One of the great spiritual weapons used against the child of God is fear. We are to fear (reverence, worship) the Lord, but are not to be fearful, cowardly, or timid, which is a great sin. "But the fearful...shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death," Revelation 21:8. Fear is a powerful tool to manipulate people to act against their consciences or to cower from doing right. Paul encouraged Timothy not to cringe in the face of potential persecution, but to boldly serve God and declare the gospel. Fear keeps preachers from preaching the whole counsel of God. Fear keeps Christians from witnessing at work. Fear keeps men from opposing false doctrine and fear of trouble keeps men from doing what they believe to be right. Fear keeps pastors from stepping on the wrong toes and try to make everyone happy in the pews, especially those with power. Fear makes a preacher skip the application of a message and say, "It's not my job to apply Scripture, that's the Holy Spirit's job." A young man was called to pastor a church in Kentucky, and his first sermon he preached against drunkenness. The deacon came up to him afterword and said, "I know you are new here, but there are quite a few men who work at the distillery, so you shouldn't preach on drunkenness." The next week, he preached on truth telling, and against liars. The deacon said, "About that sermon – we have a few politicians in the church, and they took exception to that sermon." Frustrated, the young preacher said, "Well then, what CAN I preach about!” The deacon thought for a moment and said, "You can preach against the Mormons. I doubt there is a Mormon within 500 miles of here."
To encourage boldness, Paul told Timothy to remember his heritage (2 Timothy 1:5-7). Remember God's good providence in blessing Timothy with a mother and grandmother who loved him enough to read and teach him the Bible. It can be a good tool for spiritual boldness to recall how the Lord saved you, and even what he saved you from and to consider your election. God saved you by his mighty power, not because of good that you have done, but according to His loving mercy. Remembering how God ordained your salvation and brought it to pass can give you boldness for the present day. Be encouraged by Christian fellowship and the prayers of saints. Timothy may have been afraid of persecution, but Paul was praying for him. His dear friend lifted him up before the throne of grace. Timothy was not alone. Timothy was not abandoned. When we become fearful or allow fear to manipulate us, the thought of the church praying for you is a great means of boldness. Yet another reason why you need to be in the regular fellowship of a church. We need the prayers of our brothers and sisters, and we need to be able to request prayer. We also need the fellowship of the believers who know us and want the best for us. You can't have that when your forsake the assembly.
We gain boldness by action. It may not seem very spiritual, and it may not seem helpful, but a good way to not be fearful is to run straight into what you are afraid of. Go. Move. Get to the field of service despite your fear and trust in the Lord. This is how you can courage. Stirring up the gift of God is to use the gifts God gave you and kindling the fire of service. Fan the flames of God's gift into a roaring fire. Timothy was called to preach, called to pastor, and called to defend and proclaim the gospel of Christ. The gift God gave him is related to that ministry. But, he thought, if he used his gifts, he would be persecuted, and so he was afraid. Paul’s answer to Timothy’s timidity? Use the gifts. And not half-hardheartedly. Stir them up, kindle the fire and burn down the barriers of fear! When I was small child, I was convinced there was some sort of scary monster standing outside my window. I just knew if I opened the window, I'd be looking face to face with some ugly ghoul wanting to eat me whole. My mom came in my room and I told her why I wasn't asleep, and about the monster outside the window. Do you know what she did? She made me get up and open the window and look outside. That was the very thing I was afraid of! "But what if there IS a monster outside?" She said, "There isn't, but if there is, you'll be able to see it and then deal with it. But, if you lay here wondering, then you'll always be afraid." The advice was sound. If fear keeps you from serving God, the only way to defeat fear is press on in your calling. The work will dampen the fear. The more experience you gain, the less you’ll fear the unknown. And the more you are mortifying the fear in the Spirit of God, the more grace you receive.
God has not given us the spirit of fear. Whenever a Christian has the disposition of fearfulness, know it isn’t God. The character of fear is not a fruit of the Spirit. It’s easy to dress fear up in different garments, but underneath, it’s still fear. We may call it by different names, but it’s still fear. We may call it practicality. We may call it generosity. We may call it broadmindedness, or say we are protecting ourselves. We may say its living to fight another day. But if we search our hearts, we may find our motivation is being afraid. Obviously, this doesn’t do away with wisdom, but be careful that fear isn’t manipulating Scripture to give an easy out. Wise as serpents, after all.
The “spirit” is the source of the power of fear. If you are driving down a mountain and your breaks go out, it would be right and ok to be afraid. That human emotion is useful to release adrenaline and help us to get out of a life or death situation. But God hasn’t give us the spirit of fearful self-preservation. God has given us the spirit of power. Mighty, supernatural, God given power, whereas fear is weakness.
God has given us the spirit of love. Fear is self-motivated, and hesitant to act. Love presses forward for the good of others. Fear keeps us quiet in self-preservation. Love motivates us to move and sacrifice for God and for others. Fear is selfish, thinking only of ourselves. Love is selfless, serving for God’s glory. God has given us the spirit of love.
God has given us a sound mind. Fear takes the mind captive. Fear causes us to be irrational. Fear causes us to miss out on opportunities of service. Fear creates problems that are not really there, or amplifies problems that are really small. Fear takes weak enemies and makes them giants. Fear takes inconsequential barbs and turns them into swords. Fear takes the possibility of disapproval and turns it into a great trial where all the world is watching. It’s not rational. God gives us a sound mind. A healthy mind to be able to look at what is true, what is real, and what is important. God gives us a mind that isn’t ruled by our emotions, but a mind that is ruled by truth and reality.
Fear sells. Fear makes men compliant. Fear lets evil run free. The devil wants you afraid. The enemies of goodness and truth want you afraid. The worst case scenario for evil doers is coming across a man whose had enough and no longer fears what man can do to him.
No comments:
Post a Comment