Chapter # 5 Paragraph # 1 Study # 5
February 18, 2007
Lincolnton, N.C.
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• I. There Is a Problem.
  • A. In spite of Luke's recurrent focus upon the divine imperative "Fear not...", Luke 1:50 very clearly excludes everyone who is not afraid from the mercy of God.
    • 1. Paul, Luke's mentor in the faith, clearly denounces men in Romans 3:18 for the absence of the "fear of God".
    • 2. Yet John, Simon's "partner" in the text before us, wrote in Revelation 21:8 that the "fearful" were among those who would be cast into the Lake of Fire.
  • B. The resolution of this problem is found in the "timing" issue.
    • 1. In Psalm 111:10 we are told that "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" and in Proverbs 1:7 we are told that "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge" and that "fools despise wisdom and instruction."
    • 2. But in 1 John 4:18 we are told that "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear...".
    • 3. So that we have to conclude that "fear" is a divine "prod" to move us to consider where we are headed without God and "love" is a divine characteristic that those share who have let "fear" do its legitimate work.
• II. There is Also a Process.
  • A. Jesus' words to Simon Peter indicate a significant problem.
    • 1. First, in our text the man is not "Simon", nor is he "Peter"; he is an amalgam.
    • 2. Then, in every "Simon Peter" there is a fundamental "tri-plex" of fear because they are not "perfected in love".
      • a. The "tri-plex" is a set of three roots which each have a "paired" set of characteristics.
        • 1. The first root concerns the physical nature of man; and its "paired set" is the fear of pain on the one hand and the fear of the absence of pleasure on the other.
        • 2. The second root concerns the spiritual nature of man; and its "paired set" is the fear of humiliation on the one hand and the fear of the absence of accolades and recognition on the other.
        • 3. The third root concerns the emotional nature of man; and its "paired set" is the fear of destruction on the one hand and the fear of the absence of security on the other.
      • b. This "tri-plex" is absolutely dominating in every human being who has not been turned from a viper into an heir of the Kingdom of Light.
        • 1. There is no escape by vipers from this "tri-plex" even though there are some ways to "minimize by shifting" -- i.e., one can minimize the fear of pain, for instance, by shifting to a greater focus upon gaining status in the eyes of those who greatly fear pain (this feeds the ego at the expense of the body).
        • 2. The heirs of the Kingdom of Light, on the other hand, once "perfected" will be completely free from this "tri-plex" so that it has no ability to control them.
    • 2. There is a secondary plethora of fears that grow out of the roots of the "tri-plex".
      • a. There are "fears" and then there are "fears".
        • 1. This means that "fears" are "tiered" in terms of what is driving them and what they drive.
        • 2. This means that though there are many individual fears, they all have the same root and roots.
      • b. Humanity experiences a vast array of "fears" which affect individuals differently and to different degrees.
  • B. Jesus' words to Simon Peter also indicate a pretty straightforward solution.
    • 1. The command, "Stop being afraid," seems on the face of it to be pretty much useless, but actually contains the solution to fear.
      • a. Simply telling someone to "stop being afraid" is like spitting into the wind.
      • b. But, telling someone to "stop being afraid" while revealing the absence of threat is very productive.
        • 1) The sticky wicket here is convincing the fearful that there really is an absence of threat when all appearances are that there is a huge threat.
          • a) All people know that there is real pain, real grief, and real humiliation.
          • b) These realities make fearful people very reluctant to admit something else that they know : that pain, grief, and humiliation are relative to "proximity" (the closer one is to the situation, the greater the impact; the more distant one is from the situation, the lesser the impact).
          • c) This is the reason that people who refuse to admit their "other" knowledge in favor of their fears are in danger of the final judgment of God (Revelation 21:8).
        • 2) God's revelation of the absence of threat is both personal and rooted in eternity.
          • a) Jesus proved to Simon that his fears were ungrounded as He took him into His circle of friends.
            • 1) This is the heart of "fearlessness": acceptance by God and provision from God.
            • 2) There is no pain, no threat, and no humiliation that is greater than God and His personal involvement.
          • b) Jesus ultimately proved to Peter that his fears were ungrounded because Eternity triumphs over Time to an "nth" degree.
            • 1) The resurrection of Jesus demonstrated to Peter how fruitless are the fears.
            • 2) The "Spiritual" revolution within Peter demonstrated the sufficiency of the provision of God.
    • 2. The promise, "From henceforth you shall catch men," redefined Peter's entire way of looking at life.
      • a. It reoriented Simon's "fang" mentality to Peter's "love" mentality by making men Peter's future "fish".
      • b. It reoriented Simon's "career" mentality to Peter's "life" mentality by turning "career" into "service".
        • 1) Here we must be very careful: simply "baptizing" my "career" into "Jesus" is not what happened (people do this all the time because they refuse the promise).
          • a) There is a reason Paul began his instruction on Christian living in Romans 12 by telling us that "sacrifice", not "baptism" is the pre-requisite.
          • b) People who cannot "sacrifice" their dreams/lusts are simply living out their bondage.
        • 2) Men actually became, by promise (not demand), Peter's focus as he began to share in God's focus.