Respectable Sins: People-Pleasing

So we live in a world where we are constantly watched.

People are always around us.

People are always aware of what we're doing.

And everything is online now.

So even if they're not with us physically, they can still watch what we're doing.

And it's crazy the transition that's happened over the past 20 years.

We went from having phones at home that could connect us to the world

to having internet on a dial-up modem at home

to having phones in our pockets that we can connect with the world at any time from anywhere we are

to having phones with internet in our pockets

that allow us not only to call people from anywhere, anytime,

but to get online and send pictures and messages to everyone in the entire world

from anywhere we are at any time.

The world has become incredibly connected,

and it's just becoming more and more and more connected.

and early next year it's going to take one step further when the Apple Watch comes out.

Technology is becoming more and more a part of our everyday lives.

Soon it will be to the point where we will have the internet strapped to our wrists 24-7.

And with this connectedness, there's this sense of people watching us,

this sense of having to put on a performance

for everyone in the world to see what we're doing.

You know, Time Magazine, after Apple announced the Apple Watch,

they wrote an article about the advance of technology,

specifically about the Apple Watch.

And they were surprisingly negative on it.

But they had a quote in that article that I thought was great.

They said,

The reality of living with an iPhone or any smart connected mobile device

is that it makes reality feel just a little bit less real.

One gets over-connected to the point where one is apt to pay attention

to the thoughts and opinions of distant anonymous strangers

over those of loved ones who are in the same room.

Ironically enough, experiences don't feel fully real

until you've used your phone to make them virtual,

and the world has congratulated you for doing so.

So, our lives, we can't just live our lives anymore.

We have to live our lives for the likes on Facebook and Instagram.

We can't just enjoy being around the people that we love.

We have to tweet about the food that we're eating

while we are around the people that we love.

Enjoyable experiences in life can't just be enjoyable for themselves.

They're enjoyable because people approve of us doing them.

And as he talked about the advance of technology

and how soon you'll be able to push a button on your wrist

and send your heartbeat to your best friends.

And he said,

It's sort of scary, the idea,

that teenage girls who are already obsessed with their body image

will now be able to compare all their health stats with each other in real time.

And the one line I think that stuck out from the Time magazine article more than any other,

he said,

Lives lived in public become performances.

Lives lived in public become performances.

When we're obsessed with everyone else seeing us

and thinking,

What are they thinking as they see me live my life?

Are they going to give me the likes on Facebook?

Or Instagram?

Or Twitter?

Or Pinterest?

Or whatever other social media site you use?

You stop living life as yourself.

You stop living life as God would want you to.

And your life becomes a performance,

seeking the biggest applause from the crowd that's watching you.

And I think as humanity,

this has always been a struggle,

living lives for the approval of others.

But in today's world,

that struggle has just been amplified.

It's been put on a bigger stage

because we are more connected than ever before

and have more opportunities

to show off our lives

to everyone around us

than ever before in history.

I think for a lot of us,

this whole idea of people-pleasing

or living our lives for the approval of others

or fear of man,

we don't really think of it as a sin

because it's just second nature to us.

And how could something so natural be sinful?

The Bible says

that at the root of all people-pleasing,

at the root of all fear of man,

is idolatry.

That we've taken God

and replaced him with other people.

And that it's fundamentally sinful.

And so today we're going to look at

people-pleasing and the fear of man.

And I want us to see three things

about people-pleasing and the fear of man.

I'll just use those two terms synonymously

so I might jump back and forth between them.

But I want us to see three things about it.

The first one is that it's universal.

Literally everyone struggles with it

at some point,

in some way.

And I think, you know,

that's why we downplay it.

Because I struggle with it,

you struggle with it,

he struggles with it,

she struggles with it.

How can I judge anyone else

for struggling with it?

Or how can I say it's wrong

when everyone does it?

And you notice we want it to be acceptable.

Think about the names we use for it.

People-pleasing.

It sounds so pleasant.

We don't want to call it sin.

So say people-pleasing.

It's something that I can change

by putting in a little extra effort.

The sin says,

I can't change it through my effort.

And so we change the terminology

we use to refer to it

so that we can make it

a more acceptable practice.

Not even a sin,

just acceptable practice

for us to do in our lives.

It's so universal.

It's everywhere.

And we change the label,

we make it more respectable,

and we make it easier for us to do.

And it's sometimes scary to me

how everywhere it is.

So the youth staff recently,

we were talking with each other,

and we were saying,

we want to develop

more of a culture of prayer

among our youth.

We want our youth to pray more.

And so we as a youth staff decided,

if we want the youth to pray more,

we should be praying more.

So we made an agreement

with each other as the youth staff

that when we get into the office

in the morning,

whenever we see each other,

the first thing we do

when we see each other

is we pray together.

And we decided this

a couple weeks ago,

and we were all excited about it.

And we're like,

let's do this.

And so the next day,

I go into the office,

and I see one of the other

youth staff in there,

and I'm like,

oh no,

I have to ask her to pray with me.

This is going to be awkward.

I did it,

but I paused.

And thought,

this is awkward.

I'm afraid.

What's she going to think of me

when I say,

let's pray together?

Because that's not something

we're used to doing all the time.

And think about how messed up this is.

We both are Christians.

We both work in a church.

We both agreed already

that we're going to pray together

when we see each other,

and I still find it awkward

to go say,

hey, let's pray together,

because I'm afraid

of what she's going to think of me.

It's so second nature

to who we are.

Even the apostles,

Jesus' original followers,

struggled with this issue.

In today's passage,

we see Cephas

is another name for Peter.

So Peter

is acting and living

out of the fear of man

in today's passage.

Now,

if you don't know much about Peter,

he was one of Jesus'

original followers.

He was set up by Jesus

as one of the original leaders

of the church.

And back then,

the Jews

and the Gentiles,

the non-Jews,

didn't really have

any interaction.

And Peter

was a Jew,

and so he

followed

the Jewish laws

and stuck with

the commandments

that had come

in the Old Testament,

and he was a good Jew.

Till one day,

he received

this message from God,

directly from God,

saying,

Peter,

I want you

to go share

the message of Jesus

with the Gentiles.

And so Peter

went and he obeyed.

He shared the message

of Jesus

with the Gentiles.

And he realized

God has saved

the Gentiles

just like

he has saved the Jews.

There's no distinction

or differentiation

between the Jews

and the Gentiles.

And then he went

on a journey

to the city

called Antioch,

and when he was there,

there were Jewish Christians

and there were Gentile Christians,

and he would eat

with the Gentiles

and the Jews

and Gentiles

would all eat together

because in Jesus,

they're not separated anymore.

They're brought together.

And then the men

from James came.

Now James

was the half-brother

of Jesus.

James was the leader

of the church

in Jerusalem.

James had some power.

And when it says

this group came

from James,

we don't know

exactly what that means.

It could have been

that he directly sent them

as a delegation

to represent him.

It could be

that they had sort of

been a part of his church

and they came.

Like if someone here

moved and went to like

one of our sister churches

in Taipei,

and then they could say like,

oh, these people

came from Tobin.

Or it could be

that these people came,

said they were from James,

and actually had no connection

with him whatsoever,

and they were just lying

about it.

Regardless of the situation,

when they came,

Peter changed his behavior

in response to them

being there.

Now the scary thing is,

if these people came

and were lying

about their connection

with James,

which in the book of Acts,

James talks about people

who went out from him

saying they were from him

but actually spread

a totally different message

than he was spreading.

That means Peter

changed his behavior

to try and accommodate

what he thought

James wanted him to do,

but what he thought

James wanted him to do

and what James actually

wanted him to do

were totally different things.

So he was changing

his behavior

to please someone

who actually didn't want him

to do the thing

that he was doing,

potentially.

And so these people came,

and when Peter saw them,

he became afraid

and started changing

his behavior.

He started eating

only with the Jews,

not with the Gentiles anymore.

The text doesn't even

specifically tell us

that these people

started teaching

that he had to eat

with the Jews.

It could have just been

that they didn't eat

with the Gentiles

and he got afraid,

what are they going

to think with me

if I keep eating

with the Gentiles?

Am I going to lose

my status and position

in the church?

Am I going to lose

my ability

to influence the Jews

and draw people

towards Jesus?

Is James going

to get upset with me

if he hears

that I've been eating

with the Gentiles?

These thoughts

went around

and around

in his head

and he realized,

I need to change

what I am doing

so that I can fit in

so that I can be accepted.

And when Paul saw

what was going on,

he said,

that is absolutely

not okay.

He used a word

to describe

James' behavior,

a word that

Jesus reserved

for the people

he didn't like,

a word called hypocrisy.

Originally,

this word

comes from a Greek word

that refers to

wearing a mask

in a play

or pretending

to be someone

that you're not.

Paul's basically saying

Peter was pretending

to be something

other than what he was

so that he could fit in

and be accepted.

Peter,

this pillar of the church,

Peter,

this original disciple

of Jesus

was afraid

of what people

would think about him

and changed his behavior

to be accepted

by them.

Everyone

is susceptible

to people pleasing

and the fear of man.

Everyone

is susceptible

to changing

how we act

and what we do

so that other people

will think better of us.

And it's not just

something that was there

2,000 years ago.

It's so common

even in the world today.

How many of us

want to impress

our bosses?

We'll show up

in the morning

before the boss

gets there

so that he can see

we're a good worker.

We'll skip lunch,

work very hard

so the boss

can see us.

And then we'll stay

in the office

till just after

the boss leaves

so that he knows

we care about our job,

we care about the company,

we're there for him.

But really

we just want him

to think good things

about us

so we can get raises

and promotions.

Or we'll go to school

and we'll pretend

to be smarter than we are

or cooler than we are

because we know

that the kids at school

would never accept us

if they knew

who we really were.

we change our behavior

to be accepted.

It's a universal issue.

This issue

of people pleasing,

this sin issue

of people pleasing

is one

that is universally

applicable.

The second thing

I want us to see

about people pleasing

and the fear of man

is that it is

fundamentally opposed

to the gospel.

You notice

Peter

or yeah,

Peter's

eating with only the Jews

not the Gentiles.

Paul comes,

he opposes Peter

to his face.

Paul sees

that Peter

is acting out of fear

of other people

not out of

a love for God

or out of an understanding

of the gospel.

The gospel says

our acceptance

before Jesus

is unconditional.

It's not based

on the nationality

that we're born into.

It's not based

on our ability

to keep the law.

It's based on

what Christ has done

for us on the cross

and what Christ

has done for us

on the cross

alone.

And Peter

by eating

with only Jews

was basically saying

there's a hierarchy

in salvation.

Yeah,

you Gentiles,

you can be Christians

but the Jews

are the real Christians.

The Jews

are the ones

that God loves more.

The ones

who follow the law

have a special standing

with God

that you don't get

unless you're born

into this people group

or this nation.

And Paul says,

Peter,

your behavior

is not in line

with the truth

of the gospel.

The truth

that the gospel

preaches

and teaches

is fundamentally

opposed

to the behavior

that you're living out

and saying

is in line with it.

And so Paul

opposes Peter.

There's this smackdown

between these

greats of the faith.

But you notice

the way that Paul

approaches the problem.

He doesn't say,

hey Peter,

I wish you wouldn't

act like that.

I'm upset

with the way

you're acting.

Because what would that do?

That would say,

Paul wants me

to act this way,

James' people

want me to act this way,

who do I want

happier with me?

And it brings it back

to an issue

of fear of man

and people pleasing again.

Really,

even if Paul had said,

Peter,

I don't like

that you're acting this way

and Peter had chosen

to do the right thing,

he still would have done it

out of a fear

of other people,

out of a desire

to impress people.

But when Paul comes,

he says,

Peter,

you are acting

out of line

with the truth

of the gospel.

What you are doing,

it's not that

I don't like it,

it's that God

disapproves of it.

What you are doing,

it's not that

it's uncomfortable

for me,

it's that it's sinful,

it's that it's teaching

false truths

through your actions

and leading other people

into that false truth

as well.

Peter was,

yeah,

his actions

were saying,

God shows,

God plays favorites,

so I'm going to

play favorites too.

And the thing is,

Peter knew

and understood

the gospel.

His issue wasn't,

I don't understand

who Jesus is

or what Jesus has done.

Paul doesn't come to him

and say,

Peter,

let's get your theology straight.

He comes to him

and says,

Peter,

here's what you believe,

here's what that should

look like in your life

and they don't line up.

Peter's actions

were not in line

with Peter's beliefs.

And because of that,

he was acting in sin,

he was play acting.

And Paul calls him back

to the truth

of the gospel.

And again,

I think

this is so universal.

You believe one thing,

you live another.

I believe one thing,

I live another.

Right?

Think about it.

Like,

it can be so easy

to sit here in church

and listen to a sermon

on how God loves everyone,

rich and poor.

How everyone is

brothers and sisters in Christ

regardless of how much money

we have in the bank.

And then we go out

after church

and throughout the week,

the only people we eat with

are the rich ones.

Because that's who

our rich friends

want us to eat with.

We don't want

our millionaire friends

to see that we're eating

with people in poverty.

Or if we do,

we're doing it

out of charity

and a desire to help them.

Not out of an understanding

that they're our brothers

and sisters in Christ.

Not out of an understanding

that we are fundamentally

equals in God.

We let

what other people think about us

control our behavior.

fear.

And it's fundamentally

opposed

to the truth

of the gospel.

So we've seen

fear of man

and people pleasing

is universal.

It's fundamentally

opposed to the gospel.

But what's the solution?

The solution

for fear of man,

the solution

for people pleasing,

is a bigger understanding

of who God is.

the only solution

for the fear of man

is a bigger view

of God

in our lives.

See,

Peter's fundamental problem

in his behavior

here in this passage

is not belief.

We already covered that.

He believed

the right things

about God.

His problem

is a problem

of fear.

He feared

what these people

thought about him

more than he feared

what God thought about him.

Peter sort of has

a recurring issue

with this

throughout his life.

On the night

that Jesus was

betrayed,

they were at dinner,

like Tobin was talking

about earlier.

They're at dinner.

Jesus says,

you're all gonna

turn away from me.

And Peter says,

no way.

Even if I have to die,

I will never

turn away from you.

A couple hours later,

he's out there

and this little

servant girl

comes up to him.

She's like,

didn't I see you

as Jesus?

And he's like,

no!

Three times.

A couple hours

after saying,

Jesus,

I would never

deny you,

he does it

three times

out of fear

of a little

servant girl.

Peter is operating

out of fear,

not out of the truth

that he knows

and believes.

And I think with us,

it's the same thing.

Our problems

with obedience

a lot of times

don't come out

of wrong beliefs.

They come out

of fear.

You know,

when I was in high school,

I would sit at lunch

with my friends

and we'd be talking

and hanging out

and every day

I saw this one kid

across the cafeteria

sitting by himself

at this table.

And I was in a big school

so sitting by yourself

at a table

in the cafeteria

was kind of

an accomplishment

because it was squished.

And I would look

over there every day

and I would think,

this kid's probably

pretty lonely.

This kid probably

needs a friend.

But then,

the other kids

at my table

would also notice

this kid.

And they'd say things like,

you know,

he's probably sitting

over there alone

because he's a serial killer.

And now,

obviously,

I didn't believe

that this kid

was a serial killer.

I also didn't want

people saying

that Eric is probably

a serial killer.

killer.

And so,

I learned

out of fear

of other people

to stay away

from that kid.

Even though I knew

this kid's probably lonely,

this kid probably

needs friends,

I let the fear

of what other people

would say

control me

and I stayed away

from him.

Or how about

when we have friends

who aren't Christians

and we say,

they need to know

about Jesus.

It's the loving thing

to do

to tell them

about Jesus.

If what we believe

about Jesus is true,

the loving thing

to do for our friends

is to tell them

about him.

But what are they

going to think about me

if they find out

that I actually

believe that?

How are they

going to respond?

Is that going to

make them mad at me?

We get afraid

and we don't say anything.

Or,

we know

that it's wrong

to oppress the poor.

But our boss

wants us

to make a deal

at work

that will make

our company

millions of dollars

by exploiting

the vulnerabilities

of the poor.

We fundamentally

know the truth

that it's wrong

to oppress the poor,

but we're afraid

that if we oppose

our boss,

he could let us go.

He'll go out

and find someone else

who will make that deal

and make the money

for the company.

And how do we act?

How often do we go along

with that deal

even when we know

that it's wrong

out of a fear

of what our boss

desires of us?

Our issue

is an issue

of fear.

We fear other people

too much.

We fear God

too little.

And the solution

is to get

a bigger vision

and picture

of who God is.

And when we get that,

it'll free us

from being afraid

of what other people

think of us.

There's a counselor,

a Christian counselor

in the States

named Ed Welch.

And he says,

anything that erodes

the fear of God

will intensify

the fear of man

in our lives.

Anything that erodes

the fear of God

will intensify

the fear of man

in our lives.

we need to be intentional

about building up

our understanding

of who God is,

building up

a healthy and proper

fear of God

in our lives.

Now this idea

of the fear of the Lord

is not very popular today.

We want God

to be friendly

and cuddly and cute

and we do not want

God to be terrifying.

And so we sort of

try to avoid this issue,

avoid talking about

the fear of the Lord.

We try and redefine it

and say,

fear of the Lord

means reverent awe

and obedience.

And while yes,

those are important parts

of the fear of the Lord,

if you look biblically

at the concept

of the fear of the Lord

and what happens

when people in the Bible

interact with God,

reverent awe

barely scratches the surface

of what's actually

going on there.

So I want to go through

a couple passages

in the Bible

where people have

encounters with God

to show us

what type of reactions

they have,

what the fear of the Lord

looks like

in a concrete manner

in their life.

so that hopefully

we can work on developing

the fear of God

in our lives.

The first passage

I want us to look at

is in Isaiah 6.

So the prophet Isaiah,

it's the year

that King Uzziah dies,

and the prophet Isaiah

is in the temple,

and he has this vision,

and he sees the Lord

seated on the throne.

And there are angels

around God.

Now in other passages

in the Bible,

we see that when men

come into contact

with angels,

they're so terrified

that they want to fall down

and worship the angels

themselves.

But the angels here

are in God's presence.

And every angel

has six wings,

and God's presence

is so overwhelming

that the angels

need to use two wings

to cover their faces

to protect them

from how amazing God is.

And then they need

to use two wings

to cover their feet

because God's presence

is so overwhelming

and amazing.

And Isaiah sees this vision,

and he says,

when God speaks,

his voice shakes

the foundation

of the building

that he is in.

And Isaiah doesn't go,

whoa, cool,

I have seen God.

I should write

a best-selling book

about this.

He doesn't say,

hey, God,

I have a question for you.

You know,

my retirement account

isn't doing too well.

Explain that to me.

No, Isaiah looks

and he sees God

and his response is,

oh, crap,

I'm going to die.

His exact words are,

woe is me,

for I'm a man

of unclean lips

and I live among

a people of unclean lips

and my eyes

have seen the king.

When Isaiah comes

face to face

with God,

he fears for his life.

He is terrified.

He is shaking.

He thinks

he is never going

to wake up again

tomorrow

because God's presence

is so amazing

and overwhelming.

That's just one example.

Maybe he overreacted.

Let's go to Job.

For those of you

who know nothing

about Job,

Job was a man

in the Old Testament

and at the start

of the story of Job,

God says,

Job is the most righteous man

in the entire world.

Literally the best person alive.

He is the most righteous man

by God's standard.

And Satan comes in

and tests Job

and tries to get him

to turn away from God.

He takes away

all of his wealth,

kills all of his children,

and gives him

a painful disease

that he can't cure.

And Job's friends come

and they spend most

of the book of Job

just talking about

why would this happen

to Job.

His friends are all sure

that it's karma,

that he's done something

terrible to deserve this.

And Job the entire time

is like,

let me make my case to God.

Let me tell God

why I don't deserve this.

Because God knows.

And then at the end

of the book,

in chapter 38,

God steps in.

And he gives Job

the response

that Job has been waiting

for the entire time.

God's response

lasts for four chapters.

And he starts out

with a question for Job.

Hey Job,

where were you

when I laid

the foundations

of the earth?

It's gotta be

an awkward moment.

I think if I was Job,

I'd just feel like,

I'm done.

I'm out.

Job lasts two chapters

of questions

before he says anything

and God doesn't let him

off the hook there.

He goes on for another

two chapters

just explaining

how big

and powerful

and amazing

he is.

I'll give you

a summary

of the first chapter,

some of the highlights,

and then you can read

the other three chapters

for yourself.

In the first chapter,

God tells us

that he sets

where the shores

would be for the ocean.

He says,

hey waves,

you stop here

and they listen.

He then tells us

that he commands

the sun to rise

and it obeys him.

Hey son,

get up.

Okay.

I don't have that power

and none of you

have that power.

God has that power.

It says that he prepares

storehouses of snow

and hail

to send to the earth.

He just has it

ready to go.

Sends it when he wants to.

He sends rain

on the desert.

If any of us

had that power

we would be billionaires.

God has that power.

He controls

the paths

of the stars.

He says,

Orion,

you go here

and he does.

And he gives food

to the animals.

He provides prey

for the lions

and the ravens.

That's one chapter

out of four

of God explaining

to Job

how amazing

he is.

And when we reach

the end

of the four chapters

of explanation

we get Job's response.

This is the response

from the best

man alive

when he has

encountered God.

I had heard

of you

by the hearing

of my ear

but now

my eyes

sees you

therefore

I despise

myself

and I repent

in dust

and ashes.

When the most

righteous man

alive

sees how big

and powerful

God is

he says

I hate myself

because I am

so much worse

than you.

I am so much

smaller

than you are.

I can't

I can't

bear

myself.

But that's

the Old Testament.

What about Jesus?

Isn't he cuddly

and cute

and friendly

and walking

around with a sheep

in his arms

all the time?

Let's look

at the New Testament.

Luke chapter 5.

Luke 5 · chapter mention

Jesus is teaching

and the crowds

are pushing

around him

and he's backing up

and he gets

to the edge

of the lake

and he can't

go any further back.

So he climbs

into a boat

and he has them

push out a little bit

and he keeps teaching

and at one point

during his teaching

he turns to the fisherman

and he says

hey stick your net down

over the side of the boat

to try and catch some fish

and the fishermen are like

you know Jesus

we've been out here

all night long

and haven't really

caught anything

but whatever

we'll do it

and they start

pulling up the net

and it's so full of fish

that the net is breaking

and their friends

have to come help them

get all the fish

and one of the fishermen

a guy named Peter

turns to Jesus

and falls down

on his knees

and says

get away from me Lord

for I am a sinful man.

He sees that Jesus

has power

over the ability

to catch fish

and he's so terrified

that he no longer

wants to be in his presence

because he recognizes

how big

and powerful

Jesus is.

Or how about

Mark chapter 4

Mark 4 · chapter mention

Jesus and the disciples

many of the disciples

by the way

were fishermen

so they had plenty

of experience

in boats

they're on a boat

and there's a big storm

and the boat

is filling with water

and the disciples

are terrified

this boat

is going to sink

and Jesus

is napping

and so the disciples

go wake up Jesus

and they're like

Jesus don't you care

that we're going

to drown?

So Jesus gets up

he goes

and rebukes

the wind and the waves

he says

peace be still

and they do

the wind stops

the sea becomes

smooth as glass

and something that I love

the disciples

it says

before

when the storm

was happening

they were afraid

because they thought

they were going to die

and then Jesus

stops the storm

and they're safe

and then they become

greatly afraid

the storm is gone

and they are more afraid

because they look at this guy

on the boat

with them

and they say

who is this guy?

the wind

and the ocean

listen to him

the wind

and the ocean

obey

his commandments

everywhere in the Bible

that people have

encounters with God

they are terrified

because of how big

God is

everywhere in the Bible

that people have

encounters with God

their lives are transformed

because they recognize

God is bigger

than I ever imagined before

and the Bible tells us

that one day

every single one of us

is going to stand

before God

one day

every one of us

is going to see him

just like Isaiah did

and Job did

and Jesus' disciples

had glimpses of

but I think most of us

don't live our lives

with that fact in mind

most of us

are more concerned

about what our boss

or our spouse

or our children

or our friends

think about us today

than we are

about what God

is going to think

about us

on that day

we shrink down God

but God

is not going to be shrunk

God is big

God is powerful

God is in charge

and again

I think this idea

can be scary for us

of the fear of God

but really it's not

because if you look

back at the story

in Luke chapter 5

Luke 5 · chapter mention

when Peter

falls down

before Jesus

and he says

get away from me

because I'm a sinful man

Jesus' response to him

I think is the same

as Jesus' response to us

he says

fear not

now that you've seen

how big and powerful I am

I want you to know

something about me

I love you

I'm for you

not against you

and I've proven that

by giving my life

for you

I'm not looking

for you to slip up

so I can catch you

and get you

no I love you

I want what's best

for you

you don't need

to tremble in fear

because I'm your father

I'm your friend

but before he says

that to us

we have to come

to a point

where we recognize

how big

and powerful

he is

and when we come

to that point

where we realize

how big and powerful

God is

it frees us

from fearing

anything else

when I recognize

that the God

who rules the universe

who sells the sun

to get up in the morning

and it listens to him

is for me

not against me

that nothing can separate me

from his love

not my boss

not my spouse

not my parents

not my children

not my teachers at school

not the friends

that I eat lunch with

nothing can separate me

from his love

I'm free from living

for their approval

I'm free to live

in obedience to him

and obedience to him alone

and yet so often

we shrink him down

we avoid

seeing how big he is

and we become

obsessed

with what other people

think about us

because we've forgotten

how big our God is

there's a pastor

in the states

named Francis Chan

and he says

if we don't stare

at God

we spend our time

staring at lesser things

namely ourselves

we need to be intentional

about looking

at who God is

looking at how big

God is

developing a fear

of God in our lives

because if we don't

our lives become

focused on ourselves

we are the biggest thing

that we can see

and when we are

the biggest thing

that we can see

the people around us

have disproportionate power

over our ability

to live our lives

for God

I know some of you

may be thinking

Eric

you've lost it

like these accounts

in the Bible

they're obviously

blown out of proportion

God's not really

that big

God's not really

that powerful

but here's the thing

this is the picture

the Bible consistently

draws of who

God is

and if the Bible

is lying to us

about how big

God

its main character

is

and we can't trust

it on that point

what can we trust

it for?

if we don't believe

what the Bible

says about who

God is

then why are we here?

why are we singing

songs about

a powerless

and weak God?

why are we

identifying ourselves

with a God

who's

weak at best

fake at worst

but if the Bible

is true

if what the Bible

says about God

is true

then we're wasting

our lives

by ignoring

the truth

that it contains

we're wasting

our lives

by believing

in our minds

that God

is big

but living

with our lives

as if

he's small

and pathetic

we need

to cultivate

a fear

of God

in our lives

we need

to have

a bigger

more accurate

picture

of who

God

is

and that's

the only thing

that will free us

from fear

of man

and people

pleasing

so I have a few

takeaway points

and questions

that we can think

about this week

as we go

throughout our weeks

the first

when you're at

work or school

or with friends

ask yourself

who do I fear

more

this person

or God

do I believe

that this person

has more

control

over my future

than God

does

do I believe

that my overall

well-being

is more dependent

on this person

than on God

and when you

find yourself

in a situation

where you are

acting

out of fear

of man

where you are

acting to try

and please

the people

around you

ask yourself

what am I

believing wrongly

about God

that's leading

me to act

this way

what am I

believing wrongly

about God

that's leading

me to act

this way

another huge

thing that we

can do

is spend time

this week

in our Bibles

just learning

about how

big God

is

it's written

throughout the

Bible

that God

is huge

the Bible

starts with

the story

of him

creating the

world

and it

culminates

with him

with the

story of

him

renewing

the world

and in

between

there's

story after

story of

him being

in control

of him

working

in situations

and through

situations

that you

look at

at first

and you're

like that's

hopeless

and then you

remember

oh wait

God is

big

God is

in control

and as

you come

to parts

in the

Bible

where people

have these

interactions

with God

ask yourselves

some questions

how many of

these people

when they have

these interactions

with God

approach it

casually

nonchalantly

no big deal

how many of

these people

when they have

these interactions

with God

are terrified

for their

lives

I'll give you

a hint

the second

one is way

bigger than

the first

group

how many

of the people

that have

these interactions

and encounters

with God

remain unchanged

after their

encounter

and what

about God

and his

bigness

makes them

react

the way

that they

do

until we

fear God

properly

we will

always be

controlled

by what

other people

think of us

by what

other people

want from

us

the fact

that all

of us

have this

natural

tendency

towards

people

pleasing

is a

sign

that we

don't

properly

understand

who

God

is

that it's

not

impacting

our

lives

like it

should

be

but once

we fear

God

properly

we'll be

free

from caring

about what

others think

and needing

to impress

them

at the

expense

of obeying

God

God

there's

this

great

saint

back

in the

day

named

saint

augustine

he has

a quote

that I

think

sort of

summarizes

this issue

very well

he says

God

you have

made us

for yourself

and our

hearts

are restless

trying to

please

people

trying to

keep

people

satisfied

serving

a million

different

bosses

who have

control

over us

our hearts

are restless

until they

rest in

you

let's

pray

Father

we thank

you for

your love

we thank

you that

you are

big

and that

you love

us and

offer us

an opportunity

to know

you

we thank

you that

you are

powerful

and in

control

and that

when we

fear you

we don't

need to

fear anything

else

and that

when we

fear you

we get

to know

that you

love us

and you

are for

us

and you're

not out

to get

us

God I

pray this

week that

we would

develop a

bigger view

of you

that we

would fall

in love

with a

proper

understanding

of who

you are

that we

would be

free from

living to

please

others

because we

know that

you are

for us

and that

nothing can

separate us

from your

love

God we

love you

in Jesus

name

amen

Yin