Acts 5:11 And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things.
I remember so clearly an event in the early years of my ministry when some parents came to me to complain to me about my preaching about the fear of the Lord. They had become influenced by the growing presence of “Christian Psychology”. They were convinced that this “fear of the Lord” stuff would warp their children. They had a very high sounding argument that we ought to be driven by our love for the Lord and not by a fear of Him. These psychologists that called themselves Christians had come along and begun to merge their observations with Bible doctrine with the catchy statement: “all truth is God’s truth”. By this statement they gave equal authority to their “scientific observations”.
As I look back I can see that this resulted in pulling out a major portion of the foundation under the Christian life. I agree that love is certainly important but fear is also essential.
Proverbs 16:6 By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil.
Proverbs 16:17 The highway of the upright is to depart from evil: he that keepeth his way preserveth his soul.
We now have a generation of children that have not learned the fear of the Lord and a new form of Christianity that often cannot be distinguished from the world. It reminds me of the following Scripture:
Psalm 11:3 If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?
I guess the answer is teach the “fear of the Lord” and rebuild the foundations!
