Longbeard Press, LLC

Chapter 4

Is Fear Always a Bad Thing?

Mr. Warren says:

“Fear is a self-imposed prison that will keep you from becoming what God intends for you to be.”  (Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life, p. 29)

“But fear of God, not friendship, was more common in the Old Testament.  Then Jesus changed the situation.”  (Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life, p. 86)

“We obey God, not out of duty or fear or compulsion, but because we love him and trust that he knows what is best for us.”  (Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life, p. 95)

But Scripture says:

“My flesh trembles for fear of You, And I am afraid of Your judgments.”  (Psalm 119:120 NKJV)

“But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him.”  (Acts 10:35 NKJV)

            It is tempting to categorize everything as white or black, good or bad.  This is because such categorizing simplifies life.  For example, if you begin with the premise, “Snakes are bad,” then life becomes much simpler whenever you encounter a snake – you simply kill it, thus helping rid the world of something that is ‘bad’.  However, if you are a farmer and you kill every snake you come across, you soon find that you will have increasing numbers of rats and mice eating away at your grain.  A smart farmer realizes that non-poisonous snakes are very beneficial, and he goes out of his way to learn to identify them by their markings, and to protect the non-poisonous snakes, and kill only the poisonous ones that pose a danger to him and his children and animals.

            Fear is a God-given emotion that can be good and can be bad, depending on the circumstances.  A child who has had the unfortunate experience of burning his hand on a hot stove learns to fear coming into contact with a hot stove in the future.  This is a healthy and good kind of fear, because it protects the child from being burned by a stove in the future.  A man who learns that God will punish him for sinning, learns to fear God in a healthy and profitable way.  He avoids future divine punishments by avoiding sinful behavior.  It is a fool who tells himself that there is no God, and tries to convince himself that he will not receive divine punishment for his wicked acts.  “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’“  (Psalm 14:1 NASV)  In describing the wicked, the Psalmist says:  “There is no fear of God before his eyes.”  (Psalm 36:1 NIV)  The reverse is also true, that a righteous person appropriately fears God.

            The Psalmist prays:  “Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.”[1]  {See support for numbered citations in notes at end of chapter.}  (Psalm 86:11 NIV)  The Psalmist prays this because he knows that it is for his benefit that he maintains a fear of God’s punishment for wrongdoing. He realizes that such fear is a healthy motivation to live a life pleasing to God, instead of a sinful life that will bring harm to him in this life and the next.  The Israelite midwives, who assisted women birthing babies, were ordered by Pharaoh to kill any male children who were born.  “The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live.”  (Exodus 1:17 NIV)  They knew God would punish them for murder, even though the king of Egypt had ordered it done.  When a number of Israelites returned to Jerusalem, from captivity in Babylon, and rebuilt the fortress there, one man was chosen as the best candidate to be put in charge of guarding the fortress, because “he was a faithful man and feared God more than many.”  (Nehemiah 7:2 NASV)  Because he feared God, and God’s divine judgment, he could be counted on not to take a bribe to surrender the fortress to the enemy (which was a common way in which fortresses were lost, and cities conquered, in those days).

            The fear of God is the bedrock of righteousness and of civilized societies.  If there is no fear of God, then judges will take bribes to decide in favor of the wicked.  Policemen and soldiers will not fear to take money and property from people by force, and then testify in court that they did not commit such injustices.  It is the unseen fear of God that prevents people from lying to one another and cheating one another in business transactions.  For this reason, the societies that have experienced the greatest peace and prosperity, for the greatest numbers of citizens, have been those societies that had the largest proportion of Bible-believing citizens.  This is the major reason that the so-called ‘Christian West’ (Europe and North America) has had the largest percentage of prosperous citizens in history.

            A Roman soldier named Cornelius is described in the New Testament as a “devout man” because “he feared God.”  (Acts 10:2 NASV)  The Jews, as a people, used to have a special relationship with God, because they were from the family tree of Abraham.  But “they were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear; for if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will He spare you.”  (Romans 11:20-21 NASV)  The Jews are here used as an example to promote, in Christians, a fear of forsaking faith in God, and being cut off from the family of God.

            It is appropriate to fear what one might face in the final judgment, based on one’s conduct.  It is this fear that motivated Paul to persuade men to submit to Christ and his commandments.

"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.  Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men."  (2^nd Corinthians 5:10-11 NIV)

            The Apostle Peter also saw the prospect of God’s judgment as a motivation to a healthy fear against a sinful life:

"Since you call on a Father who judges each man's work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear."  (1^st Peter 1:17 NIV)

            The writer of Hebrews uses the example of the disobedient Israelites being banned from the promised land (God’s place of ‘rest’ for his people) as a warning to Christians about being banned from God’s eternal place of ‘rest’:

"And to whom did He swear that they should not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient?  And so we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.  Therefore, let us fear lest, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it."  (Hebrews 3:18 – 4:1 NASV)

            It is worth noting also, from the above passage, the link between ‘belief’ and ‘obedience’.  In verse 18, the people who failed to enter God’s ‘rest’ are designated as ‘disobedient’.  In the very next sentence, it says they were not able to enter because of ‘unbelief’.  This is another example of what was pointed out earlier, that to ‘believe’ in Christ or God is to also believe in the authority of their words, and their warnings against disobedience.  Those who truly believe in Christ, believe in what he said, and fear to ignore his warning that:

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven."  (Matthew 7:21 NIV)

            There was a famous preacher in Scotland during the 16^th century who understood the difference between bad fear and good fear.  At one time he was summoned before the queen of that country for speaking out against her public approval of her French uncles’ massacre of evangelical Christians (which she celebrated with a banquet and dancing party).  She hoped to intimidate him by having him in her court, and she charged him with treason (for which he could be imprisoned and executed).  But he boldly made his stand and spoke against her actions.  God intended for him to live, and no harm came to him.  His name was John Knox.  As he was leaving this encounter, the queen’s courtiers remarked out loud, “He is not afraid!”  To which Knox replied:  “Why should the pleasing face of a gentlewoman put me in fear?  I have looked in the faces of many angry men, and yet have not been afraid above measure.”[2]  For his boldness there, and in many similar encounters, it was said of Knox, that because his fear of displeasing God was so great, he had no fear of man.

            This is very similar to the situation where Peter and the apostles were arrested and put in jail, and then brought out before the Jewish religious authorities and commanded to preach no more about Jesus.  Peter and the apostles responded:  “We must obey God rather than men.”  They very likely, at that time, recalled Jesus’ words on this subject:

"And 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.  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!"  (Luke 12:4-5 NASV)

Conclusion of “Purpose Driven Life”:  “Fear is a self-imposed prison that will keep you from becoming what God intends for you to be.”  “But fear of God, not friendship, was more common in the Old Testament.  Then Jesus changed the situation.”  “We obey God, not out of duty or fear or compulsion, but because we love him and trust that he knows what is best for us.”  (Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life, pp. 29, 86, 95)

Outworking of “Purpose Driven Life” Conclusion:  A simplistic outlook, that some emotions are always bad and others are always good, leads to a view that does not adequately deal with real life.  Those who believe that Christians should have no fear, not even towards God, are at odds with the abundant Scriptures which teach otherwise.  To believe that a Christian should have no fear of God must lead one to believe that God is more lenient than the Scriptures tell us.  It is to believe that God will not call a Christian to account for his misdeeds, and that he will not punish a Christian.  Such ideas, if fully embraced, will make someone think they can get away with sin, and not be called to account for it in this life or the next.  Such individuals will be tempted to lie and cheat and take advantage of fellow citizens.  They will be terribly surprised at the hot reception they find waiting for them at the final judgment.

Conclusion from Scripture:  Fear is a God-given emotion that can be bad or good, depending upon circumstances.  However, a healthy fear of displeasing God, based upon a sincere belief that God punishes people for sinful actions -- this is a good kind of fear.

Outworking of Scriptural Belief:  If a person truly believes in Christ, he also believes in his words, and in his warnings to fear God’s anger against sinful acts.  This motivation equips a person to be a noble citizen in this life, and to receive great blessings in the next life.  Without a healthy fear of God, a society becomes dishonest and violent.  Without a healthy fear of God, Christians risk wandering away from a true faith in God.

Memory Verses:

“My flesh trembles for fear of You, And I am afraid of Your judgments.”  (Psalm 119:120 NKJV)

“But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him.”  (Acts 10:35 NKJV)

“The fear of the LORD adds length to life, but the years of the wicked are cut short.”  (Proverbs 10:27 NIV)

Rick Warren & The Modern Church:  Purpose Driven Disaster; 155 pages; 6" x 9"; paperback; $9.99; available for purchase at Amazon.com.