Life and Peace

A verse I've been chewing over these last couple of days:

"For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace."
Romans 8:5-6

This verse has really spoken to me as I definitely feel the weight of conviction that I'm more caught up in the physical world (the flesh) than I should be. Preoccupied with material possessions, benefits, pursuits and pleasures, the Spirit is so often shoved into second place.

And this verse says that is death.

Death!!!

That's not good. And the truth is you can feel a death within you when you get preoccupied with the physical. Because it doesn't satisfy, at all. When time with God gets squeezed out you feel very hollow.

These last few days I've reprioritised a few things and it's been really liberating. Setting my mind on the Spirit has been very refreshing. Physical, material things fall out of focus. All of a sudden, they're not so important. Your weight, fitness, bank balance and leisure time — when you set your mind on the Spirit you remember they're just temporary things. This physical world is all passing away.

"but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace" — how awesome is that promise! Life and peace are two things that everybody craves. To be alive spiritually and at peace with God is very, very good. There's an eternal ring to that phrase.

Fear

Last thursday at Life Group we watched the Francis Chan 'Basic Series' on the fear of the Lord. The week leading up to it I was chewing it all over, and it's been really good. I've done a few talks on the fear of the Lord before but this DVD has thrown some extra verses into the mix and shed further light. As it happens, the fear of God plays out in some quite unexpected ways.

One of the things that really strikes you from the DVD is how fearful of God we should really be. My gut reaction is this: I have a certain level of fear, but nowhere near enough.

"When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead"
Revelation 1:17a

Francis Chan relates to all these biblical characters that had an encounter with God and were absolutely terrified. Even when people see Angels in the bible they're nearly scared to death. All of this leaves certain questions spinning round your mind:

Should I have that terrifying level of fear?
Is it even possible?
Is it even appropriate for daily life?
Does it not conflict with all the hope and promise we have in Jesus Christ, that we are in fact reconciled to God, and can boldly approach his throne? (Hebrews 4:16)

On the one hand you would have to conclude that the appropriate level of fear would probably kill you. Like in Exodus 33:18-23, Moses isn't allowed to see God's face, only his back, because no one could survive that. Part of my speculation on the hiddenness of God is that it's not his plan to terrify us on a daily basis.

But on the other hand a certain level of fear is prescribed. Without it, you wouldn't even be a Christian.

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline."
Proverbs 1:7

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise."
Psalm 111:10

Some musings

These two verses highlight some really interesting points. Firstly, why is the fear of God the beginning of knowledge and wisdom? It must lay the foundation for everything else. If we don't understand that the universe and humanity was designed and created by an awesome God, all of our knowledge runs astray.

You can be really, really intelligent in the same way that you can run really fast in completely the wrong direction. All these scientific, social, biological, philosophical theories are constructed, but they miss vital ingredients and it changes everything.

Secondly, in the first verse, why does it say 'fools despise wisdom and discipline'? Surely it should say 'fools despise the LORD'. I would guess that wisdom and discipline both imply a change of lifestyle. It feels restrictive. Fools hate the idea.

But this has some personal implications. To what degrees, as Christians, are we fools? What areas do we despise wisdom and hate discipline? We've all got areas where we accommodate all sorts of sin and disobedience, lack of discipline, lack of fear. It's so easy to read about 'fools' in the bible and not think you're one of them.

Fear of God equals faith

"Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows."
Matthew 10:28-31

This concept of fear is not just an Old Testament, Old Covenant thing. Here Jesus himself, in the New Testament, tells us to fear. But the theme develops.

He says “be afraid” and then “don’t be afraid”.

We have one type of fear that conquers all others.

And this seems to rather aptly answer the question 'what level of fear is appropriate?'. Our fear of God should quench all others. When we're on the same team as God, when eternity is secured, even death is now an upgrade. In the verse above, the threat of murder is completely annulled. Fear of God equals faith in God.

The fear of the LORD is the weight behind us

"What, then, shall we say in response to this?
If God is for us, who can be against us?"
Romans 8:31

It’s not just Christians who should fear God. It’s everyone. If we could really grasp how terrifyingly awesome our God is, we might understand the depth of our confidence in Him.

And finally...

The fear of the LORD equals life

"The fear of the LORD leads to life: then one rests content, untouched by trouble."
Proverbs 19:23

That sounds unbelievably good. Life, rest, contentment, peace – untouched by trouble even if surrounded by it.

Dissecting Verses: Romans 15:13

"May the God of hope ¹ fill you ² with all joy and peace ³ as ⁴ you trust ⁵ in him, so that you may overflow ⁶ with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit ⁷."

My thoughts...

¹ God is being described here as the God of hope. That immediately raises the question "why?". God is many, many things and this is just one of his attributes. It's because, I think, it is incredibly easy to despair in this life. Hope is very good, and this is a reminder that God is the source.

² "fill you" → the notion of filling implies that you can be full or you can be empty, or somewhere in between. Perhaps you can have a certain measure of hope in your soul at any given time. Perhaps it's something that rises and falls, and changes over time. Maybe it's something that depletes if left unattended.

³ "all joy and peace" → who wouldn't want that? Is there a man or woman alive who wouldn't want to be completely full of joy and peace? Isn't this the void in our lives that the world is incessantly trying fill with all sorts of idols and pleasures? I would guess this is the thing most people spend their lives in search of.

An interesting definition of peace which I've heard is this: "peace is not the absence of trouble but the presence of God, even in the most troubled situation". Also, I've often heard joy described as a sort of consistent inner state, like a thermostat setting on your life; distinguishable from happiness which is simply an emotion experienced at a particular moment in time.

⁴ "as" → a crucial point. It's the key link in the chain, a conditional pivot point. It's something that we have to choose to do, and simply won't happen by itself. Suggests that our default position is a distinct lack of hope, joy and peace.

⁵ "trust" → I don't know about you, but I tend not to trust people I don't know. To trust God requires you to know him on a personal level. To have a relationship with someone you need to spend time with them, interacting, listening and speaking. Meditation and prayer are the order of the day. My dictionary describes trust as "firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something". This firm belief has to be rooted in our knowledge and experience of God in our day-to-day lives.

⁶ "overflow" → it's back to this idea of filling. The level at which God wants you to be full of hope is the level at which you are completely overflowing. It spills out on the people around you.

⁶ "by the power of the Holy Spirit" → suggests that a mark of being full of the Holy Spirit is your level of hope. If it's a quality that is severely lacking in our lives then it suggests we need to trust in God again. We need to go back to the word of God and re-align ourselves.