Fear of the Lord – 5

Fear of the Lord – 5

Subject – Fear Not but Fear the Lord

By Rick Welborne

Isaiah 41:8‑10 (NKJV) 

8 "But you, Israel, are My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, The descendants of Abraham My friend. 

9 You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, And called from its farthest regions, And said to you, 'You are My servant, I have chosen you and have not cast you away: 

10 Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.' 

–What would you guess would be one of the most common commands in the Scripture? The single command in Scripture that occurs more often than any other. “Fear not.”

–He may say “Do not be afraid.  Be strong and courageous. You can trust Me. Fear not.”

1. God commands us to not fear.

–When you think about it, fear does not seem like one of the more serious vices in the world...it does not even make it into the seven deadly sins that God names.

–As far as I know, no one has received church discipline for being afraid.  So why does God tell human being to stop being afraid more than anything else?

–This hits me as humorous...God does not tell us to “fear not” because He is trying to spare us from emotional discomfort...usually what He asks us to do causes greater fear. 

–We never want the no of fear to be greater than the yes of faith...Our Father can be trusted.

2. God can be trusted even when we are afraid.

Isaiah 43:1‑3 (NKJV) 

1 But now, thus says the LORD, who created you, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine. 

2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you. 

3 For I am the LORD your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I gave Egypt for your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in your place. 

Proverbs 3:5 (NKJV) 5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; 

–The key word here is trust...trust is the opposite of fear. Peter on the water…Come.

Ortberg - I believe the reason God says “fear not” so often is that fear will sink us faster than anything else.  Fear disrupts faith and becomes the biggest obstacle to trusting and obeying God.

–Everyone of us will face those moments when we must choose between trust and fear. Trust and fear have been battling for supremacy in your heart for a long time...eventually one will win.  

3. Fear and the cost of living in fear.

Ortberg - At its simplest and most benign, fear is an internal warning cry that danger is nearby and we had better do something about it.  It is designed to be what researchers call a “self-correcting mechanism”–to be unpleasant enough to motivate us to take action and remove ourselves from whatever is threatening us. It readies our bodies to flee, hide, or fight.

–When we are not willing to face our fears...it will definitely cost us...What?

A. Fear will cost us our self-esteem.

–Avoiding our fears kills a sense of confidence and esteem. Not even praise from others will encourage when we are stuck in fear. 

–We go into “impression management” pretending to be what others accept...allusion. In our hearts we think...If you knew the real me and my fears you would not compliment me.

–When you take on a fear or challenge it builds the core of who you are even if it does not turn out perfectly.

–Every time you wimp out to a perceived fear you die a little on the inside. If this continues you will learn to live in fear and avoidance...will feel bad about yourself.

B. Fear will cost us a loss of destiny.

–If you live in fear, you will never experience the potential and destiny God has planned for you.  The truth is that growth always requires risk. Fear always makes us ask all the “what ifs” 

–Some are afraid of success...higher expectations and more pressure from others. We don’t move until we get a guarantee we will succeed...we stay stagnate.

–If this pattern does not change you find yourself at the end of your life looking back wishing you had not been so careful...start wherever you are now.

–Fear will cost you your destiny...and that is too high of a price to pay. 

C. Fear will cost us a lack of joy.

–Fear destroys joy...if you choose to live in fear you will join the multitudes who live in constant paralyzing anxiety...look to pills or whatever for help.

–Have you ever noticed that the people who live next to the edge in their businesses, in their sports, in their lives are the people who are having the time of their lives.

–You see, trusting in the face of fear and challenge produces joy! On the other hand, those who give in to fear see that it is a joy killer.  Imaginations running wild...worry!

Psalm 16:11 (NKJV) 11 You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. 

D. Fear will cost us a sense of real intimacy.

–Fear has a way of making us hide from those in whom we should be close...Adam and Eve...Where are you?  I heard You in the garden and I hid myself because I was naked.

–We have been hiding ever since...behind fake smiles...behind agreeable words we don’t believe, behind things we feel but are too afraid to say.

–We hid behind what people might think of us, we hid by not saying what we feel at church, the lack of conflict does not equal to peace.

–A husband and wife may choose to not argue...to play the quiet game...but what is lost is the intimacy that God has for them.

–We play the quiet game with the lost because we are afraid of rejection and embarrassment. Fear always lies behind the quiet game.

E. Fear will cost us our availability to God.

–Fear whispers to us that God is really not big enough to take care of our problems, that we are not safe in His hands, and it causes us to distort the way that we think about Him.

–God has promised that if we go thru the water or the fire that He is with us but fear tries to convince us that it is not so.

–This is key: you will never know God is trustworthy if you do not risk obeying Him. When you come to the end of your life all those “what ifs” becomes “might have been”.

–What might have been if I had trusted God? The price is too great to pay to not trust God!

F. Fear gets passed from generation to generation.

–Social science tells us that we are the most worried culture who ever lived. Life expectancy has more than doubled in the past century. Yet we worry!

–We have discovered more cures for more diseases than ever before. No group of human beings have been healthier but no one worries about health more than we do.

–Journalist Bob Garfield tracked health articles in the Washington Post, USA Today, and the New York Times and found out according to experts:

–59 million Americans have heart disease.

–53 million suffer from migraines.

–25 million have osteoporosis

–16 million struggle with obesity

–3 million have cancer

–12 million have severe disorders such as brain injuries.

–On and on it goes!

–The articles he read said that there are 543 million Americans who are sick, which is funny, since we only have about 340 million.  We are convinced to worry...fear sells!

–We teach our children to fear...don’t do that or this...people are evil...don’t play with sticks...How many people have had their eyes poked out with sticks? 

--We propagate fear...we must learn that trust and faith can be spread also. Have you ever para-sailed, sky dived, bungee jumped...it may be terrifying but it only lasts a moment...the memory lasts a life time.

Psalm 103:15‑18 (NLT) 

15 Our days on earth are like grass; like wild flowers, we bloom and die. 

16 The wind blows, and we are gone— as though we had never been here. 

17 But the love of the LORD remains forever with those who fear him. His salvation extends to the children’s children 

18 of those who are faithful to his covenant, of those who obey his commandments! 

–What are we passing to our children...faith or fear