Fear reframed fuels obedience

Unqualified

TLK 2

Bottom Line: Fear reframed fuels obedience

Intro

In a series Timmy kicked off last week called “Unqualified”

We are doing this series for two reasons→ 1) Allow God’s Word to stir us on to the work He has set out for us… 2) to expose/root out anything that is keeping us from walking in obedience to our Creator

If you call Jesus Lord and Savior, you are called to a mission and life outside yourself→ to live in and build His Kingdom… Here is the thing we need to understand… God does not call the qualified, He qualifies the called… He does not call the equipped, he equips the called

Timmy did a great job of kicking our series off looking at Moses, the man of a million excuses.

Excuses expose our insecurities, short sightedness, lack of faith, all kinds of things

Today we are going to lean into one of the biggest excuses we have in modern Christianity… Buckle up.

Truth

Book of Judges→ covers the period of time between the death of Joshua→ the one who led Israel into the Promised Land and the Monarchy of Israel→ Saul, David, Solomon

Judges documents the pattern the nation of Israel went through during that time

IS abandoning the Lord, God then gives them over to oppressors, IS cries out, God raises up a judge/deliverer, IS experiences peace, IS abandons the Lord

This shows how incredibly patient God is with His people… this is not a one time thing but multiple times over the book of Judges… and it is in this cycle we find our next person of interest… who is addressed by God as a valiant/mighty warrior

Judges 6:1→ midianites→ operated like desert raiders→ show up at harvest, steal crops and livestock, leave land devastated→ Israel needed saving once again… and here is the guy for the job

Judges 6:11→ Gideon, Hiding in a winepress→ not a warrior for God but a coward, fearing the enemy… hiding→ do you see where we get this idea of unqualified?

Then we see our valiant warrior called by God to go take down the enemy→ Gideon asks for sign after, after sign, after sign→ God obliges

Judges 6:25-32→ then God tells him to tear down the Idol of Baal that his own father had built→ our courageous warrior does this in the cover of the night… the next day when the town finds and is angry, Gideon's dad is the one who stands up to the crowd→ pin point in story

Gideon continues to ask God to prove himself through keeping a fleece dry and then reversing it… Finally, Gideon gathers up some troops to go to war→ 32k to be exact

Judges 7:2→ God shrinks that group 300→ interesting military strategy… What was God doing?

As we will see, God was slowly exposing something in Gideon, and in doing so teaching readers of the Bible, that needed to be delt with…. Wee see the root of Gideon’s attitude and interactions with God

Judges 7:9-10→ Gideon’s problem→ fear→ he was afraid→ shocker!

Afraid of the Midianites, of the towns people, of going to war with 300 men…. Fear had gotten completely in the way of Gideon’s obedience… but before we start going after our boy here… don't we find ourselves in the same position→ fear getting in the way of what God is calling us to and has for us..

Share the gospel, give to this cause/ministry, pursue this occupation, parent in this way, handle the gift of sexuality with integrity→ fear can be the barrier to obedience to God

We all know this… Gideon knew this… you are aware when you are in the winepress… but here we find ourselves… there Gideon was… But then something happens to Gideon→ he hears the visions…. Charges into battle with 300 men, trumpets, torches, and jar… Finds himself victorious… Peace is brought to the land… How?

This is a dramatic shift for Gideon… What happened?

Judges 7:15→ Gideon’s new found courage was not born out of a new military strategy revealed to him, or years of training finally mastered→ it was born out of his fear being reframed rightly

The word used for afraid is the same word used in Psalm 15:1-5

A word that does not mean to cower but to revere, to submit to, to respect, to understand the rightful place of resulting in the worship of a person or a thing→ this is why God had Gideon tear down the altar of Baal→ Gideon’s problem was a problem of misplaced fear→ misplaced worship→ Gideon’s fear needed reframed

Jesus talks about this reframing of fear in Matthew 10:26-31→ this reveals Gideon's heart… it was not that fear existed… it was that fear was causing him to worship something not worthy of his worship… His fear needed reframed… to be rightly placed

When God interacted with Gideon in Judges 7:10 God was revealing a reality we need to understand, just as much as Gideon did→ fear fuels obedience→ we bow down to what we fear

Fearing man lends to obeying man, fearing God leads to obeying God

God says to Gideon, and to us, I have shown you who is worthy of your worship, who you should revere, respect, follow, submit to, and rightly understand… I have proven myself to you… Who will you fear?--> for a moment Gideon fear is reframed and God uses him to bring freedom to his people… but unfortunately it does not stay that way

Judges 8:22-27→ snare, bondage

Fear of mean leads to bondage→ compromise, paralysis, perfectionism, regret, etc

Fear of God leads to freedom→ faithfulness, confidence, peace, courage, joy, etc

Application

The Bible talks a lot about the fear of the Lord because there is a truth we need to understand

Fear reframed fuels obedience to God

The hang up is we are like Gideon… fear cannot be totally reframed by human effort… this is why Jesus is the cornerstone of humanity’s salvation→ Romans 8:15

Gospel→ reframing fear can only happen when we trust in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus→ fully surrendered to Him, Freely able to worship God

This is the first step in reframing fear… Surrender to Jesus

Reframing fear

Surrender to Jesus→ acknowledging and surrendering

Figure it out→ what voice are you listening to? GET INTO GOD’S WORD

Call it out→ How is unframed fear shaping your obedience, repent, seek forgiveness

Live it out→ in the day light, obey. Take God at His Word

Do it together→ find community for care and accountability

Could you imagine a people who don't fear man, but God?

Fear reframed fuels obedience to God