“The Nature of pure and genuine religion… consists in faith, united with a serious fear of God, comprehending a voluntary reverence, and producing legitimate worship agreeable to the injunctions of the law. And this requires to be the more carefully remarked, because men in general render to God a formal worship’ but very few truly reverence him; while great ostentation in ceremonies is universally displayed, but sincerity of heart is rarely to be found.” John Calvin from the Institutes
No matter how you may feel about those touting his name, John Calvin does have an amazing way of summing things up. In the Institutes of Christian Religion he steps forward and asserts that the followers of Jesus must do much in way of bundling their hearts in faith, fear of God, voluntary reverence, and worship that is in tune with the whole of scripture.
Far from arguing that these things create a saving work, Calvin is describing that which flows forth from the regenerate heart as an often unbalanced act. In some ways a person’s inclinations remain the same as they were before the work of the Holy Spirit in her life. As she may have preferred painting over sculpture before Jesus so she might after. And if her heart was for the mystical and unseen before Jesus so she might be drawn by the laws of attraction to be off kilter in favoring “faith” over “fear of God” or “voluntary reverence” over “calculated adherence to the Bible in worship.”
Entire denominations have been started on the zeal for only one of these four. Others have felt the ebb and flow of the generations when at times their congregations have passionately sought after the humility of the “Fear of God” and at other times the scriptural “worship” that may be found in missions, social Justice, communion and the like.
Knowing myself, as a man prone to extremes, I am aware of the need to keep these in balance. So I have made a rather short (hopefully pointedly) reminder of what these four are.
John Wesley wrote that faith “is a divine evidence and conviction of God, and of the things of God.” It is the unseen propellant to all that we trust God will do. It is found in the mysteries of God, in my need for He who is invisible, and in the belief that I am now an heir in God’s family.
My faith is the outpouring work of the Holy Spirit that sustains me and ensures my perseverance in trying times. It cannot be proven. It does not rest in any articles of faith or in the wisdom of Men. It is transfixed upon the heavenly.
“There is a kind of happiness and wonder that makes you serious” – C.S. Lewis
Andrew Murray notes that the “filial” “fear of the Lord” “is for the spiritual life entirely indispensable.” It is the humble awareness that God is all in all. Things come and go and have their being due to his sustaining hand. He is the only providential force and we are blessed, but far… far… far… below Him. This fear is not based in dread, but in Awe. We stand amazed by the Creator who made the delicacies of flowers and the tremendous power of volcanoes.
“…Men spontaneously praise whatever they value…” and “they spontaneously urge us to join them in praising it: Isn’t she lovely? Wasn’t it Glorious? Don’t you think that magnificent?” (John Piper)
The greatest love is the one that erupts from the heart without coercion, but from sheer necessity. Voluntary Reverence is that love for our creator that can only be found in the regenerate heart. It is the mark of heirs (from the Father to his children and from them to Him). It is paramount to the follower of Christ for if we have not this love for Yahweh than we will have lived as an empty people, unfulfilled.
Our worship must always be in tune with scripture. It is holistic, not just something we reserve for church or with other believers. As Garry Friesen points out, scripture calls us to lives of love, reliance, humility, gratitude, clear conscience, integrity, diligence, eagerness, generosity, submission, courage, and contentment. This is our worship as defined by “the injunctions of the law.”
These things “touch every aspect and moment of life because they prescribe the believers goals, motives and attitudes, as well as his actions. To put it differently, God is not concerned simply with what we do; he’s equally concerned with why we do what we do, as well as how we do it. The purpose, the process, and the product are all directed by his moral will” (Decision Making and the Will of God, p.120).
Calvin described the multitude as displaying great ostentation in their worship. They make much of themselves and make very little of faith, fear of the Lord, voluntary worship, and scripturally defined worship. They raise their heads religiously, but without sincerity.
I hope that for both you and me, the Holy Spirit will guard us from pretense, religious showmen-ship, and irreverent lives. May we be people of faith, living in awe, rejoicing with gratitude, and obedient to the Word of Truth.
I like the "worship agreeable to the injunctions of the law". I think it's something many people miss when they think of their religious duty. I've met so many people who don't care about theology much, instead opting for just a joyful worship/good works/yada yada. I have seen very many things that are done in the name of the Lord, that have nada to do with good teaching, but since it appears good, it must be good. What gets overlooked often is that it is worship to undertake the deeper meanings and teaching of the Lord, and to praise him accordingly.
Exactly! The scriptures are utterly essential without them you have no compass for what Faith, Fear of the Lord, and Voluntary Reverence ought to look like. How can we follow Jesus if 1)we don't know who he is and what he has done and will do and 2)if we don't know how that can be fleshed out in our own lives?