Allen Jackson - How to Flourish In the Midst of Confusion - Part 2
Without a genuine fear of the Lord—true reverence and respect for God—our lives are built on shaky ground, leading to pride and eventual destruction. Drawing from Proverbs and Jesus’ teachings, the preacher warns that diminished awe for God shows up in everyday attitudes and choices, but God invites us to repent, seek His wisdom, and store up eternal treasure instead.
Leaning Your Ladder Against the Wrong Wall
If your marker is secular, if your priorities are defined without respect or reverence for God, you have leaned your ladder against the wrong wall. «Well, Pastor, I’m in church on a Saturday night. What do you want? I mean, could you get off my back? We send our kids to camp. We are here and we came to church.» I’m not collecting additional commitments. It really starts in our heart and our attitude towards the Word of God. Proverbs 16 says: «Pride goes before destruction.»
The Deadly Danger of Pride
That’s the real warning here. To be wise in your own eyes, to give place to pride, is to light the fuse on destruction in your future. «A haughty spirit before a fall.» And what the Bible tells us, it isn’t just self-destruction. We can lack reverence for God or respect for God and engage in self-destructive behaviors and decisions, but it isn’t just ourselves that are involved. It brings destruction to families, it brings destruction to businesses, it brings destruction to churches, it can bring destruction to nations. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
Why We Miss Pride in Ourselves
I’ve discovered something, and I don’t think it’s just unique to me, but it is certainly part of my experience. It is much easier to identify pride in others than in ourselves. And maybe you know somebody that’s just full of themselves. Don’t raise your hand. And for God’s sake, don’t look right or left, okay? I built a list of some symptoms of pride—or maybe better, symptoms of a diminished fear of the Lord—and I just pulled them right out of those verses we’ve read together already.
1. Chasing Total Self-Sufficiency
The first would be that you work for self-sufficiency, so you can be independent. You want to self-insure. It’s the rich fool. «I want to get as much as I can so I’ve got my future covered. And then I’m gonna give God my leftovers, my leftover time, my leftover resources, my leftover energy. I mean, I’m gonna give all I’ve got to be independent.» It’s one-dimensional; you’re not thinking about eternity.
2. Building on Unstable Ground
There’s a second symptom: you build a future on unstable soil. In plainer language, that’s disobedience to the truth that you know, but it’s fueled by a perceived opportunity. «Yeah, I may be cheating around the edges a little bit. I may be shading the truth just a perspective, but there’s an opportunity, and if I can close this deal…» In Jesus’s language, it’s easier to build on sand than on rock. «It’s a foolish builder, ” He said.
3. Dismissing Everyone Else’s Opinion
A third symptom is we become dismissive of others’ opinions. We’re really not very willing to listen. The Bible describes that as a haughty spirit. You’re the smartest person in most rooms where you sit.
4. Knowing Truth But Ignoring It
Number four is a failure to implement the truth that you know. You have knowledge, you know quite a bit about God and you’re familiar with the Bible, but your application is missing. Maybe you get affiliated with church and you’re engaged in religious activity. The New Testament is filled with those case studies—people fully immersed in religious language, religious words, religious holidays, but their hearts are far from God. Jesus said that’s a foolish way to build your life.
5. High Tolerance for Evil
Number five: you have a high tolerance for evil and ungodliness. You use your discretionary time with people close to you, and you’re very comfortable with ungodliness. „Well, it’s my family, what do you expect me to do?“ Proverbs 8:13, we’ve already read it.
6. Claiming God’s Blessings as Your Own Achievement
Number six: the blessings in your life, the grace and mercy of God expressed to you, are perceived as personal accomplishments. „I worked hard, I’ve been diligent. I got up early and I stayed up late. I had a plan and I worked my plan. Look what I’ve done.“ Jesus talked about that in the story of the rich fool. I have a friend who grew up in the Middle East in another culture. He’d immigrated to the States, and he said to me, „You know, in America you work to have opportunities to recreate, to vacation, to do whatever your hobbies are.“ He said, „The world I came from, we work to survive.“
And I think for our affluence and the blessings that we have—and we have more than any place I know on the planet—they could only be understood as coming from the hand of God. But somehow we’ve done what God warned His people about in the books we’re reading right now. He said, „When you occupy the land that I’m going to give you, and you live in cities that you didn’t build and you have vineyards that you didn’t plant, ” He said, „you will begin to imagine that you’ve made yourself successful.“ And I think we’ve done that.
7. Getting Way Too Comfortable with Ungodliness
And finally, the seventh symptom I would submit to you is that we’ve become comfortable with ungodliness. We’re okay with it. We live in the midst of it, and it doesn’t grieve us. We just prefer not to notice. We don’t talk about it. We say things like, „I don’t watch the news, ” „Oh, I don’t think about that.“ We’ve become so comfortable we think if we close our eyes—hear no evil, see no evil, and do no evil—that somehow we’re removed from evil.
The Bible warns us about that. We read it in Psalm 36. We have fancy language for it. Somebody said it to me recently—they were in a Christian context, a Christian organization, and there was ungodliness being presented, and the answer came back, „Well, we wanna be good at conflict resolution.“ We’re not particularly focused on discipline and behavior change.
The Religious Leaders Who Missed It Completely
„Oh yeah, we know that’s kind of outside our portfolio, but what we want to be world-class at is how to navigate that and negotiate that without having to say anything’s wrong or awkward.“ Because after all, we live in a fallen world and a broken world, and we don’t wanna be that person. Oh, you mean like our Lord, the One they nailed to a cross. And the momentum for nailing Him to a cross came from the most religious people around Him because His presence and His language convicted them that they had very little real respect for God—that they’d perverted the rules and made it about opportunity.
Treasure That Actually Lasts Forever
The symptoms of a diminished fear of the Lord. My list isn’t exhaustive. It didn’t come down the mountain cut in stone. You can make your own, but to the degree that any of that resonates, there’s a conversation to be had with the Lord: Lord, I wanna learn to honor You. I want to learn to respect You. And the goal is really simple. We’re taught that we can have treasure in heaven.
Why would you care? Wouldn’t you rather have treasure now? You can get a third house, upgrade your car, have generational wealth and change the family tree. That’s not wicked or evil. God can bless us with that. I’m not opposed to that, but treasure in heaven, Jesus said, can never be diminished. It has a payout, a reward, forever.
Jesus’ Direct Command on Treasure
We’re given some how-to insights. Jesus in Matthew 6, part of the Sermon on the Mount, said, „Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth.“ These are Jesus’s words, folks. Very straightforward. „Do not.“ I don’t think it’s a condemnation of wealth or accumulation, but I believe it’s a discussion about priority. „Don’t store up for yourselves treasures on earth, because moth and rust will destroy it, and thieves can break in and steal it.“ You can’t keep it. „But store up for yourselves treasure in heaven, where moth and rust don’t destroy, and where thieves don’t break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.“
The Heart Reveals Everything
Remember, the fear of the Lord, the reverence for God, the respect for God—it’s fundamentally about a heart condition. And He said wherever your heart is, that’s how you’re gonna understand treasure. That’s what’ll keep you awake at night. That’s where the effort of your life will be directed.
You Can’t Serve Two Masters
Then He talks about the eye being the lamp, and if your eyes aren’t good, your whole body will be full of darkness. Verse 24: „No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other.“ Verse 25: „Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?“
I don’t understand it to be an either/or comparison. I don’t believe Jesus is implying you’re more godly if you’re naked. I do believe that passage is an invitation to a priority scale which begins with treasure in heaven. And here’s the awkward reality: we’re not hardwired that way. This is the stuff of growing up in the Lord, of maturing.
The Church That Thought It Had It All
Look at Revelation 3, the church in Laodicea. This is their self-awareness: „You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.“ With the little Bible study we’ve done, what was absent in the Laodicean church? The fear of God. Little respect for God, little reverence for God, little awe for God. They’re a church—they made the book.
And Jesus cared enough to send them a corrective rebuke. He said, „I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.“
Grace Isn’t Cheap—It Costs a Response
I’m intrigued that verse 18 begins with „I counsel you to buy from me.“ We’re very grace-oriented, and I’m not opposed to grace. Grace is unearned, undeserved, unmerited. It’s popular to say there’s nothing you can do that will put you beyond the grace of God. There is some truth in that, but it’s deceptive, because God’s grace is not infinite. If God’s grace was infinite, we wouldn’t have needed the cross. The fact that Jesus came and bore our sins suggests that God’s grace is not infinite.
So the counsel to this church is „buy from me.“ It suggests a transaction—not financial, but an exchange. What He’s inviting them toward requires a response from them. We don’t earn our way to heaven, but we do have to cooperate with the Spirit of God if we are to grow up in the Lord.
Wake-Up Call: You Might Be Spiritually Naked
This church has a complete misperception, a total lack of awareness. In reality, they’re wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked. But the good news is they can become rich. You can be so unaware you’re naked and don’t know it. You can be so unaware you’re blind and not know it. And He says you can be rich, and you can see, and you can wear fine clothes.
Why the Fear of the Lord Is Pure Gold
What’s the beginning of wisdom? The fear of the Lord. Psalm 119: „The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The ordinances of the Lord are sure and altogether righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb. By them your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward.“
Proverbs 8: „Choose my instruction instead of silver, knowledge rather than choice gold.“ We’d rather be disciplined by the Lord, have revelation of God, insight into His character than any opportunity this world offers us.
Blessed When They Hate You for Jesus
Matthew 5, Jesus again: „Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven.“ Most of us will deny almost everything we know about the Lord if it’ll keep us under the radar. I’m simply asking you to give expression to your reverence, your respect, your awe for God. When that happens and people say awful things, rejoice—because you’ve got a great reward.
„Lord, Lord“ Won’t Be Enough
Jesus gives a stern reminder in Matthew 7: „Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord, ’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.“ The wise builder is the one who hears the Word and does it. „Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name and drive out demons and perform many miracles? ’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you.’“
What I love about this is it’s not dependent upon our IQ. We don’t have to know Greek or Hebrew. Every one of us right now can say, „God, I wanna know You better. I wanna cooperate as fully as I know how. Holy Spirit, help me.“
It’s a Daily Choice, Not a One-Time Wish
I’m not suggesting it’s easy or it’ll happen overnight. Most of us would like to be more godly—we’d love a dream in the night and wake up holy. My life experience is that I have to choose that, just like with food—I make a decision every time I pick up a fork. Some days I do better than others. Hopefully, I’m learning to grieve when I don’t and say, „God, I’m sorry. Help me tomorrow.“
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Folks, our problems are not going to get better with an election. Our schools, our children, our future will be better if the fear of God flourishes in the midst of the people of God.
A Prayer to Ask for True Wisdom
Heavenly Father, I ask for your wisdom in my life. I repent of being 'wise in my own eyes.' I choose to submit to your authority and to your direction. I will no longer be tolerant of ungodliness and evil. Holy Spirit help me to understand the fear of the Lord. Almighty God has blessed my life, and I will honor Him. In Jesus’s name, amen.