“Come, you children, listen to me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord. ...The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him and delivers them…those who fear Him lack for nothing…” (Ps. 34:7-11)

We are told the fear of the Lord is the beginning of both wisdom and knowledge. (Prov. 1:7; 9:10)

So picking up from where I left off yesterday… Here’s a thought to chew on: Fear does not set us free, but a healthy ‘fear of God’ can sure help us stay free.

Did you catch that part though, at the beginning here where the ‘fear of the Lord’ is something that we need to be ‘taught’?

I’m sure many of us have been exposed to other methods used in conveying some degree of experiencing the fear of God, usually through dramatic descriptions of what hell will be like with all its flames and torment for any and all who don’t ‘accept Christ as Savior’. Anyone familiar with Jonathan Edwards’ famous sermon? Or how many of you were traumatized by the old (1972) film series: ‘A Thief in the Night’?

I believe that church history could support the theory that while many people may have been ‘spooked to an altar’, the effect usually was short lived. In other words, the results simply did not stick and after a while, folks just have a way of slipping back into old patterns and ways of living, void of any real, genuine transformation; at least the kind that Jesus came to bring. (Rom. 8:29; 2 Cor. 5:17)

You simply cannot ‘scare’ people into the kingdom of God. That tactic might work for getting a spike in church attendance, or sadly, even enforcing a strong grip of control in various religious groups and settings… but it is not God’s way of ‘saving’ people. God sent Jesus here to proclaim the truth of the kingdom and then lead those who responded ...inviting them to follow Him. (John 10:27; Heb. 5:9)

Yes, It was a message that included ‘repentance’ (turning) and that did indeed come with a warning as to what happens to those who fail to turn, or repent; (Luke 13:3,5) but it was abundant life that Jesus came to offer us. (John 10:10; 5:40)

And do you know who He came to first? He ‘came unto His own’ people, and they were not real receptive to Him. (John 1:11). When Jesus first sent out His 12 disciples, do you know who He sent them to? It wasn’t the Gentiles or the Samaritans, but rather it was to the ‘lost sheep of the house of Israel’. (Matt. 10:6). God had this thing about likening His people to ‘sheep’, and I’m thinking it was not a complimentary thing either. Jeremiah used an impactful word picture when he explains how pride precedes captivity, and how it (pride) was the reason that “the Lord’s flock has been taken captive.” (Jer. 13:15-17)

Yet…Jesus came to set the captives free. (Luke 4:18)

In yesterday’s post, I used the example of coming up on a deer in the woods that was entangled in a trap or some kind of fence wiring and unable to free itself, despite its repeated efforts to do so. The more I thought on that, the more I realized what a great word picture that is of how we all were at one time; we were prisoners, or ‘slaves’ to sin and the devil, and unable to free ourselves. (John 8:34; Acts 26:18; 2 Tim. 2:26; 1 John 5:19)

Simply telling that deer to ‘scoot’ would do nothing for the trapped animal; nor would hollering and threatening the deer, telling it that if the nearby hunters didn’t get it, the approaching wildfire would. If you really want to do good, and free the poor animal, then stoop down and calmly get involved and help unloosen the deer so he can take off and live the way it was created to live.

So how does any of this relate to us today? I’m glad you asked! ;-). As I said earlier- Fear does not free us but it can help us stay free. Allow me to explain, if you would…

The OT story that documents God’s people being set free from Egypt where they were slaves to Pharaoh was a blueprint for what God’s eventual plan would be for us today. Egypt was a type of the world and Pharaoh, a type of Satan who enslaved God’s people. Moses, of course was a type of Christ who leads us out of the darkness of bondage, and the crossing of the Red Sea was a type of baptism where we begin a new walk of freedom in Christ. (Rom. 6:1-4)

And then there was the ‘wilderness of testing’ (Deut. 8:2) to see how serious the people were about following Him before…He leads them in to the promised land of ‘peace and rest’. But this promise land was not a type of heaven because there were hostile and wicked nations on the land that were to be confronted, dealt with, and then removed from the ‘land’ one nation at a time.

This is what Jesus came to do…to set us free, and lead us out of slavery and just as He was tested in the wilderness, so are we. This whole walk of ‘salvation’ does not work well unless we are fully committed to Him, as in coming to Him with ALL our heart. And you should be familiar by now with how things went with that first generation of people who came out but then began to whine and waiver. God was not real happy with them. (Heb. 3; 1 Cor. 10:4-11). And Paul tells us in that passage in Corinthians that these things were written down for us as warnings and examples.

Things did not go well for that first group and they ended up prolonging their stay in the wilderness and wandered for 40 years before dying out, with the exception of Joshua and Caleb, and the next generation of descendants , of course. So now God is ready to try again. Think of this as a reset or ‘reboot’ as God truly has great plans to reveal Himself to a people who will trust Him and follow Him so that He can establish them and bless them. (Heb. 3:16 – 4:10)

Which then leads us to the Book of Deuteronomy which probably has more insightful truths for us believers today than most could ever imagine. God has Moses gather the people to rehearse the law and all that comes with it. Now keep in mind, He is addressing a people who have been…set free. And He wants them to ‘stay free’. Which then leads into verse after verse, page after page, and chapter after chapter of promises and warnings. Promises IF…the people will listen and obey, and sobering warnings to those who chose not to obey. This was serious stuff to God and it should be serious to us as well. Why do you think we are admonished to ‘work out our salvation with fear and trembling’. (Phil. 2:12-13)

You don’t think Peter was alerting us to the seriousness of heeding the words of this ‘Prophet’ that Moses spoke of when he preached there in Acts 3:17-26 and reminding us that those who did ‘hear in all things whatever He says to you …and every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people’. (22-23). Then there is Ananias who learned the hard way. (Acts 5:1-11)

So let’s now go visit the story in John 5 where Jesus comes up to a man who has been afflicted for 38 years, unable to walk in the manner in which he (and all of us for that matter) were created to walk. I don’t know that you will find a more profound or direct question in the Bible than the one Jesus asked this man lying there:

“Do you want to be made well? (6)

 Do you want to be made whole…healthy…and free to walk in the manner in which God made you? Are you tired of being a ‘slave to sin’, because whoever commits sin is a slave to sin. (John 8:34; Eph. 2:1-3; Rom. 6:16-22)

Friends…this is the power of the gospel that Jesus came preaching. You can be free, and free indeed. (Rom. 1:16; John 8:32,36) You can truly ‘take up your bed and walk and sin no more’. Yes, there are plenty of ‘other gospels’ out there that will tell you differently and Paul warned us of those. (2 Cor. 11:3-4). And that ‘other Jesus’ that comes with those other gospels, usually have ‘another spirit’ associated with them as well. That ‘Jesus’ will tend to coddle you and feel sorry for you and tell you ‘poor baby…I know you are hurting and I know you are not perfect or never will be until I bring you home…but I still love you and accept you…”. This usually comes after you give all your excuses as to why you can’t walk that way. (John 5:7)

But the Jesus in my Bible cuts through all that empty talk and looks into our hearts and commands us to “Rise…take up your bed and walk!” (John 5:8). But make no mistake about it…when He frees us, it will come with a sobering warning. “Go…and sin no more or else a worse thing may come upon you.” (John 5:14). And if you think that we can ‘walk this way’ outside of abiding in Him, then you are deceived. (John 15:1-8; 1 John 3:6). But if/when the reality of His liberating truth does set you free…and you come to the knowledge of this truth after genuine repentance…and then you sin willfully …well,  the stakes become much higher. (Heb. 10:26-31)

I have likened this experience of ‘abiding in Christ’ as something similar to finding our way back into ‘His lane’, or this pathway of peace. (Rom. 3:17; Luke 1:79) Isaiah called it the ‘highway of holiness’. (35:8). As we learn to follow in the ‘Way’, we are admonished to ‘take heed lest we drift’. (Heb. 2:1). You are probably familiar with what happens while driving down a two-lane road and you cross a line or get close to the edge. If the sensors on your car don’t alert you, the little caps or ridges in the road will. When they do, you make a quick course-correction and ask the Lord to forgive you for not paying attention. (Col. 3:2; 1 John 2:1). But taking the wheel of that car and darting out of your lane…’just because’…will prove to be rather dangerous, if not deadly. Any driver should always maintain a respect and ‘healthy fear’ while behind the wheel. (Rom. 3:18). There is nothing wrong with teaching...and learning what a 'healthy fear' can do in us.  That's probably why God stated: 

"Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me and always keep My commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever!" (Deut. 5:29)