The Perfect Combination.

I went to church yesterday, and heard the absolute most amazing message I had heard in all the months while I’ve been away at University. The following is an attempt to capture in a couple hundred words the main points I received from yesterday.

We started off by reading Exodus 20”20, Moses has just come down from the Great Mt. Sinai, His face all aglow with the glory of God that He had just seen and experienced, when he says to the Israelite people:

“Don’t be afraid, “ Moses said, “ for God has come in this way to show you His awesome power, From now on, let your fear of Him keep you from sinning!”(Ex20”20)

In the process of Moses asking Pharaoh to ‘Let his people go’ we often forget what shortly followed that statement, here’s to remind you from Exodus 7”16 :

16"You shall say to him, 'The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, "Let My people go, that they may worship/serve Me in the wilderness. But behold, you have not listened until now."

= The promise of a land ‘flowing with milk and honey’ [Exodus 33”3] was only a part of the reason for the Israelites to leave Egypt. The most stressed reason by Moses and Aaron was to go into the wilderness and Worship/Serve God.

The Israelites had been in a foreign land for more than 400 years (430); from this, we can boldly suggest that their ways of living, serving and communing with God had been tainted, tarnished.   God want them for His own people, and in order to do that, they had to leave the land of Egypt, the place they were used to being held in captivity and go into the wilderness to find and seek God. (That’s a message in itself ;)

Once out of Egypt God used Moses in various ways to start rebuilding the relationship He once had with the Israelites. God, Himself, showed Himself to the Hebrew nation through amazing acts of miracles and terrifying appearances, and through this Israel, bit by bit became closer to Him through reverence and fear.

I want to juxtapose this Historic turning point for mankind with the biggest turning point that man has ever seen…

Jesus came and brought us, His children out of sin and death in order to have the ability to serve Him and have fellowship with Him through worship in our lives. His miracles brought reverence and fear: Luke 5”8 ‘8 When Simon Peter saw it, he got down at the feet of Jesus. And He said, “Go away from me, Lord, because I am a sinful man.”- He had the Fear of God. Ultimately, His death, in showing the love He had for us, made us, the New Church: love Him in the knowledge of the exceedingly high price He paid as our LORD.

And so, from Jesus’ life, we now receive the perfect combination for our walk in the Christian life:

LOVE and (reverential) FEAR.

Jesus showed us the importance of both love and fear through living His life as the Son of God, He calmed the raging storms - Luke 8:22-25, fed 5000 men- Luke 9:12-17 And walked on the water - Mark 6:45-52, I don’t know about you, but if I’d been there, I would not have seen Him as just an ordinary man, I would have been completely awed. And even now, reading these historic events give me a sense of reverence to Him as God.  

The Bible says in Philippians 2”12 that we need to ‘work out your own salvation with fear and trembling’ – the worship of our God should not be taken lightly. We are serving a powerful God who could zap the world and the galaxies in an instant if He wanted to. It is only by His mercy and grace that we have been saved from an eternal abyss away from Him.

PROV9”10 says: ‘The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.’

We must understand that: Jesus came to save us from our sins. [Matthew 1:21], and so, in pursuing a sinless life through the guidance and instruction of the Holy Spirit, and also in wanting to please Him, we must have the combination of love and fear.

So... why do we need to have both?

-The Israelites had the fear of God, but kept on murmuring and complaining to the point that God Himself called them a ‘stiff-necked people’ in Exodus 32”9. Once they had forgotten God’s marvellous acts, they would continue in their ways again. The fear of the LORD in-itself can keep you from sinning, BUT to have the optimum level in your Christian walk with God, there needs to be more…

-The Christian church today that I’ve seen (and for only a part)  has a love for God, a committed way towards Him, but the problem of sin still reigns within Churches – and people are wanting out.

=The only solution to this problem is to have a combination of both. To love God enough to want to follow His commandments and to fear God in His power and glory, to be petrified of sin. Joseph in Genesis 39:9 when faced with temptation for fornication from Pharaoh Wife said: How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?" – The thought of sinning against God in itself was such a vile thing to Joseph. Why? Because He had the fear of God.

Do YOU?

*** Today was a quick overview, there are so many things to be said. I’ll definitely carry on explaining some key points in the posts to come.