Fear... when i say the word, most of us probably have a negative reaction. We all know what it's like to be afraid of something. Even terrified. And then when I add the word, "Fear God", we sometimes have a hard time putting those two things together... love God, serve God, worship God, trust God, BUT fear God?

Or we may agree in theory that it's a good thing, but then when we describe fearing God it doesn't bear any resemblance of humble, respect, and reverence. But very quickly, when we open the bible, we begin to see this attitude of reverence and fear EVERYWHERE. And it is spoken of positively! God advocates it and desires this kind of response to him (Isaiah 8:12-13). He tells us the kind of people he is pleased with in Psalms 147:10-11, And Proverbs says we can’t even get started on the path of wisdom without fear of the Lord (Proverbs 1:7).

 And relating to the Lord in fear doesn’t go away in the NT, with the coming of Christ. One of my favorite stories which illustrates this is in Mark 4 (Jesus calms the sea). And it doesn't go away after the death and resurrection of Christ (Revelation 1, 1 Peter (honor emperor, fear God)). 

You might say that the most basic, fundamental way we are to relate with God is to fear him. And in a day in which people are so fearful of a hundred things, a thousand things, one thing is needed above all else - to fear God. In fact, the sign of those who are lost is that they have “no fear of God” (Psalm 36:1). I recently heard someone say that “the greatest malady today in the church is that there is no fear of God as God”. 

Think about it, people are afraid of economic calamity (personal or global), people are afraid of COVID, social unrest, our current president, our probable future president. People are afraid of dying. People are afraid of a future that seems more uncertain. People are afraid of global warming and the destruction of our planet. On top of this, there are the things people have feared for time immemorial: fearing what others think, fitting in, losing someone you love. People are afraid, afraid, afraid! And let's face it, the devil and evil men who are possessed by the devil want you afraid!

So what is God's medicine for this pandemic of fear? And it is a pandemic - far worse than COVID! What is God's vaccine? What is his inoculation? Greater fear. Let me explain. The kind of fear that would move into the foreground and push every other fear into the background. The kind of fear that if it is in the foreground, it helps steady you as you approach other other things in the background. 

The main point of our text today is clear. Here it is: "conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of our exile..." Exile just refers to our journey through this life. So live a life of fear. Live in such a way that you fear… God. Fear the Lord. This is the main point. And the rest of the text shows us THREE STRATEGIES for living in the fear of the Lord. 

Strategy #1: Fear living in a way that displeases your Father

If you call on him as Father

Of “if you address him as Father…” To address God as Father means to draw near to him and speak to him and relate with him as Father. There is a Latin phrase “Coram Deo” which refers to something that takes place in the presence of or before the face of God. RC Sproul said “to live coram Deo is to live one’s entire life in the presence of God, under the authority of God, to the glory of God.” 

I remember listening to Peter Hitchens, a prominent, outspoken atheist who died just a couple years ago talk about his problem with the concept of the all present, all seeing God. He said it sounded so horrible, because it seemed like “constant surveillance and continual subjection, usually reinforced by fear in the shape of infinite vengeance”. In other words, to Hitchens God was Big Brother, always watching, always scrutinizing and ready to punish.

But for Christians, our understanding of the ever present God is so different than that! It is 180 degrees different! We understand that the God who sees and knows all things and is present with us, is our Father in Heaven. Jesus teaches us in the Lord’s Prayer to address God as “Our Father…” 

Martin Luther struggled to understand the goodness of fearing the Lord. And he made a distinction between what he called a servile fear and a filial (Latin for family) fear. And this actually helps us to understand how Hitchens thought about relating with God and what we are called to.  

A servile fear is the kind of fear that a prisoner would have for his tormentor. Or it is the kind of fear that a slave would have who was owned by a malicious master who would come with a whip and torment him. On the other hand, filial fear is the kind of fear a child has for his father. Luther saw this love as a tremendous respect and love a young boy has for his father or mother so that he wants to obey. There is a fear of offending, but not because he’s afraid of torture or punishment, but because he doesn’t want to displease the one he loves so much. 

We know that even Jesus, when he walked in the flesh on the earth, had a reverent fear of the Father (Hebrews 5:7). It wasn’t a servile fear. It was the fear of a Son for a dearly loved and honored Father. It was born of respect of the highest magnitude. 

And when we are adopted into the family of God and he is our Father, and we are his dearly loved children, there is something that shifts in us. And it is not small. Prior to being born again, the bible describes our hearts as hostile to God. It describes us as enemies of God. We don’t want to be told what to do. We want to do our own thing. And if there is a fear of God, it is this servile fear which is actually just a veneer covering over our hatred of him. 

Oh, but when God in his mercy causes us to be born again (!), the transformation is deep as the deepest ocean when God takes rebels and changes their hearts. He puts the Holy Spirit in us and the fear of God in us, and a new love for God and desire to please him. Paul knew this well. Prior to his conversion, he sought to destroy the church of Christ. Afterward, he says things like: “We make it our aim to please him”. And so fear living in a way that displeases your Father in heaven. 

Strategy #2: Fear living as if there is no final judgment

If you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear during the time of your exile… 

Fear living as if there is no judgment. And many Christians believe there will be no judgment. That they will skate through without giving an account. But that’s not true. Now it is most certainly true that we are not to fear punishment - that we will be sent to hell. 1 John 4:17-18 says, 

By this is love perfected in us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 

So it is not a fear of punishment. But our text clearly says, if your Father will judge you impartially according to your deeds, conduct your life in fear… 

So what does this mean? For the believer this is not a fear of punishment. But there is a sobering, reverential view that ought to come into our minds when we think about standing before God and him going through the books that have recorded our lives.  And therefore to conduct our lives with fear, I think is to live ever conscious of that future day when we will stand before our Master. And to desire to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant!”

What does this judgment include? Well, verse 17 says the Father judges “impartially according to each one’s deeds.” So he judges impartially. In other words, there will not be one standard for some and a completely different standard for others. His judgment without partiality. He judges each one. Each person. Nobody will be able to call in sick on that day. Each one will stand before him. Each one will give an account. Romans 14:10-12 says,

For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue confess to God.” So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.

Each one will give an account of himself. Next, it is our deeds that will be judged.. The things we actually do. Paul affirms this in 2 Corinthians 5:10 when he says, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.” 

This is sometimes hard for us to understand. What about John 5:24 where Jesus says, that we who believe will not be judged? How do we reconcile these two truths? Here’s the point of judgment: our deeds will prove the genuineness of our faith and receive varying degrees of reward. Listen to how JI Packer explains this in his classic Knowing God:

Final judgment, will be according to our works—that is, our doings, our whole course of life. The relevance of our doings is not that they ever merit an award from the court—they fall too far short of perfection to do that—but that they provide an index of what is in the heart— in other words, what is the real nature of each person.

Our Father is the Judge of all the earth. We are justified fully through Calvary’s blood and therefore are free from condemnation now and forever. But we most certainly are not free from our Father’s final assessment of our lives as Christians. How we conducted our lives now matters. How we live as children of God matters. So fear living as if there is no final judgment. Fear living with the attitude that says, “Just do what you please… relax, you're going to heaven someday.” There are so many who live that way! Conduct yourselves with fear… 

Strategy 3: Fear living as if the sacrifice of Jesus is cheap

Conduct yourselves with fear, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as gold and silver, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. 

The word ransom is huge. It means to free by payment of a debt.

Conduct yourselves in fear knowing you have been ransomed with the precious blood of Christ. Now that sounds strange. This shows us the kind of fear we want to have. Fear that our lives would make others believe that the sacrifice of Jesus is not a precious thing! Notice what Jesus compares the blood of Jesus with. Not just any perishable thing. He doesn’t compare the blood of Jesus with straw or stubble. He says you have not been ransomed with perishable things like gold or silver… Gold and silver, obviously, are precious metals, incredibly valuable. And yet, we have been redeemed, ransomed, purchased with something infinitely more precious: the blood of Jesus Christ - blood referring to the payment Jesus made by giving up his life.

If you heard that someone paid a debt that if unpaid could expose you to legal troubles, how would you respond? Well, it kinda depends on how much they paid right? If it was $10, you’d say thank you, probably pay them back, and get back to life as normal. If, however, there was a $1 billion debt that was paid on your behalf, you would fall on your knees in gratitude and joy! Christian, the cost to secure your redemption was the infinitely valuable life of the eternal Son of God. Live in light of that! Here’s how.

Notice, it says we are ransomed from “futile ways inherited from your forefathers”. Futile means useless, purposeless. You have been ransome from a life of God-belittling futility. And we are ransomed for a life of God glorifying purpose and meaning. I love the way Titus 2:14 puts it:

Jesus Christ gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. 

Redeemed from futility, lawlessness. And redeemed for God and a life full of zeal for good works! The blood of Christ is not cheap. Do not live as though it is. Don’t live as though God paid $50 or $5,000, or even $5 million for your soul. He paid the ultimate price to redeem you and make you his. This is a gift of grace! You cannot pay him back. But be awakened to the glory of Christ and fear diminishing his glory by how you live.

Conclusion

Conduct your lives with fear during the time of your exile. Live with God uppermost in your mind throughout your days. Specifically, God as your loving Father that we revere and want to please, God as your Judge before Whom we will stand and give account, and God the Son as your Redeemer who laid his life down to redeem us for himself and for a life of good works so that we may hear him say one day, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

If God were taken out of the picture, we’d be crazy to not be afraid! Or if God is in the background, fears abound! But when God and the fear of God is in the foreground, all of those other things we fear move to the background. What does Jesus say, “Don’t fear those who can do no more than kill your body. Rather fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”

Psalm 86:11 says: “Unite my heart to fear your name.” Let this be our prayer. A united heart that fears God. Let’s pray.