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HEREFORE we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: (Hebrews 12:28)
I suppose I was raised in a typically traditional family – one which demanded respect for elders as well as for the Deity. I was taught to address all elders with the respectful “Yes, sir” and “Yes, Ma’am.” As I have grown ripe in years, I find fewer and fewer friends who are my elders in years, I therefore address all with the same respectful courtesy as I would my elders. The manner in which we address others is an expression of respect, or else the lack thereof.
Certainly, we should reserve the very highest terms of respect for God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
A few years ago, I entered a fast-food restaurant to make an order. The cashier was a young man of perhaps twenty years age. He was wearing a somewhat soiled t-shirt that appeared to be a couple of sizes too small, was covered in tattoos, and wore an interesting ring out the side of his nose. Without even glancing up from the cash register, he said: “What will it be, dude?” I politely informed him that “I have never vacationed on a ranch, nor had ever been known as a dandy, but I would like to place an order, if I may.” He looked up at me with a strange and vacant stare that indicated my words had not registered on his mental seismograph (if he had one at all).
It takes no more effort to be polite than it does to be crass. Moreover, you will get further along in life by being considerate to others instead of using overly familiar terms in addressing others regardless of age or station. Why would we consider the Triune God any differently. He demands respect and reverence. God the Father is not a ‘dude,’ nor our ‘pal,’ nor our ‘daddy’ – He is our Almighty God, our Father, our Lord Jesus Christ, and our Friend[1]. All Three Persons of the Godhead demand our highest respect, reverence, and esteem.
In the Parable of the Vineyard owner who went on a journey to a ‘far country’ and, in the process of time, sent servants to collect the fruits of His investment. But the husbandmen of the Vineyard treated the servants spitefully, beat them, and even murdered them at the last; 37 But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. 38 But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. 39 And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him. 40 When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen? The future prospects of the defiant husbandmen will not be a happy case. And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. (Matthew 21:44)
Should we, as well, not reverence the Son of God by addressing Him with our highest terms of respect, reverence, and esteem? And should we not, as well, reverence the Holy Name and Sanctity of the Almighty Father and the Holy Ghost with the same deference of highest praise and respect?
In my writings, I most often refer to the Son of God as our Lord Jesus Christ. I feel guilty in making too casual a reference to such a mighty Personage such as calling Him by His given Name only, Jesus. We are counseled by Paul to reverence our God. David also offers the same counsel in Psalms 89:7 – God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about Him.
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EVERTHELESS let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband. (Ephesians 5:33)
The Bridegroom and husband of the Church is our Lord Jesus Christ – should we reverence Him even less that a wife her husband? Let us heed the final counsel I offer today from God’s Holy Word:
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URTHERMORE we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? (Hebrews 12:9)
[1] “Abba” is the defining term for father in the Aramaic language, spoken by Jesus and Paul as an intimate term to characterize their personal relationships with God
