 | Pastor Dave grew up in northern New Jersey in a very diverse cultural area. He attended Central College in Pella, Iowa received a BA in sociology and psychology. He was an offensive guard for their NCAA Div III National Championship team in 1974. In speaking for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, he sensed a call to full time ministry. Meeting is future wife Sandy at Central, went to Michigan to finish her college while Dave started Western Seminary in Holland, Michigan. Dave married Sandy in 77 and completed his Masters of Divinity degree in 78. Pastor Dave’s first church was in Fort Lee, New Jersey, home of the George Washington Bridge. Their three children were born there and he also served as a Police and Fire Chaplain for the city. In February 1991, they came to Wichita to start Harvest Community Church. In 2006, he received his Doctor of Ministry degree from Covenant Theological (Presbyterian) Seminary in St Louis. During that year he gained a daughter-in-law with now 2 grandsons of 3 years and 6 months old. Besides Pastoring at HCC for the past 20 years, he has been Director of the SCSD & WPD Police Chaplains for 11.
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Religion
2009-02-01 14:22:00
Love God or fear Him?
Question: Which is more important: to love God or to fear Him? I don’t see how it is possible to do both at the same time and to the same extent.
Answer: This is a great question because I think we will find ourselves pleasantly surprised how closely related they are rather than being opposites.
Also many get confused with the idea of the “fear of God” and that the question is not an either or question but a “both and” type of deal. That they go hand and hand. In the great love chapter in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 we find a tremendous definition of love. But in that passage we see the biblical idea of “the fear of God” comes through the action words that describe love as honor, awe and respect. There are other types of fear in the Bible like the God given feeling one gets when we are threatened with eminent danger, pain or disaster. But that is a different kind of fear.
God has this awesome authority and power that can make us tremble with that kind of fear but what we find is that it enhances the aspects of His love. That is why when we come to know God, it is so overwhelmingly spontaneous to want to love Him, because “He first loved us.” (1 John 4:10) He did not have to do anything for us but He did. (1 John 4:9) A
person should have that trembling fear if they live without God and reject His marvelous offer to us (John 3:18-20) but we are told when we do accept His love gift of Christ as personal savior, that perfect love of God expels all fear.
(1 John 4:18) That eternal life is ours. (John 3:16)
This past week I preached on “Hell” which is a hot topic but not very popular these days but what a symbol of the fear and love of God. Hell as it is described in the Bible is a very scary place. A place Jesus spoke about often with the metaphors of “fire,” (Mark 9:44) “gnashing of teeth,” (Matthew 13:50) “torment, agony and pain” (Luke 16:19-31) and “outer darkness” (Matthew 22:13) just to name a few. Some will try to write them off as just metaphors but the deal is Jesus is saying it is worse than we could ever imagine. So it is a place that should be feared for those who do not trust Christ for their eternal life assurance policy. But Hell says more about the love and awe, respect and honor (fear) of God than the fear (threat of eminent danger) of God.
First, the love of God does not send people to Hell. Instead, God allows man as free agents to do that to themselves. (John 3:19-20) He just lets them do it to themselves. (Romans 1:24) C.S. Lewis says it well by saying
that there are two types of people in the end. The first who trust God and say to Him, “Thy will be done” and are saved. The second group is those who are doing what they want and want no part of God in their lives in which He says to them, “thy will be done.” The second message of love God gives us with Hell is that God is a just god and there will be a final day when all the injustices, all the wrongs of this
life that are not resolved in this life will be made right. The final justice will finally be paid and made right. From
Satan on down, justice will be served and all made right.
The third message of Hell is most compelling to draw us to God’s love. Christ left the joy and beauty of Heaven in perfect communion with the Father to come to earth to suffer and die for our sin (Philippians 2:6-8). It was on the cross He took alienation, agony, torment and pain of Hell when He cried, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew
27:46) It was God’s good plan that He should experience the pain of His perfect wrath for our sin to satisfy His righteousness and bring justice through His Love (Isaiah 53:10-11). When we see the severity and gravity of Hell, we
realize the cost of God’s love and it is beyond our imagination (2 Corinthians 9:15). In the words of the hymn writer, “Love so amazing, so divine, demands my heart, my soul, my mind.” What does such costly love do for you? Living in the loving fear of God, Pastor Dave.
