Allen Jackson - What Are You Afraid Of? - Part 1
The title for this session is «What Are You Afraid Of»? And most of us would say nothing, but the honest answer I think is many things. It seems to me that fear is stalking the streets. It was introduced in a new way a few years ago when we heard about that virus from Wuhan, but it’s continued to grow. The virus receded, but the fear hasn’t seemed to. And there’s more anxiety and more concern and in many respects, more fear than we’ve been accustomed to. Some of its founded, I think on perhaps reasonable premises and others are irrational. You know, it’s just an introduction to this topic. I think we’ve got to acknowledge the degree to which the church has stepped back and people of faith have been willing to recede into the shadows.
When my friend Jesus is prohibited from the public square, these days it’s called tolerance. When we speak of his principles and boundaries, it is frequently discussed as hate speech. I would humbly submit we had better wake up. You may not think that’s coming to your door, but if we allow those tendencies to continue, it very much will. I assure you God’s not intimidated by our problems. I double checked. He’s still the Prince of Peace. He has resolutions for all the ills that are before us if we will cooperate with him. The choices are not that complicated. We will either yield to the Spirit of Christ or I assure you we will serve the Spirit of AntiChrist. You will serve one or the other. There’s no gray area. There’s not a third option. When we reject God, when we reject God individually, when we reject him as families, when we reject him as communities of faith, if we reject him as a nation, tremendous suffering results.
There’s some examples of that you can see pretty easily with a glance at our world, tremendous suffering in Ukraine these days. The conflict that’s difficult to articulate, difficult to understand with a lot of high profile personalities and celebrities attached to it with more than a million casualties. There have been very few calls if any for humanitarian cease fire. All the calls I hear most consistently are for escalation, more armaments, missiles that can reach further. It’s unimaginable. I’ve been on multiple calls with people on the front lines in those places, pastors, leaders in the Christian communities, cities devastated, families destroyed. It’s evil and there’s tremendous suffering.
We don’t have to go to Ukraine. We have an open border in our nation and there’s so much confusion around that topic. It has brought tremendous suffering. The trafficking of children in unprecedented numbers. Never in our nation’s history have children been sold at the rate they’re being sold on our border. More than 400,000 children off the grid. We don’t even know where they are. They’re just completely lost. We’ve eliminated simple boundaries like DNA testing. If a 10 or 11-year-old girl arrives at the border with some man and she looks frightened, there’s no longer DNA testing. If he says he’s her uncle, they’re given a date to appear two or three years from now and released into the country. It’s inhumane, it’s cruel. There’s tremendous pressure in towns and cities across our America because of that policy. There are terrorists amongst us.
I have talked with multiple people, former heads of border security, people who led homeland security. They tell me repeatedly separately that they are more terrorist amongst us in unprecedented numbers than at any point in our history. They also all seem to agree that when their activity begins and the destruction begins that it’ll all be blamed on somebody other than those who have been responsible for the policy of the border being open. Folks, when we reject God tremendous suffering results, which leads us to the place that we don’t wanna be amongst the people who reject God. We have trouble deciding if even going to church is necessary these days. Well, I have to go to church to be a Christian. Okay, duh. But you have to have some interaction with the people of God.
If you’re gonna grow up, that is the biblical prescription. There is no maturity by yourself. It’s impossible to achieve. Isaiah chapter 12 and verse 2 is in your notes. There’s hope. It says, «Surely God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid». You see, we have to orchestrate a trust transfer. We put our trust in all kinds of things, governments, the strength of the dollar, political parties, elections. How many elections do we have to have while we continue to plummet down into this chasm of ungodliness before the church will wake up and say we have to be different? There’s a trust transfer that is needed. Isaiah said, «The Lord is my strength and my song: he has become my salvation».
See, to the degree that we believe that we can lead lives with less and less encroachment of fear. To the degree that you relegate your faith to a few moments on the weekend or an occasional visit to a church or a promise from the promise box or a digital devotional, fear will dominate the way you respond to the world around you. How you parent, how you make financial decisions. We don’t wanna live that way. Fear impacts how much, how we see the world. It impacts our reactions to life, our relationships with others, even our responses to God. It’s a highly documented area. Did you know there are more than 500 identified fears that plague humans? Five hundred plus, folks, that’s a lot of fear. And, you know, the ones that aren’t real to you don’t feel real, but the ones that are feel very personal. The list is in intriguing to me.
Thermophobia, that’s the fear of heat. Those are the people that live in the northern part of the nation. This one seems to be contagious. Phronemophobia, it’s the fear of thinking. This one’s a little less frequent, but I could see it could be troubling. Cometaphobia, the fear of comets. It’s a thing. Ablutophobia, fear of bathing. I pray the people near you do not have that. Euphobia, the fear of hearing good news. Many of them work in the media. Ecclesiophobia, you should know this one. Fear of attending church. It’s an epidemic. This one is clearly demonic. Hamolophobia, it’s the fear of sermons. Again, if they’re not things that challenge you, they’re kind of humorous, but fear is real and to say we’re never afraid or nothing frightens us or we’re not afraid of anyone or anything, then all of our bluster is dishonest.
Well, I wanna take the time in this session and talk to you about a primary fear, an essential fear if you’ll allow me. In fact, without it, I have little hope that you will even be able to participate in the kingdom of God and I’m quite confident that in its absence, you won’t be able to mature or grow up as a Christ follower. In scripture it’s presented as the fear of God. Not a terror or a dread. It’s a respect, a reverence. We’ll look at a definition in a moment, but look at Exodus 18 verse 21. They’re selecting people for leadership for significant roles in the midst of the people of God. They’ve exited Egypt. It’s time now to put together a social structure to let the people of God flourish. And these are part of the instructions, «Select capable men from all the people, men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain, and appoint them as officials over thousands, and hundreds, and fifties and tens». Men who fear God.
Folks, if there’s something that’s missing in the midst of our culture, it’s men and women who fear God and that has to begin in the church. It has to begin in the midst of the people of God. This isn’t a secular problem. This is a problem amongst people of faith. The alternative, the other end of the spectrum is Ecclesiastes 8 and verse 13, «Because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow». The connection, the parallel between the wicked and the absence of the fear of God should be a warning to all of us. I don’t wanna be included amongst the wicked. So I am very interested in understanding what the fear of God is and what would be necessary to let it grow, flourish, multiply in my heart. I want more of it.
See, I’m a little weary, I’m more than a little weary honestly with the way we’ve been coached to have a conversion experience which I believe in. It is essential. But we’ve been coached towards this idea that having reached that threshold, you’re pretty much golden. And I believe that entry into the kingdom of God is to allow us to enable us to grow in a respect and a reverence for God. That if you’ve known him one day, ten days later, you should have greater reverence from him than you did on day one. And I’m not sure that we’ve been cultivating that desire as fully as we might. I gave you a definition. The fear of the Lord is an attitude of reverence and awe towards God precipitated by an understanding of the holiness, the justice, the grace and the love of God. Should we talk so much about the love of God?
And I believe in that, but it’s not the presentation of the full character of God. He’s also a God of justice. He’s not just your buddy, he’s your heavenly Father. I have an earthly father and he loves me and he will beat the stew out of me in a God honoring Jesus loving sort of way. I’m not suggesting that he would physically damage my person, but he believes in discipline. And if you don’t have the imagination that God believes in discipline, you have an incomplete gospel. And that’s the role, that’s a significant part of what this reverence, this fear, respect for God will bring to your life.
See, there’s a struggle persist that persists within us in spite of our conversion, in spite of our baptism, in spite of the presence of the Spirit of God within us. We still live in an earth suit. We still have that Adamic earthly carnal nature. We are hardwired towards ungodliness. I don’t need coaching in that. We don’t have to have classes on how to lie more efficiently. We don’t have to get groups together on selfishness. We’re just too selfless. It makes us incredibly vulnerable. So we’ve started a whole new movement on how to be more selfish for Jesus. That hasn’t been necessary because we’re hardwired for those things. And this struggle persists within us. We have very little room in our hearts or our lives for authority. We don’t like it.
Our casual culture encourages irreverent attitudes. It does. I’m not suggesting that all the things that have come with a more casual culture are bad, but some of the things with respect to our faith have been disruptive. We show less and less respect. We do. Well, you can’t judge my spirituality by… you’re right. It’s not an external thing, but we communicate many things about what we prioritize, what we value, where we spend our time and our money. Those things can be perceived by outward observation. There are at least indicators. We have lost a general loss of boundaries throughout our lives.
I’d like to take a moment with this whole issue of accountability because accountability really is an authority issue. And the idea that I wanna plant, the seed I wanna plant is a bit of self-reflection. I want you to think a bit beyond our little time together about the accountability and the authority structures of your life. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 10. It says, «We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad». See there’s two judgments. They’re different. There’ll be a judgment for those who are not Christ followers. It’s a judgment of destiny. It’s a judgment that will determine whether you spend eternity in the kingdom of God or separate from that. But there’s a judgment that awaits every Christ follower.
Paul’s writing this to a group of Christians. And he said, «We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ». We’ll come back and do a fuller study on this at some point in the future, but for the moment, let’s just determine that biblically, every one of us has an appointment for which we will give an account for what we have done in the body. You have an existence beyond your body, but God is going to evaluate you based on his kingdom principles for what you and I do with our time in our earth suit. Whether it was good or bad, not in my opinion. And you and I will never be able to make a case that’s so convincing. We’ll never be able to bring enough emotion to bear that we will get God to agree with us in our ungodliness. We won’t be able to justify our unforgiveness, our anger, our resentment, our bitterness, our hatred, our immorality. God will not say, «Oh, I understand».
Galatians 6 and verse 7 says, «Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows». That isn’t a threat. It’s a promise. Sow good things. I love summer vegetables, but if you want green beans and new potatoes in your garden, you gotta plant some green beans and new potatoes. If you don’t put the seeds in the ground, you’re not gonna get that harvest. And there’s, if you want the blessings of God and the favor of God, if you wanna live in the peace of God and the provision of God, there’s some things you have to do. The majority of God’s promises are provisional. We have to meet the qualifications. You know that fundamentally, it’s the nature of your relationship with God.
The Bible says, if you can believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, you can be saved. Well, God has done everything he’s going to do for the the redemption of humanity. He sent his Son, the incarnation. Jesus came, he put on an earth suit. He lived amongst us. He offered himself as a sacrifice that no human being should have to spend eternity apart from Almighty God, the creator of heaven and earth. Anyone who does that chooses to do that. But in order to receive the benefit of the redemptive work of Jesus, you have to believe in your heart and confess with your mouth. So that principle shaped your entrance into the kingdom of God. You shouldn’t be surprised or offended that that principle will shape your maturing in the kingdom of God.
Verse 8, «The one who sows to please the sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life». Every day, you and I are planting crops. Every day, every interaction. «Let us not become weary in doing good». I assure you that encouragement, note of encouragement would not be there if we never got weary in doing good. Some days I get tired of it. Oh, it’s true. Well, I bet you do too. Don’t you ever get tired of being Christ like? Oh, come on. I’m not suggesting you wanna plunge into some gross immorality. You just get tired of being kind, right? Somebody cut you off in traffic. I think I’ll just hit him.
Did you ever play monopoly? Community checks, get those little cars, get out of jail free. I have this fantasy. We print those. It’s just this is my day where I don’t have to behave like a Christ follower. Again, not gross immorality. This is just my, I’m not kind day. You cut me off, I hit you. Here’s my card. Tomorrow, I’ll wave you and today you pull out there. I got you, boom. In fact, I may back up and hit you again. Just feels good, cathartic. Don’t grow weary in doing good. I find we don’t say that I don’t say out loud I’m tired of doing good. I just act like I didn’t notice there was an opportunity. I put my ear buds in or whatever the equivalent is. Act like I didn’t notice. I don’t pay attention to that. I don’t watch the news. I don’t know what’s going on in the schools whatever.
So we kind of feign ignorance. In reality, we’ve stepped back from the arena of the conflict because we’ve grown weary in doing good. «So that at the proper time, we’ll reap a harvest if,» it’s an awful little word right there. You ought to circle it. It’s just two letters, a little preposition, «At the proper time you’ll reap a harvest,» woo hoo, «If we don’t give up». If you give up, your harvest will go someplace else. I feel like giving up sometimes, but we’re not going to. We will not stop. But on that point, we need one another. We need the encouragement, the affirmation. We need to hear the gods stories. We need to hear your victories reported or the struggles you’re in 'cause it helps me process wherever I am in my journey, somewhere between mountain tops or in the midst of a valley or whatever that feels like. Giving up is not a good option.
Lots of messaging around that. And most of the important things in life require discipline, a willingness to do the right thing that you know to do at the right time. Every time you have the opportunity to do it. That really is what discipline is about. If you just do it once in a while or occasionally or when you feel like it, that’s not discipline. That’s something altogether different and the outcomes are very disparate. Look at Matthew 16, this is Jesus, «The Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done».
Did you hear that? Jesus is coming back to the earth and he’s going to reward everyone the same? No, actually it’s that he’s gonna reward us according to what we have done. Do you understand that fundamentally that is the exact opposite of equity? We will be rewarded for our choices, not our appearance. You can sit in church every week and have a heart far from God. You can. Most of us have worn that uniform once in a while. You see a casual faith rejects this accountability. Now, for fairness, the other extreme of this is legalism. Legalism gives birth to self righteousness and the fruit of legalism and self-righteousness almost inevitably is witchcraft which is about control. Not people with long pointed black hats, but biblically speaking, it’s about control, manipulation, and domination.
So we say Jesus is gonna reward us for what we’ve done with our time in the body. It’s not that we’re gonna earn our way to heaven, but that if we choose to lead our lives with the objective of pleasing the Lord out of a reverence for him, a respect for him, a fear for him. We’re not trying to bring God down to our level. He’s not like us, folks. He made the earth and everything that’s in it. You can’t do that. There is a God. The wonder of the Word of God is that he can be known and that he would welcome us into a relationship with himself. And the opportunity we’ve been given is to live every day with the objective of pleasing him. That really is the foundation of the fear of God. We believe spiritual things are real.
So we’ll give thought and time and attention and energy into being spiritually clean. We’ll try to understand the biblical principles that enable us to lead lives of spiritual freedom free of unforgiveness and hatred and bitterness. Do you understand there are powerful, powerful repetitive voices coaching us towards unforgiveness and hatred every day and we often blindly follow along? We’re agitated and frustrated and filled with ungodly things. They bring destruction. We desperately need the voice of the people of faith informed by the scripture, speaking to our children in our schools and our college campuses. Not just preaching sermons. Teaching us how to be in this world. A respect for one another, a respect for the dignity of human life. A respect for holiness and godliness and purity and righteousness, words that seem so quaint when you just say them out loud these days.
The practice of sin will destroy us. The struggle with sin is universal and we need to know the difference. We cannot afford the luxury of indulging in practicing sin. We have to come to the Lord and repent and choose a new path. The struggle with sin we all know, but it’s the blood of Jesus Christ on the cross that promises us freedom. I wanna pray with you. You’ve got the courage ask the Holy Spirit to show you any place where you need God’s forgiveness.
Father, I thank you that through the blood of Jesus, we have been redeemed out of the hand of the enemy that every claim against us has been canceled. It’s been marked paid in full through Jesus redemptive work. We thank you for our freedom. In Jesus’s name, amen.