City Life Starter

Written by Scott Fiddler

The Word

“Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord!”

Joshua 24:14

Reflection

In Joshua Chapter 24, Joshua calls the leaders of the tribes of Israel together. Joshua 24:1. He then tells them what God, working through past leaders (Joshua 24:3-5), had done to bring them to to the promised land (Joshua 24:6-13). Joshua concludes by saying they should therefore fear the Lord, and he references what should follow from that fear if they are to be successful leaders. Joshua 24:14. 

Joshua tells the leaders they are to fear the Lord and not engage in pagan practices. This is the moral implication of fearing the Lord. A leader who truly fears the Lord will be scared to death to disobey Him and sin. The Hebrew word used here for fearing God literally means “to be frightened,” “to be in a state of feeling great distress.” It also means “to revere,” but that is the not first or even primary meaning of the word. The Greek word used in the New Testament, “phobos,” means “to be afraid, in a state of fear,” or “to be alarmed.” It also means to revere, but again that is well down the list of definitions. To fear God certainly means to revere Him, but we revere Him after we fear Him. 

The command to fear God is not an Old Testament anomaly that went away with animal sacrifice and dietary laws. Jesus said to “fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.….” Matthew 10:28. After Pentecost, when Ananias and Sapphira were confronted by Peter for lying about their giving, the Lord struck them both dead, and “Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events,” as it should have. See Acts 5:10. Good leaders fear the Lord. Bad leaders fall because they don’t fear. 

The problem with leaders that fall into sin is not that they don’t love God enough but that they don’t love Him at all. The God they purport to love is a caricature of the real God, a god who can only love and never judge or discipline, and that is not the real God. Joshua warns against this by telling his leaders they must fear God and serve Him “in truth.” 

To fear the Lord also has a practical implication. To serve God in sincerity and truth is to relate to Him in a manner that is consistent with reality, and in reality God is awesome and omnipotent. We are nothing in comparison. So, to fear God and serve Him in sincerity and truth means to be humble toward Him because that is consistent with the actual relative positions of the parties involved. Moses, who is described as the most humble man of his day, is a good example of a leader who properly related to God. Numbers 12:3. 

At the same time, a fear of God should militate against a fear of man. King David understood this when he (presumably) wrote in Psalm 118, “The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?” The fear of God should make leaders confident before men.

Application

Great leaders are contrite before God and confident before men. They are so because they fear God. The fear of God is not just the beginning of wisdom but the beginning of good leadership.

Prayer

Lord, let the fear of You always guide my steps and govern my conduct. Amen.