I.Humility Eight: The Fear of Man is a Snare
Readings: 1 Sam 15:1-25 , Rom 1:16-17
Books: When People are Big and God is Small, by Ed Welch.
Today’s readings were both aboutthe fear of man.
In 1 Sam 15 Saul feared man. God commanded Saul to kill all the Amalekites. This included their livestock. They were not to take any booty. 3,000 years ago the reward for serving in the army was booty. However, God commanded Saul not to take any booty. When it came time to stand up to his troops, Saul feared them more than he feared God. He relented. He let his men take spoils from the field of battle. After the prophet, Samuel’s, confrontation he confessed, “I feared the people and obeyed their voice” (1 Sam 15:24).
By contrast, in the New Testament Pau passed the test. “I am not ashamed of the Gospel,” he wrote the church at Rome. “For it is the power of God for salvation for all who believe: First the Jew then the Greek.” Why did Paul start with “I am not ashamed of the gospel?” Because, after they read what he was going to write, he knew the Romans would be tempted to be ashamed. He knew they would need to fight it. Why? He would go into great detail on the wrath of God, the Day of final judgment, and the complete bankruptcy of man.
What is the fear of man? Behind every fear is an idol. In this case it is the lust for human approval. The fear of man is fearing the disapproval of others. I am afraid that others will think poorly of me. I am worried that they will criticize me. I fear that they will look down on me, or gossip about me. In other words, the opinion of other has become too important, and the opinion of God has become too unimportant. In the words of Ed Welch—people have become big and God has becomesmall.
The fear of man alsomotivates the fear of people in control of my future and my destiny. In other words, we assign the powers of deity to them.
This sin is especially deadly for anyone in leadership—pastors, business owners, managers, husbands, or moms.
Our main point today is simple. Your ability to humble people with the bad news will be according to your ability to overcome the fear of man.Effective Christian Workers overcome the fear of man. We conquer the fear of man with a stronger fear: The fear of God. The fear of God drives out the fear of man. It motivates us to be more concerned with God’s approval than human approval. It frees us to trust God, not people. Today’s outline has two points. 1st Symptoms of the Fear of Man. 2nd Overcoming the Fear of Man.
A.Symptoms of the Fear of Man
In scripture, the fear of man is pervasive. It has many symptoms. In addition, there is often a gray area between the fear of man and other sins such as selfish ambition, etc.
1.Feelings of Insecurity/Intimidation
At times we all feel insecure or intimidated. The Bible never labels this “insecurity.”Insecurity is the language of modern therapy. Instead, the Bible always calls it the fear of man. This label helps us. It is more specific. It is more descriptive.
It is the feeling of intimidation in the presence of someone more powerful, more beautiful, more educated, better dressed, in a higher social class, or a well-known pubic figure.
2.Fear of Conflict
Although Christians are to be peace-makers, there are times when love will motivate us to wade into conflict. If we have an unhealthy fear of man we will shirk our duty. What does this fear look like?
Fear of confronting a spouse.
Fear of confronting children.
Fear of confronting members of your extended family.
3.Compromising God’s Will to please people
This was a primary sin of the Pharisees.
(John 12:42–43) "42 Nevertheless, many even of the [Jewish] authorities believed in [Jesus], but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God. "
When a teen sneaks out at night to be part of the “popular crowd,” the fear of man is the issue. It is always the issue when “peer pressure” motivates someone to compromise the will of God. (Peer pressure = the fear of man).
4.Deceit
The fear of man always motivates deceitfulness. Here are some examples.
Flattery: Absalom, David’s son, flattered the people to gain their popularity (2Sam 15:1-6).
Deceitfulness: God commanded Gideon to tear down his father’s idols, but Gideon did it at night because he feared the people (Judges 6:25-27).
5.Betrayal /Selfishness
Betrayal: A teen-aged girl abandons a long time friend to be part of the “in Crowd.”
(Mark 15:15) "15 So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.”
Selfishness: Those who fear man will use others to shield themselves from those they fear.
(Genesis 12:10–14) "10 Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land. 11 When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, “I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance, 12 and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me, but they will let you live. 13 Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake.””
6.Murder
Because King Saul was afraid of David he sought to kill him.
1 (1 Samuel 18:12–15) "12 Saul was afraid of David because the Lord was with him but had departed from Saul. 13 So Saul removed [David] from his presence and made him a commander of a thousand. ..When Saul saw that he had great success, he stood in fearful awe of him. "
In the same way, because the Pharisees feared Jesus they sought to kill him.
(Mark 11:18) "18 And the chief priests and the scribes… were seeking a way to destroy [Jesus], for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching.”
7.Doctrinal Compromise
Peter compromised the gospel because he was “afraid of the circumcision party” (Gal. 2:12).
In fact, whether it is feminism, homosexuality, or the gospel, we can say with certainty that the fear of man, (embarrassment or shame about the gospel), motivates most liberal theology. It motivates most slow sliding away from orthodoxy into unbelief.
(John 5:44) "44 How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?”
8.Unwillingness to Evangelize
(John 7:13) “For fear of the Jews no one spoke openly of him.”
Summary:
For all of these reasons, Paul began his explanation of the gospel with these words. “I am not ashamed of the gospel” (Rom. 1:16). Why did he say this? He said because shame is an expression of the fear of man. As we have seen, he said this because the material in the following paragraphs would tempt him, and probably had tempted him, to be ashamed. What he was going to say would also tempt the church in Rome to be ashamed.
In the same way, none of us are exempt from temptations to be ashamed of the gospel. None of us have completely conquered the fear of man.
Because it disrupts gospel proclamation, overcoming the fear of man matters greatly. So, in Paul’s final letter he repeatedly exhorted Timothy to resist shame about the gospel.
“Do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God” (2 Timothy 1:8).
“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).
Paul knew from personal experience the cost of following Christ, so he warns Timothy, “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12).
That is why orthodox Christians fight the fear of man. They fight to not be ashamed of the gospel. Instead, they embrace the gospel! They boast in the gospel! They identify with the gospel! They believe that the foolishness of God is always wiser than the wisdom of man. They are convinced that what is cool seldom lasts.
MLJ: “If I am concerned as I preach this gospel as to what people think of my preaching,“well that is all that I will get out of it, and nothing from God. It is an absolute. If you are seeking a reward from men you will get it, but that is all you will get.”[1]
B.Overcoming the Fear of Man
What conquers the fear of man? I want to look at two virtues—1stThe fear of God. 2nd Love for God and people.
1.The Fear of God Drives out the Fear of man
“All experiences of the fear of man share at least one common feature:” notes Ed Welch. “People are big. They have grown to idolatrous proportions in our lives. They control us. Since there is no room in our hearts to worship both God and people, whenever people are big, God is not. Therefore, the first task in escaping the snare of the fear of man is to make God bigger. We need to know that God is awesome and glorious, much bigger and stronger than people.”[2]
In other words, the fear of God begins with a robust faith in God’s greatness and goodness. In fact, the fear of God is a synonym for this kind of faith. To the degree that God is big and people are small we will conquer the fear of man. The fear of God is an expanding faith in God’s goodness, God’s power, God’s sovereignty, and eternal realities.
Faith in God’s goodness,coupled with faith in his willingness to be actively involved in my life,drive out the fear of man. I am convinced that God is not a distant deity. I believe he will act decisively on my behalf. Another way to say this is that I really believe that God rewardsthose that please him (Heb. 11:6)
Anecdote: Bringing a criticism to a leader in the church…
Faith in thepower of the Gospel conquers the fear of man.
(Rom. 1:16) “I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation”
(2 Corinthians 4:13) "13 It is written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak."
Anecdote: Sharing the gospel with a Mormon you work with.
Faith in God’s sovereignty conquers the fear of man. When I believe Pr. 21:1, “The kings heart is like a stream of water in the hand of the Lord. He turns it wherever he wills,” the fear of man dissipates.People do not control me or my future. God controls my future. He is in control of everyone around me.
(Luke 12:4–7) "4 “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. 5 But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! 6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. 7 Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows. "
Confidence in his sovereignty strikes a death blow to the fear of man. This is how David strengthened himself at his personal low.
(1 Samuel 30:6) "6 And David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in soul, each for his sons and daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God. "
His fear of God, not man, was one of the main reasons that he was the man after God’s own heart.
Faith in Eternal Realities.
(Isaiah 51:7–8) "7 “Fear not the reproach of man, nor be dismayed at their revilings. 8 For the moth will eat them up like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool; but my righteousness will be forever, and my salvation to all generations.”
If what we profess to believe is true, it would be foolish to give into the fear of man. Each of us will give an accounting to God on the Day of Judgment. We will not give an accounting to those we fear. With this in mind, Spurgeon remarked, “
Those eyes which have no fear of God beforethem now, shall have the terrors of hell before them forever.”[3]
In other words, fear God now or fear him later. Those are the only options, but fear him eventually everyone will do.
This kind of faith liberates us to please God and disappoint people. The greater our faith in God, the larger he gets in our eyes, the more we fear God, and the less we fear people. By contrast, when we fear people, God becomes small and people become big.
2.Love Conquers the Fear of Man
In addition to unbelief, there is a second reason we fear people. Our love is weak. It is impossible to fear the opinion of others and love them at the same time.
(1 John 4:18) "18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. "
Fear of man is an expression of self-centeredness. It is need centered. I need your love, your acceptance, your approval. But love, God’s love, is always other-centered. God’s love is your happiness at my expense. It is the willingness to be the cause of another’s short term pain, or the willingness to experience their rejection for their eternal good.
The classic example is parenting. A parent disciplines their child despite the child’s threat to reject, hate, or despise the parent. Why? The parent has one eye on the future. They want a happy, contented adult. They also want their child in Heaven with them, and they know they might have to endure short term rejection, or the child’s failure to understand them, in order to love that child. (PS: If your child suspects that you need their love selfishly, they will lose respect for you).
A husband has a deep conviction about which church is best for his family. His wife has another opinion. Strong concern about her eternal welfare will motivate him to overcome the fear of her disapproval. Perfect love for his wife casts out the fear of rejection.
I am afraid to share the gospel with _____ but love for them overpowers my fear. “For the love of Christ controls us” Paul wrote the Corinthians (2 Cor 5:14).
The fear of man is bondage, and love is the power that breaks its chains. It makes timid Christians bold, bashful Christians assertive, and apathetic Christians willing to take a stand. In other words, love makes us courageous. Courage is not the absence of fear. It is the willingness to do the right thing despite great feelings of fear and anxiety.
In the same way, the fear of God is not the absence of anxiety, stress, or worry. The fear of God is the willingness to do the right thing for our brothers and sisters despite the fear of rejection, fear of division, or the recognition that you are not perfect yourself. When love is strong enough it will motivate us to endure this kind of stress. I have laid awake at night stressed because I knew I needed to confront someone at breakfast the following morning. Fearing God didn’t make it easy, but love empowered me to do the right thing despite the stress and inner turmoil. In a fallen world, that is sometimes what love for God and man looks like.
Most importantly, be patient with yourself. Overcoming the fear of man is a lifelong process. Just when you think it’s conquered, it will surface through a new set of circumstances. For most of us the fear of man is a daily struggle. However, for those who persevere in the fight, the results are worth the effort.
C.Application:
Where do we get the fear of God that conquers the fear of man? We get it by immersing ourselves in God’s Word. Ultimately the word focuses us on the cross.
The cross shows us the seriousness of not fearing God. Rom. 3:18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”The cross shows us what the fear of man deserves.
2ndAt the cross we behold One who feared God perfectly. There was no fear of man in Jesus.
(Isaiah 11:2–3) "2 And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. 3 And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, "
Because he feared God he didn’t fear man.
(Mark 12:14) "14 And they came and said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are true and do not care about anyone’s opinion. For you are not swayed by appearances, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Should we pay them, or should we not?” "
When you and I believe the gospel, God imputes Christ’s fear to us.
3rdThe cross frees us from the guilt of fearing man. God imputes our fear of man to his Son and punishes it.