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When Fear Has You In Its Grip, part 1

Good Fear Creates Opportunities – Bad Fear Loses Opportunities
1 Samuel 15

My brother John is 9 years older than me, and he has always been this big, strong, muscular man’s man. He shared a story with me about when he was 16 and I was only 7, we shared a bedroom. He came home late one night from watching the scary movie entitled Omen; it was the sequel to Exorcism. Apparently, when he walked upstairs to get ready for bed, he saw me rise up out of bed and grunt some unutterable noise. As a 7 year old, I scared this strapping 16 year old so much he had to stay down stairs all night and he stayed awake the entire night. I remember as a young boy watching scary movies that caused me to check under my bed and my closets before going to sleep for years. Because of my fears as a young boy, I lost all kinds of sleep.

The Bible says that fear can be worst enemy or best ally depending on the object of our fear. All of us have fears. Some fear losing their jobs because of this difficult economy; some fear having their homes foreclosed on as 1 in 7 homes are being foreclosed on in Macomb County. Some parents fear not raising their kids so they have a good life.

The Bible is filled with people who are afraid; almost every biblical character struggled with some kind of fear – just like us. Fear is at the core of our relationship with God, so we are starting a 4-week series entitled – When Fear Has You In Its Grip. I believe this sermons series can be life changing if you are willing to commit to all 4 weeks. Today, I would like to share one biblical character who exhibited fear that caused him to lose great opportunities. In 1 Samuel 15, we find king Saul who struggled with a number of fears and we see the final straw for Saul’s fear that caused him to miss out on his greatest opportunity.

1 Samuel 15:3 “Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.” This is a difficult text, but we need to remember that God always works within the culture. This is a military culture, so whoever could conquer another group of people militarily meant that their god was greater. The real story starts back when Israel was coming out of Egypt and passing through the wilderness – this was 400 years earlier. The Israelites were faint and weary from their difficult wilderness travels. Imagine 1-2 million people walking through the desert. The Amalekites who were an ungodly people who did not fear God decided to attack the Israelites. They attacked the people at the back of the group, those people who were not strong but who were weaker and slower. The Amalekites attacked the mothers, the babies, the children, the weak and the elderly of Israel. God had promised Moses that He would seek godly revenge on the Amalekites, so God ordered Saul to the lead the attack.

Although God’s instruction was clear – spare no one – King Saul disobeyed God. 1 Samuel 15:8-9: “He took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and all his people he totally destroyed with the sword. But Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and the cattle, the fat calves and lambs – everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed.”

King Saul was a lot like us. While we think we are obeying God and doing what we were instructed, God sees disobedience because we have not followed His instructions. Instead, we modify God’s instructions for a variety of reasons. Here we see that King Saul grieved God by disobeying due to partial obedience, and more than that we discover why Saul disobeyed God.   1 Samuel 15:11, 13-14 “I [the Lord God] am grieved that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions.” (vv13-15) “When Samuel reached him, Saul said, ‘The Lord bless you! I have carried out the Lord’s instructions.’ But Samuel said, ‘What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?’”

King Saul clearly disobeyed God, and he was caught red-handed. All the sheep and cattle were supposed to be destroyed, but Samuel could hear the sheep and cattle. What will Saul do? He was supposed to eliminate these animals, but there they were. What would you do? 1 Samuel 15:15, 24 “Saul answered, ‘The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the Lord your God, but we totally destroyed the rest.’” (verse 24) “Then Saul said to Samuel, ‘I have sinned. I violated the Lord’s command and your instructions. I was afraid of the people [or feared the people] and so I gave in to them.”

The king disobeyed God because he was afraid of the people. Why did king Saul obey the soldiers’ demands rather than God’s instruction, because Saul feared the people rather than God. He feared the human consequences of obedience more than he feared the divine consequences of sin. He feared the displeasure of the people more than the displeasure of God. This is a great insult to God.

I would like to show you three things: (1) the Biblical principle that the fear of God is your best ally, but the fear of man is your worst enemy; (2) when you fear people, the negative consequences are that you will miss out on incredible opportunities; and (3) the opportunities you will get is worth exchanging your fear of humans for the fear of God.

First, the fear of God is your best ally, but the fear of man is your worst enemy. There is a significant biblical truth that to fear a thing is to reverence it, respect it, maybe even worship it. God warns His people over and over again not to fear human consequences but fear the Lord.

Isaiah 8:12-13 “do not fear what they fear, and do not dread it. The LORD Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread,” God commands believers to fear Him but not to fear what unbelievers fear – they fear people. God calls us not to have the same fears that other people have. Fear can be our worst enemy or our best friend depending on who we fear most. Isaiah 51:12-13 “Who are you that you fear mortal men, the sons of men, who are but grass, that you forget the LORD your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth…” We obey our boss’ ridiculous demands because we fear losing our jobs; we drive the speed limit because we fear getting a speeding ticket; we obey what we fear most. If you fear people, you have begun to deny the holiness and worth of God. But, God is infinitely stronger than any human; and he is infinitely wiser than any human. To turn away from obeying God because we fear what a person can do to us is to discount all that God promises to be for those who fear him. Fearing humans more than God is a great insult to the Creator of the universe. Fearing humans and obeying them over God’s instructions demonstrates that we assign more strength and more wisdom to people than God.

Second, when you fear people, the negative consequences are that you will miss out on incredible opportunities.

1 Samuel 15:23 “Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.” Since Saul feared the people, he let them keep the good animals which was disobedience to God’s instructions. Saul feared the people more than he feared God. Fear can be our greatest ally or our worst enemy depending on who we fear most. When Saul feared the people most, great and incredible opportunities were taken away from Saul. God removed Saul from being king over Israel. Saul could have been the greatest king of Israel had he obeyed God. The messiah could have come from the lineage of Saul.

When fear of a person supersedes the fear of the Lord, that fear will result in disobedience and lost opportunity. We cannot fear human consequences and fear God at the same time. We compromise our relationship with God and we compromise our view of God’s infinite wisdom and strength when we fear people more. This results in lost opportunities; wherever there is fear there is compromise, wherever there is compromise than there is missed opportunity. Let’s consider a few examples:

1.    Let’s say you fear speaking in pubic about things in the Bible because you may not have all the answers when they ask you the tough question. Or, you are afraid that you will get tongue tied. That fear of speaking God’s truth will cause you to miss the opportunities to share openly how your God has helped you; you will miss out on leading people to Salvation; and you will miss out on spiritual growth.

2.    Let’s say you have a fear of remaining single. That fear of remaining single could cause you to lower the bar a little bit; so, you begin to compromise your godly standards. When he or she comes along, you think that she may be the last train out. While she does not measure up to God’s standards, you begin to say that maybe you can help her get saved.

3.    Let’s say you have a fear of losing your job. That fear of unemployment in this tight market may cause you to compromise your ethics and morality to do what it takes to keep your job. Your fear of losing your job may cause you to keep your job, but what opportunities did you miss out on? You lose your witness to your co-workers. Maybe you were supposed to lose that job because God had something better in store for you. For me, when I lost a job once the next job quadrupled my salary. In my former profession, if I compromised my ethics for a client by lying on a tax return or lying to the IRS, I could have gone to jail. What opportunities could you lose if you fear people more than God?

Third, the opportunities you will get are worth exchanging your fear of humans for the fear of God. If we choose to fear God more than we fear people, then God will open up opportunities that are incredible. The God-opening of new opportunities is worth facing your fears because the fear of God gives you better opportunities than the opportunities that fearing people will give to you.

When we fear God we don’t lose opportunity, instead we create opportunity.

(1) Noah feared God so he built a big ark, but had Noah feared rejection from people he would have stopped building the ark because they made fun of him, they ridiculed him, but because Noah feared God, he had the opportunity to be saved from God’s flooding the world, Noah saved the animals, Noah saved his family, and Noah helped start the human race all over again.

(2) Rahab feared God so she hid the Israelite spies. But, had Rahab feared the human consequences from helping the Israelites she would have turned the spies over to the Canaanite authorities. Because Rahab feared God her life was saved by God, she was part of the lineage of Jesus Christ and she made it to the hall of faith in Hebrews.

(3) Peter feared God, so he did some public speaking on God’s truth. But, had Peter feared public speaking more than God, he would have remained silent. Because Peter feared God, he preached and was part of getting 3,000 people saved.

When fear of a person supersedes the fear of the Lord, that fear will result in disobedience and lost opportunity. We cannot fear human consequences and fear God at the same time. This results in lost opportunities; wherever there is bad fear there is compromise, wherever there is compromise than there is missed opportunity. On the other hand, if you have good fear – that is fear of God, then there is opportunity. God gives great and incredible opportunities. You need to begin dreaming of the incredible opportunity that may await your good fear of God over the bad fear of human consequences. God saved the world through Noah, God saved Rahab’s life, and God used Peter’s speaking to save 3,000 souls. God has not stopped giving our great and incredible opportunities. God keeps giving great opportunities when you fear God more than humans. So, what opportunities will he give you?

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