God is glorious: I need not fear others (Prov. 29:25)
Sermon preached by Pastor Vincent Bourrel on 1st May 2022
Introduction
You are late for an appointment because you did not leave early enough. How do you react?
- Do you invent terrible traffic jams… Probably due to a serious accident?
- Do you denounce your spouse, your children, who made you late?
- You pretend you were on time and pretend you didn’t notice the time of the appointment?
- Do you admit that you left too late to be on time, ask for forgiveness and bear the consequences of your negligence?
Why do we tend to think about one of the first 3 solutions?
Because we don’t want to appear as we are: negligent.
Because we fear the consequences of our delay: if it was a job interview, you won’t get the job; or if it was an ophthalmic appointment, you have to reschedule in 8 months.
Because we fear the rejection of the person we are trying to please.
In short, we fear men more than we fear God because we are ready to displease God, by adding a lie to our negligence, rather than displeasing men.
« It is a snare to tremble before men, but to trust in the LORD gives security. » Prov 29.25
The fear of men pushes us to lie, to hide our failures, to deceive, to appear better than we are, to be cowardly when we fear losing something. All this to gain the esteem and favor of a boss, to not disappoint a spouse, to get the approval of parents, or to belong to the cool group of high school or college friends…
The fear of men is part of the human race, you didn’t need to observe it to reproduce it, since the fall of Adam and Eve, fear has filled our hearts, and pious men like Abraham and Peter have fallen into its abyss dragging others down with them.
How can we rid ourselves of the fear of men?
The answer is: By fearing God, that is to say, by considering the person of God as he is.
(la suite…)