Sermon Tone Analysis

Luke 12:4, 5

Fear Him

 

I say to you, My friends, don’t fear those who kill the body, and after that can do nothing more.

But I will show you the One to fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has authority to throw into hell.

Yes, I say to you, this is the One to fear!

The power of man and his institutions is limited.

I recall a university in the southern United States which refused to alter a policy against interracial dating on campus.

The Internal Revenue Service of the United States demanded that they change their policy, which had stood since the inception of the school.

In the nearly five decades since founding of the school, after graduating tens of thousands of students and providing preachers to many otherwise destitute small churches, social views had changed in the nation.

Whereas society once had frowned on interracial dating, now such prohibitions seemed archaic, even arcane.

The school had run afoul of social preference and would need to be corrected.

Surprisingly, the school was not inclined to change its policies, and after resisting the onslaught of newspaper editorials and government threats of loss of privilege, the school lost its income tax exemption and was no longer allowed to accept students receiving any governmental assistance.

I spoke with the chairman of the science department of that school shortly after this governmental decision.

I asked how the school saw the matter.

His response was revealing.

“There is nothing more the government can do to this school once they have removed their privileges.

Now, we can provide what we believe is a biblical education without governmental interference.

Those individuals who believe in what we are doing will continue to support us, whether they receive a receipt for income tax purposes or not.

Those who give only to obtain a receipt will cease to do so.”

Though I do not approve of the school’s policy, I support the principle of freedom and choice they espoused.

That school continues to provide an education to thousands of people each year.

The quality of education has not been compromised and people of all races continue to seek admission to the school.

It no longer gives income tax receipts, but those who believe in the freedom to interpret the Word of God according to the dictates of one’s own conscience continue to support that institution.

When government had played its hand of punishing to coerce behaviour, it had no more power.

This particular account of that institution is related in a measure to the text before us this morning.

The worst that one individual can do to another is to take his or her life.

The individual who lives in fear of death can never be free.

Once the fear of death is removed, the individual is truly free.

What can be done to the man who is already dead?

Nothing!

However, those who fear what man can do will succumb to their fear, leading them into slavery.

Perhaps you recall the words of Solomon, recorded in *Proverbs 29:25*.

Fear of man will prove to be a snare,

but whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe.

For a Christian to live in fear is gross hypocrisy.

The basis of Jesus’ words is a warning against hypocrisy.

Clearly, the will of the Saviour is that we have peace [see *John 14:27*].

A Definition of Hypocrisy — The whole of this pericope related in Luke’s Gospel results from Jesus’ warning against /the yeast of the Pharisees/—hypocrisy.

The word *hypocrite* comes from a Greek term used for an actor.

In classical Greek, the word spoke of rendering a final judgement on an issue.

Later, in the Greek theatre, a hypocrite was the one who answered or interpreted the dialogue of the chorus.

Thus, a hypocrite was one playing a role.

In the New Testament, however, the word uJpovkrisi" is used to speak of those making an outward show, of insincerity, of pretence.[1]

The history of the Pharisees is a wonderful story.

They arose in the Maccabean period of Israel’s history.

They were to the Jewish people at that time what the Puritans were to England in the period of their greatness.

The Pharisees were an order created to prevent the nation from sliding into contamination from the surrounding nations, losing their purity and identity.

Their influence was of the highest and the best sort.[2]

By the time Jesus came on the scene, the Pharisees had degenerated into a despicable display of corruption.

They had lost their spiritual and moral influence.

They had a form of godliness but denied its power.

The yeast which had infiltrated and destroyed them was hypocrisy.

The Pharisees wore masks, hiding their true identity.

People sometimes decline my invitation to visit the church, often stating their view that the church is full of hypocrites.

I tell such people there is always room for one more.

Refusing to go to church because there are hypocrites is itself hypocritical.

We don’t stop attending sporting events because some players are unsportsmanlike.

We don’t cease eating out because some restaurateurs are unscrupulous or because some chefs are not good cooks.

We don’t cease driving our cars because some drivers can’t.

Most of those who excuse themselves from attending church because of hypocrisy among the membership are themselves hypocritical.

This is not an excuse, but it is a fact.

Is there is hypocrisy among us?

Do we wear masks, hiding who we really are?  Have any among us held our tongues when colleagues or even friends ridiculed the Faith of Christ the Lord?

Have any among us failed to stand openly for Christ and His church when others spoke against Him?  Have we ever eaten a meal with outsiders and refused to bow our head to return grace because we didn’t know how we would be received?

Worse yet are those occasions when we did the quick duck of our head as we silently and hurriedly offered up a semblance of a prayer, all the while hoping no one noticed.

Have we ever felt the urging of the Holy Spirit to invite someone to Christ and yet held our peace because we didn’t want to risk his or her friendship?

Have we tolerated lewd language or lascivious behaviour because we didn’t want to be seen as prudish?

You see, all such actions are hypocritical, for we play a role which is not ours.

I wonder whether some of our teens are among our worst hypocrites.

In their drive to be accepted, they want to appear cool—to be accepted by others, so they are ever so careful not to associate with nerds or Jesus freaks.

Who determines who will be a nerd?

Where are the rules written defining nerdhood?

What will it be in heaven when all those Jesus freaks and nerds surround the throne of God?  Will the cool saints hold themselves back because they don’t want to appear overly friendly with those strange people?

Some of our teens are friendly enough with one another on Sunday, but that is the limit of their interaction.

I know that our teens want to appear cool.

That is why some refuse to sit in the worship, choosing instead to wander the halls or sit in the back.

They are willing to be near the action, but they don’t want to be too near the action lest someone think them uncool.

Of course, we adults don’t want to influence them, so we permit them to make such disastrous choices.

There is scant evidence that some of our youth are Christian.

This should be a point of grave concern for each of us.

I speak the truth in love to say that if attend or participate on any basis other than the will of God, we are hypocrites.

Jesus compared hypocrisy to yeast, a symbol which every Jew would immediately associate with evil.

Throughout the Word of God, yeast symbolises sin.

Jews were required to rid their homes of yeast during the days of the Passover [see *Exodus 12:15-20*].

Paul compared sin to yeast [see *1 Corinthians 5:6-8*; *Galatians 5:9*].

Like yeast, hypocrisy begins small, but grows quickly and quietly until it infects the whole person.

Hypocrisy does to ego what yeast does to bread dough—it puffs it up!

Soon, pride takes over and the individual’s character deteriorates rapidly.[3]

Am I saying this because it is easy?

Am I not telling you the truth because it is easier to avoid the first hint of pride than it is to rid ourselves of hypocrisy once it has taken root within our lives.

Once we begin to pretend—to pretend that we are just like the world about us, pretend that we are really tolerant of wickedness, pretend that we are unchanged by the presence of Christ the Lord—the process progresses rapidly.

The longer we wait the worse our condition, until at last we are essentially useless to Christ.

The Cause of Hypocrisy — The cause of hypocrisy is revealed in Jesus’ words in our text.

I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more.

But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell.

Yes, I tell you, fear Him.

The emphatic contrast to not fearing people is noted in the threefold repetition of the call to fear God.

The basis for all hypocrisy is fear—fear that we will not be accepted, fear that we will be injured, fear that we may be killed.

Fear drives us to act to preserve ourselves, even at the expense of truth.

First, I urge you to take careful note of the gentleness with which Jesus speaks.