Who Do You Fear MOST?
(Fear of the Lord part 2)
Fear of the Lord or Fear of Man
Pleaser of God or Pleaser of Man
Luke 12:1-12
1 Meanwhile, the crowds grew until thousands were milling about and crushing each other. Jesus turned first to his disciples and warned them, "Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees – beware of their hypocrisy. 2 The time is coming when everything will be revealed; all that is secret will be made public. 3 Whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be shouted from the housetops for all to hear! 4 "Dear friends, don’t be afraid of those who want to kill you. They can only kill the body; they cannot do any more to you. 5 But I’ll tell you whom to fear. Fear God, who has the power to kill people and then throw them into hell. 6 "What is the price of five sparrows? A couple of pennies? Yet God does not forget a single one of them. 7 And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to him than a whole flock of sparrows. 8 "And I assure you of this: If anyone acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I, the Son of Man, will openly acknowledge that person in the presence of God’s angels. 9 But if anyone denies me here on earth, I will deny that person before God’s angels. 10 Yet those who speak against the Son of Man may be forgiven, but anyone who speaks blasphemies against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. 11 "And when you are brought to trial in the synagogues and before rulers and authorities, don’t worry about what to say in your defense, 12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you what needs to be said even as you are standing there."
Who do you live to please? We all live to please someone. There are only three possibilities: God, Others, and yourself. The last two are in reality two versions of pleasing the devil ultimately. Many people are pleasers, and they try to make everyone around them happy. The other half buy into the old saying, “You can’t please everyone, all the time, so you might as well please yourself.” So they live their lives trying to make themselves happy, and don’t about others happiness unless it affects theirs. In reality it is all about pleasing yourself after all. Pleasers only please others to get something from them in return -love, acceptance, friendship, etc. Both of these are dead end streets. The pleaser will be taken advantage of and hurt, and the self pleaser will be alone in the end. There is a higher level upon which you can base your life, and that is upon pleasing God. It is called in the word of God -living in the Fear of the Lord. You ask what does fear have to do with pleasing? We please people because we fear they won’t like us. We please ourselves because we are afraid people will hurt us or not meet our needs. When we fear God we will serve others, and God will meet our needs largely through others.
In a Nutshell: You will please who you fear.
Some say not in the New Testament. Since Jesus came we don’t fear God anymore. The pastor in the beginning of John Beveres book The Fear of the Lord said New Testament believers don’t need to fear God anymore. Here in the NT it is Jesus who tells us in red letters that the fear of the Lord is still in vogue. Notice particularly who he addressed this teaching to - HIS DISCIPLES. The Believers. The Church. The born again.
I AVOID HYPOCRISY v2-3
A. Look back at chapter 11 to hear him spell out what he is talking about. 37-ff
1. Concerned only with external holiness 39-40 Who sees that? People
-outward holiness more important than inward holiness
2. Concerned with Applause of Men v43
3. Concerned with telling others how to live v46 Judgmental
Pretending to be what they weren’t so people would praise them. Thus desiring the approval of man more than the approval of God. Fear the disapproval of man more than the disapproval of God.
Prov. 29:25 Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe.
Definition:
“The fear of man is being more impressed with man’s reaction to our actions than with God’s reaction. That’s bondage. When we have the fear of God upon us, we are impressed only with God’s reaction. We are freed from the concern of what people think. That’s freedom! That’s release! That’s great relief!”
-Joy Dawson, “Intimate Friendship With God Through Understanding the Fear of the Lord”, p. 33.
II Hypocrisy Will be EXPOSED ! 4-5
a. Hiding is useless - God knows -Everyone will know eventually.
b. At the judgement - God will show everyone why you are in heaven and hell
c. What is the point of hiding if you know its going to come out eventually.
III Antidote for Hypocrisy v4-5
A. We all want to be loved and approved by others-
B. How do we keep it from being the driving force in our life?
C. The fear of the Lord will keep us from being afraid of People
D. Think! What is the worst they can do? KILL YOU!
-they can mock, make fun, leave out, persecute, mistreat, treat mean
E. Why fear God? What is the worst God can do? Send Body and soul to hell forever
-Speaking to saved believers not the lost
-warning against backslidding
F. Compare the two when tempted to give in to pressure.
G. The fear of the Lord is the antidote for hypocrisy, and Confessing your faults to one another.
Why Mike Guglielmucci Lied to the World
The Australian musician who wrote “Healer” needed his own healing from a porn addiction. His tragic story should challenge us to embrace purity.
I play the song “Healer” all the time in my car. I can’t get the tune out of my head. You probably know the words:
I believe You’re my healer
I believe You are all I need
I believe You’re my portion
I believe You’re more than enough for me
Jesus You’re all I need.
Thousands of churches have been singing the popular worship chorus since Australian youth pastor Michael Guglielmucci wrote it in 2007. The Aussie worship band Hillsong United has made it a global anthem, and it’s especially popular among people battling illness. But the song took on a darker meaning in August when Guglielmucci admitted it was part of an elaborate hoax he created.
“When we sing “Healer’ from now on, let’s remember that Jesus wasn’t lying when He promised to heal our broken soul.”
Christians around the world felt shocked and betrayed when the 29-year-old minister admitted he had faked cancer for two years in a strange ploy to hide his secret pornography addiction. The fiasco has become one of the biggest scandals to rock Australia’s Christian community in years.
In a tearful apology aired on Australian television several weeks ago, Guglielmucci said he faked symptoms and wrote bogus e-mails from doctors. He sat in waiting rooms alone while his family assumed he was getting treatment. He appeared in church concerts with an oxygen tube in his nose, deceiving thousands of mostly teenage fans into believing he needed a physical healing.
This talented but tormented young man eventually trapped himself in his own deceptive web.
Church leaders asked him to confess his lies to the police, since he used the story to raise funds. He was stripped of his ministerial credentials and is now receiving psychiatric help. Aussie church leaders, including pastor Brian Houston of Hillsong Church in Sydney, had to make public statements to calm distraught churchgoers who feel betrayed and, in some cases, defrauded of their money.
I can’t begin to imagine the pain that Guglielmucci’s parents feel. (His father is an Assemblies of God pastor who read his son’s apology to a stunned congregation outside Adelaide). I am sure trust has been severely damaged among members of Guglielmucci’s family. But how do we respond when a leader fails us like this?
Thankfully, in Guglielmucci’s case, he did not justify his behavior. His apology was read in churches all over Australia. He told a news reporter: “I’m so sorry not just for lying to my friends and family even about a sickness, but I’m sorry for a life of saying I was something when I’m not. From this day on I’m telling the truth.”
Guglielmucci admitted that he began to weave his false story of illness in order to mask his addiction. Sometimes he felt so guilty after looking at porn that he couldn’t go to work—so he called in sick. He dug himself deeper every day. His little lies grew to become a monstrous con job.
This man’s pretend sickness was caused by a disease of the soul that plagues millions of people today, including many Christian men who wear masks to church to hide their shame. They haven’t stuck tubes in their noses or broadcast their lies to teenage audiences like Guglielmucci did, but they are lying just the same to cover up their lust. They, too, need to come clean.
If you are struggling with a porn addiction, I challenge you to take a bold step and confess your sin to your pastor, your spouse or a trusted Christian friend. Don’t hide any longer. Don’t live a lie. Lust does not have to control you. Jesus has provided a way of escape. Don’t wait until your sin is exposed; instead, expose your sin to the light of God’s holiness.
James 5:16 summarizes this simple formula: “Confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. (NASB)” Those ancient words still work today.
True healing is available from Jesus, not only for the victims of cancer but also for all those men like Mike Guglielmucci who are battling sexual addictions. When we sing “Healer” from now on, let’s remember that Jesus wasn’t lying when He promised to heal our broken souls.
J. Lee Grady is editor of Charisma.
IV The Fear of the Lord must be balanced with the Love of the Lord v6-7
A. We have over empathized the fear of God in the past
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God -A prime example of the traditional fire and brimstone style of sermon popular during the period of the Great Awakening. Jonathan Edwards invoked Biblical imagery with the intention of persuading his audience through scripture of their own damnation. This technique was apparently so effective that during the sermon, according to Stephen Williams (a witness who recorded the events of the sermon), Edwards had to ask for silence from the overwhelmed crowd so that he could finish. Wikapedia
B. We have over empathized the love now now.
God loves you and has a wonderful plan for you life. Joel Osteen is an example of this style. Which is right? Both are right.
We like a God who is comfortable and palatable like a friend we can introduce to our friends and neighbours. We like the side of God that is loving, gracious, merciful, forgiving, tender, gentle, comfortable, friendly etc
But there is a bigger picture - God is awesome, a consuming fire, Holy, a judge, just, to be feared,
C. We need both in perfect harmony
D. Jesus says fear God and then do not be afraid.
E. God cares (loves) and values you greatly.
V Your Fear will be tested v8-9
A. You can’t be a secret disciple, fit in, go along with the crowd, ride the fence
B. Sooner or later you will be asked whose side you are on.
1Th. 2:4 …we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts.
We should not expect that living a life as a disciple of Jesus Christ will allow us to fit in. There will be times when obeying Him and living in the fear of the Lord will mean we stick out like a sore thumb.
We’ll have to stand up and leave a movie theater. We’ll have to walk out of a room where something is being shown on a tv or dvd. We may not be able to keep up on the most popular music. We may not be able to wear the most popular fashions. It will not be easy to say to your girlfriend or boyfriend that you want to be sexually pure.
But this is where the rubber meets the road. What is more important to you – what other people think of you or what our Holy God thinks of you?
C. If you fear people and want to please them, want them to like you, then you will deny you are a Christian. (Christ will deny you in heaven)
Stand Up and Be Counted
Some years ago Premier Khrushchev was speaking before the Supreme Soviet and was severely critical of the late Premier Stalin. While he was speaking someone from the audience sent up a note: "What were you doing when Stalin committed all these atrocities?"
Khrushchev shouted, "Who sent up that note?" Not a person stirred.
"I’ll give him one minute to stand up!" The seconds ticked off. Still no one moved.
"All right, I’ll tell you what I was doing. I was doing exactly what the writer of this note was doing--exactly nothing! I was afraid to be counted!"
--James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988) p. 128.
D. If you fear the Lord you will acknowledge him, regardless of the cost
E. Knowing his promise to acknowledge you before the Father
VI Approval of God will cost you the Approval of Men v11-12
A. People won’t always praise your commitment to God
B. Persecution will come in some form
C. God will be with you, and will give you a response. (Stephen)
Conclusion:
There’s a song by the Christian rock group Petra called God pleaser that says:
Don’t wanna be a man pleaser - I wanna be a God pleaser
I just want to have the wisdom to discern the two apart
Don’t wanna be a man pleaser - I wanna be a God pleaser
I just want to do the things that please the Father’s heart
I just want my life to glorify His Son
To make my Father proud that I’m His child before I’m done
No need to pat me on the back or stop and shake my hand
I just want to hear my Father say Well done, well done
I just want to hear my Father say Well done
