1. Romans 1:22-23

3. Definition Trivial means to be of little worth or importance Trivialize means to make of little worth or importance Trivialization is the process of making of little worth or importance

4. “When the true story gets told, whether in the partial light of historical perspective or in the perfect light of eternity, it may well be revealed that the worst sin of the church at the end of the 20 th century has been the trivialization of God” (Donald McCullough, The Trivialization Of God, p. 13)

5. Happens More Than We Realize Consider the first two commandments (Ex. 20:2-6) Israel soon broke both (Ex. 32:1-8) The only way that they could do such a thing was to first trivialize the God who had delivered them and bring Him down to the level of man and/or the animals

6. The Fear Of The Lord The wise man said, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding” (Prov. 9:10) Remember our text? They professed to be wise, but were really fools One thing is that they had no fear of the Lord We probably know well Joshua 24:15 However, are we aware of the preceding verse?

7. The Fear Of The Lord Fearing the Lord is important “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man” (Eccl. 12:13, KJV) Where there is no fear of the Lord, there will be no keeping of His commandments

8. The Fear Of The Lord Why did Moses tell, once again, the account of the Ten Commandments (Deut. 5) Here is why, “That you may fear the Lord your God…” (Deut. 6:2) And, “To keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you…” (Deut. 6:2)

9. The Fear Of The Lord It is no different today Still a need to have godly fear (Heb. 12:28) Still a need to keep His commandments (Matt. 28:20) Unfortunately, such is absent today because God has been trivialized Lack of fear of the Lord (Rom. 3:18) Blatant disobedience (2 Thess. 1:8) Sham faithfulness (Matt. 15:8) We need a reformation and return in attitude AND practice to Matthew 6:33