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*Title:* The Missionary Killer: Fear of Man*                                                Text: *1 Peter 3:13-17
*Theme of Passage: *Your willingness for suffering and your lack of the fear of man will be a testimony to the unsaved.
*Interrogative: *Do you fear God more than you fear men?
Are you more concerned about looking stupid than acting sinfully?
Is your fear of man preventing you from witnessing?
*Proposition: *Fear God not man!
*Introduction*
Today, I am not going to tell you about the hundreds and thousands of people in this country and around the world that do not have Jesus Christ.
I am not going to tell you that there is a huge need for Christian workers.
I am not going to tell you about the Great Commission and the need to share the Gospel of Christ.
Most of you already know about the huge number of unsaved people, about the need for Christian workers, and the need to share the Gospel.
Today, I wan to focus on a problem that prevents many people from serving God and being an effective witness.
We need to look at the disease, give the symptoms of the disease, give the cure to the disease, and then give the prognosis to the disease.
Read 1 Peter 3:13-17
* *
*1.      **The Disease v. 13-14; Proverbs 29:25*
The book of 1 Peter was written to encourage believers that were probably in Rome facing many trials and persecutions.
Peter was trying to help the Christians understand that suffering was part of the Christian life and it should be used to influence others for Christ.
In verse 13, we see that Peter asks a question: “Who is going to harm and hurt you if you are doing good?”
Peter is saying, that if you are doing good, not many people are going to really want to hurt you or persecute you.
He adds this idea, “However, if you do suffer for righteousness which is rare (the Greek structure indicates that suffering is rare), then you are blessed- privileged or honored.”
This is exactly what Christ says in Matthew 5:10- “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake!”
If you are persecuted for righteousness, then God blesses you.
Persecution is not really a bad thing.
However, the fact is that most will not have to suffer greatly for Christ.
In this country, there is great freedom to worship freely and there is very little persecution.
However, I believe that the next statement is the real disease or problem that people have with suffering.
The problem is fear.
Peter goes on to say in verse 14, “Don’t be afraid of their threats and don’t be afraid of the things that they fear.”
Peter is say, “Don’t fear men- don’t fear their words, don’t fear their actions, and don’t fear the things that they fear.”
Often, the real problem that we have is not outside the church, but it is within the church.
We have the disease of the fear of man! Turn to Proverbs 29:25.
It says, “/The fear of man brings a snare, But he who trusts in the Lord will be exalted./”
Fearing men is the disease or the problem that we have!
Persecution is difficult, but often we don’t face persecution.
Suffering is hard, but often we don’t have to suffer.
Often, we make it a point in our life to fear man instead of God.
I will prove this to be true in just a moment.
First, let us define the fear of man.
/Definition of the fear of man/: Basically, it is being afraid of someone.
However, it also involves holding someone in awe, being controlled or mastered by people, worshiping people, putting your trust in people, or needing people.
*Illustration: *Now, lets look at the illustration of the fear of man from Peters life.
Do you remember what Peter told the Lord just before Christ was crucified?
(Matt.
26:30-35; Mark 14:26-31; Luke 22:34, 39; John 13:37, 38) Peter said, “Lord, I will not stumble like others might stumble.
In fact, I would give up my life for your sake!” Jesus Christ said to Peter, ““Assuredly, I say to you that this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.”
Peter probably thought, “There is no way that I would deny you!” Later, someone questioned Peter and accused him of being with Jesus.
Do you know who it was?
It wasn’t a centurion, a Pharisee, or someone in authority- it was just a servant girl.
John says to the servant girl, “I don’t even know what you’re talking about!
You’re crazy!”
Then a little later, another asked him “/Aren’t you a follower of Jesus/?”
Peter again and in an even more bold and forceful way said, “NO, I DON’T KNOW HIM!”
Then, a servant of the high priest said, “/Yes, I’m sure that you were with Jesus/!” Peter then by cursing and swearing says, “I DON’T KNOW HIM!” Immediately after that, the rooster crowed and Peter knew that he had denied Christ- he ran out and wept bitterly for he knew that he sinned!
Peter knew that he had sinned by fearing man rather than God, yet Christ forgave him.
Peter had fallen into the snare of the “fear of man.”
He denied His Lord because of his fear of man.
*Appl**:* Many would say, “I would never deny Christ even if my life depended on it,” /yet they never speak for or about Christ to their unsaved friends and relatives/.”
The fear of man might be gripping you.
You can imagine Peter telling everyone in 1 Peter 3:14, “You need to fear God and not man; trust me, I know from experience!” Let’s look at some of the symptoms of the fear of man.
Each one of us probably deals with the fear of man!
 
*2.
**The Symptoms v. 13-14*
In verse 14, Peter says, count it as a blessing if you suffer persecution.
Most likely, you won’t suffer much persecution, but if you do your blessed, but either way, DON’T FEAR MAN! What are some of the symptoms of the fear of man?
Let me give you a few Biblical examples of the fear of man and then we will describe common symptoms.
*Abraham*: Abraham is one of the greatest characters in the Bible.
He is an excellent example of faith.
However, he had a problem: the fear of man (Gen 12:12; 20:2) /Twice in his life, Abraham lied to a king about his relation to his wife/.
Abraham told his wife Sarah, “Say to the king that you are my sister, because if they find out that you’re my wife, they will kill me!” Abraham was /willing to tell a lie/ (or have his wife tell a lie for him) because he was afraid of what men would do to him.
The fear of man was clearly present in his life.
*King Saul:* King Saul was told by God to go conquer the Amalekites.
He was told to kill every living thing of the Amalekites.
Instead, Saul spared all the best livestock, and he spared the life of King Agag.
Samuel came to King Saul and told him that he had disobeyed!
/Saul lied and even blamed his sin on the people/.
In 1 Samuel 15:24, Saul even says that he feared the opinion of the people so obeyed the people!
He was more interested in the opinion of the people than obedience to God.
He feared man instead of God.
*Rulers and Leaders in the New Testament:* In John 12:42-43, we read about another instance of the fear of man.
Some of the religious rulers and people in authority believed in Jesus Christ, however, /they/ /were not willing to publically confess Jesus and follow him because they were scared of the Pharisees/.
They were scared of being put out of the Synagogue.
WHY? John 12:43, it says that they “loved the praise of man more than the praise of God.” Simply put, they were more worried about what men thought about them than what God thought about them.
Sadly, the fear of men was strong in their life.
*Application:* The fear of man was prevalent in the lives of many people in the Bible.
It had terrible consequences.
We can find out from these examples many symptoms of the fear of man.
Let me put the symptoms in the form of questions.
Ask yourself if these following things are true in your life.
If they are, then you are probably falling to the fear of man.
Ø     Have you ever struggled with peer pressure?
Ø     Do you have a hard time saying “No” to other people?
You might be a people pleaser.
You’re too concerned about what others think if you say “NO.”
Ø     Is self-esteem critical for you?
Do you try to cover up things with lies?
You want to hide the truth so people aren’t offended or you look better that way.
Ø     Do you try to justifying your sin? Do you try to blame others for things that are your fault?
You /want to look better in front of other people/.
Abraham did this.
Ø     Do you show favoritism?
Do you respect the rich more than the poor?
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