October 10, 2025 • 35 mins
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If we live our lives as people pleasers, we are not pleasing the Lord.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Biblical Talks Sermon of the Week.
Over and over again in the bookof Proverbs, solomon is urging
us to fear the Lord.
Doing so is the gateway towisdom.
Listen.
The fear of mankind, however,is nothing but a trap.
(00:22):
If you and I live our lives asa people pleaser, we are not
pleasing to God at all.
Why Plummer has a sermon calledLiving for God approving a
world obsessed with lights.
(00:43):
This was a great sermon from aelder at New City Church in
Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Here's Y Plummer.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Our scripture reading comes from Proverbs 29, 25.
It's rather brief but powerfuland it reads the fear of man
lays a snare, but whoever trustsin the Lord is safe.
This is God's Word.
(01:16):
Let us pray Our graciousHeavenly Father.
God and King, we thank you foryour Word.
Even in its brevity it'spowerful because it's you
speaking, the God of theuniverse, the Almighty, the King
(01:37):
of all creation.
We pray that you would blessour souls as we hear this Word,
as you articulate it throughyour servant, and pray that we
would be convicted and convincedthat you are Lord and Jesus
Christ your Son.
(01:58):
We pray these things in Hisname.
Amen, amen, please be seated.
When you are the pastor of achurch, you have a
responsibility to preach God'sWord faithfully, and one of the
(02:19):
best ways to do that is topreach a balanced diet by
preaching through whole books ofthe Bible.
The struggle with preachingthroughout books of the Bible is
dealing with difficult passages, and one of the benefits of
being an occasional speaker isthat I get to choose my favorite
(02:40):
topics, topics, and one of myfavorite topics is living in a
broken world and how we grow asChristians, and to that end, I
title today's sermon a littlelonger than the scripture verse,
even living for God's approvalin a world obsessed with likes.
(03:11):
We live in a world addicted toapplause.
Some of us measure our worth bythe number of likes, followers
and reposts, and I have to admitthat this is not one of my
weaknesses.
I don't even have a socialmedia account, but my generation
(03:34):
has its own way of finding ourlikes.
But long before there wassocial media, proverbs 29.25
diagnosed a problem with thehuman heart when it says the
fear of man lays a snare.
But whoever trusts in the Lordis safe.
We all want to be liked, butthe problem is that when that
desire becomes our compass, ourmaster and our God, it becomes a
(03:58):
problem.
Why do we live for approval ofothers, even when we have the
approval of the one whoseopinion counts?
This is not a psychologicalproblem.
It's a theological problem,because at the root of our fears
of not getting likes isforgetting, doubting, minimizing
(04:22):
the only verdict that reallycounts, and that's God's verdict
.
So I have two points and aquestion between those points.
The first point is fearingpeople is a problem.
Proverbs 29.25 says that thefear of man lays a snare.
(04:43):
The Hebrew word for snarerefers to a trap used to catch
animals.
It's hidden, it lures.
The New Living Translation getsto this when it reads fearing
people is a dangerous trap.
We have an Old Testamentbiblical example in the example
(05:04):
of Saul, israel's first king,whose fear of people led to his
downfall.
We read the story andintroduction to the story in 1
Samuel 15, 1 through 3.
It reads it reads Egypt Now goand stride Amalek and devote to
(05:44):
destruction all that they have.
Do not spare them, but killboth man and woman and child and
infant, oxen and sheep andcamel and donkey.
It sounds like an incredibleharsh command, but there is a
story behind it.
Long before Saul became thefirst king of Israel, the
(06:06):
Amalekites had attacked Israelwhen they were weak and
defenseless, coming out ofslavery in Egypt.
God said then that theirinjustice would not be forgotten
.
Now, hundreds of years later,their judgment has come.
This was not an arbitrary actof violence on God's part.
(06:30):
This was God's holy justice.
After centuries of unrepentantevil, god gave Saul a clear
mission completely obey, leavenothing.
This was a test in the trust ofobedience.
But Saul had other ideas.
He obeyed mostly, but notentirely.
(06:55):
He spared the king Agag,perhaps as a trophy of war.
He let the people keep thesheep and the cattle, perhaps to
keep himself popular?
It was a partial obediencedressed up with spirituality.
Saul even justified hisbehavior religiously when he
says well, we kept the animalsto sacrifice to the Lord, but
(07:20):
God was not interested insacrifices.
He says that obedience isbetter than sacrifice.
When Saul finally admits thetruth, here is what he says I
have sinned, for I havetransgressed the commandments of
the Lord and his words.
Why?
Because I feared the people andobeyed their voice.
(07:42):
He got trapped.
He feared the people and obeyedtheir voice.
He got trapped.
He feared the people and obeyedtheir voice rather than God's
voice.
Proverbs 29, 25 warns the fearof man lays a trap.
Saul got caught.
He wanted the people's approvalmore than he wanted God's
approval.
He feared losing his image morethan he feared disobeying the
(08:08):
Lord, and it cost him everything.
We are not that different fromSaul, although we are not
commanded to kill people.
In fact we are commanded tolove our neighbor as ourselves.
In fact, we are commanded tolove our neighbor as ourselves.
But I wonder if we do that 100%, or if that neighbor that
(08:31):
annoys us.
We wonder whether God reallywants us to love that neighbor.
We're commanded to even loveour enemies.
That sounds impossible withoutthe grace of God to love our
enemies.
We're commanded to makedisciples and we need to share
our faith, but how uncomfortableare we with sharing our faith?
(08:56):
How uncomfortable are we withwondering what they might think
of us?
We're commanded to give thanksin all things, but I wonder if
some of us are uncomfortablegiving thanks in public over a
meal.
We'll look around and wonderhmm, maybe it's a little
(09:19):
different in the South.
I don't know.
I know that I was uncomfortableand I'm not here to beat you up
.
I'm here to just bring to ourattention the reality of how
difficult it is for us to do thethings that God has called us
to do 100% when we need anddesire and long for the approval
(09:43):
of people.
There's another person in theBible who was trapped by the
fear of what people thought ofhim, and that person was the
apostle Peter.
Peter shows us how fear cantrap even the most passionate
disciple.
This is the same people whoonce said even if everyone falls
(10:05):
away, I would never fall away.
It's the same people, peter,who drew his sword in the garden
to defend Jesus.
But then came the courtyardscene where Jesus had been
arrested.
The disciples scattered andpeople and Peter followed at a
(10:25):
distance.
He found himself warming hishands at a fire, surrounded by
strangers.
A servant girl looked closelyat him and said this man was
with Jesus.
What did Peter do, woman?
I don't know him.
What did Peter do, Woman?
(10:49):
I don't know him.
Another person said wait aminute, you also were with him.
And Peter denies it again.
And finally someone says surelyyou are one of them, because
your accent gives you away.
And right then a rooster crowedand Jesus turned and looked at
Peter.
And then Peter remembered hehad promised loyalty, but the
(11:15):
fear of man got him.
The fear of being exposed,rejected or perhaps arrested
trapped him and he wept bitterly.
Peter wasn't a coward, thatwasn't his nature.
But at that moment he fearedpeople more than he feared God
(11:37):
and, like Saul, he fell into thesnare.
But the difference is thatPeter's story didn didn't end
there.
He was broken, but notabandoned, because god's
incredible love and gracerestored him.
Peter was later restored on thebeach by jesus, who asked him
(11:57):
three times do you love me,peter?
To which p would say you know,I love you, lord.
And each time Jesus would tellhim to feed my lambs, peter was
restored.
All is well.
Peter had learned his lesson.
You think.
(12:19):
Having experienced the curse ofthe fear of man, having fallen
into the trap, having seen thegaze of Jesus, having known the
riches of the forgiveness andlove of Christ, peter learned.
(12:40):
Now Paul tells us how the storycontinues with Peter in the book
of Galatians, galatians 2, whenPeter was in Antioch.
You see, peter was eating withthe Gentiles.
He was having fellowship withthe Gentiles, enjoying them.
Certain men came from James,men of the circumcision group,
(13:08):
peter's friends and associates,his fellow Jews.
Peter pulled back.
He stopped eating with theGentiles.
He became afraid again, and notof a servant girl this time,
but his religious peers.
The fear of man returned andwith it hypocrisy.
(13:28):
Paul saw it and confronted itand rebuked him to his face,
publicly.
I wonder if we would do that.
If we see one of our fellowbrothers or sisters falling into
sin, doing something public,would we publicly address them?
Would we have the fear ofwondering?
I wonder if I can do this infront of other people.
(13:52):
Peter's actions were horriblebecause he was not in line with
the truth of the gospel and hisbehavior denied the very grace
that had restored him.
And others followed, evenbarnabas.
The fear of man is a trap.
It's a serious trap that any ofus could fall into.
(14:15):
So how do we avoid this trap?
I see I'm going to answer thatin the second point, but before
I answer that I want to ask aquestion why do we long for
approval?
Let's be honest, none of us istoo far from caring about what
(14:39):
other people think.
We care what they think.
We care what they think aboutthe way we talk, how we dress,
how we parent, how we lead, howwe worship.
We care so much sometimes thatwe won't even speak the truth,
we won't fully follow Godbecause someone might
(15:01):
misunderstand us or disapproveof us.
So I ask the question again whydo we care so much about what
people think?
To answer this question I'verelied on Edward Welch's book
when People Are Big and God IsSmall, wonderful book, I would
(15:23):
highly recommend it.
And he gives numerous examplesin the first four chapters in
the introduction of his book.
And I summarize these answerswhich I'd like to give you now.
Why do we care so much aboutwhat people think?
(15:46):
One, because we are spirituallyempty and desperately needy.
Coming from his introduction,we live as if people.
We live like people who havelove tanks with a leak.
We need others to fill usthrough approval, attention,
respect, affirmation, because wefeel empty.
(16:08):
When we don't feel loved orvalued, we don't feel okay.
I love what he says here whenhe says, regarding other people,
our problem is that we needthem for ourselves more than we
love them for the glory of God.
Such is a powerful quote.
(16:29):
Secondly, he says we long forthis approval because we carry
shame and try to hide it.
It comes from his first chapter.
The fall introduced shame andwith it the instinct to cover
ourselves and to hide from beingseen by others.
Adam and Eve feared the gaze ofothers.
The fear led to hidingemotionally, relationally and
(16:55):
spiritually.
We don't see God clearly, butwe, accurately, are aware of
other people's scrutiny.
You see, god sees us all thetime, psalm 139.
But we're just not aware ofother people's scrutiny.
You see, god sees us all thetime, psalm 139.
But we're just not aware of itas much as we are aware of the
eyeballs of other people.
Another thing he says is becausewe crave belonging and fear
(17:18):
rejection, we fear beingexcluded, ignored, dismissed,
unloved.
We look to others for our senseof identity.
This creates people-pleasingwhere we live for the applause
and acceptance.
Rejection becomes a kind ofidol for us, which we worship
(17:41):
From the third chapter becausewe think people have the power
to harm us.
The fear of man is also asurvival instinct.
We think others have the powerto hurt us.
Trauma and abuse deepens thisfear.
If we've been harmed by others,we may give them too much power
in our minds and hearts.
Our fear becomes idolatrouswhen it overrides God's promises
(18:05):
and replaces trust.
Lastly, he says, because theworld trains us to worship
people's opinions.
Our modern culture shapes us todefine our value by reputation,
self-esteem and how othersperceive us.
We are told that we are whatother people think of us.
(18:28):
Identity becomes a matter ofself-expression and performance.
Even spirituality gets twistedinto self-focus, where we use
God not to know him but to feelbetter about ourselves, but to
feel better about ourselves.
I recently attended a wedding inNew Orleans and our hotel was
(18:55):
on Bourbon Street, and if you'veever been to New Orleans, on
Bourbon Street there's all kindsof interesting people in all
kinds of interesting garbwalking up and down the street.
Well, this was an Africanwedding and I was required to
wear an African garb myself andI still remember putting it on
(19:18):
and then looking at Shirley.
I was just so uncomfortablegoing outside to pick up the
Uber so I could go to thewedding.
And I was so troubled and Iturned to Shirley, my anchor,
and I said I don't know whetherI can do this.
(19:38):
And Shirley just turned to meand said why have you looked
outside to me?
And said, why have you lookedoutside?
(20:01):
Really, I just fit right in,you know.
Here's the irony Ourover-concern about what people
think is really interesting,because most people are too busy
thinking about themselves to betoo concerned about us.
The other irony about beingoverly concerned about what
people think is that we actuallydon't know what they think.
(20:22):
Think is that we actually don'tknow what they think.
Which really brings us to thesecond point.
We need to learn to trust Godbecause we know what he thinks,
because he has told us in HisWord.
So the second point is trustingthe Lord is safety.
(20:46):
The good news of Proverbs 29.25is this Whoever trusts in the
Lord is safe, and the word safehere literally means high or
lifted out of danger.
The one who trusts God doesn'thave to manipulate perception or
chase of affirmation.
They are secure because theyhave God.
(21:13):
Paul was a good example ofsomeone who believed that.
In 1 Corinthians he shows usthat In his letter the apostle
Paul is addressing a dividedchurch.
The believers were choosingsides.
They were lining up behinddifferent apostles that they
(21:35):
liked.
They liked some like Paul, somelike Peter, some like Apollos,
and they were judging them,evaluating their worth,
comparing their styles, decidingwho was better.
And Paul had come undercriticism.
Some thought he wasn'timpressive enough, he didn't
speak well.
Paulus was probably better.
(21:55):
They were essentially saying wedon't like you, paul.
You know you're weak, notimpressive.
But how does Paul respond?
He doesn't defend himself, hedoesn't try to win them over, he
(22:15):
doesn't even get angry.
But what he does say isrecorded for us in 1 Corinthians
4, 3, and 4, is recorded for usin 1 Corinthians 4, 3, and 4,
when it says With me, it is avery small thing that I should
be judged by you or by any humancourt.
In fact, I do not even judgemyself, for I am not aware of
(22:38):
anything against me, but I amnot therefore acquitted.
It is the Lord who judges me.
What an incredible responsefrom an apostle.
Let's look at what he says.
He says it's a very small thingthat I should be judged by you
or any human court.
I really don't care what youthink of me.
(22:59):
Can any of us really honestlysay that he's not being arrogant
?
It's just that he just doesn'tlook at himself that way.
He says your opinion of medoesn't count.
Now some of us may say youropinion of me doesn't count
because it's only my opinionthat counts.
(23:20):
But Paul doesn't say that.
Paul says I do not even judgemyself.
Interestingly enough, most ofus live inside of our head
constantly evaluating ourselves.
Did I do enough?
Am I good enough?
What will people think?
Paul says even my own opinionof myself carries no weight.
(23:44):
Why?
Because God is the judge.
He says I'm not aware ofanything against myself, but I
am not therefore acquitted.
This is humility, paul says.
Even though my conscience isclear, that doesn't mean I'm
righteous.
He knows that only God seesperfectly and he says it is the
(24:07):
Lord who judges me.
This is the key.
Paul's safety key is in restingand his confidence coming from
God, not from people's approval,not even your own approval.
How many of us beat ourselvesup?
Stop it.
(24:28):
I need to stop it.
It's the Lord who judges, notus.
Paul is safe because heentrusted himself to the Lord's
verdict, not the crowd's, nothis own, not his culture.
And that's what Proverbs 29, 25means when it says whoever
(24:49):
trusts in the Lord is safe.
Safe from the trap of people'sapproval, safe from the anxiety
of self-evaluation, safe fromthe exhausting treadmill of
performance.
To trust the Lord is to rest inhis opinion of us, and his
(25:09):
verdict is that not guilty,because of the Lord, jesus
Christ, he's given us safetythrough his son.
So the big question is how dowe live this way?
How do we stay out of the trap?
We need to first of allremember whose judgment matters
(25:35):
most.
Like Paul in 1 Corinthians 4-5,we need to learn to say I don't
care what you think of me, Idon't even care what I think of
me, it is the Lord who judges.
Do you believe that we need torecenter our identity in Christ?
(26:03):
Daily, the world tells you whatyour worth is, and it's
measured by applause and likesand reputation.
But in Christ your identity issecure.
You see, you've been chosen,redeemed, forgiven and loved.
Ephesians 1.
(26:26):
Praise be to the God and Fatherof our Lord, jesus Christ, who
has blessed us in the heavenlyrealm with every spiritual
blessing in Christ.
He chose us in Christ beforethe creation of the world, to be
holy and blameless in His sight.
In Him we have redemption.
(26:48):
Through His blood, theforgiveness sins.
Our identity is in Him.
Is that a reality to you?
Is that real to you?
Have you made that real to you?
I'm recalling a Tim Kellersermon in which he was trying to
(27:09):
explain this to a teenager inhis congregation and he read all
this and she said what is allof that if I don't have dates?
And often we think that way.
Yeah, that's all good for theby and by, but what about now?
We need to pray that God makesthat reality stronger than the
(27:37):
reality that we see with oureyes, that the spiritual reality
of what he has given us, how hehas blessed us in the heavenly
realm would open our spiritualeyes so that we have a different
foundation and not one thatcomes from the world.
Our identity is in him.
(27:57):
He writes our resume.
No one else does.
Romans 8.
There is now no condemnationfor those in Christ Jesus, and
that includes your ownself-condemnation.
Stop it.
I'm preaching to myself,because if you don't actively
(28:20):
root your identity in Christ,the world will assign you one.
So begin each day byremembering I have been
crucified with Christ and I nolonger live but the life.
I live in the flesh.
I live through faith in the Sonof God, god who loved me and
gave himself up for me.
(28:43):
Before social media, beforeemails, before your meeting.
Rehearse the truth In Christ.
I am fully known, fully loved,fully accepted.
Find a friend to remind you.
I constantly forget it and so Itext a friend.
Sounds like a game show.
(29:06):
I text a friend and say prayfor me.
I am really struggling and Godanswers my prayers.
God answers those kinds ofprayers and God answers my
prayers.
God answers those kinds ofprayers Because it's part of his
promise to us.
So feed your faith.
Read the scriptures, find afriend, be encouraged, preach to
(29:34):
yourself the message that arein the scriptures.
Fill your heart daily with thetruth of the scriptures.
Read it, pray it, sing it.
Sing it in your devotional time.
Nobody will hear you Betweenyou and Jesus.
Fix your eyes on Jesus.
We're called to run withperseverance.
The race marked out for us torun with perseverance.
(29:55):
The race marked out for usfixing our eyes on Jesus, the
pioneer and perfecter of ourfaith, who, for the joy set
before him, endured the cross,spawning the shame, and sat down
at the right hand of the throneof God.
The safest place to be is notwhere everyone's approval lies,
(30:18):
but the safest place to be iswith your Lord.
Let's pray Our gracious God,king, father, we thank you that
you hear us when we call.
We thank you that you have madeprovision through your son, the
Lord Jesus Christ.
(30:39):
You have blessed us with everyspiritual blessing in the
heavenly realm.
Often, this reality, it doesn'texcite us because we can't see
it and we tend to believe thingsthat we see first, over the
things that you have saidthrough your revelation, over
the things that you have saidthrough your revelation.
(30:59):
So I pray that we would believethe things that are said before
we believe our eyes.
Secondly, there's a lot ofthings in this world to fear, so
it's understandable that wewould succumb to them.
But we pray for your grace touphold us, to lift us up, to
open our eyes to the reality ofwhat we have in Christ Jesus.
(31:21):
I pray, if there's any here whodon't know you, lord Jesus,
that you would open their eyes,that they would see.
I pray for my brothers andsisters as we struggle through
this life, as we run the raceset before us, that we would run
with the perseverance thatyou've given us, fixing our eyes
on Jesus, in whose name I pray.
(31:43):
Amen love.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
The only way you and I would be able to see life with
a clear vision.
On a way we will begin to fearGod more than we fear people.
It's when we view all of lifefrom a kingdom and eternal
perspective.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
Hello, my name is Michelle Tolliver and Biblical
Talks book offer for the monthof October is Free at Last.
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The words of Martin Luther KingJr's I have a Dream speech have
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(32:33):
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What will it take for them toreach the promised land that
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In this classic historical andcultural study, dr Carl Ellis
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(32:55):
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(33:16):
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The book also includes ahelpful glossary of people,
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Where there has been alienationFor any amount of donation to
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Thank you for listening toBiblical Talks.
Welcome to Biblical Talks Sermon of the Week.
Over and over again in the bookof Proverbs, solomon is urging
us to fear the Lord.
Doing so is the gateway towisdom.
Listen.
The fear of mankind, however,is nothing but a trap.
(00:22):
If you and I live our lives asa people pleaser, we are not
pleasing to God at all.
Why Plummer has a sermon calledLiving for God approving a
world obsessed with lights.
(00:43):
This was a great sermon from aelder at New City Church in
Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Here's Y Plummer.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Our scripture reading comes from Proverbs 29, 25.
It's rather brief but powerfuland it reads the fear of man
lays a snare, but whoever trustsin the Lord is safe.
This is God's Word.
(01:16):
Let us pray Our graciousHeavenly Father.
God and King, we thank you foryour Word.
Even in its brevity it'spowerful because it's you
speaking, the God of theuniverse, the Almighty, the King
(01:37):
of all creation.
We pray that you would blessour souls as we hear this Word,
as you articulate it throughyour servant, and pray that we
would be convicted and convincedthat you are Lord and Jesus
Christ your Son.
(01:58):
We pray these things in Hisname.
Amen, amen, please be seated.
When you are the pastor of achurch, you have a
responsibility to preach God'sWord faithfully, and one of the
(02:19):
best ways to do that is topreach a balanced diet by
preaching through whole books ofthe Bible.
The struggle with preachingthroughout books of the Bible is
dealing with difficult passages, and one of the benefits of
being an occasional speaker isthat I get to choose my favorite
(02:40):
topics, topics, and one of myfavorite topics is living in a
broken world and how we grow asChristians, and to that end, I
title today's sermon a littlelonger than the scripture verse,
even living for God's approvalin a world obsessed with likes.
(03:11):
We live in a world addicted toapplause.
Some of us measure our worth bythe number of likes, followers
and reposts, and I have to admitthat this is not one of my
weaknesses.
I don't even have a socialmedia account, but my generation
(03:34):
has its own way of finding ourlikes.
But long before there wassocial media, proverbs 29.25
diagnosed a problem with thehuman heart when it says the
fear of man lays a snare.
But whoever trusts in the Lordis safe.
We all want to be liked, butthe problem is that when that
desire becomes our compass, ourmaster and our God, it becomes a
(03:58):
problem.
Why do we live for approval ofothers, even when we have the
approval of the one whoseopinion counts?
This is not a psychologicalproblem.
It's a theological problem,because at the root of our fears
of not getting likes isforgetting, doubting, minimizing
(04:22):
the only verdict that reallycounts, and that's God's verdict
.
So I have two points and aquestion between those points.
The first point is fearingpeople is a problem.
Proverbs 29.25 says that thefear of man lays a snare.
(04:43):
The Hebrew word for snarerefers to a trap used to catch
animals.
It's hidden, it lures.
The New Living Translation getsto this when it reads fearing
people is a dangerous trap.
We have an Old Testamentbiblical example in the example
(05:04):
of Saul, israel's first king,whose fear of people led to his
downfall.
We read the story andintroduction to the story in 1
Samuel 15, 1 through 3.
It reads it reads Egypt Now goand stride Amalek and devote to
(05:44):
destruction all that they have.
Do not spare them, but killboth man and woman and child and
infant, oxen and sheep andcamel and donkey.
It sounds like an incredibleharsh command, but there is a
story behind it.
Long before Saul became thefirst king of Israel, the
(06:06):
Amalekites had attacked Israelwhen they were weak and
defenseless, coming out ofslavery in Egypt.
God said then that theirinjustice would not be forgotten
.
Now, hundreds of years later,their judgment has come.
This was not an arbitrary actof violence on God's part.
(06:30):
This was God's holy justice.
After centuries of unrepentantevil, god gave Saul a clear
mission completely obey, leavenothing.
This was a test in the trust ofobedience.
But Saul had other ideas.
He obeyed mostly, but notentirely.
(06:55):
He spared the king Agag,perhaps as a trophy of war.
He let the people keep thesheep and the cattle, perhaps to
keep himself popular?
It was a partial obediencedressed up with spirituality.
Saul even justified hisbehavior religiously when he
says well, we kept the animalsto sacrifice to the Lord, but
(07:20):
God was not interested insacrifices.
He says that obedience isbetter than sacrifice.
When Saul finally admits thetruth, here is what he says I
have sinned, for I havetransgressed the commandments of
the Lord and his words.
Why?
Because I feared the people andobeyed their voice.
(07:42):
He got trapped.
He feared the people and obeyedtheir voice.
He got trapped.
He feared the people and obeyedtheir voice rather than God's
voice.
Proverbs 29, 25 warns the fearof man lays a trap.
Saul got caught.
He wanted the people's approvalmore than he wanted God's
approval.
He feared losing his image morethan he feared disobeying the
(08:08):
Lord, and it cost him everything.
We are not that different fromSaul, although we are not
commanded to kill people.
In fact we are commanded tolove our neighbor as ourselves.
In fact, we are commanded tolove our neighbor as ourselves.
But I wonder if we do that 100%, or if that neighbor that
(08:31):
annoys us.
We wonder whether God reallywants us to love that neighbor.
We're commanded to even loveour enemies.
That sounds impossible withoutthe grace of God to love our
enemies.
We're commanded to makedisciples and we need to share
our faith, but how uncomfortableare we with sharing our faith?
(08:56):
How uncomfortable are we withwondering what they might think
of us?
We're commanded to give thanksin all things, but I wonder if
some of us are uncomfortablegiving thanks in public over a
meal.
We'll look around and wonderhmm, maybe it's a little
(09:19):
different in the South.
I don't know.
I know that I was uncomfortableand I'm not here to beat you up
.
I'm here to just bring to ourattention the reality of how
difficult it is for us to do thethings that God has called us
to do 100% when we need anddesire and long for the approval
(09:43):
of people.
There's another person in theBible who was trapped by the
fear of what people thought ofhim, and that person was the
apostle Peter.
Peter shows us how fear cantrap even the most passionate
disciple.
This is the same people whoonce said even if everyone falls
(10:05):
away, I would never fall away.
It's the same people, peter,who drew his sword in the garden
to defend Jesus.
But then came the courtyardscene where Jesus had been
arrested.
The disciples scattered andpeople and Peter followed at a
(10:25):
distance.
He found himself warming hishands at a fire, surrounded by
strangers.
A servant girl looked closelyat him and said this man was
with Jesus.
What did Peter do, woman?
I don't know him.
What did Peter do, Woman?
(10:49):
I don't know him.
Another person said wait aminute, you also were with him.
And Peter denies it again.
And finally someone says surelyyou are one of them, because
your accent gives you away.
And right then a rooster crowedand Jesus turned and looked at
Peter.
And then Peter remembered hehad promised loyalty, but the
(11:15):
fear of man got him.
The fear of being exposed,rejected or perhaps arrested
trapped him and he wept bitterly.
Peter wasn't a coward, thatwasn't his nature.
But at that moment he fearedpeople more than he feared God
(11:37):
and, like Saul, he fell into thesnare.
But the difference is thatPeter's story didn didn't end
there.
He was broken, but notabandoned, because god's
incredible love and gracerestored him.
Peter was later restored on thebeach by jesus, who asked him
(11:57):
three times do you love me,peter?
To which p would say you know,I love you, lord.
And each time Jesus would tellhim to feed my lambs, peter was
restored.
All is well.
Peter had learned his lesson.
You think.
(12:19):
Having experienced the curse ofthe fear of man, having fallen
into the trap, having seen thegaze of Jesus, having known the
riches of the forgiveness andlove of Christ, peter learned.
(12:40):
Now Paul tells us how the storycontinues with Peter in the book
of Galatians, galatians 2, whenPeter was in Antioch.
You see, peter was eating withthe Gentiles.
He was having fellowship withthe Gentiles, enjoying them.
Certain men came from James,men of the circumcision group,
(13:08):
peter's friends and associates,his fellow Jews.
Peter pulled back.
He stopped eating with theGentiles.
He became afraid again, and notof a servant girl this time,
but his religious peers.
The fear of man returned andwith it hypocrisy.
(13:28):
Paul saw it and confronted itand rebuked him to his face,
publicly.
I wonder if we would do that.
If we see one of our fellowbrothers or sisters falling into
sin, doing something public,would we publicly address them?
Would we have the fear ofwondering?
I wonder if I can do this infront of other people.
(13:52):
Peter's actions were horriblebecause he was not in line with
the truth of the gospel and hisbehavior denied the very grace
that had restored him.
And others followed, evenbarnabas.
The fear of man is a trap.
It's a serious trap that any ofus could fall into.
(14:15):
So how do we avoid this trap?
I see I'm going to answer thatin the second point, but before
I answer that I want to ask aquestion why do we long for
approval?
Let's be honest, none of us istoo far from caring about what
(14:39):
other people think.
We care what they think.
We care what they think aboutthe way we talk, how we dress,
how we parent, how we lead, howwe worship.
We care so much sometimes thatwe won't even speak the truth,
we won't fully follow Godbecause someone might
(15:01):
misunderstand us or disapproveof us.
So I ask the question again whydo we care so much about what
people think?
To answer this question I'verelied on Edward Welch's book
when People Are Big and God IsSmall, wonderful book, I would
(15:23):
highly recommend it.
And he gives numerous examplesin the first four chapters in
the introduction of his book.
And I summarize these answerswhich I'd like to give you now.
Why do we care so much aboutwhat people think?
(15:46):
One, because we are spirituallyempty and desperately needy.
Coming from his introduction,we live as if people.
We live like people who havelove tanks with a leak.
We need others to fill usthrough approval, attention,
respect, affirmation, because wefeel empty.
(16:08):
When we don't feel loved orvalued, we don't feel okay.
I love what he says here whenhe says, regarding other people,
our problem is that we needthem for ourselves more than we
love them for the glory of God.
Such is a powerful quote.
(16:29):
Secondly, he says we long forthis approval because we carry
shame and try to hide it.
It comes from his first chapter.
The fall introduced shame andwith it the instinct to cover
ourselves and to hide from beingseen by others.
Adam and Eve feared the gaze ofothers.
The fear led to hidingemotionally, relationally and
(16:55):
spiritually.
We don't see God clearly, butwe, accurately, are aware of
other people's scrutiny.
You see, god sees us all thetime, psalm 139.
But we're just not aware ofother people's scrutiny.
You see, god sees us all thetime, psalm 139.
But we're just not aware of itas much as we are aware of the
eyeballs of other people.
Another thing he says is becausewe crave belonging and fear
(17:18):
rejection, we fear beingexcluded, ignored, dismissed,
unloved.
We look to others for our senseof identity.
This creates people-pleasingwhere we live for the applause
and acceptance.
Rejection becomes a kind ofidol for us, which we worship
(17:41):
From the third chapter becausewe think people have the power
to harm us.
The fear of man is also asurvival instinct.
We think others have the powerto hurt us.
Trauma and abuse deepens thisfear.
If we've been harmed by others,we may give them too much power
in our minds and hearts.
Our fear becomes idolatrouswhen it overrides God's promises
(18:05):
and replaces trust.
Lastly, he says, because theworld trains us to worship
people's opinions.
Our modern culture shapes us todefine our value by reputation,
self-esteem and how othersperceive us.
We are told that we are whatother people think of us.
(18:28):
Identity becomes a matter ofself-expression and performance.
Even spirituality gets twistedinto self-focus, where we use
God not to know him but to feelbetter about ourselves, but to
feel better about ourselves.
I recently attended a wedding inNew Orleans and our hotel was
(18:55):
on Bourbon Street, and if you'veever been to New Orleans, on
Bourbon Street there's all kindsof interesting people in all
kinds of interesting garbwalking up and down the street.
Well, this was an Africanwedding and I was required to
wear an African garb myself andI still remember putting it on
(19:18):
and then looking at Shirley.
I was just so uncomfortablegoing outside to pick up the
Uber so I could go to thewedding.
And I was so troubled and Iturned to Shirley, my anchor,
and I said I don't know whetherI can do this.
(19:38):
And Shirley just turned to meand said why have you looked
outside to me?
And said, why have you lookedoutside?
(20:01):
Really, I just fit right in,you know.
Here's the irony Ourover-concern about what people
think is really interesting,because most people are too busy
thinking about themselves to betoo concerned about us.
The other irony about beingoverly concerned about what
people think is that we actuallydon't know what they think.
(20:22):
Think is that we actually don'tknow what they think.
Which really brings us to thesecond point.
We need to learn to trust Godbecause we know what he thinks,
because he has told us in HisWord.
So the second point is trustingthe Lord is safety.
(20:46):
The good news of Proverbs 29.25is this Whoever trusts in the
Lord is safe, and the word safehere literally means high or
lifted out of danger.
The one who trusts God doesn'thave to manipulate perception or
chase of affirmation.
They are secure because theyhave God.
(21:13):
Paul was a good example ofsomeone who believed that.
In 1 Corinthians he shows usthat In his letter the apostle
Paul is addressing a dividedchurch.
The believers were choosingsides.
They were lining up behinddifferent apostles that they
(21:35):
liked.
They liked some like Paul, somelike Peter, some like Apollos,
and they were judging them,evaluating their worth,
comparing their styles, decidingwho was better.
And Paul had come undercriticism.
Some thought he wasn'timpressive enough, he didn't
speak well.
Paulus was probably better.
(21:55):
They were essentially saying wedon't like you, paul.
You know you're weak, notimpressive.
But how does Paul respond?
He doesn't defend himself, hedoesn't try to win them over, he
(22:15):
doesn't even get angry.
But what he does say isrecorded for us in 1 Corinthians
4, 3, and 4, is recorded for usin 1 Corinthians 4, 3, and 4,
when it says With me, it is avery small thing that I should
be judged by you or by any humancourt.
In fact, I do not even judgemyself, for I am not aware of
(22:38):
anything against me, but I amnot therefore acquitted.
It is the Lord who judges me.
What an incredible responsefrom an apostle.
Let's look at what he says.
He says it's a very small thingthat I should be judged by you
or any human court.
I really don't care what youthink of me.
(22:59):
Can any of us really honestlysay that he's not being arrogant
?
It's just that he just doesn'tlook at himself that way.
He says your opinion of medoesn't count.
Now some of us may say youropinion of me doesn't count
because it's only my opinionthat counts.
(23:20):
But Paul doesn't say that.
Paul says I do not even judgemyself.
Interestingly enough, most ofus live inside of our head
constantly evaluating ourselves.
Did I do enough?
Am I good enough?
What will people think?
Paul says even my own opinionof myself carries no weight.
(23:44):
Why?
Because God is the judge.
He says I'm not aware ofanything against myself, but I
am not therefore acquitted.
This is humility, paul says.
Even though my conscience isclear, that doesn't mean I'm
righteous.
He knows that only God seesperfectly and he says it is the
(24:07):
Lord who judges me.
This is the key.
Paul's safety key is in restingand his confidence coming from
God, not from people's approval,not even your own approval.
How many of us beat ourselvesup?
Stop it.
(24:28):
I need to stop it.
It's the Lord who judges, notus.
Paul is safe because heentrusted himself to the Lord's
verdict, not the crowd's, nothis own, not his culture.
And that's what Proverbs 29, 25means when it says whoever
(24:49):
trusts in the Lord is safe.
Safe from the trap of people'sapproval, safe from the anxiety
of self-evaluation, safe fromthe exhausting treadmill of
performance.
To trust the Lord is to rest inhis opinion of us, and his
(25:09):
verdict is that not guilty,because of the Lord, jesus
Christ, he's given us safetythrough his son.
So the big question is how dowe live this way?
How do we stay out of the trap?
We need to first of allremember whose judgment matters
(25:35):
most.
Like Paul in 1 Corinthians 4-5,we need to learn to say I don't
care what you think of me, Idon't even care what I think of
me, it is the Lord who judges.
Do you believe that we need torecenter our identity in Christ?
(26:03):
Daily, the world tells you whatyour worth is, and it's
measured by applause and likesand reputation.
But in Christ your identity issecure.
You see, you've been chosen,redeemed, forgiven and loved.
Ephesians 1.
(26:26):
Praise be to the God and Fatherof our Lord, jesus Christ, who
has blessed us in the heavenlyrealm with every spiritual
blessing in Christ.
He chose us in Christ beforethe creation of the world, to be
holy and blameless in His sight.
In Him we have redemption.
(26:48):
Through His blood, theforgiveness sins.
Our identity is in Him.
Is that a reality to you?
Is that real to you?
Have you made that real to you?
I'm recalling a Tim Kellersermon in which he was trying to
(27:09):
explain this to a teenager inhis congregation and he read all
this and she said what is allof that if I don't have dates?
And often we think that way.
Yeah, that's all good for theby and by, but what about now?
We need to pray that God makesthat reality stronger than the
(27:37):
reality that we see with oureyes, that the spiritual reality
of what he has given us, how hehas blessed us in the heavenly
realm would open our spiritualeyes so that we have a different
foundation and not one thatcomes from the world.
Our identity is in him.
(27:57):
He writes our resume.
No one else does.
Romans 8.
There is now no condemnationfor those in Christ Jesus, and
that includes your ownself-condemnation.
Stop it.
I'm preaching to myself,because if you don't actively
(28:20):
root your identity in Christ,the world will assign you one.
So begin each day byremembering I have been
crucified with Christ and I nolonger live but the life.
I live in the flesh.
I live through faith in the Sonof God, god who loved me and
gave himself up for me.
(28:43):
Before social media, beforeemails, before your meeting.
Rehearse the truth In Christ.
I am fully known, fully loved,fully accepted.
Find a friend to remind you.
I constantly forget it and so Itext a friend.
Sounds like a game show.
(29:06):
I text a friend and say prayfor me.
I am really struggling and Godanswers my prayers.
God answers those kinds ofprayers and God answers my
prayers.
God answers those kinds ofprayers Because it's part of his
promise to us.
So feed your faith.
Read the scriptures, find afriend, be encouraged, preach to
(29:34):
yourself the message that arein the scriptures.
Fill your heart daily with thetruth of the scriptures.
Read it, pray it, sing it.
Sing it in your devotional time.
Nobody will hear you Betweenyou and Jesus.
Fix your eyes on Jesus.
We're called to run withperseverance.
The race marked out for us torun with perseverance.
(29:55):
The race marked out for usfixing our eyes on Jesus, the
pioneer and perfecter of ourfaith, who, for the joy set
before him, endured the cross,spawning the shame, and sat down
at the right hand of the throneof God.
The safest place to be is notwhere everyone's approval lies,
(30:18):
but the safest place to be iswith your Lord.
Let's pray Our gracious God,king, father, we thank you that
you hear us when we call.
We thank you that you have madeprovision through your son, the
Lord Jesus Christ.
(30:39):
You have blessed us with everyspiritual blessing in the
heavenly realm.
Often, this reality, it doesn'texcite us because we can't see
it and we tend to believe thingsthat we see first, over the
things that you have saidthrough your revelation, over
the things that you have saidthrough your revelation.
(30:59):
So I pray that we would believethe things that are said before
we believe our eyes.
Secondly, there's a lot ofthings in this world to fear, so
it's understandable that wewould succumb to them.
But we pray for your grace touphold us, to lift us up, to
open our eyes to the reality ofwhat we have in Christ Jesus.
(31:21):
I pray, if there's any here whodon't know you, lord Jesus,
that you would open their eyes,that they would see.
I pray for my brothers andsisters as we struggle through
this life, as we run the raceset before us, that we would run
with the perseverance thatyou've given us, fixing our eyes
on Jesus, in whose name I pray.
(31:43):
Amen love.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
The only way you and I would be able to see life with
a clear vision.
On a way we will begin to fearGod more than we fear people.
It's when we view all of lifefrom a kingdom and eternal
perspective.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
Hello, my name is Michelle Tolliver and Biblical
Talks book offer for the monthof October is Free at Last.
The Gospel and the AfricanAmerican Experience by Dr Carl
Ellis.
The words of Martin Luther KingJr's I have a Dream speech have
become enshrined in US history.
But after the end of King'sgeneration of leadership, what
happened to the African Americanstruggle for freedom?
(32:33):
Like the ancient Israelites,the African AmericanAmerican
community has survived a400-year collective trauma.
What will it take for them toreach the promised land that
King foresaw to be truly free atlast?
In this classic historical andcultural study, dr Carl Ellis
offers an in-depth assessment ofthe state of the
African-American freedom anddignity, stressing how important
(32:55):
it is for African-Americans toreflect on their roots.
He traces the growth of theblack consciousness from days of
slavery to the 1990s, notingespecially the contributions of
King and Malcolm X.
Ellis examines elements ofblack culture and offers a
distinctive perspective on howGod is active in culture more
broadly.
Free at Last.
Concludes with a call for a newgeneration of jazz theologians
(33:16):
and cultural prophets torevitalize the african-american
church and expand its culturalrange.
The book also includes ahelpful glossary of people,
events and terms.
Ellis writes it is my prayerthat the principles contained in
this book will play a role inbuilding bridges of
understanding and facilitatingreconciliation.
Where there has been alienationFor any amount of donation to
(33:37):
Biblical Talks, we will send youthe book.
Please go to biblicaltalkscomand click the Donate here tab.
Thank you for listening toBiblical Talks.
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