COG 94: The Faithful Follower | The Discipleship Spiral, Part 5

The Discipleship Spiral is so important, but the mountain you choose to ascend is even more important! Join AMBrewster as he explains the last and most important part of the disciple’s journey.

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Introduction

Welcome to our final episode in our Discipleship Spiral Series. If you’ve just discovered The Celebration of God, I’m so glad you’re here, but I’m going to encourage you to go back to episode 90 and start there.

After that, be sure to listen to our introductory episodes so you can learn what The Year Long Celebration of God is all about.

In short, God deserves our worship every day of the year, and we should be worshipping Him more and better this year than we did the year before. And that’s what The Celebration of God podcast is trying to help God’s people do.

But before we conclude this series, I’d like to ask that if you have been blessed at all by this study, if you’re learned anything, understood anything, and been able to live more wisely because of this series, please take a minute to rate and review the show. The two best places to do it are on Apple Podcasts and Facebook.

Thank you in advance for telling people how valuable The Celebration of God podcast is.

And don’t forget that CelebrationOfGod.com has all the free episode notes, transcripts, and worship resources you need to be a better follower of Christ this year.

Now, let’s talk about the most important part of the Discipleship Spiral.

Topic

A few episodes ago I talked about the fact that the image of the Discipleship Spiral is made up of two key parts — the mountain and the path that winds its way around the mountain. 

Over the past three episodes we’ve been studying the three parts of the path. Every disciple of God is going to acquire knowledge, deepen their understanding of that knowledge, and apply that knowledge and understanding to their lives. That — in turn — will lead them to acquiring more knowledge about God, understanding it, and working it out in their lives . . . and so on. 

And slowly but surely the disciple will become more and more conformed to the image of Christ as they ascend the mountain.

Now, before we talk about the mountain, I want to make a few more observations about the path.

First, we will never reach the top of the mountain in this life. We will always be sinners, and we will never be perfectly like Christ until we’re glorified in eternity. Of course, that reality should never dissuade us from climbing.

Second, as we mature in our conformity to Christ, the Spiral becomes tighter and tighter. The means that the frequency with which we move from knowledge to wisdom and onward to more knowledge should increase. Disciples are students, therefore a better disciple should be a better student.

Third, as the Spiral tightens, the incline of every part of the Spiral increases. Early on in our discipleship journey we were introduced to the milk of the Word. And that was right and good and necessary. But like the author of Hebrews says in chapter 5, verses 12-14, “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.”

The mysteries of God are fathomless and profound. We must not shy away from the difficult questions and heavy truths of the Bible. Yes, the sprawling journey at the bottom of the mountain where we learned the elementary principles of God was comparatively easier than the solid food of the Scriptures. But we must never shy away from the fact that a disciple is an eternal student. We can’t stop dead in our discipleship journey just because the going gets tough.

So, that’s the Spiral, now let’s talk about the mountain.

No doubt — since the beginning of this study — you have pictured the top of the mountain leading to conformity to God. And that is an accurate picture for the disciple of Christ.

But, if you took a moment to look at the cover art for this series, then you noticed that there were two mountains shown. One was a tall and stately mountain with a golden castle on a sunny peak.

The other was a dark and sinister volcano with nothing more than a torrent of lava at the top.

But both of these mountains have a spiral around it. And that’s because the Discipleship Spiral is not limited to the things of God. The Spiral works regardless of which mountain it scales.

Last time we talked about Didactic Wisdom. A disciple of math needs to learn, understand, and then apply that learning. And — as a disciple of math — they will grow in their use of math as they continually learn, understand, and use the more advanced facts about math.

But — in this case — the mountain is not the things of God. The mountain was math.

Now, I don’t want to overcomplicate this imagery, but I do want to point out the fact that all of us are good at some things and not as good at others. Some of you are very good disciples of cars. I am not. However, I have been a disciple of the martial arts for over 25 years. I’m pretty good at it.

So, in a way, we could imagine an innumerable number of discipleship spirals on an equal number of mountains to illustrate the reality that the spiral is the same regardless of which mountain we’re trying to scale, or — we could say — which discipline we’re trying to learn and use in our lives.

But I want to simplify the image for our purposes here.

In the What Is Worship? Series we recognized that worship is everything we do, say, feel, want, and think. But we’re not really worshipping cars, money, or chocolate when we indulge in them . . . we’re worshipping ourselves with those things.

As Ken Collier famously says, “Just two choices on the shelf — pleasing God or pleasing self.”

We either lay our possessions and experiences — and even our very selves — on the altar to God for His glory, or we lay those things on the altar to self for our own satisfaction.

Therefore, my friends, there are really only two mountains. There’s the mountain of God and the mountain of self.

Ascending the mountain of God will result in us becoming more like God. Ascending the mountain to self will result in us becoming knowledgeable, discerning, and Delusionally Wise, but for our own purposes and in our own power. We’ll be nothing more than disciples of self.

The mountain of God results in us receiving the blessings of being a faithful follower of Christ, and the mountain of self leads to the volcanic destruction of leaning on our own understanding and doing what’s right in our own eyes.

Therefore, it’s extremely important that we climb the right mountain. It’s eternally vital that we follow Christ instead of our own desires.

It’s also very important for us to recognize that just because we or our children or counselees or church members are learning and understanding and applying that truth to our lives does not necessarily mean that they’re glorifying God. 

History is replete with stories of people who did the right things in the right way for their own glory. Those people were idolaters and they did not please the Lord.

Therefore, we need to believe that being a disciple of Christ is infinitely better than living this life for our own temporal comfort. We need to do the right things in the right way for the right reasons and in the right power to know that we are truly on God’s mountain, not our own.

Now, as you all know, I made up this metaphor of the Discipleship Spiral and the mountain. But these images are based in biblical commands and principles. So, today I want to look at how the Bible discusses what we’re calling “the mountain of God.”

Today we’re going to talk about the fear of the Lord.

So, let’s jump right in by looking at . . .

1. The Nature of the Fear of the Lord

The Hebrew word most often translated “fear” in the “fear of God/the Lord” has two main ideas wrapped up in it.

On one hand the word refers simply to dread and extreme fear. In Psalm 55:4-5 we read, “My heart is in anguish within me, And the terrors of death have fallen upon me. 5 Fear and trembling come upon me, And horror has overwhelmed me.”

That’s our word, “fear.”

On the other hand, the word was also used to refer to reverence and awe.

In Psalm 5:7 David says, “But as for me, by Your abundant lovingkindness I will enter Your house, At Your holy temple I will bow in reverence for You.”

And both of these ideas are wrapped up in the concept of what it means to fear the Lord.

Without taking too much time, allow me to step us through the process.

A. As an unbeliever, there should be nothing scarier to us than the Living God. If we live in defiance to Him in our own Delusional Wisdom, we will receive the consequences of that choice both now and for all eternity.

Of course, God is also loving and gracious — I don’t want to downplay that — but the reality of Hell and judgement and the wrath of God is a legitimately fearful thing, and until I no longer have any reason to fear it, it will eclipse the other attributes of God.

So, then the Holy Spirit works in us and B. As a disciple of Christ we learn the revere God in holy awe.

As a child of God, you do not need to fear God’s eternal wrath. I’m not afraid of His judgement, but I am in absolute awe of His grace and mercy and long-suffering and kindness and the immeasurable riches He daily pours on me as a child of God.

However, it doesn’t stop there. Disciples of Christ don’t just substitute dread for reverence. There is still an element of dread within the fear of the Lord.

Allow me to illustrate it this way. I would hate to forget my wife’s or my children’s birthdays. I absolutely do not want to fail my family in that way. I love them so much and value them so much that I would hate to let them down.

Do I fear failing them because of how they’re going to respond? If I fail them, am I afraid they’ll torture me? No. I actually fear failing them because I value them so much.

My response to God is far greater.

As a follower of Christ, I’m not afraid of God per se; I’m afraid of displeasing God.

In I Corinthians 9:27 Paul puts it this way, “I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.”

He did not want to fail his God.

So, to fear the Lord is to respect and admire Him because He’s so amazing and simultaneously fear displeasing Him. 

But the fear of God is not an optional thing.

2. God Expects us to Fear Him

Proverbs 3:7, “Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and turn away from evil.”

There are three commands here. 1. Don’t be wise in your own eyes. AKA: don’t be delusional, and don’t have mere Didactic Wisdom. 2. Fear the Lord, and 3. Turn away from evil.

What’s interesting is that you can’t do any one of those without doing the others. If you’re wise in your own eyes, you’re not doing the other two. If you’re biblically turning away from evil, that can only be a result of fearing the Lord and not leaning on your own understanding.

Proverbs 23:17 says, “Do not let your heart envy sinners, But live in the fear of the Lord always.” Not only does God expect that we fear Him, He expects that we do it all the time.

But the Old Testament isn’t the only place that demands that we fear God.

I Peter 2:17 tells us, “Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king.”

And Revelation 14:7 reads, “And I saw another angel flying in midheaven, having an eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people; 7 and he said with a loud voice, ‘Fear God, and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come; worship Him who made the heaven and the earth and sea and springs of waters.’”

From the first book of the Bible ever written to the book that details the beginning of eternity, God commands everyone everywhere to fear Him.

Allow this to really shine a light on your own priorities. Nowhere does the Bible say that we absolutely need to become successful doctors or play forward on our high school soccer team or get that scholarship or work that job or have that family. 

Yes, we’re to do our best and all of that, but God doesn’t command those specifics. However, He does expressly command us to fear Him, to love Him, to obey Him, to submit to Him, and to sacrifice our very lives to Him. He demands that we be Zealous Students, Discerning Researchers, Unashamed Workman, and Faithful Followers of His.

So, let me ask you, are those your highest goals for yourself?

I pray that it is for you, but I also beg you to see them as God’s highest goal for everyone in your life.

We talk a lot about personal discipleship on this show. But to be a disciple of Christ is to participate in the discipleship of others. That’s called corporate discipleship, and we talk a lot about that too.

We can’t call ourselves followers of Christ if we won’t follow Him in making disciples. He commands it; if we don’t obey that command, we’re no disciple of His.

And — guess what — even the world understands this reality.

I had someone forward me a clip of a comedian named Mekki Leeper. Now, listen, you do not want to follow this guy or listen to his comedy. He’s very crass and discusses a ton of vile things.

This particular clip was sent to me though because of the unique perspective he had on parenting, and I want you to listen to it because I want you to see that even this unregenerate comedian understands how important it is to engage in evangelism and corporate discipleship.

Don’t worry, there’s nothing obscene in this short clip.

Listen carefully.

Mekki Leeper: “It was weird growing up in a house with two religions. You know, my mom was muslim, and my dad was Christian. And instead of forcing one on me like you’re supposed to with your child, they’re like, ‘Nah, it’ll be fine. We’ll just let him pick. C’mon Mek. It’s about time. After all, you are eight. Sure, you can’t choose what you wear or what you eat, but ‘creator of the known universe?’ That’s all you, baby. Roll the dice. No pressure, one of us has to be wrong, so, why don’t you come home after little league and denounce one of your parent’s beliefs. That will be character building, I think.’ I left all that behind, though, moved out here — big atheist now. Praise, Space X or whatever we’re doing.”

And now I want you to couple that with this view from a very famous atheist known as Penn Jillette. In a 5 minute video which I’ll link in the description of today’s show, Penn talks about a Christian man who gave him a Bible. Penn was very respectful of this particular man for many reasons espoused in the video, but then he says something really amazing about the practice of proselytizing. 

If that’s a new word to you, to proselytize is to share your beliefs with another person in such a way that you’re trying to persuade them to believe the same as you. It can be used of evangelism as well as discipleship.

Penn said, “I’ve always said I don’t respect people who don’t proselytize. I don’t respect that at all. If you believe that there’s a heaven and a hell and that people could be goin to hell or not getting eternal life or whatever, and you think that ‘It’s not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward’ — atheists that think that people shouldn’t proselytize, ‘Just leave me alone — keep your religion to yourself’ — how much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize? How much do you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them that? I mean, if I believe beyond a shadow of a doubt that a truck was coming at you, and you didn’t believe it — that truck was bearing down on you — there’s a certain point where I tackle you. And [eternal life] is more important than that.”

So, let me ask you, pastor, counselor, teacher, parent, friend . . . how much do you have to hate the people in your life to believe that the most important thing in the whole world is to fear the Lord, and yet not proselytize them?

In the words of an atheist, “How much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize?”

The very core of biblical discipleship is a disciple of Christ who follows Christ and does his very best to convince the other people in his life to genuinely follow Christ too.

Now, of course, I’m not talking about manipulation, I’m not talking about behavior management, I’m talking about evangelism and discipleship.

But the problem is that we too often take all of our talk time with the people in our lives discussing sports and grades and chores and friends and entertainment, but we rarely discuss how the fear of the Lord must not only be the most important aspect of all of that, it must be the very root of all of it.

And we do this primarily because we do not fear the Lord as we should. 

II Corinthians 5:11 says, “Knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men.”

For those of you who heard the What Is Worship? Series, you should recognize this as a reality of Unified Worship. Split Worship only partially glorifies God because it results in me obeying God in every way except my responsibility to disciple others.

However, Unified Worship pleases the Lord entirely because we’re growing as Faithful Followers of Christ as we help those around us to do the same.

So, part of the reason we will persuade others to fear the Lord is that God is worth it, and the other reason we do it is we believe . . .

3. There are Consequences for Not Fearing the Lord

Romans 3:10-18, “There is none righteous, not even one; 11 There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God; 12 All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one. 13 Their throat is an open grave, With their tongues they keep deceiving, The poison of asps is under their lips; 14 Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; 15 Their feet are swift to shed blood, 16 Destruction and misery are in their paths, 17 And the path of peace they have not known. 18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

And never forget the words of Romans 1:18-32. “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them . . . . For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. 24 Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. 25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, 27 and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. 28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; 32 and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.”

These passages show the results of people who know and understand certain divine truths, but they don’t wisely live in the reality of them because they have chosen not to fear the Lord. Instead of ascending the mountain of God, they’re using the Discipleship Spiral to glorify self.

And the consequences are so sad.

So we need to fear God, and we need to convince others to fear God because He’s worth it and because of the consequences if we don’t, but also because . . .

4. The Blessings of Fearing the Lord

These following verses are powerful in that they contrast the blessings of the fear of the Lord with even more consequences of despising Him.

Proverbs 10:27, “The fear of the Lord prolongs life, But the years of the wicked will be shortened.”

Proverbs 14:26-27, “In the fear of the Lord there is strong confidence, And his children will have refuge. 27 The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, That one may avoid the snares of death.”

Proverbs 15:16, “Better is a little with the fear of the Lord Than great treasure and turmoil with it.”

Proverbs 16:6, “By lovingkindness and truth iniquity is atoned for, And by the fear of the Lord one keeps away from evil.”

Proverbs 19:23, “The fear of the Lord leads to life, So that one may sleep satisfied, untouched by evil.”

Proverbs 22:4, “The reward of humility and the fear of the Lord Are riches, honor and life.”

Proverbs 31:30, “Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, But a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.”

And consider Acts 9:31, “So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace, being built up; and going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it continued to increase.”

We will never experience any lasting, genuine, and worthwhile spiritual success in this life if we do not fear God.

This is so amazing that I want to take a minute to pull out some sub-points of the blessings of fearing God.

A. The Fear of the Lord Helps Us Learn Better

Proverbs 1:7, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

Proverbs 1:29, “Because they hated knowledge And did not choose the fear of the Lord.”

When we start with the fear of the Lord, we will approach learning very differently. This is why so many people who don’t fear the Lord hate learning. Fools despise wisdom and instruction.

But also . . .

B. The Fear of the Lord Helps Us Understand Better

Proverbs 9:10, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”

And Psalm 111:10 says, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments.”

And this is why . . .

C. The Fear of the Lord Helps Us Live Better

Proverbs 9:10 again, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”

Proverbs 15:33, “The fear of the Lord is the instruction for wisdom, And before honor comes humility.”

We and our disciplees may be able to achieve Didactic Wisdom without fearing God. We may put a man on mars or transplant a heart, but we will lose our souls if we don’t fear God. We need Divine Wisdom, and that only comes from the fear of the Lord.

But — in all of this — we’re also going to have to believe that . . .

5. The Fear of the Lord Requires Work

The mountain of God is much higher and requires more of us than the mountain of self. When we choose to ascend the high biblical expectations of God, we will immediately realize that we can’t do it in our own power. And the same is true for our fellow disciples.

It’s one thing to share the facts, the benefits, and the consequences with them. It’s another to actually teach them how to fear the Lord.

We’ve read Proverbs 2:2-5 many times now: “My son, if you will receive my words And treasure my commandments within you, 2 Make your ear attentive to wisdom, Incline your heart to understanding; 3 For if you cry for discernment, Lift your voice for understanding; 4 If you seek her as silver And search for her as for hidden treasures; 5 Then you will discern the fear of the Lord And discover the knowledge of God.”

We need to teach others how to search for the knowledge and understanding of God that will result in the wise application of the fear of the Lord.

The Hebrew word for “seek” refers to searching, investigating, begging, and even demanding.

We need to teach our students and friends and coworkers and family how to be so passionate for the will of God that they demand to know more so they can understand better so they can live more holy lives.

But — I’ll tell you this — they won’t even think to live that way if they’re not seeing it demonstrated in us.

If we don’t need it, why do they?

But if they see our passion and our spiritual maturity and our spiritual successes in Christ, that will be a much more persuasive argument for the fear of the Lord.

Therefore, we must model for them and teach them the hard work of fearing God. And that includes . . .

A. To fear the Lord we must turn away from evil. 

We must not tolerate evil anywhere in our lives. Any and all sin — the Lust of the Flesh, the Lust of the Eyes, the Pride of Life, sins of omission, sins of commission, highhanded sins of rebellion, naive sins of ignorance — we must turn from it all. No sin is okay. We don’t excuse it, we don’t lie about it, we don’t tolerate it, we mortify it. That means that we put it to death.

Proverbs 3:7 says, “Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and turn away from evil.”

The fear of the Lord is not only going to cause me to turn away from the evil outside of me, it will cause me to turn away from the evil inside of me. This includes our natural fleshly beliefs, thoughts, desires, feelings, actions, and words.

Proverbs 8:13 is really powerful: “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverted mouth, I hate.”

Do we hate pride and arrogance, perverted mouths, and evil ways?

And — in case you’re unsure — godly hatred is not unloving. It’s not hateful. Hating evil does not excuse rudeness and wickedness and being a jerk and arrogance and the like. 

But not only are we to turn away from evil in the form of behavior, we must also turn away from the people who are evil.

Proverbs 24:21, “My son, fear the Lord and the king; Do not associate with those who are given to change.”

The idea of being given to change refers to inconsistency — people who don’t act faithfully and persevere in righteousness.

And this admonishment has to start with Proverbs 23:17, “Do not let your heart envy sinners, But live in the fear of the Lord always.” 

If I fear God, I’m not going to envy people who don’t fear God.

And unfortunately we don’t have the time to talk about how we are to be in the world and not of the world, how we are to separate from those who claim to be children of God but who live like children of Satan, but we’re supposed to reach out to the lost. We just don’t have time to talk about the different between fellowship and being a friend, the difference between influencing and being influenced.

So, let me say that the idea of not associating with people given to change has mostly to do with not being in a relationship where they are influencing me to sin as they are.

But turning from evil will always be incomplete if we do not also go the opposite direction.

B. To fear the Lord we must turn to righteousness. 

Turning from sin to the Savior — turning from evil to righteousness — is known as repentance.

But so often we’re so focused on what we and others are not supposed do that we don’t discuss the right things to do. 

I look forward to another series I plan to do in the future which is about the 5 Jobs of a Discipler. In that study we’ll see the importance of telling people to stop doing wrong and the necessity of teaching them to do right.

Consider II Corinthians 7:1, “Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”

That is the grand and glorious end of what it is to fear God — perfecting holiness.

If we’re fearing God, we’ll be growing in our holiness. If we’re not growing in holiness, we’re not fearing God.

Conclusion

And that, my friends, is it.

That’s the Discipleship Spiral. Are you on it?

Perhaps as we’ve worked through this material you’ve come to realize that you aren’t really a disciple of Christ because you don’t really care to live for Him. You’re too wrapped up living for your own pleasures and desires.

Well, if that’s the case, I invite you to stop worshipping the puny, impotent God of self and turn to the Almighty Lord of the universe.

If you’re not sure how to do that, but you’re interested, please send an email to [email protected]. We’d love to speak with you.

On the other hand, perhaps you’ve realized that though you are a disciple, you’re not a very good one. You drag your feet learning about God. You don’t like the work it takes to understand the Bible. And you only apply the Scriptures when you deem it absolutely necessary. 

Perhaps you’re looking up the mountain and realizing that you would be so much further up if you took God’s glory and your discipleship seriously.

To that end, the Celebration of God Disciplers would love to talk to you about how you can mature past the milk of the work and sink your teeth into the glories of spiritual maturity.

Now, allow me to bring this series to a temporary close by reading Ecclesiastes 12:13-14, “The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. 14 For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.”

Let’s work though this passage backwards.

Whether we are living righteously or wickedly God is going to judge it. And there’s not a single person who has or will ever live who can escape this reality.

Therefore, we must fear God and keep His commandments.

Those are completely indivisible realities. If we fear God, we will keep His commandments. If we’re not keeping His commandments, we’re not fearing God.

In the same way, a person who fears the Lord will learn and understand and live accordingly. But a person who refuses to learn and understand and live accordingly absolutely is not fearing God.

Thank you for your patience today as we complete — for now — this huge discussion, and I hope you’ll join us next time as we seek to better know, love, and worship God and help the people in our lives do the same.

To that end, we’ll be discussing Worshipping God in February.