Is your Fear of Man greater than your Fear of God?
Heyy guys so as you know we have completed the first 12 chaps of John, I just realized after Alex passed me the book yesterday that there was no more to it HAHA so yes I will buy the other book this week and we will continue on next week. As for this week, I think as of now only my group is lagging behind so hehe my group will catch up and for the others I will leave it to you guys to teach what you might want to or I will share with you what God has been speaking to me about over the last few weeks J
So there
was one day I met up with a friend from my DG(discipleship group, that’s what
they call like cell group in crusade) and I found out from her over lunch that
to my surprise over the past 4 years of being in crusade all her close friends
in school did not know she was in crusades! I was quite taken a back, yes I
knew she was not one that would go out and tell others excitedly about her
involvement in crusade but I really did not know that none of her friends knew.
Of course the main question that kept playing in my head was BUT WHY??? She
went on to share that she was afraid, she was afraid of what they would think
about her, afraid what they would say to and of her because she had quite a
number of atheist friends but at the end of it all she did admit that coming to
think about it she really did fear man more than she fear God…
That
really got me thinking about whether I personally feared God more or Man?
Honestly,
looking back at my life you can pretty much call me a man pleaser at heart. From my younger days I wanted to
please those in authority over me, my teachers, my parents, I wanted them to
think that I was a good student, a good daughter. Then in school, I wanted to
please my friends, I wanted to be a good friend, a friend who is funny, cool
and fun to be with at the same time. Perhaps it was all driven by this desire
to receive affirmation from men, though it did motivate a certain level of
responsibility in my life, but definitely it is also a huge hindrance to
serving and loving God completely.
As we read in Proverbs 29:25
Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever
trusts in the Lord is kept safe.
I would say that even though as the days go by I am
beginning to find my strength and confidence in Christ but definitely the Fear
of man is a constant battle for me and I believe for many of our youths too. So
let us look into at what the word of God says about fearing man – and more
importantly to receive instruction from the Lord and the empowerment and motivation
to replace this fear of man with the fear of the Lord.
Main Reading:
Matt 10:24-33
Thanks to Pastor John for putting it so simply for us
to understand here J
Simply the main point of this entire passage comes
forth in
Matthew 10:28
Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot
kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and
body in hell.
Jesus was instructing his disciples not to fear
anything but the wrath of God who can destroy soul and body in hell.
After reading the passage ask the youths how many
times did Jesus instruct them not to be afraid? 3 times!
First, in verse 26: "So have no fear of
them." Second, in verse 28: "Do not fear those who kill the body but
cannot kill the soul." Third, in verse 31: "Fear not." So what
Jesus is trying to do with these words is to really just fortify the hearts of
his disciples against fear that they might be having.
How does Jesus then dispel this fear? Simply by
his word and by the truth about God!
Verse 25 says, "If they have called the master of
the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household."
Why would Jesus follow this with v26 , "Therefore have
no fear of them"? We might expect him to say, "Nevertheless have
no fear of them." But he doesn't. The argument seems to be something like
because that is happening... therefore do not fear??
But actually it is because if Christ suffers, it is to
be fully expected that his disciples and servants will too. So we are called to
be encouraged; your trouble is a mark of Christ-likeness. It is a great help in
overcoming fear when the master of your life tells you ahead of time that
trouble is coming, and that it's not necessarily your fault. This helps us meet
opposition as a matter of normal Christian ministry and it is part and parcel
of it.
Why this is good to know about this beforehand? This
is because often fear is defined as encountering of something unexpected it
takes us off guard, pushes us off balance, and creates the sensation that
things are out of control and that aimless absurdity reigns.
Jesus sweeps all this away by telling us ahead of time
very matter-of-factly that if we try to be like our teacher and like our
master, we will be mistreated. We need not be taken off guard or lose our
emotional balance; things are not absurd; they are quite under control—all
foreseen and predicted by the Lord.
Therefore, we should not fear even though a bed of
roses is not promised. On the contrary, it is comforting to see signs that we
are part of Jesus' household. How can you fear anything if you have Jesus as
the Lord of your house?
Coming to v28
Jesus gives us a reason for why we need not fear what
man can do to us and this is found in verse 28: "Do not fear those who
kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both
soul and body in hell."This is an amazing
verse. Who today would say things like this? In the midst of trying to
encourage fearlessness and comfort, Jesus throws this sentence: "Fear God
because he can destroy soul and body in hell." Fear doing anything
that would cause you to be cast away by God.
How does that help us become fearless
toward man? It's quite simple.
The fear of man is the motive behind
many sins. And Jesus wants to tell us that the penalty of those sins is much
more to be feared than anything man might do to us.
Verse 33 says, "Whoever denies me before men, I
also will deny before my Father who is in heaven." And why do many people
deny Jesus before men? Fear. But fear of the wrong thing. What ought to be
feared is denying Jesus because if we do that, Jesus will deny us, and God will
destroy soul and body in hell.
Therefore, Jesus is indeed trying to embolden his
disciples and take away their fear of men. A proper fear of God liberates us
from the bondage of fearing men.
**I simply just love what Pastor John talks about here
so much!!!
But there is another reason why verse 28 is amazing.
It shows how radically other-worldly are the values Jesus lives by. We say,
"O no, we could even be killed." Jesus says,
"Fear not, you can only be killed!" Do you hear the
way our Lord Jesus talks? Do you hear how strange and out of step with humanity
he is?
I get so excited when words like this begin to sink
into my heart, when I begin to feel how free and how authentically different
followers of Jesus can be if we share his radical values. "Don't fear! You
can only be killed!" The only way to find comfort in a sentence like that
is to experience an utter revolution of what you count as most valuable. Fear
is what you feel when your greatest values are threatened. So when Jesus said,
"Don't be afraid; they can only kill your body," he meant,
"Don't count this life with all its attachments as most valuable.
Confessing my name before men is more valuable than life. Choose death before
you choose to deny me." "If anyone comes
to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and
brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my
disciple" (Luke 14:26). When you set out to
follow Jesus you surrender earthly life as an ultimate value. And in its place
you put the life of the soul in God.
Eternity is far more important than time on earth. Hell is more fearful than suffering for Christ on
earth. Union with God is more desirable than all the pleasures of earth.
If this revolution of values has taken place in your
heart by the new birth, then you will understand fully and be encouraged by the
words of Jesus,
"Don't fear. You can only be
killed."
(Last line we leave with the youths)
Share about some areas in our lives that we think we
fear man more than God and pray for another.
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