Fear and Trembling

I wonder why we - both believers and nonbelievers - are asked to have an attitude of fear and trembling before Almighty God?

How fast has the Church held to this attitude? A couple of pastors I respect continually say that the Church must look and act more like Christ and not like the world; they grieve because too often it is hard to differentiate between the two. Many within the Body of Christ have set about to 'blend' with the world, assuming that the more we blend the more amenable and favorable people will be towards things churchy. Yet - if the Gospel of Christ, which holds and engenders the power of salvation from God, is not preached nor taught, nor reflected in those who fearlessly call themselves 'Christian', then what becomes the foundation standard within the church? It's not a coincidence that a (for lack of a better word) 'liberal' Gospel - one that purports to speak of God yet is deceivingly anti-God, is being offered by many church leaders who promote a God and gospel of convenience and feel-good comfort. It is a watered-down theology of empty promises and hyperbole. The Holy, Almighty God, Eternal Heavenly Father, maker of heaven and earth and Savior of the Bible - His Word - is diminshed to a customized made to order deity who deals out 'love' and favors, takes no notice of 'sin' nor holds any accountable. An easy-rider god doling out  >Peace! dude at every encounter.

Yet, look at what happened when Jesus met the young rich ruler as recorded in Matthew 19, Mark 10, and Luke 18. It is the only encounter where a person seeking Jesus goes away sad. Still, the Bible says, Jesus loved him with the same sacrificial love He would show for all of mankind. Jesus - God's instrument of His love for mankind -  throughout the gospel records demonstrates over and over what Godly love of mankind is. That was one of the reasons He came to earth. Look, too, at the woman at the well in John 4 (one of my favorites). In both of these encounters, Jesus in His love touches on those attitudes, practices, lifestyles that go contrary to God's moral will for their lives - attitudes that will be detrimental to their happiness and peace. Sore spots that left unchecked will take their lives. Jesus lovingly and caringly shows them Himself so that they can see their need for Him, and their need to be saved from the authority that their sin has over them.

His response to their circumstances could have been to overlook their error and accept the young man's idol worship, and the woman's adultery with a word of 'love' and let them continue on their way in sins that would destroy their lives. He could have given them a feel-good speech, and maybe the young man would not have gone away sad, and the woman not have been embarrassed or disgraced. But He would not. To do so would be against His character and His Father's character. It would be a deception to appear to approve of behavior that runs counter to everything He has ever said in His Word about worship and morality, and His desire for the best in their lives. Rather, in His unconditional love and in his unmerited grace and inestimable mercy, he conveys his conditional acceptance.

Jesus told Nicodemus that God sent His only-begotten Son to be a propitiatory sacrifice because He loved the world; but Jesus' words did not end with God loves the world. He adds, "so that those who believe in him (trust, obey him) would not perish but have everlasting life." His love is unconditional - He created us, gave us life; the Bible says that God makes it rain on the 'wicked' and the righteous. He laid down His life so that humans throughout the world and time could be restored to a right relationship with God. However, to receive salvation a person would need to believe that Jesus is Christ, Savior, and Lord of his or her life. That is called a 'condition.' God did not say, 'first you must clean up your life, do penance, this that or the other, then if you believe, you can be saved.' No; by God's grace, a person believes in Jesus no matter what circumstance God finds him or her in, and by an act of faith, authored by God's grace, a person may be saved. After God's saving act by the cleansing blood of Christ, He begins the sanctification process - the transformation and restoration process within believers' lives to grow them to be more and more like Christ.. (1 Corinthians 6:9-11, 14-20)

To fully grasp the underlying message - if salvation was based on unconditional acceptance, then there was no need for Christ to die the horrific sacrificial death that he died. Why would He die for sins if they were acceptable to God to begin with? There would have been no need for a chosen people - Israel - through whom God would execute a plan of salvation, no Moses, no 10 commandments to show humankind its sin. The God of the Bible would not be Holy, because there would not be a delineation between holiness and unrighteousness. Adam and Eve should not have died, then, for their choice to reject God if there is unconditional acceptance. Why would have God bothered with a flaming sword in the Garden of Eden? Why all those Bible verses about destruction of Baal worship or false worship, or of places like Sodom and Gomorrah, if idolatry and immorality were acceptable to God? What about thieving and larcenous hearts in the wilderness experience of Israel and throughout that great nation's history - why would God have called for its destruction if He unconditionally accepts rejection? Why would God have bothered to denounce satan the devil if He is a God of unconditional acceptance? Why would God have carefully preserved His Word these many thousands of years, which has told the story of God's plan of salvation, His desire to see mankind saved and restored in relationship with Him - if there was nothing to be saved from?

Yet, it is this message, this gospel of unconditional acceptance of sin that too many loud voices in the Church are teaching (in fact, they dumb down the concept of sin and redefine it to support the lifestyles and behaviors of the world). It is a message that is well received by too many, by those who need their ears tickled. To feel good about themselves. To promote a pick'n'choose theology that fits one's lifestyle and then call it 'contemporary Christianity.' To bitterly abhor those parts of the Bible where God delineates his moral will for mankind and label them hate messages. To continue cocooned in the veil that the ruler of this world system has imposed to blind the minds of the unbelievers. He disguises himself as a beacon of enlightenment and leads many astray. He even desires to deceive those who would call themselves followers of Christ into this false theology about God and His character. He has done this from the beginning - with Eve he told her God knows that when you eat of the fruit you will become like Him, so why would He forbid this and withold this from you? With 21st century worshipers he uses the same deception - telling them God's love means He accepts and condones wrongdoing and blesses persons, lifestyles and behaviors in rebellion against Him.

It doesn't take a lot of looking around to see that this is true - some church groups have made this their new mantra, believing this contemporary world view will bring people back to church. (what would be the purpose, I wonder???) Just as he did in the Garden of Eden, the god of this system deceives and misrepresents the truth. He knows his fate of eternal destruction awaits and has been striving to pull away and destroy the future of those who could believe and fear the God who created the universe just by speaking it into being, who knows the end from the beginning, and who desires that all should seek him and live forever. Yet, this deceiver, this slanderer, this rebel, liar, and murderer - even he and his demons know to tremble before this Almighty, Omnipotent God. (James 2:19) Because despite their lies and deceptions, they know the truth about who God truly is.

Who do you think God is? Is He really a God of unconditional love and unconditional acceptance? (an oxymoron if ever there was one) Are we humans so stubborn, blind, arrogant - or, too ignorant to recognize who God truly is and come before Him with fear and trembling? Do we not know who it is we are thumbing our nose at? (grammar intentional) Are you willing to stake your life on what you believe? One way or the other, we all are. And we will all see the results of our choices. Please choose to fear God and follow His will for your life.

The preceding will be said to be not politically correct, old-fashioned, antiquated (as one news commentator recently stated), narrow-minded, hateful, and might even get labeled by some one at some point as uncivil and anti-whatever. And, you know, they will be right! The God who has the right to not only demand our worship but to also define how He wants to be worshiped is of old - from eternity to eternity; He is above all politics and political authorities; He has established eternal, universal principles that are against all things that would destroy and defile His highest creation - mankind. He has declared that the way to life is a narrow road. As for hatred, well, God abhors sin; as Holy, Almighty God He alone can define what sin is or is not, and has done so in His Word the Bible. (Romans 1; Job 34:10-11, 21-27, 33; Matthew 7:13; John 8:24; 1 John 4:10; Revelation 21:7-8)