What does it mean to "fear God"? The beginning of Biblical Wisdom | Jonny Ardavanis explains

I also think that we live in a world where people have put the fear of the Lord on the back burner of their life. And then they wonder why they're not growing in wisdom. Yeah, they're not growing in wisdom and they have a small view of God. You don't just become wiser by living. I think people say that, you know, I've got a lot of years. No, it's actually only the Lord that provides the wisdom that you and I need from His word. What we're going to do in this episode, and maybe in a couple to come, I want to talk about biblical wisdom. And we're going to look at really a big theme of the fear of the Lord. What does it mean to fear God? Maybe you've heard that term before. This is the first rung of the ladder and you'll never get to the second regarding wisdom if you don't fear God. Hey, everybody, thanks for joining in. My name is Johnny. This is Dialyn. Hank, thanks for being here. Absolutely. Johnny, we have two things that we have to touch on before we dive in. What? One, I have to apologize. The Bears win. Yeah, okay, I was related. The Bears win. I promise that I would like every Bears comment, and I'm falling behind. You have to make a YouTube first. They're coming in so quickly, I can't keep up with them. And also all those Minnesota Vikings fans trying to sneak in there, I see you. In the YouTube comments? Yes, they're sneaking in there, trying to come under the cover of darkness. But anyway, I just needed to get that off my chest. Hey, well, thank you all for continuing to listen to the show. One of the things that's helpful for us is we dialogue through what future episodes to do. If you would drop a comment, maybe give us some ideas of things that would be helpful. Topic subjects, themes that would be helpful for you. One of the themes that we're thinking about exploring in the future is… Rest, based on a comment from last week. Oh, yeah. Oh, like actually taking a break and stuff. Yeah, from the podcast. Oh, yeah, yeah. But yeah, give us some ideas of different subjects and themes that you'd want to hear. What we're going to do in this episode, and maybe in a couple to come, I want to talk about biblical wisdom. And the Bible wisdom is skilled living. It's not just what you know, it's how you apply, what you know to how you live, because you can be full of knowledge and still live like a biblical fool. And wisdom is also invariably linked to discernment, and discernment is not the difference between right and wrong. Spurgeon says that discernment is the difference between right and almost right. And we're going to look to wisdom literature in the Bible, and we're going to look at really a big theme of the fear of the Lord. What does it mean to fear God? We maybe have heard that term before, but that's a huge idea, especially as it relates to the subject before us regarding wisdom. And I say wisdom, and people are like, yeah, you know, we talk about wisdom at times, but you are in need of wisdom basically on a daily basis pertaining to the decisions you make, the relationships that you have, the junctions that maybe you're at between the corner of the unknown and unpredictable. But as we begin, I want to read one of the greatest chapters on wisdom in the Bible. And that's Proverbs 8. Hank, do you have that pulled up? Yeah, absolutely. Read verses one through six for us. Does not wisdom call and discernment give forth her voice at the top of the heights upon the way where the pathways meet, she takes her stand besides the gates at the opening to the city at the entrance of the doors. She makes a shout to you, O men, I call and my voice is to the sons of men, O simple ones, and prudence, and O fools, understand the heart of wisdom. Listen for I will speak of noble things, and the opening of my lips will reveal upright things for my mouth will utter truth. I love that. Maybe you didn't even cash that it says in Proverbs that wisdom calls out from the heights from the paths. It says besides you in front of you all around and all about you, it says wisdom. You said it is shouting. It should be encouraging to anybody listening because that means according to the Bible, according to a God that cannot lie and does not lie. Wisdom is available to you. It says it calls out to you in verse three from the gates. Now the gates were an important place in the ancient world. It is where the leadership in a city would gather and discuss important matters. And the point of the proverb here is that wisdom is not just something that's possible to attain. It's calling out to you at the critical crossroads in your life. Whenever you're at a spot where you go, man, my back's up against the wall. I don't know what to do here. Wisdom through God's word is offering you guidance. It's reaching. You said it, shouting. And so the question that should be asked from God's word is, do you need wisdom? Listening right now, watching right now, do you need perspective? Then now listen to verse 10 and 11. Would you read that for us, Hank in chapter eight, 10 and 11? It says, "Take my discipline and not silver and knowledge rather than choices to find gold. For wisdom is better than pearls and all desirable things cannot compare with her." It says, yeah, take my discipline. My translation says, take my instruction and not silver. I don't know. And typically, you know, it's like, hey, we're going to do an episode on wisdom and I don't know if that's a, it's not a hot topic necessarily. But I don't know the urgency that many people have on the acquisition of wisdom. But I want to tell you this, according to the wisest and wealthiest man who ever lived, he says that wisdom is more precious than jewels. It's superior to gold. It's more valuable than great riches. Why? Well, because wisdom can help you acquire the life that money could never afford, right? You can spend your life acquiring assets, storing up treasure for yourself, but wisdom helps you to live a life with a capital L. And I know I'm harping on this at the beginning of the episode, that wisdom is super precious. It's valuable. And you may be asking why. And it's because you'll never, you'll never be motivated and determined to acquire this precious asset unless you understand the value of this commodity. The richest man again, who ever lived said, if I had to choose between wealth and wisdom, I would choose wisdom every single day. And I say this to, you know, we live in a context in the culture where people think about money. I don't know what the stat is. Maybe you know that people think about money like every 38 seconds or something like that. I don't know how often people think about wisdom and making sure they're living a life of wisdom. But the Bible says, hey, listen, it doesn't matter if you're wise or it doesn't matter if you're wealthy, if you're not, you're not wise. Any thoughts there, just as we continue to jump in? No, I think to your point, like I'm thinking through even the titles in my, on my shelf or in my audio book library right now. And there's a bunch that pertain to- Thinking Grow Rich. Yeah, absolutely. That will be you. Financial planning. Yeah. Oh, that hurt. Yeah, I mean, a super famous title was just released this past week and I was listening to it this morning before we were reviewing together. And it's just immediately prescient because then the second part I always think, I shouldn't say I always think, but often I'll find myself kind of defaulting to in times past is like wisdom can feel like a nebulous term, like living well, absolutely. But there's almost an element of like, okay, help, but give it to me. Like I don't understand. And to your point, where we're opening up in Proverbs 8 and what we're probably going to see throughout the rest of scripture is one that is calling out super clearly and two Solomon is laying out for us characteristics and where it begins in a rather clear way that feels a little more maybe inescapable and approachable than what appears at first glance. Yeah. I mean, bottom line, human experience and human perspective cannot guide you through this life. You need wisdom from another source. You need wisdom from above. And yeah, I mean, it's not only available, you know, it's contrasted with everything else that is precious, meaning in Job 28, Job asked the question, you know, you live in a world where people drill for oil, they dig for gold, they pan, they search, they die for precious pearls, and all of those things are in this earth, right? You look to the earth and you try to find whatever is precious underneath the surface hidden from the naked eye. And then Job asked the question, but where can wisdom be found? It's not from below. And then James picks us up, right? And later on in the New Testament, he says the wisdom that we need is not from below. It's not something precious that comes to us from the earth is something that comes from above. And that's the main idea here. It says in Proverbs that the Lord gives wisdom and from his mouth comes knowledge and understanding, meaning that you don't just become wiser by living. I think people say that, you know, I've got a lot of years. No, it's actually only the Lord that provides the wisdom that you and I need from His Word. So anyways, I want to pick this up and I want to look at the question in this episode of what is the beginning of wisdom? And with that, I want to look to the beginning of Proverbs. Proverbs one seven says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge fools despise wisdom and instruction. So according to God, wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord. Proverbs says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and John Bunyan says that he who lacks the beginning has neither the middle or the end, meaning that this is not one step that you can circumvent or skip. If you do not have the fear of the Lord, you are not a wise person, meaning initially you better understand what it means to fear God. This is not like a lofty, esoteric, ethereal doctrine that, you know, it's just for people to grapple with at the academic level. No, it actually says here in the Bible, at the beginning of the book of Proverbs, this is the first rung of the ladder and you'll never get to the second regarding wisdom if you don't fear God. Well, and so it feels very practical. Maybe can you start unpacking for us a little bit what is the fear of the Lord or maybe what does that entail? Yeah. Well, I think first of all, you just have to, I would say notice that this is such a rampant theme throughout the Bible. Even when we don't really sing about it, there's, you know, at all, you know, you do in Amazing Grace, we sing "twist grace" that taught my heart to fear, meaning that you can't even understand God's grace until you have a proper fear of God. Many people grow up singing that grace is amazing before they ever come to grips with who God is as a holy king. And so, and as a result, they understand neither. But I would just, I would want to point out maybe the rampant and replete nature of this theme for a moment before I give the definition. It says in Proverbs 3.7, "Do not be wise in your own eyes, fear the Lord, and turn away from evil." In Proverbs 8.13, it says, "The fear of the Lord is to hate evil." So there's maybe a definition for you, at least initially. In Proverbs 9.10, it says, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." There you go again. Proverbs 14.26, "In the fear of the Lord there is strong confidence." But I love this one in Proverbs 15.16. It says, "Better is a little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and turmoil with it." Meaning what? You are better off living with literally next to nothing, so long as you have a heart full of fear for God. It says in Proverbs 8, or Psalm 85, that his salvation, God's, is near to those who fear him. In Psalm 145, that he will fulfill the desire of those who fear him. In Psalm 103, the last one is, "As high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his loving kindness towards those who fear him." So I had so many other references, and sometimes I don't want to just barrage people. But I want them to understand and would want anybody listening or watching to understand that this is not a topic that is relegated to the peripheral corner of the scripture. This is a rampant theme, both in the Old and New Testament, and I'll get there to the New Testament reality. But the question that you asked is worth answering. What does it mean to fear God? I think a lot of people might have a basic understanding, but it's one thing to give a definition. It's another thing to apply that to our life. But to fear God, bottom line, means to be gripped and grabbed by his holiness. When we were growing up in the '90s, we used to sing that song, "Awesome God" by Rich Mullins. Our God is an awesome God. But to fear God, I think, is to, in your heart of hearts, be able to say from the bottom of your heart, "God, you are awesome. You are wonderful. You are glorious. It is this pulsating paradox, can't use to say, of the holiness of God that he is a supreme King that upholds the universe by the word of his power. It's to balance that reality of who God is as a king with this other reality that he is a father who holds us in his hands. And when you combine those realities that God is both a supreme king but also a loving father, you come to fear him, which means to be in awe of him in a proper sense. Martin Luther used to distinguish between servile fear, which is a fear of a prisoner before torturers, and a filial fear, which is the fear of a young child putting his hand in that of his father's, and just being in awe of the strength and confidence and stability that his father provides. Burke Parsons says, and I like this, "The gospel is the difference between being afraid of God and fearing God," meaning that every unbeliever who's outside of Jesus Christ has in place their faith in Jesus Christ, they should be afraid of God, right? Because they view God now only as judge. But when you come to God in faith, you don't view God now as judge, you view him as father, and you realize that the judge is taken on the guilt of the defendant and born that upon himself at the cross. And so that's what it means to fear God. It means to be in awe of him, and it means to, honestly, it just means to have a heart full of worship for him because he's so awesome. Well, that's just a super helpful, even delineation and metaphor. It was filial fear versus filial, versus survival. I mean, when you say that, I'm instantly transported back to being like four years old, sitting on the wooden pews of College Church in Wheaton, sitting next to my dad, and just literally looking at his legs being like, "I will never be that big," just thinking like he is Superman in the flesh. Yeah, a Nephilim. Yeah, a Nephilim among us. Future episode. No, but then also, I mean, just to your second point about the gospel being the difference between being afraid of God and having a proper fear of God. It just strikes me that you do not become a Christian without an appropriate level of being afraid of God, like recognizing to the John 3 reality that you're under judgment rightly for your transgressions against him. That's why Archie Sproul wrote that book, Save From What, because we talk about, "Oh, yeah, I was saved at such and such a time, at such and such a place," and he says, "Saved from what?" Well, you're saved from the wrath of God, and then you realize that the way you're saved from the wrath of God is because he's one and only son, bore the wrath of God, and that's what creates that, what I said, is that paradox, right, that he's a king and yet he's a father. I love what Solomon summarizes the book of Ecclesiastes by saying, "When all is said and done, fear God and keep his commandments." When Paul wrote to the churches in Corinth, Rome, Ephesus, and Colossae, he says, "Fear God." When Peter wrote to the churches throughout Asia Minor, he said, "Fear God." When the writer of Hebrews is writing to the readers, he urges them to fear God, and Jesus speaks more on fear in God than he does on heaven, and so this is a huge topic. But one of the questions I want to ask, at least initially, is obviously, this is a fundamental priority for life because it is the fundamental beginning step for wisdom, but the fear of the Lord produces much more than just the wisdom that you need in your life. It's the fuel of sanctification. Sanctification, we've talked about this before, is that lifelong process by which a believer becomes continually transformed into the image of Christ. Now what fuels and compels and propels that transformation is a greater and greater degree in which you are gripped by God's love and holiness. Now even when I say love and holiness, if you grew in your understanding of God's holiness, without growing in your understanding of God's love, God has all of His attributes, all of the time in full measure, but there's a reason why Hebrews has to encourage people that the larger your view of God is, you need to keep in mind that you're allowed to boldly approach the throne of grace because you would just be afraid of Him. The larger view of God makes a more magnified view of your own sin, and then all the more the grace extended to us by Jesus' sacrifice, it ties all of His attributes together. The Bible doesn't just tell us what fear in God means. It shows us what to fear God means, right? Habakkuk says his knees begin to knock when he beheld God, and John says he fell on his face like a dead man. Daniel, same thing, fell on his face like a dead man. Isaiah said, "Woe is me, for I'm a man of unclean lips." Over and over again, the uniform response to people encountering God is awe, right, and wonder filled humility. But what does the fear of the Lord produce? Well, first of all, it produces transformation, right? John Corinthians 7.1 says, "Let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement, perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord," meaning that there is no growth and personal holiness without a growth in your fear of God, meaning like if you've got a big sin issue that you're trying to grow in. The way you grow in that is not just by attacking the sin, right, in and of itself. What we do make no provision for the flesh, Romans 13, 14, we cut those things off, but we also have to grow in our awe of God so that sin becomes more and more perceptibly full of displeasure. It's gross. But sin will never be gross to you unless you have a bigger and magnified view of God. Colossians 3.22, even regarding what you do for work, right, it says, "fearing the Lord," Colossians 3.23, whatever you do, do it heartily as unto the Lord, meaning like this is going to affect the way you work, right, the way you are a mom at home. Because everything is under the banner of stewardship, maybe just this one verse, too, and I love this in Psalm 130. The psalmist says, "If you, Lord, kept a record of sin, then who could stand?" And he says, "But there is forgiveness with you that you may be feared." Maybe think about that out loud, Hank. Why do you think the psalmist says that God's forgiveness leads to fear, right, because you would typically probably have a perception where that would be inverted, right? But it's actually in understanding God's forgiveness. He says, "If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness of sins that you may be feared." I'm literally at a loss for words. I'm so curious. That does strike me completely anew. What is he unpacking there? Well, just meaning that, again, if you go back to the definition of fear being an elevated magnified and exalted view of God. It is in understanding God's forgiveness extended to you in Christ that he removes our sin as far as the east is from the west. That the more you understand the depth of God's forgiveness, and Isaiah says he will remember our sins no more, and that he's washed your sins as white as snow, you are going to come to an understanding where you go, "Man, my God is awesome." It's actually, it's he who forgives much, right? Loves much, right? And so you go, "Man, look at what God has done for me. If you, this is, I think, an important point, and we've done some episodes on assurance. If you doubt God's forgiveness, you will always have a small view of the fear of God, because it is an understanding and believing that God has forgiven me of all my sin." That you go, that he is just, he's so kind, right? Maybe before we move off this point, just as you were talking, it reminded me of Philippians too. And Paul has this amazing, elevated, almost diatribe on the work of Jesus, and it culminates in 212, which is along this exact same front, which is the well-known, "So then, my beloved, just as you've always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling." And it's, again, that's coming on the tails of a description of how Christ sacrificed himself for our sins. Absolutely. Anyway, there's a lot to be said there. No, it's true, and I would just ask anybody listening or watching, I would just ask them, "Do you fear God?" Right? If it's not just to affirm facts, it's not to believe doctrines, "Do you fear the Lord?" Then I ask that question because if you are a genuine Christian, if you've been actually saved by God, there are at least the seedlings of a genuine "ah" of God in your heart. Listen to Jeremiah 32 in this regard. God says, "I am going to give them singleness of heart so that they will always fear me for their own good. I will inspire them to fear me so that they will never turn away from me." This is a birthmark of someone who has received a new heart. There is at least the seedlings where they look at the character of God, the revelation of God, and they have a relationship with God to the degree, not just where they say God is awesome, but in their heart of hearts, they believe that to be true. And maybe a follow-up question then, and we started again with, "What is wisdom?" So for someone who says, "I want wisdom. I want to live well. I don't want to be a biblical fool that's filled with knowledge, but I actually want to rightly take steps in my life that are going to lead to my flourishing, the people around me, and the glorification of God, you've unpacked for us. That begins with the fear of the Lord." But then maybe to the Christian who says, "I'm feeling convicted even hearing you talk. My fear of the Lord needs to be elevated." Maybe what are the next steps, practically, for that listener? Yeah, I think, first of all, you know, whenever someone is backsliding, it's typically associated with a diminished or waning fear of the Lord, right? So they need to, first of all, if there's sin in our life, they need to confess that sin, right? If we confess our sins, he's faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, and that cleansing and that forgiveness is the catalyst to greater and greater fear, greater and greater awe. But if the question you're asking is, "How do I grow in my fear of the Lord?" I think, first of all, you must come to God's Word and eat, right? You got to come to the Word of God. I love Isaiah 66, verse 2. God says, "These are the ones I look on with favor. Those who humble, those who are humble and contrite in spirit and who tremble at my Word, your view of God is a derivative of your feasting upon the words of God." And so you're, you know, that's what ABW Tozer, you know, I've said it before. He says, "What comes into your mind when you think about God is the most important thing about you. But the most important thing about you, namely your view of God, is never going to be exalted or elevated or magnified if you have a shallow relationship with this Word, right? So you have to come to God's Word and eat. And then secondly, and even like to that point, I mean, just to re-inform in Isaiah, is it in the same chapter where it describes God as the heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool? I mean, we need to read and be reminded of that reality and that that's going to calibrate our hearts towards God is one to be feared and our hearts do need that tuning, right? And then, yeah, secondly, you must pray, right? Psalm 8611 says, "O Lord, give me an undivided heart that I may fear your name." When David is praying for, he also, you know, he prays, "Unite my heart." He's just praying for singularity and heart. Matthew 5a says, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." That prayer, "Lord, give me, unite my heart," is that I don't want any competing affections in my life, right? We don't just grow in our fear of the Lord without the Lord's help. He's actually the Lord to us grace that taught my heart to fear. We need God's grace, God's spirit, God's power working in and through us, because even what you mentioned regarding Philippians 212, yeah, we work at our salvation with fear and trembling, but the following verse says, "For it is God who works in and through you." So this is not something that, it's not a let go, let God, right? But it's also not all on us. It's synergistic. Salvation is monergistic. It's all a work of God. He begets us. He makes us new. But we seek Him with all of our heart, and again, Kent Hughes says, "It's Holy Spirit-inspired sweat," right? Like, we're working towards this. We work out our salvation. "Lord, please, unite my heart," and because that's a prayer in accordance with God's will and God's plan for our life, he answers that prayer, you know, even, I think, you know, in James at the beginning, James says, "If anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask of God." And so you ask the Lord for wisdom, but then ultimately, and fundamentally, you say, "Lord, I need wisdom, but what I need most of all is a greater and greater and deeper and truer and more lofty view of You so that I would be gripped and grabbed by the grandeur and glory of God." And maybe just, I think, we'd be remiss if we ended without also, I want to, like, share a spirit of encouragement to listeners, and that this is not a short, like, one-time-fix solution. No, they should have it by tomorrow. But, practically, you even use the metaphor of, like, "Come to the Word and eat," and we see this metaphor over and over again, Jesus says in John 6, that His Word of Feast on His flesh, there's an element of, like, savor, continue to come. It's a life on pursuit. Absolutely. And so just, I think, in many times, by the end of this week, you probably won't feel any more wisdom than when you began it, but by God's grace, through His prayer, He takes delight in answering the prayer of His children that say, "Lord, help me fear You and help me be more wise," and open my eyes to these realities in your scriptures, and for those who are discouraged, like, keep it up, and keep coming back to His Word. Yeah, and I think there's probably two realities, you know, in the sense of, like, you don't want to, you always want to be mindful that we're Bruce Reed. Jesus is mindful of that, you know, He doesn't quench a smoldering wick. There's also this other element where no one fears God too much. No one is chasing after this too much. And so I would also not, on a fear of maybe discouraging someone, say, "Take your time," you know? And so I think that sometimes people jump from one ditch back, you know, into another where they go, like, "Hey, you have to have instant sanctification," and they go, "No, no, no, this is a lifelong pursuit," and then Peter comes and says, "Hey, by this time, you should be eating meat. You're still drinking milk," in the sense of, like, people need to be spiritually matured. This is my greatest need in life. As a pastor, as a Christian, as a husband, as a father, my greatest need in life is to grow in my fear of the Lord. And I would want people to walk away, yes, that the Lord is patient with us, that this is a lifelong pursuit, but personally, I want to fear God infinitely more next year than I do now. And the Lord refines us in different ways, and so I'm so grateful that He's gracious with us, but I also think that we live in a world where people have put the fear of the Lord on the back burner of their life, and then they wonder why they're not growing in wisdom. Yeah, they're not growing in wisdom, and they have a small view of God as well. The psalmist's prayer is, "Give me an undivided heart," meaning God's not part of my life. He is my life. And if that's your prayer, and if you want God to answer that prayer, it also means that you make steps and take steps in your own life so that you're not sharing God with the other competing affections. He is, that's why Jesus says, you have to leave Father, Brother, Mother, everything for my sake, deny yourself, right? So it's always, the Christian life is this product of here's my life, take my life, Lord, and let it be consecrated unto thee. Like I'm yours, and yes, it happens over a lifetime, but it's Philippians 1-6, but it's also something that we have to zealously and eagerly and fervently pursue each and every day. But I want to pray at the end of this episode just because we need this wisdom. And so we can conclude that way because no one can listen to something and then grow. This is a product of the Holy Spirit. So let's pray. God, we do thank you, Lord. And even as Hank was saying, if he who began a good work in us is going to carry that out to completion, so Lord, I pray that you would help us to grow in this regard, help us to fear you, help us to grow in our sense of your glory, your holiness, and yet, Lord, also your love and that paradox that you're the King of the universe, but also a loving Father who holds us in your hand and that nothing will ever separate us from the love of God and neither height nor depth nor angels nor principalities nor things present nor things to come. Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing can separate me from the love of God. And so Lord, we just, we look at your word, we feast upon it, we ask you for wisdom, and Lord, we ask that by this time next month and next year that we would have a more lofty elevated view of who you are and as a result that you would grow us and that you would grow us in the wisdom that comes from above. We pray this in your name. Amen.