Emotions: Fear

[podcast]http://www.revkwon.com/podcast/emotions-fear.mp3[/podcast] The reason we’re even talking about fear as an emotion is because fear—that is, being afraid, makes us do pretty interesting things. And when we leave that fear—or the emotion of being afraid unchecked, it starts to dictate how we live our lives and the choices we make and don’t make. In fact, fear, will be the number one killer of all dreams before they begin. Fear is a big deal. I want to deal with fear so that you can live fearlessly. Because when you live fearlessly, you find yourself living where God created you to live. I just thought of this, but before I continue to talk about fear, I want to open our bibles and show you what fear looks like most tangibly. Let’s go to Genesis 3.

8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” 10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” 11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” (Genesis 3:8-11)

Do you see that? Adam’s fear prompted him to do something funky when he got startled. I want you to get into your small groups right now, and I want you to sit with them in circles. Can we arrange the chairs in circles this morning? I want you to answer this question: What makes you most afraid? Is it the sound of a belt coming off the loops of your dad’s pants? Maybe, it’s the silence before a test? Perhaps, it’s the lollipops on the doctor’s desk? Maybe, just maybe, the thing or person that makes you most afraid is being eye contact with Pastor Jonathan so he won’t pick on you during this sermon? Maybe, your greatest fear, and I’m sure fear changes all the time, is being dumped by your friends. Okay, but really, I think some of you are really are afraid… of people, situations, things. Let’s talk about the thing/ or things that get us most afraid. Whether it’s the thunder in the middle of the night, the dust mites on your carpet, the cockroaches running through the back of your drywall. Or even the potential of failure, of being rejected, of being outcast. [story about my biggest fear as a kid] – was to be left on the side of the street while my parents drove away. [story about my biggest fear as a teenager] – not being able to compete with other students to maintain average. I’ll tell you a little secret—I’m horrible at math. Like I didn’t know until this past week that 18 times 5 was 90. In fact, I couldn’t even do it in my head—carry the 4… yeah. But when I brought home perennial B’s, sometimes C’s and even a D, while all my other classmates were pulling straight A’s, I began to wonder whether I could even make it to high school. That was only exacerbated by the fact that there was a list that ranked, from best to worst, the academic standing of students. [story of my biggest fear now] – not being able to maintain my awesomeness. This is so very important, and as you get older, you’ll understand this better. But if you think about all the cumulative success that you’ve had and everything that you are right now, then you will always be burdened by the fact that all of it can come tumbling down at any moment. I know this to be so very true. You can be on top of the world one moment, and then rock bottom the next. Now, let’s talk about what you do in your fear? Are you like Adam? Are you a hider? Or maybe, you’re like Peter, you’re a denier. Maybe, you’re like Abraham and you just become a liar. You see how people in the Bible do funky things when they are afraid. Me, well, I’m a cover upper. I cover up my fear by acting like I’m not afraid, and I only look brave, but I’m really yelling at the top of my lungs, in the girliest shrill you can imagine—AAAAAAAHHHHHH! What do you do in your fear? – how do act/react? Now that we know what we do when we are harboring fear, I want us to turn to 1st John 4. The reason we’re here in 1st John is because the writer kind of flips the idea of fear on its head and says, “fear isn’t what you think it is.” In fact, he says, “if you have any fear, then you really don’t understand love.” Let’s read it together.

16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 19 We love because he first loved us. (1 John 4:16-19)

You probably don’t understand how this all connects because John is writing about the love of God. He writes that love is knowing that God loved us and sent his Son to die for our sins. He says that if we know this, then we have to rely on God because God loves us. It’s a true statement. God loves us, that’s why Jesus came to die for us even though we didn’t deserve it. But this is the key here to unlocking the emotion of fear and taking control of and keeping it in check: look at verse 17—we will have confidence on the day of judgment: in this world we are like Jesus. It’s a theological truth bomb. That is so good that you have to underline it and circle it or highlight it. If we are like Jesus, that is pure and holy because he washed away our sins by the love of God, then God will always deliver us from punishment we deserved. Do you see verse 18. Circle that too. There is no fear in love. That’s true. Here’s why there is no fear in love; moreover, here’s why fear is an emotion we need to control and keep in check: look at the rest of that verse, it’s because fear has to do with punishment. Isn’t the reason Jesus came to this earth, to be brought low and then murdered and suffer in the pits of hell only to be resurrected by God so that we wouldn’t have to go through that? That’s how much God loves us, that He wouldn’t punish us. He loves us so He sacrificed Jesus. What is there to fear if the judgment on us is the same as the judgment on Jesus because of God’s love for us and because of the faith, or confidence we have in God’s love? Write this down: Love knows no fear. I want you to know this. If we fear, then we don’t know love. If we don’t love, then we have to ask ourselves, why not? I want to go to our memory verse for today. It comes from Psalm 27. I recite this memory verse every time I find myself afraid. Whenever I feel like my fear is coming out of control, I recite this verse. I want you to hold on to this verse for when your fear is out of control. “The Lord is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid?” (Psalm 27:1) If you know love. If you believe you are loved by God. If you are in love with God, then every time you find yourself afraid, you have to ask yourself, “whom shall I be afraid of?” I want the small groups to take some time right now because we close service because I feel that some of us in the room are ruled by fear. The decisions that we make, the impulses we have, they are driven by fear and its unbecoming. It’s unhealthy. It’s not the way God created you. Let’s pray for each other right now. I want you to pray outloud and just reach out to God so He can give you the confidence of love to make you fearless. Let’s pray.