At the end of the 17th century America was becoming increasingly pagan. A European philosophy, known as the Enlightenment, seeped across the Atlantic and brought the Age of Reason to the American colonies. In the aftermath of hysterics at the Salem Witch Trials, the colonists increasingly looked to science and reason to help them understand the world they lived in and their place in it. Religion was seen as cold, impersonal, and detached from the daily lives of the average person. As a result, church attendance was declining, and immorality was increasing.
The stage was set for what has become known as the Great Awakening, a period of spiritual revival in the American colonies that was characterized by powerful preaching that filled people with the fear of God and cause them to cry out for mercy. Few preachers could fill people with the fear of God better than Jonathan Edwards. He once preached a sermon that filled people with so much fear that they begged him to stop preaching halfway through. The sermon was entitled “Sinners in the hands of an angry God.” Edwards was known for his passion and energy but for this sermon he spoke with an unnerving calmness as he read, “natural men are held in the hand of God, over the pit of hell; they have deserved the fiery pit, and are already sentenced to it; and God is dreadfully provoked, his anger is as great towards them as to those that are actually suffering the executions of the fierceness of his wrath in hell, and they have done nothing in the least to appease or abate that anger, neither is God in the least bound by any promise to hold them up one moment; the devil is waiting for them, hell is gaping for them, the flames gather and flash about them, and would fain lay hold on them, and would swallow them up ; the fire pent up in their own hearts is struggling to break out: and they have no interest in any Mediator, there are no means within reach that can be any security to them. In short, they have no refuge, nothing to take hold of, all that preserves them every moment is the mere arbitrary will, and uncovenanted, un-obliged forbearance of an incensed God. … This that you have heard is the case of every one of you that are out of Christ.”
Rather intense isn’t it. I wonder, if you read the sermon in its entirety, if you too would be so filled with fear that you would be forced to stop halfway through. I wonder if the fear of God is in you. Perhaps it would help to take another look at our lesson from 1 Peter 1:17-21. There saint Peter tells us to be afraid, be very afraid.
We begin to get an awareness of just how afraid we should be when we look closely at verse 17. There saint Peter writes, “17 Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear.” Peter tells us we are to live our lives in fear. Φόβος is the Greek word he uses. Our English word phobia comes from it, and it describes a state of severe distress, aroused by intense concern for impending pain, danger, or harm. The cause of this concern, Peter explains, is God. Here Peter calls Him “Father”, but it is not a tender image that Peter intends. Notice what Peter tells us our Father is doing. He is judging us; judging our actions, our way of life, our daily activity, the stuff we do. His judgement is impartial, meaning it is not influenced by our good intentions, past obedience, or by our ability to be less evil than others. Our concern increases when we glance at the verses that precedes this one and we realize the standard by which we are judges. In verses 15-16 we read, “15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” It does not say try harder. It does not say do more good than bad. It does not say be better than someone else. It says be holy.
Peter tells us we stand before a Holy God who is judging everything we think, say, and do according to His holy standard. So, you tell me whether or not you have reason to be afraid. Your Holy God is judging the jokes you tell your friends. Your Holy God is judging what you do with your boyfriend or girlfriend when you are alone. Your holy God is judging what you look at on the internet. Your Holy God is judging the amount you eat and drink. Your Holy God is judging the way you treat your family. Your Holy God is judging the way you talk about your neighbors. Your Holy God is judging you. If that does not make you afraid, very afraid than either you are ignorant or you are arrogant and you have more reason to be afraid than anyone else.
If that were all saint Peter had to say to us this morning, then we should beg him to stop. But Peter has just begun explaining why we should be afraid, very afraid. In verses 18-19 Peter writes, “18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.” Here, Peter explains, the cause of our fear is not the Father, but rather the Son. The Son was holy. Everything He thought, said, or did measured up to the Holy God’s holy standard. The Son was, as Peter tells us, without blemish or defect. The Son had done nothing that would cause Him to be in a state of distress, aroused by intense concern for impending pain, danger, or harm. And yet pain, danger, and harm came to the Son and the Son embraced them; He endured the pain, He faced the danger, He allowed the harm. The Son did this so that you could be redeemed. The things you have thought, said, and done have been paid for with something far more valuable than gold or silver. The things you have thought, said, and done have been paid for with the precious blood that flowed from the Son’s hands, and feet, and side. The jokes you tell your friends, the things you did with your boyfriend or girlfriend, the things you looked at on the internet, the amount you ate and drank, the way you treated your family, the way you talked about your neighbors… You!!! You have been redeemed by the blood of the Son.
In verse 21 Peter explains what this redemption means for people like you and me. “21 Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.” Through Him; through the Son you believe, have faith, and are filled with hope. You stand before the Holy God who judges everything you think, say, and do according to His holy standard but in front of you stands the Son. Between you and the Holy God stands the Son who has already been judged in your place. Between you and the Holy God stand the Son whose thoughts, words, and actions measured up to the Holy God’s holy standards. When your Holy God judges you THROUGH HIS SON, He sees a person who is without blemish or defect; He sees a person who is holy.
This more than anything else causes us to live our lives in fear but not a fear that causes us to be in a state of severe distress, aroused by intense concern for impending pain, danger, or harm. The fear, we who have been redeemed by the Son, live in is the fear Moses and the prophets wrote about: A fear that recognizes God’s power and providence like the fear Moses wrote about in Exodus, “when the Israelites saw the great power the LORD displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and put their trust in him”[1]. A fear that is eager to hear His word and learn about His will like the fear written about in the book of Deuteronomy that says, “listen and learn to fear the LORD your God and follow carefully all the words of this law.”[2] A fear that serves God above all things like the fear written about in the book of Joshua that says, “Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness”.[3] A fear that resists temptation and shuns evil like the fear Solomon describes in the book of proverbs that says, “To fear the LORD is to hate evil”.[4] A fear that seeks to conform our lives to His commands like the fear King David wrote about in the Psalm that says, “Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who finds great delight in his commands.”[5] The great reformer understood what it meant to live in this kind of fear. Read Luther’s explanation to every single one of the commandments and the first words you will read are “we should fear and love God that we…”
The fear you now live in seeks to give glory, honor, and praise to your Holy God with the thoughts you think, the words you speak, and the things you do. Therefore, the next time you are joking around with your friends, live in this fear. When you are alone with your boyfriend or girlfriend, live in this fear. When you are surfing the internet, live in this fear. As you eat and drink, live in this fear. As you interact with your family, live in this fear. As you talk about your neighbors, live in this fear. As people who have been redeemed by the precious blood of the Son, live your lives in a fear that gives glory, honor, and praise to your Holy God.
The period of spiritual revival known as the great awaken is said to have slowed America’s spiritual descent into paganism. Preachers like Jonathan Edwards are given the credit for putting the fear of God in people. But as you know it didn’t last. It did not take long for America to once more become spiritual sleepy and begin slipping farther and farther into paganism. You see, the problem with the message preached by the likes of Jonathan Edwards is it filled people with the wrong kind of fear, it filled them only with the fear the sinner has when standing before the Holy God who judges according to a holy standard and neglected to also fill them with the fear that comes from knowing you have been redeemed by the precious blood of the Son.
Even though you stand before a Holy God who judges you according to His holy standard, you who have been redeemed by the precious blood of the Son have no reason to be in a state of severe distress, aroused by intense concern for impending pain, danger, or harm. However, you have plenty of reason to live your lives in a fear that seeks to give glory, honor, and praise to your Holy God. Therefore, I encourage you, be afraid my friends, be very afraid. Amen.
[1] Exodus 14:31
[2] Deuteronomy 31:12
[3] Joshua 24:14
[4] Proverbs 8:13
[5] Psalm 112:1