Fear Prevents Powerful Leadership - 1 Samuel 16-20

1 Samuel 17:11 (ESV Strong's)
11 When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.

Fear Prevents Powerful Leadership

The “words,” in the above passage, that Saul and all Israel heard, were the threats and insults from the giant, Goliath.   Goliath was bigger than anyone and tried to intimidate the entire nation of Israel.    It is not surprising that people were fearful.  If you hear the description of the giant, you might be fearful, as well.   But, the fear not only paralyzed the rank and file of the nation, it took the leader out of commission.  At this point in his leadership, Saul was not a Godly leader.   This giant of a situation was not going to produce in him the leadership he needed.   That is what these situations do; they reveal leadership capacity.   Saul did not have leadership capacity.   In a few verse a young shepherd boy will kill the giant with mere slingshot and a stone.   This does not mean that David did not fear the giant.  What it means is that David listened to the voice of God and what God had taught him, while Saul listened to the voice of Goliath.   Fear is an emotion that comes like any other emotion.   How we frame an event invites emotion.  If we “frame” an event through the voice of a Goliath in our lives, we will see the emotion of fear produced in our lives.  If we “frame” an event through the voice of God we have peace.  This is why Paul told the church:

Philippians 4:8-9 (ESV Strong's)
8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

We have “peace’ if we keep our mind on things that are true, honorable, just, pure, etc. This is what David will do.  He listened and thought about the things of God and His power.  That gave him strength to do something amazing.   Fear crippled Saul.   David conquered fear by framing the situation through the lens of God’s promises and God’s Word. David did not fear man, He feared God.  

He Brought Us Out to Bring Us In! Exodus 1-4

Exodus 3:7-9 (ESV Strong's)
7 Then the LORD said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, 8 and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.

He Brought Us Out to Bring Us In!

The story of God rescuing Israel from the bondage of slavery to the Egyptians is a story of redemption.  It is a picture of God saving us from our slavery to sin.   Egypt, in this picture, is the land of sin.  We always seem to want to return there (as we will see the Israelites want to do over and over in the book of Exodus).   God will, eventually, bring them out after God slays the first born of the land (a picture of Christ’s death).   But, God did not just want to “bring them out of the land of Egypt,” he wants to bring them into the the “promise land.”  As Egypt is a picture of the land of sin, the Promise Land is a picture of the sanctified, holy believer living on promises of God’s rich blessing of grace.   God does not JUST want to save us from sin, He also wants to bring us into a victorious live of living in His abundant grace.   God saved us to give us victory of the slavery to sin, but also victory in our lives each day in His grace.   This is not always physical blessings.  But, it is always victory in His grace.   Some believers will believe that Jesus died for their sins and they are set free from the penalty of sin.  But, they will not always realize that God saved us FOR something ... to walk in the victory of His grace.   That is the story of Jesus redeeming the Israelites and bringing them into the promise land.  It is God saving us from our death penalty and into a victorious walk in grace by His Spirit.  

Discipline for the Right Reasons - 1 Corinthians 9-10

1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (ESV Strong's)
24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

Discipline for the Right Reason

The above passage is quoted in many different ways by the Church.   It certainly is a good passage to memorize and mediate upon if you are an athlete.   If you are tying to find motivation for self-control, this passage really hits home.   There is nothing wrong with using the text in this manner.  However, the power of the passage is found in the context of the section it was written.   Paul, in chapter nine, is writing to the Church at Corinth.  The church, at this time, had some of their leadership or follower-ship, opposing Paul’s authority and ministry.   By reading the context we can see that some objected that Paul “might” be using a collection of money he was soliciting for the Church in Jerusalem for his own benefit.  The entire chapter is Paul making a case that he is NOT doing that, but he COULD do that if he wanted.  He is telling them that the person who lives by the gospel should be able to be supported (financially) by that preaching the gospel.  Paul makes the point over and over that it is “permissible” and “right” to earn your living by preaching the Gospel.  But, he goes on to say, he is NOT.  He is working a job (him and Barnabas) to support himself. The implication is that the financial support he is soliciting for the persecuted church in Jerusalem is FOR THEM ONLY.   So, why the reference, above, to an athlete preparing for the Olympic Games?   Paul knew that the Corinthians would understand the metaphors of the athlete.   The Corinthians understood the “games.”   They controlled their bodies, disciplined their bodies, to obtain a physical wreath around their necks.  That was their gold medal.   Paul is saying that he, on the other hand, is denying himself some of the luxuries of life (a wife, eating, drinking, living off the gospel ... see verses 4-5) in order to obtain an incorruptible prize ... the pleasure of Christ.   The discipline in of the body is a great thing. If it is ONLY for a physical reward, however, it is useless.  If we are doing so to obtain the pleasure of Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit, it is for great gain.  That is the point of discipline the body.  It is for the pleasure of Christ when it is done in the power of the Spirit.

Proclaim what Jesus did for you!! Mark 5-6

Mark 5:19-20 (ESV Strong's)
And he did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.

Proclaim what Jesus did for you!!

In the above passage the demon possessed man of the country of the Gerasenes has been healed by Jesus.  A man once controlled by demons is now a man in his “right mind.”   Jesus has changed the man’s life forever.   He now wants to go with Jesus.  Jesus and his disciples are going into a boat and Jesus did not permit him.   Imagine this man’s plight.  For years it says he tormented the people around him.

Mark 5:3-5 (ESV Strong's)
3 He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, 4 for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. 5 Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones.

Even in his healing he caused harm to the local pig farmers:

Mark 5:13-14 (ESV Strong's)
13 So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea.
14 The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country. And people came to see what it was that had happened.

Now Jesus was telling him to go back to his home and tell others what good things Jesus had done for him.   This is what God wants from us.  We are to go out into the world and show the good work that God has done for us, in us and to us.  We are not to fear what we were, but to rejoice in what and who we are.  God wants us to proclaim His work in our lives.  He does not want us to live in the fear of the past or the fear of the present ... of what people might think of us.   The above passage says the man left and “began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him.”   Note, later in the book of Mark, what happens when Jesus arrives in the land of the Decapolis:

Mark 7:31-32 (ESV Strong's)
31 Then he returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. 32 And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged him to lay his hand on him.

The minute Jesus shows back in that area, the people are aware of who Jesus is and what He can do.  How did they know that?  Because a man with a bad past lived in the present based upon what God did for him for the future.  

Why Does God Send Punishment? Jeremiah 1-5

Jeremiah 5:18-24 (ESV Strong's)
18 “But even in those days, declares the LORD, I will not make a full end of you. 19 And when your people say, ‘Why has the LORD our God done all these things to us?’ you shall say to them, ‘As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve foreigners in a land that is not yours.’”
20 Declare this in the house of Jacob;
proclaim it in Judah:
21 “Hear this, O foolish and senseless people,
who have eyes, but see not,
who have ears, but hear not.
22 Do you not fear me? declares the LORD.
Do you not tremble before me?
I placed the sand as the boundary for the sea,
a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass;
though the waves toss, they cannot prevail;
though they roar, they cannot pass over it.
23 But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart;
they have turned aside and gone away.
24 They do not say in their hearts,
‘Let us fear the LORD our God,
who gives the rain in its season,
the autumn rain and the spring rain,
and keeps for us
the weeks appointed for the harvest.’

Why Does God Send Punishment?

The prophet Jeremiah was sent to the nation of Judah to proclaim to them that God was going to send judgment upon them from the “north.”  The north was Babylon.   The Babylonians would raid and pillage them and take them all captive.   Although there was a remnant that would remain faithful, the majority would not.  In the above text we see why.  They not only did not “fear the Lord,” they sought after other gods and ways to worship.   It is by the fear of the Lord we depart from evil.  Note:

Proverbs 8:13 (ESV Strong's)
13 The fear of the LORD is hatred of evil.
Pride and arrogance and the way of evil
and perverted speech I hate.

Proverbs 16:6 (ESV Strong's)
6 By steadfast love and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for,
and by the fear of the LORD one turns away from evil.

They treated God as other gods.   They saw no majesty in Him.  They saw no might in Him.  They saw no difference in Him as compared to the nation’s gods around them.   Yet, it was God who provided for them the rain when they needed it and the crops to satisfy them.   God sends punishment when we fail to fear Him.   They had turned away from God so He would turn away from protecting them.  

How Powerful is God? Job 25-26

Job 25:3 (ESV Strong's)
3 Is there any number to his armies?
Upon whom does his light not arise?

How Powerful is God?

In the above passage, Bildad, one of Job’s three friends, is speaking to Job about the power of God.  All three of Job’s friends believe Job is suffering because he has great sin in his life.  They believe he is failing to acknowledge God in the sin and therefore their arguments to him about the character of God ... as they know it.  They are often right on theology.   They are almost always wrong on application to Job’s situation.   This is often true of our own counsel we give people today.   We see a situation and draw a theological conclusions, without really knowing the hand of God in the midst of it all.   In the above passage Bildad makes the claim about God’s power being limitless and His presence being all encompassing.    Again, Bildad is not wrong.   God’s armies cannot be number, demonstrating His great power.  God, like the sun, shines down on man and exposes all his shadows.    Nothing is hidden from His sight.  To those who have a relationship with God based on grace through faith, that can be a great thing to know and believe.  For Bildad, talking to a man he thinks is full of sin (Job), this is supposed to strike terror and repentance.   But, Bildad would have been better to understand the application to Job’s situation.   We ought not use good doctrine to club people living in a bad situation.  In chapter one of the book we read that even God thought Job was a righteous man.   Never-the-less this does not diminish Bildad’s doctrinal truth.   No one and nothing compares to God.  His armies are without number and He sees all the world.   We ought to rejoice in that truth whether we are Job or Bildad.

He Will Act!! Psalms 36-38

Psalms 37:5-6 (ESV Strong's)
5 Commit your way to the LORD;
trust in him, and he will act.
6 He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,
and your justice as the noonday.

He Will Act!!

We always wonder and often ask, “Where is God?”  In the time of great stress and strife and fear, the world claims God is absent.   They like to disregard God during times of feast and complain He is not present in times of famine.  In the above passage we see that God has given us assurance that He does and will act.   Our part is to simply rely on Him and allow Him to do the “action” He wants to do.  He does not promise that we will “see” His acting on our behalf.   He does not promise that the acting will be what we want or what we would do.  He only promises that He will act in a way that is according to His plan and good for us.  He states in this passage that He will bring out our righteousness and our justice.  Just so we realize, in other parts of Scripture we learn that we have NO righteousness and we have NO justice.  That means what God wants to bring forth to us and in us will be the work of Christ’s righteousness and justice in us.   We are to trust and believe and put our absolute faith in God.  God does act by producing the person of Christ within us.