Sovereign Grace Baptist Church Meets weekly at 907 Hillsboro Boulevard, Manchester, TN, 37355. Currently, our church is without a pastor/elder and the members meet weekly for praise and worship in hymn, prayer, reading of Scripture, study of the word, and fellowship.
Too many times preachers tell their listeners that they ought to fear God, but then explain it in a way that takes the dread out of it. Many times one will say, "it is reverential fear," just like one respects a trusted teacher or an adult, if you are a child. Though this concept from the Hebrew yare is possible, in the Greek NT a component that is often missing from evangelical expositions is the idea of dread! Fearing the One who can cast both body and soul into everlasting perdition includes a little more than respect, it warrants a trembling! Indeed, Paul wants us to make our salvation effective, work it out, in fear and trembling. And in a passage that God has been using to instruct my heart with these past few days, 2 Corinthians 7:1 reads: "ταυτας ουν εχοντες τας &eps ilon; π& alpha ;&gam ma;&g amma; &epsi lon;& lambd a;&io ta;&a lpha; &sigm af; αγαπητοι &kap pa;&a lpha; &thet a;&al pha;& rho;& iota; &sigm a;&om ega;& mu;&e psilo n;&nu ; &eps ilon; &alph a;&up silon ;&tau ;&omi cron; &upsi lon;& sigma f; απο παντος μ &omic ron;& lambd a;&up silon ;&sig ma;&m u;&om icron ;&ups ilon; σαρκος και π ν& epsil on;&u psilo n;&mu ;&alp ha;&t au;&o micro n;&si gmaf; &eps ilon; π& iota; τ &epsi lon;& lambd a;&om icron ;&ups ilon; ν& tau;& epsil on;&s igmaf ; &alp ha;&g amma; &iota ;&ome ga;&s igma; &upsi lon;& nu;&e ta;&n u; εν φοβω θεου." The idea of becoming holy before God's gaze is in the context of Paul discussing the terror of the Lord (2 Cor. 5:11, same word as 7:1, "fear"). We need to respect God, of course! But we need a little healthy fright of Him as the Awesome God that He is. The Israelites approached the Mountain to see it quake, it was not respect they had as they cried out for mercy, it was downright fear! The missing ingredient in much exposition regarding the fear of the Lord is God's absolute Holiness. Because we have accustomed God as being too chummy as our buddy, we claim, and often it is mere words, that He is our friend and has our respect. Without wishing to eliminate the intimacy that God wants with His children, clearly evident in passages where Christ calls us His friends, we must not abandon the other grim reality that we are also sinners. We need to bow before Him in adoration and walk carefully in the paths of holiness. I have often caught myself compromise my commitment to Christ with the excuse that I am immune from judgment. What a mistake! I must strive after Holiness, without which no one will see the Lord! And that includes a heavy dose of trembling fear!
