The Fear of God - 4

Faustino Munoz

The Fear of God • Sermon • Submitted 5 years ago

Ecclesiastes 12:13–14

Fear

Obedience

Life

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Intro

Welcome back everyone.

Announcements (Trunk or Treat).

Today we are wrapping up this series on the Fear of the LORD. We’ve talked about what that phrase means and how we see it in our relationship with God. We’ve talked about how that right relationship (being the Fear of God) helps to purify us and lead us to live our lives for God. We talked about that at the last Landing. Today we are going to take a bit of a step back and look at things from a wider perspective. I mean really wide.

The Meaning of Life

What’s the meaning of life? Does it have to do with money? Relationships? Power? God? So many people ask themselves this question throughout their life. Some ask it out loud and others to themselves. Some people spend their entire lives searching for meaning. Sometimes people throw themselves head-first into things like school, work, relationships, all in an effort to find meaning (or sometimes to avoid it).

Well, good thing that there is a book of the Bible that reflects upon life and it’s meaning: Ecclesiastes.

Who knows who wrote the book of Ecclesiastes? (King Solomon)

That’s right, King Solomon wrote the book of Ecclesiastes right about the year 931 BC.

The book of Ecclesiastes reflects upon all of life and it’s ultimate meaning. The key verse that I want to focus on today is:

Read

Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. -

According to Solomon, life is summed up by the fear of the Lord (being in right relationship with Him) and obedience. In order to understand this though, and exactly why Solomon is saying this, we have to jump back to the beginning. The book begins by him writing:

“Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher, “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.” What do people gain from all their labors at which they toil under the sun? Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever. The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises. -

Essentially what Solomon is wrestling with here and is saying is that life is not only repetitive but that it drones on and on until death, empty of all meaning without God. In this translation we use the word meaningless, in the original Hebrew language, the word hebel that is used actually means “vanity” or sometimes even “vapor” or “breath” meaning that all those words are something that doesn’t matter. The vanity that Solomon is writing about here is a seemingly endless loop of life searching for meaning and happiness and contentment but never finding it.

In order to understand this though, and exactly why Solomon is saying this, we have to jump back to the beginning. The book begins by him writing:

“Vanity

The Author is wresting with the meaning of life by emphasizing that like a vapor or breath, it has no real weight and can easily be blown away. Like when you see your breath on a cold day. You can see it but it’s got no value. No purpose. No weight.

Finding Meaning Elsewhere

Immediately I think that we can relate to that nowadays. So many today spend their entire lives searching for meaning. you might be doing it right now in your life. I don’t know. But in Chapter 2, King Solomon tries to find meaning in life in the pleasures of life: money, knowledge and wisdom, in relationships, in food, in wine, in work. And no matter where Solomon searches for meaning, he is left feeling empty and void. By the end, he starts to get it.

Here again,

Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. -

Solomon finally realizes that life is about fearing, loving, and following the God who has given all of these good things and pleasures for us to enjoy. See, the way my brain connects with this is that I think of a dog. Were a dog to try and find the meaning of life, it may think that it is to eat the food that is in his/her bowl. Maybe it’s to chew up that bone that is sitting on their bed. Or to pee on that fire hydrant at the corner of the street. But they’re wrong, instead that dog’s meaning of life is to love and care for the one who provides all of those things.

So what?

So what does that matter to you? What’s my point? Well, that brings us to the fear of God. My point is that we’ve already covered that the fear of God is all at once, reverence, cautiousness, respect, love, worship, knowing God for who He is; it’s being awestruck, amazed; and ultimately knowing that we are finite and He is infinite. Because we have that right relationship with God. Because God has called you His beloved child through His Word, the waters at your Baptism, and through His body and blood at the Altar, you obey His commands. Knowing full well that we can’t fully obey but we try, oh we try because we are loved by Him.

See, this is really important for you guys to get because this is where a lot of people get it wrong. I want you to notice the order of things here. Solomon says “Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind.”

Notice that Fear God comes first. Because God wants to have a personal relationship with us. Because we find ourselves Fearing Him, being in a right relationship with love and trust but also reverence and awe, we obey. We do not have to obey His commands in order to be made right with God. See when we think that, we make the work and the sacrifice that Jesus made for us on the cross meaningless. And guys, here is what I want you to know, life is not meaningless. Your life is full of meaning because God sent His one and only Son to die on a cross so that you may live. So that you may live and proclaim His word to the world. That is what it means to fear the Lord. Living our lives with an awestruck reverence for God, loving him with everything we have, and showing love to everyone around us: that is what life is all about. And It’s not meaningless.

Close in Prayer.

The Fear of God is about being in a right relationship with God.

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