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On this episode of The Lead On Podcast, Jeff Iorg, president of the SBC Executive Committee, discusses how God designed fear for our good—and how humility, obedience, and accountability help us recover a healthy, biblical fear of the Lord that transforms our lives and leadership.
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Welcome to the Lead On Podcast. This is Jeff Iorg, the president of the executive committee of the Southern Baptist Convention, continuing our conversation about practical issues related to ministry leadership. Today, I wanna start a two or three week series on the subject of fear, but I don't wanna approach it the way many people typically do and in fact the way I've often done in teaching on this particular theme, from the negative. I want to instead take a more positive view of the topic of fear. And I want to start by saying that the bible actually tells us to practice fear.
Jeff Iorg:It says, of course, to fear God. Now that in itself sounds ominous and and frankly sometimes negative to people. They think, oh, fearing God, it means to cower in his presence, to be fearful or withdrawn from him, to be circumspect in our behaviors and careful of our words. Well, it may mean some of that in some context, but that's really not what the Bible means when it says fear God. The fear of God is supposed to be a lifelong spiritual perspective.
Jeff Iorg:It's the way we find fulfillment and satisfaction and peace, and the Bible has specific verses that say that our physical health, our emotional stability, and frankly, our overall happiness is all connected to fearing God. Fearing God. Now let's start by understanding this interesting point. God made you with the capacity for fear. Throughout the Bible, God commands people to fear him.
Jeff Iorg:Hence, people must have been created with the capacity to fear God. Now think about this with me for a minute. If you are told to fear God, that means you were created with the capacity to fear God. God would never require us to do something that is impossible. He would never require us to do something he had not created us with the capacity to accomplish.
Jeff Iorg:God created you with the capacity to fear him. And yet, most people don't fear God. What went wrong? Well, the first time fear is mentioned in the Bible is in a negative context. That's Genesis three verses one through 10.
Jeff Iorg:The story is this, Adam and Eve had an idyllic existence in God's presence, which included fearing him in the way we were designed to fear God. But after they sinned, God came looking for them and called out in chapter three verse nine, where are you? And Adam answered, I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid. Now think about that. The first thing that Adam felt and expressed in relationship with God after sin entered the world is fear.
Jeff Iorg:God created Adam with the capacity to fear him. When sin was loosed on the universe, it marred everything including how Adam experienced fear. Now get this, His God given capacity to fear God was now perverted by sin. And instead of fearing God, he now feared everything else. Listen, destructive fear caused Adam to flee from God and to try to hide from him.
Jeff Iorg:And from that day on to this day, our capacity to fear God has been tainted and twisted. We are now afraid of God cowering and hiding rather than fearing God, which means worshiping and obeying the way we were designed. We also now fear people and circumstances. We fear almost everything else but God. We do not naturally express the healthy fear that God created us to have, which is fear of God.
Jeff Iorg:And now we naturally and spontaneously act out unhealthy fear, which is what happened to fear as a capacity in our lives when sin cursed it. We went from fearing God, which is how we were created to live, to fearing everything else but God, which is what sin has done in our lives. Now when we think about fearing God, there's no single passage in the Bible that fully describes or defines what it means to fear God. No single passage. But we can consider several different ways this idea is addressed and create what I'll call a mosaic, you know, one of those, pictures that's put together with small tiles that are glued together and turned into something.
Jeff Iorg:You get the idea. By looking at different verses or different concepts, we can create a mosaic which communicates what it means to fear God. So just on the podcast today, here's three different aspects of fearing God, where it begins, how it's shown, and what motivates people to do it. So let's start with where it begins. This might surprise you, but humility and fearing God are inseparable, and it is in humility that the fear of God flourishes.
Jeff Iorg:Proverbs twenty two four says, humility, the fear of the Lord, results in wealth, honor, and life. These two concepts, humility and fearing God, while not the same, often go hand in hand in the Bible. They complement one another and fit together so well they sometimes seem like interchangeable concepts. When mentioned together in the Bible, humility is usually listed first, almost like it's a precursor or a prerequisite to fearing God. So it's not too much to say that developing humility is a first step toward fearing God.
Jeff Iorg:So what is humility, how do you get it? Well, I've talked about this on the podcast before. You know that some Christians wrongly think humility is debasing themselves, putting themselves down, or talking about how inadequate they are. But somehow, by putting ourselves down, whether in public or private or just in your own mind, we think we humble ourselves. While you are responsible to humble yourself, James four ten says that, these practices of self condemnation do not accomplish that purpose.
Jeff Iorg:A better understanding of humility is appropriate self appraisal, seeing yourself as God sees you and acting accordingly. Humility is adopting God's perspective on who you are and what you're assigned to do. It's the attitude that emerges from thinking about yourself like God thinks of you. Humble believers accept who they are, who God made them to be, the identity and the mission that he has assigned. They're comfortable with who God says they are and what God expects them to do.
Jeff Iorg:And humbled believers have a balanced view of God and how God sees them. You're a sinner, but but you're also a saint. You can do nothing apart from God's power, but you're also given spiritual gifts by God and expected to use them. You have a sinful bent that taints everything you do, but you also aren't able to do good works that bless others. Humility is learning to live between those tensions.
Jeff Iorg:Humility is accepting the reality of who God says you are without thinking more highly of yourself than you should. Now, it amazes me, but Christians tend to go to one extreme or the other on most things. Some say, I'm a child of the king, so I should live like a prince or a princess. Well, in some sense, that's true. Unless those kind of statements become excuses to support a hedonistic lifestyle, it contradicts everything Jesus taught.
Jeff Iorg:Others say, I'm just a sinner saved by grace. Well, that's also true, unless it becomes an excuse for poor choices and irresponsible living. You are a child of God and a sinner saved by grace. Humility results when you successfully live with both poles, exerting appropriate gravitational control of your behavior. Fearing the Lord involves accepting his appraisal of who you are in relationship with him.
Jeff Iorg:And humility results from seeing yourself in God's reflection. You see who you really are and not who you claim to be, good or bad. You see who you really are in relationship with God and how that matters. Getting this perspective nailed down is a primary first step to fearing God. We humble ourselves because humility and the fear of God go hand in hand.
Jeff Iorg:But secondarily, fearing God is also shown by obedience. Over and over in the Bible, fearing God is related to obeying God. People are often described as fearing God after a specific act of obedience, and the relationship between obedience and fearing God is summarized in different passages like Ecclesiastes twelve thirteen, fear God and keep his commands. And it's illustrated by Abraham's near sacrifice experience with his son Isaac. You remember that story.
Jeff Iorg:God told Abraham to take his only son Isaac up to a mountain altar and sacrifice him as an offering to the Lord. So early the next morning, Abraham took Isaac. Two servants started on the trip. After three days of travel, he left the servants behind and continued on. Imagine Abraham's inner turmoil.
Jeff Iorg:I I've often thought, what did he struggle with as he walked up that mountain trail? Knowing Isaac, his son, would soon be dead by his own hand. And how would he explain his barbarism to his servants when he returned and then to the family when they got back home? And then while walking along, you know, remember Isaac asked the question, the fire and the wood are here, but where's the lamb for the burnt offering? Abraham answered, and how he must have felt when he answered this, God will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.
Jeff Iorg:Well, they got to the place of sacrifice. Abraham bound Isaac and placed him on the altar. He raised his knife to slay his own son, but the angel of the Lord called out, don't lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him. The angel then continued, this is the key part for our study, for I now know that you fear God since you have not withheld your only son from me. In this story, Abraham is the consummate example of obedience.
Jeff Iorg:As the father of two sons, it's incomprehensible to me to consider sacrificing either one of them even as some kind of offering to God. Yet that's exactly what Abraham was told to do. This seems so out of character with God who abhors, infanticide and child sacrifices and all things related. But this was the ultimate test of Abraham's willingness to obey God. When he passed it, the pronouncement was significant.
Jeff Iorg:For now I know, said the angel, that you fear God. Radical obedience reveals the fear of God. You show fear of God by obeying him. That's how you do it. You start the process of moving toward the fear of God by humbling yourself before God, And then secondarily, you follow that up with specific acts of obedience.
Jeff Iorg:And your acts of obedience themselves are the demonstration of your fear of God. Fear of God is more than an attitude. It's more than a perspective. It's more than a spiritual aspiration. The fear of God is revealed in demonstrable, measurable, practical obedience to God's directions and instructions.
Jeff Iorg:So obedience demonstrates love for God, And then fearing God is also motivated by accountability. Since the fear of the Lord begins with humility and is demonstrated by obedience, what's the motivation to keep these things going? The motivation is knowing you're accountable to God for everything you say, think, or do. Ecclesiastes twelve fourteen says, for God will bring every act of judgment, including every hidden thing, whether good or evil. Every hidden thing.
Jeff Iorg:God brings everything to light, both the good and the bad in our lives. Accountability is not just about punishment. It's also about rewards. Knowing that God evaluates everything, this ought to motivate us to make sure that our thoughts and our actions please him. You know, when you realize that God is listening in on every conversation, reading your thoughts, observing your actions, It should not make you fearful or or afraid of God.
Jeff Iorg:It should make you want to please him. God knows your motives. He's keeping a record of everything you do. He hears the kind words you speak when you're positive. He sees the loving actions you do when you're sacrificing for others.
Jeff Iorg:Nothing is hidden from God. He has all encompassing knowledge. Whether it's your secret scheming in the negative or your selfless service in the positive, God sees it all. Man, how comforting is that? Accountability to God is not a heavy burden.
Jeff Iorg:It is instead a blessing, knowing that God doesn't miss anything and that he evaluates always with equity and fairness in a perfect balance between all aspects of his character and our actions. You know, God wants us to fear him. He made us with the capacity to fear him. How do you do it? Start by facilitating humility.
Jeff Iorg:Humble yourselves, the Bible says, by accurately appraising who you are in relationship with God. And then move forward in obedience to God, simply doing what he says. Because the Bible is clear, obeying God is the demonstration of fearing God. And then if you move forward in humility with acts of obedience, what keeps you moving, keeps you motivated, knowing the accountability to God that is coming and that is real is how you will be ultimately measured. So here's what we've learned so far.
Jeff Iorg:We were created for fear. Fear is not always a negative thing. We were created for fear. We were created with the capacity to fear God. And prior to sin entering the world, Adam and Eve, they feared God and nothing else.
Jeff Iorg:But once sin came into the world, the very first sentence expressing the very first human experience of sin, I was afraid. So this God given capacity for fear was marred by sin. So now, rather than fear God, we fear everything else. And part of overcoming sin and its power in our lives is being disciplined to love God and fear him by humility and obedience and accountability. Now pressing it a little bit further, what is in more definition this fear of God?
Jeff Iorg:Well, is it a holy awe or respectful reverence? No. It's more than that. It's these phrases I've been describing. It's humility, prompting obedience, and motivated by accountability.
Jeff Iorg:Get those three phrases in your mind or those three words in your mind, humility, obedience, accountability. These three aspects of what it means to fear God push us toward a definition. I wrote one that sounds like this. The fear of the Lord is humbly obeying God and being accountable to him. It's humbly obeying God and being accountable to him.
Jeff Iorg:Now what is it that ought to motivate us about God that makes us want to fear him? Well, first, he is worthy to be feared because of who he is. God is magnificent. His splendor stretches the bounds of language. It's hard to even describe how magnificent God really is.
Jeff Iorg:There are passages in the Bible that put it into words and it just it just they're they're striving as hard as they can, but you know even in these words that it's beyond it's it's beyond better than anything that they could write about. For example, in Revelation, the Bible says, God was seated on the throne and the one seated looked like a jasper and carnelian stone. A rainbow that looked like an emerald surrounded the throne. Around the throne were 24 thrones, and on the throne set 24 elders dressed in white clothes with gold cradler head. Flashes of lightning and rumblings of thunder came from the throne.
Jeff Iorg:Seven fiery torches were burning before the throne, are the seven spirits of God. Something like a sea of glass, similar to crystals, also before the throne. Four living creatures covered their eyes in front and in the back or in the middle and around the throne. The four living creature the first living creature was like a lion, the second was like a calf, the third was like a face of man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle. Each of the four living creatures had six wings.
Jeff Iorg:They were covered with eyes around and inside. Day and night, they never stopped saying, holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was, who is, and who is who is coming. Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to the one seated on the throne, the one who lives forever and ever, the 24 elders fell down before the one seated on the throne, worship the one who lives forever and ever. Cast their crowns before the throne and say, our Lord and God, you are worthy to receive glory and honor and power because you have created all things. Because of you, all things exist and were created.
Jeff Iorg:That's Revelation four. Man, that is magnificent. God is more powerful and more beautiful than even words like this can describe. So as you reflect on God and who he is and his exalted unrivaled status in the universe, consider this reason to fear the Lord. He commands all people to fear him because he is worthy of being feared.
Jeff Iorg:God is worthy of our fear, meaning our humility producing obedience in a context of accountability, God is worthy of that. But beyond that, God also commands people to fear him. In many passages, examples like Deuteronomy six thirteen, fear the Lord your God, worship him. First Peter two seventeen, honor everyone, love the brothers Fear God. Besides these Old Testament, New Testament representative verses, there are many other examples in Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Chronicles, Psalms, Isaiah.
Jeff Iorg:It's just all throughout the Bible. It's a clear theme that God commands us to fear him. So why do we continue to think that the matter is up for discussion? You know, it's it's not up for discussion. I'm thinking about a friend of mine who said he went to marine boot camp, and, the drill instructor told this one young recruit that he was talking too much, and he told him to stop talking.
Jeff Iorg:I don't wanna hear one more word from you, the drill instructor said. Probably with some more colorful language attached, I might add. And the man responded, yes, sergeant. Again, the drill instructor said, not one more word from you. And he replied, not one word.
Jeff Iorg:Got it. Finally, in exasperation, the sergeant screamed in his face, don't say anything. And unbelievably, the recruit opened his mouth to speak again before finally getting the message and hitting the mute button. When my friend told me this story, I got a big laugh out of it because I would have been that recruit. I always want to get the last word.
Jeff Iorg:This is funny in a story like this, it's even, you know, fun to admit that we're the one in the story. But it's not so humorous when we think about it in relationship with God. This is how we sometimes respond to God and commands from God. We we consider them open for discussion or response. We hear a suggestion when God intends a directive.
Jeff Iorg:You may treat God's commands this way, wanting to negotiate, add your input, or maybe even have the final word. God, though, doesn't want to hear what you think. He wants you to hear him and obey him. So consider the source of his commands and respond accordingly. Your best response, in fact, your only acceptable response to a directive from God is immediate wholehearted obedience.
Jeff Iorg:And then one more thing, God delights in people who fear him. In the description of this throne room passage I just read from Revelation, these people and these mysterious creatures were energetically worshiping God. They were caught up euphorically in the moment. This is because God enjoys people who fear him and express it in worship. Psalm forty seven eleven says, the Lord values those who fear him.
Jeff Iorg:God is worthy of worship and delights in us for giving him glory, honor, and praise. God is worthy of being feared. This leads to obedience, and then it leads to worship. Like a father who enjoys the respect of his children, God is delighted when his children revere him. When you translate that reverence into worship, it's even more appealing and more enjoyable to God.
Jeff Iorg:God is worthy of being feared because of who he is and delights in people who live out this reality. So what are we learning today? First of all, we learned that God created all of us with the capacity for fear. God says, fear him. Therefore, we must have the capacity to do that.
Jeff Iorg:That capacity was created in us and was a part of the human experience prior to sin. But when sin entered the world, the very first emotion expressed, the very first expression that was voiced to God was, I was afraid. And that's the way we've been living ever since. We were designed to fear God. Now we fear everything else.
Jeff Iorg:The fear of God, as it was designed, was holy and righteous and perfect and without sin. But now that fear of God, like everything else about us, has been marred, changed, harmed because sin entered the world, and more than the world, it entered our personal experience. So we were created to fear God. Now we fear everything else. And now we have to overcome the effect of sin in our lives in this regard.
Jeff Iorg:We have to learn what it means to fear God all over again. And fortunately, the Bible tells us how to do that. Start with humility. Humble yourselves before God. That's step one on this pathway.
Jeff Iorg:And then second, obedience. The fear of God is not some ethereal, inspirational, spiritual concept that no one can grasp. It's about obedience. It's about spending time reading his word. It's about praying and doing what you believe God directs you to do.
Jeff Iorg:It's about giving your money away in ways that honor God and respond in obedience to him. It's about hand forsaking some attitude that you're holding on to, dealing with some broken relationship you need to mend. It's about obedience. The fear of the Lord is about obedience. It's not a it's not a holy moment or a special feeling.
Jeff Iorg:It's it's not something that comes over you in a worship service and that you just experience in some kind of an, emotional sense. No. The fear of God starts with humility, leads to obedience. And then the motivation for it is sustained by accountability, by people holding you accountable and God holding you accountable to make sure that the decisions and lifestyle choices and other things about your life really do line up with God's work, God's ways, and, of course, God's word. So once you've established that you were made to fear God and that you can fear him and that your fear of him, it rests on humility and obedience and accountability, then you're motivated.
Jeff Iorg:You're motivated to fear God because he is, first of all, worthy of being feared. We see that throughout the book of Revelation, but especially in that lengthy passage I read about what it looks like to be in heaven today. God is worthy of being feared. And then secondarily, God is not only worthy of being feared, but that fear is again shown most clearly by what? Oh, by obedience to him.
Jeff Iorg:And then beyond that, that obedience results in, God delighting in people who fear him. God loves people and delights in people, I should say, who do fear him. So today, I've tried to take a more positive approach to what is oftentimes a very negative subject. Typically, when we talk about fear, it's always in the negative, and there is a lot of negative in the Bible about fear. But you really can't get to address the negative until you first go back and understand the positive aspects of this important theme.
Jeff Iorg:God made us to fear him. He made fear a good thing. Sin messed it up just like it does everything else that it touches. Sin marred fear and turned it from fearing God to fearing everything else. So what about you today?
Jeff Iorg:Do you fear God? You say, well, of course I do. Well, are you demonstrating it in biblical ways by humbling yourself and obeying God and maintaining accountability to him through the means of which he's putting your life for accountability to be structured? If humility and obedience and accountability mark your life, then you could legitimately say, yes, I do fear God. And then if you're still struggling with that, why should you fear God?
Jeff Iorg:Well, because he's worthy of fear, he commands that he be feared, and he values our rewards our esteems highly people who fear him. Let's take a look at the positive today. The positive is God made us to fear. We can fear him, and we can stop fearing everything else and get our attention where it belongs. Fear God.
Jeff Iorg:It's at the root of what will make you not only an effective Christian, but also an effective leader. Fear God as you lead on.