Calvary Road Baptist Church
(Preached in Bharatpur, Nepal)
“FEAR HIM ... IN WORSHIP”
Matthew 10.28
My text is Matthew 10.28:
“And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
Why is it that some people are afraid of a man with a gun who can only kill your body, but they refuse to fear God, Who can both kill your body and cast your soul into Hell? Why is it that some people are concerned about the opinions of their unsaved family members and friends, but they are without concern for the opinion of the One Who is able to destroy both soul and body in Hell?
The Lord Jesus Christ made a pointed statement to the twelve disciples He was sending out to preach two by two for the very first time. Distilled down to the very essence of what He directed His men to do, as they went forth, we have the most simple phrase:
“Fear Him.”
Everything the Lord Jesus said leading up to this directive, and everything He said after uttering this statement, provided the proper setting for this utterance, this command, this directive, this order. Those twelve men, the apostles, were about to serve God. But you cannot just go and serve God. Read Ecclesiastes 12.13-14:
13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
14 For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.
It has always been God’s will for us that we fear Him and then serve Him, that we fear Him and then obey Him, that we fear Him and then worship Him, that we fear Him first, and then do what He wants us to do. We have a twofold duty toward God. First, we are commanded to fear Him. Then, we are commanded to worship Him.
Understand that worship is not worship where there is no preceding fear. Service is not service where there is no preceding fear. Ministry is not ministry where there is no preceding fear. Evangelism is not evangelism where there is no preceding fear.
Do you doubt what I say? The Apostle Paul wrote, in Second Corinthians 5.11,
“Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.”
I have preached sermons and noticed, even while I was preaching against withstanding my words, there were men withstanding my words. I am sure you have had similar experiences. Let me deal with an even more basic problem than withstanding my words. The Lord Jesus Christ commanded that we fear God. “Fear Him,” Jesus said to His apostles. And I want to apply what Jesus said about fearing God to worship.
We gather each week and at other times to worship the one true and living God. It is His will that we do this. But it is never possible to do His will until we precede our obedience with fear, unless fear comes before our intention to obey God.
I will address four aspects of our fear of God in connection with worship:
First, WE MUST FEAR GOD ... IN WORSHIP
How can we know that we must fear God in worship? Simple. We must fear God in all things. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of understanding. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge. And the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom. If we act with understanding, with knowledge, and with wisdom, then our actions must be preceded by fear. Thus we see that in all things, including worship, fear of God is a prerequisite to pleasing God.
Let us now take note of what fear of God is not. There is much confusion in the world today regarding the fear of God. The fear of the LORD is a topic that is hardly mentioned from pulpits in my country, perhaps because so few preachers in my country fear God. But I can tell you one thing about fear that may be unsettling. Whatever fear of God is, it is not carelessness before Him. When we stroll into the auditorium and laugh and joke and act silly and talk about different things and whatever else comes to mind ... that is not the behavior that suggests any kind of fear of God. Neither do I have in mind the kind of ungodly fear that drives an individual away from God. Remember Adam and Eve, hiding from God because they were afraid? They had an ungodly and erroneous kind of fear of God. Do you recollect the times the risen Savior said to terrified people, “Fear not”? He was not dismissing all fear of God, but only that fear of God which tends to drive a person away from God. So, when we come to worship God, we should not be careless and irreverent. But neither should we have that carnal and ungodly fear that causes us to want to leave and never come back, because we hate being convicted of our sins and hate to be reminded that we are violating God’s will.
Consider, then, what proper fear of God is. Though the Lord Jesus Christ directed His men to fear God, He would not accept just any fear of God. He never wanted His men to fear God in an ungodly manner. Rather, He wanted His apostles to fear God in a godly way, to fear God in a manner that drives men to serve Him, as Hebrews 12.28 shows us:
“Serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.”
So, we should fear God. But fear Him in a way that causes us to pay attention. Fear God in a way that causes us to sing loudly. Fear God in a way that prompts us to greet everyone courteously. Fear God in a way that causes us to receive God’s Word meekly and attentively.
Next, WHY WE MUST FEAR GOD ... IN WORSHIP
First, because this is worship of God. Church services are not a time to fool around. We are not there to have fun, though smiling and being welcoming is appropriate. Our gathering for worship is not to tell jokes and laugh. We are there to worship God. There is a time for laughing and having fun, but it is not during worship of the Most High God. Read the Bible through and you will see no creature of God, angel or human, who does not worship God with fear. Why? Because He is God.
Second, we must fear God in worship because God is present in His worship. Revelation 1.13:
“And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man.”
In many places we are told that Jesus sits at the right hand of God on high.[1] But in a mystical sense, perhaps in a way too difficult for us to understand, Jesus is in the midst of His candlesticks, in the midst of His Churches. In a sense, He is there. As well, know that our congregations are the temple of God, First Corinthians 3.16, and the Spirit of God is there. Perhaps the sense in which Jesus is there is in the person of His representative, the Holy Spirit of God, Whose temple our congregations certainly are. Add to this Deuteronomy 7.21, which reminds us that
“the LORD thy God is among you, a mighty God and terrible,”
and we can see that because God is there during our worship of Him, we need to fear Him in worship.
Third, we must fear God in worship because He is jealous of His worship. The next time someone misbehaves in Church, the next time someone approaches worship in a casual way, the next time someone comes without prayerful preparation, remember that of all the Ten Commandments, the only one to which God associated His jealousy was the one associated with bowing before Him in worship and in service. Listen to what David wrote in the Psalms:
“Serve the LORD with fear,”
Psalm 2.11.
“In thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple,”
Psalm 5.7.
Make no mistake. God expects, God demands, God commands that His creatures fear Him in worship.
Another reason to fear God in worship? He judges those who attempt to worship Him without fear. Look up Leviticus 10.1-3 sometime. God killed Nadab and Abihu for offering strange fire, their presumption brought on by their absence of fear in worship and service. Read First Samuel chapters 2 & 4 sometime. God killed Hophni and Phineas, who dared to worship a holy God without fear. Ananias and Sapphira, for telling a lie in the congregation when they were before God, because they lacked a fear and dread of God’s majesty and of God’s name, were killed, Acts 5.1-10. Under my own preaching, a woman who disrupted our worship, who had no fear of God, was run down by a car and killed the day after her display of insolence during worship. Excuse me, but look closely at the lives of those who demonstrate no fear of God in worship, who undermine and bad mouth, who disrupt and distract. After careful examination, do you deny God has not already begun to judge them?
Third, WHO WE ARE WHO MUST FEAR GOD ... IN WORSHIP
You who do not worship God at all must fear Him in worship. Jeremiah 10.25:
“Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy name.”
People play their games with God. But when His judgment falls upon children because of the insolence of their parents, because of stubbornness, because of rebellious refusal to worship Him, and proud and haughty arrogance toward Him, then remember my words. I fear some know, perhaps too late to do anything about it, that God has judged their children because of their past refusal to worship Him with fear. “Pastor, what do I do now?” Cry out to God. Plead for mercy. Worship with fear. Serve Him with fear.
As well, those who do not worship God with fear must fear God. They worship God, supposedly. But some come to worship to doze off. Some come to worship God to visit with family and friends. Some come to worship God to admire pretty girls or show yourself off to boys. Some come to worship God for reasons that are no longer clear to them. Some come to Church, but not to worship God. Some come not to meet with Him. Some come not to please Him, to obey Him, to satisfy Him, to serve Him. Oh, what a sad day that will be when some give an account of themselves and are damned because they refused to worship Him in fear.
Then, there are those who worship God religiously. Do some honor God with your lips? Do some seem to draw near to Him, if the words that come out of their mouths are any indication? About those God says that their heart is removed far from Him, Isaiah 29.13. It’s because their fear of God is taught by the precept of men. In other words, they have not truly been taught by God to fear God. They only mimic other people. What will happen to them? The scorner will be consumed, Isaiah 29.20. Those who watch for iniquity will be cut off. In other words, nothing good will happen to them so long as they lack fear in worshiping God.
Finally, BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION, HOW WE MUST FEAR GOD ... IN WORSHIP
First, by our fearful attendance. Does a person who fears God in worship, whose fear does not turn him away from God, absent himself from God’s house during worship? If we fear God rightly, we will not absent ourselves from Church when the doors are open, Hebrews 10.25. We are commanded to worship God in fear, something we cannot do with other members unless we are physically there with other members.
Next, by our fearful attentiveness. When we are there, we must recognize that we are in the presence of God, and we must be swift to hear His Word, James 1.19. We recognize that God’s grace is ministered through the spoken Word, and that the welfare of our soul is at stake in worship. No wonder, then, we should fear God in worship.
Finally, we must fear God in worship by our fearful attitude. It is possible to pay close attention, but still have the wrong attitude. So, we need to examine our hearts to see how we receive and respond to the preaching of God’s Word. James 1.21 challenges us to receive the Word with meekness, an impossible task without the fear of God in worship. So, consider your attendance, and your attentiveness, and finally your attitude in worship.
God is doing a gracious work in our midst. Prayers are being answered in people’s lives. Some are being stirred. Others are being converted to Christ. For that, we praise God’s holy name.
While we rejoice with the angels, let us also fear with them. As we pray to God for demonstrations of His remarkable presence, let us also undertake to behave ourselves properly in His presence.
Do we want God to bless us and keep us and make His face to shine upon us? Yes, we do. Our Churches should pray and labor diligently for such a blessing.
“To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word,” Isaiah 66.2. Therefore, let us purpose, during every worship service we lead and attend, to tremble at His Word and fear God in our worship.
What a glorious Gospel is given to us!
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[1] Psalm 16.11; 110.1; Matthew 26.64; Mark 12.36; 14.62; 16.19; Luke 20.42; 22.69; John 3.13; 13.1; 14.2-4; Acts 1.9-11; 2.33, 34-35; 7.56; Romans 8.34; Ephesians 1.20; 6.9; Colossians 3.1; Second Thessalonians 1.7; Hebrews 1.3, 13; 8.1; 9.24; 10.12-13; 12.2; 1 Peter 3.22; Revelation 19.11
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