Fear the Lord: Psalm 112

THE EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY

Last Sunday, I took a few moments to reorient us to the Higher Time of the Church, Divine time, commonly called liturgical time. We are more than halfway through this Trinitytide season, the longest season of the Christian year. Its primary focus, aim, and end is spiritual growth, increasing our love of Christ, evidenced through our choices, actions, deeds, the words we speak, and where and what we do with our bodies. Faithful, loving obedience to Christ shows up in our actions.

St. James says, "Faith by itself if it does not have works, is dead” and concludes, "For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead" (Js 2:4-20). St. Paul calls this "faith working through love" (Gal 5:6). Belief expressed through godliness, virtue, and a righteous life is our common goal in sanctification unto which we are to spur one another on "that we may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Cor 1.8).

But we moderns struggle in the school of sanctification from binary thinking (among other things). Our default starting point when given two propositions is to set them in opposition, A or B. It's either one or the other, black or white. Our first option isn't C; our first consideration isn't that it might be grey. We must consciously step over this standard operating supposition to arrive at the possibility of A and B co-existing, complimenting each other, as somehow connected: maybe it's "both, and."

This innate tendency to separate and make hard distinctions between things turns up in how we think about the spiritual life, like the distinction we make between "the Law" and "the Gospel." Now, distinguishing between Law and Gospel is certainly not without its biblical foundation, and maintaining clarity on the differences between them is important to many aspects of Christian theology.

However, maintaining a hardline between the two causes us to categorize the spiritual life in one of two buckets: Law (which we think of as works-based) and Gospel (that which is of grace, unmerited and unearned). So when we hear James say, "Faith without works is dead," it gives us pause because we immediately feel the tension of two opposing ideas. After all, faith is wholly of grace, and works are of the Law. This leaves us asking, "Well, is it faith or works?" Add to this a strong bias towards grace coupled with an extremely cynical view of The Law, and you begin to sense the implications for the spiritual life.

Law, according to this sort of distinction, has to do with fear ("I don't want God to be mad at me!") and the anxiety of maintaining the religious performance of our duty (I better do what I'm told or God won't help me!) The Law is an inferior taskmaster, and when Christian duty falls under this understanding of Law, duty becomes servile and harsh. On the other hand, we think of the Gospel as God's free gift, conferred without respect for human merit or work (which is true). In fact, the Gospel's chief effect is to deliver man from the burden and servitude of the Law. "It's all been done for me; thus, there's nothing for me to do."

This view of grace easily leads to a Christianity devoid of duty and obligation. In the extreme, it morphs into antinomianism, which sees the wide expanse of God's grace as His loving allowance to live a lawless and sinful life without remorse, regret, or any responsibility to the Lord. Though the Law/Gospel distinction is useful in clarifying many aspects of theology, it hardly provides an adequate paradigm fit for the entirety of Christian thought and experience.

Take today's Psalm 112 (BCP, 483), which begins with the concept of the fear of the Lord. "Blessed is the man that feareth the LORD; he hath great delight in his commandments" (Ps 112:1). So how do we understand fearing God, and what does fear have to do with his commandments? Do we fear or obey? Is it black or white, or is it both... is it grey? "The fear of the Lord" is the beginning of biblical wisdom. It is neither a psychological state of terror nor a looming sense of dread. "Fear of the Lord" is better conveyed by the word reverence. We could describe reverence as fear arising from high respect. Reverence pays respect and honor to a worthy object.

For instance, in both the Old and New Testaments, reverence is due to our parents, our fathers, and mothers (Lev. 19:3; Heb. 12:9); St. Peter, in his first epistle, exhorts us to honor, or revere, our brothers and sisters and the Emperor (or lawful authority) as well (1 Pt 2:17). But the primary object of reverence owed by every person, even the very cosmos, is the Lord God himself (1 Kings 18:3, 12). The writer of Hebrews tells us to "offer God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe" (Heb. 12:28). We revere God first and foremost by honoring His commandments.

Still, to fear the Lord is far more than cultivating a sentiment of reverence and honor towards Him and his commands. Fear of God, rather, is a resolved dedication of oneself to accomplishing God's will in loving obedience. To fear the Lord is to tend to our Christian duties because obedience demonstrates reverence happily. The inward state of the heart always manifests itself through actions. In other words, fearing the Lord is our faith working through love.

The fear of the Lord is something to be practiced, and in practicing reverential fear, we gain divine wisdom. In other words, obedience learns wisdom, and verses 4 through 9 reveal the virtuous path of obedience, which leads to wisdom. Now, the Psalmist will show us what obedience looks like in very practical terms because God's commandments are not fuzzy or hard to determine; in fact, they are the plainest things in Scripture: "Love me and love one another:" That's pretty clear! If you want a picture of the one who fears the Lord, simply look to Jesus because you'll see- as we walk through these few verses- that fearing the Lord and living reverently before him is but the imitation of Christ.

In verse four, the one who fears the Lord is "merciful, loving, and righteous" because "Unto the godly there ariseth up light in the darkness." Oh, how easy it is to receive mercy but so hard to give it. And what about love? It's nearly painless to love the loveable, but what about the others? We demand justice for ourselves. We want others to deal with us righteously, but are we just in all of our affairs? Do we seek justice for the vulnerable, the downtrodden, and the forgotten?

But the one who fears the Lord shows compassion to sinners, forgiving even when the other person doesn't deserve it. How clearly, we mirror our Lord when we forgive that which is unforgivable! And how close do we walk in the footsteps of Jesus when we love our enemies and those who hate us, for he came to a world that did not want him, he was despised and rejected by men, and yet he loved to the uttermost, he gave his life for a world that hates him.

St. John says that the Light shone in the darkness, the Light of salvation who gave his life for the unrighteous, incurring the gravest injustice in his body to justify sinners like you and me. So when you forgive, love your enemies, and deal righteously with others, God is pleased, and it shows that the Light of Christ has surely lighted upon your soul.

The one who fears the Lord is generous and lends freely. (v.5), "A good man is merciful, and lendeth; and will guide his words with discretion." Taken literally, the merciful one lends whatever he has to help another, whether it be money, a shoulder to cry on, a room to sleep in, or whatever good is required to love a neighbor as self. Verse nine further describes this charitableness to the poor as "dispersed abroad," meaning he lends exorbitantly with freedom of bounty, "like the rays of the sun on the drops of the rain." Such magnanimity of spirit lends without regard for repayment, as Scripture says, "He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord, and that which he hath given will He pay him again."

Jesus says it like this, "Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me... Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life" (Mt 25:40, 45-46). How, my friends, can we ever repay him who has loved us with such perfect love? Remember Jesus' verdict pronounced over a sinful woman who washed his feet with her tears: "Because her many sins have been forgiven, she has loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little" (Lk 7:47). We repay Christ by loving others as we have been loved and forgiven.

My friends, the one whose heart is full of compassion for the poor, and whose hands distribute to their necessities, from a true doctrine of love and charity towards them, and with a view to the glory of God, and not from any selfish principle; such a gift to the poor is a loan to the Lord; it is not simply cast away upon the poor, but is a "deposit" in the hands of God, and shall be returned with advantage; for again, "that which he hath given will He pay him again"; either in this life, in things temporal and spiritual, increasing his worldly substance, blessing his posterity, granting him larger measures of grace, indulging him with his gracious presence, and giving him peace of mind, which passeth all understanding; or in the world to come; not as a reward of debt, but of grace (Eccles 11:1-2).

Remember the words of Christ, who said, "The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person's reward. And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward." Mat 10:41-42). The one who fears the Lord becomes a reward to those who receive him, and God shall reward those who fear the Lord.

Returning to the second half of verse five, The God-fearer "guides his words with discretion." So he is not only generous to the poor but careful to avoid offense, prudently speaking that which builds up, saying the truth in love, not avoiding hard conversations but articulating them gently, patiently, and with good intent, for love desires the good of the beloved.

Consider our Lord Jesus Christ, Who in His goodness had pity on us and lent us all the grace and strength needed for salvation, of which He will demand repayment with interest when He, Who spake ever with divine wisdom, Who overcame when He was judged, shall guide His own words in the Judgment, words of reward to His faithful stewards, and words of condemnation to such who waste His goods.

Now, let me set this in clear, practical terms. When we resolve to lovingly obey God's commandments, we fear the Lord: this is the beginning of wisdom. Wisdom is learned as we walk in obedience with God. The wise person is blessed because a life lived according to God's precepts and order pleases Him, and no better reality exists beyond knowing that God delights in us.

This is what it means to be blessed in God, and knowing God's love and pleasure towards us is the firm foundation beneath our feet. So my friends, fear the Lord, do good unto your neighbor, do not be afraid of any evil tidings, but stand fast in the Lord. "Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord; he hath great delight in his commandments" (Ps 112:1). Amen+