4 “I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do. 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! 6 Are not five sparrows sold for two cents? Yet not one of them is forgotten before God. 7 Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows. Luke 12:4-7 (NASB)
We are told not to fear earthly things or other people no matter how evil or violent they are. However, we are told to fear God. Much of the fear Christians have, however, is not based in their fear of God, but in the fear of their own failures being exposed or their own spiritual deficiencies being exploited by the devil’s seed. Of course some of that fear comes from the spirit of fear that dominates some Christians.
I shared in an earlier post that I had watched a recent sermon by John MacArthur in which he shared the truth of what happens when Christians are obedient in preaching the Gospel the way we are commanded to do in God’s Word. What happens? Sinners get angry because we tell them they are what they are and what is going to happen to them if they do not repent and come to Christ. This very thing has caused many Christians to find ways to soften the Gospel message so they can avoid that. However, by doing that they aren’t preaching the Gospel. So, if we are to be obedient then we must share the Gospel correctly and that means preaching about sin and its consequence. If we commit to doing this then aren’t some of us going to become fearful of the whole witnessing enterprise? Of course!