Public Lecture Day on John Calvin

at

Presbyterian Theological College

Wednesday  August 5th, 10am – 4.30pm, 7.30pm

PTC Melbourne is hosting a day of  lectures to commemorate the  500th anniversary of the birth of John Calvin.

There will be lectures morning and afternoon, and a public meeting in the evening.  The lectures will be addressed by Dr Carl Trueman. Dr Carl Trueman is Professor of Historical Theology and Church History at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, USA and a well known international author and lecturer in his field.

John Calvin was a theologian, pastor, biblical exegete, and tireless apologist for Reformed Christianity, and ranks among the most important thinkers in church history. His theological works, biblical commentaries, tracts, treatises, sermons, and letters helped establish the Reformation as a legitimate and thriving religious movement throughout Europe.  No theologian has been as acclaimed or assailed as much as Calvin.

PROGRAM

10.00am – 11.00am - Calvin as Church Reformer

light refreshments provided

11.30am – 12.30pm - Calvin’s Institutes

LUNCH BREAK

2.00pm – 3.00pm - Calvin as Biblical Commentator

light refreshments provided

3.30pm – 4.30pm - Calvin and Westminster

PUBLIC RALLY

7.30pm - The Legacy of John Calvin

“Wherever we find the Word of God surely preached and heard, and the sacraments administered according to the institution of Christ, there, it is not to be doubted, is a church of God.” [John Calvin]

“Therefore I will praise you, O LORD, among the nations; I will sing praises to your name.” 2 Samuel 22:5
An Anonymous Story called “Daniel’s Gloves”

(Author Unknown or is it? Please. Read on.)

I sat, with two friends, in the picture window of a quaint restaurant just off the corner of the town-square. The food and the company were both especially good that day.

As we talked, my attention was drawn outside, across the street. There, walking into town, was a man who appeared to be carrying all his worldly goods on his back. He was carrying, a well-worn sign that read, ‘I will work for food.’ My heart sank.

I brought him to the attention of my friends and noticed that others around us had stopped eating to focus on him. Heads moved in a mixture of sadness and disbelief.

We continued with our meal, but his image lingered in my mind. We finished our meal and went our separate ways. I had errands to do and quickly set out to accomplish them. I glanced toward the town square, looking somewhat halfheartedly for the strange visitor. I was fearful, knowing that seeing him again would call some response. I drove through town and saw nothing of him. I made some purchases at a store and got back in my car.
Deep within me, the Spirit of God kept speaking to me: ‘Don’t go back to the office until you’ve at least driven once more around the square.’

Then with some hesitancy, I headed back into town. As I turned the square’s third corner, I saw him. He was standing on the steps of the store front church, going through his sack.
I stopped and looked; feeling both compelled to speak to him, yet wanting to drive on. The empty parking space on the corner seemed to be a sign from God: an invitation to park. I pulled in, got out and approached the town’s newest visitor.

‘Looking for the pastor?’ I asked.

‘Not really,’ he replied, ‘just resting.’
‘Have you eaten today?’

‘Oh, I ate something early this morning.’

‘Would you like to have lunch with me?’

‘Do you have some work I could do for you?’

‘No work,’ I replied ‘I commute here to work from the city, but I would like to take you to lunch.’

‘Sure,’ he replied with a mile.

As he began to gather his things, I asked some surface questions. Where you headed?’

‘ St. Louis ‘

‘Where you from?’

‘Oh, all over; mostly Florida ..’

‘How long you been walking?’

‘Fourteen years,’ came the reply.

I knew I had met someone unusual. We sat across from each other in the same restaurant I had left earlier. His face was weathered slightly beyond his 38 years. His eyes were dark yet clear, and he spoke with an eloquence and articulation that was startling. He removed his jacket to reveal a bright red T-shirt that said, ‘Jesus is The Never Ending Story.’

Then Daniel’s story began to unfold. He had seen rough times early in life. He’d made some wrong choices and reaped the consequences.. Fourteen years earlier, while backpacking across the country, he had stopped on the beach in Daytona.. He tried to hire on with some men who were putting up a large tent and some equipment. A concert, he thought.

He was hired, but the tent would not house a concert but revival services, and in those services he saw life more clearly. He gave his life over to God .

‘Nothing’s been the same since,’ he said, ‘I felt the Lord telling me to keep walking, and so I did, some 14 years now.’

‘Ever think of stopping?’ I asked.

‘Oh, once in a while, when it seems to get the best of me But God has given me this calling. I give out Bibles That’s what’s in my sack. I work to buy food and Bibles, and I give them out when His Spirit leads.’

I sat amazed. My homeless friend was not homeless. He was on a mission and lived this way by choice.. The question burned inside for a moment and then I asked: ‘What’s it like?’

‘What?’

‘To walk into a town carrying all your things on your back and to show your sign?’

‘Oh, it was humiliating at first. People would stare and make comments. Once someone tossed a piece of half-eaten bread and made a gesture that certainly didn’t make me feel welcome. But then it became humbling to realize that God was using me to touch lives and change people’s concepts of other folks like me.’
My concept was changing, too. We finished our dessert and gathered his things. Just outside the door, he paused He turned to me and said, ‘Come Ye blessed of my Father and inherit the kingdom I’ve prepared for you. For when I was hungry you gave me food, when I was thirsty you gave me drink, a stranger and you took me in.’

I felt as if we were on holy ground.. ‘Could you use another Bible?’ I asked.

He said he preferred a certain translation. It traveled well and was not too heavy. It was also his personal favorite.. ‘I’ve read through it 14 times,’ he said.

‘I’m not sure we’ve got one of those, but let’s stop by our church and see’ I was able to find my new friend a Bible that would do well, and he seemed very grateful.
‘Where are you headed from here?’ I asked.
‘Well, I found this little map on the back of this amusement park coupon.’

‘Are you hoping to hire on there for awhile?’

‘No, I just figure I should go there. I figure someone under that star right there needs a Bible, so that’s where I’m going next.’

He smiled, and the warmth of his spirit radiated the sincerity of his mission. I drove him back to the town-square where we’d met two hours earlier, and as we drove, it started raining. We parked and unloaded his things.
‘Would you sign my autograph book?’ he asked.. ‘I like to keep messages from folks I meet.’
I wrote in his little book that his commitment to his calling had touched my life. I encouraged him to stay strong. And I left him with a verse of scripture from Jeremiah, ‘I know the plans I have for you, declared the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you; Plans to give you a future and a hope.’
‘Thanks, man,’ he said. ‘I know we just met and we’re really just strangers, but I love you.’
‘I know,’ I said, ‘I love you, too.’ ‘The Lord is good!’

‘Yes, He is. How long has it been since someone hugged you?’ I asked.

A long time,’ he replied .
And so on the busy street corner in the drizzling rain, my new friend and I embraced, and I felt deep inside that I had been changed.. He put his things on his back, smiled his winning smile and said, ‘See you in the New Jerusalem.’

‘I’ll be there!’ was my reply.

He began his journey again. He headed away with his sign dangling from his bedroll and pack of Bibles. He stopped, turned and said, ‘When you see something that makes you think of me, will you pray for me?’
‘You bet,’ I shouted back, ‘God bless.’
‘God bless.’ And that was the last I saw of him.
Late that evening as I left my office, the wind blew strong. The cold front had settled hard upon the town. I bundled up and hurried to my car. As I sat back and reached for the emergency brake, I saw them…. a pair of well-worn brown work gloves neatly laid over the length of the handle. I picked them up and thought of my friend and wondered if his hands would stay warm that night without them.
Then I remembered his words: ‘If you see something that makes you think of me, will you pray for me?’
Today his gloves lie on my desk in my office.. They help me to see the world and its people in a new way, and they help me remember those two hours with my unique friend and to pray for his ministry. ‘See you in the New Jerusalem,’ he said. Yes, Daniel, I know I will…

Evening Service, 5th July 2009

What is the secret of the good life?

Is it having ‘x’ amount of dollars in the bank so you can do what you like whenever you like? Is it having not merely job security but a realisation that your work matters, or perhaps better still that it not only brings satisfaction to you as well as benefit to others, but that it actually fills you with enjoyment? Is that the key to the good life? Is it where you live, and that if you have a sea-change then you will finally find yourself living the good life?

Some years ago there was a TV program called ‘The Good life” in which Tom and Barbara turned their backs on the rat race and turned their front and back yards into farmland in the pursuit of self-sufficiency. Is that the secret of the good life – to opt out and to go back to nature, to self-sufficiency, free from all the stresses and strains of modern living?

What is the secret of the good life? Is it having your health or strength, or being surrounded by family and good friends who love you and are supportive?

James tells us, the secret to the good life is to know the influence of the Word of God in our lives.

This is the means God has given us that we might know how to live and to get the most out of life in this present world – whether during times of blessing, but also in times of trial. Indeed it helps us to face those trials so that we might be enabled to resist the temptation and find the way out, and instead actually enter the Lord’s intended benefit of the trial. It is to the Word that we must turn and to its teaching we must commitment ourselves with willing obedience.

Is our prayer to God for wisdom (v.5) or discernment (v.16)? Then here in the Word of God is the very answer of God, for here God’s wisdom comes to us as we apply the Word to our daily situations. The secret to the good life God has for us is to receive the Word of God and act upon it.

This passage from James we are looking at tonight stands within a flow of argument:

Previously we saw that the old nature (v.14-15) and the new nature (v.18) are locked in conflict – one that we have to be aware of if we are to resist the turning of a trial into a temptation. The reality of the new nature is our great encouragement, for it tells us that as we strengthen the new nature the conflict will not be a stalemate, but one of victory.

But how are we to unleash the resources of the new nature? This is what James addresses in v.19-25 as he draws our attention to the appropriation and application of the Word of God.

The Word is implied in v.19 as it builds on v.18 (“the word of truth”), called the implanted word in v.21, the word in v.22,23 and the perfect law, the law of liberty in v.25. The Word of Scripture.

But in fact the line of argument goes back even further to v.2 in fact.

There James speaks of the reality of trials, and calls us to a healthy appreciation of God’s purpose in them for our maturation (“count it all joy”).

James then points out that they may be perverted into temptations, but this tendency of the remaining influence of sin can be overcome by the new nature.

He then proceeds here to say that necessary for that to be realised we must make a right use of the Word of God by hearing, receiving and obeying. And from there he will go on to demonstrate and distinguish the true as distinct from the vain or empty religion that will result.

As the Word was used of God to bring us to life, it is also used by God to help us in life; as it regenerates us to life, it also invigorates and energises that life in us, but it also protects it.

The reading of the Word of God is never seen in Scripture as a theoretical exercise. The call is, as here, given in a context of life. It is meant for life, and necessitated by life.

To live without the Bible is to wander without a guide, to fight enemies without a sword, to labour without food, to bear burdens without comfort.

The focus is upon the necessity and role of the Word of God for our lives in this world. But equally it is on the sufficiency of the Word of God to help us in the midst of our daily life, including whatever trials we may be called upon to face.

Firstly he calls us to understand that this is the way that God works:

James is laying before us a uniform solution – a master key that will unlock the treasure trove of resources to be able to live godly lives before God and man in this world despite the circumstances we may face in so doing.

James saw this at Pentecost which was not merely the unleashing of the Holy Spirit upon the Church, but also His very ministry of bringing and opening up the Word of God and of enlightening minds to understand that Word, drawing hearts to love it, and compelling wills to conform to it.

What do we see in Spirit-filled Peter’s sermon? It is a taking the people back to the Word, to the Old Testament and opening it up so that the true message of the OT as realised in Jesus was set free. And the Holy Spirit opened hearts and minds to understand and receive it so that they came to repentance and faith in their thousands.

Here lies the essential secret to the Reformation – nearly 500 years ago at the start of the 16th century God unleashed such saving and reforming power with the opening of the Word. It was Printed, Preached and Pondered. With it God’s grace in Christ was discovered, delighted in and declared. People were born again; lives were powerfully and eternally changed. Europe was turned inside out, and over the years that followed so also was so much of this world. Martin Luther: ‘I have done nothing: the Word has done and accomplished everything.’ John Calvin said, ‘Unless God’s Word illumine the way, the whole life of men is wrapped in darkness and mist, so that they cannot but miserably stray.’

Wherever God’s people have been healthy and resilient, there the Word of God has been the staple diet. As Frank Cooke said, ‘The foundation of every reformation of the Holy Spirit is the Word of God made plain to the people.’

And here lies the difference for our lives today – as a church and as individuals. What James had seen in himself and in others, he now wholeheartedly encourages us to apply also. We must get back to the Word of God, to the Bible. It is a hampering of the ministry of the Spirit of God to have ‘Sunday-meeting Bibles’ – ie, only opened then, the rest of the week they remain closed. We will only grow in grace and Christlikeness, be more effective in ministry for Jesus, if we more clearly bring the Word of God to bear in our lives, and in proportion to doing that.

This is reinforced by our next observation from our text:

There is a common outcome in these verses. In contrast to the trials and inner conflict, James keeps talking about believers coming through the trial stronger and richer in faith and more vibrant in their relationship with God. Notice the 3 statements of outcome, each saying the same thing from different angles: v.20, “the righteousness of God” (James is clearly saying that unlike wrath which doesn’t work it, hearing the Word does); v.21 “able to save your souls”; v.25 “will be blessed in what he does”

What are these things?

(i) “the righteousness of God” – This is not a reference to God’s provision in Christ to justify us (a perfect obedience to His Law which is given to all who believe in Christ). Rather it is a concentrated term, meaning ‘all that God in His righteousness purposes to be done’ (Motyer) – and what is that? Bringing us to maturity in Christ. The NIV brings this out by translating it “the righteous life that God desires”. It promotes righteousness as the practical reality of our daily lives, the righteousness that God approves and intends.

(ii) “is able to save your souls” – In the Bible salvation is mentioned in 3 tenses. Salvation is a past event for the work of salvation was completed by Jesus when He died for us, and we received that salvation the day we believed (Lk 19:9; Acts 4:12; 2 Cor 6:2; Titus 3:5). Salvation is a future event because our deliverance is not complete until He comes again (Matt 25:31ff; Rom 5:920; 1 Peter 1:5). Salvation is also, as in this case, a present reality, something we seize and work out day by day (Phil 2:12); in the sense that we experience a greater and greater measure in our daily life what Jesus has done for us. The idea here is not of atonement for sin, but dealing with the impact or damage of sin upon us, the making of salvation a positive reality in our daily life. Every day then should provide some evidence that we are saved. This is what the Word does, and without it, it won’t happen. It is the key.

(iii) “blessing” – this has the idea of wholeness, knowing the fullness of God’s love in us, and of enjoying it. Is this not at the heart of Christian experience – the enjoyment of God? And this, says James, is what is received in the living out of God’s Word.

Each of these is a promise of good to us. A reminder that God is intent to bring the fullness of Jesus’ saving work to us. It is a 3-fold repetition of spiritual advancement.

At the same time that it is a repetition tells us that this is something we need to repeatedly hear.

It is easy to be confused by the trial and harassed by the temptation that we lose balance and our sense of hope. But God would not have this. He doesn’t want us walking in a daze; He does not want us dispirited, but to have hope and to know a sense of purpose. So we need the Word. Now think about that for a moment – -the key is not even the church, not even relationships. If the Word is absent, then these things will not help us enjoy stability in trial let alone grow in Christ through them. The Word of God is the key! Wherever the Word of God is faithfully studied and used God’s people find it to exercise a powerful influence over their lives for good.

There is a progress of development

(i) in terms of within each of these aspects – in the sense that as we increase in hearing, receiving and obeying then the outcomes will become more obvious in us. As we attend to our response to God’s Word, there will be a proportionate response in the promised outcome.

(ii) But is there not also here an inherent development from one to the other? This is confirmed by the obvious progress in our handling of the Word from hearing, to receiving and then to obeying – each being a development on the other. As the Word is more closely appropriated and applied in our lives then we will move from seeing something of God’s righteous purposes for and in our life unfold, we will find then an increasing outworking of salvation in our life now, and move to a greater enjoyment of God’s blessing – all of which will reach final completion as we move into glory.

From this we see that the Christian life is not meant to be static. This is in line with what James has already said about us being brought to maturity. We are meant to progress in Christian experience, and should never be content with maintaining our spiritual condition. Look back over your life – is their evidence of growth in understanding, Christlikeness, in knowing the blessing of God?

As we see these things are we not all the more encouraged to give attention to the Word of God so that we will enter more fully into the blessedness laid before us? For this is God’s promise to us as we use His appointed means.

Oh that we all would have the same confidence in the Word that James had, and as did every other Christian who took the Word seriously. Until we do we will not know the transforming, strengthening and sustaining power of God in our lives.

It is a tragedy that Christians today are losing sight of God’s appointed means for stability and progress in the Christian life.

May God give us the grace and wisdom to take heed to challenge and encouragement of this passage to unleash the power of the new life we have in Christ by giving ourselves to the Word of God.

Morning Service, 5th July 2009

Have you noticed, even within this congregation, that God does not deal with us all in exactly the same way? One He matures through this trial, another through that trial, and yet another through no apparent trial. One He calls to serve in this way, another in that way; and of course connected to that is the distribution of gifts.

It is important that we bear this in mind lest we think that Elijah’s experiences are normative for all believers. That is not the case. It was God’s design for Elijah, and not necessarily for any other; a fact clearly demonstrated to us in this chapter.

As Elijah returns and observes firsthand the devastation of God’s judgement on Israel we are introduced to another: Obadiah, who is identified as a servant of Ahab, the manager of his house. He plays but a small part in the present scenario, passing on a message, yet he is revealed to have a large part to play in God’s provision for the future. He is identified as a believer – which is the force of the phrase ‘fear of the Lord” in v.3. He is also identified as one who protected believers or more specifically those who would be in a place to proclaim God’s Word and build up God’s people in that Word in the future.

Though a true believer Obadiah was not called to remove himself from Ahab’s presence nor from Israel’s boundaries. It is clear that the fact that Obadiah stayed with and served Ahab is not an indication of a rebellious spirit. On the contrary. Elijah obeyed God by going, Obadiah obeyed God in staying. Obadiah as much as Elijah lived in “the fear of the Lord”.

What is the fear of the Lord? It is to live with a conscious awareness of the presence of God, seeking His approval and avoiding His disapproval. It is a fear that arises from faith, that is aware of and seeks after God’s love and grace.

The real question we face today in our Christian lives is not whether you are doing the same things as I am or me as you, but whether we are consciously seeking and complying with God’s personalised will for our lives. Our concern must be whether we are living in the fear of the Lord. To understand what that means for us we do well to look at Obadiah who is presented before us here as a godly man. Yes, certain things will look different in us, but the essential characteristics of true godliness will be the same. True godliness is:

1. Powerfully experienced

Two significant statements concern Obadiah: “Now Obadiah feared the Lord greatly” (v.3), and Obadiah testifying that he had “feared the Lord from my youth” (v.12). It is discernible to others, but also Obadiah’s life-long determination.

Clearly he is no longer a youth but those early impressions of God’s reality and glory had a deep impact on his life. How many of the things that made an impression on you in your early life are still true of you? Isn’t it true that only those things which powerfully affected us as a child remain important to us in adulthood?

From his youth he had a tremendous reverence for God; such a reverence that he dreaded to offend God and that he longed to please God. This was no temporary profession of youth. It had not dissipated as many childhood dreams and convictions. It endured into adulthood. He stood before Elijah as a godly man, a reality supported by the writer of this book in v.3. His point there is that this is not merely as an observation, but so we will understand what Obadiah did and why. It is the interpretative key to understanding this section, and indeed this man’s life.

The most impressive thing about this of course was that he had retained this godliness in a time of decline. This in a succession of wicked kings, of whom Ahab was the most wicked and anti-God, around him swirled a flood of unbelief and idolatry that was sweeping aside all that was godly and every public remembrance of God. Yet Obadiah had retained the fear of God, and as he stood before Elijah he did so as one committed to only doing that which would honour God.

Indeed in v.3 it says that Obadiah feared the Lord “greatly” – in other words there was depth of passion. He had not only retained his early spiritual devotion and direction, but that he had grown in grace over the years so that now he is a man who was on fire for God, and that all he feels, says and does comes from that fervent flame. And that has been true throughout his life, now in recent history, now as he talks with Elijah and as he does what God through Elijah tells him to do.

By this we are led to believe that this man would not have compromised the things of the Lord by bowing the knee to Baal. He “feared the Lord greatly”.

We are taught in the Bible that this is the mark toward which we should be aiming: to be fervent in spirit in serving the Lord, to be zealous for good works; and not to be half-hearted or lukewarm.

How about us – do we know this passion for God and for purity? Being concerned to live for God ought not be just for a couple of hours a week, for our private prayer times and weekly worship. It is not to be part-time, but a passionate pursuit. God was his life. He lived for God. So it is for any godly man or woman.

2. Practically expressed

Yet it is clear that we are not to think of his life as one that is essentially spiritual and doesn’t have any practical outworking. For immediately we are told this man did certain things because of the fear of the Lord.

(i) In v.3 we read that Obadiah was in charge of Ahab’s house, and in v.5 how Ahab divides up the land in search for grass and water between himself and Obadiah. These two facts tells us the great respect that Obadiah held within Ahab’s eyes. It is hard to believe that Ahab was unaware of Obadiah’s allegiance to God, yet whilst he was ordering the death of God’s prophets he kept alive this believer. Clearly Ahab saw the wisdom of keeping this man of God in authority over the management of his house and sending him out on the road. In a time of wickedness here he recognised someone essentially honest, a man of integrity. Here he found one who would not be bribed, or use the power he had through that water to his own or another’s financial or political advantage.

We tend to think of compromise as the only reason why a godly man can survive in such an ungodly and anti-God environment. But let me ask you, What of Daniel, Nehemiah, Joseph? How did they come to their positions? God opened the way; and sometimes when God opens the way even the most ungodly can recognise extraordinary gifts in a child of God including the rare quality of integrity. As we read in Prov 16:7. So it was for Daniel who survived through the reigns of several kings. So Ahab, though he hates Obadiah’s religion and Obadiah’s God, respects the unblemished life and the wise and faithful counsel of this godly man. Of course we don’t know how difficult a time he had in Ahab’s court, but we know this, he walked with integrity in the most impossible of places, in the most impossible of times by fearing the Lord greatly. That’s the only way to live like this in a sin-loving, God-hating world.

(ii) In v.4 and 13 we read that he had rescued and hid for their protection 100 prophets. He hid them in 2 groups of 50, clearly showing wisdom in case one lot was found. But he also provided for them. It is one thing to quietly hide someone but a 100? But even more to feed and provide water every day or so for that constantly increases the risk of discovery – especially when these were precious and diminishing commodities; and no doubt there was a strict accounting as to their use. It was a wonderful providence that Obadiah was in a position where he could do it without immediate notice, but it was not without danger of discovery. Indeed the risk of discovery increased as the supplies were greatly depleted.

Yet godliness taught him to set a high value on the Word of God, and hence on those servants charged with the responsibility of communicating and defending that Word in society. It wasn’t just other believers that he hid and provided for, it was for the care of God’s prophets that he felt a particular responsibility. He took risks for the protection and perpetuation of the ministry of God’s Word so that it would not be lost to the people even though for now they despised it.

(iii) Then in v.7 we read that Obadiah recognized Elijah and “fell on his face before him” and called him “my lord Elijah”. To fall on his face and acknowledge Elijah in this way declares a tremendous respect for this minister of God’s Word. He had a high view of the office of the ministry of the Word, a high regard for the ordained servant of God. How different from what is frequently seen in present day Christianity where there is often a complete disrespect for the office of minster and even an insubordination and a tendency in some to sit as the critics of ministers rather than let the ministry of the Word be their critic, and so blessing has been denied them. Yet this practical expression of godliness is identified as a clear mark of grace in Phil 2:29 concerning Epaphroditus “Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness, and hold such men in esteem.’

So Obadiah’s religion though essentially spiritual also found expression in genuine and beneficial practical ways. He was a man who stood out in his generation as a real trophy of God. In a similar way our godliness ought to stand out, and though like Obadiah there may be necessary reasons why some of our practice might be private and confidential yet it all must be real. Whether others see it and recognise it or not, we must be men and women of God in practical terms.

3. Persistently exhibited

Here we return to the point made in passing that the expression of his godliness was found to continue even under the most adverse conditions – in the household of Ahab that open enemy of God and true spirituality, in a community which not only didn’t rejoice in God’s provision of prophets but participated to some measure in their expulsion and efforts towards their eradication.

But we see it also now even when he is directed to take that service fully out into the open. Notice his reaction to Elijah in v.14. Elijah had directed him to tell Ahab where he was, where to find him. Obadiah immediately understands how Ahab will interpret this – Obadiah had been meeting with Elijah! He will not look on it the other way round.

The pressure he had felt in the past in maintaining godly integrity in relationships with the ungodly and in providing for the godly was nothing to this pressure! That he feels the pressure is seen in his effectively saying to Elijah, ‘What do you want to do? Kill me?’ Was he afraid? There is no doubt that fear was present in what he said. He concern was not mainly for Elijah’s safety but his own.

Now fear is a God-given emotion for self-preservation. It is not wrong to know fear in helping us recognise and respond to danger. Yet it becomes sinful when we are so dominated by fear that we reject the path God’s Word has made clear to us.

Though there is a fear of man mixed in with his fear of the Lord, the ‘greatly’ tells us what is the predominant note of his life. And when the fear of man did mix in with his fear of the Lord, he soon overcomes it so that it does not overcome him and hinder him from fulfilling his duty unto God. What was it that overcame that fear? It was listening to the Word of God given in that instant through the Lord’s prophet. In this we should note especially that phrase of Elijah that underpins his assurances “as the Lord of hosts lives” (v.15). Earlier Obadiah had said “the Lord your God”. Here Elijah responds “the Lord of hosts” indicating He is not just ‘my God’ but the Lord of many not just one’. By this he is calling Obadiah to strengthen his faith and continue in obedience. As he ponders this reality and assurance he gave the promise and assurances of the prophet its proper place over his emotions. His faith is immediately encouraged and he is moved to obedience, and Obadiah “went to meet Ahab, and told him” (v.16). So one child of God walking in cheerful obedience of faith encourages another to walk in the same way.

What are you afraid of? Is it crippling your service? The call is not to be blind to fear, but to overcome it by depending on the Word of God, upon God Himself.

True godliness is enduring in its character. He persistently exhibited it in times of increasing darkness, and even now in a moment of incredible danger he put God first, submitting to His Word yielding his very life if need be for God’s purpose to be realised. In so doing in his own way he contributed to the triumph on Mt Carmel. He is what His name means: ‘servant of the Lord’. Oh for grace to be such a servant.

As we leave this section then let us learn the importance of living in the fear of the Lord wherever God has placed you, even where it may seem not only dangerous but pointless. ‘It behoves us to accomplish what God requires of us, even when we are in the greatest despair respecting the results.’ (John Calvin)

Learn also to look as a result at how we might use our present circumstances for the benefit of the Kingdom and God’s people.

What an exhortation Obadiah’s faith is to the young people – this is not something for older people alone, but possible by grace in you as well. Here is one who stands as a mentor before you as he does before all believers, even as Timothy in the NT. Our prayer is that you will know such a fear of the Lord.

But even more he stands before us in the Word of God as a mentor to all believers by showing that such a depth of faith is not merely the effervescence of youth, it continued into adult hood, and it was not merely a popularist response because his peers were doing it, but even in a time of grave unpopularity, when one’s life not merely one’s name and fame before others was seriously at risk… as such it is an exhortation to mature Christians as well to continue in the fear of the Lord! Oh for grace to be such a servant. May the Lord increasingly grant it to us.

“Now Obadiah feared the Lord greatly” (1 Kings 18:3)

How would you like that on your tombstone, or for those in the modern techno-age as your Facebook ‘Status’?

Obadiah’s status for all eternity is that he “feared the Lord greatly”.

Sure, the context shows that he was not immune from fear of man, but the point is that the dominant note of his life was that he feared the Lord.

This fear of course is not a dread or terror. Wilhelmus A’Brakel says, ‘Such fear is a holy inclination of the heart, generated by God in the hearts of His children, whereby they, out of reverence for God, take careful pains not to displease God, and earnestly endeavour to please Him in all things.’

This fear is a reverence that dreads to offend God and that longs to please God. It is reverence grounded in faith, love and hope. It is reverence that is born on the wings of thankfulness.

It is what David expresses in Psalm 5:7 “I will come into Your house in the multitude of Your mercy; in fear of You I will worship toward Your holy temple.”

This is how we are to worship God; this is how we are to serve God. It gives confidence without diminishing humility; it gives joy without diminishing reverence.

It was this fear of the Lord that enabled Obadiah to remain faithful in a time of widespread apostasy, and to be enterprising in supporting the Lord’s Word and work in a time when the public policy was to kill the prophets of God.

Neither difficulty nor danger made him swerve from his faith in the Lord, and this was the key: he feared the Lord greatly.

A right view of God’s majesty and a thankfulness of His goodness is what we need to be faithful to the Lord and energetic for the Lord in our everyday life, regardless of the circumstances we may find ourselves in. Here is both the motivation and anchor for Christian living.

May God grant us fresh views of His glorious majesty that demolish our self-confidences and transcend our daily fears and inadequacies, while also reminding us of the abundance of His goodness as summed up in the title He has given us to call Him, “our Father who art in heaven”.