Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.
Rom 13:10-12
I met a homeless guy earlier this week named Israel. He wasn’t like most homeless people I meet. He overheard me talking about the Lord to someone, and he needed to talk to me. He relayed his present circumstances–a welder by trade who had been laid off from his job several months back, but it wasn’t the lack of employment that bothered him. As he spoke to me, occassionally swearing and then apologizing for it, he would periodically break down into tears. What had him so disturbed? “He’s coming back soon, and I want to be ready. I don’t want to go to hell!” Israel knew that the night is far spent and that the day is at hand…
As I thought about my encounter with Israel, I realized that I had more hope for him than many I meet who regularly sit on church benches. He seemed to have something that many of them lacked–the fear of the Lord! If Christ is “the wisdom of God” (1 Cor 1:24, 30), then we can’t even begin a relationship with Him apart from the fear of the Lord because “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”! (Ps 111:10, Pr 9:10) Israel knew Christ was coming back in judgment soon, and that fact had him trembling. How many professing Christians today though have ever been afraid of God? The pulpits in America preach “God is love” so exclusively that there is no room for fearing him. I’ve listened to preachers read a passage, skipping the more unsettling verses, and highlighting only the more comfortable ones. How much damage is being done to men’s souls through such preaching?!!
What did Christ preach? He preached the fear of the Lord! “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Mt 10:28) A balanced gospel message will declare the love of God alongside the fear of God. Our main text above teaches us that the reverential fear that accompanies an awareness of the Lord’s imminent return will prompt love for others in us. When we live daily in that awareness that Christ will soon be revealed in the clouds in His glory, it puts things in perspective. We will quit spending most of our energy in the pursuit of things that won’t last in eternity and start focusing on the things that will.
Our text tells us to love our neighbor which equates to fulfilling the law of God. If we will love men fully, we must love them with eternity in mind. We must love them enough to care for their eternal needs, not only their natural ones. Guess what will prompt the urgency we so desperately need in our evangelism toward the lost? It is the fear of the Lord! “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences.” (2 Cor 5:10-11) Wake up, Christians! Cast off the works of darkness for the day is drawing near! In that day, only those that have a reverential fear of the Lord will hear the comforting words, “Fear not…”. (Rev 1:17, Lk 12:32)
Jamie