Matthew 7 ends with the amazement of the crowds who heard Jesus teachings. They observed that Jesus spoke with authority and not as their teachers of the law or scribes.
We noticed several passages last week about the fear of the Lord and its importance to our lives as Christians. Without the fear of God, we walk about in darkness and deception. One of the passages we noted was Isaiah 11:1 Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, And a branch from his roots will bear fruit. 2 And the Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. 3 And He will delight in the fear of the LORD, And He will not judge by what His eyes see, Nor make a decision by what His ears hear; 4 But with righteousness He will judge the poor, And decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth; And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked. 5 Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins, And faithfulness the belt about His waist.
This is a prophecy about Jesus. In it we see that Jesus Christ delighted in the fear of the Lord. Isn’t that amusing? That’s what you and I are supposed to do too!
I argued last week that the fear of the Lord is something our present culture is in desperate need of. We have wandered off course into another path that is destroying our children, our families, our communities, our nation and our world. Many are not walking in the fear of the Lord. But we must determine to repent and return to it, no matter how hard this may be. We must! If we would be Christians today, we must! Jesus said, “Enter the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad the path that leads to destruction and many go that way. But small is the gate and narrow the path that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
Jesus said, “Not everyone that says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” God’s will is that we walk in the fear of the Lord!
I know that I read this a few weeks ago, but this statement reveals more clearly than any other words what is obviously true about how we have strayed from the fear of the Lord as an entire nation.
Proclamation and address of President Lincoln for a national day of prayer:
Whereas, the Senate of the United States, devoutly recognizing the Supreme Authority and just Government of Almighty God, in all the affairs of men and of nations, has, by a resolution, requested the President to designate and set apart a day for National prayer and humiliation.
And whereas it is the duty of nations as well as of men, to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions, in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord.
And, insomuch as we know that, by His divine law, nations like individuals are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war, which now desolates the land, may be but a punishment, inflicted upon us, for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole People? We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!
It behooves us then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.
Those words reveal a national fear of God, do they not? This national fear of God was awakened by a national crisis. Nine years ago this September 11, we had a national crisis that stirred up a surface level response and return to the fear of the Lord. But it was very short lived.
Today’s anti Christian and anti religious political climate prohibits any politician from publically declaring such language as Lincoln proclaimed. What does this say about our national condition? Where is the fear of God today? Last week I stressed the need to return to the fear of the Lord in our homes and teach it to our children.
Today’s lesson is from Matthew 8. In this chapter we have a variety of snapshots of Jesus in ministry. Matthew is very much like a photo album in chapters 8 and 9. There are at least six separate events recorded in chapter 8 alone and five of them involve miracles of Jesus:
Jesus heals a man with leprosy, Jesus heals a Centurion’s servant, Jesus heals Peter’s mother-in-law and many others, Jesus calms a storm, and Jesus casts out demons out of two men and sends them into a herd of pigs. (Read Matthew 8)
What is the point of telling all of these events? Why all the miracles? Instead of exploring each of them in order, let’s look at the impact of them as a group.
I believe there is a singular thread that runs through all of these and it is integral to Matthew’s message: All of them reveal Jesus as a man with authority and each one casts new light on the extent of His authority.
So what lesson can we learn from this to apply to ourselves? What lessons do we learn from Matthew’s message about Jesus’ authority? Incidentally, Matthew ends his gospel with Jesus statement, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given unto me…” I believe this is a critical lesson that we need to think about and apply in our lives. I believe it has a direct connection with the fear of the Lord in our lives. Walking in the fear of the Lord is founded on walking under the authority of the Lord.
Jesus words and works clearly reveal his authority. He walked in the will of the Father and received from the Father authority to speak and act in powerful ways, saving ways, obedient ways, fear of God ways… ways that you and I are invited to walk in. No, we are COMMANDED to walk in!
Does Jesus have all authority in heaven and on earth? He sure acts like it in Matthew, doesn’t he?
Now a more personal question: Does Jesus have all authority in your life? Do you submit to his authority as the supreme authority for your every word and deed? If you walk in the fear of the Lord correctly, you will.
God’s word tells us to do this. Colossians 3:1 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. 5 Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, 7 in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them. 8 But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, 10 and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, 11 where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all. (He goes on to say)
17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
There is a great parenting application here that can help us as parents. Did Jesus respect the authority of His Father? To what degree did Jesus submit to the authority of God the Father?
As Jesus submitted to the authority of the Father, He also practiced that same authority in everything He did! That’s where His authority to heal and still a storm and cast out demons came from! Where does your authority as a parent come from?
Christian dads and moms, you are under the authority of God. You answer to His authority, and you are authorized to speak and act under God’s authority toward your children. If you do, your children will receive the best parenting possible. If you do not, they will suffer because of it, and you will answer to God for it.
God has given you authority to train up your children in the nurture and instruction of the Lord. Just look at how Jesus was trained up and lived under His Father’s authority. From childhood, Jesus knew who His Father was. In the temple, as a twelve year old, Jesus saw Himself at home and about His Father’s business. Ultimately, that is the goal of every Christian parent, to bring up children who live for God as their Father and under God’s authority and obedient to His will and word.
God brought your children into this world, not to be yours, but His. That job has been given to you by God.
Two extremes in parenting authority that we all need to avoid are these: Being overly harsh, and being overly permissive. Overly harsh parents take their authority personally and abuse it by demanding without affirming. God the Father’s first recorded public words to Jesus occurred at his baptism. There, right after Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit descended and God the Father spoke: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased!” Now there’s not a child I know who would not want to receive affirming words from his mother and father. In John 5:20-21 Jesus said about His relationship with the Father, “The Father loves the Son and shows Him all He does. Yes, to your amazement, He will show Him greater things than these. For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the son gives life to whom He is pleased to give it.”
If you follow the relationship of Jesus with His heavenly Father, you will see the perfect love and unity that depicts what God wants for parents and children in our homes. Jesus was completely obedient to the Father, and the Father was deeply affirming and loving to His Son. But there were demands on Jesus that tested His obedience and tempted Him.
God the Father of Jesus was not harsh, but he was not permissive either! Think of the cross and the trial that brought Jesus through. Jesus himself asked the Father to take this cup from Him. It was an overwhelming trial in which Jesus said, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.” And Hebrews says that Jesus uttered loud cries to the Father, but was obedient.
Parents, if we are to learn how to bring up godly sons and daughters we are going to have to spend time with God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son. We will need all the help of the Holy Spirit we can get to empower us in this task.
Let me suggest something that will make a huge difference for your family. It is so simple, but so powerful you can’t imagine. It will put you in touch with God as a family and give you an amazing amount of authority. Here it is: open the Bible and read it together as a family every day and pray together. Can you do that?
Can you go to work? Can you see that your children go to school? Can you eat every day? Can you get out of bed every day? Most people can do these things and do actually do them. But how many families share the Bible and prayer together every day?
If you want the fear of the Lord and the authority of God to bless you and your children, do it. Just read the Bible, talk about it, and pray together as a family and see what God will do in your home.
I realize some of you hate to do this, but would you take a piece of note paper out of the pew in front of you and write your name on it and do this. If you read the Bible and pray together daily with your family, write “yes.” If you do not, write “no.” I believe I can predict what will happen to your family to a large degree by how you answer that simple question. Put that note in your Bible with today’s date on it. If you wrote “no,” I hope you will repent and start doing it. If you wrote “yes,” keep it up and pray for strength to follow God’s word as you read and share it in your family.
The Bible is the Word of God, and there is no higher authority than that. Prayer puts you in direct contact with God, and there is no higher or holy position than that. Put these two together and you have the two most important tools for spiritual growth and guidance for eternal life that exist.
