I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! Luke 12:4-5
God was very gracious to me today. Actually, He is very gracious to me every day, just the gift of waking up, plus walking, plus thinking, plus a loving family, and the wonderfully extravagant list goes on. But today, on top of all that, He allowed Luke 12 to "click" in my mind. Narrowing my thoughts down to one item from a chapter packed with an incredible variety of truths was challenging, but I'm trusting that the Spirit will direct these words.
For some reason, verses 4 and 5 always seem to resonate with me each time I read them. Perhaps its because there is an innate fear of man in me. Perhaps its because I have heard John Piper preach or work through this passage on more than one occasion. Or perhaps I'm uncomfortable with Jesus telling me that I should fear God, who can throw me into hell. And, if your hermeneutical defenses go up like mine saying "Context! He must talking to unbelievers." Read the passage again. Both the broad (v1) and immediate (v4) context show that Jesus was primarily addressing the disciples. Believers. Us.
So, what is Jesus getting at when he tells us to fear the God who can both kill us and cast us into hell? The first observation is one of proportion. Verse 4 and 5 fit together for a reason. In verse 4 Jesus essentially asks, what is the worst thing man can do to you? Torture? Rape? Destroy your family? Ruin your career? Kill you? All bad things. Without a doubt and no one actively seeks them out. But Jesus' point in verse 5 is that none of those things, as bad as they are, are permanent. Man can draw dramatic and ugly pictures on a dry erase board; only God writes with indelible ink. So why fear man, when nothing he can do will last. Instead, fear God, who alone has the power of permanency.
Another quick observation is that a true view of God gives us perspective. A glance at verse 1 shows that thousands were now following this little band and that people were getting trampled to get to them. I don't know about you, but if I was part of the "inner circle" my ego would out of control. It seems Jesus sees the same thing. He is beginning to peel back layers of the disciples' pride, self righteousness and selfishness. This hits home even harder when we realize that this a sustained theme throughout the Bible. In and of ourselves, we have nothing of value, nothing of worth. Even the image of God that we are each created with is broken and tarnished and unfit to represent the One whose image we were designed to portray. Praise God that in Christ all of this is reversed! He took on all that we were so that we could receive all that we were meant to be.
One final observation. We have proportion with what man can do to us versus what God can do to us. We have perspective in who we are versus who God is and what He gives to those who believe. And we also have a corrected view of our position (sorry I had to alliterate). Is God a God of love? Absolutely! We wouldn't be here if He wasn't. Every day since the rebellion in the Garden has been a gracious, merciful, loving gift from God. But yet, is God so simple? Is love, true agape love so simple? What about God's holiness? I say all this to make the point that God is bigger than we realize. Not just spatially bigger. Not just chronologically bigger. Not just morally bigger. Not just informationallly bigger. Not just powerfully bigger. Check out Job 26. Job sums his observations of God by saying: Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand? Job 26:14. Paul says it this way: "But who are you, O man, to answer back to God?" Rom 9:20.
This healthy view of our proportion, perspective and position before God should drive both our prayers and our praise. Our praise should be unfettered by what others think or expect or say. It will driven by the unimaginable reality that the God who owns everything and is perfectly complete in himself and can't even look upon us and against whom we have traitorously rebelled has designed, commissioned and executed a rescue mission and he has set his affections on us simply because he wanted to do so rather than send us to hell. And our prayers should be marked by a profound awe that we can even approach the One whose majesty and power and holiness should send us directly to the abyss. Not only that, but our prayers should be offered as humble supplications to the sovereign Lord of the universe who has chosen to breathe life into us and to adopt us into his family. Our confidence and assurance rises from the fact that God has given us the one big thing. He has given us Jesus. Anything else we ask, as big as it may appear to us, is really just icing on the cake.
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
“For who has known the mind of the Lord,
or who has been his counselor?”
“Or who has given a gift to him
that he might be repaid?”
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.
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