DOES GOD WANT CHRISTIANS TO FEAR HIM?

[LightShinesInTheDarkness]

 

 

 

We know that God wants us to love Him, but does He also want us to fear Him? The answer, if we examine the Scriptures, is clearly, YES. The fear of the Lord is not a relic of the Old Covenant; Christians are instructed and reminded to fear God in the New Testament also.

 

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling... (Philippians 2:12 ESV)

 

But why? If God is love, and if we are saved, why would God want us to fear Him? 

 

The answer is, because the fear of God protects us from sin and its consequences, which is what our loving God wants. 

 

So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied. (Acts 9:31 ESV)

 

Contrary to popular belief and teaching, it is not merely gratitude and feelings of love for God that keeps Christians from sinning and leads them to obey Him---at least it shouldn't be, according to the Bible---but also rightful fear. The fear comes from knowing that if we choose to despise Him, God has the power to chasten (discipline) us, and even to take away our eternal life, if we stubbornly persist in willful sin after coming to be in Christ, by refusing to do what we know He wants us to do and what He commands us. (See Hebrews 10:26-31)

 

For Christians, the fear of God should be a holy fear---not a guilty terror, as the unsaved have. We know that God loves us, and that we are saved because of His love and His mercy---forgiven of our sins and assured of eternity with Him when we die, through our faith in Jesus Christ---for which reason we have joy, confidence, and peace. But we should also bear in mind that this promise is not unconditionally guaranteed to us, and that if we choose to despise the Lord and refuse to repent, He is able to take away what He gave us. (See John 15:5,6,9-11; Romans 11:19-22)

 

That knowledge is wisdom, and it helps to keep us from doing evil things that we would otherwise consider or take lightly---even preserving our physical lives at the cost of disobeying the Lord. 

 

The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death. (Proverbs 14:27)

 

(Of course, if you have been following my threads, you can see the relevance of this exhortation and reminder: If you don't fear God so as to obey Him in the easy times, much less will you be faithful to Him in the worst of times, when your physical life is on the line. Don't fool yourself.)

 

This is what Jesus said, speaking to His own disciples:

 

"I tell you, My friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear Him who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear Him!" (Luke 12:4,5 ESV)

 

The fear of the Lord produces good things: It leads us to turn away from evil, helps us to deny the strongest temptations of sin, and produces in us a rightful reverence for God that we won't have without it. 

 

"A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a Father, where is My honor? And if I am a Master, where is My fear? says the LORD of hosts to you, O priests, who despise My name." (Malachi 1:6 ESV)

 

(Where indeed, O people of God?)

 

The faith of the Old Testament saints that we so admire was coupled with the fear of the Lord, and it was their strength to withstand temptation and their motivation to obey God, for which He blessed and rewarded them.

 

The God of the Old Testament and the God of the New are the very same God. He has not changed His attributes or His attitudes. If we believe that He has, we deceive ourselves. God still wants His people to fear Him, just as He wants us to love Him. The love of God is to keep His commandments, and the fear of Him helps us to obey Him, which we would be more lax about if we did not---potentially to our own spiritual peril.

 

Yes, God is love, and part of that love is to protect His sheep. This is why He wants and commands us to fear Him; because He knows that mere gratitude to Him and the desire to do what pleases Him because we love Him is not enough to turn us away from strong temptation. We need to fear Him also, just as we would fear a parent who we know loves us, but also has the ability to punish us for doing what we know we know we ought not to. 

 

God says that He is love because that is the attribute by which He desires to be known by man, not because He doesn't have other attributes in equal measure: It is not a matter of what He is, but of what He chooses to show. 

 

God has the potential for as much wrath as He has for love (the evidence being that the unsaved will suffer His wrath for all eternity just as the saved will enjoy His peace and joy for all eternity); but He desires to show more mercy and love to man than He does justified wrath. 

 

Like a jewel with equal facets, the one that faces the light is the one that shines; but that doesn't mean that the jewel has only one facet. The man-ward facet of God is love; but it's quite obvious from the Scriptures that that is not His only attribute, and that God's mercy and patience toward man are not infinite. There will be an end to His patience with impenitent men, and there will also be wrath for those who choose not to continue in His kindness after receiving His mercy.

 

David was a man who loved God with all of his heart, soul, mind and strength, a man who delighted in the Lord, and who was a man after God's own heart---not because he was perfect, but because he was sincere. And David, who knew God very well, feared God, and wrote much about the fear of the Lord and its benefits.

 

The Christian who loves God, as David loved God---who is keeping His commandments to the best of his or her ability and who is doing what he or she knows to be His will and pleasing to Him to the best of his or her ability, and desires to do the same, will not have guilty fear, for perfect love casts out the fear of rightful punishment for willful sin. A Christian with a good conscience toward God for the aforementioned reasons will not have this kind of fear; but we should all walk in the fear of our awesome God, who has the power both to chasten us and to condemn us. As long as we have our sinful nature, the fear of God is both essential and relevant.

 

"I tell you, My friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear Him who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear Him!" (Luke 12:4,5 ESV) 

 

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it know to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up." (Daniel 3:16-18 ESV)

 

And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, "If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God's wrath, poured full strength into the cup of His anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name."

 

Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.  (Revelation 14:9-12 ESV)

 

 

 

Edited February 11, 2018 by LightShinesInTheDarkness

[Adstar]

I disagree..

While fear of God is the beggining of wisdom and is good for those who are not yet within the right place with God.. When one is in the right place with God the knowledge of the perfect love of God casts out all fear within us...

So fear is the start of wisdom but wisdom then ends fear..

1 John 4: KJV

17 "Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. {18} There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. {19} We love him, because he first loved us."

[Guest shiloh357]

6 minutes ago, Adstar said:

I disagree..

While fear of God is the beggining of wisdom and is good for those who are not yet within the right place with God.. When one is in the right place with God the knowledge of the perfect love of God casts out all fear within us...

So fear is the start of wisdom but wisdom then ends fear..

1 John 4: KJV

17 "Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. {18} There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. {19} We love him, because he first loved us."

We never stop fearing God.   The Bible never tells us not to fear God.  We are not terrified of Him, but we never stop fearing (respecting) Him.  You are confusing two different kinds of fear.

[LightShinesInTheDarkness]

17 minutes ago, Adstar said:

I disagree..

While fear of God is the beggining of wisdom and is good for those who are not yet within the right place with God.. When one is in the right place with God the knowledge of the perfect love of God casts out all fear within us...

So fear is the start of wisdom but wisdom then ends fear..

1 John 4: KJV

17 "Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. {18} There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. {19} We love him, because he first loved us."

(You may want to re-read the original post more carefully, as this was addressed and explained.)

[4LdKHVCzRDj2]

1 hour ago, LightShinesInTheDarkness said:

DOES GOD WANT CHRISTIANS TO FEAR HIM?

God wants all people to love Him... But unfortunately, many will not decide to love Him.

"And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world,
and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." - John 3:19

 

And if anyone loves God, then they will seek to please Him and live according to His will. This is how we love God, and doing such is only possible through faith in His Son: The Lord Jesus Christ.

"But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name" - John 1:12

"And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,in which you once walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience" - Ephesians 2:1-2

"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear,
because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love." - 1 John 4:18

 

Then, if anyone is not in the grace and love of our God... Then please, repent, and surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ before it is too late.

"It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." - Hebrews 10:31

[secretopossumcabal]

Just as children should fear and respect their parents, humans should fear and respect God because he is THE parent. When our parents tell us to do something, we do that thing with respect of the consequences should we not do it. When we're kids our parents have a greater perspective of what's good for us even though we want to spend all our days eating ice cream and watching cartoons, though we don't understand it in the moment. That is our relationship with God -- he knows what's good for us -- he see's what we don't understand in the moment. 

Now we look as through a glass dimly, then we shall see face to face.

Because of our limited brains, we can't really fully understand his reasoning so he uses something more primal than limited human reason to get the point across (or rather the mission), just as children would not understand the parent's reason until much later when they're grown, that will be us in heaven, so while the child is young, fear and respect needs to walk beside love, and what is love without respect or fear?  It becomes either lust or passion, without the temperance needed to truly thrive in the long haul.    

But in short...God needs to use fear because of our limited human perspective. It also helps him save the most people as we don't need to be very smart to be motivated by the fear of separation from him. 

Edited February 11, 2018 by secretopossumcabal

[LightShinesInTheDarkness]

37 minutes ago, secretopossumcabal said:

Just as children should fear and respect their parents, humans should fear and respect God because he is THE parent. When our parents tell us to do something, we do that thing with respect of the consequences should we not do it. When we're kids our parents have a greater perspective of what's good for us even though we want to spend all our days eating ice cream and watching cartoons, though we don't understand it in the moment. That is our relationship with God -- he knows what's good for us -- he see's what we don't understand in the moment. 

Now we look as through a glass dimly, then we shall see face to face.

Because of our limited brains, we can't really fully understand his reasoning so he uses something more primal than limited human reason to get the point across (or rather the mission), just as children would not understand the parent's reason until much later when they're grown, that will be us in heaven, so while the child is young, fear and respect needs to walk beside love, and what is love without respect or fear?  It becomes either lust or passion, without the temperance needed to truly thrive in the long haul.    

But in short...God needs to use fear because of our limited human perspective. It also helps him save the most people as we don't need to be very smart to be motivated by the fear of separation from him. 

 

Having experienced the severe chastening of the Lord personally, I can honestly say that it was the best thing that God ever did to me---after saving me, and delivering me from an eating disorder. Before I experienced that discipline, I really did not fear God, even though I was saved; but afterwards, I came to! I have been walking in the fear of the Lord ever since, and reaping the blessings of doing so. I couldn't be more thankful to Him for what He did, even though it was torment at the time: My love for Him is even greater for having had that experience of His discipline---knowing how much He loves me; and He has become so much more precious to me.

(God knows us better than we know ourselves, and our true needs; He knows the capacity of our sinful nature and the deceitfulness of sin and its consequences, which we underestimate. That is why He is the Shepherd, and we are the sheep.)

"My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by Him. For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and chastises every son whom He receives."

It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.

Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live?

For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, that we may share His holiness.

For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. (Hebrews 12:5-11 ESV)

 

Edited February 11, 2018 by LightShinesInTheDarkness

[john1]

3 hours ago, LightShinesInTheDarkness said:

Christians are instructed and reminded to fear God in the New Testament also.

1 John chapter 4 verse 18

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

[secretopossumcabal]

1 hour ago, john1 said:

1 John chapter 4 verse 18

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

I'd say the King James Version is more accurate as to not confuse people: 

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

1 John 4:18 is clearly speaking of a different kind of fear, not the parent-child bond that God has with us (where torment has no place). God shouldn't inflict us with a predatory kind of fear, which 1 John 4:18 for it has torment. 

Children who really love their parents would not feel that kind of tormenting fear inside of their parents love, but they do fear separation, disappointment that comes from not being an obedient child. The child would not be tormented by their parents love if they truly loved each other, as the bond drives out the tormenting fear that 1 John 4:18 describes.

But it not-so-very clearly means something else as then it would be contradiction, and Jesus Christ said that he did NOT come to do away with the old law but to fulfill it. Just one of those intricacies that shows the limits of human languages, as one would need two different words describing two different kinds of fear to not get confused here.

[frienduff thaylorde]

4 hours ago, LightShinesInTheDarkness said:

 

 

 

We know that God wants us to love Him, but does He also want us to fear Him? The answer, if we examine the Scriptures, is clearly, YES. The fear of the Lord is not a relic of the Old Covenant; Christians are instructed and reminded to fear God in the New Testament also.

 

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling... (Philippians 2:12 ESV)

 

But why? If God is love, and if we are saved, why would God want us to fear Him? 

 

The answer is, because the fear of God protects us from sin and its consequences, which is what our loving God wants. 

 

So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied. (Acts 9:31 ESV)

 

Contrary to popular belief and teaching, it is not merely gratitude and feelings of love for God that keeps Christians from sinning and leads them to obey Him---at least it shouldn't be, according to the Bible---but also rightful fear. The fear comes from knowing that if we choose to despise Him, God has the power to chasten (discipline) us, and even to take away our eternal life, if we stubbornly persist in willful sin after coming to be in Christ, by refusing to do what we know He wants us to do and what He commands us. (See Hebrews 10:26-31)

 

For Christians, the fear of God should be a holy fear---not a guilty terror, as the unsaved have. We know that God loves us, and that we are saved because of His love and His mercy---forgiven of our sins and assured of eternity with Him when we die, through our faith in Jesus Christ---for which reason we have joy, confidence, and peace. But we should also bear in mind that this promise is not unconditionally guaranteed to us, and that if we choose to despise the Lord and refuse to repent, He is able to take away what He gave us. (See John 15:5,6,9-11; Romans 11:19-22)

 

That knowledge is wisdom, and it helps to keep us from doing evil things that we would otherwise consider or take lightly---even preserving our physical lives at the cost of disobeying the Lord. 

 

The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death. (Proverbs 14:27)

 

(Of course, if you have been following my threads, you can see the relevance of this exhortation and reminder: If you don't fear God so as to obey Him in the easy times, much less will you be faithful to Him in the worst of times, when your physical life is on the line. Don't fool yourself.)

 

This is what Jesus said, speaking to His own disciples:

 

"I tell you, My friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear Him who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear Him!" (Luke 12:4,5 ESV)

 

The fear of the Lord produces good things: It leads us to turn away from evil, helps us to deny the strongest temptations of sin, and produces in us a rightful reverence for God that we won't have without it. 

 

"A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a Father, where is My honor? And if I am a Master, where is My fear? says the LORD of hosts to you, O priests, who despise My name." (Malachi 1:6 ESV)

 

(Where indeed, O people of God?)

 

The faith of the Old Testament saints that we so admire was coupled with the fear of the Lord, and it was their strength to withstand temptation and their motivation to obey God, for which He blessed and rewarded them.

 

The God of the Old Testament and the God of the New are the very same God. He has not changed His attributes or His attitudes. If we believe that He has, we deceive ourselves. God still wants His people to fear Him, just as He wants us to love Him. The love of God is to keep His commandments, and the fear of Him helps us to obey Him, which we would be more lax about if we did not---potentially to our own spiritual peril.

 

Yes, God is love, and part of that love is to protect His sheep. This is why He wants and commands us to fear Him; because He knows that mere gratitude to Him and the desire to do what pleases Him because we love Him is not enough to turn us away from strong temptation. We need to fear Him also, just as we would fear a parent who we know loves us, but also has the ability to punish us for doing what we know we know we ought not to. 

 

God says that He is love because that is the attribute by which He desires to be known by man, not because He doesn't have other attributes in equal measure: It is not a matter of what He is, but of what He chooses to show. 

 

God has the potential for as much wrath as He has for love (the evidence being that the unsaved will suffer His wrath for all eternity just as the saved will enjoy His peace and joy for all eternity); but He desires to show more mercy and love to man than He does justified wrath. 

 

Like a jewel with equal facets, the one that faces the light is the one that shines; but that doesn't mean that the jewel has only one facet. The man-ward facet of God is love; but it's quite obvious from the Scriptures that that is not His only attribute, and that God's mercy and patience toward man are not infinite. There will be an end to His patience with impenitent men, and there will also be wrath for those who choose not to continue in His kindness after receiving His mercy.

 

David was a man who loved God with all of his heart, soul, mind and strength, a man who delighted in the Lord, and who was a man after God's own heart---not because he was perfect, but because he was sincere. And David, who knew God very well, feared God, and wrote much about the fear of the Lord and its benefits.

 

The Christian who loves God, as David loved God---who is keeping His commandments to the best of his or her ability and who is doing what he or she knows to be His will and pleasing to Him to the best of his or her ability, and desires to do the same, will not have guilty fear, for perfect love casts out the fear of rightful punishment for willful sin. A Christian with a good conscience toward God for the aforementioned reasons will not have this kind of fear; but we should all walk in the fear of our awesome God, who has the power both to chasten us and to condemn us. As long as we have our sinful nature, the fear of God is both essential and relevant.

 

"I tell you, My friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear Him who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear Him!" (Luke 12:4,5 ESV) 

 

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it know to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up." (Daniel 3:16-18 ESV)

 

And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, "If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God's wrath, poured full strength into the cup of His anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name."

 

Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.  (Revelation 14:9-12 ESV)

 

 

 

Paul said it real good too.    Behold therefore BOTH the goodnesss of GOD and the Severity of GOD.

and also as it is said,  the fear of the LORD is to depart from evil.

Remember what paul told men like timothy ,  rebuke sharply that others may fear .   others may fear ,   YEAH fear to sin.

When the Holy ghost had annias and saphira killed,   it even says their was fear throughout . 

Yet today their is no fear of sin , due to an oversided image of a GOD that wont punish sin or the lack of doctrinal teaching

that the lake of fire is real.    We have to behold both the goodness of God and the severity.

Have hope in him , but also know what God has done to the unrepentant in times past he will do to those who follow the evil patterns they too followed.

If we preach no severity , then its a fact that the goodness we preach wont be accurate either .   If we preach nothing but severity

but not goodness of God,  those too i have seen have hard hearts who just condmen but wont offer the solution , the way out .

But it has to be both .   or neither version will be correct .   Those were needful reminders you brought .   But every WORD of GOD is always needful. 

From every promise to every warning , its all for our GOOD to be reminded and unto HIS GLORY when we obey .