John Bevere - Living a Life of Fear and Trembling
- Watch
- Donate
They said, «God, we love You as long as You’re giving us what we want when we want it, but we don’t love You very much right now because we’re not getting what we want.» Okay, you just finished Chapter 11, and I know this chapter is riveting when you really stop and think about what the Apostle Paul is talking about. I think what this chapter does is show all of us how far we have drifted as a church from truly helping people mature in their salvation.
Let me explain. Paul makes a statement in Philippians Chapter 2, Verse 12. He said, «Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.» Now notice he doesn’t say, «work out your salvation with love and kindness.» He says, «with fear and trembling.» Okay, for it is God who works in you. Now listen to this: both to will, in other words, He gives you a desire, and to do, meaning He gives you the ability to obey His good pleasure. Now let’s break this down here. I was talking with a Greek man a couple of weeks ago, and I asked him what this word «work out» means. «Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.» What does «work out» mean? The Greek man said, «John, this is a fascinating word. It actually is used when we talk about molding something or shaping something.»
Now, can you imagine? Take a piece of Play-Doh—I don’t even know if they have that anymore—but when I was a kid, they had this stuff called Play-Doh, and you could mold it into whatever shape you wanted. Well, that’s what he is actually saying; you’re going to mold or craft your relationship with God, and you’re going to do it through fear and trembling. In other words, if you don’t do it through fear and trembling, you might be molding something you really don’t want. Let me give you an example. If you meet somebody and the initial impression you give them is, «Hey, I want something out of you,» it’s not that you want to be their friend; you want something from them. You want this to be a transactional relationship. You’ll only call them when you need something.
Well, that’s not going to be a very close relationship. Why? Because you are using that person. You are crafting a relationship that communicates to that person, «I only want to use you for what you can do for me.» Now, I don’t want to craft my relationship with God that way. That’s what the children of Israel did. They said, «God, we love You as long as You’re giving us what we want when we want it, but we don’t love You very much right now because we’re not getting what we want.» And this is what Paul is talking about here. We’re the ones who choose how we’re going to craft our relationship with God, and Paul says if we do it with fear and trembling, we create a healthy relationship. This will become very evident the further we go into this message. The fear of the Lord, the Bible actually says, is the beginning—the starting place—of an intimate relationship with God.
Now stop and think about it: the fear of the Lord is the starting place for an intimate, not a transactional, relationship. Now think about Moses and Israel. Moses is really tight with God. I mean, God is showing him so many things that He is not showing Israel. Israel knows God by how He has answered their prayers, and so Moses is crafting a very close friendship with God. Israel is crafting, «I’m going to use You for what I want to use You for» relationship with God. I wonder how many believers are there today who have crafted a transactional relationship with God. In other words, «I’m only going to come to You when I’m in desperate need. I’m going to come to You when I want something, but I’m not going to get to know Your heart.» The fear of the Lord is what does that. That’s why it is so important that we craft our salvation with fear and trembling.