Balancing Love and Fear in God's Kingdom
Summary
In today's message, we explored the profound themes of love, fear, and righteousness as depicted in the Gospel of Matthew. The central focus was on the dual necessity of loving and fearing God, as illustrated through various biblical narratives and parables. The story of Jim Becker, a pastor who fell into sin, serves as a poignant reminder that while love for God is essential, the fear of God is equally crucial to maintain a righteous path. This duality is echoed throughout church history and scripture, emphasizing that love and fear of God are not mutually exclusive but rather complementary.
We delved into the parables of Matthew 21 and 22, where Jesus uses vivid imagery to convey the consequences of rejecting God's call. The cleansing of the temple symbolizes the need for personal purification, while the cursing of the fig tree and the parable of the two sons highlight the importance of bearing fruit and obedience to God's will. The parable of the wedding feast further underscores the necessity of wearing the "proper clothes" of righteousness, which is only possible through faith in Christ.
The message is clear: to enter God's kingdom, one must put on the righteousness of Christ, symbolized by the wedding garment. This righteousness is not of our own making but is imputed to us through faith. The warning is stark for those who attempt to enter the kingdom without this garment, as they will face God's wrath. The call to action is to repent, hold fast to God's teachings, and live a life that pleases Him.
Key Takeaways:
- Love and Fear God: The story of Jim Becker illustrates that loving God is not enough; we must also fear Him. This fear is not about being afraid but having a reverent awe that keeps us aligned with His will. Love and fear together create a balanced relationship with God, preventing us from falling into sin. [02:00]
- Bearing Fruit: The parable of the fig tree and the vineyard owner teaches us the importance of bearing spiritual fruit. God expects us to live lives that reflect His character and produce good works. Without fruit, we risk being cut off from His presence. [05:09]
- Proper Garments: Entering God's kingdom requires wearing the righteousness of Christ. This is not about outward appearances but an inward transformation through faith. Without this garment, we cannot stand before God. [16:23]
- Repentance and Obedience: True repentance involves a change of heart and a commitment to obey God's commands. It is not enough to merely profess faith; our actions must align with His will. This obedience is the evidence of our faith. [23:01]
- Judgment and Grace: God's judgment is just, and every deed is recorded. However, through Christ's righteousness, we are declared innocent. This grace should transform our lives, leading us to live in a way that honors God. [27:46]
Youtube Chapters:
[00:00] - Welcome
[02:00] - Love and Fear God
[05:09] - Cleansing the Temple
[07:45] - Parable of the Two Sons
[08:55] - Parable of the Evil Tenants
[16:23] - The Wedding Feast
[20:30] - Righteousness Through Faith
[23:01] - Repentance and Obedience
[27:46] - Judgment and Grace
[30:00] - Call to Prayer and Revival
Study Guide
Bible Study Discussion Guide
Bible Reading:
- Matthew 21:12-17
- Matthew 22:1-14
- Philippians 3:9
---
Observation Questions:
1. In Matthew 21:12-17, what actions did Jesus take upon entering the temple, and what do these actions symbolize about personal purification? [05:09]
2. How does the parable of the wedding feast in Matthew 22:1-14 illustrate the concept of wearing the "proper clothes" of righteousness? [16:23]
3. What was the significance of the fig tree that Jesus cursed in Matthew 21:18-22, and how does it relate to the theme of bearing fruit? [05:09]
4. According to Philippians 3:9, what is the source of the righteousness that believers are to put on, and how is it obtained?
---
Interpretation Questions:
1. How does the story of Jim Becker illustrate the importance of both loving and fearing God in maintaining a righteous path? [05:09]
2. In the parable of the two sons, what does the response of each son reveal about true obedience to God's will? [07:45]
3. How does the concept of wearing the righteousness of Christ challenge the idea of relying on one's own deeds for salvation? [20:30]
4. What does the sermon suggest about the consequences of rejecting God's invitation to His kingdom, as seen in the parable of the wedding feast? [16:23]
---
Application Questions:
1. Reflect on your own life: Are there areas where you love God but may have lost the reverent fear that keeps you aligned with His will? How can you restore that balance? [05:09]
2. Consider the spiritual fruit in your life. What specific actions can you take to ensure you are bearing fruit that reflects God's character? [05:09]
3. The sermon emphasizes the importance of wearing the righteousness of Christ. What steps can you take to deepen your faith and ensure you are clothed in His righteousness? [20:30]
4. True repentance involves a change of heart and obedience to God's commands. Is there a specific area in your life where you need to repent and align your actions with God's will? [23:01]
5. The sermon warns of God's judgment for those who reject His invitation. How can you actively share the message of God's grace and invitation to His kingdom with others? [27:46]
6. Reflect on the idea of God's grace transforming your life. How has understanding God's grace changed the way you live, and how can you continue to let it guide your actions? [27:46]
7. In what ways can you participate in a revival of prayer and commitment to God's teachings within your community? How can you encourage others to join you in this effort? [27:46]
Devotional
I'm ready to provide the 5-day devotional based on the steps outlined. Here it is:
---
Day 1: Reverent Awe Balances Our Relationship with God
In the journey of faith, both love and fear of God are essential. Love draws us closer to Him, while fear, understood as reverent awe, keeps us aligned with His will. This balance prevents us from falling into sin, as illustrated by the story of Jim Becker, a pastor who fell into sin despite his love for God. The fear of God is not about being afraid but about maintaining a deep respect and understanding of His holiness and justice. This duality is echoed throughout scripture and church history, emphasizing that love and fear are complementary, not mutually exclusive. [02:00]
"Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!" (Psalm 33:8, ESV)
Reflection: In what ways can you cultivate a deeper reverence for God in your daily life, ensuring that your love for Him is balanced with a healthy awe of His holiness?
Day 2: Spiritual Fruit Reflects Our Faith
The parable of the fig tree and the vineyard owner teaches the importance of bearing spiritual fruit. God expects His followers to live lives that reflect His character and produce good works. Without fruit, we risk being cut off from His presence. This is not about performing for acceptance but about allowing the Holy Spirit to transform us from within, resulting in actions that align with God's will. Bearing fruit is evidence of a genuine relationship with God, and it is through this fruit that others can see His work in us. [05:09]
"By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples." (John 15:8, ESV)
Reflection: What specific spiritual fruit do you feel God is calling you to cultivate in your life right now, and how can you take practical steps to nurture it?
Day 3: Righteousness Through Faith, Not Appearance
Entering God's kingdom requires wearing the righteousness of Christ, symbolized by the wedding garment in the parable of the wedding feast. This righteousness is not about outward appearances but an inward transformation through faith. Without this garment, we cannot stand before God. It is a reminder that our own efforts are insufficient; only through faith in Christ can we be clothed in righteousness. This imputed righteousness is a gift, and it calls us to live in a way that reflects our new identity in Christ. [16:23]
"For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ." (Galatians 3:27, ESV)
Reflection: How can you ensure that your faith is not just an outward expression but an inward transformation that reflects the righteousness of Christ in your daily actions?
Day 4: True Repentance Leads to Obedience
True repentance involves a change of heart and a commitment to obey God's commands. It is not enough to merely profess faith; our actions must align with His will. This obedience is the evidence of our faith, demonstrating a genuine transformation. Repentance is an ongoing process, requiring us to continually turn away from sin and towards God. It is through this process that we grow in our relationship with Him and become more like Christ. [23:01]
"Bear fruit in keeping with repentance." (Matthew 3:8, ESV)
Reflection: Is there an area in your life where you need to repent and realign your actions with God's will? What steps can you take today to begin this process of obedience?
Day 5: Grace Transforms and Calls Us to Honor God
God's judgment is just, and every deed is recorded. However, through Christ's righteousness, we are declared innocent. This grace should transform our lives, leading us to live in a way that honors God. It is not a license to sin but a call to live differently, reflecting the grace we have received. Understanding the depth of God's grace compels us to respond with gratitude and a desire to please Him in all we do. [27:46]
"For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age." (Titus 2:11-12, ESV)
Reflection: How can you allow the grace of God to transform your daily life, leading you to live in a way that honors Him and reflects His love to others?
---
Quotes
"and he meets this pastor he knows him he heard of him a lot and he's talking and talking and then he asked the question what happened to you when when did you stop loving god when did you stop loving god that you fell into sin and the man he said what do you i never i never stopped loving god and so john bebeary is surprised he's like what do you mean what happened then uh i don't understand and he said i didn't stop loving jesus i stopped fearing god i stopped fearing god i always loved jesus but i stopped fearing him and so in the bible we read throughout the bible and even church history different pastor and the message is this love god fear god it is not one or the other but it's both together love god and fear god and church history so you know that jesus came to the earth about 2 000 years ago and then he resurrected and he left his disciples on this earth right and then guess what all these years from jesus time until now there have been many many preachers disciples and that's why we have church today because it's been continuously brought down evangelism and discipleship and so i want to share a little bit from john chrysostom he lived in chrysostom 249 a .d that's about 300 years 400 years after jesus christ and he was one of the popular famous preachers they called him golden mouth okay some of you probably know uh people like charles spurgeon for example right john piper uh there are some popular people uh that we know but john chrysostom was popular in his days" [00:01:36]
"and this is what he talks about if we love him jesus we shall receive mercy when we love him but if we reject him we shall not escape his wrath let us therefore strive for love for love casts out fear so he's encouraging the church he says love god that is the best but even if you cannot love him then at least fear him fear his wrath but let us strive to love jesus christ so it's an encouragement to love and fear god cyprian of carthage he is called a church father by all churches and he lived around 200 258 after death of jesus uh i know the mini let us fear the wrath of god whose severity we cannot escape if we despise his commands he's talking about the wrath of god let us love the lord with our whole heart and let us be prepared for every good work with the fear of him before our eyes so again here he's encouraging his church he says hey fear god fear god and also love god it is both together and today we're looking at matthew 21 22 and some of 23 even and in 21 as we conclude that chapter in matthew verses 12 through 17 jesus uh comes to jerusalem remember he lived in galilee and that's where he did most of his ministry and then the last uh days of his ministry he comes to jerusalem and we talked about last week he entered on a donkey and there's many prophecies about different things where he enters into jerusalem as jesus enters into jerusalem he goes to the temple where where god's temple is" [00:03:28]
"And symbolic of us, we are God's temple. So we need to clean out our temples as well. Verses 18 through 22, Jesus curses a tree. What happens is he's passing by, he's walking around with his disciples, and there's a tree standing. And he comes up to this tree and he's hungry. Jesus is hungry. And he looks at the tree and he's looking for fruit on the tree, but there's no fruit. And he says to the tree, cursed be this tree. And suddenly it says, the Bible, the tree is cursed and it dies. It withers. Right. And so it's a symbol, it's an allusion to Israel, to Jewish people who reject God, who do not produce fruit for God, good fruit. And God comes and he judges the tree of Jerusalem, of Israelites, and they will perish. And there's an allusion to Luke 13, 5 through 9, where it says, if it bears fruit next year, fine, if not, then cut it down. So this is a parable. Where there's an owner of a farm, of a vineyard, and the man, he comes and he checks out the vineyard. After three years, after a long time, and he tells the servant, hey, where's the fruit? And the servant says, yeah, there's no fruit. So the owner says, cut down this tree. Just cut it down. Burn it. Destroy it. Why should this tree take place here? Take all the ground. It's precious ground." [00:05:33]
"And the servant comes to the master and he says, Master, just wait a little longer. I'll take care of this tree a little longer. If it still does not bear fruit, if there's no fruit, then let's destroy it. But give a little patience. Wait a little longer. And it's an allusion to God coming to Israel and he says, There's no fruit. I've been with Israel so long, the Jewish people, and yet they're not bearing good fruit. And God says, If you don't bring fruit, I will destroy you. It's the wrath of the owner that we see in these parables. And then following that, there are parables. And the first parable is the parable of two sons. There are two sons that a man has. And he tells one of the sons, he says, Go and do something for me. And the son says, No, I will not. But later on, he does do it. And then the second son, he says, Go do it. And the second son says, I will do it, but does not do it. And so Jesus asked, Which one is the right son? Who did the better? And they all answered, The son who said, I will not, but actually did do something." [00:07:08]
"And that is an allusion to the Jewish people. The Jewish people said, We will be your people, God. We will follow you. We will do everything. We will do everything you tell us to do. And yet they didn't do anything that God told them to do. And the second son is the Gentiles, us. Those who are not Jewish, we didn't even hear God's call. But later on, when God called us, told us to do something, we went ahead and we followed Jesus Christ. And another parable he tells to the people is the parable of evil tenants. Evil tenants. So there's another master of the garden, of the vineyard, and he sends some servants to the caretakers of this vineyard. He sends them and asks them, hey, go and check out. Bring some fruit. Let me have the harvest. And they go, and yet those servants are beaten up by the caretakers of the vineyard. And then he sends finally his own son, and then these caretakers, they kill the son of the one who sent the servants. And so God asks this, Matthew 22, 1 through 2. Again, Jesus said, okay, not there yet. But he basically tells them, hey, you're going to be destroyed because you killed my son. This is my vineyard. You were supposed to take care of it, and yet when I sent servants, my son, you killed my son. So I'm going to destroy you. I'm going to destroy you." [00:08:25]
"invite everyone he says hey we have a feast come over come join the feast there's a lot of food and it's going to be fun it's going to be great the king's son is getting married okay and he's inviting everyone and so the king in this parable represents god himself god has a son jesus christ and his kingdom has come and he's inviting everyone to his kingdom to his wedding feast he sends out his prophets his servants to tell all the nations all the jewish people hey come and join us and yet these jewish people they reject him they say we're too busy we're not interested and some of these servants they've been stoned and killed and we know that in the bible we read about the prophets right prophets like isaiah jeremiah ezekiel killed they were all persecuted by jewish people they rejected god's word when when the prophets came to them and said you're sinning return to god fear god turn away from idolatry idols yet the jewish people hated the prophets and they said no we will not we don't care about you we don't care about god and and so this uh this thing where people are killed the prophets are killed it's been throughout the bible the messengers of god are killed isaiah if you know how did he die he was sawn into two saws are meant for trees right you saw the tree to cut it down and yet he was sawn into two pieces it says isaiah the you" [00:10:24]
"you are and so the king in this parable 22 7 the king was angry of course he would be angry he sent out his messengers with a good news and then they're killed and he sent his troops his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their cities so those who killed his messengers he goes and destroys them and we know that a little after Jesus resurrected in about 64 AD Jerusalem was destroyed by enemies okay it was destroyed and burned and so it literally happened that God judged Israel in that time and so God if we don't hear God's command if we don't hear God's voice welcoming us to his feet and we reject him this is what happens feast is a wonderful thing and yet being burned is a completely different experience and so in Acts 28 28 says this therefore let it be known to you that the salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles and they will hear it this is apostle Paul who constantly was going to the Jewish people and he preached to them Jesus is your God believe in him and he will hear you and he will hear you and he will hear you and he will hear you believe in Jesus Christ repent of your sins and yet they rejected apostle Paul over and over so what he said at the end of his life he said okay fine I'm not gonna go to you anymore you rejected Jesus I'm gonna go to the Gentiles I'm gonna go to the Gentiles" [00:14:46]
"as a christian but not be of the kingdom of god what do i mean if we go to the next passage matthew 7 not everyone who says to me lord lord and we know that when people gather in church on sundays they say lord jesus thank you lord jesus right we'll enter the kingdom of heaven not everyone who says that but the one who does the will of my father who's in heaven those who do what god tells them to do will enter the kingdom of heaven on that day many will say to me many not just one but many people lord lord did we not prophesy in your name if you can prophesy in the name of jesus tell the future and things like that that's pretty powerful you would think that's a good christian right god's using them powerfully they're a prophet right the are they're able to prophesy and cast out demons in your name yeah that's pretty powerful right if there's something that you can do to do what god tells them to do will enter the kingdom of heaven somebody possessed with demons and you pray for them and the demon runs out of them that's pretty powerful that doesn't that prove that you're a christian like if demons are afraid of you and do many mighty works in your name didn't we do all these things and then will i god declare to them i never knew you depart from me you workers of lawlessness oh that prophecy that casting out of demons you did those miracles healing no those are lawless deeds those are wrong evil deeds get away from me how is this possible it's possible it's possible you" [00:18:09]
"to know of god to do things for god and yet god does not know you it's not about if we know god it is about if god knows you does god know you and so garments for weddings they had special garments and those were requirements to enter into the wedding and so the man who comes to this wedding feast of the king he knew about it he knew i should wear the proper clothes but he intentionally because everyone knew that you have to he intentionally didn't wear the garment and so what happens to him what happens to him the king he says you are wrongfully here you should not be here so this man he does not follow the rules and what is the opposite of following of not following rules is to follow the rules commandments instructions of god the word of god the holy spirit the church pastor who faithfully preaches the truth we must follow god's word and so in isaiah it says this i will greatly rejoice in the lord my soul shall exalt in the god in my god for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation with the clothes of salvation he has covered me with the robe of righteousness righteousness holiness as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels so isaiah says hey it's possible that god will clothe you with salvation and" [00:20:25]
"Created it after the likeness of God and true righteousness and holiness. So we are putting on God himself, Jesus Christ, in righteousness and holiness. Galatians 3 .27. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on. Put on Christ. We put on Christ. So when God looks at us, he sees Christ. And when he sees Christ, those are the proper clothes. Those are the proper garments of the wedding. If we want to enter into God's feast, into his kingdom, we must put on Christ. If we do not put on Christ, God will notice it. The king will notice it. He will tell us you're doing the wrong thing. And so how do we change from, a person who's wearing improper clothes into a person who's wearing proper clothes at God's wedding? How? How do we change?" [00:22:17]
"do we do that and we look at revelations 3 1 through 3 to the angel of the church and sardis right these are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of god and the seven stars i know your deeds you have a reputation of being alive but you are dead people say oh he she looks like they're alive they're awake but inside they're dead what should you do wake up strengthen what remains and is about to die for i have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my god remember therefore what you have received and heard hold it fast and repent but if you do not wake up i will come like a thief and you will not know at what time i will come to you you so god says hey how do you put on christ repent hold fast to my teachings what i taught you remember those things and do them wake up wake up wake up and then what will happen the one who is victorious who does those things will like them be dressed in white dressed a new clothes dressed in white i will never blot out the name of god i will never blot out the name of god i will never blot out the name of god that person from the book of life book of salvation but will acknowledge that name before my father and his angels god will acknowledge you before his angels if you repent and follow his" [00:23:12]
"John 3 .36, whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life. But the wrath of God remains on him. The wrath of God remains on him who do not obey the Son. If we intentionally come to God's wedding feast and we know we're supposed to wear the proper clothes of Jesus' righteousness and holiness and yet we come with our own garments of sin and selfishness and greed and we come to this wedding and we're like, hey Jesus, I'm at your wedding, thank you for inviting me. Yes, you're invited and you came in. But you're wearing the wrong clothes. Jesus will look at you and say, I do not know you. I do not know you. Why are you here wearing the wrong clothes? I want you to be here but with the right clothes. But if you're wearing the wrong clothes, no, that's wrong." [00:26:48]
Chatbot
-
I'm an AI bot trained only on this specific sermon. Do you have any questions about it?