Pastor Kyle continues : In scripture, fear is used to express a filial or a slavish passion. In good men, the fear of God is a holy awe or reverence of God and his laws, which springs from a just view and real love of the divine character, leading the subjects of it to hate and shun everything that can offend such a holy being, and inclining them to aim at perfect obedience. This is filial fear a healthy fear of God.
2 Timothy 1:7 says, “for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” But the Greek word for “fear” in this verse is “deilia”, meaning timidity, fearfulness, cowardice. 1 John 4:18 states, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” The Greek work for “fear” here again is “phobos”, but this time meaning that which strikes fear, dread, or terror. Without a healthy fear of God, human beings would tend to do whatever is “right in our own eyes”, not what is “right in the eyes of God”. That one [Jesus] 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.
Jesus died for our sake. A healthy fear of God (in awesome reverence, respect for authority with a compound of veneration of the Supreme Being and love of His character) is the driving motivator for all of us to live for Christ and His kingdom. In this world, a healthy fear of the consequences of sin, misbehavior, crimes and other malicious acts with forethought is used as a deterrent all the time. Even if you do unrighteous deeds and never get caught, it’s wrong. We are caught every time by the all-seeing eyes of God and God sets boundaries and uses the consequences of doing wrong as a deterrent to help us live the Cristian life with a healthy fear of the Lord.
2 Corinthians 5:16-21 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
The second key to representing Christ to others is (2) a growing life of obedience evidenced through repentance. The Christian life is a journey and every day we get to experience the new life that God has for us and discard a little bit more of the old, leaving it behind. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. There is a transformation that happens when someone receives Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.; the spirit is regenerated in rebirth and the soul reconciled in Christ’s holy righteousness. Obedience is the evidence that the Salvation experience was genuine. The conversion is from sinful rebellion against God glory and sovereign authority to becoming a devoted proponent of Almighty God, the Kingdom of Heaven and the purpose of the Christian church and the life-changing redemptive work of Jesus Christ. We once were blind, but now we see.
We all need that moment when we pass from spiritual death to spiritual life; from spiritual blindness to spiritual sight. The point isn’t how dramatic our conversion story is, but that once we start following Jesus, our lives are characterized by a growing sense of willful obedience in God’s lifelong sanctification path and Christian walk process; growing into the likeness of Christ. It is the evidence that our transformation experience that we had was genuine. Part of our obedience is repenting when we sin and fall short of the glory of God. Repentance, in general, is sorrow for anything done or said; the pain or grief which a person experiences in consequence of the injury or inconvenience produced by his own conduct. In theology, repentance is the pain, regret or affliction which a person feels on account of his past conduct resulting in a change of mind, or a conversion from sin to God. Real penitence; sorrow or deep contrition for sin, as an offense and dishonor to God, a violation of His holy law, and the basest ingratitude towards a just and holy Supreme Being of infinite benevolence. This is called evangelical repentance, and is accompanied and followed by amendment of life; turning away from sinful ways and walking aligned with God’s perfect Word, Will and Way.
As a new creation in Christ, we should constantly be discovering these little pieces of our old selves that need to be discarded, replaced and made new by the Lord Jesus Christ. When thoughts, words and acts appear in our lives, we renounce them, we confess them, and we repent of them. Repentance involve a level of humility because it is humbling to admit that we are not the person that God calls us to be, that we are meant to be, or want to be as a disciple of Christ. It is even more humbling to take it to the next level and proclaim: Not only did I fail the Lord, others and myself, but in order for me to grow righteously in the eyes of God, I am going to need some accountability to get through this and on the straight and narrow path.
Let's continue Pastor Kyle's message on being Ambassadors for Christ in the next Post.
In Christ we live, and in God we trust. Brian
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