Sunday Morning Podcast August 14, 2022. Bro. Dave Goble. Pastor
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Luke 18:18-30
Text: LUKE 18:18-30
18 And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
19 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God.
20 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother.
21 And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up.
22 Now when Jesus heard these things he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shall have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.
23 And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich.
24 And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!
25 For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
26 And they that heard it said, Who then can be saved?
27 And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.
28 Then Peter said, Lo, we have left all, and followed thee.
29 And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children. for the kingdom of God’s sake,
30 Who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting.
We’re speaking about three things. Value, Fear, and the Price we pay. This morning we’re going to be speaking about fear. Each of these things you can find, in the story we read. They form the basis of so much of our opinions, decisions. and our eternal welfare. We think about the value we place on our life’s choices. We think about the consequences of the value we place on fear, in making choices. Lord willing the next time we come together we will be speaking about the price we have to pay in order to make heaven our home. All of it revolves around this question, “What shall I do, to inherit eternal life?” That could be a question of ultimate concern. We’re speaking about the other side of “the coin” where one side is the value we place on life (priorities we set, etc.), just as the rich young ruler placed much value on his many riches. “The other side of the coin” is fear, and what the influence of that is, for it can sometimes get in the way of what we value. Fear can change what we value; the most important decisions we make. How value and fear work together. Finally we will also look at what we can substitute for fear. This not about the fear which is about the reverence we have for God. Rather the fear that can consist of being terrified, or having anxiety. Being overly concerned about something. At the end of this, we want to leave with the thought that is hope, and the substitute for fear that Jesus offers. And we need to ask ourselves, “Have we accepted that substitute?” Ultimately we need to check our values to see if it reflects the Lord’s values, that He places on the decision I’m about to make? Does my decision reflect the influence of fear? And is that really what motivates my decision? This is very important. In talking to people each week, there are people making decisions based on fear.
Fear is the place holder of the unknown. Fear takes the place of what is unknown. We’re not talking about the obvious things of danger that we should have a healthy fear of. But instead, fear of those things in life that are unknown. For fear often fills that space! So the question is, when we have a decision to make, do we make it based on fear, or something else? The Lord has an alternative for fear! But this is subtle, for often we are making decisions that are influenced by fear. Fear is what comes next, when we’ve never been there before. Fear is existential, which means it matters about your very existence. We’re not talking about incidental fear, but of that which matters to us most. Fear is what matters and what influences your identity. If something doesn’t matter (or not serious), than fear is not necessary. It’s incidental, it doesn’t matter all that much. But if I were to lose my ability to breathe, and collapse, that could bring fear. When you have an affliction on your body, affecting you to the point you don’t know if you are even going to make it to the next minute, that causes a certain amount of fear. I can recall when I stood before a certain amount of people, while being under a tremendous amount of stress, and that caused fear, evidenced by my starting to have panic attacks while I was speaking. I didn’t know what they were, but it feels like you are going to die. It’s a feeling of impending doom that comes upon you. You start to hyperventilate and your nervous system becomes affected. The hearts fine, but you feel like it isn’t.
Fear is the human response to the unknown. Fear is what normally keeps us healthy and safe in the presence of a threat. It keeps us alive. But I want to tell you what I’ve learned in our modern society, is we don’t have that many physical threats from the outside. Thank the Lord in this country we don’t have that. What we have is prosperity which brings it’s own set of fears. We have more time to think about things that could be a threat, but are not actually one presently. There are “voices” in society that will “tell you” they will. We could be so distorted by fear, that we remove ourselves from the hope of the gospel. For fear is not “the children’s bread.” It’s not what God has for us! It is not our destiny! There are young people taking their own lives because of society’s drum beats of fear ! It removes hope from a person’s existence. It’s very important that we understand the role of fear in life. And to be very careful to realize the enemy knows, is trying to get you to make decisions based on fear, and to have you down his path! So he is very subtle to try to get you to make decisions based in fear. God has another plan! Even with modern society with all our conveniences, riches, even with the protection of people, we still find ourselves making decisions based on fear. People are more fearful today perhaps than most recent years.
23 And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich. Why was this young ruler very sorrowful? Because he was afraid. Why afraid? Because he had acquired great wealth. If he had to sell it all, he didn’t know what would take it’s place!
What We Fear ..