Ultimate Cage Fighting
The Cage of Fear
I. Introduction
Cage fighting. 2 go in and only 1 exits as victor. A test of will, a test of strength and dexterity and ultimately one must exert authority and impose His will on the other. There are two ways to think about cages. We can either see a cage as containment, a prison or a trap or we can view the cage as a battlefield or an arena. I want us to enter into Ultimate Cage Fighting over the next 4 weeks and view the 4 things we are going to talk about as opponents and the cage they try to place us in as an arena for mortal combat!
What locks us down? What fences us in? Whether you call the resistance we all experience walls, barriers, obstacles or, in the case of our subject matter for the next few weeks, cages the truth is that we all have cages that we must fight our way out of if we desire to be all that God want us to be. Our path to fulfillment and maturity will be marked by cage fighting.
Stop just a moment and ask yourself this question, “Do you think God created you or anyone else to be average? Or do you believe that we are created to do great things?” Granted we weren’t all created to discover the cure for Aids or Cancer or to invent some culture changing gadget. But in our field of interest and in our sphere of influence I believe we were all created to be great. However, I have to suggest that as we go through life and look around most of the people we meet are average at best. They live an average life, do an average job, and accomplish average things. Why? I would wager that most everyone we know wants to live life to fullest. I don’t know anyone that starts out wanting to live ½ a life or an unfulfilling life. We want to achieve the extraordinary. We want to amount to something. This truth is slammed home in the commercial that I am sure you have seen where young kids begin to make statements like, “I want to grow up to be an addict. I want to grow up to be a drug dealer. I want to drop out and live on welfare.” By using sarcasm, the commercial reminds us that no one starts out that way. We all grow up wanting to change the world. Yet, it seems that we are held back from destiny and greatness. Somewhere during the journey something changes until one writer has come to this conclusion:
There’s more competition to become mediocre than to become remarkable. Almost everyone is vying for the same spots to be average. Far fewer people actually go for the big dreams, which makes them easier to attain. For example, it’s easier to raise $1,000,000 than $10,000 because more people are trying to raise $10,000.
That brings us to the first opponent that most of us will have to square off against in life is fear. All of us at some time will have to face and fight our way out of the cage of fear. Fear can be paralyzing and debilitating to our souls and to our lives.
Did you know that there are 2000 classified fears? We are familiar with the common phobias such as Arachnophobia which is the fear of spiders or Claustrophobia the fear of small or confined spaces.
But did you know there are fears like:
Fear of riding in a Car or vehicle - Amaxophobia.
Fear of church – Ecclesiphobia
Mother-in-law- Pentheraphobi
Bullets- Ballistophobia
OUphobia – the fear that Taurrie has of NC having to play OU in football!
Or the one I made up – handdanglingphobia. That is the fear I had as a little boy. I was afraid to allow my hand to dangle over the side of my bed because the boogey man that was certainly under there would grab it.
And the list goes on and on.
With over 2000 classified fears I would say that we live in a fear filled society and world. Fear everywhere! Fear saturated and fear perpetuating. And yet, according to scientists we are only born with 2 innate fears: the fear of falling and the fear of loud noises. In other words, all of the other fears are learned fears. This means the “you can’t do that’s” and the “don’t do that’s” have imbedded fear into our lives.
Ann Landers gets 10,000 letters a day and fear is the most common thing she is asked about.
The most commonly confessed fear is public speaking.
We are a fearful people. We are afraid of everything and we allow those fears to keep us from accomplishing great things and in some cases even simple mundane things.
The great musician Louis Armstrong told the story about the old lady who sent him to spring with a bucket to get water. When Armstrong got there he saw the eyes of an alligator and in fear he drops the bucket and runs back to the lady. She asks him where her water is and he said he can’t go back and I can’t get water. She asked him why and he said there is an alligator down there and he scared me to death. The old lady said, that gator has been there for years and is probably just as scared of you as you are of it. Louis said if that is the case then that water ain’t fit to drink.
I noticed something. If only 2 fears are innate. That means the rest are caught or taught and that means fears can be unlearned if we are willing to fight our way out of the cage.
So the important question this morning is what do you fear? What internal struggle do you fight that keeps you caged up and unwilling to risk, advance, try something, take territory, succeed, or accomplish your destiny? What is it that holds you back?
For some of us (this is one of the big ones I fight on a regular basis) the fear is failure. For some it is the fear of the unknown. For some it is the fear of ridicule. For some it is the fear of success. For some it is the fear of change. For some it is the fear of what others will think. Some fear being single. Some fear being married. Some fear being authentic. Some fear being fake! Fear of disaster (always waiting for the other shoe to drop).
Did you know that 40% of the things we worry about don’t happen and another 30% are things from the past?
Fear may be the first cage we must face in our relationship with Christ if we want to be fully developed believers! Because if we don’t deal with fear we will doubt, we will hesitate, we will worry. But if all but two of our fears are learned the good news is that we can fight our way out of this cage!
One pastor may have said it best when he said it this way. “We are inwardly fashioned for faith, not for fear. Fear, worry and anxiety is not true to the way we’ve been wired. Everything about you from your tissue… to your brain cells… to your soul is constructed by our Maker for faith and not fear. To live by fear is to live against the reality of your creation.”
His point is dead on with what God has said about us and fear. Our text this morning is a very familiar passage of Scripture that so many of us can quote, but we are unable or unwilling to live it out, stand on it, believe it or apply it to our situation.
We know it from Children’s Church.
II. Text
2 Timothy 1:7
7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
Think about that passage for just a second. He has not given us the spirit of fear. So therefore, when it comes time to fulfill our destiny, to step forward into greatness, to accomplish our life’s plan and purpose if we are afraid that fear didn’t come from Him! We have taken it on ourselves.
God must have known that we would be in a constant day to day battle to get out of the cage of fear. Throughout Scripture we are encouraged to fear not. In fact, the phrase fear not is used 365 times in Scripture. God knew that we would have to face fear and that it would be a common part of life. But we have a fear not for each day! Fear doesn’t have to be victorious. If fear can be learned it can be unlearned. We can be strong and courageous! We can face our fears and battle out of the cage that keeps us from life!
III. Fear Facts
a. Fear can make you make wrong choices.
How many examples do you need from Scripture? Abraham lies about Sarah being his wife because he fears for their lives. Jacob destroys a family because he is fears loosing the birthright. David kills a man because he is afraid that his sin of adultery will be exposed. Peter removes a guys ear in a moment of fear.
How many examples do we need from life?
I am afraid of being single the rest of my life so I will settle for the first person that pays me any attention. I am afraid of being laughed at so I will refuse to make a stand for my faith. I am afraid of failure so I will fail to even try. I am afraid of change so I will live in a rut for the rest of my life. I am afraid of what others think so I will spend myself into financial ruin to appear successful. I am afraid of authenticity so I will put on a mask and before I will ask for help or counsel I will wait until my life, my marriage, my world has fallen apart.
When we are fearful we make silly and wrong choices! Fear is not a good platform for decision making! We should be fearful of choices that are made when we are afraid.
b. Fear establishes limits.
Erwin Macmanus – Your fears establish the limits of your life. If you fear heights you will stay low. If you fear people you will stay alone.
You can only go as far as your fears will allow you to go. In Moses case, fear forced a deliverer to follow sheep for decades. Stop right now and ask yourself this question, “How do my fears limit me?” “What could I do if I had no fears?”
I could wait and find the right spouse. I could get help. I could make a difference. I could _______ (fill in the blank)!
Remember, the fear that invaded the lives of the Children of Israel limited them from entering their inheritance for 40 years. They could have been eating on a smorgasbord of grapes, milk, and honey and instead had to settle for manna cakes, fried manna, mashed manna, manna casserole, manna fondue, manna everything due to the limitation caused by their fear. They traded a promised land for desert due to fear. How many of us are living in the proverbial desert daily simply because we have allowed fear to limit what we can and can’t do?
c. Fear messes with your perspective.
Remember the report of the spies? "We looked like grasshoppers to ourselves, and so we must have looked to them." (Numbers 13:33) Their fear caused them to have a warped perspective of themselves and their perspective of how others saw them.
When we are afraid we don’t see clearly! We see ourselves and our God as too small. We fail to recognize our own abilities, gifting, and strengths. We also make assumptions about how others see us. Have you ever met anyone who was really gifted, talented or maybe absolutely beautiful or smashingly handsome who had a really poor self image? It doesn’t matter how gifted they were or how often they were told they are gorgeous they just won’t believe it! They think everyone else sees what they see when they look in the mirror. Fear clouds perspective. Fear keeps us from actually seeing reality!
d. Fear must be faced!
We must acknowledge our fear and face our fear if we want to live life to the fullest. Not telling anyone about the fear or ignoring it doesn’t make it any less of a reality or any less caging! We must own up to the fact that we are afraid.
Did you know that fear can be your friend? Fear can become an indicator.
Sometimes is shows you what you should not do. But more times than not it shows you what you should do. If you are afraid of something there is a very good chance that God is trying to get your attention and has given you something to do. Attempt something so big that unless God intervenes it will fail.
IV. How do we combat fear?
It has to be courage? Right? That is the opposite of fear so that must be the solution or remedy. We probably just need to have everyone who is afraid of something come up to the alter and ask God to give them courage? Right?
That would seem logical. However, that isn’t God’s antidote for fear. In fact, we are told very clearly in Scripture what the cure for fear really is.
1 John 4:18
18There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
“There is no fear where love exists. Rather, perfect love banishes fear, for fear involves punishment, and the person who lives in fear has not been perfected in love.”
“Our standing in the world is identical with Christ’s. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life—fear of death, fear of judgment—is one not yet fully formed in love.”
There is no fear in love: true love has no room for fear, because where fear is, there is pain; and he who is not free from fear is not complete in love.
Think about this truth this morning, if we are aware and surrounded in God’s perfect love then we cannot be afraid. Fear will have no power. If we understand His perfect love we would know that we are now covered by a love that says I have given my angels charge over you, I have good plans for you to prosper you. Love that guards us, guides us, provides for us. If we are in that love we quickly understand that if God be for us who can be against us?
Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God. His love is steadfast. His love is strong.
So if you are trapped by the cage of fear this morning, if fear has kept you from walking into your promised land, if fear has warped your perspective and limited you, if fear has immobilized you and made you average the greatest remedy and the sure fire way to recapture movement and motivation is to allow yourself the experience of perfect love! Your fears will vanish in a moment when you realize that the God of the universe, the strongest, mightiest, most powerful force ever know, who has more power in His words than we have in our armies, who is undefeated and unchallenged in his greatness loves you so much that he has your back! Listen to the depth and fear absolving love that he has for us when he talks about us in Psalms 91.
Psalm 91
1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust."
3 Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. (I don’t have to fear the schemes of the enemy or sickness.)
4 He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
5 You will not fear the terror of night (I don’t have to fear the boogey man under my bed; the attack I can’t see coming), nor the arrow that flies by day, (I don’t have to fear the attack that I can see coming)
6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. (I don’t have to fear any plague that sweeps the land, such as economic disaster.)
7 A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. (I don’t have to fear being outnumbered.)
8 You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked.
9 If you make the Most High your dwelling— even the LORD, who is my refuge-
10 then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent. (When I hide in his love I cannot be reached or touched! My house, my children are off limits.)
11 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; (Are my angels yawning? I am so fearful that I fail to risk?)
12 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. (He’s got my back)
13 You will tread upon the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent. (I don’t have to fear falling, I don’t have to fear destruction, I don’t have to fear the loud things or the sneaky things. He’s got my back!)
14 "Because he loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
15 He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.
16 With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation."
(Slide 28-33) Psalms 27:1-3
1 The LORD is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid?
2 When evil men advance against me to devour my flesh, when my enemies and my foes attack me, they will stumble and fall.
3 Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me (ever feel like war has been waged on you?), even then will I be confident.
Why shouldn’t we be afraid to try new things? Why don’t we have to fear taking a risk? Why shouldn’t we fear being alone? Why don’t we fear facing a sin filled society? Why don’t we fear going where men have feared to tread? Why shouldn’t our lives be controlled and caged by fear? Because He loves us and will rescue us and will protect us, and answer us, and deliver us, and honor us! His love drives out fear.
The only way that fear should rule and reign in your life today is if you either haven’t experienced his love or if you have overlooked or underestimated his love today!
What fears have you caged in today? What fears have you learned? At the beginning of each great act of faith there is a seed of faith. Let fear become a motivator rather than a cage!
You should be afraid this morning if you don’t know Christ. Jesus said the only thing we should fear is anyone who can destroy our soul. The enemy can do just that. But remember perfect love casts out fear. You can experience perfect love this morning.
Prayer for those who are dealing with any type of fear.
