Day 34: In Christ, We Fear the Lord Growthfully

Posted on: April 11, 2025
by: Gerrit Dawson, Senior Pastor

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us.

Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD,

when I will make a new covenant with the

house of Israel. . . .

I will put my law within them,

and I will write it on their hearts.

And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

They shall all know me, from the least of them

to the greatest. . . .

For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will

remember their sin no more.

(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)

Daily Scripture

Philippians 2:12-13

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

1 Peter 1:13-19

Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

2 Corinthians 5:9-11, 14-15

So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. . . . For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

Picking Up the Thread

The long-awaited Messiah, Jesus, lived out the perfect fear of God. He delighted to do his Father’s will. He remained aware of his Father’s presence and purpose in every situation. He prayed constantly, relating to his Father through the Hebrew Scriptures and the Spirit who prayed within him. He trusted that his Father’s plan would come to pass even though Jesus would walk through the valley of death to accomplish it. By his death, he achieved for us a great salvation. In him, we have reconciliation with the Father. We are made new with resurrection life flowing through us by his own Spirit that Jesus has shared. We look forward to everlasting life in communion with him and one another: “Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:31).

We as believers are commanded to fear God. Do we fear because we dread the possibility of eternal separation from our Redeemer? Absolutely not. But we know we are prone to forget how great and costly the salvation given to us is. We slide back into occupying our minds with scores and charts, screens and expenditures. However, a healthy fear lifts our attention upwards even amid daily obligations.

In today’s passages, Peter and Paul remind us to treasure this restored fellowship with God. In Philippians, Paul has just reminded his readers how Jesus, though he was God, took up the “form of a servant” as he came to us: “And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:7-8). Rescuing us cost Christ his life!

Stitching It In

Paul urges us to respond to this salvation by “working it out.” That is, live out all the implications of what it means that God has laid hold of you and includes you in his great loving forgiveness and purpose. Do this, he urges, with fear and trembling. Why fear? “For it is God who works in you.” God! God himself, the Creator of the universe, the Almighty King has so regarded you that he gave his only Son. The Spirit who shaped the formless waters into the creation of earth’s beautiful complexity now resides within you. What is stirring in you is not just an emotional response. The triune God is nudging you, inspiring your will to participate in becoming more like the new Adam. He is calling you into his mission. God, the true God, invites you to be a vital part of what he is doing. Would we not feel some trembling urgency if we learned that our favorite earthly leader, hero or artist called us to come immediately to be part of a project? Multiply that by a million!

Similarly, Peter exhorts his readers to “conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile.” Earth in this form is not our final home. We are strangers here. Our homeland is heaven. Peter coaches us to resist the tug to fall back into a former way of life, a pattern where now is all, where we fear earthly loss but have no regard for God or his future. Our motivation, however, is not avoiding punishment. Rather, Peter reminds us of the inestimable worth God conferred upon his people. We were ransomed from the futile ways of life inherited from the whole history of the rebellious broken world. The price was not mere gold or silver but “the precious blood of Christ.”

When we fully grasp that the Son of God took up flesh and blood to give that flesh to be torn and give that blood to be poured out for us, we gasp in wonder. Jesus is not just a spiritual option that we turn to when we get bored with our pursuits. He is the king who ransomed a slave. The shepherd who sacrificed himself for a wandering sheep. The father who feted a wastrel son. Shall we treat this as a trivial thing? A mere religious choice? One god among many?

Paul turns up the heat as he tells the Corinthians that “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.” Yes, the judge is our redeemer, but he is still the judge. Yes, the Savior paid for all our sin, but we must still face its reality. Yes, he lived faithfulness for us, but he still requires us to love and obey him. Do we want to arrive at judgment as if we merely took out a “fire insurance policy” by believing in Jesus but did nothing in loving reply to the love of Father, Son and Holy Spirit?

Once again, the deepest motivation for such fear is not a servile terror. It is the recognition that because Jesus died and rose for us, we no longer have to live for ourselves. We’re no longer caught in the endless self-loop of trying to satisfy ourselves. Our own chosen fulfillment plans always fail us and entrap us with consequences. But Christ has made us free. He has opened the path to the deepest human satisfaction: to live not for ourselves but for him who for our sake lived, died and rose again. Pleasing the one who loves us more than he loves himself is the essence of a Biblical fear of God. This has been the plan all along.

Praying Along the Pattern

My appetites growl so loudly!

The next thing I need drives most of life.

Finding pleasure, making comfort,

These are my main pursuits.

But then I feel a quiet stirring within me,

That my life is more than now.

I want to know you.

I don’t want my years to have been a waste,

I long to be part of what matters.

This impulse is you, blessed Spirit!

Not overwhelming, but humbly