Holy Fear

What is your worst fear? I’m not asking, “What’s the worst thing that could ever happen to you?” But what in this world causes you the most anxiety when you encounter it? It’s amazing the kinds of things that people fear. A man named Fredd Culbertson has been collecting data on fear for over thirty years. He has a website, phobialist.com, in which he lists 500 fears that have been mentioned in reference books and medical papers. Some are just bizarre, like Peladophobia, the fear of bald people. Or Entheraphobia: the fear of your mother-in-law. Or Pteronophobia: fear of being tickled by feathers. Or my personal favorite, Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia- Fear of long words. And yes, in case you’re wondering, there is a fear of sermons. It’s called Homilophobia. So if you’d like to be anywhere else but in Westbury Baptist this Sunday listening to me, at least now you know what to call your condition.

In Deuteronomy 10:12-13, Moses tells the Israelites that the most important thing they can do, the key to their becoming successful in the Promised Land, is to fear God. Does that seem odd to you? After all, God loves us, right? He wants for us to spend time with Him, right? My own personal worst fear is a fear of heights. As a result, I don’t enjoy climbing ladders or working on the roofs of houses. Rock climbing, bungee jumping, skydiving, hang gliding…these are not hobbies that I am tempted to take up. In other words, I avoid that which I fear, as much as possible. Would God want us to avoid Him? As you continue reading the Scriptures with us this year, you will find that this a very common command. The fear of God is mentioned all through the Bible as something we should cultivate. Those of you who are church-savvy will quickly say, “This is nothing to worry about. It just means having a sense of reverence.” Okay, but again, when you read the Bible, you see something different. You see that everyone who ever came into personal contact with the One True God either ended up flat on their face, like Moses, Elijah, Job, Isaiah, Paul, and John—just to name a few—or they ended up dead. Just a few chapters before our text for today, Moses told the Israelites, The Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God (Dt. 4:24). There is a risk, a danger to God that we must take seriously.

So how do we reconcile the love God feels for us with the idea that He is dangerous and must be feared? Why is the fear of God such an important key to living well? And how do cultivate the fear of God? It's my job to answer to those questions this Sunday. In the meantime, you might check out the following Scriptures, which we'll be exploring as well: Exodus 20:20, Proverbs 1:7 and 15:16, and 2 Samuel 23:3-4.

God vs. Your Enemies

Last year, I read the book Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand. I can’t recommend this book strongly enough; it is one of the most amazing stories I’ve ever read. And in spite of the fact that I’m about to tell you some key details of the story, I still think you should go buy the book…I won’t even tell you half of the incredible things you’ll read. Unbroken is about Louis Zamperini, who ran for the US in the Berlin Olympics in 1936, then became a bombardier in the Pacific when WW II began. His plane was shot down, and he and his pilot spent 47 days in a rubber raft in the Pacific, barely staying alive on rainwater and small fish they were able to catch. They survived starvation and dehydration, constant shark attacks and the attempts of one Japanese plane to strafe them. They landed on a Japanese-held island and were taken prisoner. Louis weighed 65 pounds at this point. For the rest of the war, Louis was a prisoner under some of the most cruel and dehumanizing conditions imaginable. The commandant of the prison camp was a sadistic man named Matsuhiro Watanabe, whose nickname was “The Bird.” Perhaps because of Louis’ athletic success, or because of his defiant attitude, the Bird hated Louis more than all the other prisoners. He would single Louis out for special acts of torture. Just a couple of examples: One day the Bird took off his belt, swung it over his head and hit Louis in the temple with the buckle, knocking him unconscious. When Louis came to, the Bird was kneeling over him, apologizing and wiping the blood from Louis’ forehead. Louis struggled to his feet, thinking the Bird was feeling true remorse at last. Just then, the Bird hit him again in the same spot. Another time, the Bird made Louis stand before the entire camp and ordered every prisoner to punch him in the face. They were told that if they didn’t hit him hard enough, they would be beaten. So Louis told his fellow prisoners to go ahead, then stood as over a hundred men hit him.

When the war ended, Louis was liberated. He went home to a hero’s welcome, and married a beautiful young woman. But in reality, he never really escaped the Bird. Every night, he would have dreams about his enemy. Often, he would dream of killing him. In one dream, he was on top of the Bird, choking him to death. Louis woke up to find himself on top of his wife, with his hands around her throat. In an attempt to forget the Bird, Louis started drinking. His alcoholism drove away his wife, who Louis truly loved. She filed for divorce, but he was still not willing to change. Meanwhile, the Bird was a fugitive. He was named as one of Japan’s forty most wanted war criminals, but was never caught. This man had destroyed Louis’ life, and now it seemed there would be no justice.

Having enemies is no fun. Think back to when you were a child; all of us had a bully, or two or more, who tormented us for a while. Many of us even today live in perpetual dread of our boss, our ex-spouse, or some other person who seems to be an emissary straight from Hell, bent on making our lives miserable. Like Louis, we may dream of getting even, hope for something awful to happen to them, or at least enjoy telling other people how awful our enemies are. But God’s word is clear: Jesus in Matthew 5:43-44 said, You have heard that it was said, “Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. In other words, one thing that marks us as people of God is that we don’t hate our enemies: We love them to the same degree that they despise us. How are we supposed to respond to our enemies this way? Because we know God is in control. We know that He will bring us the justice that we cannot get for ourselves. This Sunday, we'll look at Numbers 22-24. This story, perhaps the funniest story in the whole Bible, contains a very serious message: Even when the enemy of God’s people is a formidable foe, God knows exactly how to handle him. We'll see what God does with our enemies, and why we can trust Him...and not give in to hate. We'll also see what happened to Louis. I hope you'll be there.

The Right Stuff

I knew a guy, long ago, who we’ll call Rick. Rick was a handsome, successful, single Christian man. Therefore, every young, single Christian woman in the area had a keen interest in becoming Mrs. Rick. There was a series of courtships, all ended very suddenly by Rick, all resulting in broken hearts. So one day, one of Rick’s friends sat down to ask him why this kept happening. Rick informed his friend that he had compiled a list of the spiritual, emotional and physical attributes he was looking for in a woman. If he dated a woman and came to realize that she fell short of one of his standards, it was only logical to break off the relationship at that point. After some coaxing, the friend persuaded Rick to show him the actual list. He read through each criterion, then said, as only a male friend can say to another male: “If you ever actually found this woman, what makes you think she’d want you?”

All of us know the pain of finding out we don’t meet someone else’s standards. For some it’s missing out on a job, a school, a scholarship or a promotion, or being told by this person you’ve fallen in love with, this person you thought was “the one,” that they no longer feel that way about you. For others, it’s a memory of trying out for a team, or auditioning for a play, or entering a big contest, and falling short. I know that it seems like there are people who are just born with that unique set of physical characteristics and financial advantages and special skills and good connections that lead to them always being “on the list.” The bad news is that there is nothing I can say that will make you one of those people. The good news is that those people are going to get old and die someday just like you and me! But the really good news is this: God has a plan for your life; it’s a plan to accomplish amazing, eternally significant things. God’s plan is so much bigger and better than making that team, getting that job, or keeping that boyfriend. And the set of characteristics we need in order to accomplish His unique plan have nothing to do with the way you look, how much money you have, or the mistakes of your past.

The myth that our world tries to sell us is that we can be anything we want to be, if we just put our minds to it. Not true. But the far greater truth is that we can accomplish everything God has planned for us. And the attributes it takes to make sure we follow God’s plan are things we’re not born with; we can acquire them if we want them badly enough. This Sunday at Westbury Baptist Church, we'll look at the story of two men who had The Right Stuff, and how God used them, found in Numbers 14. It’s also a story about what happens when a family or a church or (in this case) a nation chooses the easy way instead of God’s way. It is the story of a pivotal day in the life of Israel.

"Why is the God of the Old Testament so mean?"

Several years ago, a friend of mine was reading the entire Bible for the first time. This woman was old enough to be my grandmother, and is one of the finest Christians I have ever known, but like so many of you, she had never ride the Bible from cover to cover. One day she asked me a very difficult question: Why is God in the Old Testament so mean? This woman had spent most of her life studying Jesus, which is a great thing to do, by the way. And of course, she knew lots of stories from the Old Testament, and the Ten Commandments, and Psalm 23, and other familiar passages. But now that she was reading the whole Bible, she saw some very disturbing things. She saw Nadab and Abihu, sons of the High Priest Aaron, go into the tabernacle to offer fire to the Lord, and because He didn’t like the way they did it, fire came out from God and burned them alive. She read about God raining fire and brimstone on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. And most troubling of all, she read in Joshua about how the Lord commanded His people to go into the Promised Land and kill every single human being that lived there. She loved Jesus and felt like she knew Him well, but this God didn’t seem like Jesus. Have you ever felt that way? This is a complex theological issue, but let me just say four quick things about it.

First, let me just affirm that the God of the Old Testament is the same God who took on the form of a man named Jesus, died for our sins and rose again in the New.

Second, God’s wrath is a key part of His nature. It’s not popular to say this these days, but God hates sin, evil and injustice, and is constantly at war against those forces. Because we rarely hear about God’s righteousness, His holiness, and His wrath against sin in sermons and Bible studies, it shocks us when we read the Bible for ourselves and see so many examples of it. Believe me, you don’t want to live in a world overseen by a God who DOESN’T hate evil. It would be like living in a country that doesn’t enforce the law. Someone would murder your loved one, and the state would simply say, “That’s a shame, but there’s nothing we can do. Let’s hope he sees the error of his ways and changes someday.” God’s wrath means, among other things, that people who are oppressed will get justice someday. That’s why this squeamishness about God’s wrath only happens in prosperous societies like ours, among people who’ve never experienced oppression. I promise you that slaves in this country 150 years ago were glad that God was someday going to bring judgment on their slaveowners.

Third, we see wrath in Jesus. I know it’s popular to think of Jesus as being nothing but loving, kind and gentle. And He was indeed all of those things, but we tend to make Him into some sort of cross between a hippie and the lead singer of the Wiggles. Appealing, but soft, bland, and most of all, non-judgmental. But if you actually read the words of Jesus in the Gospels, He said a lot of things that made people angry (mostly religious people). After all, bland nice guys don’t end up nailed naked to crosses.

Fourth and finally, in the Old Testament, we see God's grace in abundance. This Sunday at Westbury Baptist, we'll see an example of this in a sermon from Leviticus 25 about the Year of Jubilee. If you can't make it Sunday, the message will be posted on our website in text, audio and video form. As always, I welcome your questions and comments.

Sermon preview--Jubilee

Have you seen the Lord of the Rings movies? (I'll admit I never read the books). At the start of the first film, Frodo the hobbit agrees to destroy the Ring of Power, thereby putting an end to evil. To do this, he must travel to Mordor and throw the ring into the fires of Mount Doom. He and 8 friends embark on this long journey. For the rest of the three films, they walk hundreds of miles, experience incredible hardships, and narrowly escape death countless times. At the end (spoiler alert!), Frodo and his friend Sam climb Mount Doom, while the other seven friends are part of an army fighting the forces of evil nearby. Just when it seems like the armies of good will be defeated and Frodo and Sam will be consumed by the fires, giant eagles appear, rescuing the good guys and carrying them to safety. I love happy endings! But then one has to wonder if Frodo and Sam asked themselves, "Hey, why didn't we just let these giant eagles carry us all the way here in the first place? We would have completed the whole journey in a day!"

I suspect that many of us, at the end of our lives, will wonder something similar. God had a plan for us, for the journey of our lives. But instead of following that plan, we took a harder road. That's not to say that God's plan gets us out of any hardship; in fact, trial is part of God's plan to shape our character. But when we follow God's plan, we experience freedom, joy, and purpose. GK Chesterton once said, "Christianity has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and not tried." This Sunday, we will look at Leviticus 25, at a rather radical idea God had at the foundation of the nation of Israel, an idea He called the Year of Jubilee. We'll talk about how this idea should shape the way we live today. Have you tried living the life God has planned for you?

Sermon preview--The Day of Atonement

Funny thing about human nature: When we’ve done wrong, we never want to own up to it, take responsibility for it. We always want to cover up, run away, or blame someone else. All of our attempts to mitigate our own guilt only make things worse. Think about it this way: I borrow your phone. While I’m using it, I lose my temper and fling it thirty yards, breaking the phone. There is now a breach in our relationship. It will cost you $200 to replace that phone. To put our relationship in economic terms, it will cost me $200 to make things right between me and you. I can pay that money, or you can say, “Don’t worry about it. I’ll just buy a new one.” Either way, someone has to pay. The act of paying that debt is what he Bible calls atonement. Either you or I have to bear the atonement. But let’s say that instead of paying the debt, I make excuses. I can blame the person I was talking to, who made me lose my temper. Go bill them, I say. Or I can blame Apple for making such a flimsy phone. Or I can blame you for not buying one of those expensive protective cases. Or I can just say, “What’s the big deal? It’s just a phone.” Then I don’t just owe you $200. The debt between us begins to grow. And just like the interest on my credit card, the longer I evade responsibility, the more excuses I make, the bigger that debt grows.

But what if it was more than a phone? Imagine I did something to hurt your child, your parent, your spouse, your best friend. There’s no amount of money I could pay to make things right. There is a debt between us now that I can’t possibly atone for. You could choose to forgive me, but then you would be paying the cost of atonement. You would be denying yourself the opportunity for revenge, for justice…even if that only means the satisfaction of hating me quietly for the rest of your life. That's the cost of forgiveness, and it's a cost only you--the victim--can pay. But if I deny any responsibility for what I did, if I cover up or run away or blame someone else, the cost of that atonement grows exponentially. The longer I wait to seek your forgiveness, the less chance there will ever be reconciliation between us. Now here’s the bad news, in fact, the worst news you’ve ever heard: Every one of us has that kind of debt, multiplied by infinity, standing between us and God. Every time we’ve done something that varied from His righteous standards, it was as if we had harmed Him personally. And in His righteousness, each sin produces a breach even greater than what occurs between you and me if I hurt your loved one. If you’re anything like me, on your best day you sin at least a handful of times a day. Let’s say you’re very good, and you only sin about five times a day, on average. If you’re 41, as I am, that’s 75,000 sins and counting. Keep in mind, we’re not talking about breaking a friend’s phone anymore. We’re talking about tens of thousands of incidences that stand between us and the One who holds our lives in His hand, who alone will decide the eternal fate of our souls. And every day we live, those sins continue to mount up, and the interest on them compounds.

The good news is that God has a plan to make things right. And the ironic part is, we find it in the book of Leviticus. This Sunday, we'll talk about how to read this very difficult book of the Bible. And we'll walk through the holiest of days to an Israelite--the Day of Atonement, described in Leviticus 16. We'll see what that Day must have been like...and what it means to us today. My prayer for this sermon is that it would be more than information; I pray that it would bring freedom to people who are crushed by guilt and shame.