We Fear God by Honoring God, and we are Subject to one Another in the Fear of Christ

To fear God means that we also honor Him; we honor Him with our substance and with the firstfruits of all our produce, and we need to perfect holiness in the fear of God, fearing God and being subject to one another in the fear of Christ.

To fear the Lord means that we honor the Lord; to honor the Lord means that we humble ourselves before Him.

In Isa. 57:14-15 the Lord asks that we would take the obstacle out of His people, and the obstacle is those who are proud and unwilling to judge themselves according to God’s light.

God is high and exalted, He inhabits eternity, His name is holy, and He dwells in the high and holy place and with the contrite and lowly of spirit to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.

This means that we need to take Christ as our humility; this is to fear the Lord.

To fear the Lord is to honor the Lord and to honor Him is to humble ourselves before Him so that He may come and dwell with us.

May we be saved from pride and from being unwilling to judge ourselves according to His light which shines in us and on us.

We need to daily pray that the Lord would save us from pride; pride is in our fallen nature, and it is only God’s mercy that we can be humble and honor God.

In our Chrisitan life and in our church life, we should beware of pride, which is a great thing that devours us, causes us to lose our proper function, and makes us a top fool.

Pride makes us a top fool, but humility saves us from all kinds of destruction; humility, furthermore, invites God’s grace.

God dwells with and gives grace to the humble, but He rejects the one who is proud.

Humility is not in our natural disposition, and if there is something that resembles humility in us, unless it is Christ, it is not real humility.

1 Pet. 5:5 and James 4:6 clearly tell us that God gives grace to the humble; when we take Christ as our humility, we are truly humble, and we receive and enjoy God’s grace.

We Fear God by Honoring God with our Substance and the Things He gave us, Not Robbing God

In Prov. 3:9-10 we are told that we need to honor Jehovah with our substance and with the firstfruits of all our produce; if we do this, our barns will be filled with plenty, and our vats will burst open with new wine.

To fear God is to honor God with our substance and with the firstfruits of our produce.

We shouldn’t be those who make more money to lay up a treasure for our future; our future and our goal is not in this age but in the next, and from the things that the Lord gives us we need to give Him at least one-tenth.

At least one-tenth, the firstfruits, of our produce must be given to God.

We should always be generous in giving of the things that God has given us; this honors God (Mal. 3:7-12; 2 Cor. 9:6-8).

For us to honor God is not merely for us to say that we honor God; it is to give at least one-tenth of the material supply that we receive from Him.

Everything that we receive and get, whether we are serving the Lord by dropping our secular job or we are serving the Lord by keeping a job, is from God.

God is our unique source, our unique supply.

We may work at a job, we may be a full-time parent, or we may serve the Lord by dropping a secular job – whatever our situation is, we all serve the Lord with our full time, for our Christian life is a life of serving the Lord, the One who came to serve and not to be served.

As we serve the Lord, we honor Him, and we give at least one-tenth of our income to the Lord.

When we get our salary in our bank account or when we receive our payslip, the check for the services that we have performed, we should first give the Lord at least one-tenth; this is to honor God, and this is done before God and not before men.

If we do not give to the Lord at least one-tenth, it is possible that we rob God.

In Mal. 3 God told His people that they robbed Him; in response to their question of how do they rob God, He said that they robbed Him in tithes and offerings.

Wow, we as men can rob God!

God is rich – He owns everything, He has everything, and He has no need; however, as His people who love God and fear God, we need to honor God by giving at least a tenth of the things that He is giving us, for we serve Him, we give Him the first place, and we belong to Him.

We may aspire and even practice to give the Lord a tenth, and give for the gospel another five per cent, and even another five per cent for supporting those who serve Him full-time; all this we do before the Lord, with the Lord, and in the Lord, and He is the One who rewards us in secret.

We honor God with our substance and with the firstfruits of all our produce, and as we give, we can never outgive Him – He will always add and bless.

However, we don’t give so that He may give us more; we give, even give in a cheerful way, not laying up treasures for ourselves here on earth, because we fear God and thus we honor God with our substance.

What a privilege to give from what God has given us!

Lord Jesus, we humble ourselves before You and we honor You. Fill us with the fear of God so that we may honor God not only with our lips but also with our actions. Amen, Lord, we want to honor God with our substance and with the firstfruits of all our produce. Thank You for Your rich care for us; thank You for providing us with everything we need for our human existence. We do not want to rob You, Lord, by not giving You the tithes and the offerings. May we be cheerful givers, giving at least a tenth of what the Lord has blessed us with. We honor You, Lord, with giving to You and in Your name from what You have given to us. What a privilege for us to give to God, to the church, to the advancement of the gospel, to the saints, to the needy, and for the Lord’s needs in oneness with Him!

We need to Perfect Holiness in the Fear of God and be Subject to one Another in the Fear of Christ

May we be like the psalmist in Psa. 86:11, asking the Lord to teach us His way that we may walk in His truth, and to make our heart single in fearing His name.

This should be our prayer; we shouldn’t trust in ourselves to fear God or honor God, but ask God to teach us and make our heart single in fearing His name.

Furthermore, as we see in 2 Cor. 7:1, we need to cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and of spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

Our holiness is very much related to our fear of God; our God is holy, and the more we draw near to Him, the more we are aware of our uncleanness.

The more we contact God and serve God, the more we fear ourselves, for we realize how unclean we are.

One of the first things we realize when we contact the Lord and serve Him is that our self, our natural man, and our flesh are so defiling and so unclean.

In our service to the Lord and in living the Christian life, we need to perfect holiness in the fear of God; we should be in awe of Him, revering Him, and fearing of what comes of ourselves.

If we fear God, we will be afraid of what comes out of ourselves.

Someone may come to ask for help, and they may need our advice concerning a particular situation; in answering others and in meeting their needs, we should fear the involvement of the self and the expression of the flesh.

In everything we do, we should be afraid of allowing the self to be expressed and manifested.

We may criticize or praise someone, but do we do it as an expression of our own feelings or thoughts, or do we do it one with the Lord?

May we cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and of spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

The fear of God here is not daring to touch the things that don’t belong to God or are not related to Him.

The fear of God is a healthy, serious caution that leads us to behave in a holy way; it leads us to live a godly life and have a holy living.

To be in the fear of Christ is to fear offending Him as the Head; this involves our being subject to one another (Eph. 5:18-21).

We need to serve the Lord with fear, and we will love the Lord in order to rejoice in the Lord and enjoy the Lord (Psa. 2:11-12; Heb. 12:28).

We are fallen because sin has entered into us and our human nature has become the flesh, and we live in a system called the world; if we are slightly careless by giving room to sin, the flesh, or the world, we sin against God, we offend God, we oppose God, and we resist God.

We need to fear Christ and be subject to one another in the realm, the atmosphere, and the mood of fearing Christ.

In our contact with others, we should not be loose or natural; we should be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.

As members of the Body of Christ, we shouldn’t have or form natural friendships or relationships with our fellow members; rather, we should simply be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.

We may know that the wives need to be subject to their own husbands, but according to Eph. 5:21, we should be subject to one another; this means that the husbands should be subject to their wives in the fear of Christ and vice versa.

Our hand is related to our arm, and the hand is subject to the arm; similarly, the arm is subject to the hand – it is a mutual subjection to one another.

We need to be subject to one another in the fear of Christ; this phrase “in the fear of Christ” needs to be emphasized here.

We may respect a member in the Body and be subject to him, but are we subject to one another with all the members?

May we be in fear of offending Christ as the Head and thus be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.

This should be our attitude as we serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling.

Amen, when we fear the Lord, fearing to offend Him as the Head, we will be subject to one another, and we will serve Him with fear and rejoice with trembling!

The result of our being subject to one another is that we love the Lord and rejoice in the Lord, enjoying the Lord with all the saints in the Body under the Head.

The result of the arm and the hand and all the other members of our human body being subject to one another is that they feel safe, secure, and happy as they are blended together under the direction of the head; all this is very organic.

Not only the wives need to be subject to their husbands in the fear of Christ, but husbands also need to be subject to their wives in the fear of Christ.

Similarly, we all need to be subject one to another in the Body in the fear of Christ.

Lord, teach us Your way and we will walk in Your truth. Make our heart single in fearing Your name. We want to cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and of spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Amen, Lord, we love You and revere You, and we do not dare to touch things that do not belong to God or are not related to Him. You are our Head, and we do not want to offend You because we love You and we hold You as the Head, receiving the supply that comes from You. Amen, Lord, may we be subject to one another in the fear of Christ, serving the Lord with fear. Keep us in the Body, functioning in our measure, loving the Lord, and subjecting ourselves to the saints in the fear of Christ so that we may rejoice in and enjoy the Lord!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ed Marks for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1953, vol. 2, pp. 467-469, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes (2020 winter training), week 11, The Intrinsic Significance of Fearing the Lord in the Economy of God.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Not I, but Christ be honored, loved, exalted, / Not I, but Christ be seen, be known and heard; / Not I, but Christ in every look and action, / Not I, but Christ in every thought and word. / Oh, to be saved from myself, dear Lord, / Oh, to be lost in Thee, / Oh, that it may be no more I, / But Christ that lives in me. (Hymns #591)
  – In my knowledge and experience / I would not exalted be, / But submitting and accepting / Let the Body balance me; / Holding fast the Head, and growing / With His increase, in His way, / By the joints and bands supplying, / Knit together day by day. (Hymns #840)
  – Now be wise, O be instructed, / All ye rulers of the earth, / Fear the Lord, rejoice with trembling, / Serve the only One of worth. / Kiss the Son, lest He be angry / And ye perish in the way. / “All who trust in Him are blessed,” / All who trust in Him will say. (Hymns #1094)