Untying the Knot of FEAR
Series – Problems: Untying What’s Tying You Up
Chuck Sligh
April 21, 2013
NOTE: A PowerPoint presentation of this sermon is available upon request by emailing me at chucksligh@hotmail.com.
TEXT: 2 Timothy 1:7 – “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”
INTRODUCTION
John Hunter in his book Knowing God’s Secrets writes: “Medical science now recognizes that between 60 and 90% of our sicknesses are caused by such emotions as fear, sorrow, envy, resentment, hatred.” I don’t know his source for such figures, but I’ll say that if these figures are even close to accurate, then we need to learn how to deal with how we feel. As believers we need to learn how to untie the knots we’re tied up in—such emotions as fear, worry, depression, bitterness, anger, stress, loneliness, and guilt. That’s what this series on “Untying What’s Tying You Up” is about.
Last week we looked at how to untie the knot of WORRY. Today I want for us to learn how to untie the knot of FEAR in our lives.
Illus. – One night in a severe thunderstorm a mother was tucking her small son into bed. She was about to turn the light off when he asked in a trembling voice, “Mommy, will you stay with me all night?”
Smiling, the mother gave him a warm, reassuring hug and said tenderly, “I can’t dear. I have to sleep in Daddy’s room.”
A long silence followed, at last broken by a shaky voice saying, “The big sissy!”
All of us have experienced fear. Clarence Macartney said, “From the cradle to the grave, fear casts its baleful shadow.”
Let’s talk about fear today and what the Bible might say about it to help us.
I. WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT FEAR?
In preparing for this sermon, I noticed that the Bible speaks of fear in three different ways:
• First, there is a HOLY fear.
We read in Deuteronomy 6:13, “Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve Him.” We’re commanded to fear God and serve Him.
We’re to fear his wrath on sin if we do not accept his free gift of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, but if we’ve been saved, we have a natural fear of disappointing our wonderful, loving Lord. That is, we no longer have a fear OF Him, but a fear of hurting our heavenly Father.
Illus. – A young girl was out with some friends and they were tempting her to go to the bar and get drunk; but she wisely refused to give in to the temptation.
One of her friends taunted her, “What’s the matter? Are you afraid your parents will find out and hurt you?”
She said, “No, I’m afraid my parents will find out and I will hurt them.”
• There are also HEALTHY fears.
During the Great Depression Franklin D. Roosevelt said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” That’s sounds good, but there’s one thing wrong with it: IT’S NOT TRUE!
Jesus taught us that there are some things we OUGHT to fear for survival. He said in Matthew 10:28, “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
In addition, there are always certain normal things we need to fear in life.
> As long as there are rattlesnakes, poisonous spiders, scorpions, murderers, drunk drivers, terrorists, politicians, and other things that can hurt us, fear can be a HEALTHY matter.
> A SMART ELECTRICIAN better have a healthy fear of electricity if he’s going to be around for supper.
> An EXPLOSIVE ORDINANCE TECHNICIAN better have a fear of explosives if he wants to see another birthday.
> As PARENTS, we teach our children to have a fear of certain things that can burn, that can shock, and that can cut.
There are some legitimate fears that are HEALTHY and there is a HOLY fear.
• But there are also HURTFUL fears.
Paul told Timothy in our text in 2 Timothy 1:7 – “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” There’s the FEAR OF THE LORD and there are NATURAL FEARS—two types of fear that are holy or healthy.
What is hurtful is a “spirit of fear”…when fear controls us instead of us controlling our fears. The spirit of fear is when we allow ourselves not to trust in God as we face the future, and is the cousin of fear is worry.
WHY do we worry?—Because of FEAR of something in the future that we’re not sure of the outcome.
If we allow ourselves to be beset with a spirit of fear, our fears will victimize us, neutralize us, and immobilize us. They will tie us up in knots.
What is the source of hurtful fears? Well, Paul said that it ISN’T GOD who gives us a spirit of fear, so if fear doesn’t come from God, it comes from Satan or from our own sinful nature.
Satan loves getting God’s people to fret and fear and not trust God.
How does he use the spirit of fear against us?
> First, to make your life miserable, making you a lousy advertisement for Christianity.
1 John 4:18 says, “fear hath torment.”
Romans 8:15 speaks of the “spirit of bondage again to fear.”
Have you ever seen a worry-wart who was happy?—I rest my case!
Illus. – There was a lady who died in 1916 named Hetty Green. She has been called “America’s greatest miser.” When she died in 1916, her estate was valued at $100 million.
But she was so miserly that she ate cold oatmeal in order to save the expense of heating the water.
When her son had a severe leg injury, she took so long trying to find a free clinic to treat him that his leg had to be amputated because of advanced infection.
Why did she do this?—Fear of losing her wealth! So fearful of losing her wealth she could never ENJOY it.
Fear brings torment and bondage.
> Second, Satan uses fear to try to immobilize you from action.
Illus. – In Matthew 25 Jesus told the Parable of the Talents, in which the master, going on a long trip, gave three of his servants certain sums of money to invest and earn a good return when he came back again.
The first and the second servants invested their money wisely and doubled their money’s value, but the third one buried his money so that he wouldn’t lose any of it.
When the master returned, he commended the first two for being bold and stepping out and getting a good return on their money
But he was furious with their third one. When he asked the third servant why he had not invested his money as the other two had, he replied, “…I WAS AFRAID, and went and hid thy talent in the earth…” (Matthew 25:25) He let fear immobilize him; he let fear paralyze him from action.
When GOD says to you, “Why don’t you teach that GrowGroups class or K.I.D.S. Church class for few weeks to see if you like it” or He says, “You ought to volunteer in the nursery” or “You should use your talent to sing or play an instrument on a worship team,” SATAN says, “No. Don’t do it. What if you fail? What if you make a fool of yourself…” and before long he’ll have you paralyzed from action by fear.
GOD says, “Test me and see if I’ll not bless you more than you ever DREAMED if you’ll tithe to me 10% of your income and an offering on top of that,” but SATAN whispers in your ear, “But what if God DOESN’T come through? How will you pay your bills?”—and through FEAR, you miss out on one of the great joys of the Christian life.
Satan will use fear to keep you from acting in faith when God speaks to your heart to do something.
> Third, Satan will seek to use fear to keep you from sharing your faith or taking a bold stand for Christ.
In his book Evangelism: Christ’s Imperative Commission, Roland Leavell writes that fear is the number one reason Christians do not witness to others about Christ.
We’re afraid of letting co-workers know that we’re Christians.
We’re afraid to talking to neighbors about Jesus.
We’re afraid to invite friends to go to church with us.
Why?—We’re afraid of what people might think about us. But the writer of Proverbs says, “The fear of man bringeth a snare…” (Proverbs 29:25)
> Lastly, Satan will try to use fear to diminish your trust in God.
People fear that their kids may not turn out alright, or that they’ll lose their job, or that one of their loved ones will die or come down with a serious disease, or they fear a fire, or a tornado or war and terrorism.
What are we doing when we succumb to fears about the future?—We’re not trusting in God. God promises that He will guide our lives and take care of us.
So He commands us in Proverbs 3:5-6 – “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”
Jeremiah 17:7-8 says, “Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. 8 For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.” These are Near Eastern metaphors that simply mean this, “If you just trust in the Lord, God’s gonna’ bless you REAL good.”
II. THE SECOND THING I WANT US TO SEE IS HOW WE CAN WE OVERCOME FEAR.
God does not want us to live in the spirit of fear, to experience its terrors, to be under its bondage, but He wants us to overcome our fears. So let’s untie the knot of fear today.
What can you do when you feel fearful?
• First, cast your burdens on the Lord. – Psalms 55:22 says, “Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.”
I’m no fisherman, but I do know what it means to “cast” something. It means to hurl it away from you using force. [DEMONSTRATE:] You grab that pole and you swing it hard so the hook and sinker go FAR AWAY from you.
But where are you supposed to hurl your cares?—To the only One who can handle them: THE LORD.
And what’ll happen if you do this?
> The promise is HE WILL SUSTAIN YOU.
> And He’ll not let you be moved—that is, He won’t let your burden knock you over where you can’t recover. In other words, He’s gonna’ take care of you, so DO NOT FEAR.
• Second, take refuge in Him. – In Psalm 27:1-3, David proclaims that he will not fear anyone because he says in verse 5, “For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.”
Here David reminds us that we have a safe place to go to when we feel fearful.
Illus. – I remember as a child playing in the autumn in our neighborhood. Suddenly, there was a huge downpour with thunder and lightning. Where did I go?—I scurried to the security and safety of home where Mama was waiting with a towel to dry me off, and a warm bowl of soup. I took refuge in my mother who loved me and cared for me.
David says, in the day of trouble, God will keep us safe if we take refuge in Him.
How can we do that?—By going to Him in prayer and seeking His face and confessing your sin and pursuing Him to the place of worship—at church where God’s people meet and where His Word is preached.
• Third, replace fearful thoughts with thoughts of God.
God has given us the way to keep our fear from paralyzing us, and it involves changing our focus from the things that are causing us fear to thoughts of God.
We looked at Philippians 4:6-8 last week when we talked about worry, but let’s look at it again: “Be careful for [anxious about] nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”
I love these verses. They promise us that if we can cast all our anxieties and fears on God in prayer, then our hearts and minds will be guarded by the peace of God.
A peace that passes understanding.
A peace that doesn’t make sense.
A peace that God brings to those who offer Him all that they are anxious about and let Him take them.
And then Paul teaches us what we SHOULD think about, instead of all the things that are causing us fear—whatever is true, or noble, or right, or pure, or lovely, or admirable, or excellent, or praiseworthy.
Illus. – If you take a glass full of murky water and hold it under the faucet, eventually the yucky stuff will be removed as it is replaced with the pure water.
When we ruminate on our fears, the fruit will be unrest, stress, ulcers But when we meditate on God’s promises and His character, eventually the fears will be replaced.
¿Where do you find God’s promises and how do you discover God’s character? By getting into God’s Word. Not speed-reading it; but studying it and meditating on it.
• Lastly, keep an eye on eternity.
One of the reasons we fear is that we forget that this life is not all there is. Every single one of us was created for ETERNITY.
Rick Warren says, “Death, for Christians, is a transfer, a promotion. It’s on to better things. No more problems. You’re not ready to live until you’re ready to die. You don’t know how to live until you’re ready to die. Only a fool would go all through life totally unprepared for something that everybody knows is inevitable. You’re going to die—someday. If you have accepted Christ, then you’re going to go to heaven. You’ll be released from pain, from sorrow, from suffering, from depression, from fear.”
Revelation 21:4 is one of the most comforting verses in all the Bible: “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” – Doesn’t that make you a little homesick for heaven?
Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 – “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; 18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal [temporary]; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
Paul says the sufferings on this earth are temporary. The next time you feel fear grip your heart—change your focus to ETERNITY!
Are you ready for the eternal? If you were to die today, do you know what your destiny would be? I have no doubt about mine—not because I’m good, but because the Bible says that all those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved.
Have you done this? Have you put your faith in Jesus Christ to save you? I hope so, because if not, all the hope and the help and the protection the scriptures promise when we fear will not be in effect. In fact, you have a horrific eternity to fear, and you had better take heed.
Listen to the stark contrast Jesus paints in John 3:36 – “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.”
You SHOULD fear the wrath of God if you have never put your faith in Jesus Christ to save you. This is a holy fear we talked about before. But if you’ll trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior, you claim the promise that Jesus Christ, the very Son of God, gave that you will have everlasting life. “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.” Claim that promise today by trusting in Jesus Christ.
CONCLUSION
So what do we take away from this sermon? Four quick bullet points:
• Cast your burden on the Lord, and leave it with Him.
• Take refuge in His safe and secure arms.
• Replace fearful thoughts with thoughts about God and His character.
• Keep your eye on eternity.
