The Foolishness of Fear
Genesis 12


I'd like to talk today about fear.

Let's begin with a little experiment. For this experiment I am going to choose one of you -- completely at random. And the person I choose will come up and tell the rest of the congregation about one of your deepest fears. It need not be a long speech -- 2 or 3 minutes will do. So I'd like all of you to think about what you will say. And don't bother trying to look the other direction -- I know that trick and it will not prevent you from being called on.

OK, that's the end of the experiment. You can relax now. What I want to know is this: Did any of you experienced an increased heart rate, sweaty palms, an urge to bolt from the room. What were you afraid of? There is no real danger here. No one here is going to harm you. And I can say from experience that this is a very forgiving and sensitive group, so even if you do say something really off the wall, probably no one will think worse of you. The fear of speaking in public is not a rational fear. It doesn't make alot of sense. But 40 percent of adults are terrified of speaking in front of a group. It's called Topophobia and it is THE single most common fear. Which is good news, because it means there are lots of support groups out there.

You know when I was in elementary school and high school -- and even into College -- I was absolutely terrified of speaking in public. When I got in front of a group, my body would shake uncontrollably. Not just tremors, but almost violent shaking. I could hardly hold notes, my hands shook so badly. It was humiliating -- and one reason it was humiliating was that it just didn't make sense. I knew it was irrational.

Now this is an obvious example of an irrational fear. We could come up with many others -- other fears that are clearly irrational. We usually label them phobias and some folks pay big bucks to psychologists to try to deal with them. The top three phobias are Topophobia (fear of public speaking - 40%), Acrophobia (fear of heights -30%) and Entomophobia (Fear of bugs - 20%). Actually, entomophobia ties with Atephobia (fear of financial problems) which I found very interesting -- as many people are afraid of bugs as of poverty!

The fears we call phobias are easy examples because even those of us who suffer from them recognize that they don't make alot of sense -- that our feeling of fear are not in line with the level of danger.

But what I want to suggest today is more radical. What I want to argue is that ALL of our fears -- not just phobias -- but ALL of our fears are basically irrational when we look at them from the perspective of faith.

Not just fear of public speaking, or bugs, or flying -- but all of our fears, even our deepest fears are irrational. Fear of death, fear of injury and suffering, fear of rejection, fear of what people think of us. These deep fears that are lurking underneath our confident smiles are irrational and unnecessary.

For those of you who like little memory aids, Here's a little memory device that may help you: Fear -- Falsehood Enthroned As Reality.

And when we let fears control us, we are listening to a lie. In our scripture passage for today Abram listens to this lie and it almost derails his faith. (Genesis 12 -- p. 11 -- look on while I retrace the story for you)

Last week, at the beginning of Genesis 12, Abram came away looking pretty good. He's headed for early entry into the faith hall of fame. When God calls Abram, Abram answers. God tells him to leave his country, his people and go to a new place that God will show him, and Abram goes. He has no assurance except the promise of God. He's the perfect model of faith.

This week he comes down a few notches. Let's take the story, one scene at a time:

Scene 1: (vs. 10) There was a famine in the land.

The land of promise turned out not to be so promising. Abram travelled thousands of miles pursuing the promise of God's blessing. And as soon as he arrives the rain stops, the ground dries out, crops lie brown and withered. You know the images of famine -- starving children, brown dusty landscapes, skeletons of cattle. THIS was the land God had promised to Abram. This was the land of blessing.

Most of us have experienced something like this -- a famine in the land of promise. Not a real famine, but something like it. We have been counting on God's blessing. We have been pursing the promises of God -- and we come away parched and dry, disappointed with God. Perhaps we have been praying that God will solve a particular problem, really believing that he can and will, and God doesn't seem to come through. Or maybe your hopes for what the Christian life should be like have been dashed. Other Christians disappoint you. You disappoint yourself.

There was a famine in the land of promise.

Scene 2: Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while.

It was a logical decision, to go to Egypt. There is nothing that you can really put your finger on that was wrong about it. Abram had to have water for his animals, food for his family and servants. Egypt was a logical choice. No, there was nothing really WRONG about going to Egypt. But there's something different from Abram's earlier travels. God is somehow missing from the picture. True, God didn't tell him not to go -- but God didn't tell him to go either. God is silent. Abram is on his own. He's no longer walking by faith, sheltered by the promise of God. He's on his own, looking out for his own interests.

How do I know that he's not walking by faith? Because of what comes next:

Scene 3: (vs. 11) As he was about to enter Egypt he said to his wife, Sarai, "I know what a beautiful woman you are . . ." [Now that is all the clue we need that Abram is up to something here. And sure enough . . ] "Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared.

As Abram got nearer and nearer to Egypt he started getting nervous. He was a wealthy man already. Lots of cattle, lots of servants. A strikingly beautiful wife. He had alot to lose. How was he going to protect himself against the Egyptians.

It was like driving into the neighborhood we used to live in Chicago in BMW convertible with $1000 hub caps and an expensive stereo system. You would feel kind of nervous about where to park.

So Abram hatched a scheme. If Sarah was his sister, not his wife, then he'd have a bargaining chip. People would treat him nicely because of his beautiful sister. And it was, after all, a half truth.

Do you see what has happened? Fear has replaced Faith. Abram is afraid for his possessions, afraid for his life, perhaps he's even afraid of losing out on God's promises and wants to help God out a little. He's filled with fear. The promises of God are a distant memory. His fear is what is real to him now.

And Fear and Faith are incompatible. They cannot live together in the same house. Abram has chosen to act out of fear. He had a choice: believe God's promises and act according to them, or act according to his fears. The two options were incompatible. God had promised that he would bless Abram and make out of him a great nation. If God's promises were true, he had nothing to fear. But if his fears were justified, then God's promises must be false.

And what was the result for Abram? Acting on his fear lead Abram directly into sin. His fear so overwhelmed his faith that he not only lied to alleviate his fear --he was willing to prostitute his wife for his own protection.

Do you see the pattern here. Famine -- Fear -- Sin. Famine led to Fear -- and Fear blossomed into sin.

This should look really familiar to all of us, because we all end up in this cycle: First, I face some difficulty -- a famine in my life. Say a relationship that seems to be on the falling apart. If I don't trust God, famine will lead to fear. I will grow afraid -- afraid of rejection, afraid of being emotionally hurt, afraid of being vulnerable. What happens if I act on that fear? I will act in self-protection. I will grow angry. I will reject the other person before they can reject me. I will build walls of anger and blame and self-righteousness around me to protect myself from feeling the hurt of rejection. Or I may run away and take refuge in some other relationship which helps me to put a band aid over my fear and hurt.

Famine led to fear. Fear leads to sin.

OK, so we have diagnosed Abram's condition, and it's pretty bad. But what about God? What is God going to do here?

Well, what we expect him to do is to slam Abram -- to punish him for his sin. After all, God disciplines those he loves, and Abram is clearly in need of discipline here. He has abandoned his walk of faith, forgotten the promises of God, lied, and prostituted his wife. What does God do?

Scene 4: (vs. 16) Pharaoh treated Abram well for Sarah's sake and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, men servants and maid servants and camels. [somethings clearly wrong here] vs. 17 God inflicted serious disease [on Abraham? No! ] on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram's wife Sarai.

What is going on here. This just does not seem fair. Abram sins and instead of being punished he makes out like a bandit. This is not a great moral lesson. This story did not make it into William Bennett's book of virtues. What sense can we make of God's actions here?

God wants to teach Abram a lesson. And it is not a lesson about the consequences of sin, or how much God hates lying. He does hate lying. He does hate sin. But that's not the lesson here. No. God has another lesson. He wants Abram to learn about the foolishness of fear.

Fear was what drove Abram into sin. He was afraid for his safety, he was afraid of death, afraid of losing God's promise. And all of his fears were focussed on the Egyptians. He was afraid of what the Egyptians would do to him. So what does God use to bless him? The very Egyptians he had been afraid of. God shows how foolish his fears are by taking his worst fears and transforming them into a blessing.

Abram's fears were foolish because God keeps his promises. And our fears are also foolish because we have the same God.

Do you fear rejection? God has promised that He will never leave you or forsake you.

Do you fear poverty? God has promised that he will provide everything that you need.

Do you fear physical harm? Jesus said that even the hairs of your head are numbered.

Do you fear death? God promises to those who have faith in Jesus a life so amazing and so wonderful and so full that this life will seem like a shadow. And if death is a door to such a life, what is there to fear?

The issue here is not our feelings of fear. Our feelings are real enough, and we'll never completely escape them. We will always feel afraid -- but we need to learn not to act out of fear.

It's like this. When I was a child I would often feel afraid of strange shapes in a dark room. But if I turned a flashlight on a strange shape that looked like a monster crawling across the floor, it would turn out to be a pile of laundry. God's promises are like that flashlight. When we see the things we fear in the light of God's promises its like turning the flashlight on and discovering that the monster crawling across the floor was really just a pile of clothes.

How we deal with fear has very practical consequences: If we do not see the things we fear in the light of God's promises, then our fear will drive us to sin. Acting on our fears ALWAYS leads to sin.

A couple of weeks ago we learned this principle: Whatever is not of faith is sin. Today we can add a corollary: Whatever is done out of fear is sin. Why? Because anything you do out of fear excludes faith.

Fear leads to selfishness, self-centeredness, self-protection.
Faith results in God-centeredness and a desire to please Him.

For example: We all know that generosity with time and money is a good thing. God likes it. But if I am driven by fear, how can I be generous with my time and money. It's impossible. What if I don't have time for that important project? What if I don't have time for myself? What if I don't have enough money left for that vacation I've been planning.

Fear says, "I can't do it -- it's too risky."

Faith says, "My fears are groundless. They are just shadows in a dark room. God has promised to provide all of my needs and I will act on God's promise rather than on my fears."

To which voice will you listen?

Here's an assignment for application:

Make a catalogue of your fears, for example:
I fear what people will think
I fear for my physical safety
I fear for my health

Then for each of those fears think about how acting on that fear may be leading you into sin:
When I fear what people think, I am prone to lie to please them.
Or, when I fear what people think, I will be trying to please others rather than God

When I fear for my physical safety, I may become selfish and unwilling to serve those who are neediest.

Finally, try to find a promise of God that speaks to each fear, and shine the light of that promise on your fear.

May this be your prayer this week: The Lord is my light and my salvation -- whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life -- of whom shall I be afraid? (Ps. 27:1)