Fear God (1-19-12)

1 Peter 2:17 - "Honor all men, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king."

The third command in this verse is "fear God". Many people substitute the word "fear" with the word "reverence" when talking about the fear of the Lord and that's somewhat the idea behind this word, but that doesn't do it justice. I've heard people say that the fear of the Lord doesn't mean being afraid of God but rather revering or respecting Him, but it's more than that. Certainly, the fear of the Lord is a reverence for Him but it's also fear. Now, a common objection to this is based on First John 4:18 which says that perfect love casts out fear. So, the argument goes, if we're living in the fear of the Lord doesn't that mean that we're not loving Him? It depends on the basis of our fear and how it motivates us to respond to Him. If we look back in the Old Testament to when the children of Israel were in the wilderness of Sinai we'll see examples both of a proper and improper fear of the Lord.
In Deuteronomy chapter 5 the children of Israel saw God descend in fire onto Mount Sinai and they were afraid. Because of their fear they told Moses to go up on the mountain and speak with God but they were afraid and unwilling to draw near to Him themselves. This is an improper fear of God. Because of how great and awesome He is they ran away from Him rather than drawing near to Him. Moses, however, had a proper fear of God. In Exodus chapter 24 when the fire of the Lord descended on the mountain Moses went up on the mountain and into the fire and he remained there for forty days. Moses' fear of the Lord caused him to draw near to God. An improper fear of God causes us to run away from Him and try to hide from Him, like Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. A proper fear of God, however, causes us to draw near to Him.

The fear of the Lord is a reverential fear of displeasing Him. It's not a fear of punishment, but rather, it's a wholesome dread of displeasing God. The fear of the Lord is talked about all throughout Scripture and it is essential in living a life on fire for God. The Bible says in Psalm 111:10 - "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments." Fear and obedience are directly related. And we read in Proverbs 23:17 - "Do not let your heart envy sinners, But live in the fear of the LORD always." The fear of the Lord keeps us from sin and from envying sinners.
All four of the commands given in 1 Peter 2:17 are themes mentioned throughout the book of First Peter. This command to fear God was touched on in chapter one and verse seventeen where Peter says - "If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each mans work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth." God is our Father and He will judge both the living and the dead, both the saved and the unsaved. The judgment that we as believers are going to receive from Him is not to determine whether we make it into heaven or not, Christ settled that on the cross. Our judgment is going to be based on what we did with the time, talent and treasures that the Lord entrusted to us. Paul talks about this judgment in 1 Corinthians 3 and also in 2 Corinthians 5. 1 Corinthians 3 tells us that when we appear before the judgment seat of Christ our lives are going to be tested by fire and whatever was done for eternity will withstand the fire and be fashioned into crowns which we'll cast at the feet of Jesus, but whatever was not done for eternity will be burned up. Living in the fear of the Lord will cause the worthless things in our lives to be burned up right now so that when we get to the judgment seat of Christ we won't suffer loss.
Hebrews 12:28-29 says - "Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire." God is a consuming fire. If we are living in the fear of the Lord it means we're drawing near to Him. We're living in the midst of the fire, and His fire is consuming all the worthlessness in our lives so that we'll be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, and able to withstand the fire at the future judgment.

2 Corinthians 7:1 - "Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God."

Love the Brotherhood (1-17-12)

1 Peter 2:17 - "Honor all men, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king."

The second command in this short verse is "love the brotherhood." Loving our brothers and sisters in Christ is a theme throughout the entire New Testament and to even quote every verse on the subject would take several pages. But what I want to do in this short time is just pull out a few of the many verses that talk about the love of the brotherhood, and I'm going to begin with a command given by Jesus in John 15:17 where He says - "This I command you, that you love one another." That we love one another is a direct command from our Lord Jesus Christ. It's not a suggestion and it's not conditional. Despite the way they may treat you and despite that fact that some of them may get one your nerves Christ commands us to love other believers. Two chapters prior to this command, Jesus says in John 13:35 - "By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." Our love for one another identifies us as part of His body. The unbelieving world is going to identify us as belonging to Christ based on whether or not we have a love one for another. They'll see our relationship with Jesus Christ playing out in our relationship with fellow believers.
Peter tells us in First Peter chapter 1 that our love for one another is to be a fervent love, or an intense love. The writer of the book of Hebrews says in chapter 13 verse 1 - "Let love of the brethren continue." So it's to be a continuous, unconditional love. In 1 Peter 4:10 Peter tells us how our love for one another works itself out. There we read - "As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God." God has given each one of us gifts, special talents and abilities, physical gifts as well as spiritual gifts, and we need use the gifts that God has given us to serve His people that He may receive the honor and glory. We love one another by taking what God has given us and laying it down for others. 1 John 3:16-18 says - "We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth." Christ demonstrated His love for us by laying down His life for us, and John tells us that we also ought to demonstrate our love for one another by laying down our lives for them. This isn't only talking about dying, although if it comes to that Jesus said in John 15:13 - "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends." So that would definitely show our love for one another. But laying down our lives for the brethren means putting aside my own interests and always looking out for the well being of my brothers and sisters in Christ. It means being willing to die for them, and proving that by laying aside my life, my own interests daily. The Bible says in Philippians 2:3-4 - "Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves;  do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others." The passage then goes on to say that we need to follow Christ example in humility. 
In Romans chapter 12 Paul gives us a description of what true love looks like. We read in verses 9-18 - "Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.  Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation. Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men." The first verse in this passage literally reads "Love without hypocrisy." This is a title over this passage, and what follows is a extensive description of true love, love without hypocrisy. Hypocritical love is merely a love of self. A love that you have for someone else based solely on what you can gain out of the relationship and not looking out for what's best for the other person. It's a selfish, self-seeking, self-pleasing, self-gratifying love rather than a pure love. In First Timothy chapter 5 Paul is telling Timothy to address the brethren as family. To treat the older men as fathers, the older women as mothers, the younger men as brothers and the younger women as sisters, but after telling him how to treat the younger women he adds,  "in all purity." Paul knew that for Timothy, being a young man, it would be easy for him to have selfish motivation behind his love for his sisters in Christ, so he urges him to have a love for the younger women, but make sure it's a pure love. Not a love that seeks to gratify oneself, not a love with selfish motives or hidden agendas, but a love that truly seeks what's best for the other person despite personal loss.

1 Peter 3:8-9 - "To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit; not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing."

Honor All Men (1-16-12)

1 Peter 2:17 - "Honor all men, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king."

In this short verse we're given four commands back to back, and right now I just want to focus on the first one: "honor all men." The word honor here means to respect or revere. It's the same word used by Jesus in John 8:49 where He says - "I honor My Father." Jesus also used this word in John 12:26 when He said - "if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him." We're told in John 5:23 to honor the Son equally with the Father, and this is also the word used by God when He commands - "Honor your father and mother." So it is this same 'honor' that we're told to give to all men. The same honor that Christ gave to the Father, the same honor that we are to give to the Father and the Son we are told in the same way to "honor all men." I've looked into this passage and into the words used here to try and find a loophole, but there isn't one. There are about ten different tenses of the word 'all' in the Greek, and most of them merely mean a majority, but the word used here radically means 'all.' And the word 'men' literally means mankind, or people. So in the command "honor all men" we don't have any holes to jump through and we have no good excuses for disobeying it. We need to honor all men, whether it's the president of the United States, or a homeless person. Whether they're a fellow believer, someone who goes to your church, or an ungodly co-worker, an atheist or even if they part of a false religion and are leading people straight to hell, our command doesn't change. Honor all men really means honor all men. Even if we don't necessarily like someone we are still commanded to honor them. It's understandable that we should honor those who do not know God but are not outwardly opposed to him, but why and how can we honor atheists and leaders of false religions and others who are outwardly, vocally and sometimes violently opposed to God? The Bible tells us that Christ died for all, He took the sin of the whole world upon Himself at Calvary, even the sins of those who outwardly oppose Him. The Bible also says that we were once enemies of God, and yet even when we were His enemies He died for us. If Christ loved us enough to die for us while we were still His enemies, how can we do less than obey His command to honor those He died for? We're also told in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 that the unbelieving have been blinded by Satan that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ. And In 2 Timothy chapter 2 we're told that those who oppose Christ have been caught in the snare of the devil and are now held captive by him to do his will.
Other people, people who oppose Christ and His gospel are not the enemy, but they are held captive by him. The Bible says in Ephesians 6:12 - "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age,against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places." This is how it reads in the Phillips New Testament - "For our fight is not against any physical enemy: it is against organizations and powers that are spiritual. We are up against the unseen power that controls this dark world, and spiritual agents from the very headquarters of evil." Despite their doctrine and views of God, no man is our enemy. Satan is our enemy (and we're never told to honor him). Those who oppose our Lord are simply held captive by the devil in a spiritual war between good and evil. They are prisoners of Satan, held captive by him to do his will. And despite their beliefs we need to honor them. Pray for them. Speak the truth to them in love, do not tolerate their false teaching, but honor them nonetheless.

1 Peter 2:17 - "Honor all men, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king."

Taken by the Hand (1-12-12)

Mark 9:27 - "But Jesus took him by the hand and raised him; and he got up."

In Mark chapter 9, right after Jesus had been transfigured on the mountain before Peter, James and John, we're given an account of Jesus casting a demon out of a boy. We read in Mark 9:20-27 - "And they brought the boy to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit threw him into a convulsion, and falling to the ground, he began rolling around and foaming at the mouth. And He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. And it has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!” And Jesus said to him, “‘If You can?’ All things are possible to him who believes.” Immediately the boy’s father cried out and began saying, “I do believe; help my unbelief.” And when Jesus saw that a crowd was rapidly gathering, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and do not enter him again.” After crying out and throwing him into terrible convulsions, it came out; and the boy became so much like a corpse that most of them said, “He is dead!” But Jesus took him by the hand and raised him; and he got up." This boy had a serious problem. He had a spirit within him that was seeking his destruction. It was continually casting him down, but when the boy was brought to Jesus the spirit was cast out and the Lord took him by the hand and raised him up. Though we are saved, we have an enemy who is seeking our destruction, he's seeking to destroy our testimonies and he will bring stuff into our lives to make us stumble, to bring us down. But even though we stumble the Lord will raise us up. He cares about us and wants to restore our walk. Psalm 37:23-24 says- "The steps of a man are established by the LORD, and He delights in his way. When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong, because the LORD is the One who holds his hand." I love that statement, "the LORD is the One who holds his hand." Just like Jesus took the boy in Mark nine by the hand, He has taken us by the hand. He desires to walk closely, hand in hand with us. And even when we stumble we will not be utterly destroyed, because the Lord is close by to raise us up again, to restore our walk with Him.
In Psalm 73 the psalmist sees the prosperity of the wicked and it doesn't make sense to him. He knows that God is good, but He can't understand why good things would be happening to bad people, and why bad things would be happening to good people. He confesses that in his heart he began to get bitter, he was senseless, ignorant and confesses that he was as a beast before God, but then he says in verse 23 - "Nevertheless I am continually with Thee; Thou hast taken hold of my right hand." Despite our lack of faith and our questioning of God, He is still there. He is continually with us. I think that sometimes we just need to be honest, like the father of the child in Mark 9. Jesus told the man that all things are possible to him who believes, and the man replied “I do believe; help my unbelief.” God sympathizes with our weaknesses, but He wants us to bring them to Him, to be honest with Him about the stumbling blocks in our lives so that when we do stumble and fall, we are not hurled headlong because the Lord is the one who holds our hands.

Isaiah 41:13 - "For I am the LORD your God, who upholds your right hand, who says to you, ‘Do not fear, I will help you.’"

Spared Not (1-9-12)

Psalm 78:50 - "He leveled a path for His anger; He did not spare their soul from death, But gave over their life to the plague,"

In Psalm 78 the psalmist recounts the history of Israel, they're constant unfaithfulness toward God and His faithful guidance and provision for them in spite of their unfaithfulness. In verse 50 it says this - "He did not spare their soul from death." These particular words, "did not spare", are only used a handful of times in the entire Bible. In this verse the psalmist is talking about the plagues that God sent against the land of Egypt, and specifically the death of the first born. Exodus 12:29-30 we read -"Now it came about at midnight that the LORD struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of cattle. Pharaoh arose in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians, and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was no home where there was not someone dead." God used this plague to deliver His people from bondage. He didn't spare His enemies.
Another time in Scripture that we're told that God didn't spare someone is in 2 Peter chapter 2. In this chapter this phrase is both in verses 4 and 5 where it says - "For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly..."
God didn't spare the angels that joined Satan in the rebellion against Him. He didn't spare the angels when they sinned but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment. And He didn't spare the ancient world but destroyed it in the world wide flood. He completely condemned the angels when they sinned, and He poured out His wrath on sinful mankind by destroying the world in a flood.

He didn't spare the firstborn in Egypt, He didn't spare the angels who sinned and He didn't spare the ancient world. Now if we go to Romans 8:32 we read these words - "He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?" Can you imagine, the great justice that condemned the angels when they sinned, the great wrath that destroyed the world in the days of Noah and the awesome power that destroyed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, all this was poured out on Christ on the cross. We were fully deserving of Gods judgment, but He loved us so much that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us, and God didn't hold back any of the punishment that we deserved but poured it out, full strength, on Christ. We deserve the death that spread through Egypt. We deserve the condemnation that the angels received. And we are fully deserving of the wrath that was poured out on the ancient world. But everything we deserve Christ took upon Himself. God did not spare His own Son in order that He might be able to spare us.

Romans 8:32 - "He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?"