Radical Respect For God
1 Pet. 1:13-17.

A. Few of us think of ourselves as being outright irreverent — but true reverence includes
respect, and there are often ways in which our respect for God leaves something to be desired
Rather than taking God with the utmost seriousness, the temptation is to trifle with Him and
His will — we wish to serve God on our terms.
Someone once described himself as “Deeply Superficial.” There are a lot of people who would have to describe their reverence for God that way----Deeply Superficial. That is exactly how God described the congregation at Laodicea in Rev. 3:16-17, "I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.” Their respect for God was described as “lackadaisical.” That word means to treat lightly, to not take seriously and therefore disregard it. That’s how a lot of people, even in the church, treat God and His Word today.
a. It’s a fact that sometimes we fail to act in a way that would cause other people to have a deep respect for God. The first generation of Israel who came out of Egyptian bondage were not allowed to go into the promised land because of Moses disrespect for God, Num. 20:12, explains it this way, “Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.” Moses and Aaron were not allowed to enter the promised land because they did not treat God with Holy Respect, Num. 27:14, God explains to Moses why, “For in the Wilderness of Zin, during the strife of the congregation, you rebelled against My command to hallow Me at the waters before their eyes." The word “Hallow” means to treat with holy respect, How? By doing exactly as I commanded. Moses was commanded to speak to the rock and he spoke. But, in addition to speaking, he struck the rock. He added to God’s command and that was considered by God to be disrespect, irreverent, unholy conduct.
(A) God demands radical respect from us. How many in this congregation are radical
about their Christianity?. God and His Word ought to be the most serious concern of
our entire life. You need to understand---There are some things we cannot do and
still have the right respect for God.
(1) One thing you cannot do is “be indifferent to God.” Denominationalism exists in
the world today because most people feel that religion simply does not matter.
And so they are indifferent to what He says in this Book. They think they can
just flip God off and do as they please. That’s what you do when you
irreverently refuse to obey God’s Word. That’s why the average person will not
take God into account as an active, practical concern. And any Christians act
as if other things are more important than God. Therefore, they treat God as the
least important thing in life.
(a) That attitude will cost you your soul. Heb. 12:28-29, warns us about
not doing that by telling us, “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom
which cannot be moved, let us have grace, by which we may serve God
acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire.”

We need to wake up and remember who God is, Luke 8:18. Heb. 2:1?3, explains it this way, “Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation....”
We cannot accommodate God to Ourselves. Our failure is simple and what we are doing is obvious. We try to adjust or fit God to be what is convenient to us — to “domesticate” God, or “cut Him down to size.” Why do we do that?
We do it for one undeniable reason. We find God and His will intrusive on our “lifestyle” and an embarrassment before our friends, We are ashamed to tell them the truth because we’re afraid they will not like us or will make fun of us. And so we try to water it down and make it convenient, respectable, acceptable and palatable to the world around us. We are afraid we’re going to hurt someone’s feelings and fall out of favor with them.
We had better wake up to the factual reality spoken from heaven. Listen to it, Mark 8:34?38.
(2) If any accommodation is to be made it has to be our accommodation to God. And if we don’t, we’re just like those people Paul warned about in Rom. 1:21, 25. ”...although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened......Who
exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather
than the Creator, who is blessed forever.”
(1) Above all things Hear the words of Jesus, “Love the LORD your God with all
your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,' and
'your neighbor as yourself.'” Lk. 10:27.
(1) Make God first in all that you do. That’s Paul’s word in Col. 3:17.
(2) Gal. 6:7?8.
(2) Acts 20:32.

Spur - 08/25/02 am