Luke 12:4-5, "And I say to you, My friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom you should fear: Fear*~ the one who, after the killing, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear*~him!"
“Fear is an emotional response to a perceived threat.” It is considered a survival mechanism to motivate a behavior that minimizes or eliminates the threat. Fear generally relates to future events, real or imagined.
Jesus commanded his disciples to be fearless, even in the face of physical death, throughout their lives for proclaiming the Good News of Christ’s gracious salvation. The opposition, at worst, can only bring about a physical death, which is meaningless in comparison to the eternal death in hell. Jesus is certainly advising the disciples that faithfulness to Christ will likely result in a death sentence from the government, but this threat is not to be feared (yea, welcomed!). The fear men should have is to fear God, who alone has the authority to cast the unbelieving sinner into an eternal hell, and He has promised to do just that.
God commands us to fear Him. Whomever you fear, you will obey. When people fear that the authorities are watching or will find out about their actions, they tend to obey the laws. On the contrary, people can to be quite lawless when they believe that no one is watching or will do nothing about their disobedience.
Likewise, Christians can become presumptuous toward God because of His patience and long-suffering, deceiving themselves into believing that He will do nothing. They think that He is too loving and forgiving to punish them. Eve was deceived by Satan into believing that God would do nothing if she disobeyed Him. When she believed Satan's lie, she became vulnerable to disobedience.
Proverbs 1:7 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.” The first lesson a believer should learn [“the beginning of wisdom”] is that it is a painful experience to disobey our Lord. The author to Hebrews wrote, “My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord. Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him. For whom the Lord loves He chastens. And scourges every son whom He receives… But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.” Christians are forgiven their sins, but God will teach us not to be disobedient by some form of punishment to teach us to be obedient.
If we do not fear this promise of God to chastise us, then we have a tendency to be morally loose. If we do fear that He will do what He says in His Word, then we will begin to take seriously His commands. This is a healthy motivation to learn what God expects of us as His children—this is where wisdom begins.
Psalms 103:17, “But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children—“
For a year's daily devotional of these Bible studies, order a copy of the book Truths to Live By at Branches Publications for your copy.
“Fear is an emotional response to a perceived threat.” It is considered a survival mechanism to motivate a behavior that minimizes or eliminates the threat. Fear generally relates to future events, real or imagined.
Jesus commanded his disciples to be fearless, even in the face of physical death, throughout their lives for proclaiming the Good News of Christ’s gracious salvation. The opposition, at worst, can only bring about a physical death, which is meaningless in comparison to the eternal death in hell. Jesus is certainly advising the disciples that faithfulness to Christ will likely result in a death sentence from the government, but this threat is not to be feared (yea, welcomed!). The fear men should have is to fear God, who alone has the authority to cast the unbelieving sinner into an eternal hell, and He has promised to do just that.
God commands us to fear Him. Whomever you fear, you will obey. When people fear that the authorities are watching or will find out about their actions, they tend to obey the laws. On the contrary, people can to be quite lawless when they believe that no one is watching or will do nothing about their disobedience.
Likewise, Christians can become presumptuous toward God because of His patience and long-suffering, deceiving themselves into believing that He will do nothing. They think that He is too loving and forgiving to punish them. Eve was deceived by Satan into believing that God would do nothing if she disobeyed Him. When she believed Satan's lie, she became vulnerable to disobedience.
Proverbs 1:7 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.” The first lesson a believer should learn [“the beginning of wisdom”] is that it is a painful experience to disobey our Lord. The author to Hebrews wrote, “My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord. Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him. For whom the Lord loves He chastens. And scourges every son whom He receives… But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.” Christians are forgiven their sins, but God will teach us not to be disobedient by some form of punishment to teach us to be obedient.
If we do not fear this promise of God to chastise us, then we have a tendency to be morally loose. If we do fear that He will do what He says in His Word, then we will begin to take seriously His commands. This is a healthy motivation to learn what God expects of us as His children—this is where wisdom begins.
Psalms 103:17, “But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children—“
For a year's daily devotional of these Bible studies, order a copy of the book Truths to Live By at Branches Publications for your copy.
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