So, what are you afraid of? What it is that sends Goosebumps up and down your spine, brings your heart to your throat and makes you want to throw up just thinking about it? Snakes, heights, spiders, enclosed spaces? Most to those things have been explored at some point or another on ¡§Fear Factor¡¨. Have you seen the show? A normal show begins with six contestants, three male and three female. And it would appear that these contestants must first pass through a whole series of interviews to assure that ugly people don¡¦t get on the show. During the next hour these people will compete to see who will win the $50,000.00 prize that¡¦s given away each week. Since the show began last June the contestants have jumped between moving trucks, have leapt out of twelve stories buildings, bobbed for plums in a tub of snakes and been buried in 300,000 worms. Add to that they¡¦ve eaten eyes, brains, bugs and body parts we don¡¦t discuss in polite company. When Franklin D. Roosevelt said ¡§The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.¡¨ He obviously hadn¡¦t watched this show.
I would last about 27 seconds on the show. I am terrified of heights, scared to death of snakes and really my idea of exotic foods is putting onions on my hamburger. So what are you afraid of? Now don¡¦t tell me nothing; an article in one Medical Journal once stated ¡§The man who knows no fear is not only a gross exaggeration, he is a biological impossibility.¡¨ You know that¡¦s the truth with ¡§Fear Factor¡¨ All you have to do is watch their faces to understand that in many cases it¡¦s not a matter of not being afraid as much as it is a matter of conquering your fear. And sometimes it¡¦s fear that does the conquering.
Fear will always be with us, it¡¦s one of the base emotions along with hunger, love and hate, and it¡¦s not just limited to the human animal but is instinctive and crosses throughout the animal kingdom. You might even say that fear is a gift from God, it keeps us alive. Leonardo Da Vinci made this comment, ¡§Just as courage imperils life; fear protects it.¡¨
We are told that the four greatest impelling motives in life are fear, hope, love and faith, we are also told that the greatest is fear, that it¡¦s first in order, first in force and first in fruit. Not in everyone of course, but in the majority of people. And the Bible talks about fear, the word fear is mentioned 266 times and the word afraid is mentioned 223 times. The first time fear is mentioned is in Genesis 3:10 and the last time it¡¦s seen is Revelation 19:5.
In the New Testament there are actually seven different Greek words that are translated as fear in the English language. We¡¦ve mentioned before that English is a lazy language. We¡¦ll take one word and make it mean a dozen different things. My favourite word like that is Fast. A simple word, how many meanings can the word fast have? Well if you were to make a boat fast it could either mean that you make it quicker or you tie it up. If you said a person was fast it could mean they were quick or that they had loose morals. If you said a colour was fast it would mean that it wouldn¡¦t run as opposed to saying that Bruce was fast that would mean he does run, but if he was fast asleep he wouldn¡¦t be moving at all. If a pool table is fast it means that the balls bounce well when they hit the edge. But fast can also mean to go without food, it can mean that your watch has gained time, or that a film is designed for a short exposure time. It can also mean the shaft of a column or that a person is a close friend. More recently fast has become an acronym for an organization called ¡§Federation against software theft.¡¨
Now I said all that to say that the Greek writers used a little more imagination when they were trying to describe something. In this case trying to get across the concept of fear. And while there were seven words used to express fear in the New Testament we are going to focus on three of them. The first word that is used is ƒÖƒßƒÒƒÕƒæƒç Phobeo and it means to be in awe of, or to revere or respect something. This is a natural fear. In the Bible it is used of the Fear of God, or fear of death.
Columnist Dave Barry wrote "All of us are born with a set of instinctive fears--of falling, of the dark, of lobsters, of falling on lobsters in the dark, or speaking before a Rotary Club, and of the words "Some Assembly Required."
Phobeo is what keeps you from driving 200 kph on a back road, or stepping off a twelve story building. This is not an unnatural or unhealthy fear. Of course you can overcome this, jumping out of an airplane with nothing between you and the ground but a square of silk and a bunch of strings should inspire Phobeo, but skydivers overcome that fear. Race car drivers have learned to overcome their fear of speed. On fear factor contestants regularly are able to overcome their natural fears.
We¡¦ve all met people who is afraid of something and yet they have risen above their fear. Those in the know tell us that 30% of the population is afraid of flying, and yet many of those people will fly when they have to.
Flying does not bother me in the least bit. I have never to this point been afraid in a plane that I have been flying or that anyone else has been flying. And because of that I find it difficult to understand the fear of flying. On the other hand Angela hates to fly, she would have walked to Australia and back if she could have and yet she flies, doesn¡¦t like it but she does it.
But friends I have a confession to make, I don¡¦t like snakes, my father is terrified of snakes. There is an article in the most recent Readers Digest about fears and phobias, and it says this ¡§Many people suffering from a specific phobia have at least one phobic parent.¡¨ I would agree, Dad passed that on to me and when it comes to snakes I am a coward, and I don¡¦t mean a little bit afraid I am terrified of snakes.
15 years ago Angela and I went to Florida on a vacation, during a trip we visited a place called Gator Land, I wanted to Go because that¡¦s where part of the Bond Movie, ¡§Live and Let Die¡¨ with Roger Moore was filmed. Angela wanted to go because in the brochure it said that you could have your picture taken with a four foot boa constrictor and that type of thing shakes Angela¡¦s tree. I mean she could hardly wait to hold that monster. Well I laid awake most of the night before struggling with my fear of snakes, I had been preaching about conquering your fear back in Truro and it was time for me to put my money where my mouth was, so to speak.
On the screen you will see a picture of Denn with a four foot boa constrictor wrapped around my neck. Yes I know the collar is up on my leather jacket, but the snake is still there. I am still terrified of snakes, scared to death, but I have conquered the fear, it will no longer rule my life. If you were to bring a snake up to me I could touch it, I could even hold it, but I aint ever gonna like it. Which worked out well because if I hadn¡¦t gotten that fear under control I might never have moved to Australia where they have 7 of the 10 most poisonous snakes in the world. Which by the way if you haven¡¦t heard our big snake story, on one of our trips we ran over a snake on the road. I know that¡¦s not all that unusual, however the reason we ran over this snake was because it was stretched across both lanes of the road. Not a word of a lie.
The next word used in the original language is the word ƒÖƒßƒæƒÒƒßƒp Phobos and it means exceedingly afraid or terror. It¡¦s where we get our word Phobia. It is a paralyzing fear. If Phobeo is a natural fear, Phobos is an unnatural fear. If Phobeo is what keeps you from driving your car on a back road at 200 kmph then Phobeos is what keeps you from driving at all. If Phobeo is what makes you a little nervous about allowing yourself to be strapped into a hollow metal tubes with wings and propelled into the air at several hundred km an hour, Phobos is what prevents you from flying at all.
If you were to go to the website, www.phobialist.com you would find more then 500 human fears labeled alphabetically. This type of fear is a crippling fear, a paralyzing fear. It brings about a feeling for terror and dread in our lives. When Paul wrote to Timothy and told him For God has not given us a spirit of fear, he didn¡¦t use either one of these words.
Instead the word he used was ƒÔƒÕƒÙƒÜƒÙƒæƒÑ Deilia which means, timid or fearful it actually comes from the Greek word ƒÔƒÕƒÙƒÜƒßƒæƒp Deilos which means faithless. And the context of this word is being afraid to do things or for that matter even to try things, specifically here the failure to do things for God.
If the first type of fear keeps us living, and the second type of fear keeps us from living, at least from living a full life, this third type of fear keeps us from accomplishing anything while we are living. This is the fear that makes us live mediocre ordinary lives, never taking chances, never trying to change anything, content to simply drift along. This is the spirit of average, and you know what average is don¡¦t you? The best of the worst and the worst of the best. When you are average you are as close to the bottom as you are to the top.
And so as Paul writes to this young preacher who is about to embark on the great adventure of serving God he says, Don¡¦t be afraid to try things for God, don¡¦t be afraid to attempt great things for God.
This fear is actually a lack of faith in what you are able to achieve and what God is able to achieve through you and it shows up as a couple of different things.
First it is the fear of failure. You won¡¦t try because you¡¦re afraid if you do try that you won¡¦t succeed or that you will fail. And yet the greatest guarantee of failure is when you fail to try. It was Wayne Gretzky who said ¡§You¡¦ll always miss 100% of the shots you don¡¦t take.¡¨
I¡¦ve mentioned before that Wayne Gretzky is known as the greatest hockey player ever, but there might be someone out there who could have been even better then Wayne, someone who had more natural ability, more skill and who was faster. But they decided that they didn¡¦t want to risk pursuing their dream, because they were afraid they might fail. And that¡¦s exactly what happened.
Where would this world be today if people hadn¡¦t been prepared to take risks, to try new things? We¡¦d still be living in caves or under trees. And so for just a minute I want you to ask yourself this question, ¡§What would I try and accomplish for God if I knew that I could not fail?¡¨
You have to try, if you fail, it doesn¡¦t mean the game is over it simply means that you¡¦ve discovered a way that doesn¡¦t work. And so you get up, brush yourself off and do it again. I am convinced that the reason some people never commit their hearts to Christ is because they are afraid they might fail. And I¡¦ve got news for you, you probably will. But failing in our Christian life is no more the end of the story then failing in our personal life is. We have a God who is there to help pick us up, help brush us off and help us to start again. If we ask. That¡¦s why the Bible says in Philippians 4:13 For I can do everything with the help of Christ who gives me the strength I need. What is it you can do with the help of Christ who gives you the strength you need? That¡¦s right, everything.
The second thing which we are afraid of that keeps us from doing the things we know we need to do is the fear of rejection. When I first started out as a pastor, a little over a hundred years ago, I was counseling a young couple before their wedding, and as we chatted getting to know each other I asked about their hobbies, and what they enjoyed doing. The bride to be informed me that she was a writer. My being curious and courteous I asked her what she wrote and she told me that she wrote poetry and short stories. I asked her if she had ever been published, that seemed to be a natural question. And she told me that she had never submitted any of her work, because she was afraid it might be rejected.
I have a friend in the same situation, he is actually a very good writer and has just finished his first book but he has yet to submit it for the same reason, he¡¦s afraid it will be rejected, and that if his book is rejected that he will be rejected. I understand that, I have submitted a manuscript for a book, have had it rejected at last count twelve times. And do you know what they do when they reject it? That¡¦s right, they come to where you live, they beat your kids, they burn your house and they trash your car. No they send you a letter, they lie to you and tell you that your manuscript has merit but it doesn¡¦t fit in with their current publishing schedule and they encourage you to continue writing, and if you get enough of them you can cover part of your office wall, I know. But someday.
And while the fear of failure and the fear of rejection are the reasons why many people never attempt to do great things for God, they shouldn¡¦t be because God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity. But if God didn¡¦t give it to us and yet we have it where did it come from. It comes from the devil because he doesn¡¦t want us to do great things for God, he wants us to be a defeated people, but the promise of God is that we will be victorious, if we want to be.
What are you afraid of today? Whatever it is, God has this word for you from the book of Isaiah 41:13 I am holding you by your right hand¡XI, the LORD your God. And I say to you, ¡¥Do not be afraid. I am here to help you.
So where are you at today? In closing this morning I want you to bow your heads and close your eyes, now cup your hands in front of you. Now I want you to visualize the fear that is keeping you from being everything that God would have you to be, the fear that keeps you from doing everything that God wants you to do. It might be the fear of rejection, or the fear of failure, or maybe the fear of losing control. Now I want you to open your hands and let it go because it is not of God. You understand God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity.
Let¡¦s talk to God.
PowerPoint may be available for this message contact me at denn@bccnet.ca
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