Fear of the Lord (Session 7)
Cultivating a Healthy Fear of God • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Proverbs 29:25 (ESV)
25 The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe.
Common fear of man issues?
Common fear of man issues?
Do you ever compare yourself to seemingly competent peers? (that is rooted in fear).
Teenager: do you ever feel left out, or depressed or inferior or confused about your identity? Especially after interacting with or encountering something on Social Media or online in general. (that, at its base is a fear problem.)
Pressure to keep up with everything...
desire for reputation, need for respect, peer pressure, people pleasing, codependency (all fear problems).Common Phycological Theories (Self help and self- esteem)
Do you ever make decisions based off of what you think other might think of you? (Fear problem).
Do you ever overcommit? (Do you find it hard to say “no” to someone or something? (fear)
Do you ever not bring up a certain topic with a certain person? Or are there conversations that need to be had but you have put them off for decades? Fear
Do you get easily embarrassed? Other people’s opinions define you?
Do you ever tell lies? or Not tell the whole truth. We do this because we want other people to think a certain way about us. (That is fear).
Do you avoid people? fear problem (walking around junior high or high school students on Wednesday night.)
Do you desire praise from others (intellect, physic, talents) (fear and control). Self-worth and self-esteem is dependent on others perception of you.
Looking to the creation to give what only the Creator can. We exchange the only opinion that matters for a whole bunch of other opinions that don’t. We exchange the truth of God for a lie.
How might they lay a snare?
What are snares used for…trapping, immobilizing and they lead to a slow painful appointment with death.comparing yourself (what is ensnaring about that) - divert from what you should do…(pleasing to God). (the show ALONE - not much of a hunter…they didn’t die right away…either freeze to death, or get eaten by another animal or they would be apprehended by a human, killed, gutted, boiled and consumed.
If you found yourself in a snare, you were on a slow collision course with destruction.
Just as an animal caught in a trap can’t perform its God-given function, when you or I give in to the fear of man, we can’t do what God is calling us to do.
We fear people because the pose a threat to us…because we value their perspective more than Gods.
Fear of man “lays a snare,” - for our selves…we trap ourselves…explore that analogy.
telling lies (ensnaring) - breaking trust, exhausted keeping up with lie and (they carry us…to judgement).
not bringing up a topic or avoiding (ensnaring) - bitterness, anger, self-pity. ect.
making decisions based off of other peoples values instead of God’s (miserable, guilty, worn out, passionless living.)
Praise for people? (vain, empty, exhausting keep up with the next thing. never content, driven instead of called. When is enough enough?
This can be extremely ensnaring…we need to value
Solution: Trust in the Lord, then you will be safe.
Solution: Trust in the Lord, then you will be safe.
TRUST - to throw oneself down upon your face, to lie extended on the ground. - picture of complete submission. Do with me what you will…there is a freedom and safety in that. that is the opposite in being ensnared…there is a freedom! Liberty. God do what you will do. I Trust You.
Embrace trusting God wholeheartedly.
Jerry Bridges - “Trust is not a passive state of mind. It is a vigorous act of the soul by which we choose to lay hold of the promises of God and cling to them despite the adversity that at times seems to overwhelm us.”
Definition of Faith (Belief, Faith, Trust)
Paul overcame the snare of the fear of man and made it his central goal to honor and please God.
Galatians 1:10 (ESV)
10 For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.
25 The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe.
Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus.
Psalm 34:4–7 (ESV)
4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. 5 Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. 6 This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. 7 The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.
personal testimony of rescue.
interplay with the word fear.
2 Common fears (Fear of Man / Fear of a loss of Control)
we often don’t do what we should do because we fear man and we often end of doing what we shouldn’t because we fear something in our future.
(4) I was delivered from my fears, because of another fear (7).
There is a fear that can drive out other fears. (Fear of God).
If you feel threatened by something coming at you but you look up and see the angel of the Lord “encamping” around you (Shied about you). You are safe. I don’t have to be controlled by my peers, or my culture or my environment, I can yield myself to the One in whose hands and feet took nails for my punishment. He loves me…He will keep me “safe,” nothing outside of His plan for me will succeed. Worry, Fear, Anxiety!
Proverbs 18:10 (ESV)
10 The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe.
you have to run into it to experience safety.
Psalm 34:8–9 (ESV)
8 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! 9 Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack!
Seek the Lord and He will deliver you from your fears.
Trust Him…lay down prostrate before Him and experience rest from your fretting.
1 Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers!
Do we need people to fill us up?
Do we need people to fill us up?
if we do, then we are ensnared…because how much control do we have of other people?
They are in control of us. They can withhold whatever we think we need from them and if they do, we are threatened, discontent, incomplete…etc.
The prevailing notion is that we are created as psychologically needy. You can find this idea in both secular and Christian media. You can hear it in counseling offices. And it is part of casual conversation in both the church and the world.
“If only my husband would encourage me more.”
“If only my wife would respect me.”
“If only my children would obey me.”
“If only he [or she] would show some interest in me.”
“If only my parents would give me more independence.”
Can you hear it? The love cup lives. “Fill me with , then I will be happy.”
We tend to see ourselves as people who need something from somebody if we are going to change.
A popular view of the person looks like this: Our basic identity is that of a receptacle—
We have a long list of psychic needs, but these needs tend to cluster around basic needs for love and significance. When these needs are not met, we are in a deficit, and so we feel empty. We must be careful who fills these needs. Either we can look to people, or we can look to Jesus. - Ed Welch
The person I fear most is...ME!
The person I fear most is...ME!
Do you know how down I can get on myself?
Only me and God know how truly guilty I am. (God knows all my sins…I don’t even know them all, but the ones I do know…man…that is a lot of guilt…not past guilt. current guilt.
Satan loves to accuse (throws it in my face)
I sometimes feel controlled by the “opinion of me.” I should have done this. I could have been better at that. I missed the mark, here, here and there. I stepped over the line there. Man…it is incessant.
Wretched...Who will save me from this body of death? Not me…or my opinon of me. Not even your opinion of me.
Shawn that is great that you are humble or vulnerable. Shawn you aren’t that bad. Shawn we all struggle. Those are all good sentimental and true statements…but you are just as flawed as I am so I can’t trust your opinion of me.
So what are my options. I can’t trust my opinion, or your opinion, or the devils opinion…so who is left that can be a trustworthy source of information about me?
God…what has He said?
You are by beloved boy you are my dear daughter, I am well-pleased with you. That message if it penetrates you will melt you.
The jury isn’t out…the verdict is in and God has said you are mine, do not be be dismayed.
We are people too. that is why we need to preach the Gospel to ourselves…because we are daily guilty. Jesus taught us to pray for our forgiveness and daily bread. I need daily forgiveness.
Psalm 27:1 (ESV)
1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
What is the answer? No one? Why?
Because I am not controlled by them. All I want is Jesus!
Psalm 27:4 (ESV)
4 One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.
In comparison to God’s opinion, I don’t care about your opinion, my opinion or the devils opinion. Those don’t control me. What I am controlled by is my passion to “gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and inquire of Him in His temple.”
You are mine!
But we have to actually CHOOSE TO LIVE THIS WAY.
Chiastic structure of Psalm 27
Hauntingly beautiful (symmetry) teach on it some day…but do you know what we are funneled toward in the very center of this Psalm?
Psalm 27:8 (ESV)
8 You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, Lord, do I seek.”
LUTHER - “Dear Devil . . . I have shat in my pants and breeches; hang them on your neck and wipe your mouth with them.”[5]
Benefits of having a Healthy Fear of the Lord
Benefits of having a Healthy Fear of the Lord
Psalm 111:10 (ESV)
10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever!
Practice it…put this before your mind often.
good understanding…God what do you want me to do to obey you right now? I believe that He will grant wisdom in those situations.
I want to be pressed into your mold.
Psalm 112:1 (ESV)
1 Praise the Lord! Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in his commandments!
Hebrew - expansion
who greatly delights (explains the one who fears )
Don’t you want to be a person who experiences delight, contented joy, a perpetual state of gladness?
Isaiah 2:22 (ESV)
22 Stop regarding man in whose nostrils is breath, for of what account is he?