The Good Fear

The Good Fear

Pray.

What are you afraid of?

A recent poll surveyed Americans’ greatest fears.

Things mentioned were animals such as snakes, spiders, bees, bats, and mice.

Some animals are venomous, so those fears make some sense.

Others are completely harmless, yet we still fear them.

But most fears are more personal that.

Other fears that were mentioned were the fear of public speaking and singing,

but not because they are intrinsically dangerous.

It's because they can lead to public humiliation.

I once heard a comedian commenting on phobias, and he marveled at how in one study, the fear of public speaking was the number 1 most commonly mentioned phobia, with death being number 2!

Which means for most people, if they’re at a funeral, they’d rather be the one in the casket than the one giving the eulogy!

Some of us fear enclosed spaces, some of us fear open spaces.

We might fear crowds, bridges, tunnels, or storms.

And quite frequently, we fear things like flying in an airplane, war, illnesses like cancer…

or, how about a fear of a particular virus?

And all of those fears are actually just a manifestation of our central fear of death, aren’t they?

Fear is the topic of discussion in our passage today.

And we are going to talk about unhealthy fear, but we are also going to talk about… good fear.

Good fear— You know, something that many Christians are surprised to hear is that there is such a thing as healthy fear.

There is something that is good to be afraid of.

And you may be thinking, but Pastor Cameron, what about all those Bible verses that say to not be fearful?

Yes, there are a lot of them.

As a matter of fact, one of them is even in our passage today.

The Bible does indeed tell us to not be afraid quite frequently, but it doesn’t say we shouldn’t be afraid of anything…

We simply need to be afraid of the right thing… and we’re going to see what that thing is.

So please open your Bibles to 1 Peter 3:13-17

We are going to start our walk-through by looking at verse 13:

13 Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good?

With this verse, I struggled to decide whether I should have included it in the last lesson from 2 weeks ago or include it here.

I ultimately decided to cover it today, because it serves as a summary of verses 8-12 and is great segue into verses 14-17.

In verses 8-12, Peter told us that whoever desires to love life and see good days, we are to turn away from evil and instead do good.

We are to seek and pursue peace with one another.

Live a life that is not focused horizontally- on the world, but focused vertically- on God, living for Him, forsaking sin in your life and rejoice in the glorious grace that He has shown us in Christ.

And generally speaking, believers can evade trouble in life and live in peace if they control their tongue, seeking peace with others, and do good to others.

Living out those kinds of virtues isn’t going to attract as many enemies than if you were to, say,

always be looking for a fight and letting your mouth get you into trouble.

So we see that these Christian virtues not only have significance before God, but they can also have temporal benefits before men.

As Peter says in verse 13, “Who is going to harm you if you are always eager to do good?”

Nonetheless, Peter concedes, it is possible to suffer even for doing good.

Look at verse 14:

14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled,

Yes, Church, there are times when oppression may come.

When corruption and deceit rule a society, the good are not welcome.

I want you to consider Peter’s audience.

They were Christians who were scattered across modern-day Turkey and were being persecuted.

They lived under the reign of the evil Roman emperor Nero who hated Christians.

Certainly corruption and wickedness ruled in their society.

They had a lot they could have been afraid of.

More than us, Church.

They were dealing with levels of persecution that none of us have ever experienced.

If we think we have it bad, then we are gravely mistaken.

But, Peter says, don’t be afraid of these wicked men who hate you.

Don’t let your hearts be troubled by the circumstances.

Peter hopes the people will not even begin to fear persecution.

He is telling us that there is no need be intimidated or succumb to fear of possible harm.

And, you know, it’s sometimes hard for us to relate to a scenario that occurred a long time ago, so let me give you an example from more recent events.

Let's talk about a man named Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German Christian pastor in Nazi Germany.

Bonhoeffer was a man of strong conviction and had the courage to speak out against Adolf Hitler.

He also helped Jews to escape from Germany.

He persevered in this for an entire decade.

But of course his outspoken opposition of Nazi ideals didn’t go unnoticed, and he was eventually arrested, thrown in prison, and finally executed near the end of the war.

He was a man who was devoted to serving Christ and doing good, no matter what opposition came his way.

He stayed faithful to the very end, and he has a very famous quote that I’d like to share with you, and it pertains to the “good fear”— the healthy fear that every Christian should have.

He said, “Those who are afraid of men have no fear of God, and those who fear God have no more fear of men.”

Church, our fear should not be directed toward men who disagree with Christianity.

Our fear shouldn’t be directed toward illness or death.

It shouldn’t be directed toward anything or anyone besides Jesus Christ our Lord.

Look at verses 15-17:

Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, 15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, 16 having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. 17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.

First, Peter says to honor Christ as Lord.

And that is really what it means for a believer to fear God—

Give Him the reverence, glory, and honor that He rightly deserves.

The word “honor” in verse 15 was translated from the Greek word, Hagiazō.

Hagiazō is normally translated “sanctify” or “make holy.”

So in this context, to “honor Christ” means we not only recognize Christ is holy, but we treat Him and think of Him as holy.

We model our life and our attitude around the fact that our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, deserves the highest honor in our life.

It means that since Jesus is sovereign over all, we have no reason to be afraid of whatever might befall us.

And it means that since Jesus is Lord, we should fear Him, not what any lesser person or power can do.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer wasn’t afraid of speaking out against the evil of the Nazi party because above all, he honored Christ as Lord.

Church, if our fear is prioritized correctly, meaning we fear the Lord first, we can overcome any temptation to lesser fears.

And as Peter says, when we consider the prospect of persecution, rather than being afraid of it, we must instead prepare for it.

We should always be “prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you,” as he says in verse 15.

And I want you to notice, Church, that Peter says we shouldn’t just be willing to make a defense, but prepared to make a defense.

The theologian Daniel Doriani once commented on verse 15.

He said, “My family goes hiking in the Rockies most summers. One year, we hiked to a lake at 12,500 feet on the first day.

Just as we arrived, it began to snow.

We had to leave soon, but one daughter spotted a rocky promontory that promised a panoramic view of a vast valley.

Although we had had no time to adjust to the altitude, she began dashing uphill, toward the rock.

How could she dash uphill at that altitude, when she had lived in the flatlands all year?

She had been running seven to ten miles daily for weeks, so she had the capacity to meet the challenge.

Her body was prepared for the extra stress.”

So it is with us, Church.

We must “exercise” ourselves for these challenges daily.

And there are several ways we do that:

We read Scripture daily and meditate on it so that its truth sinks into mind and soul.

We listen to our secular friends and to our culture.

How do they object to the faith?

What offends or seems senseless to them?

And then we look for answers to the objections as we read, converse, and listen to Christian teaching.

We should all be ready to speak personally and tell people why we hope in Jesus.

We live in hope and we should be able to explain that hope.

But, Peter adds at the end of verse 15 and into verse 16, we must defend the faith “with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.”

I’ve seen some Christians defend the faith in ways that are certainly not gentle and respectful.

I seen Christians get into heated arguments with unbelievers and use very hurtful slurs and name-calling toward their opponents, rather than being gentle and respectful.

I’ve seen pastors stand at the pulpit and cuss and scream insults at unbelievers.

And they defend their actions by claiming they are simply speaking the truth.

But my question for anyone who displays that kind of behavior is, “Is this the kind of defense Scripture tells us to use?”

I hope the answer to that question is obvious.

We need to be ready to defend the faith and share the gospel, but we must do so with charitable words, gentle speech, and respectful conduct.

Because as Peter says in verse 16, Christians will be slandered.

We will be reviled.

Regardless of how you conduct yourself, you aren’t going to be liked by everyone, because the world hates Christ.

And if they hate Christ, they’re going to hate you too.

In John 15:18-19, Jesus tells us, “18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”

And so, when those accusations come, Peter says it is our duty to keep “a clear conscience,”

meaning we make sure that our behavior has been good, so that any accusations made against you are false accusations.

Don’t behave in a way where the world’s accusations against you are true.

I’m going to say that again…

Don’t behave in a way where the world’s accusations against you are true.

And when we suffer slander or false accusations, we can reply with gentleness and meekness because we know that God, the Sovereign One, will justify us.

Because as he says in verse 17, "It is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.”

If we suffer because we are doing evil, then we are merely getting punishment that we deserve!

A believer cannot claim they are being persecuted when they are punished for wickedness or folly,

which is exactly what many of the individuals I just mentioned claim.

They are very ungracious and hurtful to their opponents, and then claim they are being persecuted when they are reviled.

That’s not persecution.

That’s just reaping what you’ve sown.

But if we suffer for doing good, we can still be encouraged because we know that God is sovereign,

and we strive to live well and endure that suffering because it is God’s will, as Peter says in verse 17.

And that throws a lot of people for a loop when they hear that.

They think, “How could it be God’s will that I suffer?!”

Is God a sadist who enjoys making His people suffer?

No.

Here is why God ordains the suffering of His people:

Our loving and merciful God has a perfect plan to use that suffering to accomplish His glorious purposes.

He uses pain and suffering to draw us to Himself so that we will cling to Him.

In Christ we have an anchor that holds fast in all the storms of life, but, if we never sail into those storms, how would we know that?

It’s in times of despair and sorrow that we reach out to Him, and, if we are His children,

we always find Him there waiting to comfort and uphold us through it all.

In this way, God proves His faithfulness to us and ensures that He will keep us close to Him.

He also proves to us that our faith is real through the suffering and pain.

How we respond to suffering, especially when we are innocent of wrongdoing, is determined by the genuineness of our faith.

Those whose faith and hope is in Jesus Christ, will not be crushed by suffering but will come through the trial with their faith intact.

Rather than shaking our fists at God or question His goodness; we can “consider it pure joy” (James 1:2),

because it is an honor and a privilege to suffer for Christ’s sake and follow in His footsteps, for He also suffered undeservingly.

These trials are God giving us the opportunity to be a testimony for Him to this fallen world, and ultimately, glorify Him.

You know what else God can use suffering for?

God uses suffering to take our eyes off this world and turn them to the next.

The Bible continually exhorts us to not get caught up in the things of this world but to look forward to the world to come.

The innocent suffer in this world, but this world and all that is in it will pass away.

And the kingdom of God… is eternal.

Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36), and those who follow Him do not see the things of this life, good or bad, as the end of the story.

Even the sufferings we endure, as terrible as they can be, “are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us,” as the apostle Paul says in Romans 8:18.

I have found that to be one of the most comforting verses in my life.

Romans 8:18

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

Our suffering in this life aren’t even worth comparing, it’s not worth even giving them a second thought,

when we consider what is waiting for us when we pass through that old, rickety door that we call “death."

Could God prevent all suffering?

Of course He could.

But He assures us that “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).

Suffering—even the suffering of the innocent—is part of the “all things” that God is ultimately using to accomplish His good purposes.

His plan is perfect, His character is flawless, and those who trust Him will not be disappointed.

And if you still view suffering as something you shouldn’t have to endure, then look at Christ.

Jesus didn’t just suffer; He suffered to the point of death.

And He did it for our sins.

He suffered and died as our substitute.

We are sinners before a Holy God, but through faith in Christ, we have a one-time, permanent, nonrepeatable substitution:

Jesus, the righteous, died for us, the unrighteous.

He bore on our behalf the punishment, the death that our sins deserved.

He died to lead us from death to life, from slavery to sin to freedom, from alienation from God to fellowship with God.

Jesus died in the flesh, but the grave could not hold Him.

He gloriously triumphed over death, and when we are united to Him by faith, death will not destroy us either.

And so we see these amazing truths revealed in Scripture, and we bring them back around to our original point today—

What are you afraid of?

Are you afraid of men?

Are you afraid of not fitting in?

Are you afraid of disease, like cancer, or perhaps… a virus?

Are you afraid of death?

If so, then let me ask you this: Do you fear the Lord?

Peter tells us to choose our fears wisely.

Rather than share in the fears of the world,

evaluate your fears, and consider whether or not some of them may be a little misguided.

We may fear the loss of health, wealth, or friends.

We may fear trouble and suffering, but I challenge you, Church, consider the heroes of the faith.

It could be Biblical heroes like Abraham, David, Moses, Peter, or Paul,

or it could be extra-biblical heroes like Martin Luther or Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

Either way, we see that trouble was essential to their stories.

We say we love these stories, but it’s probably only because they happened to someone else!

Instead, we should remember these heroes of the faith as setting an example to teach us to live fearlessly.

So, Church, choose your fears well.

Above all, honor Christ the Lord.

Keep Him first in your mind as you navigate through all of life’s struggles, and cling to the hope that we have in the cross.

And be prepared to give a defense of that hope, but with gentleness and respect.

And remember that every time a trial enters your life, we know that it is God’s will, and He is accomplishing His perfect and glorious purpose through it.

Pray.

Benediction:

2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, 17 comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.

Pray.