Fear — The Mother of Many Evils, Part 1

March, 2009

by: Jack Hughes

Paul wrote to Timothy in I Tim. 6:10, “For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” We could replace the phrase “love of money” with “fear” and it would be equally true. Yoda was right when he told Luke Skywalker, “Fear leads to the dark side.” Fear is truly the mother of many evils. Some are so paralyzed by fear that they can’t function. They won’t drive on the freeway because of fear. Some won’t leave their front door unlocked for a moment because of fear. Some never answer the phone because of fear. Many Christians will not share the Gospel, lovingly confront other believers in sin, or even admit to being a Christian in front of strangers because of fear. Fear holds them hostage and prevents them from glorifying and obeying the Lord.

Fear has many offspring too. Worry, anxiety, fretting, are all the children of fear and reveal the deeper sin of unbelief. There are godly and ungodly kinds of fear. Ungodly fear refuses to believe God is sovereign; doesn’t believe God is in control; and doesn’t trust that God loves us and that He never allows anything to happen to us that He does not first approve of and which is part of His good plan for our lives. Ungodly fear believes and acts upon what is false, wrong, and untrue.

You see fear in people that are “concerned” about the economy. They are asking in fear, “What is going to happen to our country now that Obama is president?! Others wonder, “Do you think Obama is the antichrist?!” These statements are void of any reminder of the absolute sovereignty of God. It escapes their notice that there is no authority except that which is established by God (Rom. 13:1-7). God is the one who raises up and brings down every ruler (Isa. 40:21-26; Dan. 4:17, 32, 34-35). We don’t need to worry for our hope is not in men but an all sovereign God who is controlling the destiny of all things, including us and our lives.

If you listen, watch, or read the liberal news it is enough to put anyone into a fright. William Randolf Hearst, the great newspaper and magazine mogul, discovered early on in his career that when it comes to news – trash sells. Half truths sell. Blood, guts, and gore sell. What doesn’t sell is happy stories about honest hard working people, well behaved children, men who love their wives and honest businessmen. Rape, murder, scandal, scary economic and political predictions sell because they play on people’s fears–people who don’t believe in an all sovereign God.

We might laugh when we read a tabloid that says, “B-52 Bomber Found on the Moon” or “Alien Abductions Are On the Rise!” Yet some people believe the tabloids! They believe the tabloids just like many Christians believe the liberal media! It surprises me how many people read something in the newspaper and actually think it is true. The thought never enters their mind that the liberal media “might” be lying to them or distorting the truth. The fact is, everyone has an agenda. The media has an agenda, and it isn’t God’s agenda either. There are ways to report on something so that technically you are not lying, but by leaving critical information out you effectively deceive people. You read a statistic that says, “One hundred percent of drug addicts started out drinking milk.” This is a true statement. What is left out is that everyone starts out in life drinking milk. There is no connection between drinking milk and drug addiction, yet this is what is implied by the true, but misleading statistic.

Science is another field of study that many often believe without reserve. Their reasoning is if scientists say something is true, it must be true, and should never be doubted. This blind belief in fallen, sin cursed man is dangerous. For instance, if you follow what science says about evolution you discover what scientists say is true is always changing. If something is true, how can it change? How can it become untrue later? Science merely guesses at what they think “might be true.” Later, if more information is discovered, they believe something different and completely contradictory is “true.” We must consider the sources of our information and be both skeptical and critical about what the world tells us. Paul tells us in I Thess. 5:21, “But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good.” This is a command from God. We can’t go willy-nilly through life, with our heads in the sand, and our brains knocked out by the fall, believing everything anyone tells us. We must examine everything carefully by the Word of God so we are not deceived.

Real truth, truth that never changes, comes from the Bible alone. In the Bible you discover true history, true morality, a true evaluation of mankind, true information about God and His plan for the future. God’s Word can be trusted implicitly. As you read and learn the truth of God’s Word you will discover your fears abated and replaced with joy, hope, and excitement about the future. Even though things in the world may get worse, you know they must get worse before they will get better. A mother may not like the thought of going through child birth, but she is so excited about seeing her child that she waits with eager anticipation to go into labor. The truth is, she is going to have a baby — after a lot of pain!

Since fear is so pervasive in the world today and since so many people suffer from the consequences of ungodly fear, I want to take several Calvary Review articles to look at what the Bible says about fear. We will look at godly fear, ungodly fear, and how to overcome ungodly fear.

Good Fears that God Wants You to Have

Not all fears are bad. In fact, God wants you to fear certain things because it is good for you. If you get around something hot you should fear or be concerned about being burnt. If you are high up on a ladder, you should have a godly concern about not stepping off. Fears like this, which we might also call concerns or cautions are good. They keep us from injuring ourselves. Trusting the Lord doesn’t mean we should run out into traffic with a blind fold on and “trust the Lord” to take care of us. As we shall see, there needs to be a balance between reasonable concern and presuming or putting the Lord to the test. A good place to learn about fear is in the book of Proverbs. If you look up the phrase “fear of the Lord” there you will discover this:

1. It is the beginning of knowledge (Prov. 1:7; 9:10)
2. It leads to discovering knowledge about God (Prov. 2:5)
3. It is to hate evil (Prov. 8:13)
4. It prolongs life (Prov. 10:27)
5. It creates a strong confidence (Prov. 14:26)
6. It is the fountain of life (Prov. 14:27)
7. It is better than great treasure (Prov. 15:16)
8. It is instruction for wisdom (Prov. 15:33)
9. It keeps you from evil (Prov. 16:6)
10. It leads to riches, honor, and life (Prov. 19:23; 22:4)

Godly fear is a great thing as it directs us to trust in and believe God. Fearing God does not mean being terrified of Him, but having great respect. If you have ever set a mouse trap you probably felt a little fear and trepidation. It’s not that you are scared of the block of wood, the spring, or the bar, but you respect the mouse trap because you know it would be painful if it snapped on your finger. In a similar way this is how we are to fear God. As believers we need not fear judgment for we have passed out of judgment to life. There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus (Jn. 5:24; Rom. 8:1). But we know the Lord is a mighty and awesome God. We know what we deserve. We know He disciplines us for our good, therefore we fear and respect Him.

The fear of the Lord is so important and fundamental to the Christian life we are constantly told to fear God (e.g. Col. 3:22: I Pet. 2:17). In fact, in Eph. 5:21 Paul exhorts us to be subject to one another “in the fear of Christ.” Living in the fear of Christ, God, or the Lord appears in both the Old and New Testaments (II Sam. 23:3; II Chron. 19:9; Neh. 5:9; Isa. 11:3; Acts 9:31; II Cor. 7:1). The idea is that we are to place ourselves into, be engulfed in, and surrounded by the fear of the Lord, God, or Christ. Our respect and reverence for the Lord is to engulf us. All other good fears come from the engulfing fear of the Lord.

Scripture exhorts us to fear being judged by God. Peter, in I Pet. 1:17 for instance says you are to “conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth.” He goes on to explain that Christ shed His own blood for us to redeem us from sin, therefore we should fear doing those things that led to Christ being crucified for us. Of course, unbelievers are told to fear the Lord. In Rev. 14:6 the angel tells unbelievers to fear the Lord for judgment is coming. In this context fear is a synonym for salvation. Those who fear the Lord seek Him for salvation.

We are told to fear the Lord because He is the one who casts sinners into Hell. Jesus said in Lk. 12:5 “But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him!” Here the fear of the Lord is contrasted with fearing men. We are not to fear man (a bad kind of fear) but instead fear the Lord (a good kind of fear). Jesus goes on to explain that the Father cares for and watches over believers. Nothing ever happens to them that the Father does not allow to happen. Therefore the believer need not fear men, for no matter what they may do, it has been sent by the Father for our good and His glory. All sufficient grace will be meted out to us so that we can endure any persecution.

We are also told to fear being cut off from the promises of God. In Rom. 11:20-21 Gentile believers are told not to be conceited about their salvation for if Jews, the chosen people of God have been cut off from the promises of God, Gentiles can be too. In Heb. 4:1 we are told to fear missing out on the promises of God, especially those that lead to salvation. We are also told to fear governing authorities in Rom. 13:7 for they are established by God and given the authority to exact punishment. We are also to fear being disciplined for living in unrepentant sin. In I Tim. 5:20 the Word of God says leaders in the church are to be “reproved in the presence of all so that the rest will be fearful of sinning.” As the church obeys the Scriptures and we see even those in the highest levels of leadership being publically dealt with for unrepentant sin, this should cause the rest to fear the same public rebuke.

The most graphic example of church discipline is in Acts 5:5,11 where God killed Ananias and Sapphira for lying. Twice Luke tells us, “and great fear came over all who heard of it” and “over the whole church.” God wanted unbelievers to fear flippantly joining themselves to believers in the church without truly repenting and believing unto salvation. Believers also needed to fear the Lord for He did not spare Ananias and Sapphira for their sin.

All godly fear comes from an understanding and belief in the Word of God. This is why one of the synonyms for God’s Word is “the fear of the Lord” (Psa. 19:9). As we grow in our understanding of God’s word, we fear the Lord. As we believe in and obey His Word, our lives will have peace even in the midst of trials because we know God loves us and His Word is true. May God find all of us living in the fear of the Lord.