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STAND & COMFORT Newsletter September 25, 2001 #1 DISTINGUISHING OUR FEARS ONE FROM ONE ANOTHER Isa 33:6 And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, and strength of salvation: the fear of the LORD is his treasure. I truly believe that exposing the apostasy of this day and age had to, and has to, be done. But I wonder if and how much those efforts have affected the SHARING of the gospel with unbelievers, those who don't consider salvation at all. I see three kinds of sharing of God's word going on today: 1. To the apostates and their false doctrines, which is constant. 2. To those people who are not associated with Christianity or the apostasy, but are of other religions or don't believe in anything at all, the non-spiritually-minded person. 3. Among those who stand against the apostasy and/or share the gospel, in order to build one another up in encouragement and faith and to be conformed to the image of Christ, which is the fruit of the Spirit. "Doing battle," if I may use the term, against the apostates has become increasingly prominent, it seems, than sharing the gospel with those who are not spiritually minded at all. I said, "it seems" that it is so. I don't want to insult in any way those who are out there sharing the gospel with unbelievers on a daily basis. Neither do I want to lessen what those in the front lines have done and are doing against the apostasy. There are people who have been specifically called to do the work of exposing the apostasy. I believe that. But I wonder how that emphasis has affected the majority in the body of Christ? Have Christians now "gotten in a rut" by allowing the flood of information about the apostasy, and working against it, to dominate their Christian lives? Has concern over the lost in the world been diminished? I think that is a legitimate concern, but I'm uncertain how great that concern should be, so I want to share my thoughts and encourage each person to consider these things in their own life. Are we exposing that which is false while remembering to share the good news to others as well? We need to be ready at all times to do both. In Philippians, Paul told the believers there, Phil 2:14 Do all things without murmurings and disputings: Paul certainly mentions a lot that is evident today: 1. Standing in the midst of the perversions of the apostasy and the world He wasn't saying this to an apostle. He was saying this to the BELIEVERS at Philippi, and he points out that murmurings and disputes damage the Church's credibility as the light of the world, even to the point of making its labors ineffective regarding the gospel. Paul spoke these words to the Church, but Paul reminded Timothy about how fear also lessens the light of the proclamation of the testimony of Jesus Christ and the persecution that comes with it: 2 Tim 1:6 Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. Paul exhorts him to stir it up within himself and not give place to fear. He lays out again the foundation for the service of the gospel: 2 Tim 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. The gospel, Paul says, has the message others need to hear, but inherent in the preaching of the gospel are probable afflictions from the hearers. Such a situation can breed fear in the Christian. What is the "spirit of fear" spoken of here? This spirit of fear is Timothy's own spirit, or anyone's, and it relates to the sharing of the gospel. It is not an evil spirit, as we often hear. In its context, this particular fear is NOT related to events in the world and how we may get hurt, or suffer personal loss, or experience pain and sorrow because of developments in the world by the world. Jesus said these things would come, and we are to see to it that we aren't troubled when they do. Fear of what the world does is the fear that makes men faint for what is coming on them. Freedom from that kind of fear rests on the fact that we know we have salvation in Christ, we are citizens of heaven, there will be horrible times we will have to live through, Jesus will never leave us nor forsake us and Christ will come back for us. In other words, there are Scriptures that deal with the fears stirred up by the horrendous problems created by a fallen world. Sometimes we use 2 Timothy 1:7 to address those fears brought on by the world, but I think this verse has a somewhat different context. The fear Paul is speaking of in Timothy relates to the sharing of the gospel. It has to do with what the Christian is to be about doing IN THE MIDST OF an evil world and the fears it creates towards the Christian. Paul is addressing the fear that minimizes the preaching of the gospel, and he says we're not supposed to have a spirit of fear that holds back the sharing of God's good news. The word "fear" in our verse means: STRONG'S 1167. deilia, di-lee'-ah; from G1169; timidity:--fear. Here, Timothy apparently has pulled back somewhat from the sharing of the gospel, possibly because of persecution against Christians, because in verse 8 Paul exhorts him, 8 Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God; If and when a Christian pulls back from his commitment to hold out the word of life to a perverse generation because it might result in persecution, it is his human spirit that is fearful. But Paul says we have been given the Holy Spirit, who gives us the power and love that overcomes that fear of sharing the good news of Jesus in order to keep the gospel going forth. I read an interesting sentence in Jamieson Fawcett and Brown: "Fear within exaggerates the causes of fear without." Thinking about that statement, I believe it is true that once we allow fear to take hold, it exaggerates and imagines legitimate-sounding reasons to avoid doing what we are called to do, and places "the blame" on something "out there" rather than on our true spiritual condition. After all, we can't be unrighteous, so we need to justify our backsliding if we fall into the kind of fear Paul is speaking of. But, the heart, as Scripture says, is deceitfully wicked above all things. Think about the world we live in today. It has created crisis situations, such as the one we are all in the midst of right now. As Christians, we alone have the one message that can offer true hope to the inhabitants of this world, and we have been called to give that message in times of peace and in times of trouble, in times when fear will be rampant or nill. There is a legitimacy to having a healthy fear in the midst of times like these, but fear that brings terror to our hearts should not even be entertained by the Christian. But as for the fear Paul speaks of in 2 Timothy 1:7, there is no legitimacy, because what we are dealing with is the call of God that has as its catalyst GOD'S OWN PURPOSE. Lay hold of this fact: we are called to share the gospel ACCORDING TO HIS purpose: 2 Tim 1:9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, You may have read this in my other writings, but I like the way the Amplified Bible says it: 2 Timothy 1:9 [For it is He] Who delivered and saved us and called us with a calling IN ITSELF holy and LEADING TO holiness - that is, to a life of consecration, a vocation of holiness; [He did it] not because of anything we have done, but BECAUSE OF AND TO FURTHER ***HIS*** OWN PURPOSE AND GRACE (unmerited favor) which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began - eternal ages ago (Amp). Christ has brought life and immortality to light, and the Church is to hold that light up to the world. The Church consistently holding out the gospel to the world furthers, not its own purpose, but God's. The fear we allow to enter our hearts exalts itself against the furthering of the VERY purpose and grace of God. Thus, Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians: 2 Cor 10:4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) I thought it important to distinguish between the two kinds of fear described above, but there is one last aspect that we have to seriously consider. It is this: there will come a time when these two fears will converge, forming an even more overwhelming fear. When the event created by the world involves the taking of the Christian's right to preach the gospel because it will be considered intolerant and a hindrance to global unity in the religio-political arena, these two fears will come together. We will be tempted to fear getting hurt or suffering personal loss or experiencing pain and sorrow and even death because of circumstances that will develop (and are even now developing) against Christianity in the world by the world. At the same time, we will be tempted to not share the gospel because of these things. Let us remember what Jesus said: Rev 3:8 I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name. Then there is one final fear we need to realize, and that fear is the fear of the Lord. Consider this fear first of all in relation to all that I have shared. Here are some scriptures to meditate on: Isa 33:5 The LORD is exalted; for he dwelleth on high: he hath filled Zion with judgment and righteousness. The DELIGHT of the Lord Jesus was fear of the Lord. He delighted in it far above all. Can it be any less for us in fulfilling God's call to share the gospel in holiness and truth? In summary, the Christian has four fears that he must recognize: 1. The fear created by what the world does in its own arena Psa 34:4 I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from ALL my fears. #2 "BODY PIERCING SAVES THE SOUL"? I was recently ran across a web site concerning Christian kids and body piercing. As iread it, I recalled being told of a church out west that had this saying on the sign in front of the church and it read, "Jam With The Lamb." Of course, the reference was to the Christian Rock band that played at the church. At a later time, the sign was changed to read, "Body Piercing Saves The Soul." I also saw a Christian on the tv show "Politically Incorrect" wearing this same "catchy phrase," a blasphemous reference to Christ crucified and the salvation God has freely bestowed on humanity for all who will believe. The questions that comes to mind are, "Has the Church lost its fear of God? Does the Church have any idea anymore what it means to mock the living God?" Body piercing is popular among teens today, even Christian kids. On the web site I was reading, which was refuting the practice, it spoke of Chirstian kids justifying the practice by saying that Jesus was pierced many times: Matthew 27: 26, "then he released Barabbas for them; but Jesus he scourged and delivered over to be crucified." Hung on a cross by nails in His hands and feet, scourged till the flesh on His back was ripped open, a crown of thorns that pierced deeply into His skull, and with all of this, then hung on a cross to die - this is supposed to legitimize "Body Piercing Saves The Soul"? Rev 1:7 Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen. =========== This newsletter will be sent out whenever I think there is something the body of Christ needs to consider, to build it up, to give it encouragement or comfort in hard times. To sign up for this newsletter, email Ed at edju@velocity.net Web Page: http://www.velocity.net/~edju/
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