When a man of Paul’s standing says he walked among a community of people with fear and trembling, you might want to crouch to the edge of your seat in wonderment. How could that be? What kinds of people would put this renowned zealot in a state of fear, let alone trembling? But the apostle uses that exact phrase, not once, not twice, but four different times in his epistles to the churches of Corinth, Ephesus, and Philippi.
Paul wasn’t the only servant of God to have felt this dread. On the day when God came down to speak to Israel in the wilderness, “Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake.” (Heb 12:21). That makes two biblical quakers, and it may be a good idea to find out how such are made.
Genuine Concerns
Brothers, when I came to you, I did not come with superiority of speech or wisdom, declaring to you the testimony of God. 2 For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 3 I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. 4 My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. (1 Corinth 2:1-5 ~MEV)
Paul’s fear wasn’t based on the hurts that people would inflict on him. He’d already suffered a great deal of rejection and persecution from Jews and Gentiles alike. It’s the possibility of distorting genuine faith that planted dread in the apostle’s heart. He was afraid that people would place their faith in something other than God.
An exceptionally learned man, Paul communicated in a way as to reach the least informed of his listeners. Had he opted to exhibit his secular or religious diadems, he’d have advanced the propaganda that persecuted Christian faith. From the onset, it was clear to him that he couldn’t serve Jesus sincerely without discarding the biases that fed arrogance and blind rage. Intellectual conceit had made him a violent opponent of a genuine work of God. And that is where you and I enter the examination room, to be tried on our most cherished motivations.
Thanks to social media, perhaps, we live in a day when parading personal achievement is not only a socially accepted practice, it’s the essential evidence of the power of faith. As Christians display their mundane triumphs, credit is split between two parties. The lion’s share goes to the hardworking person. God gets the lesser glory because without the input of enormous human effort, He would have nothing to bless, or work with. Earth-shaking titles, the testimonials of such efforts, inadvertently convey the message that victory in life, even for a Christian, belongs to a select few within ethereal realms of mental superiority, far removed from the rest of humanity. Thus, simple folk trying to understand basic principles of faith are often bewildered, unable to receive the guidance they seek from religious experts.
I probably need to tread this line with fear and trembling lest I should upset anyone. But if the apostle’s words are anything to go by, a preacher can easily point people’s hopes to the wisdom of men, rather than the power of God. Were that to happen in Paul’s ministry, he’d have considered himself a total failure. After all, at the privilege of serving as Christ’s slave, this brilliant Pharisee likened his previous achievements to dung.
The temptation to reelevate discarded values was a real dread. It’d have been like a dog turning to its vomit, or a washed sow rolling back in the mud (2 Peter 2:20-22). The apostle of Christ glued his heart and mind to essentials of his high calling. On several occasions, senior government officials pointed out his high learning. Paul’s accomplishments were public knowledge, but he never linked the display of God’s power in his ministry to such merits.
Authorities of Doctrine
A dear brother initiated a neighborhood fellowship and believers were joining in enthusiastically. It was a lovely warm group comprising individuals from different churches. One man in the group had been working on an eschatological piece and a sister there offered to edit the script. Learning about the project, another brother brought several volumes to the meeting and declared that the authors of his books were authorities on the subject. Without warning or request, he began making many controversial statements that quickly elicited strife. People were upset, and the group dispersed as fast as it had come together. If that fellow had treaded with fear and trembling, he’d have esteemed the essence of an estate fellowship above futile debates. As it turned out, he was infatuated with the lady editing the other man’s manuscript and wanted to impress her as a well-read theologian.
Now you may ask, why do people mess up relations over futile matters? One word. Ego! Need for recognition is tucked away at the heart of pride. It’s not easy to detect. Someone once said that pride is like bad breath, the person who has it is the last one to know about it. If proving one’s worth is more important than reflecting godliness, pride is the culprit. It says in the Proverbs, Only by pride comes contention, but with the well-advised is wisdom (chap 13:10)
Who validates the doctrines we cling to? The folks who taught us, or ratification of Holy Scriptures? In a tough-worded epistle to backsliding Galatians, Paul cautioned, “We told you the true Good News message. So anyone who tells you a different message should be condemned—even if it’s one of us or even an angel from heaven!” Well, how would anyone distinguish true from false without knowledge of Scripture? How does someone grasp scriptural verity and yet cling to contrary theories that wreck the foundations of faith? We need to evaluate whether we are New Testament taught or religiously brainwashed! To many so-called Christians, faith is an effortless acquisition. All one needs is to wake from the right side of the bed to automatically grasp deep spiritual truths. Folks who close their minds become unteachable, and nothing can jolt them out of inertia. Costless Christianity breeds worthless faith!
Don’t Wreck Your Faith
Faith in God is founded purely on Scripture. If Scripture can’t verify our beliefs, what other foundations are they based on? How else can we vet allegations of people who claim to have heard from God? If we don’t know what Scripture says about something, we could as well pick any drug from a pharmacy shelf and apply it to any and every ailment. But medicine is not just medicine. Every chemical in a drugstore is designated to medicate specific maladies, just like every scriptural directive is intended to address specific areas of human life.
If we can find a promise in Scripture, our next responsibility is to find out what we ought to do to receive it. Many of God’s blessings are nonconditional. For instance, light and warmth from the sun are free for the taking. So is the air we breathe. Do you pray that the sun may shine? It’s in the sky, and it’ll do its rounds until the end of time. We don’t make contingency plans in case the sun doesn’t show up, or the air we breathe runs out. Similarly, God’s people should be aware of His Presence with them. He says, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. (Heb 13:5). Again, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. (Matt 28:20).
A Christian who begs God to be with him is like someone who isn’t sure there will be air to breathe tomorrow. Alternatively, s/he must know the reason why God must have left. That not only makes God a liar and casts doubts on His Word, it also raises serious concerns on the mindset of such a person. That goes beyond ignorance. It is unbelief! We don’t leave God behind, or take Him with us, at our pleasure. Neither do we continually beg Him for things He has already provided. We thank Him instead! If we don’t tread with fear and trembling, our casual religious approaches could spew insults at God and be totally oblivious of it.
Now someone will retort, “What’s wrong with that? Moses prayed that way!” Sure, he did, and king David also prayed that God would curse, persecute, and annihilate his foes! Elijah prayed that Israel’s back would always be bent backwards! Are those Christian prayers? Those folks lived under a different covenant! Moses had not even received the Law when he prayed that God would go with the multitude through the desert. Do you understand what we are saying?
A New Testament
Our revelation of Scripture informs our perception of God and our practice of faith. Today, we live in the New Testament. Our righteousness is based on the accomplishments of Christ’s cross. The night before He suffered, Jesus celebrated Passover with His disciples. That last meal unveiled the prophetic essence of the Jewish Passover. The Lord said, this cup is the New Testament in my blood… (1 Cor 11:25). In that instant, Passover became Holy Communion! Jesus became the Lamb of God that the Passover had always pointed to. A new way of relating to God had arrived. The Old Covenant was over and done with.
All terms of the Old Testament were pegged on the Law of Moses. The New Testament is founded on Christ’s sacrifice. Jesus is the new way of approaching God, not performance of legal requirements. He is not near His church as with Israel in the wilderness! In the New Testament, God dwells in His people, not just among them! He doesn’t make intermittent visits! If we understand that, we rejoice and thank Him continually. But we also take heed to ourselves. God’s Presence is never to be treated to frivolity or indifference.
The moment someone erects faulty foundations, s/he departs from God’s Word. The moment someone neglects God’s Word, s/he invalidates faith in Jesus Christ. The moment faith rests on anything other than the accomplishments of Christ’s cross, a new religion is established! By so doing, folks cease to represent the Kingdom of God. They become their own men and women, and what they push is not the gospel, but their own agendas. That is the surest way of ensuring that believers don’t receive God’s promises! God has no obligation to confirm what He never promised. That’s a call for every Christian, preachers especially, to walk in fear and trembling!