When
Fear Goes Wrong
Genesis
3:6-10
Hide-and-go-seek is a favorite game among children. I remember summer evenings when I was a
child and played with my friends, each of us looking for the perfect place to
escape detection. Playing at dusk was
my favorite time because the fading light became a great ally in avoiding the
person who was “it.”
But learning how to hide was not
necessarily a good thing since it promoted a practice that all of us tend to
use when we want to get away without anyone finding us out. If detection means consequences, then we
become more sophisticated in the measures we will employ to keep that from
happening. Part of the thrill of
hide-and-go-seek came from the heart-racing fear of discovery, the adrenalin
rush of close calls when “it” almost found us.
That fear can sometimes go wrong.
Tragic stories of over-zealous children
so afraid of being found going to extreme measures and hiding in unsafe places
color our memories a darker shade…the kids who hid in abandoned refrigerators
and could not get out, the kids who ran when about to be discovered but into
the path of a car, and other sad stories of what happened when fear went wrong.
The right kind of fear can be a good
thing, to keep us from harmful choices and actions, as we saw last week. A godly fear of the Lord results in drawing
us closer to Him as we find in Him a security that comes from knowing that He
is mighty beyond our comprehension, loving beyond our imagination. He wants us to fear Him in a healthy way,
not to be frightened into fleeing from Him, hiding from Him, avoiding detection
by Him.
Godly fear always leads to draw near to
the Lord…but there is an ungodly fear of the Lord that makes us want to hide
from Him, move away from Him. This ungodly
fear makes us afraid to face God because…
· We don’t want
Him angry at us
· We don’t like
to admit our fault
· We don’t want
to suffer any consequences
So
we try to hide, or figure out ways to avoid facing Him.
THESIS: Ungodly fears make hiding from God more
desirable than abiding in Him and confiding in Him.
Where did this ungodly fear come from and
how does it appear in our lives?
I. THE INTRODUCTION OF FEAR through OUR sin
--In
the garden, Adam and Eve made a choice that has impacted the entire human
race—they chose to disobey God and in so doing permanently changed the way
people relate to the Lord.
Gen. 3:7-8 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and
they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made
themselves loin coverings. And they heard the sound of the LORD God
walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the
LORD God among the trees of the garden.
A. THE FALL FROM INNOCENCE
--Before
the choice was made to disobey God, the man and woman were innocent—naked and
not ashamed, because they had nothing to be ashamed of.
--Thinking
that the fruit was more desirable than trusting God and being totally free in
their relationship with Him, they both fell from their innocent state and
realized that they were now ashamed and afraid to face God.
B. THE FEAR OF EXPOSURE
--Nothing
they could do could reverse the consequence of what they had done, and nothing
they could do could resolve their fear of discovery and exposure.
--Clearly
they were afraid with a fear that had not been prompted by their relationship with God.
Genesis 3:9 Then the LORD God called to the man, and said
to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of Thee in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked;
so I hid myself.”
--From
that time forward, the break in our relationship with God causes us to look for
ways to hide from Him…because we are afraid, filled with fear because of all
that is ungodly in us.
II. THE INTRUSION OF UNGODLINESS INTO OUR FEARS
--As
you might expect, when our hearts are polluted with sin, ungodliness touches
everything there and turns it away from the Lord.
--Even
as we saw last week that fear can be an effective tool God uses for our
protection, and later on we will see how He uses it for our salvation, when
fear has come under the influence of ungodliness, you can expect nothing less
than ungodly fears.
--In
order to see what this means, let’s look at the different kinds of ungodly fear
that intrude into our lives and instead of producing a healthy fear of the
Lord, leads us farther from Him.
A. UNGODLY FEARS MAKE HIDING FROM GOD MORE DESIRABLE THAN ABIDING IN
HIM.
--When
fear enters into our response to the Lord God, it will originate either from a
godly or ungodly source.
--As
we observed in the first study last week, the fear of the Lord is intended to
be a positive response of the heart from those who live to know, love and serve
Him.
--But
that fear will not always be sound, not always be healthy, and can easily be
perverted to drive us away from Him instead of compelling us to come to Him.
1. Fear that drives a person away.
--From
the first man who feared the Lord, an ungodly fear appeared as Adam’s response
was to run and hide instead of stay and confide.
--That
instinct to hide instead of confide arises from an ungodly fear of God, a fear
that cannot stand to be in the presence of the One whose holy power and
unlimited awesomeness makes them so afraid.
You have perhaps witnessed the same things in your own life…a passage
of Scripture is hitting too close to home and so you skip over it and go
on. A sermon reaches into long-secured,
hidden places of the heart, and it is easier to redirect your attention to the
preacher’s manner, the hypocrisy of the person in front of you, the length of
the service, or anything else to keep from having to face the truth that you
are afraid to address before the Lord.
How many have stopped going to
church altogether because they became afraid of what they were hearing, fearful
of what God might expect if they continued to listen, scared of the changes
that might have to be made unless you just got away.
I mentioned last year the young
woman who let me know she would not be coming here anymore because she was
afraid that she could not live up to biblical expectations so she would go
somewhere else to hide from the truth instead of confide in the Giver of the
truth that she needed Him!
--When
God came near to confront Israel for their lack of trust in Him, He called upon
the people to fear Him and turn away from their unbelieving ways in demanding a
king for themselves so that they could be like the surrounding nations:
1 Sam. 12:14 “If you
will fear the LORD and serve Him, and listen to His voice and not rebel against
the command of the LORD, then both you and also the king who reigns over you
will follow the LORD your God.
--When
it became clear that they would not serve Him, Samuel called upon the Lord to
bring thunder and rain on them to show them a glimpse of His power…and they
responded with fear and trembling!
1 Sam. 12:18 So
Samuel called to the LORD, and the LORD sent thunder and rain that day; and all
the people greatly feared the LORD and Samuel.
--As
they people cried out, Samuel saw that they were ready to hide from the Lord
and turn aside because they feared Him the wrong way…they wanted to run away.
1 Sam. 12:20 And
Samuel said to the people, “Do not fear. You have committed all
this evil, yet do not turn aside
from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart. 21“And you must not turn aside, for then you would go after futile things
which can not profit or deliver, because they are futile. 22“For the LORD will not abandon
His people on account of His great name,
because the LORD has been pleased to make you a people for Himself. 23“Moreover, as for me, far be it
from me that I should sin against the LORD by ceasing to pray for you; but I
will instruct you in the good and right way.
24“Only fear the LORD
and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He
has done for you.
--When
you find yourself at odds with God, do not be afraid to come to Him and confide
in Him instead of running from and hiding from Him.
2. Fear that pushes the Lord away.
--Another
sort of ungodly fear makes us think that we have to push Him away in order to
protect ourselves from what He might do if He got too close.
--This
fear may be likened to whistling in the dark, thinking that if we give the
appearance we are in control, we might actually keep Him from gaining the upper
hand…putting us in a position of being afraid of what He might do.
--This
comes when we figure out that we have sinned against Him, have incurred His
wrath, but instead of turning to Him and allowing His hand to correct us, we
try to avoid the pain and push Him away instead of surrendering and letting Him
forgive and heal that which keeps us from Him.
--They
are too afraid to ignore the threat, but without the kind of fear that leads to
surrender and repentance.
Whenever someone finds himself in that position, we are likely to try
to turn around the blame and complain, grumble, hold grudges, and in other ways
express our discontented hearts toward God.
Rather than accepting our plight and seeing our need to turn toward the
Lord, we strike out at Him and push Him away.
I have seen it happen when someone
was hurt by the ugliness of life and instead of acknowledging their part in
their situation, they blame others and especially God for their mess. The circumstances then provide a convenient
excuse for refusing to surrender to the Lord, an argument based on their sense
that they are afraid of what would happen if they trusted Him to be in control
of everything when they hate what has happened with Him in control of their
present heartache or hardship.
They fear the Lord but not with a
fear that leads them to surrender and submit to Him—they push Him away instead!
--A
cycle of fearing the Lord and blaming and grumbling against the Lord has been
repeated since the early days of the Old Testament:
·
Moses led the
Israelites out of bondage as they feared the hand of the Lord and the plagues
(Ex 13:17-22)
·
Moses led the
Israelites through the Red Sea on dry land as they feared the Lord for the
miracle and for the power to drown the Egyptian army (Ex 14:10-14)
·
Moses cried out to
God for water after the people grumbled against the Lord for their thirst (Ex
15:25ff)
·
Moses heard their
grumbling again when there was no bread, and their fear of the Lord did not
still their voices as they complained (Ex 16:2-4)
·
Moses again reminded
them that their complaints were not again him but against the God their feared,
but not enough to trust Him…and so they grumbled until they got meat! (Ex
16:12)
--They
feared the power of God but not enough to trust the hand of God, to surrender
to the will of God or to enjoy the favor of God!
3. Fear that avoids the Lord’s anger.
--There
is yet another kind of ungodly fear that operates in such a way that it
responds to God only enough to satisfy its interest in avoiding making Him
angry.
--On
the outward show of things, it may appear to be functioning in a godly manner,
but the motive is not to bring pleasure to the Lord…only to keep Him “off our
backs.”
--Jesus
illustrated this attitude in a parable:
Luke 19:20 “And
another came, saying, ‘Master, behold
your mina, which I kept put away in a handkerchief; 21for I was afraid of you, because you are an exacting
man; you take up what you did not lay down, and reap what you did not
sow.’ 22“He said to
him, ‘By your own words I will judge
you, you worthless slave. Did you know that I am an exacting man, taking up
what I did not lay down, and reaping what I did not sow?
--That
is the way ungodly fear sees the Lord, as “an exacting man” and one we avoid
“for I was afraid of you.”
--If
we only invest in spiritual duties to keep from making God mad at us, if our
only motive is to do just enough to avoid His wrath, we are to be pitied!
--There
is no joy, no power, no delight, no satisfaction, in putting in the hours,
“punching the clock” for the Lord but doing so only because we fear the
consequences if we don’t.
That is like the difference between employees who go to work just to do
their job. They want to hone in on the
job description so that they know exactly what is required so that they do
nothing more, nothing less, than they have to.
Taking no initiative, investing no
creativity, exploring no new frontiers, muddling along with no vision—these
employees are not very valuable to the company because they are only in it for
what they get out of it. They are
afraid of doing anything with passion and purpose for fear of doing something
wrong.
That is no way to live!
--People
who have this kind of attitude toward the Lord will seldom do anything
blatantly wrong, but neither do they venture forth by faith and put their trust
in the Lord…they are too afraid of Him to
trust Him!
4. Fear that rises from unbelief.
--Unbelief
is the ground of ungodly fear, the quicksand that cannot sustain the weight of
our concerns, the shifting burden of our doubts.
--Because
we will not believe as we should, we find that we are afraid to rely entirely
on the Lord.
--Instead
of steadfast faith, those plagued by ungodly fears find themselves very
insecure in their beliefs and afraid that Christ alone will not be sufficient
for their needs.
a. Afraid to rely on Christ alone.
--When
a person has no confidence in what he believes, he will gather a variety of
“beliefs,” none sufficient in itself in his thinking but collectively provide a
safety net in case the others prove to be wrong.
--Why
else would many who profess faith in Christ try to incorporate other options
into their faith and practice?
Those
who suspect that grace is a good idea but must be accompanied by works of
various kinds:
· doctrines of
baptismal regeneration (Church of
Christ)
· Pharisaical
legalism and man-made rules
that regulate behavior, trying to impress God with our own brand of righteousness
Mark 7:6-8 And He
said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah
prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,
‘This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far away from
Me. 7‘But in vain do they
worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’ 8“Neglecting the commandment of
God, you hold to the tradition of men.”
--When we do
not believe that Christ alone is sufficient for our salvation, and believe that
we can either earn or gain acceptance by what we do, we live in fear that we
have never done enough!
When have you prayed enough?
When have you studied the Bible enough?
When have you been to church enough, given enough, served enough?
Those are trick questions based on
a false idea that anything we can do will ever be enough. Everything depends upon Christ and Christ
alone.
We will always live in a state of
anxious insecurity if we are afraid that Christ is no enough and that we are
not sure whether what we are doing is enough to make up the difference!
b. Afraid to forsake back-up options.
--When
our unbelief makes us doubt the sufficiency of Christ, we are hesitant to
abandon other options—we think we need a back-up plan in case God’s plan does
not work out for us.
--We
find this kind of thinking at work in 2 Kings 17 where the king of Assyria
resettled the land of Israel with people from other lands, who brought with
them their own religions.
--The
new inhabitants of the Promised Land did not fear the Lord—until the Lord sent
lions among them and killed many (17:25) for their desecration of His land.
--The
king believed that there were some kind of regional deities to be appeased and
so he sent priests from the exile back to teach the people the fear of the Lord
(17:27-28).
--The
results were not satisfying as the people simply added on the worship of YHWH
to their traditional beliefs.
2 Kings 17:33, 41 They feared the LORD and served their own
gods according to the custom of the nations from among whom they had been
carried away into exile. 41So
while these nations feared the LORD, they also served their idols; their
children likewise and their grandchildren, as their fathers did, so they do to
this day.
--The
people were too afraid of the LORD to neglect Him, but too attached to their
own gods to give themselves fully to the Lord.
The gods of our culture still hold many of us in their grip, releasing
us temporarily to exercise our religious practices in a Christian context,
knowing that we will be back in their control when we have gone through the motions.
We live according to what we truly
believe, and unfortunately, many who profess faith in Christ live according to
a series of priorities, a system of beliefs, and a set of practices that are
largely contrary to God’s Word.
We bow down at the altars of
materialism, immoral sexuality, power and control, superstitions; we worship
our families, our jobs, our recreation, our bodies.
Yet we are afraid not to continue
to defer to the Lord so we include Him in what we worship, and are genuinely
afraid not to do so, but honestly do not believe He has all, or is all, we
really need…so we keep our back-ups in place just in case we want what the Lord God will not give.
--Because
of unbelief, people develop an ungodly fear of God, not born out of reverence
and awe, but out of the insecure feeling of what might happen if they do not.
Ungodly fears
obviously get in the way of our understanding what it means to fear the
Lord. By thinking of the concept of
fearing God from the perspective of ungodly fears, is there any wonder we are
lacking any interest in learning more of the fear of the Lord?
Instinctively, as fallen creatures we
want to hide from God when our fear of Him is unhealthy and motivated by
ungodliness. Hide-and-go-seek is not a
game to be played with the Lord—He will always win and you will still have to
face Him on His terms. Coming to Him
voluntarily, facing Him willingly, will be avoided at all costs by those who
have an ungodly fear of the Lord and who see Him as One to run from, rather
than One to run to.
Ungodly fears cloud our judgment, raise
our insecurities and threaten our ability to enjoy the peace of God and the
delight of His presence. His promises
are offered to those who fear the Lord, His presence is assured to those who
fear the Lord, His peace is guaranteed to all who fear the Lord…but not to
those whose fear of Him 1) drives them
away…2) pushes God away…3) only wants to avoid His anger…and
which 4) ultimately arises from their
unbelief.
In Christ, perfect love casts out all
fear of rejection and condemnation by the Lord. In Him, we dare to draw near the God who is awesome in power,
fearsome in holiness and righteousness, and yet gracious in the tenderness with
which He loves us and calls us to come to Him.
So if your fear of the Lord has weighed
you down with a heaviness, a deep burden of insecurity and a general sense of
being afraid, Jesus extends this invitation:
Matthew
11:28 Come to Me, all who
are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.
Come
back to the innocence of the Garden,
those days of unbroken fellowship with your God. No more hiding, no more running, no more carrying the burden of
unbelief—just a sure and certain knowledge that in Him all of our ungodly fears
will be wiped away so that we might find the joy of living confidently with the
fear of the Lord guarding our hearts.
Providence
Baptist Church
© David Horner 2003
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