do anything we want and just confess it later.  We don’t have a healthy fear of God.   In Deuteronomy 5:29 God tells us to fear Him and to keep his commandments.  The relationship that you entered with God when accepted Christ as your Savior should be one of love but also one of obedience, reverence and fear.

Psalm 19:9 “The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever.”

Psalm 33:18 “But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him”

Psalm 34:7-11 “The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them. Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. Fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him lack nothing. The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord.”

I could list a lot more verses like those above.  It seems very apparent to me that Christians have lost sight of the power of God, the holiness of God, and the idea that God is to be feared.

I know that some of you are thinking that this was just for the Old Testament people and not for today.  After all doesn’t Jesus love me?  Shouldn’t that remove the fear I have?  The writers of the New Testament continue the theme of fearing God.

Acts 9:31 “Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace. It was strengthened; and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord.”

Acts 10:34-35  “Then Peter began to speak: "I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right.”

Paul writes this in 2 Corinthians 5:11  “Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience.”

In Philippians, Paul tells us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling.

I’m afraid that today’s Christians do not fear God.  They do not fear Jesus.  They do not fear the Holy Spirit.  They come to Jesus for what He can do for them.  They come for what they can get out of it.  It is a need-based relationship.  That kind of gospel will attract lots of people but it will not transform their lives.  It is not until people realize the holiness of God and their need to fear and reverence him that their lives change.

Now let me balance that with a few other ideas. I don’t think God wants us to live in fear of the future or of others.

Deuteronomy 31:6  “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

We conquer fear in our lives with the Word of God.  When the devil tempted Jesus, Jesus simply quoted scripture. 

Hebrews 4:2 “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword”

Psalm 27:1 “The LORD is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid?”

Let me wind this up by saying, study who God is.  Understand his character and his attributes.  When you begin to understand who God is, you can’t help but fear Him.  In that fear, you will also develop a great love for Him.  In his perfection and holiness, He loves us – his fallen creation.  How He can love someone like me is something I will never understand.  I live by faith in the God.  I love him and I trust him to go before me and to take care of me.  However, I must never lose sight of his holiness and his character and that demands my obedience and worship.

You Lost Me

I am reading the book You Lost Me: Why Young Christians Are Leaving Church…and Rethinking Faith.

The main idea I have gotten from the book so far is that the problem is a disciple-making problem.   The church is not adequately preparing young people to follow Christ faithfully in their rapidly changing culture.  “Teenagers are the most religiously active group in America.  American twentysomethings are the least religiously active group.”  What has happened to them?  Why have they not remained faithful.

Young Christians are describing Christianity as hypocritical, judgmental, too political, and out of touch with reality.

Survey of Protestant young people ages 18 – 29

• Ever dropped out of attending church, after going regularly - 61%
• Ever personally been significantly frustrated about your faith – 51%
• Compared to age 15, less spiritual today – 31%
• Compared to age 15, less active in church today – 58%
• Went through a period when you significantly doubted your faith – 41%
• Went through a period when you felt like rejecting your parents’ faith – 35%

The author (David Kinnaman) breaks this group of “lost” young people into three groups.

• Nomads – walk away from church engagement but still consider themselves Christians
• Prodigals – lose their faith; describing themselves as “no longer Christian”
• Exiles – are still invested in their Christian faith but feel stuck between culture and the church

These lost young people have a favorable view of Jesus but they aren’t personally committed to the faith.  Many have not lost faith in Christ but have lost faith in the church.  They see the church as not culturally relevant. 

“They read and respect the Bible (for information) but they do not perceive that its words lay claim to their obedience (wisdom).”

I will continue to pray for our young people.  They are our hope for the future.

I’m a Quitter

I have been working long hard days this year.  Most have been 10 – 12 hour days and lots of nights and weekends.  I’m exhausted but that is what is required for me to do a good job at my work. Now we are working a man short and so instead of seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, all I see is more long nights and weeks.  I am frustrated.  I am tired.  I can’t keep going …

I searched my life for things I could eliminate in order to make more space.  I needed to find some relief.  I know my decision is not a good one for the long term but for the short term, it is what it is.  I quit church choir.  I love to sing and choir is usually an enjoyable time for me.  However, practices are at 4:45 on Sunday afternoons.  I would get home from church, change clothes, eat lunch, do dishes, and it was time to go back to church.  I had to make some free time in my life.    Now I am taking Sunday nights for some “me” time.  Is that selfish?  Time to read a book or take a nap. Time to catch my breath before starting the next hard week.

I know that I need to be involved in ministry and I know that I am not currently doing much – outside of working with my students at school. My quitting was not because I had my feelings hurt.  Quitting was not because I was mad. I am not quitting church, just the choir. 

Is this a lack of commitment on my part or is it just necessary for my survival?  Am I justified in this decision or am I letting others down who were counting on me? 

I am still committed to the Lord and I am still committed to my church.  I just need a break for a while.  Am I taking the easy way out?  Why do I feel guilty?

Steve Jobs is dead …..

Steve Jobs is dead at the age of 56.  His death was a global news story.  He is known for  impacting the world through Apple computer.  He is largely responsible for the creation and evolution of the iPod, iPhone, and iPad.  He had great wealth and vision.  What did he do that will affect eternity?  How did he spend his time? What can we learn from this man?

 

Steve Jobs was an amazing man.  God gifted him with creativity, drive, ambition, and a vision for the future.  He changed the way people interact with each other and with the world.  He was a college drop-out but a genius . After dropping out of required college courses, he “dropped in” on the ones that interested him.  Courses like graphic design and art.  His understanding of aesthetics and his love for art and calligraphy greatly impacted the technology that we have today.  Do all of his accomplishments mean that the world is better off today?  We have unprecedented access to information  but do we have greater understanding?  I don’t think so.  Mankind still struggles with the same things they have since the beginning of time. 

Below is an excerpt from Steve Jobs’ 2005 Commencement Address at Stanford.

“No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

While I have seen no evidence that Steve was a believer, ultimately that is between Steve and God.  We have no idea what went on in Steve’s heart, especially in his last days as he faced his own mortality.  It is important for us to know that it is possible to lead a successful life, to be the creator of incredible inventions, to impact the world and the way they communicate,  and yet that none of these accomplishments can earn him one minute in heaven. 

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. “ Ephesians 2:8-9

Let Steve’s life and words remind us that life is short.  Don't waste it on things that don’t matter.  Pray that God will help you know what does matter.  Pray that the Lord will help order your steps and your priorities. 

Be thankful to God for giving us Steve Jobs.  There is no doubt that he had many gifts and talents.  Be thankful to God that he used those talents to provide us with wonderful tools and gadgets.  Then seek ways to use those tools to impact the world around you.

Being a parent is a tough job …

“Train up a child in the way he should go,
Even when he is old he will not depart from it. “ - Proverbs 22:6

We have worked hard to bring up our daughter in the ways of the Lord.  We’ve taken her to Sunday school and church.  She did AWANA when she was younger.  She’s been in Christian school since kindergarten. 

She accepted Christ when she was five years old. She’s been an easy child.  She has always wanted to do the right thing.  We’ve never really struggled with her breaking rules or being defiant.  She is now 18 and a half years old.  She is a senior in high school and struggling to be independent.  She wants to make her own decisions and we are trying to allow her to do that.

She has been going to Passion City Church on Sunday nights with some of her friends from school.  We’ve encouraged this.  We were excited she was choosing to be in church.  She loves this church.  She said she gets a lot more out of the message and the worship than she does from our “home” church.

Now here comes the hard part, she has asked permission to go to Passion on Sunday mornings.  There is a part of us that wants to tell her that she needs to be in church with her family. You know, lay down the law.  As long as you live under our roof you will be in church with us.  Then there is the other part of us that is so excited that she has found a church that preaches the Word and meets her needs.  She loves the Lord.  She’s been on two mission trips and is going on her third one this spring.  Should we allow her to choose a church that she wants to attend?  She will be getting ready to go off to college soon and making all of her own decisions.  Is this a decision that we should allow her to make now? She has a peer group there. Our home church is small and there isn’t anyone else her age.

She has done everything right.  She respectful asked our permission to go.  She was honest and upfront with us.  She gave her reasons and they were good ones.  I desperately want her to be with us but I know I should encourage her to go where she feels the Lord is leading her.  Anyone have any thoughts?

Grace is not cheap

Years ago I read the book “The Cost of Discipleship” by Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  I was reminded of this book in church on Sunday morning when our pastor spoke about people taking for granted what Jesus did for us on the cross.  He spoke about people wanting salvation on their terms.  They want the salvation without repentance, sacrifice, or a changed life.

Here’s what Bonhoeffer says "cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline. Communion without confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ."

Cheap grace is belief without obedience.  It is hearing without doing.  It is intellectual agreement without life changing commitment. 

Cheap grace says that you don’t have to worry about purity or holiness.  Jesus did everything for you and so you don’t have to do anything.  This is far from the truth.  Jesus died for us so that we could then live our lives for Him.

God’s grace enables is to have a relationship with Him.  It is His grace that makes us a new creation.  His grace makes us a child of God.  Cheap grace can never do any of this.

Cheap grace has you trying to justify your behavior.  Cheap grace will have you focusing on things in your life instead of God.  Cheap grace does not require that you die to sin or to yourself. 

Grace was not cheap to Jesus.  It cost him his life.  The sinless son of God was beaten and crucified for our sin.  It cost Jesus his pride, security, friends, and his connection with the Father.  Yet He lives to make intercession with the Father for us.

Jesus warned, however, "Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven" (Matthew 7:21).

Obedience is an expression of a right relationship with God. It's a relationship of love.  Jesus said, "If ye love me, keep my commandments" (John 14:15). If one really knows and loves Christ, it's bound to show in their actions.  When someone doesn’t live his life in obedience to God, there is ever reason to question whether that person is truly a Christian.

Paul taught, “"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:9-10).

Without question, we are saved by grace through faith alone in Jesus and what he did on the cross for us.  However, a genuine conversion experience results in good works -- obedience to what God commands us to do.

Anything else is just cheap grace. And cheap grace is no grace at all.

Blessings

 

I’ve had a hard month.  Sometimes I wonder why things happen.  Listen to the lyrics …

We pray for blessings
We pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

We pray for wisdom
Your voice to hear
And we cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
All the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
And what if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win
We know the pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home
It's not our home

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching(s) of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy
And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise