FRUITFUL FEAR

Exodus 37:1-38:31; Matthew 28:1-20; Psalm 34:11-22; Proverbs 9:9-10

“Then the eleven disciples left for Galilee, going to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him—but some of them doubted!  Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

“Come, my children, and listen to me,
 and I will teach you to fear the Lord.”

“Fear of the Lord is the foundation of wisdom.
 Knowledge of the Holy One results in good judgment.”

I wonder sometimes if we have put too much emphasis on having a “personal relationship” and “friendship” with Jesus.  Don’t get me wrong; there’s nothing wrong with either concept.  God’s plan of salvation requires that we have a relationship with Christ.  But we (certainly, I) need to be careful not to overly humanize Jesus to the point of nullifying His divine authority or His righteous character.  Claiming Him as a friend without also having the sense of awestruck wonder and respect that the Bible calls “fear of the Lord” actually makes us less effective disciples.

Let me try this another way.  I dearly love, and am good friends with, my parents.  The friendship I have with them is in large part based on how they have exercised authority over me throughout the years, how they have disciplined me, and how that has helped determined the course of my life.  They will never be the friends my peers are; they will be much more, because they were never afraid of me being angry or disagreeing with them.  They never compromised their authority in the name of friendship, and eventually (yes, it took time to figure this out), we became better friends as a result.  One could fairly say I have discipled my own children in the way taught me by my parents, and it is gratifying to see them showing some of the same traits my parents taught me. 

Simply, we learn, and follow, only what we respect.  So it is with Christ: we can never truly be His friends without Him first becoming the undisputed Lord of our lives.  His Lordship gives rise to our friendship.  Any effort to reverse this divine order of things misstates God’s priorities and corrupts the Gospel. We need to understand this if we are to be the disciples Christ calls us to be.

Jesus is absolutely clear that we are to be disciples, bringing souls to Him and teaching them all He has taught us.  Scripture is equally plain that we are to teach “fear of the Lord.”  To some, there might be a dissonance there; how can one be a disciple of that which he or she fears?  The mature Christian understands the truth: it can never be any other way.