We're going to speak this morning from the
subject, The Fear Factor, and our text is
from 2 Timothy chapter 1.
And we're just going to read those first
12 verses from that chapter and walk through
them together for a few moments.
2 Timothy chapter 1, verse 1 says, Paul,
an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will
of God, according to the promise of life
which is in Christ Jesus.
To Timothy, a beloved son, grace, mercy, and
peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus
our Lord.
I thank God whom I serve with a
pure conscience, as my forefathers did, as without
ceasing I remember you in my prayers night
and day.
Greatly desiring to see you, being mindful of
your tears, that I may be filled with
joy.
When I call to remembrance the genuine faith
that is in you, which dwelt first in
your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice,
and I am persuaded is in you also.
Therefore I remind you to stir up the
gift of God which is in you through
the laying on of my hands.
For God has not given us a spirit
of fear, but of power and of love
and of a sound mind.
Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony
of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner,
but share with me in the sufferings for
the gospel according to the power of God,
who has saved us and called us with
a holy calling, not according to our works
but according to his own purpose and grace,
which was given to us in Christ Jesus
before time began, but now has been revealed
by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ,
who has abolished death and brought life and
immortality to light through the gospel, to which
I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and
a teacher of the Gentiles.
For this reason I also suffer these things.
Nevertheless I'm not ashamed, for I know whom
I have believed, and I'm persuaded that he
is able to keep what I have committed
to him until that day.
Would you join me in prayer?
Father, as we come to your word this
morning, we thank you that we can depend
upon you.
We thank you for the truth of that
song that Rachel just shared with us, and
we thank you, Father, that you care so
deeply about us.
And this morning as a congregation, we lift
our hearts to you in prayer.
We ask that you would touch those lives
that need a physical touch for healing.
Touch those hearts that need a touch emotionally
from you, spiritually as well.
And Father, we acknowledge we are indeed a
needy people.
And as we come to you, we continue
just to ask, Father, that you would encounter
us.
And as we look together in your word,
that you would speak to our hearts and
shut us in with yourself.
Because as we have already been reminded, better
those moments in the presence of God than
all of the rest of the time.
So, Father, take this time and make it
your very own in our hearts and in
our lives.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
The fear factor.
That's a TV show, right?
But I think the Bible had that in
there long before we ever had the TV
show.
And so, as I title these thoughts, The
Fear Factor, I just want us to think
about this thing that we call fear.
It is one of the strongest human emotions.
Psychologists tell us it is the quickest thing
that develops in a child when it is
born and so on.
Fear.
Do you know that there are 366 times
in the Bible that it says, from God
to people, fear not.
Now, that I don't think is an accident,
because even in the leap year, that means
I have a fear not for every single
day.
And I think so often large parts of
life can be governed by fear.
In fact, I would say in the last
decade we have seen this so plainly, have
we not, where after the attacks in 9
-11, fear became so strong that it has
actually changed society and how we do things
and how we think about things and all
the rest.
So, as we think about this thing, this
fear factor, I want to just zero in
for a moment on Timothy, the man to
whom this letter was written.
And Timothy is a pastor.
He's a Christian.
He's a leader.
But Timothy is failing.
And you know, there are times when we
feel like that, aren't there?
Times when we don't feel as if we
are really getting through to God or God
to us.
Times when we feel separated from him.
Times when things are just not as close
as we would long for them to be.
And Timothy is struggling, as we see Paul
writing to him here in verse 6 and
7 in particular, to stir up the gift
that is in him because God has not
given us the spirit of fear.
I'm just slipping over in my Bible to
1 Corinthians chapter 16, and let me just
read verse 10.
And you see this is something that Timothy
struggled with, because here again the apostle Paul
is writing, and he says, "...and if Timothy
comes, see that he may be with you
without fear, for he does the work of
the Lord, as I also do."
Without fear.
It's a part and parcel of life, isn't
it?
And so just this morning let's think about—I
guess it's nigh afternoon—let's think about what causes
this thing that is called a spirit of
fear in Timothy.
Where do we first find any mention of
fear in the Scriptures?
And we'll have a little bit of a
workout this morning in our Bibles, but I'm
just going to Genesis chapter 3 and looking
at verses 8 through 10 for a moment.
Genesis 3, 8 through 10, "...they heard the
sound of the Lord walking in the garden
in the cool of the day, and Adam
and his wife hid themselves from the presence
of the Lord among the trees of the
garden.
Then the Lord God called to Adam and
said to him, where are you?
And he said, I heard your voice in
the garden, and I was afraid because I
was naked, and I hid myself."
You see, here's the first mention of it.
It is at the time of the fall
into sin.
It is the time first that we come
across this word, I was afraid, fear.
And what I want us to see this
morning is just how this thing of fear
so often is attached to our failures, certainly
in the spiritual life.
This is where the first failure takes place
and unhappiness in life ensues, ever after that
whole sense of sin separates us from God,
and there is that distance between Him and
humanity.
So as we think about the causes of
a spirit of fear, it goes all the
way back to the garden, to Genesis.
And as we think about it, also there's
that sense of insecurity, isn't there?
That causes us to fear as well when
we're not secure.
There's a sense of fear that comes upon
us.
And again, I'll just slip back to Genesis,
and this time I'm looking at chapter 15,
and just the first couple of verses there.
It says, After these things the word of
the Lord came to Abraham in a vision,
saying, Do not be afraid, Abraham.
I am your shield and your exceeding great
reward.
But Abraham said, Lord God, what will you
give me, seeing I go childless, and the
heir of my house is Eleazar of Damascus?
You see, he's insecure.
That's why God is saying to him, Don't
be afraid.
There's an insecurity.
He's looking down the road and saying, What's
going to happen, Lord?
I have all this, but where's it going?
What are you going to give me?
There's no one to inherit it.
And so, insecurity brings on fear, doesn't it?
And there are a lot of things that
cause us insecurity, especially when you think about
the future.
Yeah.
We had a record month for starting jobs
apparently in Canada in June.
Woo-hoo!
But the problem these days is even when
you have one, it's no guarantee that you
get to keep it, is it?
Things change and go so quickly and so
fast, and we sometimes would look and say,
Well, how secure am I?
And all the investments and stuff that we
can make, and our government's so good to
us, now we can have a tax-exempt
savings plan and all those things.
But the Bible says riches have wings, and
you know what's here is so often just
gone.
The future makes us insecure, doesn't it?
That's why oftentimes when we do evangelistic meetings,
we preach on the second coming of Christ
because that addresses a great need for security
in the heart to know what is going
to happen.
And that's why we need to be in
Christ Jesus, because one day He is coming
again.
So, that can make us insecure.
Illness can make us feel insecure.
All kinds of things that can come along
and threaten us.
Anything that threatens that sense of security causes
us to fear.
And I think you know about that finiteness
of being human.
In Psalm 8 and verse 4, the psalmist
says, What is man that you think upon
him?
You know, somebody lately told me life is
like this, and eternity is like this.
It just goes on.
Now, you know in a little bit I
celebrate a birthday with a zero in it,
and I still feel like 18 on the
inside, but there are little twinges that remind
me from time to time that I'm not.
The finiteness of our being human.
Our lives are short.
James 4.14 says life is like a
vapor, and insignificance leads us to fear as
well.
Just like in Ecclesiastes, and you read chapter
1, verses 2 to 4, Solomon, that wise
man, is saying, Vanity of vanities.
Life is like a bubble that bursts.
It comes, and it goes, and whoa!
It's just gone.
These are things that cause us to know
that spirit of fear.
And you know there are consequences to that.
So, what are the consequences of a spirit
of fear?
Because everything has consequences, you know.
So, let's just think upon it for a
moment or two.
What effects can fear have upon us?
Fear can be paralyzing.
It just can grip us so deeply, paralyze
us.
Frozen by fear—isn't that an expression that we
hear from time to time?
So afraid of doing the wrong thing that
we do nothing.
Fear can paralyze.
You remember King Saul, the fellow whose head
and shoulders above everyone else in Israel, and
in the Valley of Elah, when the giant
comes out and threatens Israel?
Where is Israel's champion?
Now come on church, I know you've read
that passage in 1 Samuel 17.
Where is he?
He's in the tent, looking out, knocking knees,
frozen.
Look over there.
Isn't it interesting how David comes on the
scene there, and God provides his own champion,
someone to take on the cause.
You think about in the New Testament, the
ten story of the talents, ten talents to
one, and he doubles it, and five to
another, and he doubles it, and one talent
to one.
What does he do with it?
He buries it.
What does he say to the master when
he has to give an account of it?
I knew that you always reap where you
don't sow, and so on, and so I
wasn't taking any chances.
I hid it.
What was it that caused him to hide
it?
It was fear, wasn't it?
Fear that caused him to just put it
out of the way.
Not to lose it, but not to use
it either.
Oh, I tell you, we have been given
so many gifts and so many wonderful things
from the Lord.
Let's never hide that thing that He has
given to us, but use it for His
glory.
Fear leads on to selfishness.
Now why would I say a thing like
that?
Well, think about Peter, for instance.
As Jesus is arrested, and they come and
say to Peter, you were with him, and
he says, why did he say no?
Because he's afraid.
He's afraid.
And you and I would be too, wouldn't
we?
We'd be intimidated by that whole sense of
pressure that goes on around it, but here
it is.
It leads on to selfishness.
Lost in fellowship with the Lord took him
into a sense of misery, being far away
from Jesus.
Fear causes us to be irrational.
You say, John, how do you get that?
Well, think about Genesis chapter 3 with me
for a moment.
We know, theologically at least, that God is
omnipresent.
Some of you theologians tell me, what does
that word omnipresent mean?
He's everywhere all the time.
Right?
So what are Adam and Eve doing?
They're hiding from someone who is ever-present
and always there all the time.
Don't you think that's a little irrational?
I think that's irrational.
Yeah.
And so we see fear causes us to
be irrational, hiding from God.
Fear also causes us to have a sense
of self-depreciation or self-destruction sometimes.
Think about Elijah.
Great prophet of God wins a victory, meets
up with Jezebel.
She says, I'm going to kill you.
He takes off into the desert on his
own.
He sits under a tree and says, Oh
Lord, I want to die.
You know, every time I read through that
passage in 1 Kings 19, I just think
to myself, Elijah, why didn't you just stay
by Jezebel?
She'd have been happy to help you on
your way.
But you see, fear has these kind of
effects upon us.
Sometimes fear produces violence too.
Cain and Abel both bring a sacrifice.
One sacrifice is accepted and one is not,
and yet what is the result?
Cain kills Abel.
Afraid that he was a head under God,
getting more than I have, pushing me out
of the way.
Fear.
Fear leads us to escapism.
And you know, this is where I want
to dwell for just a moment or two,
because we live in a society that is
so often geared to escapism.
You ever stop to ask yourself, why is
it that we're attracted to movies where some
guy overcomes everything?
It helps us escape for a little bit.
It says there might be hope for me
to get past my problem here too.
It says I can get out of this
kind of thing, and it helps us escape
for a bit.
It's a bit like David and Bathsheba when
there was sin between the two of them.
You notice all the shenanigans that David does
to try to escape.
We like to get away from reality, not
wanting to face the reality of life.
You know, during the Second World War, I
find this incredibly interesting.
If during a time when there was going
to be an air raid in the evenings
in London, where do you think were the
greatest tribes of people to be found?
In the cinema or the theater.
Why?
Same thing.
Lord, I want to get out of this.
Let me look at something else.
This reality is just too harsh to work
with.
Fear.
Thirdly and lastly, let me just come to
some wonderful Scripture here.
Not only is there a cause for a
spirit of fear and a consequence, but there's
also a cure for the spirit of fear.
And it's not to pull yourself together, because
this we can't do.
It is to know the touch of God,
to receive Christ or return to Christ with
a fresh sense of surrender to Him.
Turn over with me to Romans chapter 8
and verse 15 for just a second as
we think about what Scripture says here.
You did not receive the spirit of bondage
again to fear, but you received the spirit
of adoption, by whom we cry out, Abba,
Father.
And God has not given the spirit of
fear, says 2 Timothy 1 and verse 7.
The Lord didn't give it.
When you think about Him at work, He
has given us His Spirit.
Now, I want to get a volunteer to
help me for just a second.
Who should I pick?
Any, any, any?
Hey Ben, come and help me.
Would you hold that for me?
Let me just demonstrate something to you.
Ben's got my Bible.
Glove, pick up that Bible for me.
They're laughing.
What do you think they're laughing for, Ben?
Come on, Glove, pick up the Bible.
Yeah, take it closer to it.
Touch it.
Come on, Glove.
You know what it is?
I'll bet you this Glove just needs a
really good example of how to do it.
So I'll just take my other hand, and
I'll take the book.
Now see, Glove, that's all you have to
do.
You just wrap your fingers.
See, you got fingers, Glove?
You just wrap them around the book like
this, and it's yours.
And I said, just hang on.
Okay, Glove, your turn.
Pick up the book.
I mean to say, what's wrong?
And you see that Glove is just like
you and me.
There's nothing in it to do the job.
It really needs something inside.
See if I can get my hand inside
my wife's white glove.
And then, then with the power on the
inside, the job can be done.
Thank you, sir.
You're a scholar and a gentleman.
You see, God has not given us a
spirit of fear, but what has God given
us?
He's given us the spirit of love.
Love.
Max Gablen painted a picture.
The original is in the Louvre in Paris.
It's an interesting picture.
I like to look at it.
It's a picture of a young woman.
She's standing in the arena in Rome.
The gate is being lifted, and the lions
are coming out, and she's going to die
a martyr's death.
There's something interesting, fascinating about that picture.
There is one white rose lying at her
feet, and there is in her face no
fear.
You get the idea looking at that picture
that she is scanning the crowd that day
for the one who threw that last tribute,
the one who loves her, the one who
threw that last flower.
And it makes me think about God has
given us the spirit of love, because in
the love of God, all things become possible.
He gave us love.
He gave us a sound mind, and He
never changes, and He never fails.
He's given us that thing of self-control
and discipline in the power of God, just
like that glove can't do anything without my
hand.
You and I need the fullness of the
Spirit of the living God to fill us.
This is so often what happens.
We live the Christian life instead
of.
And I wonder this morning, just as we
come to the end of our time in
the Word, am I speaking to someone, and
today there's that fear factor, there's that emptiness,
there's that need in your heart.
The Lord loves you so much that He
died for you, and He died for me.
How do we find the cure?
Well, we begin by repenting from this spirit
of fear by just saying it like it
is.
Lord, I'm just like that glove.
I need you to come and fill me
and touch me.
And in a few moments, we're going to
give opportunity for prayer.
Good just to come to Him in that
sense of repenting from thinking that we must
give in to this tyrant called fear.
We can admit our need and confess it
to the Lord and know that He will
touch us and change us.
Can believe His promise.
Fear not.
366 times in Scripture.
This morning, unlike that young lady who was
martyred in the arena, you do not need
to search the faces of the crime to
see the one who loves you, who loves
me.
You can simply look to the cross and
you'll find Him there.
Let us pause to pray together, and then
we'll ask Matt to come back and lead
us in a song and have our benediction
and time of prayer.
Father, as we come to you this morning,
we thank you that you've not given us
a spirit of fear, but of love and
power and of a sound mind.
Father, you know our hearts this morning.
You know the burdens.
You know how often we're like that glove,
feeling empty on the inside.
Lord, we know that the filling of your
Spirit is not once for all, but we're
leaky vessels and we need to come often
under the faucet and be filled again by
the Spirit of the living God.
So Father, we're asking that you would touch
each of us this morning in a fresh
and a new way and fill us with
your Spirit, your power and enabling.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Let's stand as Matthew and Sam lead us
in a song.
Thanks, Matt.
Let me ask our elders just to come
to the front, and maybe Pastor Tom and
Rachel would come too.
If you have a need this morning, God's
been speaking to you about some areas of
life, some struggles that are going on.
We want to encourage you after the benediction
just to come and meet with one of
these and pray together with them.
Let's turn our hearts to the Lord in
a closing prayer.
After the benediction, if you're not coming forward
for prayer, I want to just encourage you
to slip out into the foyer and we'll
visit and fellowship there.
We're grateful to see some visitors this morning
and want to get a chance to say
hello and be sure if you're a regular
attender here to look for someone that you
don't know and go make yourself known.
Father, we're glad for your presence in this
place, in this moment.
Grateful, Father, that you've not given a spirit
of fear, but of love and power, and
that just as Rachel sang, we can depend
upon you.
So, even in the Spirit of God, as
you've been stirring our hearts, grant us the
liberty to bring the burdens of our lives
just to the foot of the cross, to
have the opportunity to pray for one another
and with one another.
And now, Father, would you bless each one
who is here and each home that is
represented here with the blessing of God the
Father, God the Son, and God the Holy
Spirit.
And send us forth from this place, but
not from your presence.
Fill us with your love and power and
enable us to live in this world, but
not be of this world.
For it is in Jesus' name that we
ask it.
Amen.