July 8, 2020

God So Loved the World - Part 3 - Fear | June 21, 2020

God So Loved the World - The Right Side of Fear

I saw an interesting interview a couple of weeks ago that was conducted by a church. They had an informal sit down with three of their members who are Black and talked about the events in our nation. It was eye-opening to hear their perspective, both as Black people and as Christians. One of the key thoughts all three mentioned was the pressing impact of fear on the racial tension in our nation.

I’m going to paraphrase what was said. There is fear as a Black person about being mistreated, whether it’s by another person, someone in authority such as the police, or an institution. Cutting down on that type of fear is something we’re all realizing is necessary for healing in our land. But they also spoke of how that fear spreads. We see racism grow when fears about people who are different from one another grow. We see fear as a defense mechanism when certain people and groups are targeted as “part of the problem” just because they were born with privilege or they question opinions that are different from the mainstream media. We see fear in police officers being hesitant in their duty because of repercussion in the public eye or in the media. We see protests turn into riots because fear grows like wildfire among the mob. We see government leaders striking fear into the masses with riot gear, tear gas, and force and protestors returning in like manner by hurling curses and insults, destroying property, and looting.

The Black individuals’ thought was that fear grows and spreads so easily and causes all of this destruction. It takes someone to break the cycle of fear. Of course, that means that someone has to be unjustly wronged by someone else without returning in kind. That is indeed rare today.

There is a parallel to this theme of fear when it comes to life with God. The Bible speaks of both a positive and negative fear, and both can grow when tended to in our lives. This morning, we take a look at a section that shows the clear division between both – not just to learn about our faith in God but because His teaching on fear is exactly what we need to consider to overcome the destructive fear we are witnessing today.

First, consider how God describes negative fear:

Proverbs 1:28-33 – Negative Fear

28 Then they will call to me, but I will not answer. They will look for me, but they will not find me, 29 because they hated knowledge, and they did not choose the fear of the Lord. 30 They would not accept my advice, and they despised all my warnings. 31 So they will eat the fruit of their own way,

and they will be stuffed with their own schemes. 32 Therefore the wandering ways of the gullible kill them, and the complacency of fools destroys them. 33 But whoever listens to me will live in safety.

He will be secure, without fear of evil.”

The summary of this first section is found in the final verse, “whoever listens to me will live in safety, He will be secure, without fear of evil.” God shows us the way to live without the fear that can so easily spread destruction in our lives. We see more about what He calls us to do in our second section of Proverbs. In these verses, God zeroes in on what we should not be doing. And what we see is that our safety, protection from fear, is built upon our fear of the LORD.

These verses tell us what those who disrespect the LORD do. Notice the verbs.

·       “They hated knowledge.”

·       “They did not choose the fear of the LORD.”

·       “They would not accept His advice.”

·       “They despised His warnings.”

We recognize the trend that leads to the growth of negative fear in our lives – not trusting God. To respect (fear) God and to listen to His Word are synonymous activities. They are the source and blessing of true faith. The division between negative fear and positive fear is the same division of unbeliever and believer. This doesn’t mean that as Christians we are never afraid of anything. Rather it means we are never overcome by fear. It does not dominate our lives to the point of blocking out Christ.

Through this, the LORD warns us about two specific habits that foster negative fear. The first is to be gullible. This idea is connected to foolishness and immaturity, but it’s not relegated to a certain age. A young child may show great faith by relying upon God and trusting Him, while a seasoned adult may show ignorance by forsaking God. It’s not about your age, it’s about your heart. The Hebrew thought for this immaturity is described as an open space, where a person allows any thought or belief to take up residence in his or her heart.

Our world today lauds such an attitude. Open-mindedness, tolerance, multi-culturalism. On the surface these are not bad attitudes, but applied to our faith they can be catastrophic. God’s point is that if you open your heart up to any teaching or belief, any and every moral way, something will fill it and it may not be from Him. God actually describes your heart as a battleground between Satan and Christ. There is no perfectly unbiased way – something will fill the power vacuum created in the pursuit of being open to all thoughts. And opening up one’s heart in this way invites fear to dominate one’s thinking.

The second attitude that God warns against is complacency. This is the trap of reaching a level of contentedness and comfort that you no longer heed the warnings around you. Other similar thoughts are indifference and apathy. This can happen to Christians like us who typically lead very comfortable lives. Our trust and focus and easily be directed at lifestyle, popularity, or material possessions. Our priority can easily shift from taking up our cross to honor and follow Christ to following the path of least resistance. Again, God warns that negative fear dominates this way.

With these warnings in place God now reminds us of the power of Godly Fear. Listen to His Word as we see this transition:    

Proverbs 2:1-9 – Good Fear

My son, if you accept my words, if you store up my commands within you, 2 by paying attention to wisdom with your ear, by reaching out for understanding with your heart, 3 if indeed you call out for intelligence, if you raise your voice for understanding, 4 if you search for it like silver, if you hunt for it like hidden treasure, 5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord, then you will find the knowledge of God, 6 because the Lord gives wisdom. Knowledge and understanding come from his mouth.

7 He stores up sound judgment for upright people. He is a shield for those who walk in integrity.

8 He protects those who walk on paths of justice. He guards the way of his favored ones. 9 Then you will understand righteousness, justice, and fairness—every good path.

We saw the actions associated with negative fear in the first section – things like hating God, not accepting His Word, and despising His warnings. See the contrast here. On the heels of our first section, the Holy Spirit now tells us –

·       “Accept My words.”

·       “Store up My commands.”

·       “Pay attention to wisdom.”

·       “Reach out for understanding.”

·       “Call out for intelligence.”

·       “Raise your voice for understanding.”

·       “Search and hunt for it.” “Then, you will understand the fear of the LORD.”

This is not complicated stuff. You don’t need to be a theological genius to grasp what God is teaching you about fear. And the thing about Godly fear is that it protects, but it also can grow and spread just as much as negative fear. It’s the perfect antidote to what we face today.

Another issue that has caused great fear recently is the COVID 19 pandemic. With everything going on lately, it’s easy to forget about that major threat, but it’s still here. The onset of the pandemic provided a breeding ground for negative fear, and it was the perfect situation to incubate the anger and hostility we see around us today. Imagine if an antidote or a vaccine was available tomorrow, and it was tested as completely safe and accurate. Now, that’s not realistic yet, but just imagine if that was the context of our situation. Would you get it? I think most of us would as soon as we could. Overall, it would be an amazing blessing for our world, and we pray that God will deliver such a thing in His time.

We may not have an antidote for COVID 19 right now, but we know what we would do if we did. What we have now, is the perfect antidote for fear. Fear of a virus. Fear of others who are different from us. Fear that breeds hate and an unwillingness to be compassionate to others. Fear that divides and spreads like wildfire. We have the cure right now – so why aren’t we using it?

It’s not because it’s hard – God’s advice is crystal clear and straightforward. It’s hard because although we know the way, we are imperfect at walking it. There are too many other options given to us by Satan and the world that are attractive to our fallen natures. There are too many times when we need to unduly judge that other person, or we feel compelled to get the last word of hate in an argument. It’s all too easy to blame everyone else for the problems we see, rather than taking responsibility for our contributions and bringing those mistakes before God in repentance. As simple and straightforward as the way of righteousness is – the perfect way of Godly fear – it’s even easier to our flesh to take the shortcuts that sin allows.

But even at this prospect, the fear of the LORD does not leave us helpless. Because on top of what the LORD tells us about the way of Godly fear and how we can do that, He covers us with the actions of His grace – what He has done in mercy. Consider the end of our text.

·       “The LORD gives wisdom.”

·       “From His mouth come knowledge and understanding.”

·       “He stores us proper judgment.”

·       “He is a shield.”

·       “He protects.”

·       “He guards.”

These statements and simple too, but what makes them effective and powerful is that they are from the LORD. The almighty, Triune, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, eternal God promises to be with you, to help you, and to save you from all sins. He does this through Jesus, our Redeemer.   

Proverbs 18:10 summarizes well: “The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe.” God tells you what goes into His name and what composes His will. It’s important to pay attention to these things and listen to His Word, not only to follow Him but for your protection and for your neighbor’s protection against this destructive, negative fear. But, even when you fail – which is not an excuse of responsibility – the LORD is there with never-changing and never-ending protection. He covers you with this tower of His grace in Jesus by the fear of God – the respect of trusting faith that leans on God for every need of body and soul. 

As that Black Christian man pointed out, there is great fear in our nation today, and it’s the driving force behind the division that we see. We have the antidote in Jesus Christ – a cure far better than any man-made hope against a deadly virus or a cultural hatred and prejudice. Let us run to Jesus and find safety. Let us go to Him in repentance and be covered by His grace Let us share Jesus and dispel fear. His perfect love casts out our imperfect fear. Amen.

 


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