THE EFFECTS OF FEAR
A. What are you AFRAID of?
1. If you have ever taken a Psychology course in high school or college, you studied a section on PHOBIAS.
a. There are all kinds. Some we’re very familiar with:
-CLAUSTROPHOBIA- “fear of enclosed places”
-ARACHNOPHOBIA- “fear of spiders”
-ECCLESIOPHOBIA- “fear of church”
b. We can’t even begin to LIST the thousands of PHOBIAS.
2. Some FEARS are important, and they serve useful FUNCTIONS in our lives.
a. Having a healthy FEAR of FIRE will deter one from playing with MATCHES.
b. Being AFRAID of POISON may keep a child from DRINKING it.
COMMENT:
So certain kinds of FEARS are ESSENTIAL, even if they don’t always come to FRUITION. A function of FEAR is to lead us away from possible HARM.
3. A HEALTHY FEAR of God serves to lead us away from EVIL and ultimately spiritual death.
a. Proverbs 14:26-27- “He who FEARS (reveres) the Lord has a secure fortress, and for his children it will be a refuge. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, turning a man from the snares of death.”
b. I Timothy 5:20- “Those who sin (referring to elders) are to be rebuked publicly, so that the others may take warning.” (To be fearful of sinning.)
4. The Bible also teaches us not to FEAR.
a. II Timothy 1:7- “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (fearfulness), but a spirit of power,
of love, and of self-discipline.”
b. Revelation 21:8- The “FEARFUL” along with others, “will have their part in the fiery lake of
burning sulfur; that is the second death.”
B. It’s this FEAR that I want to FOCUS on this morning.
1. FEAR instead of COURAGE . . .FEAR that WEAKENS our FAITH . . .FEAR that makes us INEFFECTIVE and UNPRODUCTIVE in the Kingdom of God is the FEAR that God CONDEMNS.
2. Paul told Timothy, “God does not give us FEAR, because FEAR makes us INEFFECTIVE.”
COMMENT:
FEAR is a tool of the DEVIL. If Satan can cause CHRISTIANS and CHURCHES to be FEARFUL, then he knows they will accomplish very little for God. Satan wants more than anything to PARALYZE churches with FEAR. Let’s take a look at the EFFECTS that FEAR has on Christians and the CHURCH.
MESSAGE:
I. FEAR PREVENTS A PERFECTED LOVE FOR GOD- I John 4:16-19 (READ)
A. Herein lies the difficulty many have in trying to reconcile both LOVE and FEAR for God.
1. We read passages that tell us to “FEAR God,” and here John makes it clear that FEAR inhibits a
“perfected love for God.”
a. Which is it? Are to FEAR God or LOVE God?
COMMENT:
The answer is both. However, a child of God should not have a CRINGING, TERRIFYING FEAR of God. LOVE leads to a HEALTHY REVERENCE for God, not a CRINGING FEAR. Our heavenly Father wants our REVERENCE, our RESPECT that prompts our OBEDIENCE.
But He doesn’t want us to be FRIGHTENED of Him.
ILLUSTRATION:
Some years ago a nine-year-old boy from a small town in South Oklahoma called the police and told them that he had shot and killed his father. When the police arrived they found the man’s body in a tool shed still holding an ax handle that he used to BEAT the boy and his six-year-old sister. When questioned why he killed his father the boy cried, “I was TIRED of being AFRAID!”
b. Undoubtedly there are many fathers who even their own children have difficulty LOVING.
COMMENT:
Fathers who are ABUSIVE, UNCARING, UNLOVING. Fathers who demand RESPECT and OBEDIENCE from their children by using SCARE TACTICS instead of showing LOVE.
2. The sad thing is, there are those who have difficulty LOVING God because they VIEW Him the same way.
a. To many, including Christians, God is nothing more than JUDGE, JURY, and EXECUTIONER. They think He delights in PUNISHING people.
b. I would have difficulty LOVING a God like that too.
B. God’s LOVE for us is not contingent upon our LOVING Him.
1. I John 4:10 (READ and COMMENT)
COMMENT:
In other words, God did not send Jesus to the CROSS because we LOVED Him, but because He LOVED us! Our GOODNESS had nothing to with it. It was God’s GOODNESS, His COMPASSION, His LOVE for people hopelessly lost in sin that prompted Him to send Jesus.
2. I John 4:19- “We love (God) because He first loved us.” It’s not the other way around!
a. Those who SERVE and OBEY God strictly out of a CRINGING FEAR of Him will never experience true JOY and PEACE that God so desperately wants us to have through His Son.
b. LOVE, not FEAR, is the greatest MOTIVATION that one can have.
COMMENT:
Why do we LOVE God? Because He first LOVED us. Why do we REPENT of our SINS? Because He first LOVED us. Why do we endeavor to SERVE God and OBEY Him? Because
He first LOVED us.
3. I John 4:18- “Perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment.”
COMMENT:
One might SERVE God for a while out of FEAR of PUNISHMENT, but there finally comes a time when FEAR no longer MOTIVATES. FEAR cannot be permanently sustained. Continual FEAR will finally lead to REBELLION.
John said that it is God’s LOVE for us and our LOVE for Him that keeps us FAITHFUL. No other MOTIVATION is strong enough to do that!
II. FEAR CREATES A SPIRIT OF SLAVERY- Romans 8:15-17 (READ)
A. Do you know Christians who are so AFRAID to do something because it might be WRONG, and, consequently are ENSLAVED by their FEAR?
1. Over the years I have known a few:
ILLUSTRATION:
My grandmother, being raised in a Holiness church, thought it was a SIN to CUT her HAIR because Paul wrote, “...it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut off...”- I Corinthians 11:6. She would spend about an hour each night COMBING OUT her long HAIR and spend just about as long each morning putting it up in a BUN. She often COMPLAINED about her DAILY
RITUAL, but did nothing about it because she was ENSLAVED by her FEAR of cutting her hair.
2. Not only do PEOPLE place themselves in SLAVERY by their PERSONAL FEARS, but we often allow their FEARS to ENSLAVE us.
COMMENT:
Many church leaders will not even consider IMPLEMENTING new, innovative MINISTRIES and PROGRAMS that could potentially PROMOTE GROWTH for FEAR that it
might UPSET someone.
a. Where would the church be today if Jesus and the apostles allowed the FEAR of others to ENSLAVE them?
-Matthew 15:1-14- “Jesus was told by His apostles that he OFFENDED the Pharisees by His RADICAL teaching against their TRADITIONS. Yet, He did not allow the FEAR of the apostles or the Pharisees to inhibit His TEACHING.”
-Acts 4 & 5- “The Sanhedrin were AFRAID that the apostles’ teaching that Jesus was the Son of God would be devastating to the Jewish community. Yet the apostles continued preaching Jesus even after being BEATEN.”
-Acts 15- “Some of the Jewish Christians, FEARFUL of Paul’s teaching on GRACE to the Gentiles, tried to bind the Law of Moses on them. Paul did not allow their FEAR to cause him to quit preaching on GRACE, but boldly DEFENDED it before the apostles, elders, and the entire Jerusalem congregation.”
b. Would the church of Jesus Christ be in EXISTENCE today if Jesus and the apostles allowed the FEAR of others to ENSLAVE them?
B. Listen to Paul in Galatians 5:1 (READ and COMMENT).
1. Paul is urging the brethren not to be ENSLAVED by the LEGALISTIC DEMANDS of others.
a. LEGALISM, among other things, is BINDING upon others what God has not BOUND prompted by the FEAR that God is a VENGEFUL BEING just waiting for His people to make a MISTAKE so He can POUNCE on them.
b. Those who are ENSLAVED by LEGALISTIC FEAR are constantly trying to “PLAY IT SAFE” just in case they make God ANGRY.
COMMENT:
All of the TRADITIONS that the Pharisees BOUND upon the people were an attempt to “PLAY IT SAFE.” They were so afraid of DISOBEYING God’s LAW that they would CREATE their own LAWS (TRADITIONS) and surround God’s LAW with them. These TRADITIONS were known as “SEYAG,” a Hebrew word meaning “FENCE.”
For example, they took the Sabbath Day Law and placed all kinds of STIPULATIONS on it so that others couldn’t VIOLATE it. Jesus came and began TEARING down those FENCES. When Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath”- Mark 2:27, He was pointing out that God gave this LAW to ease BURDENS not to CREATE more BURDENS. The Day of REST became a Day of SLAVERY.
c. There are still those today who take God’s LAWS and BUILD FENCES around them—“PLAYING IT SAFE” out of FEAR.
2. Again, this FEAR boils down to one’s
MISUNDERSTANDING of God.
a. Paul reasons, “Don’t you realize that you are no longer SLAVES, but ADOPTED CHILDREN of God that makes you HEIRS of God and JOINT HEIRS of Jesus?”
COMMENT:
A SLAVE may have reason to “PLAY IT SAFE.” If he MESSED UP at all and ANGERS his MASTER, he may be BEATEN or even KILLED. He OBEYS strictly out of FEAR!
b. Not so with a CHILD.
COMMENT:
His RELATIONSHIP is much more than a MASTER/SLAVE relationship. He is able to call God “ABBA FATHER.” (The most INTIMATE NAME one can call God.)
Our INTIMACY with God should cause us to RESPECT Him more, not less. Christians should not be FRIGHTENED of God. That is the “SPIRIT OF SLAVERY,” not
the “SPIRIT OF ADOPTION” that Paul said we have received as CHILDREN of God.
III. FEAR SUPPRESSES ACTION
A. There are many Biblical EXAMPLES of people AFRAID to ACT because of FEAR!
1. The men sent to SPY out the land God PROMISED to the children of Israel- Num. 13:1-3, 25-33 (READ and COMMENT)
COMMENT:
Because of FEAR of the people, the children of Israel were made to WANDER in the WILDERNESS for 40 years until that GENERATION DIED OFF. Joshua and Caleb, the only two of the 12 who were not DISMAYED by FEAR but believed that God would give them the STRENGTH to take the LAND, were the only ones allowed to enter the PROMISED LAND. The others DIED in the WILDERNESS because they “PLAYED IT SAFE.”
2. “The ONE TALENT MAN wouldn’t put his TALENT to work for the Master because he was AFRAID of him”- Matthew 25:14-30. (“PLAYING IT SAFE” cost him everything, including his soul.)
B. FEAR suppresses PERSONAL SPIRITUAL GROWTH and CONGREGATIONAL GROWTH.
1. There will always be “WHAT IF!”
COMMENT:
When challenged to embark upon a new DIRECTION or implement a new MINISTRY or make some new CHANGES that is believed to STIMULATE excitement and growth, we often hear DEFEATIST and FEARFUL remarks like: “That has never been done here before.” “It costs too much.” “We better play it safe.” “This move will stir up trouble.” “Where will all of this lead?” “This is the way we’ve always done it.” “I don’t like change.”
ILLUSTRATION:
These are much like the REMARKS made by the 10 men sent out by God to SPY the LAND. As with the SPIES, many often focus on only the VISIBLE—the OBSTACLES, the POTENTIAL PROBLEMS, the “WHAT IFS,” and allow their FEAR to cause them to WANDER in the WILDERNESS of DEFEAT and DESPAIR. And they can’t IMAGINE why the CHURCH isn’t GROWING!
3. The church of Jesus Christ needs FEARLESS LEADERS like Joshua and Caleb, men and women, who will not allow DEFEATIST ATTITUDE of others to THWART the SPIRITUAL and NUMERICAL GROWTH of the CHURCH, but will “LAUNCH OUT BY FAITH” even when it’s not POPULAR.
CONCLUSION:
A. Franklin D. Roosevelt said in his first Inaugural Address: “The only thing we have to FEAR is FEAR
itself.”
1. FEAR is the greatest and most effective WEAPON that Satan uses against the church.
a. Much of our FEARS are UNREAL and UNWARRANTED.
b. But whether they are REAL or UNREAL, if the DEVIL can bring FEAR into the lives of God’s people he knows he can gradually DESTROY the CHURCH.
ILLUSTRATION BY MAX LACADO:
He was a PROFESSIONAL THIEF. His name stirred FEAR in the hearts of the people. He TERRORIZED the Wells Fargo Stage Line for 13 years. He spooked even the most RUGGED FRONTIERSMAN. During his reign of TERROR between 1875 and 1883, he is credited with STEALING the bags away from 29 different STAGECOACH CREWS. And he did it all without FIRING a shot. His WEAPON was His REPUTATION. His AMMUNITION was FEAR and INTIMIDATION. A HOOD hid his face. No VICTIM ever saw him. No artist ever SKETCHED his features. No SHERIFF could ever track his trail. BLACK BART was his NAME and FEAR was his GAME.
But the interesting thing about BLACK BART, when the HOOD finally came off, there was nothing to FEAR. After the authorities finally tracked him down, they didn’t find a BLOODTHIRSTY BANDIT—they found a mild-mannered DRUGGIST from Decatur, Illinois. The man the newspapers pictured storming through the mountains on HORSEBACK was, in reality, so AFRAID of horses he rode to and from his ROBBERIES in a BUGGY. His name was Charles E. Boles—the BANDIT who never once fired a SHOT, because he never once LOADED his gun.
2. How many times have we allowed the BLACK BARTS in our churches to ROB us of the JOY, the ENTHUSIASM, the POTENTIAL, and the GROWTH that God wants his people to have?
WHICH IS IT? ARE YOU GOING TO BE MOVED BY FAITH OR PARALYZED BY FEAR?
