2/27/12 - "FEAR OF THE LORD / COMFORT OF THE SPIRIT"

2012-01-31T11:11:00.001-08:00

Acts 9:31The church then had peace throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria, and it grewin strength and numbers. The believers were walking in the fear of the Lord andin the comfort of the Holy Spirit.

When you talkabout growing the church you often only hear about ideas that involvestrategies on how to get more people interested in coming to church. I am notagainst ideas in drawing people to church, but as a pastor I often think abouthow we as a ministry can become more effective in reaching people for Christ.In doing so to often I think we overlook the obvious, which is what theyactually did in the New Testament.

I don’t agreewith all the teachings today that we need to be more “relevant” to reachpeople. The term relevant means to be pertinent, or applicable. To say that weneed to become relevant to the times is in essence saying that the Bible is notapplicable to today, but that is not true. Heaven and earth will pass away, butGod said His Word will never pass away. His truths are timeless and as relevanttoday as when they were written. Having said that we should look to God’s Wordto learn what the church in their day did and apply that today.

In Acts 9:31we find out that the church was now experiencing a time of peace, which wassimply a time in which some of the persecution they had been suffering hadceased at the time. They grew in strength and in numbers. That type of growthwould be spiritual growth and numeric growth as well. It tells us that thishappened because the believers were walking in the “fear of the Lord” and the“comfort of the Holy Spirit.” I want to talk about these two subjects this weekand explain what they mean and how that will help us to impact the world inwhich we live.

Prov. 19:23Fear of the LORD gives life, security, and protection from harm.

One subjectthat seems to have been removed from many churches today is the fear of theLord. Yet it is clearly mentioned as we have pointed out in our foundationverse above in the New Testament, and revealed in many scriptures in the OldTestament as well. In fact, one of the attributes that the Old Testamentreveals would rest upon Jesus is the fear of the Lord. He is our example of howwe are to live, so certainly we should also be walking in the fear of the Lord.

If the churchtoday walks in the fear of the Lord they will begin to experience more of thelife of God manifested in them, they will walk in security, and protection fromharm. When you understand the fear of the Lord you can understand why this istrue. First of all let’s look at the definition of fear found in Acts 9:31 inreference to the “fear of the Lord.”

Fear: reverence,respect (for authority, rank, dignity).

When you thinkabout reverence or respect for rank, or authority I often think of ourmilitary. They are trained to have a reverence and respect for their superiorofficers. If this was not so can you imagine in the heat of battle how theywould respond if they did not want to take orders simply because they did nothave this reverence for those in authority over them. If they do have thisrespect and reverence they are not going to think about a command that wasgiven to them, they are going to respond immediately.

If you wantprotection from harm and the ability to walk in the life that God has chosenfor you, how is that going to happen if we don’t respond to what He hascommanded us to do? Our God knows what is best for our life. I know when youstart talking about commands people immediately get defensive and say there areno commands that we have to follow in the New Testament. But they would bewrong. Jesus Himself said in John 14:15 that if we love Him we would keep Hiscommandments. Notice it is plural. There are commandments given to us in theNew Testament.

For exampleJesus said if you do not forgive neither will your heavenly Father forgive you.That was not an option or it would have said if you feel like forgiving someonethat it would be a good idea. It is obvious to see why walking in the fear ofthe Lord, reverence and respect for Him, that this would cause us to live thelife God has for us. Unforgiveness produces bitterness and hatred whichcertainly is not the life God wants you to live. So if we don’t have this typeof respect for God’s authority we are not doing things God’s way. This willalso clearly open up opportunity for the devil to take advantage of our lifethus causing us to not walk in the protection God has for our life.

If you fearthe Lord you don’t read the Word of God and then take time to decide whetheryou are going to do what it says or not. When you find out what scripturereveals is our responsibility you should not question whether you should do itor not. Realize that by obeying what God’s Word says it is for your benefit.But obedience by itself will not result in the blessing God has for your life.Take a look at the following scripture.

Is. 1:19 If you arewilling and obedient, you will eat the best from the land.

Obediencewithout willingness is not going to bring God’s best for your life. If someonehas a form of obedience but does not first have a willing heart in what theyare doing this is only going to lead to not fulfilling all that God hasrequired. Often when you ask a child to do something that they really don’twant to do they are not going to do it that well. They will only do what theyfeel is necessary to get by. A willing heart is one who is truly grateful forwhat God has done for them through Christ Jesus and therefore their obedienceis not a chore but a privilege, and they will completely carry out God’s Word.

There aremany scriptures on the fear of the Lord but simply stated it comes down to ourheart condition. If we have a heart of gratitude for what Christ has done, andwe have come to Him with godly sorrow, wanting to turn from our old ways toHim, then we will be willing to submit to and obey His commands. But if we cometo Jesus as a self-help gospel and it’s all about what I want and not aboutwhat He desires for my life, there isn’t going to be much reverence for God.Those who walk in the fear of the Lord are going to grow spiritually becausethey are applying what God’s Word says. They will also reach out to othersbecause they are grateful for what God has done for them and want to share itwith others.

The secondthing mentioned in our foundation verse is walking in the comfort of the HolySpirit. As I have heard my Pastor and others say many times God did not givethe Holy Spirit to make us comfortable. He will comfort us when we are hurting,but walking in the comfort of the Holy Spirit is walking in the leading that Hebrings to our life. This to is a subject that is being spoken of less and lessin many churches. The reason is because pastors are afraid of making peoplefeel uncomfortable about something they don’t understand. Just because someoneis uncomfortable about something does not mean that it is not good for you.

1 Cor. 2:12 Now, wedidn’t receive the spirit that belongs to the world. Instead, we received theSpirit who comes from God so that we could know the things which God has freelygiven us.

1 Cor. 2:13 We don’tspeak about these things using teachings that are based on intellectualarguments like people do. Instead, we use the Spirit’s teachings. We explainspiritual things to those who have the Spirit.

1 Cor. 2:14 A personwho isn’t spiritual doesn’t accept the teachings of God’s Spirit. He thinksthey’re nonsense. He can’t understand them because a person must be spiritualto evaluate them.

As a bornagain child of God we have access to all the Trinity which would obviously bethe Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Many churches want to talk about theFather and the Son, but they don’t seem to want to involve the Holy Spirit intheir teachings. They may refer to the Holy Spirit, but they don’t want Hisgifts manifesting, again because people may become uneasy or offended.

Paul inwriting to the Corinthians clearly reveals that when you are born again you didnot receive the spirit that belongs to the world. You received the very Spiritthat comes from God so that we can know the things which God has freely givento us. That includes all that comes with the Holy Spirit. People who rejectthese things are those who still want to do things their way, the way of theflesh. They don’t want to become spiritual and therefore they don’t accept theteachings on the things of the Spirit.

This refersto two different types of people. Those who are not born again, or those whowant to continue to live under the ways of the flesh in which they have becomecomfortable with. But to be led by the Spirit is what God wants for everybeliever, including being baptized in the Holy Spirit, and flowing in the giftsof the Spirit as well. This is walking in the comfort of the Holy Spirit.

The problemfor some is that they have become so accustomed to walking in the ways of theold fleshly nature that they won’t receive what scripture teaches about theHoly Spirit and His work in their life. The other problem is we have people inchurch who think because they prayed a prayer years ago they have been saved,but if they did not have godly sorrow when they did so there was no repentanceproduced and therefore no salvation (2 Cor. 7:10). This is one reason why manydon’t understand the things of God clearly and Christianity to them is nothingmore than another type of religion. But being a Christian as the Bible teachesis doing what Jesus did. Jesus walked in the fear of the Lord, and He walked inthe power of the Holy Spirit.

So if wewill fear the Lord and continue to yield to and be led by the Holy Spirit we tocan experience true spiritual growth in our lives, and we will impact our worldfor Christ. That is what Christianity is all about. It is more than just sayingI am a Christian. It is living out through my life every day what Christ hasdone for me, and therefore fulfilling what He desires to do through me in theearth.

See You AgainNext Week For More “Weekly Wisdom”

May God’s BestBe Yours!

Pastor DarrylBaker