The Fear of the Lord, Part Three

In this series on the fear of the Lord, I began by giving a working/fluid definition of how the fear of the Lord looks for a Christ follower. In the second post, I looked at a brief passage in Luke 12 where Jesus zeroes in on the functionality of the fear of the Lord in the life of a believer—it frees us from the fear of anything else. In this post, I will look at a secondary function of the fear of the Lord and how, building off of our freedom from fear of the world, we are now able to act boldly and somewhat foolishly as we live our lives seeking to give God glory.

Once again, I am drawing from the words of Jesus in Luke’s gospel as the basis for my hermeneutic of fear. These are the words of Jesus after the famous passage about not being anxious about our lives and considering the lilies of the field as an example, which though neither toiling nor spinning are clothed in more grandeur than the finest ensemble in which man has ever arranged his body. After giving these poignant examples, Jesus seeks to encourage his followers with these words:

Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Luke 12:32-34

Because fearing God frees us from the fears of this world, and the fears of this world are not only the more pernicious fears of persecution or martyrdom but the more pressing and mundane concerns over worldly riches and possessions, we are free to live completely counterculturally from the world. We do not have to fear the consequences of making a decision based on serving the kingdom for our God will meet all of our needs. And he is a rich God.

I do not take this to mean that all Christians as our entry fee into the club need to get rid of everything we possess and live off the largess of the government or wealthy and more prudent relatives. Some of the Thessalonian Christians made this mistake and Paul had to correct them a couple of times. It is good to work hard and save some money and manage well what the Lord gives us. But we are also free. The freest of all people. And we exercise that freedom by standing confidently in reverent fear of our God who is love and also a consuming fire. And that God, when he walked around this planet as a man, told us that if we seek first the kingdom of God everything else that we need will be given to us as well. Amen.