What happens when you walk in the fear of the Lord? Acts 9:26-31 Sermon | Anglican Church Prescott

True fear of the Lord builds in the Christian a fearlessness to preach and live the gospel.

Text: Acts 9:26-31

In this sermon, we see Saul arrive in Jerusalem. Naturally, the disciples there are nervous to welcome him into their community; after all, he had tried to destroy them not that long ago. But Barnabas welcomes him into the community, where he preaches boldly.

One of the central themes of the passage is that of fear and fearlessness. We start with the disciples in Jerusalem being fearful of Saul, then Saul is fearless and preaches the gospel, just as he had in Damascus. We end with a vision of the whole church adopting a better kind of fear: the fear of the Lord which empowers them to something better.

This passage reminds us of how, if we fear the right thing - that is, if we fear the Lord - there is nothing in this life for us to fear, because the one who is mighty is on our side.

Full text:

Let us pray.

Heavenly Father, as we think about your majesty and your goodness, we confess that these things are too wonderful for us. Teach us what it means to fear you—not with the fear and trembling of condemnation, but with awe at how good and great you are. You sent your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, for sinners such as us. Knowing this truth, may our lives be transformed so that we would be fearless and would preach and live the gospel every day of our lives. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be always acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer. Amen.

A Dangerous Business

There is a line from The Lord of the Rings that I have always loved: “It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door.” The line has always struck me because it is both fascinating and profoundly true. It is easy to stay inside our little houses and little communities. Out there are scary things—all kinds of scary things. I do not even need to list them. You know exactly what I mean.

If we are not careful, a bad kind of fear can take hold of us, especially in ministry. I have experienced this more than once: someone suddenly turns against me. Sometimes it is my sin, sometimes it is theirs, and sometimes I do not know what happened. But suddenly the relationship feels threatening, and it becomes terrifying. When that happens, it is hard to get up and preach the gospel. It is hard to say, “Jesus loves you,” when right now a brother does not love me.

That is the fear overcoming the church in Jerusalem in Acts 9. But there is also a good fear in ministry—a fear rooted in the nature and goodness of God and in what he has done for us. This passage shows the difference between the fear of man and the fear of the Lord.

The Fear That Builds Barriers

When Saul came to Jerusalem, “he attempted to join the disciples. And they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple.” That fear makes sense. Three years had passed, and they still remembered what Saul had done. He had overseen Stephen’s murder. He approved of it. He entered their homes and dragged believers away. Wounds like that go deep.

When someone hurts us and attacks us as viciously as Saul attacked the church, it is hard to forget. It makes us guarded. It makes me guarded. And it leads us to two warnings.

First, the fear of man leads us to build barriers to newcomers. After betrayal, it becomes hard to trust. It becomes hard to believe that another person has goodness in mind or shares the same mission for the church. Instead, we begin to think, “I was betrayed once. What if it happens again?” That fear can cause churches to become closed off, to form a holy huddle, and to resist anything that might change us.

Second, the church doubted that God could possibly convert someone like Saul. Think for a moment about all God has done in your life. Maybe you were baptized as an infant, confirmed as a child, and never wandered far from God. Still, his preserving grace is amazing. Or maybe you did wander, never knowing God until one day he grabbed hold of you and showed you Christ. However he has worked in your life, you know it is good and beautiful. You have seen the power of Christ.

Yet for a moment, the church looked at Saul and said, “There is no way.” Saul had been a raging beast. Saul had wanted to devour them. How could he now be one of them? Luke sets this up to show a sharp contrast between the fear of man and the fear of the Lord. He also lays a challenge before us: will we let the fear of man define us, or will we let the fear of God define us?

Barnabas Opens the Door

Then we meet Barnabas again. We met him earlier in Acts, where his name meant “son of encouragement.” What a wonderful name. Barnabas was held up as an example of depth, charity, and compassion. He sold a field so that others might have what they needed. He gave up something of his own in order to encourage others in their faith and provide for those who were hurting.

Now Barnabas lives out that character in another way. He does what everyone else is too afraid to do. He takes Saul and brings him to the apostles. There is an urgent need in the modern church for people like Ananias and Barnabas—people willing to overcome their hesitations, take the initiative, befriend newcomers, and introduce them to the community.

It is easy to be profoundly afraid of what might happen if we let others in. What might happen if we dare to care for them? What might happen if we open our doors to those who are not like us? Jesus gives us the same challenge in the parable of the Good Samaritan. The priest and the Levite may have had reasons to be cautious. The man on the road had been attacked. Maybe the attackers were nearby. Maybe it was a trap. But the Samaritan came near, helped him, and provided for him profoundly. Then Jesus says, “Go and do likewise.”

Whenever we care for someone else, we do not know what will happen. It may be hard. If we make room for others, it will be hard. If we make room for people carrying heavy burdens, it will be hard. They may come with tears in their eyes and burdens too heavy for them to bear. And it is good. It is good.

Saul Preaches Fearlessly

Barnabas was bold. He brought this frightening person into the community, and now we learn what Saul had been doing. Our translation says he preached boldly in the name of Jesus, not once but twice. That is true, but Luke is doing something even sharper. Saul does not merely preach boldly. Saul preaches fearlessly. The community is afraid of him, and Saul is fearless.

God often takes one thing and flips it completely on its head. The one who caused them fear is now fearless for their sake. He is fearless for the sake of the gospel. And then he does something even more striking: he preaches and reasons with the very people who arranged Stephen’s death. The ones who had worked with Saul to end Stephen’s life now seek to end Saul’s.

Yet Saul is fearless—not because he is amazing, and not because he possesses some gift that you and I do not have. Saul is fearless because Christ has captured him. He is fearless because he walks in the fear of the Lord.

Too Wonderful for Words

I have a strange relationship with the book of Job. I think I love it, but it can also feel unsatisfying because we want to know exactly why Job suffered, and God never reveals that to him. Job is righteous and blessed, and then one day God permits Satan to take nearly everything away. Job sits in ashes and laments. At first, his friends do exactly what we should do when someone is lamenting: they sit with him. They do not rush to explain or fix. They simply lament with him.

But then they grow tired of Job’s grief and begin giving advice—and it is terrible advice. Finally, after many chapters, God responds. He does not give Job the explanation Job may have wanted. Instead, God reveals himself: “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?” God draws Job’s eyes to his majesty, wisdom, and power.

And Job is overcome with awe. He says, “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.” He recognizes that he has spoken of things too wonderful for him, things he did not know. This is what we tend to forget when we fear man: God’s goodness, holiness, and might are far more wonderful than anything we could imagine.

The God who made the mountains around us, who planted the trees above us, who created the wild animals and the small creatures, who formed you in your mother’s womb and knows you intimately, also calls you his own because he sent his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, to die for you. Is that not wonderful? It is too wonderful for words.

The Fruit of the Fear of the Lord

Now the church in Jerusalem sees all that the Lord has done. “So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.” They saw that God could tame a raging beast like Saul and make him his own through the power of Christ.

It would be easy to turn this into a work: “You just need to fear God more. You just need to have more faith.” But this only happens through the mercy of Christ. It only happens through his grace, because he condescended to dwell among us and make us his.

Then we see the incredible freedom Christ gives his people. He gives them the peace of the Lord. He gives them the comfort of the Holy Spirit. He builds them up and multiplies them. When we know that this mighty God has done things too wonderful for us to speak of, and when we know that he has made us his, that truth becomes impossible to hide.

Come and Marvel

We see two kinds of fear in this passage. The fear of man paralyzed and crippled the community in Jerusalem. The fear of the Lord opened their eyes to see God for who he is: their Creator, holy and good, too wonderful for human words to capture. In Christ, he has lowered himself so that we might be redeemed and know these same wonders.

At the beginning of Acts 9, Saul was an enemy of the church and an enemy of Christ. He thought he feared God, but he came to know true fear when Christ captured him. Then he preached Christ fearlessly. Luke shows us this so that we might know how great God is, what he has made possible for us, and how we too might walk in the fear of the Lord.

Captured by Christ, we taste the peace that will come in fullness in eternity. We taste the comfort that comes only through Christ and through his Holy Spirit working in us. And we are freed to throw open the doors and say, “Come. Come, you who are hungry. Come, you who are scared. Come, you who are brokenhearted. Marvel in this wonderful thing—this thing too good for me to speak of. Marvel in what God has done for you and me in Christ his Son.”

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.