Word of Salvation – Vol. 50 No.24 – June 2005
Delighting in the Fear of the Lord
A Sermon by Rev J Westendorp
on Psalm 112 (esp verse 1)
Scripture Reading:
Matthew 28:1-8 (or Psalm 111)
Suggested Hymns: BoW 178; 371; 112; 34a
Introduction
Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Have you ever heard someone say: ‘I want to enjoy myself before I become a Christian’? I recall three young men in their late teens whom I knew many years ago. Over the years they had often been challenged by the pastor and the elders. But the answer was always the same. ‘Sure, we want to sort our lives out with God… but we want to enjoy ourselves first.’ A few years later one was dead… a second in prison… and the third hooked on drugs. Is that what it means to enjoy oneself…?
We live in a world where priority number one is ‘to have fun’. Maybe that’s best summed up in a TV series entitled: Fifty things to do before you die! Today even church and worship have to be advertised as being fun if it’s to get people in. Everyone wants to have fun… life has to be enjoyed. But what kind of fun are we talking about? The kind of ‘fun’ we’ve all too often heard about recently? The kind of fun where sportsmen get plastered at team bonding sessions? And then send obscene SMS messages to women on their mobile phones?
Religion? Sure! Christianity? Fine! But first I want to enjoy myself to the max!
This morning God gives us a different outlook in our text. He says to us: Once you’re a Christian then you’ll know how to really enjoy yourself. When you decide to follow me and my Word… that’s when you experience true delight.
A] DELIGHT AND THE FEAR OF THE LORD
1. Psalm 112:1 is an unusual text. It mentions two things that stand in stark contrast. In almost the same breath this verse mentions the ‘fear of the Lord’ and ‘great delight’. How can that be? To have fear and great delight at the same time seems totally contradictory. Was the author of this psalm maybe suffering from a split personality. Someone who talks one way one moment… another way the next. How can you have both fear and great delight at the same time?
Well, that isn’t a problem in the Bible… it links those two things together more often. Please take up your Bible and let’s check out a couple of instance where they crop up.
First, from the Old Testament, where we have these two things linked together a number of times.
In Psalm 2 – for example – we have fear and delight linked in two ways – a double whammy! Psalm 2:11 ‘Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling.’ Notice how the rejoicing is squeezed in between the fear and the trembling. And yet Psalm 2 doesn’t seem to consider that in any way contradictory.
Second, let’s take a text from the New Testament – Matthew 28, which we read earlier this morning. There we again have these two emotions… together! Matthew 28:8 ‘So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy.’ Or, as some translations have it, ‘…with fear and great joy…’ The resurrection of Jesus produced in the disciples both fear and great delight at the same time.
All of this helps us to put ‘the fear of the Lord’ into perspective. This fear is not paralysing terror. It is an awe and reverence… because of who God is and because of what He has done.
2. Now go back to Psalm 112:1 and notice how ‘the fear of God’ is linked in two ways with happiness. The first way it links ‘the fear of the Lord’ with happiness is by pronouncing a blessing. ‘Blessed… blessed is the man who fears the Lord.’ In other words – truly happy are those people who fear God.
Let me backtrack a moment – Psalm 111 tells us who God is and what God has done. It concludes that God is awesome and holy… therefore God is to be feared. It then tells us how we benefit from awe and reverence before God. ‘The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom… it gives good understanding.’
Do you see the connection? Psalm 111 and 112 are companion psalms. In the Hebrew text each of them is an acrostic. Each line begins with successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Both of them have the ‘fear of the Lord’ at the centre. Psalm 111 works up to that climax and Psalm 112 uses that as its starting point. But in Psalm 111 the fear of God is the source of wisdom and good understanding. While in Psalm 112 the fear of God is the source of happiness and delight in life. Those who have awe and reverence for the Lord are blessed… deeply happy!
There is a second way in which fear and happiness are linked together in this psalm. Happiness comes from putting the fear of the Lord into practice. Happiness does not just come (as it were) from standing awestruck before God. Come Judgment Day, the most godless atheists will stand awestruck before God. But it will not make them particularly happy… for them it will be a paralysing terror.
The fear of the Lord only makes us happy as we live it out in our daily life. As we obey His commandments… as we live out of His Word. And the amazing thing – contrary to the expectations of all non-Christians… obeying God is not a drudgery… it is a delight. But how can that be? Isn’t that another contradiction… delight in obeying God’s commands! Most people today tend to see obedience as a great burden… a drudgery.
3. To understand that, we need to notice another difference between Psalm 111 and Psalm 112. Psalm 111 is about God… about our awesome and holy God. Life is not first of all about us… it is about God… That’s why it climaxes in ‘the fear of the Lord’. Psalm 112 begins with ‘the fear of the Lord’ but the focus is now on us. Not on us in isolation from God… but on us as we live out of the fear of the Lord.
So we have another way in which Psalms 111 and 112 are companion Psalms. They link God and us together. God who is to be feared – Psalm 111 – and we who live out of the fear of the Lord – Psalm 112. These two psalms bring God and us together in a very close, intimate relationship.
At this point, let’s turn to Isaiah 11 – that’s another text that closely links fear and delight. It’s a well-known prophecy… and these are well-known words. Isaiah 11:2 begins: ‘The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him…!’ That verse ends by speaking of God’s Spirit as the Spirit of… the fear of the Lord. And then verse 3 adds: ‘And he will delight in the fear of the Lord.’ Fear and delight are brought together: ‘He will delight in the fear of the Lord.’
But who is Isaiah speaking about here? Verse 1 tells us that ‘a shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse.’ That’s the father of King David… so he is talking about Jesus who was descended from David. So, surprisingly, we are told that Jesus, too, delighted in the fear of the Lord. And we know that He delighted to do the Father’s will. His joy was in obedience.
But now keep in mind that the Bible teaches that we are to become more and more like Jesus. Romans 8: ‘Those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son.’ So if Jesus delighted in the fear of the Lord… and we are becoming more and more like Him… will we then not also more and more delight in the fear of the Lord? I want to show you that this is precisely the point of this psalm. That we become more and more like the Lord to whom we are closely linked.
B] DELIGHTFUL BLESSINGS ILLUSTRATED
1. Let me show you that by looking briefly at the blessings spelled out in this song. Because this psalm doesn’t just say: Blessed are those who fear the Lord… full stop! No, it spells out the blessings. And I want to bracket those blessings under three headings.
The very first blessing is precisely this: that we become more and more like our Lord. That the very character of God is seen in those who fear Him. Or to put it New Testament terms for us Christians – that we become more and more like Jesus. Conformed to the likeness of His Son.
Of course you don’t actually read that here in so many words. But it is very strongly implied. Keep in mind that Psalm 111 is about God – who He is and what He has done. And Psalm 112 is about us – we who fear God – who we are and what we do. And then the amazing thing is this: That the language of Psalm 112 often parallels the language of Psalm 111. Some of the things said about us are the same as the things said about God. We who fear the Lord become like Him. So that if Jesus delighted in fear of the Lord, we will too.
Let me point out a couple of the clearest parallels between these two songs. In Psalm 111, verse 4 says that the Lord is gracious and compassionate. But in same verse (4) Psalm 112 mentions the same qualities in those who fear God. He is spoken of as being a gracious and compassionate man.
The parallel is even stronger in verse 3 of both psalms. In Psalm 111 it is God of whom it is said: ‘…and his righteousness endures forever.’ In Psalm 112, precisely the same thing is said of the person who fears the Lord.
Do you see the implication? Those who fear the Lord become like the Lord whom they fear. What a wonderful blessing that is. What a delight… for us to become like Jesus. Do you see why it makes no sense to say: ‘I want to enjoy myself before becoming a Christian’? What is there that is not enjoyable about becoming more like the greatest person who ever lived?
2. There is second way in which blessings flow into the life of the God-fearer. A second category of blessings are those which show that we who fear God are able to handle life. Fear God… and you become the kind of person who can make a go of it. Let me just bring out a few of the more obvious ways in which that happens.
In verse 2 the God-fearing person makes a good go of it when it comes to family life. More specifically – the example of child-raising is mentioned. ‘His children will be mighty in the land… the generation of the upright will be blessed.’ Why? Because those who fear God raise their kids according to God’s commands. That doesn’t mean that none of our children will ever go off the rails. But it does mean that, in general, the children of God-fearing parents eventually stand out.
In verse 3 the God-fearing person makes a good go of it when it comes to work and possessions. ‘Wealth and riches are in his house…’ That is not teaching us ‘prosperity doctrine’ or the ‘name it and claim it’ teaching – as if God always wants all Christians to be rich… and never suffer poverty of any kind. It is simply saying that God-fearers follow God’s instructions in their work… so they do well.
In verse 4 we are reminded that God-fearing people, too, go through times of darkness. But the blessing is that even in tough times we make a go of it as God blesses us. God will make the light dawn for the upright so that even in trials he will not be shaken.
Again I have to ask, Does it make sense to say: ‘I want to enjoy myself before becoming a Christian’? What is there not enjoyable about succeeding with our kids and our work? And if we do find ourselves in the dark, what is there that is not enjoyable about God giving us light?
3. There is yet a third way in which blessing comes into the lives of those who fear the Lord. Those who fear God are different in character and we see that very clearly in this song. Notice a few of the more obvious examples of this difference in character. In verses 3 and 4 the God-fearer is spoken of as righteous… he is a person of integrity. In verses 5 and 9 God-fearers are noted for great generosity, so that they meet the needs of others. In verses 6 and 7 he is spoken of as resolute… and stable… and steadfast. In verses 7 and 8 he is pictured as being absolutely fearless. The fear of God removes other fears.
But now tell me: who does all of that remind you of? Who lived with absolute integrity? Who was generous enough to give all that He had? Who can we say is the most resolute and stable person… and the most fearless ever?
Is this not a picture of Jesus Christ? True! He is not named in this Psalm… but He is there. The one on whom was the Spirit of the fear of the Lord. And who delighted in the fear of the Lord. And we are now allowed to put ourselves in this psalm next to Him. Because we are being changed more and more into His likeness.
Again, do you see why it makes no sense to say: ‘I’ll enjoy myself before becoming a Christian’? What is there that is not enjoyable about being a person of integrity… generous and fearless? In fact, if today you are saying: I want to enjoy myself before I become a Christian, then notice how all this is summed up in a concluding contrast. The God fearing who are blessed are very different from those who don’t fear God. So this psalm closes with wicked men who are angry with God and with the world. They gnash their teeth and waste away… they come to nothing. It’s a picture of those who say: I’ll enjoy life to the max before becoming a Christian.
C] ALL THIS IN THE CONTEXT OF PRAISE
I want to conclude by highlighting that this text is a song of praise. The setting is worship. It begins with a resounding ‘Hallelujah!’ So let me make three concluding observations and applications.
First: worship is personal… it needs to be owned by each of us. Psalm 111 leads us to the conclusion that worship centres on God who is awesome and holy. Remember: it is all about Him and not about us. And the praise of Him flows from a heart that fears the Lord.
But now we need to add that this fear of God must be personalised in our own life. It needs to be lived out in our own life… and also in our own worship. So our worship is not just about who God is and what God has done. It needs to be owned… what he has done for me… how he has blessed my life. How even now He is growing me more and more into the likeness of Jesus my Saviour.
Our praise and worship this morning should not be abstract and removed from my daily life. Sure it’s about God. But it’s about the God who blesses me in my child-rearing and in my work place. It’s about the God who develops character in me and gives me light in my trials. So I don’t come into worship today as a spectator. Actively worship the God you fear.
Secondly, God-fearing worship is also in the context of delight and happiness. Worship is never something to be endured. So something is wrong if worship has become something to be endured. Maybe the note of joy and delight… or thanksgiving for the blessings is missing. Maybe the worship of the church has become one-sided. And if the delight is not there, then we ought to take a good hard look at our worship.
But if you find that worship is something to be endured, maybe the fault lies with you. Maybe you haven’t got it all together. Maybe the fear of the Lord is lacking in your life.
So how do you know? How do you measure the fear of the Lord? You measure it by your obedience. By your delight in His commands and your delight in worship. It’s my experience that Christians who don’t enjoy worship often have a problem with obedience. In some area or other they are not finding delight in God’s commands. And that keeps them from finding delight in their worship as well.
Delighted and joyful praise flows from living all of life in the fear of God. So we rejoice in the difference God makes in our lives. How he blessed our lives in so many ways… and daily makes us more Christlike. Then worship is not something endured… it is enjoyed in fellowship with Him.
Thirdly, worship is forever. This psalm, as a song of praise, ought to stretch our horizons. The previous psalm ended on the note of eternal praise. Praise and worship that never ceases.
Interestingly this song, too, has eternal dimensions. That comes out in a number of ways. Let me just single them out. The last line of verse 3 – the God-fearer’s righteousness endures forever. The last line of verse 6 – the righteous man will be remembered forever. The middle line of verse 9 – his righteousness endures forever.
All of this foreshadows the time when we will be perfectly like Jesus. The apostle John says (1John 3): ‘We are the children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we will be like him, for we shall see him as he is.’
On that day we will join together with great delight in unending praise. Then the worship of God for what we are in Christ will go on forever and ever.
But if you are still saying: ‘I want to enjoy myself before I become a Christian’, watch out. Maybe you find, not just worship, but the whole Christian faith as something to be endured. Well, then you are missing out already. You are missing out on the blessing God gives to those who fear Him. You are missing out on finding great delight in His commands. And you may well miss out on the delights of God’s eternity.
Only when you fear the Lord do you know how to truly enjoy yourself.
Amen.