Fear and Trust
Theme of the Week: Both Kind and Stern
Sunday, August 24, 2008
 1 of 1
Who Said It … John Piper
John Piper was raised in South Carolina and, after theological studies, taught biblical studies at Bethel College, St. Paul, Minnesota. He has been the pastor for preaching at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, since 1980. Dr. Piper and his wife, Noël, have four grown sons and one daughter. John has written several books, including Battling Unbelief, When I Don't Desire God, When the Darkness Will Not Lift, and What Jesus Demands from the World.
What He Said … Fear and Trust
Following his warning to "fear only God who can destroy both soul and body in hell" (Matthew 10:28), Jesus' very next sentence is designed to give us deep peace and full confidence under God's fatherly care: "Not even a sparrow, worth only half a penny, can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it."
In the same breath Jesus says, "Fear God who casts into hell" and "Don't fear because God is your Father who values you more than the sparrows and knows your smallest need."
How does Jesus mean for us to experience these two truths? How can real fear of God coexist with trust in him? The key isn't removing the God of wrath from our thinking, but recognizing that God is the one who removes his own wrath from us. "I, the Son of Man, came … to give my life as a ransom for many" (Matthew 20:28). Consequently, "those who … believe … will never be condemned for their sins" (John 5:24).
Adapted from What Jesus Demands from the World (Crossway, 2006) by permission.
Copyright © 2008 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.
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Deliver me, God, from an easy familiarity that fails to recognize Your overwhelming power and hatred of sin.
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