Fearing the Lord

So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience.

2 Corinthians 5:9-11

Pleasing God is the proper occupation of the Christian. We are learning to do it on earth; we shall perform it perfectly in eternity. To please God always requires faith, for without faith it is impossible to please him (Hebrews 11:6). To walk by faith is to live on the basis of the new covenant, continually accepting the judgment of the cross regarding the flesh and choosing to act in dependence upon the resurrecting life of the Spirit.

It is helpful to us to learn that the will of God is not so much concerned with what we do as it is with how we do it. God does direct us at times to certain activities or places, though often he will leave the choice up to us. But what he is continually concerned about is the resource we are counting upon for success in whatever we do. To depend upon something coming from us is to be displeasing to God, no matter what the activity may be. To do even a simple task, counting upon everything coming from God is to be infinitely pleasing to him.

But the real problem of the Christian life is not how to discover the will of God. The real problem is to want to do it! That problem remains even after we have discovered what it really is that God wants. I can know a great deal about the Christian life, but confronted by the lure of the flesh and the ease with which it could all be justified (a veil), I can deliberately choose to disobey God. I have done it many times. And so, I'm sure, have you.

God has not left us without help at this point. There is a powerful force which acts upon us to stabilize our wavering wills and draw us back from the brink. Surprisingly, it is the fear of the Lord. Everywhere, from Genesis to Revelation, the fear of the Lord is extolled as a proper motive for living. The psalmist exhorts us, Fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him lack nothing (Psalm 34:9), and declares that a person is in great danger when there is no fear of God before his eyes (Psalm 36:1).

What comes to mind when we think of fearing God? Is it something like a dog crawling in fear to his offended master? Such fear is inspired by guilt, and guilt has no place in a believer's relationship to God. The fear of which Paul speaks is something that is still there when a believer stands before his loving Father, with a bold and confident spirit, making requests known to him. It is a fear that finds its focus at the judgment seat of Christ.

This is a time when each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad (2 Corinthians 5:10). This suggests an occasion when, perhaps for the first time, we learn what has been pleasing to God and what has not. It will be a time of great surprises. Many things we felt were acceptable to God and profitable to us will be found to be spoiled by wrongful dependence. Yet many forgotten or seemingly insignificant acts will be singled out by God as pleasing to Him.

Lord, teach me the proper fear of you, not cringing before you in guilt and shame, but living with a view to standing before you at the judgment seat of Christ.