The Disease and Cure of the Fear of Man
The fear of man brings a snare, But he who trusts in the Lord will be exalted. (Proverbs 29:25)
In recent years, we have seen a number of Christian leaders compromise on clear biblical truth. We have witnessed Christian leaders who, at one point, we would've considered strong leaders, change their minds on topics like abortion and homosexuality. We often ask ourselves, “How could this happen?” or “Why?” “What could drive someone to compromise on the Word of God?” Or why would anyone deny they believe in Jesus?” The answer is in our verse, it's simply because of the fear of man.
The text says that the fear of man is a snare. What does that mean, and why is that so dangerous? To give you an example John 12:42-43 says this
42 Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God. (John 12:42–43)
The text says ‘the rulers believed in Him but because of the Pharisees they weren't confessing Him...’ They were more concerned with their prestigious position and the praise of man than the approval of God. In our day, oftentimes people will keep their Christianity in the closet while on the job, out of fear of being made fun of or mocked, sometimes even they will fear losing their jobs. Pastors are often pressured into compromising Biblical truth out of fear of someone withdrawing their giving to the church. Even within our own families, we can give in to the fear of man and compromise biblical truth because we don't want to upset anybody or be called a bigot or legalistic, or criticized. The fear of man is a trap because it always leads to compromise and it dangerous because it deceives one to think everything will go well if we compromise truth. The fear of man leads to this self-serving, self-glory-seeking disposition, which could ultimately lead to God's rejection of you. It's rooted in unbelief.
John Flavel said this, “The carnal person fears man, not God. The strong Christian fears God, not man. The weak Christian fears man too much and God too little.”
If you're afraid of being persecuted you may not obey God, you may not evangelize. If you're too consumed with people's opinion of you, you may compromise biblical truth, for the popular opinion. The fear of man always leads to disobeying God.
So how can I be sure not to fall for this snare? The answer is simple, and it's right here in this text. It's by trusting God, it's by fearing Him! Fearing God the right way involves not being in terror of Him but in reverence of Him. That means our primary focus is not pleasing man, not even ourselves, but pleasing God! It involves full obedience, not partial obedience; that's actually just disobedience. To fight against this encroaching sinful fear we must trust and believe the Word of God, no matter the cost. Fearing God is motivated and it involves love for God. 1 John 4:18 says this: There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love (1 John 4:18). If you love God you're not inclined to love the approval of man. It is that simple. We're all vulnerable to this pitfall. So my encouragement to you all is to love God and fear Him and believe His promises found in His Word and He will keep you.