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Fear God, and trust him Luke 12:1-12, 5 In today’s passage Jesus warns his disciples about the bad influence of the Pharisees. Jesus encourages his disciples to be bold witnesses of Jesus at the risk of their lives. To do so, they must know that God is the sovereign Ruler of all men, who governs each one’s eternal destiny. In a word, they must learn to fear God, not men. Part one, “Beware of Hypocrisy” (1-3) Jesus is surrounded by a large crowd in the thousands. As it always was when Jesus spoke, there was much pushing and jockeying for position. The people were captured by Jesus’ shepherd’s heart as he spoke the truth in love. They found their good shepherd in Jesus. Can you feel the energy and sense the excitement of the crowd gathering to hear Jesus. To Jesus, there was a wonderful opportunity for fruitful ministry. However, at the same time, there was a grave spiritual danger for his disciples. Some of them might feel pride from the large crowd, and some others had fears and anxiety to front of many people. As this massive crowd is pressing in, Jesus continues and focuses to teach his disciples. Jesus’ main interest was not in numbers of people, but his main interest was in small numbers of his disciples always. What did Jesus give warning to his disciples? Look at the verse one b. Jesus warns them about hypocrisy. We can find it interesting to note that Jesus describes hypocrisy as yeast. The unique feature of yeast is that very little bit will spread through the whole lump of dough. Hypocrisy spreads like a contagion. It can spread like the yeast. Yeast is very small but it grows very quickly. It starts from someone’s small heart and spread and influences others. And finally contaminates entire community or even a nation. Having an outward appearance of godliness but being full of sinfulness inwardly is like a disease and this is why Jesus continues to issue such strong warnings. Let us not forget the other issue that Jesus identified with the Pharisees as part of their hypocritical nature last week. Not only were they full of sins such as greedy and wickedness on the inside while trying to maintain an outward showy of holiness, they also lacked the heart and love for God. Jesus told them their generosity must come from the heart, not as mere external action and ceremony. Why did Jesus blame the Pharisees so strongly? Jesus forgave all people like prostitutes, tax collectors, even the women who committed adultery, but he condemned the Pharisees because they were hypocrite. Hypocrisy means “not honest, not frank, not truthful”. God’s standard is in honesty. Someone who is not honest can’t communicate with God. Do you know what’s different between King Saul and David? After King David committed the terrible crime taking Uriah’ wife Bathsheba, He went to God and honestly confessed his sin and repented. Even though he made big mistake in his life when he admitted his guilt in front of God, God forgave him and loved him continuously. King Saul was not honest, he was full of jealousy to David, but he did not confess his anger and jealousy to God. He pretended himself as honest and nice, and hided his dirty heart inside. Holy God could not be with him because of his deceitful heart. Only people who know they are sinners and admit their sin can communicate with God. But the people who don’t know they are sinners and don’t admit their sin cannot be with God. We can receive our salvation when we only become honest in front of God. We have to remember God wants us to be honest. Jesus said we can’t hide anything ultimately. Look at verse 2 and3 Jesus said “There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.” No one can pretend forever, Truth cannot long be forced into hiding. The mask will eventually come off. Hypocrites think they can cover their heart and mind so they continuously hide their sin, and they can deceive others forever. But someday the truth will disclose. It’s like leaves’ clothes of Adam and Eve. We can cheat others’ eyes temporarily but we cannot deceive our conscience and God as well. We can`t ignore God and get away with it. Nothing in all creation can hide from him. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes. This is the God to whom we must explain all that we have done. Whether people see or not, we have to live sincerely before God. Why did Jesus say to his disciples “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.” This is because that they blame Pharisees but there are dangers that they also can become like Pharisees so easily. This logic is that: Sometimes we hate someone but finally we realize that we are same with them and make same fault and mistake with them. The disciples would become spiritual leader in the future. The leaders influence others in some way. Especially spiritual leaders influence someone’ inner hear and spirit. Finally, it causes someone’s salvation or destruction. So, it is very important. Jesus wanted his disciples to become pure and honest religious leaders instead of following Pharisees. Living in the light doesn’t mean that someone live without no fault or sin. Living in the light mean that Even though there is mistake and sin you committed, without hiding, you confess your fault and your sin, then you repent before your God sincerely, you are living in the light. When you live in the light, your inner heart slowly changes and resembles Jesus’ image and you can become one person that God can use. Then how can we fight this hypocrisy and become pure Christian? Jesus is going to instruct his disciples in the following verses. Part two “Do not fear people, but Fear God”(4-7) Look at verses 4-5 [4] "I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. [5] But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him. What is fear? Fear is worrying and being afraid of something. Most of fear is bad. But some fear helps someone to save his life. Having fear of God is good, not enough to express “good”, it is “very good” because it saves us from eternal death. Fearing God saves our lives. Fearing God is starting point of wisdom for our salvation. What I want to say is … Jesus said do not be afraid of those who kill the body. This means “do not be afraid of people, and death.” I want to add. “do not be afraid of everything in the world, except God.” We can have several kind of fear for example we sometimes can have fear for our future or some test. Fear for future and test stops our spiritual growth. It makes people wick and stagnate like paralytics. I was so afraid of test, sometimes I did not study and just read comic books to escape of fear when I was a student. I did not know why I wasted my time at that time. Now I regret. Fear for people makes deceive ourselves. It makes us unnatural. Someone says It is the root cause of hypocrisy, for it stems from living to please people ahead of God. I think sometimes it is necessary. It can be kind of concerning others. But Jesus’ intention is not on this side. It’s the matter of” Where should put our priority?” To prove and testify “the truth”, to stand on the side of the truth, we can meet the situation that we can lose something. Sometimes, it can be our precious lives. Our lives are most important. But there is more important than life. It is faith and eternal life. The fear of death is devils main weapon. It tests us. Jesus is teaching his discples how to overcome the fear of death. How can we overcome this extreme fear instead of wasting our time? To overcome fear, People make effort a lot. Someone trains himself physically. They train such as martial arts, 태권도, 무에타이 and 쿵후. 훅훅, 아뵤. But if someone points a gun at him “stop, hand up” he could again be fearful. Someone does very brave act. like these days outside very cold, they break ice lake and get in there. And shouting “woo, I am brave” Oh, what a frizzing. Then they got a cold. What is best way to overcome the death of fear. Jesus told us the best secret to overcome our fear : It is fearing God. If we know the fear of God rightly we can overcome our worldly fear. What is the fear of God? Jesus said do not be afraid of people, those who kill the body. Because after that they can do no more. Here we can know God has authority to judge us after death. He can send us to hell or heaven. Jesus uses the word “hell” to describe a real place of terrible torment and suffering, a place where the fire is not quenched and the worm does not die, a place where people are weeping and gnashing their teeth. Frankly, we don’t like to think about or talk about hell or God’s judgment. Yes, it is not popular to preach on it. Most theologians acknowledge that it is a terrible doctrine. Yet the Bible talks about it and Jesus spoke of it. So we must acknowledge that hell exists and sincerely warn others of it as Jesus did. And We should not forget God has the power to send men to hell for eternal punishment. So we must fear God. I dare say that in our generation we have been accustomed to think that it is not healthy to fear God, but rather that our motivation of Christian faith should be purely the love of God. Some Christians think that fearing God was something to be done in the old testament days, but with the coming of Christ our motivation should be exclusively if not primarily, love rather than fear. But this has caused many of us Christians to become too comfortable with God. Sometimes it makes troubles. Some Christians so easily lose themselves, and gave up fighting against their sin. So, worldly people think Christians are hypocrites. If we do not fear God truly, we cannot show the light of Jesus to the world and there are no difference between Christian and worldly people. We would become hypocrites. I think King David is good example for this case. He had many chances to kill Saul the first king of Israel, the chaser and his enemy. Imagine. How much did David hate and want to kill Saul? But David was afraid of God. He could not kill Saul, Even though he had many chances. It is because Saul was anointed one by God. By fear of God, David controlled and managed his avenging heart that was full with anger and bitterness. However, after Saul died, and David became king and conquered his enemies. He lost the fear of God. He made terrible sin. He killed his faithful servant Uriah and took his wife Bathsheba. David committed adultery, when he lost the fear of God in short time. God said to David. “You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah.” We have remember that No fear of God is despising God. Later David recovered fear of God. He really cried and bag to God. He cried until his bone shattered. Merciful God forgave David by his true repentance but God did not turn back his curse to David. David had to be purged of his sin. David received God’s hard training at the end of his life. We are all save from our sin by the mercy of God, and by the blood of Jesus. However, if we forget his great love and the fear of God, We can make terrible sin like King David and despise God. Then we can receive God’s hard training for we despise God as King David did. Then how can we keep the fear of God? I found the answer from proverbs. from proverbs chapter 1:20-23. Wisdom calls aloud in the street, she raises her voice in the public squares; at the head of the noisy streets she cries out, in the gateways of the city she makes her speech: "How long will you simple ones love your simple ways? How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge? If you had responded to my rebuke, I would have poured out my heart to you and made my thoughts known to you. What I realize is that we need special effort to keep the fear of God. The wisdom calls in the street. We have to respond to God’s rebuke. We have to have zeal to understand God heart. Simply we need to read bible and pray to understand God and his heart in order to associate with God. However, to fear God does not mean to be frightened of God. To fear means to have holy reverence and awesome respect for God. It means to realize who God really is and to honor him first in our hearts. The fear of God leads us to repentance. The fear of God leads us to realize God’s love. The Bible tells us that the fear of God is closely related to loving God. Abraham showed that he would have obeyed God to sacrifice his son Isaac as a burnt offering. But the angel of the LORD stopped him saying, “Now, I know that you fear God, for you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.” Abraham’s fear of God superseded his love for his son Issac. Fear of God empowered Abraham to obey God and receive God’s blessing. Look at verses 6-7. Jesus says 『Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Jesus showed us God who is to feared. Jesus now shows us that his same God is to be trusted and loved. God knows and God sees all the details in the world. God has even numbered the hairs on our heads. Is here anyone who knows his or her number of hairs? Unless you are bald, you surely do not know how many hairs are on your head. But God knows. He knows before and after you comb your hair how many hairs are on your head. God is keeping track. God’s knowledge is greater than any super computer or all the world’s computers put together. More importantly, God doesn’t just know and see everything. God cares. Jesus said that our heavenly Father knows what we need even before we ask him. We are worth more than many sparrows to God. I think the final version of fearing God is trusting God. As long as we fear God and follow his word, God will be with us always. It is difficult to match fear and love in common sense. But God’s wisdom is different. If you fear God, you will be protected by God in any situation even though earthquake and 쓰나미 come, you will be safe. Let’s trust God and Love God. Let’s conquer our other worldly fear such fear of man, fear of future, and others. From verse 8 to 12 tells us that ”we should acknowledge the name of Jesus” and “ we should not worry about what to say, we need to Just follow holly spirit”. I think todays message will be helpful before fishing on the campus. We can have fear to meet freshmen. We don’t need to worry. Just go and talk them, then the holy spirit will teach us what we should say. Today, Jesus gives us warnings and encouragements: watch out for hypocrisy; fear God, not people; speak up for Jesus; and don’s worry, the Holy spirit will help us. Following Jesus is not about upholding ourselves before men. Real discipleship is about living in the fear of God trough reading bible and pray with help of the holy spirit. May the fear of God be with us to drive out all our fear of people and make us a good influence by his grace. |
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