Rejoice and Tremble

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Benjamin Kreps:

Hey everyone. And welcome to the Mark Prater podcast, where our aim is to connect our global family of churches with our Executive Director. Mark, a little way back, you talked about how you provided to the Leadership Team, a newer book, Rejoice and Tremble by Michael Reeves. I have read that book and it is no hyperbole on my part to say that I think it is one of the most important books I've ever read. It is a transformative type of book when it comes to one's relationship with God and the way we read the Bible. Tell us about why you've enjoyed that book and have recommended it and provided it.

Mark Prater:

Well, I would echo your sentiment that it is one of the most important books I think I've read recently. It's also just one of the best books I've read recently. I mean, you’ve got Gentle and Lowly by Dane Ortlund wonderfully written. And now Michael Reeves. He writes, in some ways, in a similar way [to Ortlund] where he just takes the fear of the Lord and what it did for me is it transformed my understanding of the fear of the Lord.

Benjamin Kreps:

Yes.

Mark Prater:

And it made it something that I desire to grow in. That was sort of the net effect that the book had upon me. And the way it transformed me, for example, is in the way he defines the fear of the Lord. Historically, I've used words like reverence and awe, which I think are appropriate and he says are appropriate as well, but they're inadequate. They don't fully capture a biblical understanding of the fear of the Lord. And he just has this statement that once you understand a biblical fear of the Lord, you don't cower away from God. You actually fall toward him in wonder. And the fear of the Lord is intended to create that sense of wonder and even joy in a way in our lives that not only gives him glory but conquers simple fears that we find in our heart. So that's just a brief description of how the book impacted me. How about you Ben?

Benjamin Kreps:

Oh, I agree with all of that. And I basically have thought throughout my life and in my Bible reading that was most of what that meant—the fear of the Lord is to be in reverence and awe before him. And he talks about how, yes, that is true. He's the creator, He's the sovereign over all things. We are rightly humbled and revere him. But the fear of the Lord biblically speaking is we go through the Redeemer into that reverence and awe. So, there's a delight and a trembling with joy, even a physical reaction, when we are experiencing the fear of the Lord. And it really transformed my reading. As I'm reading the Bible, it just makes all the sense in the world. And it's deeply biblically rooted and explained from the Scripture. So great book. I can't recommend it more. I am recommending to everybody, including people in my church. There's a couple of texts and parts of the book where he addresses pastors. And you wanted to share some of that with us, right?

Mark Prater:

I do. And I hope if the guys listening haven't read Rejoice and Tremble by Michael Reeves, get it and read it. I think it's going to be a really helpful resource. In the chapter about how to grow in the fear of the Lord, he addresses pastors as preachers. And one of the points that he makes is that the fear of the Lord should be one of the goals of our teaching and preaching. And that must shape both the content and the intent of our teaching. Speaking to pastors who preach and thinking about who they preach to Reeves says this,

“…They need to know [the members of your church need to know] the doctrine of the justification by Christ's blood alone to banish their simple fears and to have the glory of the crucified one constantly placarded before them, so that they grow in a wondering filial fear.”

So that sentence captures the sort of the goal of preaching the fear of the Lord, but it tells you how it can banish sinful fear and stir filial fear. He goes on to say,

“…This Christian preaching is not merely explaining the text. The Pharisees could do that with a theological correctness that is exceeded the Sadducees and still they remain spiritually barren. The preacher has a greater responsibility. A responsibility that demands a deeper integrity, God shares knowledge of himself in order that we, the preacher, might be affected.”

So, it affects the way we preach that people here in us. Boy, what you're preaching has affected you first and now it's affecting me. That's sort of the point he's making. He goes on to say,

“…Just as all theology should be doxological so all preaching should foster sincere worship.

So, a wonderful application of the fear of Lord in preaching.

And then the second area in the book—it's in the chapter “The Awesome Church”—he speaks to pastors about the fears that we have. And he quotes Martin Luther, where Luther says that pastors have one of two faults: softness and harshness. You kind of lean one of two ways just in the way that God has made you. So, Reeves goes on and says the fear of the Lord basically can help you in that: if you're soft, to become stronger; if you're too harsh to help you become the right, have the right kind of strength. And he says,

“Pastors or not, all of us temperamentally, are inclined to lean one way or the other, soft or harsh. Some are natural rhinos, strong and thick skin, but not gentle. Others are more like deer, sweet and gentle to be sure, but nervous and flighty. The fear of the Lord corrects and beautifies both temperaments, giving believers a gentle strength. It makes them like Christ simultaneously landline and lion like.”

Really well said.

Benjamin Kreps:

Yeah. I read that section to my elder team at a recent elder meeting. And immediately we all knew which category each one of us were in. They’re aware. And then we were together strengthened and effected deeply by his writings. So wonderful. I just can't recommend highly enough. And if a pastor is watching this and you can't afford this book, I will buy you the book. I promise. Just send me an email.

Mark Prater:

That's great.

Benjamin Kreps:

There was one more recent resource that both you and I appreciated from Kevin DeYoung. Do you want to talk about that briefly before we conclude?

Mark Prater:

I do. First of all, thank God for Kevin DeYoung. He's an important reformed voice—a younger reformed voice—who brings theological accuracy and a biblical wisdom, I think, to many things, but the cultural events that are happening, in particular.

Benjamin Kreps:

It’s a gift of discernment.

Mark Prater:

Yes, exactly. And not just discernment, but theological discernment, obviously. He had a recent blog post titled, “Why Reformed Evangelicalism Has Splintered: Four Approaches to Race, Politics and Gender.” I want to commend that blog post to our pastors if they haven't read it. And he doesn't so much drop into a discussion on race, politics and gender as he does as terms of sort of trying to put people in categories of how we process those issues. And he's admittedly saying these categories aren't precise and I'm not trying to make a statement about who you are if you fit in one of those categories. He does that though to help us understand how when we talk about those issues, we can miss one another and have misunderstanding. Or there may be even anger in a way that we process those. It's a really good, helpful way for people to understand how to even have a conversation about any of those issues: race, politics, sex, or gender. So I would just commend that blog post. Would you add any thoughts about that blog post?

Benjamin Kreps:

Not really. Other than I think it's a helpful tool for us as pastors as we interact with folks in our church that are coming from various viewpoints and how it's an evaluative tool, I think, that can serve us in understanding our people better. It certainly helped me, and I shared it with my team. So, thanks for the recommendations, Mark. And thank you all for watching. We'll see here soon. Bye for now.