WHAT ARE YOU AFRAID OF?
INTRODUCTION: It’s been said that everybody is afraid of something; whether it be heights, spiders or snakes. If you Google phobias you’ll see that people can be afraid of just about anything. We have Halloween coming up. The ‘scare the bejeepers out of people’ holiday. (me and John Horton) People have come up with creative ways to scare people on Halloween. Although these pranks are done in good fun, being afraid is not so much fun. And when that fear debilitates us, especially spiritually, it’s not healthy.
1) What are we afraid of?
• We’re afraid of people. We are typically afraid of others who intimidate us by their size or power or by the authority they wield. But it’s specifically concerning when that intimidation causes us to be quiet about our faith. Matt. 10:26-33. We are not to be afraid of people who persecute us or are a threat to our safety. Jesus says, “Do not allow fear to silence you. Be bold and shout it from the rooftops.” In this passage Jesus tells us not to be afraid; then he tells us who really holds the ultimate power and it’s not man, but God. Then he gives us reasons why we don’t have to be afraid; why we don’t have to worry. He assures us that although God has the power over body and soul we are very valuable to him and he is watching over us. However, Jesus also tells us that if we want to disbelieve the truth about God’s love and protection and instead live in fear, our silence will be our undoing.
• We’re afraid of loss. John 12:42-43. These leaders believed in Jesus but they were afraid. If they confessed their faith in Christ they would be put out of the synagogue. And this was a legitimate fear because the Pharisees had said that anyone who professed faith in Jesus would be put out of the synagogue and they had the power to do it. So it wasn’t an empty threat. And that was too much for them to risk losing. If they were to be put out of the synagogue they would lose their leadership status. They would lose their prominence in the public square. What’s worse is not only would they go from being a prominent figure to an average commoner, they would actually be worse than a commoner; they would be an outcast. To be put out of the synagogue was a big deal. You would be shunned by society. You would be viewed as a degenerate. These guys were afraid to lose all that. They would rather have people praising them then God. They chose the things of the world rather than the things of God. They really chose death over life. What are we afraid to lose? What are we afraid to give up? What are we afraid to let go of that is standing in the way of us embracing Jesus.
• We’re afraid of evil. In some sense we should be. There should be a healthy respect for the power of evil. It’s not a game or something to dabble in. (Ouija board by Milton Bradley). However, we can be too afraid of it. To the point where, especially in the case of temptation, we cave in to the pressure of it and act as if we have no power to resist it. A lot of the power evil has is in our willingness to feed it. In our willingness to believe its lies that persuade me I have no power. Rom. 8:12-15. With the power of the Holy Spirit we are no longer slaves of fear.
• We’re afraid of the unknown. This is a big one for us. We fear questionable outcomes. We worry about uncertainties. Worry is the monster whose name tag reads, “what if?” The reality of not knowing what’s going to happen to us can haunt and plague us into anxiety, stress and fear which results in sleepless nights, addictions and in some cases death. Sometimes we’re so caught up in anxiety and paranoia that we’re afraid when there’s no reason to be. We’ll make a threat where there is none. Psalm 53:5a, “There they were, overwhelmed with dread, where there was nothing to dread.” People can get caught up in fear and direct their lives by this unnecessary fear. Their fears are real only in their minds and no where else. Here is where I make unrealistic fear real. I make untrue fears true. This is the result of allowing fear to rule my life.
2) How do we overcome that?
• Be courageous. When Moses was passing the torch to Joshua and calling upon him to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land he gave his people this message in Deut. 31:3-6. Moving the Israelites into the Promised Land without their leader Moses was a scary situation. God knew they needed courage in order to overcome their fears. So he encouraged them by assuring that he would be with them every step of the way. It’s no different for us today. Eddie Rickenbacker once said, “Courage is doing what you are afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you are afraid.” We’re probably not going to live a life absent from fear. How we react to fearful situations is what matters. We’re not brave until we are first afraid. “Cradles of Eminence” is a book which produced a revealing study involving 413 “famous and exceptionally gifted people who have helped change the world.” The author spent years attempting to understand what produced such greatness; to find a common thread that ran through all of these outstanding lives. Surprisingly, the most outstanding fact was that virtually all of them had to overcome the personal fears associated with great suffering or failure in order to become who they were.
• Fear God instead. This might sound strange. How can replacing one fear with another help me to overcome? Many people erroneously view the fear of God as a negative thing. But they fail first to differentiate healthy vs. unhealthy fear and they fail to see that the fear of God is actually a good thing. Jeremiah 32:36-40. God's purpose in instilling this fear is so that his people would not depart from him. His great love for us (love always protects) is displayed through instilling in us this healthy fear. In our reverence of God we respect his power. If we don't, we will not take him seriously. We will blatantly continue in our sin, expecting God will do nothing about it. If we continue in fearlessness, we will drift away and depart from him. That is what he is trying to prevent. This passage in Jeremiah (and others) causes us to better understand God's pure and holy motives and it causes us to actually welcome into our lives this necessity called the fear of God. In, The Piercing Arrows of Holy Truth, David Wilkerson writes, “I believe God has to accomplish a work in us before we can lay claim to any covenant promise. What is this precedent work upon which all others depend? Jeremiah tells us: “I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me”. God’s precedent work of the covenant is to put His fear into our hearts by the work of the Holy Spirit. Jeremiah is speaking here of the provisions of God’s new covenant, not the old. And God tells us very clearly how this first work of the covenant will be performed: “I will put My fear in their hearts.” He is letting us know we cannot work up a holy fear by the laying on of hands or the strivings of our flesh. No—the only way this holy work can be accomplished in us is if God’s Spirit performs it. God is telling us through this passage, “I am going to do marvelous things in you. I will send My very own Spirit to abide in you and give you a new heart. He will empower you to mortify all fleshly deeds and He will guide you into total freedom from the power of sin. Finally, He will cause you to do my will and do My good pleasure. “But there is one work the Spirit must perform in you before any of these others. He is going to put in you the true fear of God concerning sin. He will implant in you a profound awe of My holiness, so you will not depart from My commands. Otherwise, your sin will always lead you away.” Very simply, the Holy Spirit changes the way we look at our sin. He knows that as long as we continue to take our lust lightly, we will never be set free. How does the Holy Ghost do this? By using the convicting Word of God—the piercing arrows of holy truth.” Having a healthy fear of God is wise. We will stay in his boundaries and under his protection. Fearing God leads to holiness.
• Trust in God. Prov. 29:25, “Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.” Perhaps Solomon was thinking of his father David when he wrote this proverb. David could not have slain the giant Goliath if he didn’t believe the words of Prov. 29:25. Corrie Ten Boom once said, “In my times of fear I don’t wrestle, I nestle!” Corrie learned to trust God to the point of when facing fear she was able to be huddle close to Jesus and be at peace. We trust in God’s presence. Psalm 118:6, “The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” Sometimes God’s presence is hard to trust in because we have to believe that he’s there with us. Since there’s no a physical presence of God we can be convinced that he’s not there. “The early American Indians had a unique practice of training young braves. On the night of a boy’s thirteenth birthday, after learning hunting, scouting, and fishing skills, he was put to one final test. He was placed in a dense forest to spend the entire night alone. Until then, he had never been away from the security of the family and tribe. But on this night, he was blindfolded and taken several miles away. When he took off the blindfold, he was in the middle of thick woods, and he was terrified. Every time a twig snapped, he visualized a wild animal ready to pounce. After what seemed like an eternity, dawn broke and the first rays of sunlight entered the interior of the forest. Looking around, the boy saw flowers, trees, and the outline of a path. Then, to his astonishment, he beheld the figure of a man standing just a few feet away, armed with bow and arrow. It was his father. He had been there all night long.” Had the boy known his father was there all along it wouldn’t have been much of a test. So it is with us. We can know God is with us, but the test is, since it’s not a physical presence, we can become afraid. Whenever we face a fearful situation we need to realize our Father is there. We can trust in God’s protection. Isaiah 51:12-13. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (Daniel 3:1, 4-6, 12-13, 16-18). Daniel (Daniel 6:6-10). Shad/Mesh/Abed and Daniel trusted God even though their lives were threatened. They were not afraid of the man who had the authority to kill them, they had the fear of God to not disobey him; and God rescued them. We trust in God’s provision. When we’re facing trials and difficulties we can become afraid. When it’s a financial concern we’re afraid the bills won’t get paid. When it’s a medical concern we’re afraid we won’t get better. Then, although sometimes at the last moment, God provides. He alleviates that fear. We need to remember those times and learn to trust when the next crisis comes. Sometimes God provides by way of equipping us to take care of the matter. It can be fearsome when God has left us to take action. We want God to take care of everything; that would be so much easier. But by design there are going to be times when we will be required to act. The power comes from him but the carrying it out comes from us. (My Bodyguard reference). God will fight a lot of our battles for us but there are some where he has trained us to fight. We are called to “Fight the good fight”. We are commanded to “Resist the devil and he will flee.” We are the ones who are fighting and resisting. We want God to fight for us and remove every temptation and handle every situation but that isn’t his will. We are left to fight and resist, in his power, so that we will grow and become less fearful. Not so we would be confident in ourselves, but so we would become stronger and mature in our faith. Jesus didn’t carry Peter across the water, he made him get out of the boat and walk himself. Jesus wants us to do the same thing today. And if we become afraid like Peter did and begin to sink, Jesus will grab a hold of us but he will say to us the same thing he said to Peter, “You of little faith; why did you doubt?” Jesus may say to us, “Why do you doubt the power at work within you? Why do you allow the outside circumstances to overwhelm you?” Psalm 34:4, “I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.” Let us seek the Lord today so that we too can be delivered from all our fears.
