The Fear of God

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Sunday morning, the 22nd of September, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the Gospel of Matthew 16:23:

“…for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”

That is what Jesus said to Peter, the apostle. What will people say? How will this relationship I have with Jesus Christ affect my hard-earned reputation? We are talking about the fear of man as opposed to the fear of God. Just a bit further on in Matthew 26:75, a very, very sad scripture, the Bible tells us that Peter went out and wept bitterly after he had denied the Lord three times.

There is a price to pay for you and I, my dear friend, when we want to truly follow the Master, but I want to tell you, it is so very worthwhile, as Peter, the big fisherman, eventually found out. After being baptised in the Holy Spirit of God, he went out into the streets totally fearless, putting an end to self-preservation. Peter preached his first sermon in the streets, and three thousand souls were brought to salvation. 

Your biggest enemy and my biggest enemy is not the devil. He had his neck broken on the Cross of Calvary when Jesus said, “It is finished!” Our biggest enemy is ourselves. Now if you look at Peter, he is one of the faith’s greatest heroes. What happened? Well, the fear of man was put to death and the love of Christ and his fellowman took first place. How many people do you know…I sat here in my prayer room thinking about this…how many people do you know who have the name, Peter? I have got very, very dear brothers in Christ, many of them who are called Peter. 

Some of the greatest buildings are named after Peter. Yes, of course they are built for the glory of God, but they are given the name of Peter because of how he ended up, the very one who denied the Lord three times, the very one who rebuked the Lord, and the Lord took him aside and said to him, “Peter, you are more concerned about the things of men than you are about the things of God.” If we want to live a life of purpose and a life of significance, we have got to look up to the Lord, put Him first in our lives, and I tell you what - you are going to have the most exciting life you could have ever dreamed of.

Jesus bless you and goodbye.