Courageous – 8

Courageous – 8

Subject – The Fear of Being Foolish

By Rick Welborne

2 Samuel 23:20-23 (NLT2)
²⁰  There was also Benaiah son of Jehoiada, a valiant warrior from Kabzeel. He did many heroic deeds, which included killing two champions of Moab. Another time, on a snowy day, he chased a lion down into a pit and killed it.
²¹  Once, armed only with a club, he killed a great Egyptian warrior who was armed with a spear. Benaiah wrenched the spear from the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with it.
²²  Deeds like these made Benaiah as famous as the Three mightiest warriors.
²³  He was more honored than the other members of the Thirty, though he was not one of the Three. And David made him captain of his bodyguard.

1 Corinthians 1:27 (NKJV)
²⁷  But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;

--None of us like looking foolish in front of our friends and peers but I had a day in the 9^th grade that is forever stuck in my memory banks. I had help from my mother.

--I needed new shoes for school and for whatever reason my mom thought I would look good in solid white dress shoes. I was very short in 9^th grade but my shoe size was a 12.

--I was shaped like the letter L and with white shoes, I looked like the school clown. I never heard so many remarks and so much laughter from everyone. I wore those shoes one time. Good bye!

--We have all felt the pressure of wanting to fit in, to be like everyone else. You can call it peer pressure or herd mentality. We all want to be accepted at all cost.

--We try to look like everyone else, we try to talk like everyone else, we try to dress like everyone else. The end result is that we become like everyone else. 

--Sadly, we hide behind all of our insecurities of who we think we are supposed to be. We stop being ourselves and start being who we think everyone wants us to be. 

--When we cave into conformity (being like everyone else) we lose something very valuable. We lose our personality and the one of a kind original that God wants us to be. Become carbon copies.

--When we do this we settle for something less than what God intended for us. If you will defy the odds, face your fears, you will have to risk looking foolish in the world’s eyes.

--Hear your pastor, being who God created you to be and doing God’s will for your life is never foolish.

--I truly believe there is deep inside all of us a longing to do something crazy for God. We want to chase a lion but our fear of looking foolish keeps us hog-tied.

--Polls have found that the people’s number one fear is speaking in public. Death ranks number two. Some people would rather die than speak in public. Why? The fear of looking foolish. 

--I remember trying to speak in front of our youth group after I felt a call to preach. Terrifying for sure. Trying to stop crying and trying to ignore. Bless him, Lord. Help him, Jesus.

--To this day, I still come to the pulpit with fear and trembling. Mostly because of the awesome responsibility but also, for the fear of looking foolish or messing up.

--A friend of mine who is in the ministry said this to me about the ministry and preaching. You are only as good as your last sermon. Lots of pressure.

1. Faith is the Willingness to Look Foolish.

Hebrews 11:1&6 (NKJV)
¹  Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
⁶  But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. 

--Noah looked foolish building an ark in the desert. Sarah looked foolish buying maturity clothes at 90. Israel looked foolish marching around Jericho blowing trumpets. 

--David looked foolish attacking Goliath with a slingshot. Benaiah looked foolish chasing a lion into a pit on a snowy day. The wise men looked foolish following a star to find the Messiah. 

--Peter looked foolish stepping out of a boat on the lake in a storm to attempt walking to Jesus. Jesus looked foolish hanging on an old rugged cross with His clothes stripped off.

--But that is the essence of faith. The results speak for themselves. Noah and his family were saved from the flood. Sarah gave birth to Isaac. The walls of Jericho came tumbling down. 

--David defeated Goliath, Benaiah killed the King of the Beast. The wise men found the Messiah. Peter walked on the water. And, Jesus rose from the dead three days after His death.

--The reason so many Christians have never killed a giant, or killed a lion, or really have never done anything great, it is because they were not willing to look foolish. James says it like this:

James 2:20-24 (NIV)
²⁰  You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?
²¹  Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?
²²  You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.
²³  And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness," and he was called God's friend.
²⁴  You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.

--It may be true that you will not look foolish if you do not attempt anything but it will also be true that you will never accomplish anything great for God until you combine your action with your faith.

--Maybe the mantra of the church should be “Call me crazy!” I could imagine that in his mind Benaiah probably said right before he jumped in the pit, “Call me crazy but here goes nothing!”

--Do you just suppose that one of the reasons that Benaiah became David’s bodyguard and Commander of Israel’s army was because his “crazy quotient” was off the charts.

--In my own life some of my greatest memories are from times I did things that seemed foolish and crazy to others. Jumping from 18,000 feet out of a plane. Jumping from 65 ft into a lake. Crazy but fun.

1 Corinthians 1:27 (NLT2)
²⁷ God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. 

2. Faith is Thinking Outside the Box

--There are way too many boxes in the church. A/G box, Baptist box, Charismatic box. Lose the box! 

--As you read the Bible you see a lot of weird and whacky stuff which leads you to believe that God says and does a lot of things that are extremely weird. Outside the box. Ezekiel:

Ezekiel 4:15 (NCV) ¹⁵ “Very well,“ he said. “Then I will give you cow’s dung instead of human dung to use for your fire to bake your bread.”

--Now what about that? He has to do it for 390 days. That gives new meaning to a poo-poo platter!

--God uses a dumb donkey to speak to Balaam and his name wasn’t Jack. (as far as I know). He tells Hosea to marry a prostitute. The District would have a time with that. 

--How many of you know God is infinitely above anything we could ever imagine and He has all the resources in the world at His disposal and He chooses speaking in tongues on the Day of Pentecost.

--All of this tells us something beautifully unique about God, He speaks and acts in divergent (original) ways. Being normal and being like everyone else is definitely overrated. 

--Think about this: We are called to conform to the image of Christ. Agree? And Christ was a non-conformist. He drove the Pharisees crazy. So conforming to Christ results in nonconformity. 

--My sister-in-law Janet years ago started a ministry to the young ladies who work in the strip clubs in St. Pete, Florida. She and other ladies go down to the club and share Christ with these women.

--That is definitely thinking outside the box and it is definitely going into the world to reach the lost. They do not condemn these ladies but share love with them. Buy them gifts. Probably clothes!

--The results have spoken for themselves, because they were willing to look foolish to many in the church (Pharisees), they have seen many come to Christ and leave that lifestyle.

3. Faith Sets the Captives Free.

--Many of our churches seem to have this mantra: Maturity is equal to conformity. Dress like us, talk like us, don’t go to certain places, and you can become one of us.  

--Many people believe that church is only the church if we sing the right songs and play the right music: Give me the old stuff and I am happy. Give me the latest greatest and I am happy. 

--Something that I want you to at least consider is this: what the church looks like now does not hardly resemble the church in the New Testament. Today we have to be entertained to be motivated.

--Lots of pressure on pastors and worship leaders to keep the sheep dancing and happy but maybe spiritual maturity of the church has little to do with all that. Then enters Jesus. 

--I truly believe Jesus’ mission should be the same mission of the church:

Luke 4:18-19 (NLT2)
¹⁸  “The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free,
¹⁹  and that the time of the LORD’s favor has come.” 

--It is more than just eliminating sin from our lives, it is also redeeming our God given potential to make a difference in those who are lost or even foolish.

Luke 19:10 (NLT2) ¹⁰ For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.”

--Shouldn’t our faith be used to seek and to save the lost around us instead of trying to just have exciting church services. By the way, nothing is more exciting than winning the lost.