“I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has the authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!” Luke 12:4-5
In America today we don’t much like to talk about Jesus Christ, the Lion of Judah. We’ve imagined for ourselves a goodly and safe little god, a cosmic grandpa who hands out money and candy to the kids, not the righteous judge of all the earth. We imagine in our pride a biblicalized Santa Claus whose job is to forgive us sloppy living and conformity to the world. We grade ourselves not by the perfect mirror of Scripture, but through the window where we see our neighbors. In all, we’ve created a false Christ, a European hair model with blue eyes (as Voddie Bauchum has said) who is all love, love, love and cares not a wit about righteousness. This is, of course, all dangerous nonsense and we do well to heed Jesus’ words in this passage.
It’s important to understand why we don’t want to consider this aspect of the character of God and how it costs us a robust and reverent awe of Him. Simply put, His righteousness, power, and hatred of sin scare the bejabbers out of us. The thing is, the truth doesn’t stop there – and thanks be to God that it doesn’t. It stops, for the Christian, at the cross. God’s abundant love for us is there. It’s over. The fear of judgment, the shame of sin, and the terror of condemnation are all there and we’re saved from it all through faith alone. Yes, it’s there, at Calvary, with the sinless Son of God tortured to death by power-mad religious men, politicians and the mob, that we place this passage. The children of God through faith in Christ, tremble not at hell but at the thought of displeasing their Heavenly Father who has given them all. The law of faith is the law of our lives, which is the love of God poured into our hearts, restraining sin and encouraging good works in His name.
But for those who refuse to come to God in faith, to surrender at the cross and admit their sin, dare to face Him as Judge rather than gracious Savior. Indeed, all men will meet God. The question is will you go to that unavoidable date admitting His Lordship or insisting on your own? The mark of the Christian mind is that it presupposes God and His word/law as the standard of all things in life. On the contrary, the default setting of the unbelieving mind is the presupposing of one’s own word/law as ultimate. The gist of what Jesus says here has that in mind. The intellectual habit of suppression (Romans 1:18) involves the presumption of self as final reference point of truth. This habit is one that, unfortunately, follows a person into their sanctification and is only defeated by the submission of one’s mind to the word/law of God. This means that in our natural state we’re hostile to God for the primary reason that His authority threatens our status as little god…as authority over our own lives. In short, while “in the flesh” we don’t fear God, that is, hold Him in reverent awe, submitting to Him and recognizing our place in the universe under Him. On the contrary, we hate Him. This is why Christ was crucified.
So, the fear of God is the element that distinguishes Christian from non-Christian. A high view of God and His perfect righteousness will invariably bring us to the cross first and, in the end, through grace, show us the way to love Him for what He truly is. He isn’t, as we’ve said, a cosmic grandparent who overlooks sin…a patsy….a soft touch. We meet Jesus Christ the humble by faith, or Jesus Christ the holy judge, the Avenger of evil, in pride. The healthy fear of God that’s suppressed these days because no one likes to talk about judgment is precisely what obscures His grace. It’s a package deal issue. A man or woman who suppresses the knowledge of God’s holy law will never admit the ugliness of sin. Why is American Christianity so anemic, so enfeebled? Because God is a righteous God who abhors sin and those who are called to Him must learn to detest it as well. Has evil overtaken our land in the governments, the media, entertainment and education? It surely has but this should come as a humble rejoinder to the church. How many Christian fathers are addicted to porn? How many church-goers have fallen into adultery and cast their family into turmoil? How many Christian parents have neglected prayerful leadership of their children, baring their own hearts while asking for those of their children in Christ? And how many Christian households have fallen into covetousness too…all but abandoning their children to the state while they work endless overtime? Where is the heart and treasure of every home? Is it in the biggest house and nicest things or is it in holy living through faith? Is it said of our homes that we fear God, or fear man? We note that right after this passage of Luke the rest of the chapter goes right after the point of covetousness and anxiety. Amazingly, wonderfully, the fear of God and the love of God are inextricably linked because to know Him is to know His righteousness and holy character. This is the antidote to sin and its accompanying horrors.
To fall in love with God is to fall in love with the Bible that reveals Him. In severing God’s holiness from His love we have lost both. The same Jesus that endured all for us, so that we might have the forgiveness of sin, is the same Jesus who, as the second person of the Trinity, destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. He isn’t a teddy bear; we don’t serve a politician who’s always running for office and needs our vote. Jesus Christ is before all, above all, and over all. Fear Him because He is God in the flesh and turn to Him in faith for the forgiveness of sin. And then, yes indeed, turn from sin and learn from Him for His burden is light and His yoke easy. But be reminded that He will not leave you as you are. He won’t tolerate self-righteousness and lazy living that tolerates sin. He is holy and our goal as Christians is and should be to be conformed to His image.
If America will have a revival it will come through His church acting like the faithful bride she is called to be! God will not tolerate our whoredom, our syncretism, our tolerance of sin because that’s a dishonor to His name and shows how little we regard the cross. A holy church, through faith, inspired and constrained by love, is a powerful church. But a church that doesn’t fear God and hell is nothing more than a well dressed prostitute. This is a hard truth to hear but hear it we must. The itching ears of unbelief don’t want to consider the calls to biblical repentance. The false prophets of love and tolerance amongst us demand that we lay down God’s word and stop speaking of sin and hell but in doing so we can’t speak of salvation either. These priests of Satan, the cultural marxists and atheists, show their true colors by crushing all dissent, but it’s the same ploy as always and we should see it for what it is. Do we fear men or do we fear God? How we answer that question tells us everything. How we answer that will determine by what standard we live and think. In all, the whole duty of every man, woman and child on earth is “to fear God and keep His commandments” (Ecclesiastes 12:13).
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