Book: The Joy of Fearing God by Jerry Bridges

Have you ever really thought about "fearing" God?

A few months ago a co-worker was bashing a former acquaintance, making fun of him actually, and it was really bothering me. After asking him why he felt it was ok to make fun of someone, I asked him if he, the co-worker, "feared God."

The co-worker's response was "well, I'm not sure that I fear God...because He's my friend." This brought on a discussion about our difference in views of God; his of friendship and mine of a "righteous" fear of God. The conversation ended with each of us sending the other scriptures to validate our viewpoints. Follow-up conversations, initiated by me, have not been reciprocated.

Yet, it has lead me to ask a few others about their view of God and I've been surprised at the laxness (is that a word) of many others' thoughts about fearing God. One friend though, Ted Leslie, mentioned the "joy" of fearing God and this book (awesome, huh?).

Jerry Bridges is the author of two other books that I've read more than once (The Discipline of Grace and The Pursuit of Holiness). I doubt this is anything short of a good and deep read.

9/23/2008: Bridges dares to insinuate that one doesn't trust God anymore than one fears Him! That's good.

10/19/2008: I'm a bit more than half through the book. The author, in chapter 8, makes suggestions for growing in the fear of God; 1. prayer, 2. exposure of our minds to the Word of God through hearing it taught and reading and studying it ourselves, 3. he recommended some good books that direct our thoughts toward God, and 4. he then encourages us to develop the habit of thinking great thoughts about God.

11/28/2008: Chapter 10..."The Fruit of the Tree."

Here are some of what I believe to be the more profound, or at least specific points the author makes -

• page 155 - A major characteristic of one who fears God is obedience to Him.


• page 156 - Scripture also draws a frequent connection between wickedness and the absence of fearing God.


• page 159 - The bible also draws a close connection between love to God and obedience. 1 John 5:3 reads, "This is love for God: to obey his commands." And Jesus said, "Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me" (John 14:21).


• page 161 - To fear God by obeying Him means that we seek to follow all of His commands for us. We must not pick and choose or seek to reinterpret some of them....Too often we define sin in terms of those actions that may be least troublesome to us: drunkenness, dishonesty, sexual immorality, abortion....We see the sinfulness of society around us but not the sin in our own hearts: critical and judgemental attitudes, selfishness, gossip, back-biting, insisting on our own way, and seeking to manipulate or intimidate others.


• page 161 - The one place where Paul warns us not to grieve the Holy Spirit.....is in a section dealing with our speech and other interpersonal relationships (Ephesians 4:29)...."Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen."


• page 162 - Immediately after that he says..."Do not grieve the Holy Spirit." We grieve the Holy Spirit not only with dishonesty or immorality, but also by our gossip, complaining, and sharp words.


• page 162 - If we express our fear of God by keeping all His decrees and commands as Moses said (Deut 6:2), then we must give attention to our interpersonal relationships. Consider, for example the following from Romans 12: Love sincerely (v9), Be devoted to one another in brotherly love (10), Honor others above yourself (10), Share with others in need (13), Practice hospitality (13), Bless those who persecute you (14), Rejoice with those who rejoice (15), Mourn with those who mourn (15), Live in harmony with one another (16), Do not be proud or conceited (16), Do not repay evil for evil (17), Seek to live at peace with everyone (18), Do not seek revenge (19), Overcome evil with good (21)


• page 162,3 - These words are not just moralisms from the pen of the apostle Paul; they are the words of God. IF we accept the authority of Scripture, then we must view every one of these relational actions as God's commands to be carried out in the fear of God. We honor one another above ourselves in the fear of the Lord. we practice hospitality in the fear of the Lord. We overcome evil with good in the fear of the Lord.


• page 165 - The statement "Love your neighbor as yourself" is only the last half of a sentence in its original occurrence in Scripture. The full sentence reads, "Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord" (Leviticus 19:18). Note that it's in the context of bearing a grudge or seeking revenge that we're told to love our neighbor as ourselves. This means love always forgives. "Since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another" (1 John 4:11)


• page 166 - So we both fear God and love Him by obeying His law. And we obey His law by loving others, by treating them as we want to be treated.


• page 167 - One of the most fundamental truths we must learn in Christian growth is that we are responsible, yet dependent. That is, we are responsible to obey God's commands, We are responsible for our sin. We cannot blame the devil or other people. We sin because we choose to sin. We do not obey because we choose not to obey. Yet at the same time we don not have the resources within ourselves to obey. We are completely dependent upon the Holy Spirit. Notice how this principle is taught by Paul in Philippians 2:12-13. "Therefor, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed - not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence - continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose."


• page 168 - It is an awesome thought to realize the extent of our responsibility before God and yet to be painfully aware that we don not have within ourselves the ability to carry out the least of His commandments. That's why Paul hastens to add those encouraging words of verse 13 "for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose." Obedience to God is very much our responsibility - but a responsibility that must be carried out in utter dependence on the Holy Spirit.


• page 168 - Yet this dependence on the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential to fearing God by obeying Him.


• page 168 - Always Under the Gospel. We need to also keep in mind that our obedience is never the means of earning any merit or blessing from God....This is why we must learn to live under the gospel every day. The gospel is not just for unbelievers; it is for believers also, because we are still sinners. Every day we need the reassurance that all our sins are forgiven (Colossians 2:13) because Christ paid for them all on the cross.


• page 170 - Paul was no sluggard. He neither preached nor practiced "easy believism," the erroneous connetion that because we're saved by grace, Christian discipleship is merely optional (Phil 3:12-14). Paul pressed on; he strained forward......If you and I are to fear God by keeping His commandments, we also must learn to live by faith in Jesus Christ. Otherwise our obedience will degenerate into a works-righteousness, an.d our fear of God into a slavish fear. Only as we realize that we're "sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:26), and that God the Father accepts us through Christ, can we fear God in filial fear, the loving fear of a child toward his father.


• page 170 - Teaching our Children. Not only must we learn to fear God by keeping His commandments we must also teach our children to do likewise. We must not only teach them to obey; we must teach them to obey in the fear of the Lord; Deuteronomy 6:2 - "so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life."

2/1/2014: Picking the book back up this morning after going online and looking at my notes here, I'm curious as to what caused me to only include notes from Chapter 10.

11/24/2008: at this rate, I'll never finish. Too deep and too much good stuff to finish.

3/21/2009: Finishing this book has been a struggle for some reason. But I felt compelled and did finish a couple of weeks ago after a friend, Trent Egbert, talked about hearing Bridges teach 3 times over a four day period.

Did the author accomplish what he wanted to accomplish in this writing? For me he did; I have such a HUGE God; so powerful.

Another friend recently told me about how, in wanting to get closer to God, he prayed for a trial. A few months later he was diagnosed with Parkinson's. This friend's next comment was amazing -

"Danny, it's ok...it further proves that God answers prayers. This has been a blessing." 2/1/2014: I'm sorry to say that this friend ended up committing suicide 2 years later.

Now, I don't care who you are...that's a God to be feared. 2/1/2014: I almost erased this previous statement, but will leave.

3/21/2009: Did the author accomplish what he intended by writing this book? As I mentioned early on, Bridges dares to insinuate that one doesn't trust God anymore than one fears Him!

Yes, he accomplished his mission in writing this book..for me.

2/1/2014 - researching something for a friend, Gary Seal, I came back to this book for the first time in over 3 years. I have a lot of notes, underlines and journal entries in the book. I'm reminded of the purpose for writing in a book! Good to reflect, to ponder, to remember the journey, the previous struggles and how God brings us through. 2008-09 was a difficult period and I didn't realize at the time how important this read was to me.

7/24/2016 - my son, Austen, sent me a quote from his pastor this morning, "the problem with religion is that man fears man instead of man fearing God." I thought of 'the joy of fearing God' and came back to this post. That friend who committed suicide (above)....I'd forgotten I'd written about that. Do you fear God if you commit suicide? I expect not. The other friend/co-worker that considers God is friend....that should cause one to really think; is God our friend? What kind of friend? Jesus said in Joh 15 "you are My friends if you do what I command you." I quick word search for 'friend' on my Bible app shows 83 in the Old and 40 in the New Testament. There a few verses that at least eludes to God being our friend, but I know I need to be aware of the type of friend He is. I sure don't model what he says about friendship. Compared to Him, I'm too wishy-washy, too........too.......too a lot of things he is not. I don't want to confuse my friendly behaviors with Him as my friend.

1/11/2023 - I listened to an old Tim Keller sermon on “Knowing God.” I’ve heard it numbers time over there last 20 years. Keller emphasized fearing God is knowing Him. Maybe the other way around? I remembered this book, reread this post and it brought back a lot of memories. Things to pause and ponder, and not rush into the day.