Gen 42:18, Now Joseph said to them on the third day, "Do this and live, for I fear God: 
	We continue this morning with the reality of what it means to fear God for a Christian, for a believer after the heart of God. We began, last time, with the examples of Abraham, Joseph, and Moses. We read two rather long quotations from the Holman Bible Dictionary with regard to the fact that this fear, for a Christian, is not an apprehensive or frightening state of despair. It is, in fact, a coming to see the holiness of God in such an awesome manner that we desire to serve Him with all our hearts. It works to establish a complete sense of admiration and wonder and worship in the reality of seeing Who God is and all that He has done. Our very core is filled with marvel and the adoration of the Lord God Almighty and the complete change of focus from the unworthiness of ourselves to the splendor of Him. 
	We ended with the passage in which Moses’ father-in-law advised him to seek out those who fear God to help with the day-to-day decisions required in leading the Children of Israel in the wilderness. Those who fear God, in the sense of reverence and awe, should be known for their equitable treatment of others as unto the Lord. This should be evidenced in their lives, not necessarily perfection, but surely in a desire to please God with every decision that is made.
	This is carried forward into the Levitical laws as detailed in scripture. Please note the manner in which God demands that people be treated in the way that will honor Him. This is a consistent theme throughout Leviticus and our first example, in Lev 19:14, shows forth the heart of God as spelled out in Holy Scripture. 'You shall not curse a deaf man, nor place a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall revere your God; I am the Lord. Note how the fact that the manner in which we treat those who are disabled is tied directly to how we are to consider God with reverence or fear. God has a place in His heart for widows and orphans and those who are suffering from a disability or are weak or feeble or sick. In His thoughtfulness and reflection upon these dire circumstances, God’s directive is specifically tied to the fact that He is the Lord. 
	This is, as well notarized in Lev 25:17-19, as the Children of Israel are specifically told how to deal with one another. 'So you shall not wrong one another, but you shall fear your God; for I am the Lord your God. 'You shall thus observe My statutes, and keep My judgments, so as to carry them out, that you may live securely on the land. 'Then the land will yield its produce, so that you can eat your fill and live securely on it. 
	God desired that His people, who were called by His name, would honor Him in the manner in which they treated one another. They were to respect one another and to deal kindly and sincerely with each other as unto the Lord. Note that He joined Himself and the manner in which they thought of God straightforwardly into the fact that they were not to wrong one another. In so doing, they would corporately experience the blessing of fruitfulness and security in the land. 
	This was a promise from God to His people. It was not just to individuals, but to the whole nation of Israel that they would receive the fullness of the land in its produce and its safety. In the full reading of Leviticus, it is emphasized over and over again how the people were to respect and to honor the Lord in the manner of how they respected and honored one another. There are stipulations outlined as to the every detail of interaction with the rich and the poor, the free and the slave, the widows and the orphans, the indigent and the industrious. No matter what the station or condition, in every case in which the people of God were involved, in their fear and reverence of God, they were to reverence and redeem and honor each other. They were to do so with respect and with hearts that cared for and met the needs of each individual within the corporate community.
	This is something that we need to take very seriously in all our dealings with one another. God’s heart after His people has not changed. All that He has done by and through His Son, Jesus Christ, stands in His Church. The New Testament is filled with this same charge in the manner in which the members of the Church conduct ourselves within the corporate community of believers. The fear of God, knowing Him and honoring Him is central to the interaction that we have within the Church on this earth. It is not something that we can take lightly or that we can just shrug off as non-consequential in our daily walk. Our heart after God will surely be reflected in our heart after one another. The two cannot be separated, no manner how much we might try to rationalize our attitude and our behavior toward one another. 
	As each one of us was absolutely undeserving of the grace and the mercy and the love of God so fully showered upon us in Jesus Christ, so must we consider each of those in our spheres of influence. Just because someone has mistreated us, or caused us harm, or ignored, or slighted us, we do not have the latitude to decide that they are unworthy of our love. In our utter and complete reverence to God, we must take each brother and sister, just as they are, into our hearts and give them deference as the Beloved of God.
	We see this attitude of caring for others in action throughout the Old Testament as Israel went through periods plagued with dishonor, deceit, and abuse from within as well as without. In 1 Kings 18:3+4 we read of the faithfulness of Obadiah, from his reverence unto God in saving a hundred of God’s prophets from the death ordered by King Ahab and his wife, Jezebel. 1 Kings 18:3+4, And Ahab called Obadiah who was over the household. (Now Obadiah feared the Lord greatly; for it came about, when Jezebel destroyed the prophets of the Lord, that Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them by fifties in a cave, and provided them with bread and water.) 
	At the veritable cost of his own life, Obadiah rescued and provisioned those prophets of God because of his love and honor for God. His fear of death was overwhelmed by his knowledge that God’s prophets were precious and to be cherished as was his relationship with God. Therefore, in his reverence of God and God’s people, Obadiah made every effort possible to honor both God and His prophets at the time of their greatest peril. He did this in order to manifest the fact that he counted God as more worthy of obedience and God’s people as valuable beyond the measure of his own life. 
This is the heart which we are to have with respect to our fellow believers in Christ. Lord willing, we will never have to hide each other from those who would physically kill Christians, but our thoughts and our energy and our efforts and our prayers should be those that cover the Body of Christ through every toil and circumstance and trial. As fellow believers go through those seemingly impossible daily situations, our fear and reverence for God should urge us to take them into our hearts and to be a support and an encouragement to them. We should be open to the every guidance of the Lord with regard to what He would have us do to honor Him in covering their every need.
 In terms of this practical truth of the fear of God being in evidence in the dealings with one another, Jehoshaphat, king of Judah used it as a measure of how he chose and directed judges, priests, Levites and household leaders. This was outlined as their responsibility before God and His people. Let us read together this account in 2 Chron 19:6-9. 2 Chron 19:6-9, And he said to the judges, "Consider what you are doing, for you do not judge for man but for the Lord who is with you when you render judgment. Now then let the fear of the Lord be upon you; be very careful what you do, for the Lord our God will have no part in unrighteousness, or partiality, or the taking of a bribe." And in Jerusalem also Jehoshaphat appointed some of the Levites and priests, and some of the heads of the fathers' households of Israel, for the judgment of the Lord and to judge disputes among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Then he charged them saying, "Thus you shall do in the fear of the Lord, faithfully and wholeheartedly. 
	Notice just how specifically he instructed those chosen as judges …be very careful what you do, for the Lord our God will have no part in unrighteousness, or partiality, or the taking of a bribe. God would not put up with any form of dealing treacherously with His people. The judges were to be very careful in all that they did. They were to consider each verdict before the throne of God and how He would have them declare their decisions. They were further warned that God would have no part in anything improper or devious. As they rendered judgment, they were to honor God in all their actions and dealings with His Chosen people. 
	Then Jehoshaphat further instructed those whom he appointed to deal with disputes in Jerusalem that they were to commit themselves to do so in …the fear of the Lord, faithfully and wholeheartedly. They were to so consider the charge of the king as a binding agreement to faithfully and wholeheartedly discharge their duties in complete reverence and honor unto God. No matter what the decision, large or small, all were to be done with absolute respect to that which would honor God in the faithfulness and the wholeheartedness to please Him. 
	Here again, we see this practical manifestation of the worshipful consideration of God defining how to deal with those over whom they were given some measure of charge and decision making authority. It was never to be used to promote themselves, but always to bring into each dispute the fact that God was to be sought and that His way was to be brought to the forefront. 
	This is how we are to, as well, deal with any issue that we have. Notice, there was no statement that there would be no disagreements. There would be differences of opinions and different means of handling situations according to the varied human understandings of what was taking place. The solution, however, was to be one that brought the heart of God into place with all those involved abiding by what would be honoring to Him.  
	The decline of the nation of Israel can be, as well studied, with the view toward the fact that they began to treat one another and God without reverence or honor or consideration. As the nation turned from seeking to worship and to please God in its every decision and thought and action, so did the safety and the produce so promised by God disintegrate and disappear. Then, when things were at their worst, rather than turning again to God and practicing that awesome reverence that would honor Him, the people turned upon each other. They chose to cheat and to revile and to justify each selfish motive with anger and with chastisement and with crippling attitudes of seeking only after their own satisfaction at the expense of one another.  
The Prophet Nehemiah had to deal with this treacherous and faithless and ruthless activity after the return of the exiles from their captivity. When Nehemiah returned, he was shocked at what was taking place among those who had not been exiled. The people were treating each other with malice and injustice and deceit. 
	Neh 5:8+9, And I said to them, "We according to our ability have redeemed our Jewish brothers who were sold to the nations; now would you even sell your brothers that they may be sold to us?" Then they were silent and could not find a word to say. Again I said, "The thing which you are doing is not good; should you not walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the nations, our enemies? 
Nehemiah chastised those who had so vilely taken advantage of their fellow Israelites. Deceitful dealings over land and money and food and even the selling of one another into enslavement had been rampant. All those warnings of God given in the Levitical Law had been discarded within the manner of fearing God in honoring one another. 
	As is further detailed in Neh 5:15, But the former governors who were before me laid burdens on the people and took from them bread and wine besides forty shekels of silver; even their servants domineered the people. But I did not do so because of the fear of God. 
Nehemiah set the example as one who would not so mistreat those less fortunate and poor and powerless. He established a new era of dealing with his fellow countrymen as directed by God. In his adoration for what the Lord desired, Nehemiah proclaimed all that would serve to make the fear of God once again the standard of how to treat each other.
	As we read in Neh 7:1+2, he also chose those in authority based on their reputable fear of God. Neh 7:1+2, Now it came about when the wall was rebuilt and I had set up the doors, and the gatekeepers and the singers and the Levites were appointed, that I put Hanani my brother, and Hananiah the commander of the fortress, in charge of Jerusalem, for he was a faithful man and feared God more than many. 
	 The heart expressed by Nehemiah, in ending this atrocious behavior of the Israelites one toward one another needs to be taken to heart in our lives. The Church needs to humble herself and to seek the Holy Spirit to work in each heart and mind to cause us to come back to the fear and the reverence which sees God as awesome and holy. In that course of contrition, we will then be brought back to the manner of treating one another with the activity and the encouragement and the honor that will show forth the very heart of God. 
In fear and reverence unto God, we, His Church, need to lay down our lives for the sake of those in such need, desperation, and seeming hopelessness. We need to deal with one another in the same love with which we have been so loved in Jesus Christ. Let us wholeheartedly seek after the Holy Spirit to so work in our lives as to set aside all rancor, and hurt feelings, and disappointments, and any perceived sense of being mistreated. Quoting Nehemiah, "The thing which you are doing is not good; should you not walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the nations, our enemies? Let us rather choose to forgive and to humble ourselves and our hearts unto one another, as unto the Lord, in all fear and reverence before the Lord God Almighty. So be it. 
Now Joseph said to them on the third day, "Do this and live, for I fear God: Amen.

	This morning’s benediction is Ps 68:32-35. Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth; Sing praises to the Lord, Selah. To Him who rides upon the highest heavens, which are from ancient times; Behold, He speaks forth with His voice, a mighty voice. Ascribe strength to God; His majesty is over Israel, And His strength is in the skies. O God, Thou art awesome from Thy sanctuary. The God of Israel Himself gives strength and power to the people. Blessed be God! Amen.