Latest / Reformed Thinking / Sins of the Heart: Fear of Man

Transcript

Sins of the Heart: Fear of Man · Reformed Thinking

0:00
Welcome back to the Deep Dive. This is where we take a stack of
0:02
sources, articles, research, some historical theology, and we
0:06
really try to extract the crucial insights you need for
0:08
clarity on, well, some challenging spiritual truths.
0:12
This is reformed thinking. Today we're opening up a a
0:16
pretty serious conversation. It's about a condition that's so
0:18
common, I think it often gets miscategorized.
0:21
We are looking at the fear of man.
0:22
You might know it as you know shyness or maybe social anxiety
0:25
or just wanting to keep the peace, but the material we've
0:28
synthesized it really forces us to look much deeper.
0:31
Our mission today is to move past those superficial labels
0:34
and see it's true destructive nature, see it as a heart level
0:37
sin that compromises obedience, and then to discover the total
0:41
liberating cure that's offered only in the Gospel of Jesus
0:44
Christ. And that distinction right at
0:46
the start is absolutely necessary.
0:48
The sources we looked at are not offering a self help guide for
0:51
better social skills. Not at all.
0:52
They're identifying a spiritual disorder and this condition is
0:57
so serious because it gets at these fundamental issues of, of
1:00
loyalty and worship. If we get that the fear of man
1:04
is a powerful snare, that it's a direct competitor with the fear
1:07
of the Lord, then we get that it's setting up a rival master
1:10
in the heart. It's it's directly competing for
1:12
our allegiance. It's really a question of who
1:14
you trust and you know whose judgement counts the most.
1:17
OK, let's unpack that definition then.
1:19
Let's start with the biblical source text that was cited the
1:21
most in the material we reviewed, Proverbs 29.25.
1:25
It calls the fear of man a snare, and a snare is, well,
1:29
it's never good. It's a trap, right?
1:30
It's designed to capture to restrict movement, and it leads
1:34
to spiritual stagnation. Exactly.
1:36
Stagnation. So what exactly is the spiritual
1:40
entrapment? The material defines it as a
1:42
controlling concern for what people can do to us, or maybe
1:45
even more so, think of us. It's that state where their
1:48
approval, their acceptance, or even their potential threats,
1:51
they carry more actual weight in our daily decisions than the
1:54
reality of God's character, His Holiness, and His certain
1:58
promises. And that controlling concern, it
2:00
always shows up in this dual dynamic.
2:02
The sources call them two sides of the same coin of human focus.
2:05
The first side is the powerful emotional craving.
2:09
This is this is the desire for praise, for acceptance, for
2:12
inclusion, for affirmation. We hunger for their approval.
2:16
You know they're well done because we think their verdict
2:18
validates our existence. Another side of that coin.
2:20
The second dynamic is the powerful dreading.
2:23
So this is the recoil from criticism, from rejection, from
2:26
exclusion, or just the loss of social status.
2:29
You want to avoid their frown, their disapproval or being, you
2:32
know, cast out of the social group.
2:34
And the moment that either that crave or that dread becomes the
2:37
decisive factor in how we choose or act or speak, we're already
2:42
captured by the snare. And this is where the
2:44
theological stakes rise so dramatically, because the moment
2:47
that human craving or dread becomes decisive, we have to
2:51
confront the truth that this isn't just anxiety, it is it's
2:55
idolatry. Precisely, it's a violation of
2:57
the first commandment. OK, explain that connection.
3:00
Well, the first Commandment, as it's defined in our Reformed
3:02
confessions, it obliges us to know God, to acknowledge Him and
3:06
to worship Him, giving him alone our supreme love, fear, and
3:10
trust. But the fear of man operates by
3:13
giving that reverence, that trust and that controlling
3:16
influence to creatures, to other people, and send it to the
3:19
Creator alone. That feels like an enormously
3:21
high bar. I mean, if I hesitate to tell a
3:23
joke because I don't want to offend someone, is that really
3:25
idolatry? Is the first commandment really
3:27
broken just by caring about what my family thinks?
3:30
That's a fair and a necessary question.
3:32
But the sources They make a distinction between genuine
3:35
Christian courtesy, which is born out of love for your
3:38
neighbor, and a controlling concern.
3:40
When the concern for their opinion displaces loyalty to
3:43
God, that is the idolatrous shift.
3:46
When the fear of man rules, it quietly moves the person, the
3:49
creature, into God's place. That person or that group
3:52
becomes the one whose judgement is most dreaded and whose
3:56
approval is most crazed. And that makes them a functional
3:59
deity in your internal world. A.
4:00
Functional deity. So how do we tell the
4:02
difference? We can determine the idol by by
4:05
assessing the ultimate source of our emotional reward or pain.
4:09
If the opinions are the threats of people are weightier in
4:11
practice than the clear word and the smile of God, then we are
4:14
giving to creatures the spiritual authority that belongs
4:17
uniquely to the Creator. It's a deep it's a deep
4:19
spiritual corruption because it attacks the very foundation of
4:23
the moral law. It just redirects the hearts
4:26
supreme allegiance. And this has immediate, very
4:29
serious consequences. You see it in the realm of
4:31
Christian liberty and the conscience, which is a key
4:34
concept in the Westminster Standards.
4:36
The fear of man sets up with the sources aptly call a false
4:40
lordship in the realm of the conscience.
4:43
A false lordship. Yeah, and this is critical for
4:45
you, our listener, to grasp. The Westminster Confession of
4:48
Faith teaches that God alone is Lord of the conscience, and He
4:51
has left it free from the doctrines and commandments of
4:53
men when they are contrary to or even just additional to His
4:57
Word. That freedom is what Christ
4:59
secured for us. But the fear of man is a
5:01
spiritual constraint that just binds up this freedom.
5:05
If you consider the historical context of the WCF, I mean this
5:09
statement arose during conflicts where people were forced by
5:11
religious or governmental authorities to adhere to rituals
5:14
or practices not explicitly taught in scripture.
5:18
They risked punishment, social exclusion, if they refused.
5:21
The confession was teaching that in those moments, the believer
5:24
must not permit human authority to bind the conscience.
5:28
So when we allow human opinion or expectation to bind the
5:32
conscience where God hasn't, for example, saying I have to stay
5:36
silent on this even though it's clearly biblical because my
5:40
professional peers will blacklist me, right?
5:42
We're surrendering that Christian liberty.
5:44
We are allowing the fear of man to create these extra biblical
5:48
laws for our conduct. So when we surrender this 32
5:52
human consensus, we are effectively enslaving ourselves
5:56
to men. Again, this is a practical
5:58
denial of Christ's lordship over the specific area of our life.
6:01
Exactly. Christ has secured our adoption
6:03
right. We are no longer slaves of men,
6:05
but adopted children serving the Father.
6:07
Yes, but when the fear of man takes over, we abandoned the
6:10
freedom of that adopted child. Instead of walking in confidence
6:13
before God's face, we we walk with these cautious, hesitant
6:17
steps of someone who's constantly afraid of tripping a
6:19
social or political trap. It shifts the question of
6:22
ultimate authority over our obedience from a vertical axis,
6:25
God's command, to a horizontal one man's reaction.
6:28
And that enslavement is deeply felt.
6:31
The sources discuss how this false lordship often shows up as
6:34
a feeling of constant monitoring or performing.
6:37
You feel watched, judged, and just perpetually insufficient,
6:41
and it's because you have mentally outsourced your moral
6:44
and spiritual validation to people who are just as flawed,
6:47
just as changing, and just as unable to validate you as you
6:51
are. It's a vicious, self
6:52
perpetuating cycle of seeking approval from unreliable
6:56
sources. Wow.
6:57
OK. So since we've established the
6:59
theological severity, it seems like we need to shift from
7:02
defining the condition to diagnosing its source.
7:05
Exactly. The fear of man is not just a
7:07
surface behavior, it's a manifestation of deeper
7:09
spiritual disorders. It is what one source called a
7:12
hidden root stemming from original sin in the inward bend
7:15
of total depravity. Our hearts, when they're left to
7:17
themselves, they naturally gravitate towards self love and
7:20
the craving of creaturely approval.
7:22
We tend to magnify the creature's people and minimize
7:24
the creator. This spiritual reality, it leads
7:27
to the four interconnected routes identified in our source
7:29
material, which really drive the fear of man.
7:32
Yeah, the sources really hammer home that this isn't just one
7:34
problem, but a composite issue. They break it down into these 4
7:38
interconnected routes, starting with what they call the most
7:41
basic and I think arguably the most surprising 1 Idolatry.
7:45
We already discussed this definitionally, but now we're
7:47
seeing it as a driving route. This route is defined by a
7:50
disordered love. The heart clings to human
7:52
approval and acceptance as a kind of glory that directly
7:55
rivals the glory that belongs to God.
7:58
Human beings were created to find joy, identity, and ultimate
8:01
approval in God's favor. But sin causes us to exchange
8:05
the Creator for the creature. We seek from people the
8:08
satisfaction, the security, and the worth that only God can
8:11
provide. To illustrate that the material
8:13
sites, the situation that's described in the Gospel of John,
8:16
you have some individuals who refuse to confess Christ
8:20
because, and this is a direct quote, they loved the glory that
8:24
comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.
8:28
Notice that explicit choice. They saw glory, honor, status,
8:32
reputation as something they could get horizontally from the
8:35
crowd, and they preferred that earthly, fleeting glory over the
8:38
eternal favor of the Divine King.
8:40
And the practical consequence of that disordered love is that the
8:43
verdict of friends, of family, of peers, or of the culture that
8:48
becomes the ultimate currency. We hoard human honor, we protect
8:51
our reputation above everything else, and we desperately seek
8:54
inclusion above divine approval. When honor from man is the
8:57
treasure, we will pay any price, including disobedience to God,
9:00
to secure it. Moving to Route 2, we find
9:03
unbelief. This shows up as a form of
9:06
functional or practical atheism. Practical atheism?
9:08
What does that mean? It means this route exposes a
9:11
significant gap. The individual's theological
9:14
understanding, even if it's orthodox and sound on paper, has
9:17
not fully gripped the heart or become functional during moments
9:20
of spiritual or social pressure. OK, so it shows up primarily as
9:24
a profound forgetting God. When we tremble before human
9:28
opinions, or before a difficult conversation, or before social
9:31
threats, we are functionally forgetting who God is and what
9:35
specific, relevant promises he has made to us.
9:38
We behave in that moment of choice as if he is absent or
9:42
powerless or irrelevant when costly obedience is demanded.
9:46
And this functional atheism, it involves minimizing God
9:50
unbelief, causes us to shrink God's sovereignty down to a
9:53
manageable, non threatening size.
9:55
It leads us to act as if people, our boss, our social circle, our
9:58
spouse, not God, determine our ultimate future, our security or
10:02
our provision. We doubt his explicit promises.
10:05
We fear that if people reject us, God will not be sufficient
10:08
or you will not be there to sustain us.
10:10
It's like a banking analogy. We claim we trust in the vast
10:13
infinite assets of the Divine Bank, God's character and
10:16
promises. Yeah, that's a good way to put
10:17
it. Yet when a tiny, easily
10:19
dismissed debt collector critical person knocks on our
10:22
door, we panic. We try to pay them off with all
10:25
our immediate resources, you know, compromise and silence.
10:28
We act as though the developed bank doesn't actually exist or
10:30
is bankrupt. That's it.
10:32
That gap between cognitive doctrine, God is sovereign and
10:35
functional living. I must appease this person or my
10:37
life is ruined. That is the essence of practical
10:40
atheism. OK, the third route is pride and
10:43
self absorption. This is the subtle aspect that I
10:45
think often gets mislabeled. Pride is defined not just as
10:49
arrogance, but as a heart orientation that places the
10:52
self, my feelings, my reputation, my desires at the
10:55
absolute center of the universe. So the motivation for fearing
10:59
man often springs directly from the self-centered pride.
11:02
We fear being seen as foolish or weak or unimpressive or sinful
11:06
because our own glory, our reputation, is precious to us.
11:10
We fear disapproval because it is a direct challenge to the
11:13
self-image we have painstakingly constructed.
11:15
Which means our reputation, not God's, becomes the treasure to
11:19
be protected at all costs. The heart just silently insists
11:23
that my personal image must not decrease and that I must control
11:26
how I am perceived by others. And this is a critical point.
11:30
Even extreme timidity or social anxiety, while it's painful, it
11:34
can mask a deep preoccupation with one's appearance.
11:37
The person caught in this fear isn't thinking about the other
11:40
person's welfare or God's glory. They are consumed with what do
11:44
they think of me? We often confuse this fear with
11:46
humility or politeness, like you mentioned earlier, right?
11:49
But true humility is forgetting yourself to serve God and
11:52
neighbor. The fear of man is self
11:53
absorption disguised as social awareness.
11:56
We are just absorbed in managing the perception of the self,
11:59
which is Pride's most subtle operation.
12:01
And finally, we turn to root for misplaced identity.
12:05
This happens specifically when a believer neglects or practically
12:08
doubts their secure, established identity in Christ.
12:12
When that vertical relationship is weakened, the heart, which
12:15
hates a vacuum, instinctively seeks identity horizontally.
12:18
Horizontally, yeah. We begin defining ourselves by
12:21
external factors, by our performance, by our
12:24
relationships. Are we liked?
12:26
Are we desired? Are we included, or by our
12:28
status within a peer group or even a theological tribe?
12:32
The sources describe how people become mirrors in which we
12:35
constantly look for validation. And these people are essentially
12:38
carrying the weight of telling us who we are.
12:41
They are our substitute God of identity.
12:43
The devastating result is that every negative interaction,
12:46
every frown, every piece of criticism, every cool response,
12:50
it feels like an attack on our very self, on our fundamental
12:53
worth. If my worth is found in their
12:55
approval, then their disapproval feels like a catastrophic
12:58
destruction of my existence. That misplaced identity, where a
13:01
creature holds the power to define our worth, makes the fear
13:05
of man inescapable. Seeing these four roots at work
13:08
in the abstract is one thing, but we really need to look at
13:10
some historical examples to see the tragic real world
13:12
consequences of this spiritual snare.
13:15
Yeah. And the primary historical
13:16
illustration that's offered in our material is the failure of
13:19
King Saul recorded in First Samuel 15.
13:22
This is just a terrifying case study and compromise driven by
13:24
human approval. OK, so the context is absolutely
13:26
clear. God, through the prophet Samuel,
13:29
commanded Saul to devote the Amalekites to complete
13:32
destruction. This was a clear non negotiable
13:35
directive from the Lord. It was a test of His kingship
13:38
and His obedience. But what did Saul do?
13:40
He engaged in partial obedience. He destroyed the worthless
13:44
goods, but he spared A gag the king, and he spared the best of
13:48
the sheep and oxen, the things that held the highest value.
13:51
And when Samuel confronted him, Saul initially offered this this
13:55
thin religious pretense. He claimed he spared the
13:58
livestock to sacrifice to the Lord your God.
14:01
Which is a textbook example of the fear of man driving pious
14:04
excuses. Saul knew he had to offer some
14:06
explanation, so he sanitized his disobedience by dressing it up
14:09
in religious language. But Samuel wasn't fooled.
14:12
No, and the revelation came in Saul's confession, which is one
14:14
of the most honest and heartbreaking confessions in
14:17
Scripture. I have sinned because I fear the
14:19
people and obeyed their voice. This is the snare identified and
14:23
admitted right there. So direct, so let's.
14:26
Stop and analyze the depth of this failure.
14:29
The fear of man in Saul's heart looked like accommodating
14:32
soldiers. He wanted to respect their
14:34
affirmation, and maybe he wanted to look like a successful,
14:36
conquering king who could bring back magnificent plunder.
14:40
He calculated that their voice, their expectations, and their
14:43
potential displeasure weighed more heavily in the moment than
14:46
the explicit, clear command of God.
14:49
And the consequence was it was dynasty erosion.
14:52
Saul's entire line lost the right to the throne because of
14:55
this act of compromise. This shows us that the fear of
14:58
man rarely looks like simple timidity.
15:00
It often looks like partial obedience, compromise dressed in
15:03
piety, and the erosion of 1's spiritual authority and
15:06
vocation. His choices were fundamentally
15:08
governed by public opinion, even while he was holding the highest
15:11
office dedicated to the rule of God.
15:13
And the seriousness is carried directly into the New Testament
15:16
by the apostle Paul in Galatians 1.10.
15:19
He sets up this powerful, mutually exclusive alternative.
15:23
He asks the direct question, Am I now seeking the approval of
15:26
man or of God, or am I trying to please man?
15:30
And then he delivers the striking conclusion.
15:32
If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of
15:35
Christ. That's just It's a staggering
15:37
statement. It is.
15:38
This is not casual counsel. Paul is stating that these two
15:41
masters, the pleasing of God and the pleasing of people, are in
15:44
perpetual aggressive conflict. If your ultimate governing
15:47
objective is to please people, you cannot in any genuine sense
15:51
of the word be functioning as a servant of Christ, because
15:53
Christ's service requires radical obedience to a standard
15:56
that often runs directly counter to human approval.
15:59
The gravity here is undeniable. Paul's clarifying that the fear
16:02
of man attacks the very lordship of Christ over the believers in
16:06
her life. There can't be two ultimate
16:08
masters of the conscience of the will.
16:10
Either God's approval is the decisive factor that governs
16:13
your choices, or man's approval is.
16:16
The fear of man is so grave because it's substitutes
16:18
allegiance to a creature for allegiance to the Creator.
16:21
OK, So what does this grave sin look like today, beyond the
16:25
dramatic compromise of a king or the public denial of an apostle?
16:30
The sources detail how this shows up in quiet, ordinary life
16:33
and often in institutional settings.
16:35
One. Place is professional or
16:37
vocational compromise. For instance, being silent in a
16:40
workplace where you see unethical behavior because you
16:42
fear job loss or reputation damage or social exclusion from
16:45
your colleagues. The fear of man there dictates
16:48
that financial security or professional status is more
16:51
valuable than speaking truth or taking a righteous stand.
16:54
And it also looks like conflict avoidance within the church or
16:57
the family. We tolerate festering sin,
17:00
broken relationships, or doctrinal confusion rather than
17:04
risking a hard conversation. And it's because the temporary
17:07
displeasure of people feels heavier than disobeying God's
17:10
command to speak the truth and love to one another.
17:12
The maintenance of this this superficial peace becomes the
17:16
goal rather than spiritual health.
17:18
And critically, it looks like silence in the public square.
17:22
We fail to speak Christ's name or share our biblical
17:24
convictions just to keep our social capital intact.
17:27
We avoid being labeled narrow or intolerant or uninformed.
17:31
And we effectively downplay or conceal our allegiance to Christ
17:34
because the prospect of the raised eyebrow or the awkward
17:37
silence, it just feels unbearable.
17:39
We prioritize intellectual or social acceptance over faithful
17:42
witness. And in our digital age, the
17:44
sources highlight image management.
17:46
This is a massive contemporary manifestation of the fear of
17:49
man. We curate an idealized persona
17:51
online, filtering our opinions and measuring our value by likes
17:55
and shares and comments. That's a huge one.
17:58
Yeah, when online attention or digital affirmation becomes the
18:02
functional source of worth that misplaced identity route we
18:05
talked about, criticism or cancellation feels like a threat
18:08
not just to a post, but to our very existence and self
18:11
definition. This constant self presentation
18:14
and the anxious reading of other people's digital responses, it
18:18
turns the online space into a relentless factory of the fear
18:21
of man. And we have to be clear, people
18:23
pleasing that leads to moral compromise is not love.
18:27
We say yes and we should say no. We agree advertly with what we
18:31
inwardly question simply to avoid disappointing others.
18:34
When the desire to maintain social equilibrium or gain
18:37
approval leads us to dilute truth or silence a witness, we
18:41
have crossed the line from brotherly kindness into active
18:43
functional idolatry. So if the diagnosis is this
18:46
severe, if the fear of man is heart level idolatry, a
18:49
spiritual bondage that stems from original sin and leads to
18:52
serious compromise, then we know the cure can't be superficial.
18:56
It can't be self willpower or better techniques, no.
18:59
The sources define the remedy as a radical heart transforming
19:03
intervention centered entirely on the person to work of Jesus
19:06
Christ. It's so crucial that we
19:08
recognize this is a person, not a technique or a method of
19:11
adjustment. The only thing that can kill a
19:13
misplaced fear is a greater object of reverence.
19:17
So where does that remedy begin? It begins by looking to Christ
19:20
as our perfect representative and example.
19:23
We have to understand the Christ perfectly feared God and never
19:26
in a sinful way feared man. He was utterly free from the
19:30
need for human approval. He lived wholly into the
19:32
Father's gaze and could declare, I always do the things that are
19:35
pleasing to Him. He didn't water down his message
19:38
to keep the crowds, nor did he seek honor from the religious
19:41
leaders or the political class. He modeled true God.
19:45
Fearing obedience, He chose the Father's will above the escape
19:48
that might have preserved him from human scorn.
19:50
Yes, but critically, He's not just our example, He is our
19:54
representative. He rendered the perfect God
19:57
fearing obedience, His active obedience that we have failed to
20:00
give, particularly when we compromise our conscience due to
20:02
the fear of man. And the cross.
20:04
How does the cross address the core guilt of our sinful fears?
20:08
The cross is where Christ bore the full judgement for our
20:11
specific sinful fears, our compromises, and our cowardice.
20:16
This includes every single time we chose the craving for human
20:19
glory or the dread of human rejection over God's clear
20:22
command. The cross provides the ultimate
20:25
judicial resolution to the problem of our idolatry.
20:28
In Christ's death, His passive obedience, the guilt of our fear
20:31
of man is fully judged. It's paid for.
20:34
It's extinguished so that it can never be judged on us again.
20:37
The verdict is final, securing the freedom for us to face men
20:40
without fear of eternal consequence.
20:42
This brings us to the very heart of the remedy, the doctrine that
20:45
liberates the conscience from the tyranny of human opinion
20:49
justification. Yes, through justification, God
20:52
declares believing sinners righteous based entirely on the
20:55
finished work of Christ, his perfect life, and sacrificial
20:57
death. The key concept here, rooted in
20:59
reformed understanding, is imputation.
21:02
Our sin, including the sin of the fear of man, is transferred
21:04
to Christ and His perfect righteousness is transferred to
21:07
to us. The verdict is absolutely clear
21:09
and legally binding. No condemnation for those who
21:12
are in Christ Jesus. OK, but practically speaking,
21:17
how does that doctrine actually stop me from checking my phone
21:19
for approval or biting my tongue when I know I should speak?
21:22
The logical argument is sound, but the emotional pull of fear
21:26
is still fierce. That is the right question to
21:28
ask. Justification addresses the
21:30
emotional pull by destroying the ultimate source of human
21:33
opinions power, its ability to condemn.
21:36
If God, who sits as the ultimate judge in the highest court in
21:39
the universe, has already declared us righteous and
21:41
acceptable based on Christ's blood, no human court, no social
21:45
group, no angry colleague, no family member, no online troll
21:49
can overturn his decision. So the funder of human opinion
21:51
grows strangely quiet. It does.
21:54
Human criticism may sting temporarily.
21:56
It may cause immediate inconvenience.
21:59
But it lacks ultimate eternal weight.
22:02
When we rest in justification, the fear of man is functionally
22:05
diminished because the one person whose opinion actually
22:07
matters, God, has already given us his.
22:10
Well done in Christ. The fear of God in that moment
22:13
is simply trusting that His verdict is sufficient,
22:16
regardless of what the crowd below thinks.
22:18
And the remedy continues through the reality of the shift in
22:21
identity through union with Christ.
22:23
This is where the root of misplaced identity is destroyed.
22:26
Exactly. Our old self, the self that was
22:28
enslaved to man's opinion and approval, has been crucified
22:31
with Christ. We are not just forgiven for
22:34
fearing man, we are fundamentally redefined.
22:37
We now live a new life by faith, and our identity is anchored
22:40
securely as the one who is in Christ.
22:43
The certainty systematically displaces the former fragile
22:46
identities we so desperately sought, like the one who must be
22:49
liked or the one who must not fail, or the one who must be
22:52
relevant. We no longer need people to act
22:54
as mirrors because the light of Christ defines our reality.
22:57
The desperate horizontal search for validation ceases to be a
23:01
necessity because the vertical validation has been secured.
23:04
This is spiritual freedom. It means your worth is not
23:08
dependent on your performance today, or your popularity this
23:11
week, or your correct opinions in a polarized discussion.
23:14
Your identity is hidden with Christ in God, secure and
23:17
untouchable by the fickle whims of human judgement.
23:21
So now we move to the practical application of this doctrine in
23:24
the life of sanctification, since the fear of man is a snare
23:27
has to be displaced by a greater purer fear, the fear of God.
23:31
And this required substitution is non negotiable right?
23:34
The two types of fear are rivals that can't be Co equal.
23:37
That's right, the sources state that one must dominate when the
23:40
fear of God. And by that we mean reverent
23:42
awe, obedient loyalty, and a deep respect for his character.
23:46
When that is small in the heart, the fear of man grows large and
23:49
dictates decisions. Conversely, when God is
23:52
magnified and made great in the heart, man is small and their
23:55
opinions shrink to their proper relative size.
23:58
And this displacement isn't something we conjure up through
24:01
willpower. No, it is secured by the Holy
24:03
Spirit as a new covenant promise.
24:05
God says I will put the fear of me in their hearts.
24:08
The Spirit uses the proclaimed Word of God, the descriptions of
24:11
His sovereignty, His Holiness, and His mercy to enlarge our
24:15
vision of God's majesty. When we see the true greatness
24:18
of God, His perfection and His justice, His glory presses on
24:22
the heart more heavily than the fluctuating judgments of people.
24:25
And this freedom results in the practical outflow of Christian
24:27
liberty, allowing the believer to live corumdeo.
24:31
Corumdeo. Yeah, this Latin phrase,
24:32
corumdeo, it means before the face of God, and it's the
24:36
antidote to the fear of man to live.
24:38
Corumdeo means that God's presence, His gaze, and His
24:41
Word, not human opinion, become the defining, continuous reality
24:45
of our lives. To when the conscience is gospel
24:48
trained and resting securely in justification, it can choose
24:52
with clarity. It chooses the path of the
24:54
apostles. We must obey God rather than
24:57
men. This liberty systematically
24:59
replaces the controlling, anxiety inducing question, What
25:02
will they think of me with a liberating submissive question,
25:06
what pleases my Lord? And this is where the obedience
25:08
becomes costly, but the burden is lightened by freedom.
25:12
The holy boldness that flows from living Corum Deo counts
25:15
God's verdict of well done infinitely more precious than
25:18
all the praise or all the score in the entire world can muster.
25:22
The fear of God isn't crippling, It's freeing.
25:24
It's freeing because it grounds our reverence in an
25:26
unchangeable, entirely reliable person.
25:29
So this growth is then worked out through sanctification and
25:32
costly obedience. The fear of man is not instantly
25:35
removed. It is killed progressively,
25:37
piece by piece, forged in concrete acts of obedience that
25:40
run directly against the grain of our natural fears.
25:43
Which means we must, by the Spirit's power, begin to do the
25:46
very things fear prevented. If fear kept you silent, you
25:49
must speak. If fear kept you compromising,
25:52
you must stand firm. This might mean addressing sin
25:54
in a family relationship, speaking Christ's name clearly
25:58
in a secular setting, or stating A biblical conviction that you
26:01
know will not be popular with your peer.
26:03
Group. Exactly.
26:04
And as we practice these things, we gain this experiential
26:07
knowledge of God's sufficiency. We discover that God actually
26:10
sustains us through the social fallout, that rejection is
26:14
survivable, and that his peace, which comes from knowing you
26:17
obeyed him, is infinitely deeper than the temporary pain of human
26:21
disapproval. The sources emphasize that
26:24
action precedes feeling. We act in faith, and the
26:28
corresponding freedom follows. And this path of growth
26:31
absolutely must begin with honest confession.
26:34
We have to stop excusing the slavery of the fuel of man as
26:36
just temperament or shyness or being conflict averse, right?
26:39
We have to call specific moments where we chose man's approval
26:43
over God's what they are, a clear, definable sin, idolatry
26:46
and unbelief. This concrete honesty brings
26:49
those hidden loyalties out of the darkness and under the
26:51
cleansing blood of Christ and the liberating authority of His
26:53
Word. It is the consistent, prayerful
26:56
acknowledgement of our reliance on human opinion that allows the
26:59
Spirit to apply the radical remedy of justification.
27:03
We confess the specific idolatry, we rest in the
27:06
forgiveness offered by the cross, and then we ask the
27:08
Spirit to provide the vision of God's greatness necessary to
27:11
face the world again, free from the snare.
27:13
So to summarize the entire spiritual shift we've discussed
27:17
today, the fear of man is a horizontal anxiety rooted in
27:20
idolatry, unbelief, pride, and misplaced identity.
27:24
It leads to spiritual bondage and moral compromise.
27:27
And the remedy is a vertical reverence, anchored entirely in
27:30
the finished work of Jesus Christ, his life, his death and
27:33
His resurrection, which secures our justification and plants the
27:36
fear of God in the new heart. We can return to that analogy
27:39
you mentioned earlier, the analogy of the King's pardon.
27:42
Yes, because the believer possesses the letter of pardon
27:45
and adoption signed by the highest king in the universe.
27:48
Your status before him is secure and unchangeable once you know
27:52
your citizenship is eternally secured in his favor.
27:55
The opinions, insults, or threats from anyone in the crowd
27:58
below, no matter how loud or numerous, they lose all ability
28:02
to revoke the King's decision. They may criticize your choices,
28:05
but they cannot overturn your citizenship.
28:07
That certainty frees us to act and to obey.
28:09
So if the fear of man keeps you silent in your home or your
28:12
workplace or your social group, what truth about God's
28:15
sovereignty, sufficiency, or character are you functionally
28:18
minimizing today? And how might one small act of
28:21
costly obedience in a conversation and a text message
28:24
in a moment of silence, begin to enlarge your vision of Him so
28:27
that you see him as large enough to be feared and people as small
28:30
enough to be disregarded? That's a challenge to carry into
28:33
the rest of your week. We encourage you to pursue
28:35
further study on Christian liberty and the gravity of the
28:37
First Commandment as you seek to live Corum deo.
28:40
This has been the deep dive.