Fear of the Lord

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction."

- Proverbs 1:7

When is the last time your pastor or a preacher at your church stood up in front of the congregation and taught on the fear of the Lord? I don't believe I am reaching too far to assume that most of you wouldn't be able to remember. Because everyone seems to want to only talk about God's love and grace these days. And hear me say that we should never stop proclaiming those things. God's love for us is the only reason we can love Him in the first place.

But as I ponder the words of Proverbs 1:7, I begin to realize that without a proper fear (read: awe) of God, we can't really understand His love and grace to begin with. Think about it. If God is not a God to be feared and stood in awe of, then why would it be so amazing that He loves us? The very nature of God demands that we stand in awe and wonder of who He is; that we have a proper fear of Him.

So what is a proper fear of the Lord? Proverbs 8:13 says "the fear of the Lord is hatred of evil." Solomon didn't say the fear of Him is recognizing His love, or worshipping Him. No, it is the hatred of evil. And I believe that hatred of evil must be directed inward first. Sinners come to repentance by recognizing, hating and confessing their sin. If our only message is God's love, how will people know what they must be saved from? How will they gain true knowledge of God apart from a proper fear of Him?

We are living in a day where more and more churches are drifting away from this kind of fear and reverence for God. We gather each week to sing a few songs, hear a sermon, maybe take communion and then go about the rest of our week. But Paul instructed the Corinthian church that some of them were sick and had even died because they were partaking of the Lord's Supper without confessing their sins and repenting. Could it be that many of our issues in our world and churches are stemming from a refusal to acknowledge our sin?

Could it be that worship services are getting more and more shallow because we do not emphasize a proper fear of the Lord? If the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, then to not fear him is foolishness. Could it be that our churches are full of immature Christians who really know very little about God because they do not fear Him?

I believe this verse stands at the beginning of the book of Proverbs because Solomon recognized the truth that you cannot really know God and live a life pleasing to Him without a proper fear of Him and hatred of sin. See, but we would rather not talk about sin. We would rather draw people in to the church with a message of love and forgiveness. But forgiveness from what? How do we think we are doing these people any favors by only showing them one of the abundant attributes of a Holy God who demands fear, reverence and worship?

Doesn't a fear of God make the Gospel more powerful? That a Holy, Righteous, Sin-hating, Just King of Kings would step into a sinful world and graciously give His life for the very people who did not fear Him? I don't know about you, but I can't seem to want to worship a God whose only message is love. Because love that has no ground of truth or holiness is powerless; it's foolish and blind. We could actually begin to understand and celebrate the love and grace of Jesus much more richly if we began with a proper fear of Who He Is.

So don't hear me saying let's stop talking about love and hammer people with fear. I'm saying let's begin with a fear of the Lord, so that we may better understand all His attributes and worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. Let's call the Church back to a proper reverence of God in our worship and our lives.