Godly Fear
August 17, 2003
Psalm 111:10
10th Sunday after Pentecost
Galena-Warwick United Methodist Charge
Warwick & Galena, Maryland
Rev. Dr. Lawrence D. Jameson
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Psalm 111:10
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom;
all who follow his precepts have good understanding.
To him belongs eternal praise.
Last Thursday night
we were blessed to have electricity
because 50 million people
just north of us
lost power a little before 5:00 pm.
I was listening to talk radio
that night,
and I could hear the fear in the voices of the callers.
They heard the public announcements
that it was not a terrorist attack,
but many were skeptical.
Thousands of people were stuck in
the 12 airports that were shut down.
Thousands of people were stuck in
underground train tunnels, elevators,
and snarled intersections.
It was a fearful event.
Fear is an emotion.
By itself, it is not good, or bad. It just is.
Depending on the context.
Fear can help you,
or it can hurt you.
It can be reasonable or irrational.
It can be a great motivator,
or create paralyzing obstacles.
Our ability to experience fear
is part of what it means to be human.
I read a story about a woman
who was sitting in a police station
calmly reading a book.
The desk Sergeant watched her for an hour,
then he walked over to her
and asked her what she was doing.
The lady said,
“I was sitting at home all alone
reading this mystery story,
and I got so scared
that I came down here to finish it
under police protection.”
(Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations by Paul Lee Tan
illustration #1668, page 439)
God made us with
all kinds of wonderful emotions and feelings.
Fear is one of the most basic emotions
we have.
Psalm 111.10 says:
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom”.
That’s what I call “Godly fear.”
Godly fear is a good thing.
It is built on an attitude of awe and reverence.
Godly fear
is something that touches our heart-strings
and makes us deeply care about God.
Godly fear
helps us obey God,
motivates us to listen to what God has to say,
and protects us from false values.
Godly fear
is a part of our friendship with God.
It is part of faith, hope, and love.
It isn’t negative. It is a good thing.
In the Bible
there are well over 100 references
where Godly fear
is spoken of in a positive sense.
Anyone who is a “God fearing” person
is a follower of God.
Popular culture doesn’t use this term at all.
Do you know why?
It’s because
the world doesn’t think it’s cool to fear God.
Christian disciples
know that Godly fear
is a good thing.
Godly fear
is where wisdom starts.
What is wisdom?
Wisdom is the ability
to apply knowledge
correctly and well.
Wisdom is the skill of living a truly good life.
Those who are wise
are able to succeed and do well
in every area of life.
The fear of God
is where wisdom starts.
When your emotional response to God
is deeply respectful,
when your mind and heart stand in awe of God,
when your greatest desire is not to please yourself,
but to be found faithful to your Lord,
THEN you have started walking on the path of wisdom.
The Flip Side
What is the opposite of Godly fear?
It isn’t hate.
It isn’t rebellion.
The opposite of Godly fear is
apathy.
Proverbs 8:13 says,
“To fear the LORD is to hate evil.”
That’s a strong emotion.
The opposite of a strong emotion is
no emotion.
Apathy.
Deuteronomy 6:5 says,
Love the LORD your God with all your heart
and with all your soul
and with all your strength.
That’s a very emotional verse.
Eight verses later,
Deuteronomy 6:13 says,
Fear the LORD your God,
and serve him only.
Godly love and Godly fear
are closely tied.
They are emotions that run deep,
and take us where we need to go.
Psalm 130:3-4
Here is one of my favorite verses in the Psalms.
Psalm 130:3-4
If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins,
O Lord, who could stand?
But with you there is forgiveness;
therefore you are feared.
This verse is important.
It tells us why we fear God.
We fear him because
he is merciful and kind
and he forgives!
That is such a good thing!
You see, if God didn’t forgive,
we wouldn’t care about him at all.
We would go right to despair. We’d give up.
But God is worth the emotional effort!
He really does love us, and he really does forgive.
That’s great news!
Jesus died on the cross for your sins.
Jesus sent his Holy Spirit to heal your life.
The moment Jesus Christ comes into your life,
in that split second of time,
lots of really good things happen.
One of those good things is
that God gives you
the ability to fear him.
In other words,
you start to really care.
It matters to you what God says.
Your relationship with the Lord
goes deep,
all the way down
to your basic emotions, character, and spirit.
Hallelujah!
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom;
all who follow his precepts have good understanding.
To him belongs eternal praise.