Speaker: Steve Anderson

Passage: 1 Peter 1:13-17

FEAR ISN’T THE FINAL WORD

All right, good morning, everyone. Great to see you again. We are going to be in 1 Peter chapter 1, and this will be my first crack at 1 Peter. I’m looking forward to it because I love Peter. I love the man, Peter. I relate so much to him. 

The title of today’s message is, Is It Okay To Be Afraid? You don’t have to answer that right now. Hopefully, by the end of the teaching, we’ll have a better answer to that question. But is it okay to be afraid? 

If you have your Bibles, let’s look at 1 Peter chapter 1, starting in verse 13. The first three verses here will be a recap of what David Mitchell taught a couple of weeks ago, and then I’m going to focus on verse 17. 

“Therefore, gird (or prepare) your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, set your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts (or the former lifestyle) which were yours in ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all behavior; because it is written: ‘YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.’” 

And verse 17, “If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth.” That’s where I want to stay today, is on verse 17. 

THE BLUEPRINT OF HOLINESS

But just a quick recap of what David talked about a couple of weeks ago, focusing on be holy as the Lord is holy. Wow, if we focus on that too much, we can just get really caught into a bad place. 

Can I really be holy? Can I attain that holiness? That’s really not a good question to ask yourself, because it can take you to a really bad place, because then all of a sudden you’re starting to think, Well, I’m a sinner, I’m going to fall short, I can’t attain this holiness, so why should I even try? 

Then you’ll start quoting Scripture to yourself, Because Paul said in Romans, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” so that’s me. But Paul uses the past tense in that Scripture. He says all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

What he’s saying there is that sin should be part of our past and not part of our present and our future. That sin has an endpoint, that holiness is attainable, and so those should be the main takeaways from David’s teaching from a couple of weeks ago, that holiness should be our blueprint. 

He talked about blueprints, that the former way of life is the old blueprint, and that holiness is the new blueprint. Pastor Greg said something in our study session a couple of weeks ago, he said this: your chosen identity aligns with the blueprint of holiness. Your chosen identity aligns with the blueprint of holiness. 

Our blueprint should be something that’s attainable. That’s what I’m reaching for. That’s what I’m striving towards. That’s what I’m moving forward to. I’m not moving backwards into my own lifestyle, which Peter says was yours in ignorance. 

You did those things because you didn’t know better. It’s like what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13, “I’ve learned to put away childish things.” I don’t live in that lifestyle anymore, I know better, and that’s where we have to approach this from: we’re pursuing holiness because we know that’s the better blueprint, that’s the better way to live. Don’t be conformed to your past.

TYPES OF FEAR

And it’s from that mindset and lifestyle that we can look at verse 17, because what Peter says here is mind-blowing. Remember, he just said, “Be holy in all your behavior,” and then he says this: “If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth.” 

So, when we look at that word, fear, I think sometimes it’ll take us to, Oh, well, he’s talking about Godly fear, a reverence, which would be the Greek word eulabeia, means a godly fear, or in awe, or in reverence. You know, I’m falling face down before the Lord. 

That type of Godly fear is what we see in Hebrews chapter 12 verse 28, worship God with reverence and Godly fear. But then there’s the other word for fear, which is phobos, and that’s where we get phobia, that’s where we get I’m scared, I’m in dread, I have terror. I’m scared of heights, I’m scared of getting on the airplane, I’m scared of snakes, spiders, you name it, I’m afraid of it, that’s phobos. 

So, there’s two words there. So, what’s Peter using right here? Well, he’s got to be using eulabeia, right? Godly fear, conduct yourselves in fear. No, he’s using phobos. Like I said, this is going to blow your mind. 

Why is Peter using that word phobos to conduct ourselves in fear? I looked at that, and I went, Okay, God, where are we going with this? See, part of being holy in all of our behavior is conducting ourselves in fear as being unholy before a holy God. He doesn’t say let fear conduct yourselves, he says, conduct yourselves in fear. 

So, let’s parse this down a little bit, because I want to make sure that you leave here with a healthy understanding of this, and not going, What in the world is he trying to say? Is he trying to say that I should be walking in life afraid? 

See, fear is not a sin. Fear is not a spirit. It’s part of life that we all deal with. How many can safely and honestly say, Yeah, there’s times in my life I walk in fear. Every hand should go up. If it’s not going up, you’re being disobedient. 

We all have fears, and when we have those situations where I’m living in fear, we shouldn’t beat ourselves up. It’s part of life. The question is, where do I go from here? Where does fear take me from right here? 

And what Peter’s trying to get at is you should live your lives with a terror, with a dread of where you might go from here. He’s saying take it to the Godly fear, don’t take it to the other place. 

Well, you’ll say to yourself, Okay, well, what’s Paul saying in 2 Timothy 1, when he says, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and sound mind.” What about that, Steve? 

Okay, two things. Number one: that’s a bad translation. Number two: that word fear there, is not phobos, it’s deilia. So, we’ve got phobos as the central point, and we’ve got two different destinations for fear. We’ve got eulabeia, which is a Godly fear and reverence, and we’ve got deilia, which means cowardice, timidity, and to shrink from fear. It’s a reaction to fear. 

So, we have a positive reaction to fear, and we have a negative reaction to fear. Where does fear take me from here? Does it take me to a Godly reverence, where I’m living in awe of an awesome God, or does it take me to a place where my faith is shrinking, and I’m walking in timidity, where I’m factoring God out of the equation, and over here I’m factoring God into the equation? 

See, one is obedience and holiness, that’s eulabeia, and the other is cowardice and sin, that’s deilia. We have to remember who is writing this letter to us, who is saying this, “Conduct your lives with fear.” It’s Peter. 

See, fear can be the beginning of wisdom, as Scripture says, or it can be the beginning of the end. It can be the beginning of it, of wisdom. It can take you to the right place, or it can take you to the wrong place. It can either drive you to the feet of Jesus, or it can drive you away from Him. 

HOW PETER DEALT WITH FEAR

Peter experienced both of these things and more. He is pulling from his life experiences when he’s writing this letter to us. The reality is that he’s saying you have a crossroads moment; fear brings you to a place, and you have a choice to go one of two different directions with it.

Let’s look at some of the things that Peter dealt with, where we know fear was present. Luke chapter 5, this is before Peter’s called as a disciple. He’s doing what he does best, and he’s a fisherman. He and his brother Andrew, James, and John, they were all fishermen. They were probably partners together in a fishing business. 

They know the waters of the Sea of Galilee well. They were good fishermen. This is how they made their living. They’re night fishermen. Night fishing on the Sea of Galilee is done a certain way. It’s done with certain nets. You do it in the shallow water. 

They know where the fish are, they know how to get the fish, and that’s how they made their living, but this particular night they fished all night and came home with nothing, which was rare because these were experienced fishermen. 

And they’re tired, and they’re back at shore, and they’re mending their nets, but Jesus shows up, and Jesus is teaching this small group of people at the shore of the Sea of Galilee. And Jesus looks at Peter and said, Hey, can I use your boat to speak to these people? And Peter said, Sure. 

Peter knew who Jesus was. He doesn’t know Him as the Son of God yet. There’s a knowledge of who this Jesus was. His brother Andrew was telling, probably bugging him about it, saying, Hey, I’ve heard this guy, you should really hear Him. 

So, Peter’s obedience says, Yes, go ahead and use the boat. So, Jesus teaches, and then He looks at Peter, He says, Hey, here’s an idea. I know you didn’t catch anything all night. Take your boat back out and go a little deeper this time, and cast your net out for a catch. 

And Peter’s going, What do You know better than I do? First of all, we’re night fishermen, not day fishermen. Second of all, You’re telling us to go into water where we know there are no fish? But because You ask, I’ll do it. 

And they do it, and we know the story. What happens? They throw their net out, and all of a sudden, the nets begin to break, and they have to call in the other boat and the other fisherman. It takes two boats and four fishermen, and they still cannot handle this catch. 

The nets begin to break, they pull it ashore, and Peter knows at that particular moment this is not ordinary. Something happened that’s out of the ordinary, and fear began to consume Peter. Why? Because he knew right now I’m in the presence of something that is way beyond me, and it’s scary. 

And how do we know fear was present? Because Jesus says to them, Fear not– phobos– Fear not, follow me now. You’ll be catching men. Now, you’ll be catching men. Peter threw himself down at the feet of Jesus. He threw himself towards holiness and away from his former lifestyle, he was at the crossroads. Peter’s identity begins to change. 

So, my question to you is this: was Peter’s fear in that moment a bad thing? It’s not a trick question. It’s okay to answer no. It was not a bad thing. It was okay for Peter to be afraid. Why? Because it drove him to the right place. He chose the right path. He was at a crossroads, and he said, I’m going to leave everything behind, and I’m going to follow You. It’s okay to be afraid. 

Matthew 14, one of the many lake storms that we see in the Gospels. Why does Jesus use so many lake storms in order to make a message, in order to teach a moment to us? Because we all have storms in our life, and here’s another one of those situations in Peter’s life. 

So, Jesus is teaching, they have this incredible time on one side of the Sea of Galilee, and he tells the disciples, Hey, get in the boat, go to the other side, I’ve got some things I need to set up here, I’ll meet you on the other side. 

So, the disciples take the boat, and they’re heading to the other side. What happens in the night time? This raging storm comes up, and the Bible tells us that the disciples are in fear. The waves are hitting the boat, this is not an ordinary storm. 

Once again, something unordinary is happening in the disciples’ life, in Peter’s life. And then something really extraordinary happens. Jesus is walking on the water towards them, right? Whoa, so now, we’ve got another fear because they cry out, It’s a ghost, and then someone says, No, it’s Jesus. 

And Peter’s looking at this, going, Okay, Jesus, if it’s really You, call me out of the boat. I love Peter. He’s stepping out sometimes. He steps out, and great things happen, and sometimes he steps out, and he’s way over his skis. But this is one of those moments where he goes, Call me out, and Jesus says, Come, and Peter steps out of the boat, and doggone it, he’s walking on water. 

How many have walked on water? Okay, no hands better be going up. If a hand comes up, then you need to come up here, and I’ll sit down. Peter’s walking on water, but then we know the rest of the story. He’s focused on Jesus, but then he starts looking at the wind and the waves, and he begins to sink, but he walked on water.

See, Jesus was there in the midst of it, that was a crossroads, that was a moment of fear, but Peter reacted positively to it. But Jesus was there to rescue, and he was also there to teach. 

Another moment in Peter’s life. There’s no single moment in Peter’s life that identifies him more than his three denials of Jesus after the arrest. Something Peter told Jesus, I will never do that. Jesus is gone, Peter, don’t get over your skis again, don’t say things that you just won’t be able to do. 

For Peter, this Messiah thing at that particular moment wasn’t quite working out the way he had hoped. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. It wasn’t supposed to be Jesus getting arrested and Jesus getting beaten, carried off. It wasn’t supposed to be life-threatening. 

And when Peter was starting to be identified by certain people, Hey, you were with Him, he started denying, No, I wasn’t. No, you’ve got me confused. And then that third thing happened, and the rooster crowed, and I can only imagine what Peter began to think at that particular time. 

And Scripture tells us that when that rooster crowed, that Jesus turned and looked at Peter. Can you imagine Peter’s thought process and what was going through his mind as he was looking at Jesus at that particular moment, the moment that he had failed this Man? Talk about fear. 

See, Jesus didn’t need Peter to die with him, but he sure as heck didn’t need Peter to quit, but Peter had failed Him. This was the ultimate crossroads in Peter’s life. Where would fear take him from here? 

He can take two roads here, and at the same time, another disciple was dealing with failing Jesus. Judas said, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” He was also at the crossroads. Where would fear take him from there? And we know that Judas went out and took his life, but Peter didn’t. Peter failed Jesus, but he didn’t. He chose the right crossroads, and the road back is a great story we look at in Scripture. 

Peter was a visual person. See, he always wanted to be around Jesus. He always wanted to be in His presence, and that’s why leaving His presence in shame was so hard for him. After the resurrection, it had been some time before the disciples had seen Jesus. 

Peter was probably thinking, What’s the plan here? Because we know Peter was impulsive, we know he was probably very impatient. You haven’t seen Jesus for a while, we know He’s risen from the dead, but what now? 

So, they leave Jerusalem and go back to Galilee, still no sign of Jesus. So, Peter says to himself, You know what? I’m just going to go back to doing what I know how to do. I’m going to fish. 

And I’m sure as he’s on that boat doing that nighttime fishing thing, he’s thinking to himself, Where is Jesus? What about my calling? Does He forgive me? Can I forgive myself? Maybe even saying to himself, Well, if this Peter the Rock thing doesn’t work out, maybe I can go back to fishing for fish.

And then, once again, after catching nothing all night long, they’re bringing the boats back to shore, and there’s this man standing on the shore. Hey, cast your nets on that side of the boat, and they’re going, What? We haven’t caught anything all night. 

So, they cast their net on that side of the boat, and what happens? Another record haul, the nets begin to break. It takes two boats and four people again, and then someone says, It’s Jesus, and what does Peter do? You guys deal with this. I’m diving in the water and getting back to my Savior. 

He dives in, swims ashore, and has to be in the presence of Jesus. He says, I’ve seen this before. I know how this plays out. He was desperate to get back into His presence, despite his failures, despite his unworthiness. He had chosen the right road. He had chosen the right path, and fear took him back to the feet of Jesus. 

A few weeks later, Peter’s preaching the Gospel in the streets of Jerusalem, leading thousands towards salvation in the Church’s first altar call. Little bit later, after that, after another altar call of thousands of people coming to know the Lord, Peter and John get arrested by the same people that killed Jesus and they bring Peter and John before them, and they command them to not teach in this Man’s name. They’re basically threatening their lives. And Peter says, Not this time, not this time. That’s who’s writing this letter. 

So, when we’re studying 1 Peter, remember who’s writing this letter, remember the life that he had, remember the challenges with fear that he had, remember the choices that he made. Sometimes they were bad choices, sometimes they were good choices. 

But eventually, he chose the path, he picked the right point, the right fork in the road that put him on the track back towards holiness, the track back towards Jesus, back into His presence, and not away from it. When you fail, do not let that define you. Pick yourself up and move forward. 

THE EXCITMENT OF SALVATION

Last week, Margo shared this Scripture with us in Philippians 2:13: “For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and work for His good pleasure.” But what does Paul say in the Scripture right before that in verse 12? He says this: “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” Phobos, not eulabeia. Not Godly fear, work it out with a dread and a terror, with a sense of excitement that you don’t know what’s going to happen next.

Peter is saying you should look at your life, your life with Christ, this thing called salvation, this thing called a walk with the Lord, you should look at it as a super highway, an autobahn, where you can go a million miles an hour, not as a cul-de-sac, where you’re driving in slowly and carefully, and parking the car. 

You shouldn’t just have a life where you’re just coming to church, and you’re going to leave here, and it’s just going to be the same routine, you’re just going to go back to your cul-de-sac. No, look at your life as a super highway. Look at your life as a roller coaster, and not a merry-go-round. 

What I can guarantee you, every time I step on a merry-go-round, I am not fearful. But when I get on that roller coaster, and I put that thing down, and I don’t know when that thing’s going to start, and that thing takes off, and it’s scary the entire time, but when that thing comes to an end, it’s like, That’s what I’m talking about.

And that’s what Peter’s talking about, that’s what Paul’s talking about with your Christian life, let it be a roller coaster, let it be filled with excitement. But with that comes fear, and that’s okay. It’s okay to be afraid.

Just know that when you’re in that situation, and some of you guys might be going through some really fearful, scary situations right now, whether it’s with your health, your finances, your marriage, relationship with your kids, there’s things going on, I get it. 

But what Peter and Paul are saying in Scripture, is it’s okay to be afraid. Just make sure that you’re taking the right path. Pursue holiness, pursue that place where Jesus is, and it’ll take you to His feet. It’ll take you to a place of worship, and it’ll take you to a place of, Okay, Lord, what’s next? 

Let’s pray. Jesus, thank You for Your word. Thank You that we can see in Your Word that You worked so many times in the midst of fear. 

And I pray for the people in the room right now that might be dealing with fearful situations, Father, please come upon them with the presence of Your Holy Spirit with peace to come in the midst of the anxiety, with comfort to come in the midst of the uncertainty, and Lord, let us look at our lives as we work out our salvation with fear and trembling. 

Lord, I don’t want this to be a merry-go-round, I want it to be a roller coaster. I want You to use me. I want this to be exciting. I want it to be filled with so many things that I’m not even certain about, but I know that You, the one thing that I can focus on, Lord, is Your face, because You are certain. 

You are that rock I can hold on to, and if You’ve got my hand, I’ll just go where You lead, and it’s going to be a fun ride. Thank You, Lord, for these people. Bless us as we go out of this place today. In Jesus’ name, amen.