Just the Beginning

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." Proverbs 9:10

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge" Proverbs 1:7

I am endeavouring to build a healthy lifestyle right now.  I have wanted to lose a few pounds and try and keep it off.  I am on day nine of my diet and actually have been quite successful.  By making some simple adjustments to my diet (no chips, pop and sweets) and better choices (salad instead of fries, drinking more water) I have lost 5 pounds in that period of time.  But there is another side to healthier living that I haven't touched yet and that is exercise.  My approach is very one sided at this time and I know that if I am truly interested in being healthy and not just being skinny, I need to be concerned about this other side of health. If I was to sum it up in a formula, it would look like this:

Healthy Eating + Exercise = A Healthy Lifestyle

  I began my faith journey in the 1970's.  It was the summer between grade eight and grade nine.  Our family became involved with some camp meetings put on by the United Church renewal fellowship at Carrick Camp just outside of Mildmay, Ontario.  One Sunday night they showed a film called a Distant Thunder, a part of a series of movies on the second-coming of Jesus.  It was the Left-Behind series of its time.  It was an all out scare you into the kingdom event.  I actually call my testimony, "Scared into the Kingdom".  I was filled with anxious dread about being left behind. I was fearful of having my head chopped off.  I didn't respond to the altar call, but later that night I couldn't sleep and asked Jesus into my heart in my parents bedroom.  

  As I began to grow in my knowledge of God and my relationship with Christ I became gripped with Christ's love and my fear quickly faded and was overshadowed by his overwhelming love for me.  It was fear that brought me to Christ, but it was His love that held me.  But now I am being pulled back again to fear.  Not the anxious dread of my teenage years, but to a deep sense of reverence and awe for God.  The reason is because if I do not have this, my understanding of God is built on a shaky foundation.

The writer of Hebrews states in Hebrews 12:29, "Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful and worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire."  This fear is an essential part of faith in God.  Solomon after an incredible search to find purpose and meaning concluded that the number one priority in life is to "fear God and obey his commands" (Ecclesiastes 12:13).  He also states that fear of God is foundational, it is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge. 

  I remember reading an article a number of years ago, can't remember where it was, about the math it requires for NASA to launch a rocket into space.  It mentioned that a one degree error at launch would mean that it would be off course by over a 1000 kms by the time it hit the earth's atmosphere.  A mistake at the beginning can cause major variations in  a short period of time.  I think this is the point of Proverbs 9:10.  The Fear of God is the starting point of understanding His holiness, His greatness, His glory, His majesty, His judgement, His righteousness and all other things that make us realize how incredible God is.  If I am off on these things, I have the potential to skew my view of God and tailor it towards my preferences.  Instead of man being made in the image of God, I begin to make God in my image.  A proper view of God is essential to right thinking about everything.  If I was to some it up in a formula it would look something like this.

Love of God + Fear of God = Devotion to God

As Jerry Bridges says in his classic work The Practice of Godliness, "The fear of God should provide a primary motivation for, as well as result in, obedience to Him.  If we truly reverence God we will obey Him, since every act of disobedience is an affront to His dignity and Majesty." 1

"Fear God and serve Him only."  Deuteronomy 6:3

pj

1. Jerry Bridges, The Practice of Godliness (Navpress, 1983 p. 30)

The Missing Piece: Fear of God

My Dad just celebrated his 89th birthday.  I love to hear his stories, particularly the ones about World War 2 and his part in the Dutch underground and about his childhood in the Netherlands.  One of my favourites is his story about visiting the Queen of Holland.  He had been a part of a boys club and a select few had the opportunity to have tea with the Queen.  When they were serving tea, the sugar was in the form of cubes (you don't see sugar cubes very often any more).  The cubes were to be picked up with a set of small tongs.  My dad always had sugar in his tea, but he had it black that day. He didn't want to use the tongs so that no one could see how bad his hands were shaking.  He was keenly aware of the fact that he was in the presence of royalty.

  I am often reminded of this story when I am thinking about God.  He is the ultimate royalty.  He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.  I am aware of God's great love for me.  He loved me and you so much that he gave His only Son to die for us.  His love is infinite, the apostle Paul challenges believers to plumb the depths of God's love, to see how high, wide,  deep and long is the love of Christ (Ephesians 3:18).  He explains that nothing, absolutely nothing can separate us from His love. (Romans 8) He also tells us that His love is a compelling force to do His will. (2 Corinthians 5:14-15) But there is another half to this truth, God must also be feared.  We are to have a deep sense of reverence and awe.  the writer of Hebrews tells us, "Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, because our God is a consuming fire."

 I remember the first time I saw what would be a consuming fire.  I was working in Jasper, Alberta at the Tramway for the summer and a small forest fire developed about 40 km's outside of the town.   It was contained, but still a sight to behold, trees would burn like torches.  I was laying on a grassy hill on the edge of town and as I watched the destruction I thought to myself, "I am glad I am looking at this from a distance."

  Sometimes I think we make God too manageable, too easy going, and too safe.  Maybe there should be like in my dad's story, a little bit more of the "shaking of the hand".

  In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe C.S. Lewis describes the first time the children hear about Aslan:

"is - is he a man?" asked Lucy

"Aslan a man!" said Mr. Beaver sternly.  "Certainly not.  I tell you he is the King of the wood and the son of the great Emperor-Beyond-the-Sea.  Don't you know who is the King of the Beasts?  Aslan is a lion, the Lion, the great Lion."

"Ooh," said Susan.  "I thought he was a man.  Is he - quite safe?  I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion."

"That you will, dearie, and make no mistake," said Mrs. Beaver; "if there's anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knowcking, they're either braver than most or else just silly."

"Then he isn't safe?" said Lucy

"Safe?" said Mr. Beaver; "don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you?  Who said anything about safe? Course he isn't safe.  But he's good.  He's the king I tell you." 1

Like Aslan, God is definitely not safe. He is to be feared with reverence and awe. To not have a little bit of trembling of the knees is foolhardy.  He is not safe, but God is very, very good.  Donald McCullough in his book The Trivialization of God says this about a God who is a consuming fire, "The blaze of holiness admits no disrespect; its,boundaries cannot be trespassed.  But this very distinctness is the fire that thaws our frozen hearts, the fire that draws us into a relationship with God and one another, the fire that cleanses even as it purges" 2

"Fear God and give Him glory"  Revelation 14:7.  And that is just the beginning...

pj

1 C.S. Lewis, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (London: Puffin 1950), p.75

2 Donald McCullough, The Trivialization of God (Colorado Springs: Nav Press 1995), p.87

  

85 Billion Dollars

I was reading the "Our Daily Bread" devotional this morning and it stated that in the United States and Canada, 85 billion dollars was spent last year on lottery tickets.  85 billion!  I can't even imagine those kind of figures.  Money spent with the hope that it will turn in to more money.

I never did real well with math when I was in school, but I wanted to take a shot at calculating what you could do with 85 billion dollars, if it was channelled in a different direction,

Just recently we had Jay Calder who represents Compassion of Canada speak to our congregation.  For the price of a cup of coffee from Tim Horton's you can support a child, feed them, clothe them, educate them and guide them to God through a relationship with Jesus Christ.

$1.60/day = $584.00 annually = 1 Child sponsored

$85 billion = 145,547,945 Children Sponsored

Gospel for Asia supports national missionaries to minister in their own environments.  It takes between $120 and $360 per month on average to support a national missionary.  For our math, let's take the higher figure.

$360.00/month =  $4,320.00 annually = One Missionary Supported

$85 billion = 19,675,926 national pastors supported.

I am aware that I am coming at this money from my bias.  Maybe you don't care about national pastors and children finding faith.  But my point is this, that amount of money could change the world drastically for the better.   I am pretty confident that 85 billion dollars can make a dent in a lot of major issues on our planet.  It could resource food banks, homeless shelters, camps, drug rehab centres and on and on.

Jesus talked about in Luke 12:48, "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked."  For some reason God has allowed us in North America to have much.  But because of that the demands on us are higher.

  I don't think God is pleased when we flitter away the resources he has given to us on the vain attempt of "instant wealth". I think God would be more pleased if we invested that money in what really matters, one dollar at a time.

pj