INTRODUCTION

 

For those that have read the book of Ecclesiastes, you might be tempted to give up on this life, saying, what are we even living for, because severally the writer kept saying, “its vanity upon vanity”. And worse the writer of that particular book of the bible was one who had probably seen it all, when it comes to money, power, women, favour, wisdom, wealth, peace all round, name it. And this man is saying everything is like a waste of time, vanity upon vanity. But I want us to go to a particular verse in that book of Ecclesiastes

 

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 NKJV

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgement, including every secret thing, whether good or evil

 

Simply put, we are admonished to fear God and keep his commandments. That’s the requirements of God for man.The writer of this book was saying to us, after all is said and done. In all the chasing after the wind, acquiring this and that, the conclusion is fear God and keep His commandments, that is man’s all. That is everything! So, that means, if you do this things, fear God and keep his commandments. That is life itself. Because even though the man said vanity upon vanity, we might say let me at least enjoy these things, you have enjoyed your own right? But, in our enjoyment of all these things, hear the conclusion of the matter, Fear God and keep his commandments.

 

One of the reasons we are looking at this today is that, many atrocities, many evils are committed today even in the church because the fear of God is lacking. Let’s not even talk about the atrocities committed outside the body of Christ. But we will focus on us, that have decided to follow Jesus, that call ourselves the body of Christ. There is a fear of God we must maintain in our fellowship with God if not we will take the liberty God has given us for granted. Maybe, many people started with that fear of God in their hearts as they came into Christ, but along the line, it’s like they have fallen off and began to act like God does not care, or there is no God.

 

What then does it mean to fear God? When we hear the word fear, it does not seem like a good thing. Like we need to tremble, and be very afraid. So, when we talk about the fear of God. Does that mean we should tremble anytime the name of the Lord is mentioned? Because when we hear the word fear, many people still think we need to be afraid of God.

 

 

So, I checked the dictionary, why would the bible say fear God and in other verses, we will read do not fear. One meaning of fear is being afraid, being scared, being frightened but also, fear means a feeling of profound respect and reverence and this is the exact definition we are considering. A feeling of profound respect and reverence. What the bible is telling us, Fear God and keep his commandments. Have deep reverence for God.

 

I will love to read it in the amplified version:

 

Eccl. 12:13-14

 When all has been heard, the end of the matter is: fear God [worship Him with awe-filled reverence, knowing that He is almighty God and keep His commandments, for this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgement, every hidden and secret thing, whether it is good or evil.

 

To fear God is not to shrink back from Him in terror. To fear God is to have a deep reverence, to be in awe of the person of God,  for Him, and to stand in awe at His holiness and majesty and power and love. Only then will we love and serve and worship Him as we should.

That verse says, Almighty God, that is one who has everything under his might. One word and the whole earth falls apart. One word and everything comes together. We need to continually worship God with this knowing. That he is almighty, and He is able to bring every act to judgement, every hidden and secret thing, whether good or evil. A God that knows deep and secret things that is a revealer. A God that can kill both the body and soul. This is not to make us to become frightened, this is to show us the almightiness of the God that we serve.

 

We must note importantly that there is a godly fear and ungodly fear. I will show us the difference

 

Hebrews 12:28-29

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire

 

Hebrews talks about a godly fear. Not the one that makes us live in terror. No! it’s a fear of reverence. The fear that makes us honour Him in everything and not bring shame to his name in any way, that makes us honour him in our thoughts, our body, our actions. We cannot honour God and still do what we like. There is  a way we must conduct ourselves as kings and priests unto God that He has made us.

 

 

2^nd Timothy 1: 7

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and of a  sound mind.

Isaiah 11: 2: The Spirit of God shall rest upon him. The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirt of counsel and might, The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of God

 

 

Can we see the difference. Talks about the different kinds of fear. 2nd Timothy talks about an ungodly fear that the Lord does not want us to have while Isaiah talks about a godly fear that we must have. And we can note importantly, that there are different spirits that control all two kinds of fear.

 

 

Let’s look at the second part of what the Lord will be requiring of man

 

 

John 14:15

“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.

 

Ecclesiastes 12:13 NKJV

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all.

 

The conclusion of the matter is  Fear God and keep His commandments and if God says, if you love Me, you will keep my commandments, that means we are admonished to Fear God and Love Him, this is man’s all. After all the running around, in the midst of life happening, Fear God and Love Him. If you love me, you will keep my commandment.“If” is conditional, it’s possible not to love Him. But we are admonished to love God and fear God.

 

1 John 5:1-3

Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.

 

Can we still see the love of God going in line with His commandments in scriptures again?

This is the love of God that we keep His commandments and the bible is telling us, the commandments of God are not burdensome.  So that we don’t begin to overthink it and say, are you sure I can follow? God is love and his commandments are given in love.

 

Gone are the days where the commandments are written on stones and are not easily accessible by all so we might say, how do we know this commandments? How do we find these commandments? How do we follow what we do not know? The bible says, the love of God has been shed abroad in our heart. That means if the love of God is in our heart, then , we will keep his commandments. That means we follow His ways.

 

Romans 5: 5

Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our herts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

 

The Lord says, I will write my laws in your heart. If His laws are written in our hearts and His love is there, then, we follow. In a particular verse in the bible, Jesus was asking Peter, do you love me more than this, then do this, do you love me more than this, then do that? Jesus was giving him instructions, what he must do as a proof of his love for God. Remember God has loved us even before we came into the consciousness of His love for us, unconditionally. So, the bible is telling us, Fear God and keep his commandments, that’s man’s all. That’s man’s everything. Fear God and love him, that is man’s all, man’s everything.

 

 

2 John 1:6

And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it.

 

This is love that we walk according to His commandments.

 

 

Matthew 22:35-40

 

Then one of them, a  lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him and saying, Teacher , which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments hang the Law and the Prophets.

 

 

The commandments of God is summed up in love, that’s why the love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts so we can love him and love others. That’s why the bible says, the commandments of God are not burdensome. Love God and keep his commandments. Looking at the Old Testament and the ten commandments, everything is summed up in a love for God and the love for man.

 

Why it’s not burdensome is because as we grow in God, our love for God should grow also to the extent that we do the things we do out of  a deep love for God not of what we will receive from him. When we love people a lot and we know they love us too, we come to a place of vulnerability, we become vulnerable in a good in the sense that we let down our guard. We are not suspicious of the things they do for us. When they give us gifts, we don’t overthink it, like this person wants evil for me. We don’t take too much precautions. And when we need to do things for them, we do it almost unconsciously. We must get to that point with God when it's not about fear of judgement, when we can do the things we do with the deep knowing that this God loves us too, in fact He loved us first. So, it’s not difficult to follow his instructions because it’s not a burden.  

 

 

The fear of God and the love of God is a necessary part of our lives as children of God, this is man’s all. That man, is not even referring to just believers but it is open to everyone to come in, this is it.  So, we must understand what it means to fear God and what it means to love God so we can combine the two well because this what the Lord requires of us.

 

Some people are afraid of God, and they can also say I fear God, right? That’s an ungodly fear. That’s not the kind of fear the bible is talking about that we should have of God. The fear we should have is that of honour, reverence of God as the Almighty God. Knowing that He is the one that owns you. So, we honour God with our bodies, our minds, in all we do. So, for this set of people, their fear pushes them to do a lot of things “for God”  but it’s all wrong

 

 

For example, if I fear you, that is, I am very afraid of you, I will tend to do anything you want me to do, out of fear. Before the word even drops from your mouth, I will be running to do it because I don’t want trouble, I don’t want any punishment if I know there will be any. That is wrong.

 

So, many believers fear God, they see Him as a God of judgment so let’s conduct ourselves well so that this God will not get angry. I will not miss service, I will join a group in church, I will follow all the rules because God will judge us. and I want to be worthy and not be thrown into hell. That is not reverent fear of God, that is not a  godly fear that the bible is telling us about. So, those set of people seem like they are following God’s commandments so to say, but they are afraid.

 

One error is their fear of God is even wrong, that is the wrong disposition to that admonition by the word of God, fear God. Its not be afraid of God. Because perfect love casts out fear. Fear itself is torment. That means, ungodly fear.

 

 

1 John 4:16-21

We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.

 

So, the kind of fear that perfect love casts out is that ungodly fear. A fear that fears judgement, a fear that takes away your peace of mind. That keeps waiting for God to strike you, that controls you to do the things for God, because you are afraid. This fear is not sourced correctly and the doing everything cannot be said to be keeping God’s commandments because it is all wrong.

 

 

Romans 8:15

 

For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

 

 

So, it is important that we understand the fear of God correctly and the love of God correctly

 So we can follow God correctly

 

I would want us to see link the fear of God and the love of God, the fear of God and the love of God is  a necessary part of our lives. Our question is, how does the love of God work along with the fear of God?  Both are necessary, they work hand in hand, that’s why the bible showed us from Ecclesiastes, fear God, love him. If the two are placed side by side in scriptures that means, Having one does not mean not having the other.  “And” means you are joining two independent items together because it is necessary. If this was not so, there might have not been any need to add love God or keep His commandments, it could have been fear God throughout scriptures.

 

The fear God has to do with honour, giving Him the reverence due, acknowledging His sovereignty and mighty power, acknowledging that He is God over all the earth, and He rules in the affairs of men. He is involved in what is done and not done on the earth, He knows, He sees. We must come to that understanding. Loving God according to scriptures means keeping his word, doing his will, following His commandments.

 

 

If this is so, then I can fear God and not love Him. I can honour Him, know He is God, reverence Him and all that. But I might not follow his commandments, I might not do His will. So, I can honour Him and not show my love for Him, and in this case, the reverence we think we have for God becomes faulty. So, this two must work hand in hand.

 

For example, I respect you, I honour you, even you, you know that I do, anything honour entails to you, I tend to do it. But you ask me to do things or give me an instruction and I refuse, even once, talk more of multiple times. Before you even talk about you don’t love me, you will feel disrespected so my fear for you becomes faulty. So, it must go hand in hand. The love and the fear of God. We cannot say we fear God and not love him. No one wants that, you say you honour me but you don’t carry out my instructions? How then can you say you fear or honour me? so both must go hand in hand.

 

 

So, there is a fear that pushes you to love, in the sense that you obey instructions, but there is  a fear of torment that can make you do things without love.

 

For man, we can easily be deceived. I will follow all instructions out of fear of the man, and it seems you love him and hour him. But to God, He sees the difference. He knows when you do it out of a genuine heart of love and reverence. God desires that we obey him out of deep reverence for Him, not out of being afraid. And I am sure all of us want that. That if anyone is following our instructions, it is out of honour for us, not being afraid of punishment or our person.

 

Let’s replace the fear with reverence for God and loving God. That is man’s all. If I honour God, I will want to bring glory to his name, and not do anything that will shame him. Since we know that the loving God is also a proof that we reverence Him.

 

Let’s talk about the fear of God a bit more. So, what the fear of God do for us?

 

One major thing the fear of the Lord will do for us is instruct us in the right way that we should go.

 

In the fear of God is guidance and instruction, that is why we linked the love of God and the fear of God. In the fear of God is instruction on what to do. Let’s look at this in scripture.

 

Job 28:28

“And to man He said, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; And to depart from evil is understanding.’”

 

 

Psalm 111:10

 

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments; His praise endures forever.

 

Proverbs 9:10

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

 

 

Proverbs 1:7

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.

 

Proverbs 19:23

 

The fear of the Lord leads to life, So that one may sleep satisfied, untouched by evil.

 

 

I pray that the Lord will help us in Jesus name, to embrace the fear of God , and love God truly from our hearts so we can reap the full benefits of all that is in God.

 

Thanks for the gift of your time, I am Benedicta Apeh!

Feel free to share your thoughts or testimony in the comment box below. I promise to respond to them as soon as possible!