Ecclesiastes
12:13, "Let us hear the conclusion of
the whole matter: Fear God, and
keep his commandments:
for this is the whole duty of
man."
This morning, there are many
that spend all their
days wondering what their
purpose is in life. They
are like children tossed to and
fro on the waves of
life, and have been snared many
times by cunning
craftiness and the sleight of
men. This verse is a
simple concluding statement.
There are many of these
in the Holy Scriptures, and they
are summations that
explain in short form everything
that has gone before.
Paul concludes the first 7
chapters of Hebrews in the
first verse of chapter 8. This
verse is a very simple
yet profound conclusion that
will teach the child of
God what his purpose is in life
and what he should be
doing.
The first thing that every child
of God must do in
order to walk in proper service
to the Lord is to fear
Him. Yesterday, we talked a
little bit about the fear
of the Lord is the beginning of
wisdom. There are
many things that the fear of the
Lord is the beginning
of. That must be the starting
point or we will never
make it to the next step. So, if
this is so
important, what is meant by the
expression Fear God?
Is it a terror and mortal
anxiety that comes over us
in trembling and much sorrow?
No, this fear is a fear
that casteth out fear. We are
told that perfect love casts
out fear (terror), and this fear
(reverence) is one
that is done out
of love.
The best way to
explain it
(as Solomon did in Proverbs) is
to liken it to a
father and a son. Sons fear
their earthly fathers.
This fear is not a terror of
getting a spanking
(although sometimes that does
happen when we are
trying to hide some wrongdoing).
This fear is one of
place and respect. We fear or
respect our fathers
because of their place and
position. They are
watching over us, they are
feeding and clothing us,
they check on us in the night to
make sure that we are
safe, they give their lives if
necessary to protect
us. In this position of
authority, their word has
more emphasis and power in the
household than the
child's (or it
should).
When a child says
something,
it may or may not come to pass,
but when dad says
something it comes to pass
because of his authority.
That is the fear that sons have,
and it is the same
fear that we should have with
the Lord. He watches
over us, protects us, feeds and
clothes us, and never
leaves us or forsakes us.
Therefore, we should fear
Him and His authority. This is
the starting point.
Then, we build from that, and we
keep His
commandments. What are those?
Christ said that they
could be boiled down to 2: love
the Lord with all our
heart, soul, and mind; and love
our neighbor as
ourselves.
This leaves no
wiggle room. We are to love
the Lord with all of our being,
and treat our neighbor
as we would like to be treated.
These are so very
simple, yet so hard to fulfill
in our daily lives. I
fall short every day, but even
when we fall short, let
us never wonder WHAT it is we
are supposed to be
doing. I rather suspect that
many know what they
SHOULD be doing, but they use
ignorance as a shield
for their shortcomings. Let us
ever earnestly contend
for the faith and run our race
with patience. For, if
we do these things, we will not
forget that we were
purged from our
old sins, and we shall never fall.
In Hope,
Bro Philip
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