The Reverential Fear of God - Part 2, Sin

By: Tom Burns

This is the second in a series of three articles dealing with adopting a lifestyle of Reverential Fear, or Awe, of God. The first article addresses the fact that we were created for a relationship with God and the need for us to grow up in this relationship, to become mature sons of God. This article looks at some of the hidden ways sin plays a role in our lives and impacts our relationship with God.

The Great Barrier

Sin separates us from God (Isaiah 59:2Isaiah 59:2
But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.). God, in his love, made a way for us to be reconciled to Him through Jesus' sacrifice on the cross (John 14:6John 14:6
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”). His blood paid the price for our sin (Matthew 26:28Matthew 26:28
“for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.”, Hebrews 9:22Hebrews 9:22
And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.). The Bible goes further to say that if we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive (1 John 1:8-101 John 1:8-10
⁸ If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰ If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.). Jesus' blood is sufficient, but if we willfully hold on to sin in our lives, then the sin will still cause a separation between us and God (Romans 6:15-16Romans 6:15-16
¹⁵ What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! ¹⁶ Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone [as] slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?).

The fifth chapter of Acts tells the story of Ananias and Sapphira. They sold some property that they owned, they kept some of the proceeds from the property for themselves, and then put the remainder at the feet of the Apostles. There was nothing wrong with any of that. However, they also told the Apostles that what they were giving was the total selling price of the property. They probably thought that they were just deceiving the Apostles so that they could look good in the eyes of their fellow believers. But Peter put his finger on the situation and said, You're lying to Holy Spirit (Acts 5:3Acts 5:3
But Peter said, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land?). That willful sin of attempting to lie to Holy Spirit caused their death.  What the story doesn’t say, but is important to consider, is that Ananias and Sapphira were probably born again believers who had received the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Allowing sin into our lives, even if we have accepted Jesus as our Lord, even if we have received the baptism of Holy Spirit, is dangerous!  We have to be careful in all that we do, that we don't knowingly embrace sin when we attempt to enter into the presence of the living God. In the account of Ananias and Sapphira, one additional lesson stands out:  great fear came upon the whole church (Acts 5:11Acts 5:11
And great fear came over the whole church, and over all who heard of these things.). They were called to a more mature relationship with the Lord, which meant a more honest and forthright relationship with Him. 

The Original Sin

One morning during my quiet time, the Lord asked me a question. He said, “What was the original sin?” 

I've learned from past experience that when the Lord asks me a question, He's not looking for me to give him an answer.  He already knows!  What He is doing is trying to get me to look at what I know and understand the deeper truth in it. 

As I waited, He showed me that the original sin, and the ultimate sin, was when Satan said, “I will be like the most high God.” Satan rejected God and said, I will be my own God. (Isaiah 14:12-14Isaiah 14:12-14
¹² “How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, You who have weakened the nations! ¹³ “But you said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north. ¹⁴ ‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’”).

Later in the garden, when the snake was tempting Eve, he said That if you eat of the fruit, “you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:5-6Genesis 3:5-6
⁵ “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” ⁶ When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.). The real sin wasn't eating the fruit. The real sin was rejecting God and saying I want to be my own God.  It wasn’t what they did, it was what happened in their heart (1 Samuel 16:71 Samuel 16:7
But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God [sees] not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.").

As I meditated on this, I began to realize that the sin nature that entered Eve, that entered Adam, and that has been passed down to all of the generations of their children is a desire to be our own god. We may not want to call it that, but that is what it amounts to. We want to be in control! We want to decide what is good and right for us. We want to do the things that give us pleasure. We want to be the one who makes the decisions. This desire to be in control manifests itself from the earliest stages of our lives and continues to have an influence over us throughout all of our life. This desire is so much  a part of our being that it is considered normal, and even celebrated, by our society.  

This is the real sin battle that we fight when we become followers of Jesus. Confessing that Jesus is Lord does not mean that we acknowledge some title or position.  Confessing Jesus as Lord is entering into a relationship where we are surrendering control over our lives to His Lordship, His ownership, His control (Galatians 5:17Galatians 5:17
For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.). We are renouncing our claim to be our own gods and restoring Him to the proper place in our lives! This runs counter to our most basic nature, our most basic fleshly desires, our basic sin nature.  It is a battle that impacts every area of our lives and our ability to walk in reverential fear and awe of the Lord.

Reversed Roles

One of Satan's most subtle tricks to use this sin nature to become an obstacle in our relationship is to get us to reverse the roles in our relationship with the Lord and then blame God when things don’t turn out the way that we want.  This reversal can take many different forms. 

My Will Be Done:

One of the biggest ways that we reverse the roles is when we pursue our will instead of seeking and yielding to God’s will. God encourages us to bring our requests to Him (Philippians 4:6Philippians 4:6
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God., Matthew 7:7-11Matthew 7:7-11
⁷ “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. ⁸ “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. ⁹ “Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? ¹⁰ “Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? ¹¹ “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!”).

But, there is a big difference between asking God and demanding from God.  Let’s look at a couple of examples.

Suppose we are in a situation where we are looking for very specific results in prayer. For example, praying for a family member or a friend in need of healing from a serious sickness or disease. If that person is not healed, we can get offended or discouraged or even mad at God. This can even get to the place where we harbor unforgiveness toward God for not healing the individual.  When this happens, we have reversed the roles. We are expecting God to be the servant while we are the master, telling him what we want him to do.

We can also reverse the roles with the Lord when we start demanding that heaven or God does something. We can sit and read a scripture and apply it to a situation and demand that God honor his Word. I have even heard people teach that we should make demands of God.  As a basis, they use Jesus’ parable of the unjust judge in Luke 18:1-8Luke 18:1-8
¹ Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart, ² saying, “In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and did not respect man. ³ “There was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me legal protection from my opponent.’ ⁴ “For a while he was unwilling; but afterward he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear God nor respect man, ⁵ yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, otherwise by continually coming she will wear me out.’” ⁶ And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge said; ⁷ now, will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them? ⁸ “I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”.

However, for this parable to apply to our making demands of God, we have to also compare Him to the unjust judge.  This was never Jesus’ intention. He was saying that if even an unjust judge will provide justice for the widow, how much more will God, who is just, bring justice for His elect.  The parable is not intended to teach us to keep pleading with God until He grows tired of our prayers and decides to answer them. It is to trust that God hears our prayers and He will bring about justice, swiftly (Numbers 23:19Numbers 23:19
God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?).

To take this a step further, in Matthew 6:7-8Matthew 6:7-8
⁷ “And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. ⁸ “So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.”, Jesus teaches us not to pray repetitive prayers, because God already knows, far better than we do, what we need before we ask.

It's one thing to ask. It's another thing to demand. When we come to the Lord with our petitions and our request, we need to come to him from a position or attitude of humility. 

What's The Plan? 

I am convinced that God loves for us to come to Him and ask Him to teach us His ways (Psalm 86:11Psalm 86:11
Teach me Your way, O LORD;
I will walk in Your truth;
Unite my heart to fear Your name.”). We can also ask Him for wisdom in dealing with situations that we face on a day-to-day basis. (James 1:5James 1:5
But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.). But this is very different from becoming upset when God doesn’t reveal His plan to us.  Our nature is to want to be in control, to know the plan.  God, however, says that our faith, our trust in Him, is what pleases Him (Hebrews 11:6Hebrews 11:6
And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and [that] He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.).

One of the primary ways we show our faith in God is by trusting that He will guide us without us having to know the next step until it is time to take that step (Psalms 37:23Psalms 37:23
The steps of a man are established by the LORD, And He delights in his way.).

Similarly, we can reverse the roles when we demand that we understand what is happening or when we get offended when things don’t happen the way we wanted or expected.  In both cases, we have become the Master and we are expecting the Lord to be our servant.  We can ask, but we have to be prepared for Him to say, I can't explain it right now, or you won't understand (Isaiah 55:8-9Isaiah 55:8-9
⁸ “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. ⁹ “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.).

Unrestrained Authority

Much has been said and taught over the years about operating in a believer’s authority.  But, there is a big difference between operating in authority and having the freedom to exercise authority however we want.  The New Testament makes it clear that authority comes from being under authority.  One of the best examples of this principle is shown in the story of the Roman Centurion in Matthew 8:5-10Matthew 8:5-10
⁵ And when Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, imploring Him, ⁶ and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, fearfully tormented.” ⁷ Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.” ⁸ But the centurion said, “Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed. ⁹ “For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.” ¹⁰ Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who were following, “Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel.”. The Centurian does not say he is a man who has authority.  Instead, he says that he is a man under authority.

Jesus explained that His authority came from being under His Father’s authority (John 5:19John 5:19
Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.”, John 8:28John 8:28
So Jesus said, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me.”). When Jesus sent the disciples out, He sent them out under His authority (Matthew 28:18-20Matthew 28:18-20
¹⁸ And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹ “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”, Mark 6:7Mark 6:7
And He summoned the twelve and began to send them out in pairs, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits;, Luke 9:1Luke 9:1, And He called the twelve together, and gave them power and authority over all the demons and to heal diseases.). We operate in true authority when we submit everything to Holy Spirit’s guidance.

Manipulation

One of the basic facts that we have to accept is that we are all manipulators. We learn to manipulate our surroundings from a very early age.  By our teenage years, we are masters of manipulation. We manipulate people's opinion by good works. We manipulate our spouses by flowers, food, affection or sexual favors. We are constantly involved in a process of trying to gain the advantage by doing things that influence others to do what we want.

Manipulation also impacts our relationship with God.  Whether we want to admit it or not, much of how we relate to God can be expressed as, “If I speak/pray/believe in the right way, then God will do what I want.” When we fall into the trap of “If I had only prayed more,” what we are really saying is that we didn’t do enough to manipulate God to do what we wanted.

One way that we try to manipulate God is by inappropriately applying His word. We say, ”Father, your Word says this, now do this.” We have to remember that God says that his ways are above our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9Isaiah 55:8-9
⁸ “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. ⁹ “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.). He sees the whole situation, not just the limited view that we see. Yes, we can ask him for an outcome, but it needs to come from a place of humility, awe and reverential fear.  We can say, “Lord, your word says this and I want to pray in agreement with your word in this situation.  But, not my will, but your will be done."

Another area where we attempt to manipulate God is through what politicians call spin, distorting the truth to fit a particular narrative or goal. The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth is what we need to be striving for in our relationship with the Lord. Wrapping the truth with our perspective or desires, distorting facts to fit our desires is nothing more than manipulation. 

Beware of Pride

The book of Proverbs states that pride goes before destruction (Proverbs 16:18Proverbs 16:18
Pride goes before destruction
And a haughty spirit before stumbling. ).  In his letter to the Church, James says that God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble (James 4:6James 4:6
But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.”, James 4:10James 4:10
Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.).

Pride is obviously a dangerous thing, but what is it?  I like to define pride as having an excessively high opinion of oneself or one’s importance.  It can be the starting point to much more serious behavior.

Ezekiel 28 describes Satan's fall. It started when he became proud. Because of his pride, he decided that he could become like the most high God. A proper response to God is one of pure humility. In Revelation 4:4-10Revelation 4:4-10
⁴ Around the throne were twenty-four thrones; and upon the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white garments, and golden crowns on their heads. ⁵ Out from the throne come flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God; ⁶ and before the throne there was something like a sea of glass, like crystal; and in the center and around the throne, four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind. ⁷ The first creature was like a lion, and the second creature like a calf, and the third creature had a face like that of a man, and the fourth creature was like a flying eagle. ⁸ And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say, “HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS AND WHO IS AND WHO IS TO COME.” ⁹ And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever, ¹⁰ the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying,, it describes the 24 elders that sit around God's throne. Whenever the creatures before the throne cry, “Holy, Holy, Holy,” the elders cast their crowns, representing their honor and their glory, down before God's throne.  It is giving all glory and honor to the Lord and taking none for ourselves. 

Another way that we can fall into the trap of pride is when people are attracted to the Gifts of the Spirit in operation in our lives.  The resulting worship and affirmation can be very tempting if we don’t stop it immediately (Acts 14:8-15Acts 14:8-15
⁸ At Lystra a man was sitting who had no strength in his feet, lame from his mother's womb, who had never walked. ⁹ This man was listening to Paul as he spoke, who, when he had fixed his gaze on him and had seen that he had faith to be made well, ¹⁰ said with a loud voice, "Stand upright on your feet." And he leaped up and [began] to walk. ¹¹ When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they raised their voice, saying in the Lycaonian language, "The gods have become like men and have come down to us." ¹² And they [began] calling Barnabas, Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. ¹³ The priest of Zeus, whose [temple] was just outside the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates, and wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds. ¹⁴ But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their robes and rushed out into the crowd, crying out ¹⁵ and saying, "Men, why are you doing these things? We are also men of the same nature as you, and preach the gospel to you that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, WHO MADE THE HEAVEN AND THE EARTH AND THE SEA AND ALL THAT IS IN THEM., Acts 28:3-6Acts 28:3-6
³ But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened itself on his hand. ⁴ When the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they began saying to one another, "Undoubtedly this man is a murderer, and though he has been saved from the sea, justice has not allowed him to live." ⁵ However he shook the creature off into the fire and suffered no harm. 6 But they were expecting that he was about to swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But after they had waited a long time and had seen nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and began to say that he was a god.).

Personal Kingdom Building

Personal kingdom building is closely related to pride.  Whereas pride says look at me, personal kingdom building says follow me.

We are called to go into the world and make disciples (Matthew 28:19Matthew 28:19
"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,”). But, it is critically important to remember that we are making disciples of Jesus, not personal disciples.  There is some truth in the saying that we can only give out of what we have received.  So, when we have given all that we have to someone whom we have been discipling,  we need to encourage them to seek out others that can continue their discipleship journey (1 Corinthians 3:5-71 Corinthians 3:5-7
⁵ What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. ⁶ I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. ⁷ So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.). Our efforts should always be directed to help those we are discipling to grow closer in their relationship with God and to build God’s kingdom, not ours.

The more we mature in our relationship with God, the more secure we become in our identity in Him and the more we hold Him in Awe and Reverential Fear, the more natural this process becomes.

What’s Next

The third and final article in this series discusses some practical steps we can take to start living a lifestyle of Reverential Fear or Awe of God.