Delight to Fear His Name

[This devotion is taken primarily from the third and concluding sections of the March 24 sermon. The first section of the sermon cites a number of passages in which joy in God and fear of Him are both commanded. The second examines wrong ways for us to fear God. The audio of the sermon will be available shortly at this link.

What does Nehemiah mean when he says God’s servants “delight to fear Your name” (Nehemiah 1:11)? How are God’s people rightly to fear Him and to delight in Him?

Three passages are particularly helpful in resolving this paradox: Isaiah 40, Mark 4, and Isaiah 11.

Isaiah 40

While the entire chapter is relevant, consider especially Isaiah 40:21-26:

Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? 22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in; 23 who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness. 24 Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows on them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble. 25 To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One. 26 Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name, by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power not one is missing. (emphasis added)

Isaiah says: Look at Who God is! It’s been clear from the beginning! He plays with planets and stars, supernovas and black holes, the way our little ones play with blocks. He knows every star and puts it exactly where He wants it. He places Mt Everest on a scale and says, “Looks like I need to add another three ounces to make this mountain the right weight.”

Consider the human beings who seem the most powerful, the most influential, as discussed in verses 23-24 – those who command armies, who influence our thinking, who lead movements, who govern countries. No matter how exalted their positions, no matter how imposing they may appear, God blows – Puff! – and they are gone, like the flame of a birthday candle. They are nothing – we are nothing – in comparison to God. He has no rivals. There is no one who approaches His importance, no one who rivals His power.

So Isaiah is telling us: Look! Open your eyes!  See Who He is! He is almighty. He is your God if you are among His people. So humble yourself before Him!

Mark 4:35-41

Jesus is in a boat with His disciples, crossing the Sea of Galilee. A great windstorm arises, far more dangerous than any these experienced fishermen have encountered previously. As waves burst over the sides, the disciples are bailing frantically, fearing for their lives.

Meanwhile, Jesus is asleep in the back of the boat.

They shake Him, crying out, “Don’t you care? Do something! At least help us bail!”

Jesus simply cries out, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind stops. The waves cease. There is a great calm.

How do the disciples react?

They were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” (Mark 4:41)

Do you see? Mark here presents the same idea as Isaiah 40. When the disciples looked at the wind and the waves and feared for their lives, they had a wrong fear – a fear of circumstances. Jesus is with them! He is in control! What evil could happen?

But the fear they experience after seeing Jesus’ power and authority is a right and proper fear. They are in awe of His power – but they know that power is with them, not against them. They can delight to have that type of fear.

Isaiah 11:3 and John 4:34

Prophesying about the coming Messiah, Isaiah tells us His “delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.”

Now, if we are united with Christ, we should become like Him; we are to take on His character. Our fear of God, therefore, as well as our delight, should be like His.

What did Jesus’ fear look like? John 4:34 helps us here. Remember the context. Jesus’ disciples have brought Him food to eat, but He doesn’t want any. They wonder – did someone else bring Him food? He says: “My food is to do the will of Him who sent me, and to accomplish His work” (John 4:34).

Jesus’ sustenance, Jesus’ joy, Jesus’ delight is to do the Father’s will. He knows that the Father’s will is perfect. He knows that the Father knows all, sees all, controls all. He knows no one can give the Father counsel, or correct His plans. He knows to follow Him will bring about the best outcome. So He humbles Himself before the will of His Father. He delights to do His will. He delights to obey Him in everything. He delights to fear His Name.

So you see: Fearing God is closely related to humbling ourselves before Him. This results from beholding our God (Isaiah 40:9) – that is, clearly understanding Who He is. Such fear, such humility, is the starting point for delight. We have to see His power and majesty, and our own inability and unworthiness, in order to delight in Him. If we are impressed with our own accomplishments and abilities, there is no place for fear or delight in Him. We must rejoice:

  • That He is great and we are small.
  • That He is all wise and we understand very little
  • That He is holy and righteous and we are sinful and fallen
  • That He controls the universe and we can’t even control our appetites

To rejoice in God is to rejoice in our weakness and His strength, our finitude and His infinity. And that requires a proper fear of Who He Is.

So behold our God!

  • He is able to destroy this country – or any country – with a puff of His breath.
  • He is able to destroy this planet – with a flick of His wrist.
  • He is able to take a hardened, rebellious sinner, like the Pharisee Saul, and turn him into greatest missionary and theologian of all time, the Apostle Paul.
  • He is able to take the most powerful of all earthly rulers, the Babylonian emperor Nebuchadnezzar, and cause Him to eat grass like an animal for seven years.
  • He is able to punish you horribly for eternity, and He is able to make you into His beloved child.
  • He is able to take you – weak and powerless and sinful as you are – and advance His global purposes through you.
  • He is able to take millions of individuals from all times and places, and by their starts and stops, by their faithful acts and terrible failures, to bring about His perfect plan to fill the earth with the knowledge of His glory as the waters cover the sea.

So know His might. Know His justice. Know His holiness.

Know your insignificance. Know your lack of power. Know your lack of holiness.

If you are not in Jesus, you should have a fearful expectation of judgment (Hebrews 10:27). As Jesus Himself says, “Fear the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28). You cannot stand before such a holy and righteous God in your sin. Humble yourself, asking for forgiveness based on the sacrifice of His Son. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ  – and then there will be no place for fear of judgment.

If you are in Jesus – even if you have only just now repented and believed – this mighty God is for you, not against you. He is working all things together for your good, as well as His glory. You are His precious child – and nothing can separate you from His love that is yours in Christ Jesus. You deserve punishment, but God has laid all your iniquity on Jesus. There is no retribution remaining. So delight in Him. Delight to do His will. Delight in His great plan – of which you are a part. Be overwhelmed by His majesty, by His holiness, by His grace.

And so delight to fear His Name.

As a Slave, Who Do You Aim to Please?

“If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a slave of Christ.” (Galatians 1:10 HCSB)

Again and again the New Testament presents those redeemed by Christ’s death as slaves to God, slaves to Jesus Himself: We have been bought at a price (1 Corinthians 6:20); we do whatever He desires from the heart (Ephesians 6:6); we are slaves of God (Romans 6:22), and living as His slave is the only way to find true freedom (Romans 6:16-18, 1 Peter 2:16).

Contemplate this image. Strip away all the negative connotations of slavery. Think of a Master who is worthy of all honor, authority, and status, who is wise far beyond you, who therefore knows better than you what is in your own best interest, who understands your strengths and weaknesses, your capabilities and limitations – who loves you and will make you effective and productive in fulfilling His good purposes for your joy.

If you are a slave with such a master, it only makes sense to obey Him wholeheartedly, to follow His will in everything. It doesn’t matter what anyone else says, what anything else thinks, what anyone else asks, what anyone else does; you aim to please your Master, not others. Others may try to tell us we are doing things wrong; they may accuse us of being foolish or arrogant; they may command us to follow them or serve them; but we should ignore those other voices and slave for our wise, loving Master.

Now, our Master does instruct us to do good to others, to love others, even to serve them – but we do so in response to the Master’s command, in the way the Master explains, not in response to the commands of others or in the way they prefer. Thus Paul can say as a slave of Christ he is not trying to please people (Galatians 1:10) while also saying, “I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved” (1 Corinthians 10:33, emphasis added). That is, Paul does not aim to please himself, nor does he do whatever others want him to do; he obeys his Master’s command to make disciples of all nations, to be His ambassador, to share the Gospel – so that others may join Him in the glorious freedom of slavery to Christ. By obeying the Master, we love others in the best way possible, pointing them to the deepest joy.

We constantly face temptations, however, to please others in ways that are contrary to our Master’s command: To modify the Gospel, or not to mention it; to live as they instruct, rather than as God instructs; to quarantine Jesus to Sunday mornings, rather than acknowledging Him, following Him, and delighting in Him every minute of every day.

But when we see ourselves rightly as His slaves, as bought by Him, as redeemed by His blood, as being transferred from the kingdom of darkness to His Kingdom of light – we will ignore those siren songs. We will do neither our own will nor the will of others. Instead, we will serve Him to our fulfillment and joy.

This very day, may we see ourselves rightly as belonging body, soul, and spirit to Jesus Christ, and so aim to please Him in all of our interactions with others.

 

Advent and the Judgment Seat of Christ

The Advent season is upon us: Jesus is coming!

But what Jesus?

Yes, Jesus the tiny baby, born to Mary while she was still a virgin, really unable to care for Himself, really human.

Yet also Jesus the promised King, the future Judge, the One before whose Judgment Seat we all must stand, “so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil” (2 Corinthians 5:10).

This Jesus was born on Christmas Day. The Final Judge.

And one day you will stand before Him.

Think about that: You! You, alone. Not with your father or mother. Not with your brother or your sister. Not with your pastor or your friend. You must stand before this King. And there, as Paul says, you must bear your own load alone (Galatians 6:5).

So imagine yourself there before Him. Your Judge knows all you ever did, all you ever said, all you ever thought. You can’t hide. You can’t make excuses. You can’t compare yourself to others. You can’t plead ignorance. You can’t claim there were extenuating circumstances. You can’t lean on your spouse or your parent or your child or your pastor or your friend.

Your Judge will expose every selfish motive and every hidden sin.

Ponder that encounter – that encounter that is sure to come.

Does that image strike you with fear?  Are you terrified to have all you’ve hidden brought to light?

With that coming judgment in mind, the Apostle Paul exhorts us, “Each one must examine his own work” (Galatians 6:4 NAS). We must test ourselves – and see if we pass the test.

But what is the test? Is it: “Did I do enough good works to satisfy God? Am I good enough to meet His standards?”

No! Rather, the test is a test of faith. Is my “faith” just lip-service? Or is there evidence that my faith in Christ is real?

So, Jesus the Judge asks: “Did you live a life of active dependence on Me, turning away from yourself and your own resources and your own wisdom and turning to Me? Did you acknowledge My power and My sacrifice on the cross? Did you show that I was worth more than all the world has to offer?”

If you are indeed saved by grace through faith, there should be no terror at the prospect of this judgment. No worry. No embarrassment.

For there is no purgatory, no remaining punishment for sins, no painful recompense for those in Christ. He already has paid the price! Instead, if you are in Him, the Father will wipe every tear from your eyes, and there will be no more sorrow or crying or pain.

Indeed, to the extent that you are worried about your sins coming to light at Christ’s Judgment Seat, to that extent, you are depending on works; to that extent, you are guilty of the sin of pride.

For if your faith is genuine, what will be outcome of Christ’s judgment?

Your Judge will proclaim, “I paid the penalty for all these revealed sins! My blood covers them all.”

And that leads to all the more amazement, all the more joy, all the more delight for you in the Savior. As you see the depth of your own sinfulness as never before, you will see the depth of His mercy as never before. In this way, even your sins will work to the praise of His glorious grace.

So the result is not embarrassment. Not suffering. But joy at His amazing grace.

Thus, at Christ’s judgment seat, there are two possible final statements from the Judge:

First: “Created to glorify Me, you instead showed that you despised Me. I cast you into the outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 8:12, 22:13, 25:30).

Fear that final judgment!

But if you pass the test, if you are in Christ, no matter what your sins might be, the final statement from the Judge will be: “Well-done, good and faithful servant – by My sacrifice, by My grace, enter into the joy of your Master” (Matthew 25:21, 23).

Jesus was born to Mary in order to make that final, merciful judgment possible. So throw yourself on His mercy! Lose all desire for the praise of men! Rejoice that Jesus was born to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10)!