Psalm 34 has a command that is repeated, in different forms, throughout the
Scriptures: ‘Oh, fear the LORD, you His saints…’ You have heard or read this
kind of command from the Scriptures often enough. You are commanded to fear
God. And yet, folks have many questions about fearing God even to the point
of being very confused. We have in our text another example of the fear of
God. Here, it’s the midwives who feared God and were commended for it. There
are lessons to be learned here. Today’s sermon will deal with three points
about the fear of God from our text. 1) The fear of God motivated the
midwives to faithful living. 2) For the midwives, the fear of God was not a
matter of cowering in terror before a cruel and temperamental despot. 3) The
midwives had to choose whom to fear. Let’s look at each of these and see
what the Spirit has to teach us today.
1) The fear of God motivated the midwives to faithful living. Because of
their fear of God the midwives chose to be faithful to their God. This is
because the fear of God has at its heart the awareness that we are all
accountable to God. So, we read in Hebrews, ‘And no creature is hidden from
his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must
give account.’ [Hebrews 4:13] The fear of God is built on a profound
understanding of that fact. The midwives understood, ‘God, You get to
evaluate my life. You get to decide my fate.’ Do you remember the
handwriting on the wall that Daniel interpreted for the king? ‘You have been
weighed in the balances and found wanting…’ [Daniel 5:27] Those who fear God
understand this. God will evaluate your life. He is, even now, evaluating
your life based on your actions. Your fate – and that of every creature –
rests in His hands. Because of this, the midwives chose to act faithfully
before Him.
That won’t make sense unless you tie it with this thought. God has
standards. He will evaluate your life based on those standards. Just a
moment ago I read something from Hebrews about how we must give an account
to God. Here’s the verse that came right before that. ‘For the word of God
is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the
division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the
thoughts and intentions of the heart.’ [Hebrews 4:12] The standard that God
will apply to your life is His Word. God evaluates each and all according to
the criteria that He has already revealed to you in the Scriptures. And so,
at the end of Ecclesiastes we find this. ‘Fear God and keep his
commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every
deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.’
[Ecclesiastes 12:13-14] This underscores the importance of a growing
knowledge of the teaching of Scripture. Please understand. I am not talking
about some theoretical knowledge. This underscores the importance of a
growing practical knowledge of the teaching of Scripture, a knowledge that
can answer the question, ‘How do I respond faithfully to this situation?
What does Scripture say about this aspect of my life?’ This practical
knowledge of the Word is important because that Word is the standard that
God will use to evaluate your life. So, remember the midwives. The fear of
God motivated the midwives to faithful living as God defines it.
2) For the midwives, the fear of God was not a matter of cowering in terror
before a cruel and temperamental despot. The God whom we are to fear is our
Father. Many misunderstand the fear of God because they associate fear only
with what is negative. And so, for them, the fear of God can only view God
in negative terms. Such a God must be a tyrant or high-strung tormenter. He
must be a God who only condemns. But that is not what the Scriptures are
talking about. What happened to the midwives because of their fear? What
does it say? ‘So, God dealt well with the midwives.’ They were rewarded. You
’ll notice that in my first point I never said, ‘God is judging you’, though
that is exactly what that first point is about. But the reason I didn’t put
it in those terms is that the idea of God judging is strongly and almost
exclusively associated with the idea of God condemning. But the role of a
judge is not to condemn but to evaluate and establish what the truth is. And
so, while there are times when a judge will condemn, there are other times
when he will justify and commend. In our text, God evaluated the actions of
the women. He judged them. As a result, He rewarded them. So, listen again
to that verse in Psalm 34 that I started with, but, this time, hear the
whole verse. ‘Oh, fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him have
no lack!’ [Psalm 34:9] The fear of God is not just some negative concept.
God blesses those who fear Him. That’s what happened to the midwives. And
so, you see that the fear of God is not a matter of cowering in terror
before some tyrant. That is fear that has been twisted by sin. You are not
called to fear a tyrant. You are to fear your Father. It is your Father who
evaluates your life. And you know that He is no tyrant. Your fear of God
motivates you to act faithfully because God not only condemns unfaithful
living but He also rewards all faithfulness in His children. He judges
wisely and rewards faithfulness.
3) The midwives had to choose whom to fear. They could have chosen to fear
Pharaoh instead, you know. They had a choice to make. ‘Whom shall we fear?’
Likewise, your lives are circumscribed by many different fears – and I mean
that in the best sense. You should fear the government. God says so.
Employees fear their supervisors. I don’t mean that they should cower in
dread, but they are to be aware of the legitimate authority that their
supervisors have over them. Kids are taught to fear Mack trucks driving past
them on the street. Our lives are guided by appropriate fears. These
different fears need to be in a sort of hierarchy. Certain fears come first.
So, it was right for the midwives to fear Pharaoh. He was the king and they
were accountable to him as his subjects. And yet, as we see, their fear of
God was prior to their fear of Pharaoh. The fear of God trumps every other
fear. That’s why Peter could refuse the command of the Sanhedrin to stop
preaching. He told them, ‘We must obey God rather than men.’ [Acts 5:29] The
midwives’ fear of God – and not their fear of Pharaoh – determined their
actions.
You live in a time when most people get this all wrong. That's why we read
this, ‘For the LORD spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and
warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: "Do not call
conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they
fear, nor be in dread. But the LORD of hosts, him you shall regard as holy.
Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. And he will become a
sanctuary…"’ [Isaiah 8:11-14] When it comes to fear, you are ‘not to walk in
the way of this people’. You are not to fear what they fear. People in your
world are enslaved by their fears. And if a fear enslaves someone, it is a
fear that has become twisted and corrupted by sin. It has become a reason to
cower in terror of what may happen. That is not the fear of God. So, if you
feel some vague dread or think of fear only in terms of being condemned or
suffering loss, then you’ve missed it. That is their kind of fear. The fear
of God is a real fear, but, it is not some vague dread. It is a focused
fear. Your life is being evaluated now, and it will be later. But it is your
Father who is doing the evaluating. He evaluates according to His Word and
His evaluating includes blessing those who fear Him. That is why, even now,
there are differences, even between Christians. Some are prospering and
others are not. Some are enjoying the prosperity of the soul: a growing
sense of peace and of joy, a growing sense of the assurance of the Father’s
love, a hope that is rock solid. There are differences now and will be
later. Some fear God and are thus motivated to be faithful. So, a biblical
fear is focused and not a vague dread. It is focused on the Father who is
doing the evaluating according to His Word. It is a fear that looks to being
blessed.
Another difference between the fear of God and the kinds of fear you see in
your neighbors is that their fear is earthbound. They fear losing the
ability to enjoy this life according to a certain standard they have chosen.
And so, their fear is rooted in the here and now. But the Christian sees
this life in light of the next. And so, the things that so many fear –
losing the job, becoming seriously ill, financial struggle, death – are not
the things that Christians fear. That doesn’t mean that they are easily
dealt with. But it does mean that the Christian can say, ‘These things will
not ruin me. My Father will care for me now, and He assures me of better
life in age to come.’ Bear in mind that what you fear most will control you.
It will be the fear that is at the top of your list. That fear will define
your life. The faithful Christian’s life is defined by the fear of God. And
because that is true, faithful Christians are protected from the petty fears
of this world that control so many people whom you know.
Let me close with some questions. What do you fear most? How strong is the
fear of losing your job or your health or your money? How strong is the fear
of death, your own or that of someone you love? Parents, you pass on your
fears to your children. What fears do you see developing in them? How are
you helping them to fear God? Some of you are in the middle of sorting this
life out, of developing a way of understanding it all. How does the fear of
God fit in with your understanding of this life? How should it? To all of
you, how does the fear of God show itself in your prayers? Do you actually
expect to be blessed?
