REMOVING MASKS (2): TO FEAR OR NOT TO FEAR

(Luke 12:4-7)
Intro (Read Lu 12:4-7). Bill got a parrot for his birthday. But it had some
salty vocabulary from its previous owner. Nothing Bill tried cured the habit.
Frustrated, Bill threw the bird into the freezer one day. All was quiet at first,
but soon the parrot was begging for its life, promising to reform. Bill soon
relented and freed the bird. The turnaround was astounding, but became a little
more clear when the parrot said, BTW I gotta ask. What did the chicken
do wrong? Hed developed a healthy fear. Thats our topic today. Healthy
fear. Fear of the right things and no fear of the wrong things.
Our context starts at 11:37 where Jesus lunch with a Pharisee quickly turns
into a sermon against hypocrisy. I doubt much lunch got eaten that day. As
Jesus leaves lunch, a crowd awaits His ministry but first He turns to His
disciples. Hypocrisy is still on His mind. These guys are going to take the
gospel to the world. They must not become dead religionists like the
Pharisees. The must exude genuineness. So in 12:1-3 Jesus gives a solemn
Warning Against hypocrisy that we examined last week. Now in vv. 4-12
He gives the Way to Avoid hypocrisy. Authentic living relates to the whole
Trinity -- Fearing the Father, Confessing Christ and Esteeming the Spirit.
I.

Fear the Father

No Fear! Thats our motto. No one wants to be paralyzed by fear. Its no fun to
be like the guy who was taking flight training when his instructor turned to
him one day and said, You know, youre not nearly as much fun since you
stopped screaming. Who wants to live in fear? Yet we all know there are
times when fear is helpful. We fear robbers and take protective action; we fear
disease and get flu shots; we fear the highway patrol and drive a reasonable
speed. Healthy fear is good. We want healthy fear but not unhealthy fear.
To Jesus this is step one in avoiding a hypocritical existence fear the right
things; dont fear the wrong things. That keeps us rooted in reality. Lets look.
A. What to Fear The Father
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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! As a child I thought that
was referring to Satan, but, of course, it is not. Jesus is not warning us to fear
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the Devil; He is warning us to fear God. He is the one who not only has the
power of life and death, but also has the power of eternal destinies. When
you put it like that, no wonder we should fear Him.
Typically we soften the word fear to mean reverence or respect or awe all
of which are true meanings of the word. But if we do not give the word its full
force here, we kill the impact! To reverence or respect makes the whole thing
sound optional! But to fear God is not optional. The fear of the Lord is the
beginning of wisdom according to the psalmist (Psa 111:10). Your IQ can be
through the roof; absent the fear of the Lord, youre out of touch with reality.
To fear the Lord is to recognize His absolute power and authority not just
over the universe, but over me! To fear the Lord is to recognize that by
character and lifestyle, I violate His holy character, and He must either deal
with that truth or cease to be God. His wrath against sin, including mine, is
not a temper tantrum, but a holy expression of who He is. To fear the Lord is
to live with the daily reminder that all sin must be paid for, either by the
offender or by Jesus. Death is not the greatest enemy of mankind. Something
lurking beyond physical death is a million times worse.
Thus Jesus says fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into
hell. We must absorb that there is something worse than death. Max fear
must be reserved for the One who imposes that penalty. Jesus intent is that
that fear drive us to the eternal life that is the only antidote for sins penalty.
Now, Jesus refers to the thing worse than death as hell. The actual word He
uses is Gehenna. Most Bibles note that. So what is Gehenna? Well, in Lev
18:21 God warns Israel, You shall not give any of your children to offer them
to Molech, and so profane the name of your God. Who was Molech and how
could children be given to him? Molech was a Canaanite god especially
cruel in that people burned their own children alive in offering to him.
Amazingly, the Israelites took up this horrendous practice. II Chron 28:3, we
read of King Ahaz in around 730 BC, and he made offerings in the Valley of
the Son of Hinnom and burned his sons as an offering, according to the
abominations of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of
Israel. The Valley of Hinnom a little ravine just south of the city walls of
Jerusalem easy walking distance. A high place, or tophet, was built where
this unthinkable practice was carried out. Other kings followed suit offering
children to Molech hoping to stave off enemies. Naturally the people fell in
line. Jer 32:35, They built the high places of Baal in the Valley of the Son of
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Hinnom, to offer up their sons and daughters to Molech. Hinnom became

known as the Valley of Slaughter. King Josiah ended these practices, but it
became the place for burning rubbish and dead animals a place of endless
fire -- named Ge (land of) Hinnom Ge-hinnom; in Greek Gehenna.
You see why it became a synonym for hell, the place to which those who have
rejected Christ are eternally sentenced (Mt 23:33). Jesus elsewhere describes it
as a place of unquenchable fire and eternal torment. It is so awful that in one
sermon Jesus advises if your foot, hand or eye keep you from faith in Christ,
cut them off. Mark 9:47, And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is
better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to
be thrown into hell, 48 where their worm does not die and the fire is not
quenched. Jesus listeners could graphically picture Hinnom where dead
carcasses were thrown and where the poor and outcasts were buried. They had
seen the continuous fires and worms preying on the dead a dreadful image.
It symbolizes the eternal destination of all who reject Christ hell, where the
fires never cease, and worms never die. The pain, the corruption, the decay
go on endlessly. This is the horror of the hell that awaits unbelievers.
So, is hell fire real, or is it symbolic? The answer is it doesnt matter. Physical
fire would not burn a spiritual soul. But it clearly symbolizes persistent,
unremitting, eternal torment of body and soul. The prospect of hell is so
abhorrent that we have taken it out of our vocabulary except as a swear word.
But, Beloved, it is as real as the chair you sit on this morning. Jesus
comparison makes no sense otherwise. If there is no such place, then
physical death is the worst thing that could happen. Jesus clearly teaches
theres something worse - to be avoided at all cost. We just wont believe it.
You know what the worst thing about hell is? It is the absence of God. The
God who has created, sustained, protected, compelled and even died for our
sin will suddenly and irrevocably be gone. There will be no more appeal and
no possibility of redemption. His blessed presence forever gone! even from
religious people. Jesus says in Mt 7:21 Not everyone who says to me, Lord,
Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my
Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did
we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do
many mighty works in your name? 23 And then will I declare to them, I never
knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. Hell ultimately is
the absence of God, and Jesus is saying, Thats far worse than dying
physically.
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The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. For those who have no
such fear, their IQ test with God registers negative no matter how high they
are humanely speaking. If hell is as Jesus depicts, only a fool would ignore the
one with the authority to sentence them to an eternity there. To those who have
accepted Christ, God is the best friend and Father they could ever have. Fear
has become reverence for His greatness and respect for His authority. For
those still living who are outside of Christ, God is still their best friend,
having given His own life to obtain their redemption from sin if they will
accept. But if they die in their sins, God becomes their worst nightmare. Heb
9:27, it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment. Isa
55:6 advises, Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he
is near. Soon He will not be found. So fear the Father is the motivation Jesus
uses to expel hypocrisy from our lives. Fear Him now while He can be found
and while He can forgive.
B. What Not to Fear
1. Atrocities of men
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I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that
have nothing more that they can do. Friend is not a term that Jesus used
lightly. He says in John 15:14, 14 You are my friends if you do what I
command you. When Jesus says to these disciples, do not fear those who
kill the body He knows something they do not know. He knows that just as
He is going to be killed for His message, they will as well. They will
demonstrate their friendship by following that most onerous of all commands
to give ones life. They will choose friendship with Him over the world.
Jas 4:4 reminds us all: You adulterous people! Do you not know that
friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to
be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. To be friends with
Christ is the most privileged position in life. But it comes at a cost; sometimes
a high cost. So Jesus reminds them that there is a fate worse than death.
Therefore, they are not to fear the atrocities of men. We must all choose.
Take Martin Luther a monk intent on his own salvation often going to
confession for as many as 6 hours at a time, killing himself with anxiety that
he was not good enough. He began to study the Scriptures for himself in the
original languages and found that we are justified by faith alone and not by
faith plus works. He found Rom 1:17, The just [justified person] shall live by
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faith. He found Titus 3:5, he saved us, not because of works done by us in
righteousness, but according to his own mercy. He found Eph 2:8, For by
grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the
gift of God. He found truth and took his stand against a church that added to
grace baptism, penance, indulgences, last rites and other works of merit. He
said, No it is by grace alone through faith alone that we are justified.
Rome caught on. Luther found himself called before the Diet of Worms to
give account for his heresy. He went fully expecting to die for his faith as had
many, like Wycliffe a hundred years before him. His judge, Archbishop John
Eck asked him, Martin Luther, do you recant of the heresies in your
writings? Do you defend them all, or do you care to reject a part? Much to
everyones amazement, Luther asked for a night to consider. But he did not
ask out of the fear of men. He asked to consider one more time before God
whether he had it right. Luther feared God, not men who could do no worse
than kill the body. His answer is legendary: Unless I am convicted by
Scripture and plain reasonI do not accept the authority of popes and
councils, for they have contradicted each othermy conscience is captive to
the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything, for to go against
conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand, I can do no other. God
help me. Amen. That is a man who preferred Jesus friendship to any other
who feared the one who can destroy both body and soul in hell more than he
feared those who can only destroy the body. Unwittingly, the church let Luther
live a decision they have regretted ever since.
We may never face death for our convictions, tho its not impossible. But we
will surely face the test Who is your friend? Who do you love, Jesus or the
world? If we are claiming Him on Sunday, but deny Him by our words and
actions the rest of the week, we are exactly the hypocrites that Jesus is
condemning. The solution fear the Father more than the atrocities of men.
Accept His love and forgiveness and become His beloved child.
2. Abandonment of God
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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. At first these words seem out of
context here. One minute Jesus is telling us to fear God, the next he is noting
the great care that comes from the Father. What is His point? I think it is
simple. Human opposition looks very real whether it actually includes the
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threat of death, or the threat of being ostracized, losing friends, looking stupid
whatever the threat is palpable, immediate, clear, fearsome. Meantime, an
invisible and often mysterious God can seem very far away. It is easy to feel
abandoned in those circumstances. It is easy to feel lost. God was there for
Moses, yes, but for little ole me? Im not so sure.
Jesus realizes that fear of abandonment is natural. He knows. Hes been there.
And so He addresses that fear with these tender reminders. Is God your
Father? Have you become His child by faith in Jesus? Then you need never
fear. Even the little useless sparrows sold in those days for 2 for a penny,
five for two pennies worthless little guys. Yet God knows every one of them.
And you He knows far more about you than you. He knows how many hairs
you have. Forgotten by God? Abandoned by God? Never not on your worst
day. What hope Jesus give us here.
When our fear of Gods holiness drives us to Him for mercy, we need never
fear again not the atrocities of men, and certain not abandonment by Him.
Heres why. Jesus took the abandonment for us. On the cross. There He
experienced all the wrath of God against the sin of the world, and in that
moment of optimal abandonment, He cried out, My God, my God, why have
you forsaken me. He was forsaken, so that we need never be.
That doesnt mean we will never suffer pain, even death in His service, but we
will never face the abandonment of hell. No matter what it looks like, God is
neither apathetic nor uninvolved. Unseen, He is before us, behind us, above
us, all around us.
Conc -- John G. Paton was an early missionary to New Hebrides, among the
cannibals. For years he saw few results in his work other than the constant
threat to his life. At the lowest point he found himself very alone. His wife and
36-day old child had just died of tropical disease and he was hiding in a tree
surrounded by natives intent on his death. Talk about atrocities of men and
abandonment by God? Paton knew. But he also knew what to fear, and what
not to fear. But here is what he report later, "I climbed into the tree and was
left alone in the bush. The hours I spent there lives before me as if it were
but yesterday. I heard the frequent discharging of muskets, and the yells of
the savages. Yet I sat there among the branches, safe in the arms of Jesus.
Never, in all my sorrows, did my Lord draw nearer to me, and speak more
soothingly in my soul, than when the moonlight flickered among these
chestnut leaves, and the night air played on my throbbing brow, as I told all
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my heart to Jesus. Alone, yet not alone! If thus thrown back upon your own
soul, alone, all alone, in the midnight, in the bush, in the very embrace of
death itself, have you a Friend that will not fail you then?" Great question.
Have you such a friend? Lets pray.