Allen Jackson - How to Flourish In the Midst of Confusion - Part 2
If your marker is secular, if your priorities are defined without a respect or a 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 free 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».
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. You know, we can lack a reverence for God or a respect for God and we can engage in self-destructive behaviors and self-destructive decisions, but it isn’t just ourselves that are involved. It brings destructions to families, it brings destructions to businesses, it brings destruction to churches, it can bring destruction to nations. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
I’ve discovered something, and I don’t think it’s just unique to me, but it is certainly a part of my portfolio. It is much easier to identify pride in others than ourselves. And maybe you know somebody that’s just full of themself. 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. I didn’t put them in your notes. You have to do this the old-fashioned way. Or if you prefer symptoms, maybe the diminished fear of the Lord, and I just pulled it right out of those verses we’ve read together already.
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 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.
There’s a second symptom, you build a future on unstable soil. Maybe in plainer language that’s disobedience to the truth that you know, but it’s fueled, it’s driven, 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.
A third symptom is we be dismissive of others’s opinions. We’re really not very willing to listen. The Bible described that as a haughty spirit. You’re the smartest person in the most rooms where you sit.
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, maybe you get affiliated with church and you’re engaged in religious activity. The New Testament, you don’t have to go to the Old Testament, the New Testament, the Bible is filled with those case studies. People fully immersed, fully engaged 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.
Number five, we’re talking about symptoms of a diminished fear of God. Number five would be, you have a high tolerance for evil and ungodliness. That’s your assignment, you’re a missionary. You use your discretionary time. The people close to you, 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.
Number six, the blessings in your life, the blessings of God, the grace and the 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 that story of a rich fool. I have a friend. He grew up in the Middle East in another culture. You know, he said to me, he’d immigrated to the States, this was some years ago, and he said, «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, I think they could only be understood as 'cause, having come from the hand of God. But somehow we’ve done what God warned his people about in the books we’re reading right now, if you’re doing the Bible reading with us. 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. So we’re more focused on what we’re entitled to, what we have a right to, what we deserve, as something that should be readjusted, and I should have a better opportunity. We imagine that somehow we’ve made ourselves successful.
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. I mean, we read it in Psalm 36. We got fancy language for it. I hear it frequently. Somebody said it to me recently. They said, well, they were in a Christian context, in a Christian setting, a Christian organization, and there was ungodliness that was 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. «Oh yeah, we know that’s kind of, like, 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 anything’s awkward or anything shouldn’t happen. 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 amongst 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.
That they perverted the fundamentals of things like the Sabbath. They would work if there was economic opportunity in it, but they wouldn’t work if it was about worship. The symptoms of a diminished fear of the Lord. My list isn’t inclusive. 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 for that is really simple. We’re taught that we can have treasure in heaven.
Well, 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. Wouldn’t you rather have treasure now? Well, 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. That’s a different kind of investment. Doesn’t depend on the Fed chair. You should pray for him. We’re given some how-to insights. Jesus in Matthew 6, this is part of the Sermon on the Mount, so it’s right in there with all the Beatitudes. He said, «Don’t store up for yourselves treasures on earth».
These are Jesus’s words, folks. That’s very straightforward. He said, «Do not». Now, 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 yourself treasures on earth, because moth and rust will destroy it, and thieves can break in and steal it». He said 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». Remember, the fear of the Lord, the reverence of 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 what the real, the effort of your life will be directed. Then he talks about the eye being the lamp, and if your eyes aren’t good, your whole body will be full of light, if they’re good. If they’re bad, it’ll be full of darkness. Verse 24: «No one can serve two masters. Either we’ll hate the one and love the other, or we’ll be devoted to the one and despise the other». Verse 25: «Don’t worry about your life, what you’ll eat or drink; or about your body, what you’ll wear. Isn’t life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes»?
I don’t understand it to be like an either/or comparison. Well, either you love money or you love God. I don’t really understand it. I don’t believe Jesus is implying, when he said that life is more important than food and the body more important than clothes, I don’t think he’s saying you’re more godly if you’re naked. Well, I mean, sometimes we go to some rather absurd, 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. That’s not baked into us. This is the stuff of growing up in the Lord. This is the stuff of maturing, far more than being able to spell Nebuchadnezzar. The people that Jesus talked to so much in the Gospels, they were way up on the rules and experts in the law, but their hearts were far from God. Jesus’s commentary, not mine. And we have the 21st century version of that. We have all the things we say we can do and all the ways we’re engaged, and all the ways we have a story of faith, but the question really, and it’s a personal question. I’m not the evaluator. How’s your heart with the Lord, the respect, the reverence for God? Is he the priority? And to what extent is he a greater priority now than he was 12 months ago? It’s an exciting adventure.
Look at Revelation 3, similar passage. It’s one of the churches in Revelation. It’s written to a church and they made the book. I mean, the book of Revelation starts with a message to seven churches, and this is one of them, the church of Laodicea. This is their self-awareness. Remember, without the fear of God, you say in your own eyes, remember all those verses about how your own eyes? This is what they say about them: «You say, 'I am rich; and I have acquired wealth and I don’t need a thing, ' but you don’t realize that you’re wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked».
Now, with the little Bible study that we’ve done, what does that describe? 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 about them to send them a corrective rebuke. There’s still an angel assigned to them, but he said, «If you don’t change, they’ll be moved». And then he gives them, he said in verse 18, «I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich». Rich with what? Rich in heaven. «White clothes to wear».
Stop worrying about your wardrobe and start being worried about your spiritual wardrobe, «So you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes. You don’t even see». 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. If you look up grace in the spiritual dictionary, you’ll probably find my picture. Grace is unearned, undeserved, unmerited. It’s very popular in many places to say very loudly that, you know, 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. God would have just said, «Oh, it’s okay. Group hug, come on, hug it out». The fact that Jesus was asked to come to the earth and bear our sins suggests that God’s grace is not infinite. And so the counsel that’s given to this particular church is, «I counsel you to buy from me». It suggests a transaction, not a financial transaction but an exchange. What he’s inviting them towards is not just a gift, it requires a response from them.
Now, 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. And we haven’t really thought that was significant because we’ve been told if you get your ticket punched, nothing else then really matters. You’re golden, you got a golden ticket. But the message of scripture, the message to the church, is you don’t want the end of the age to open up and you be blind, naked. See, this particular church has a complete misperception, a total lack of awareness. In reality, they’re wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked. But the good news, and you need to hear this, 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 don’t… how messed up do you have to be to be blind and not know it? And he said you can be rich, and you can see, and you can wear fine clothes.
What’s the beginning of wisdom? The fear of the Lord. A respect for God, a reverence for God. «God, I’m so sorry. I’ve been driving this train, I didn’t care what you thought. I cared if I got caught, but I didn’t care what you thought». We’re told some things about our heavenly treasures. Psalm 119: «The fear of the Lord is pure, it endures forever». See, the fear of the Lord has a value forever. Forever, young, old. «The ordinances of the Lord are sure and altogether righteous. They’re more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they’re sweeter than honey, than the honeycomb. By them your servant is warned; in keeping them there is a 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 the character of God and how we should react to him than any opportunity this world offers us. How often are we willing to compromise because we think something will bring us pleasure, status, an invitation, acceptance, applause, approval? It is rampant amongst us, not the pagans. We’re reluctant, we ignore the truth, we hide the truth, we deny the truth because it’s awkward sometimes. Attach value to living out God’s precepts. Choose to be instructed by the Lord. Don’t reject it. Matthew 5, this is Jesus again. He said, «You’re blessed when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you. 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. Again, I’m not asking you to be belligerent or angry or vindictive or mean-spirited or condemning. I’m simply asking you to give expression to your reverence, your respect, your awe for God. And he said, listen, if you do that, there are times people are gonna say some awful things about you, you’ll be reviled, you’ll be hated. That hurts, it’s not fun, it’s unpleasant, we would rather avoid it, but he says when that happens, rejoice because you’ve got a great reward. It’s better than winning the lottery. We’re called to be truth builders, obedient, practitioners of the faith that we have.
Jesus gives us a very stern reminder in Matthew 7. He says, «Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord, ' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father». Remember what Jesus said about wise and foolish builders? Who was the wise builder? The one who when he hears the Word and does it, he said that is the wise person. The one who hears the Word and doesn’t do it, he said, oh, that’s foolish. We’ve made the full circle. He says, «Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord, '» not everybody who knows the vocabulary and the words to the choruses will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who has the wisdom, enough respect for God, enough reverence for God to do his will.
«Many will say to me,» verse 22, «on that day, 'Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, in your name we drove out demons and we performed miracles? ' And I’ll tell them, 'I don’t know you.'» «But I’ve got good credentials». «I don’t know you. You never really respected me. You didn’t really hold me in esteem». See, what I love about this is it’s not dependent upon our IQ. We don’t have to know Greek or Hebrew. We don’t have to be particularly accomplished or talented. We don’t have to be celebrated. We don’t have to be an influencer. Every one of us in the circumstances of our life right now in this moment can say, «God, I wanna know you better. I wanna cooperate as fully as I know how. Holy Spirit, help me. If there are any of those places where any of those symptoms are growing in me, Holy Spirit, help me to see them. I would like to change».
I’m not suggesting it’s easy or it’ll even happen overnight. How many of you have decided sometime since January you’d like to lose 2 or 3 pounds? Nobody raised their hand, a whole church full of liars. We all have. Because the cleaner shrunk your clothes but we didn’t care enough about it to skip dessert. I mean, you know. I wanted, like, a cream I could rub on my forehead when I went to sleep at night and I’d wake up buff. Most of us would like to be more godly. We’d like, you know, to have a dream in the night and wake up in the morning, holy. My life experience means that I have to choose that.
In the same way with our food, I have to make a decision every time I pick up a fork. And with God, I have to make a decision with every interaction, with every conversation, with every day. Some days I do better than others. And hopefully, I’m learning to grieve when I don’t do as well and say, «God, I’m sorry. Would you 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 will get better, our children will have a better future, if the fear of God flourishes in the midst of the people of God. I’ve got a prayer I wanna invite you to. It’s not on your notes, I ran out of space. I thought the scripture was more important than the prayer in this instance. We’ll post it someplace. We’ll make it difficult to find. If you’ll stand with me, you can repeat it with me. We’re gonna do it a line at a time, it’s really a proclamation.
In James chapter 1 and verse 5, you can check me later, James said, «If any man lacks wisdom, he can ask of God and he’ll give it to you, generously without criticism. But if you ask, ask in faith, nothing wavering because if you waver, you’re like a wave of the sea driven by the wind, and you shouldn’t think that you’ll receive anything from the Lord». So if you recognize that we lack the wisdom to truly have the fear of God, we can ask God for that wisdom. So that’s my prayer, just repeat it after me:
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.