To Fear or Not to Fear ~ Luke 12:1-7

October 25, 2015 ~ New City Church of Calgary ~ Pastor John Ferguson
Intro: My experience with peer pressure at a KISS concert. What other people thought about me controlled me.
Question: To what degree does the fear of what others think of you control you? Is it at least possible that what
others think about you influences you more than you would like?

The woman who feels pressure to skew the numbers at work to make the company look good.
The man whose drive to be successful & acquire possessions stems from a desire to prove parents wrong.
The teenager who cheats on the exam in order to get the marks needed to get into the college of his choice.
The athlete who takes illegal drugs to enhance his performance.
The Christian who wears a mask around others pretending to have it all together.

What other people think of us awakens fear and insecurity. And if we are honest, other peoples opinions have way
too much control over us.
Ed Welch, When People Are Big and God is Small, there is an epidemic of the soul called, in biblical language, the
fear of man. Fear of man is such a part of our human fabric that we should check for a pulse if someone denies
it.
Did you know that Jesus actually addressed this issue head on? His solution is at once jarring and comforting as he calls
people to replace the fear of man with something else far more weighty. IOW, there should be something else present in
our lives that doesnt simply offset the fear of man, but actually repels it.
Context: 12:1 In the meantime, when so many thousands of the people had gathered together that they were
trampling one another, he began to say to his disciples first, Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is
hypocrisy. 2 Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. 3 Therefore
whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms
shall be proclaimed on the housetops.
1. We present carefully edited versions of ourselves to present to the world.
2. Hypocrisy is the gap between what people see and the real me.
4

I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more they can do.
1. Jesus calls his disciples, my friends.
2. Jesus knew that hypocrisy arises from a slavish fear of peoplein this case, the religious leaders.
E. Peterson, The Message, Im speaking to you as dear friends. Dont be bluffed into silence or insincerity by
the threats of religious bullies. True, they can kill you, but then what can they do?
3. Save your fear for someone else

5 But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell
you, fear him!
In this verse, there are two jarring concepts for the modern reader: the call to fear, and the question of hell.
1. The question of hell.
(1) Objection: I could never believe in a God who would send people to hell.
Answer? What about people like Hitler, Moa, or Stalin? Or folks who dont want to go to heaven?
(2) Gehenna (Hell - Valley of Hinnom) vs. Jerusalem (the shalom of God).

 Gehenna was the place of idolatry / adultery and injustice (cf. 2 Chron. 28:1-4 & 33:3-9).
Gehenna is outside of the city of Jerusalem, the shalom of God, ie. his kingdom.
CS Lewis, There are only two kinds of peoplethose who say Thy will be done to God, or those to whom
God in the end says, Thy will be done.
Tim Keller, The Reason for God, Hell, then, is the trajectory of a soul, living a self-absorbed, self-centered
life, going on and on forever.Hell is simply ones freely chosen identity apart from God on a trajectory into
infinity.
In the end, God gives people what they want: separation from him. What could be fairer than that? Saying
No to God means no God (HT: Peter Kreeft).
(3) To say that God has authority to cast into hell is to say that God has authority to establish his kingdom by
banishing all that which is contrary to the flourishing of humanity. God will one day kick everything that
vandalizes shalom into Gehenna, that is, out of his kingdom. And that is a good thing.
(4) The Message, Save your fear for God, who holds your entire lifebody and soulin his hands.
2. The fear of God. It encompasses a ranges of emotions and attitudes that govern ones outlook on life.
(1) Scriptural examples
Proverbs 9:10, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is
understanding.
Psalm 33:8, Let all the earth fear the Lord, let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!
Rom. 3:18, There is no fear of God before their eyes.
Isaiah 11:2-3, The Spirit of the Lord will rest on himthe Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit
of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lordand he will delight in the fear
of the Lord.
(2) Jerry Bridges, The Joy of Fearing God, a profound sense of awe toward God is undoubtedly the dominant
element in the attitude or set of emotions that the Bible calls the fear of God.
A reverential awe that governs ones life / determines ones outlook.
(3) CS Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, & the Wardrobe, Is hequite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting
a lion. That you will, dearie, and no mistake, said Mrs. Beaver. If theres anyone who can appear before
Aslan without their knees knocking, theyre either braver than most or just plain silly. Then he isnt safe?
said Lucy. Safe? said Mr. Beaver; dont you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about
safe? Course he isnt safe. But hes good. Hes the king, I tell you.
Something like this is where Jesus is taking his disciples.
6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. 7 Why, even the
hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.
1. To his followers, Jesus says, your heavenly Father cares deeply about you. Even seemingly insignificant birds
are never forgotten, and you are more valuable than mere birds. Your Fathers care extends to his knowledge of
the number of the hairs of your head. God loves you so much that he sent his only Son into this world to teach
you about Him, and also to die for your sins that separate you from Him. And whoever believes in me will not
perish, but will have eternal life.
Jesus is moving us along a continuum
Terror | Dread | Trembling | Astonishment | Awe | Reverence | Devotion | Trust | Worship
2

2. Illus: Voldemort: There is nothing worse than death! Dumbledore. Indeed, your failure to understand that
there are things much worse than death has always been your greatest weakness.
What if the fear of man governed Jesus to such a degree that his fear of death ruled him? But Jesus
looked death squarely in the face, and endured the worst that man could do to him, and after that, rose from the
grave again!
3. Romans 8:31ff, What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not
spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who
shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or
danger, or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerers through him who loved us. For I am sure
that neither life death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers nor height
nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our
Lord.
Main Idea: When the threat from others awakens fear, remember the reign of the Lord I revere.
Luke 22:31-34, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed
for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers. Peter said to him, Lord, I
am ready to go with you both to prison and to death. Jesus said, I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day, until
you deny three times that you know me.
If Peter had remembered what Jesus had previously taught him, he would have thought to himself, When the
threat from others awakens fear, remember the reign of the Lord I revere.
Imagine: What would it be like to be so free from the fear of man that no amount of peer pressure would cause you to
cave? What if you so trusted in the reign of your Lord that you really believed that there is nothing that someone could do
to you. Sure, they could even kill you, but then what? Can you imagine what it would be like to have such a reverential
awe of God and to be so rooted in the love of your heavenly father that it would actually expel and repel the fear of what
others might do to you or say about you?
What if we were so governed by a biblical concept of the fear of the Lord, that we could say with the Psalmist
Ps. 56:11, In God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?
Ps. 118:6, The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?
Heidelberg Catechism #1, What is your only comfort in life and in death? That I belong body and soul, in life and in
death not to myself but to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ, who at the cost of His own blood has fully paid for all my
sins and has completely freed me from the dominion of the devil; that He protects me so well that without the will of my
Father in heaven, not a hair can fall from my head; indeed, that everything must fit his purpose for my salvation.
Therefore, by His Holy Spirit, he also assures me of eternal life, and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now
on to live for Him!
NCC, when the threat from others awakens fear, may you remember the reign of the Lord you revere.