Makeni | Audience of One - Janco Boshoff

[00:00:00] It's very cool to be back. We went for a bit of a holiday to see the in laws. So it's nice to be back with you guys. It's nice to see all the young ones in front. How are you guys? [00:00:08] Hello. [00:00:11] These guys are very reserved. They didn't sing along to happy birthday either. [00:00:16] It's wonderful to be with you guys. I saw while we were gone I saw some statuses coming through of people having parties in our house without us present. [00:00:26] You guys know who is responsible later. [00:00:29] But nothing burned down. There's a few things that's a bit interesting thing that we didn't believe it. [00:00:33] No, but it's wonderful to be back with you guys. [00:00:36] Yeah, let's. Let's pray and see what God has to say through the word. Father, we just thank you for what you've been doing until now through the worship, through the prayer, through the different people's contributions. We thank you God, that we can meet with you. We thank you Lord. We thank you Lord. We thank you Lord, just for who you are, God, that you love to reveal yourself to us. We thank you Father, that we come on these Sunday mornings to meet with you God. And that we can really come with the faith and expectation that you want to come and work in our lives, Lord. That you know us intimately, Lord, and that you want to come and work in our hearts. So Father, I just pray even as we sit under your word this morning that yout will create a faith and a hunger in hearts this morning to have our lives changed by youy hand, God, that yout will come and work in our hearts now, Lord. I want to pray, Holy Spirit, that yout come and work far beyond what I'm. Beyond what my words can carry, Holy Spirit, that yout will work supernaturally so that no man can get the glory, Lord, but that you will come and change hearts this morning. [00:01:36] We pray that in Jesus name, Amen. Amen. Amen. Just before I forget, before I jump into what I have on my heart, one or two other family matters that's very exciting. [00:01:46] We're not going to start officially with communities this week. We are officially starting next week. But we do want to encourage you guys to try to meet together this week. Start an upsalong, start meeting together. Whoever's around, just have a, like a social, try to get into some homes. And then from next week we'll hit the ground running. Obviously for us community, the heart isn't a meeting. The heart is that we're true family. And so we don't wait for a meeting to meet up with family. We live in each other's homes. We want to encourage one another as much as we can. So see if you guys can meet up this week and then we'll hit the ground running next week with communities. If you're not yet in a community, we really want to encourage every single one of you guys. If you're sitting here to join one of our community groups, it's where we do life together throughout the week. Church is so much more than a Sunday, and this is also just a Wednesday. But the heart is that this Wednesday will spill over into your Thursday or Friday or Saturday that we will become true family. [00:02:37] So if you're not in a group, please come and reach out to us. It is one of the primary ways that we care for our people. It's one of the primary ways that we know how you're doing, that you are cared for, that you are being loved. If you're not part of a comm group, you will feel like you're missing out on something. And you know why? Because you are missing out on something. You're missing out on the way that God wants to love and care for you. It's through his people. So please speak to us if you're not part of a group. We're very open to starting new groups as well as God does things. And then secondly, just want to share something exciting that's happening this year. We're going to start on most of the Monday evenings this year. There will be online sessions being done. It's going to happen centrally by someone in the Gospel Central group of churches so that all the Gospel Central churches can benefit from it. So different elders, various elders from amongst our churches will present sessions on Monday evenings. It'll be on different topics. So we're starting the 12th of January. That's not tomorrow, but the next Monday. It's going to be Uncle Vincent from Nico Sama is going to be doing a session on how to read the word of God. And it's these type of things that we desperately need equipping and teaching. And I'm sure a lot of us have been wanting something like that, but you can't necessarily preach it on a Sunday, but it's those type of things. So it's going to be on parenting, it's going to be on marriage, it's going to be on deliverance, it's going to be on counseling, it's going to be on gifts of the spirit, whatever it may be. So we're going to keep you Guys up to date on what's happening next week? Every time. Okay, so on Sundays and on the WhatsApp groups, keep your eyes open. So just a fair warning, the 12th of January, next Monday, the first session is starting. How to read your Bible with Uncle Vincent. If you want to join that session at 7 o' clock online. It's online so that anyone and everyone can join. Okay? So watch that space. It's going to be happening. Is that all right? That cool? Okay, so, yeah, let me share what I felt. The Lord wanting to speak to us this morning. My heart is. I always say this and it doesn't work. I do want to share. 5 minutes shorter than usual. [00:04:29] We'll see if it happens. [00:04:31] Because I don't want this morning to be about human wisdom. It's not about the words that we speak, but I'm really. What I felt the Lord saying to us this morning is that his Holy Spirit, if his Holy Spirit doesn't work in our hearts, if he doesn't change us from the inside, it's worth nothing. We might as well not be here. And so I do want to create space afterwards, a bit of a ministry time, just a prayer time for those that would like some prayer. And that's not to say that the Holy Spirit only works in ministry times. He works while the word goes out. He works while you hear. It's not just that, but there's also a space you want to create. So I'm hoping to create that space at the end of this message. So I find it quite difficult to preach on the 4th of January. [00:05:15] It's beginning of the year and there's a sense like we want to start running for what God has for us this year. [00:05:21] You want to cast vision because that's what you want. You know, we're looking forward. It's very exciting. But the reality is not everyone is necessarily here. And so it was difficult for me just preparing. I don't want to share something that's going to leave anyone behind. But at the same time, God is building his church. [00:05:35] Scripture says that the church and every church, a healthy church, will continue to grow. [00:05:40] That God is adding to his body. And stone by stone, every church is actually being built. So church should never look the same a year after year after year. A church should always be growing into health, God willing, if not that, then unhealthier. But that's not what we want. And so this morning it was difficult to prepare. [00:06:00] I want to take us into what God has for us this year. But not everyone's Here. And so we can't build fully. But I do want to share a message that I believe is foundational to what God wants to do this year. And if this thing isn't in place, then actually we will be running with it with a limp. And scripture says it's like we are in a trap. We're caught in a trap and we won't be able to run for the Lord fully. So what I want to share on this morning is something we can all relate with and it's the fear of man. [00:06:27] So some people might not call it the fear of man. They might call it fear of rejection, they might call it people pleasing. [00:06:34] But all of you guys have ever struggled with fear of rejection, fear of man, people pleasing, caring too much about people, what people might think of you. Is there anyone like that that's ever struggled with that, that's wondered too much about what people think? [00:06:46] Is there anyone that before you come to speak in front of a lot of people, you're a little bit out of breath? [00:06:50] Yeah, it's because you're scared of what they're going to think of you. It's the fear of man. It's the people pleasing thing inside of us. Has there been anyone in this room that's ever not said something because you're scared of how the person might react? You know, like that. [00:07:03] That can be the fear of man. It could be. So it's. I think it's something we can all relate with. [00:07:09] So sometimes we confuse it with it's just my personality. Some of us might say, now I'm an introvert. [00:07:16] We might call it shyness. [00:07:19] And it could be, I mean, God's made us all very different. But it could be that we actually have a stronghold in our life where we actually fear the rejection of man and we desire the approval of people above all else. [00:07:35] Sometimes when we talk about the fear of man, I think we can easily confuse it with honor. We can easily confuse it with respect, where we do something to keep someone happy, but it's not actually God's will. We didn't actually ask God what he wants. [00:07:50] And so it's actually a very relatable thing that we can call it a bunch of things. We might call it respect, or I was actually loving the person in that moment by not saying that thing. Or maybe, maybe you think, no, it's just how God has made me. And I believe this morning the Lord wants to actually deliver many of us. He wants to start a journey of setting many of us free from fearing people's opinion, fearing people's rejection above everything else. [00:08:18] It's actually something we see happen very often with big characters in the Bible. So just to mention one, if you go read the beginning of Galatians, you see Paul writing about how he had to publicly rebuke Peter. So Peter is obviously a big name within the Christian faith. He was the leader of the early church. But even Peter, many years after serving the Lord, many years after leading the church. There was a point that Paul writes about in Galatians that Peter was so scared of what the Jews might think of him that in front of the Jews, he would act one way, and then in front of the Gentiles, he would change his behavior completely and act another way. And he was actually flipping between these two behaviors, depending on who's in the room, to keep people happy. And so in front of the Jews, he would act as though he doesn't eat pork and he's still following all the Jewish customs. And then in front of the Gentiles, he would say, nah, you guys don't have to do that. And he was feeling all free and doing what he wants. And Paul publicly rebukes him. One of the great church leaders gets publicly rebuked because of a root of fear of man in his heart. [00:09:17] And so if it can happen to someone like Peter, who's a church leader for many years, wanting to keep people happy can actually happen to any one of us. If you want to go read that story, it's in Galatians 1 and 2. [00:09:28] So what fear of man causes in us is it doesn't. It might sound like you're scared of people and so you run away from people. That's not fear of man. Fear of man is being so scared of people rejecting you that you'll do whatever to keep them happy. [00:09:44] It's above all wanting the acceptance of people. It's wanting their approval. [00:09:51] It could be friends, it could be family, it could be colleagues. [00:09:54] And in essence, it's this question, but what will the people say if I say this? [00:09:59] What will the people say? What will the people think of me? Do you guys relate to that? [00:10:05] So in Proverbs 29:25, it says this in the ESV, the fear of man lays a snare. But whoever trusts the Lord is safe. The fear of man lays a snare. [00:10:18] And I can. [00:10:20] I can really. I could really relate to this, I think, from myself. [00:10:25] I definitely was the front runner of someone succumbing and being in this trap of the fear of man. [00:10:32] So for me, I was born Again, I came to the faith when I was late in primary school. I was 11 years old. And then after that, just after I get reborn. Sometimes it is like that in the Christian faith, you know, just as you come to the Lord, it's as though suffering increases, just everything starts going wrong. Things get, like, exponentially more difficult. And so as soon as I got saved, I started noticing this thing in me. I wanted to be radical for the Lord. I wanted to run for Him. Like, I wanted to be that guy that's just not like, not, not fearful of people's opinions and just boldly declare who he is. I had that, like, thing in me that God put in me. But at the same time I started noticing that I've got this. This big insecurity in me that I want to fit in, I want to be loved, I want people to accept me. And I started experiencing this tension as soon as I came to Christ. [00:11:21] And in primary school, I have to say, I thought life was still very innocent and I wasn't exposed to everything. And I thought everyone was Christian. [00:11:29] I thought when I was in primary school, everyone's a Christian. Maybe in my school everyone was proclaimed a Christian. And then I went to high school and everyone was not so much a Christian. I was in a public school, all boys school of about 200 boys in my grade. And I would say probably around about five of them were honestly, like, saved. And the rest of them were very much in the world. And I did not expect that. I walked into school wanting to confess Jesus, wanting to be radical for Jesus. And how we were divided in where to sit in all our classes was according to surname. And I happened to sit next to the kid in school who was the drug dealer, so he would do drugs. And so I immediately became friends with the guys that were smoking and drinking and used seriously vulgar language. And they got me into pornography. And I was just very quickly into a space that is incredibly worldly. I did not see it coming. I thought everyone was Christian until I walked into that school. [00:12:26] And there was this desire in me to be radical for God. There was this thing that God had placed in me that I want to be fearless and bold for him, but I was absolutely unable. [00:12:37] Like, I would psych myself up, I would spend time with the Lord, I would go to youth, I would be so stirred. And the next morning at school I would just swear. Like, they would swear. I would just do what they would do and I would again fail and fail. And it felt like I was. It really felt like I was stuck I prayed to the Lord. I asked for prayer, and it felt like I would never get out of it. [00:12:55] I left those friends. By God's grace, I was able to find myself a different group of friends. And I would really. That's. That's biblical. Okay. Surround yourself with the right people. I found myself some other friends, and it turns out they also weren't loving Jesus too well. [00:13:09] And I lived this dual life of on the one side, wanting to be radical for the Lord, and on the other side, just constantly compromising and sinning and folding in moments of pressure because I wanted the approval of people to the point that in my matricia we have this. We also had like a Christian union thing. And I was a leader. [00:13:31] And so I asked to get my own class that I'd been with all those years. Can I please have this class? I want to preach to these guys. So once a week I would get 15 minutes to preach to them, and I did that. I would preach to these guys about the gospel and whatever, and I would do that every week. But then so often over the weekends, even though I preached these guys earlier that week, so often during the weekends, when the temptation came, I wasn't able to stand strong and I would fold again and I would compromise again. And I often thought back with so much regret to that time where I was living such a dualistic life. Like I would share one thing and then live another thing. [00:14:04] And the fear of man had such a hold on me that I was not able to stand up for the Lord. Now, for you, maybe it's not necessarily like that for you. Maybe it's in a smaller area. [00:14:14] Maybe it's just with other believers, even just not actually representing the Lord like you should, or not speaking the truth when you could have just not obeying the Lord because of fear of what people might think of you or fear of standing out. [00:14:30] And this continued me into my first year after school where I went into full time ministry. I wanted to do missionary work. And so I started traveling to different countries sharing the gospel. And even during that year, I was actually paralyzed with fear of man. [00:14:46] And it started consuming my quiet times, the times I spent with the Lord. I realized I'm absolutely stuck. I'm in a trap. [00:14:54] And above all, I care about what people think of me. And somewhere in the middle of that year, the Lord completely delivered me of that. Well, there was a definite line where before that moment, I was paralyzed in social spaces. I was paralyzed in spaces where I had to step out, caring what people think. And then The Lord came in and he delivered me. And I'll share one or two points of how God actually did that. [00:15:18] And for me, I can say that I've struggled with this, I fought with this. And it actually, in one way, is a lifelong journey. I don't think any of us will ever be completely free of that. The temptation will always come knocking. [00:15:31] I just want to fit in with the people. I want people to love me. But it's something I believe that if we don't get victory in this area, we won't ever be able to fully run for the Lord because we'll always be folding and yielding and compromising in moments where God calls us to step out and to obey him. And so I want to share just a few points on how the Lord set me free. But actually, our scripture writes about how we can become free of what people think of us before we go into what those things are. I just want to say fear of man can be quite sneaky. It can be quite difficult to spot. So the way that I shared it now, where I wanted to run for the Lord in one way, and then someone would offer me a cigarette or alcohol, and I would fold and I would do it, that's like an obvious one of, okay, I cared what people thought more than the Lord, and I folded. But actually, fear of man is anything that you do from a motive of self preservation. Anything you do from a motive of, I want this person to love me rather than saying, God, what would you want me to do? Or loving that person? So, like, a small example would be, you can give someone a compliment, you can encourage someone or give them a compliment. And it's actually from a place of fear, of rejection. In that moment when you give them a compliment, it could be that you're doing that so that they will like you instead of honestly, the reason you're doing it is to build them up. [00:16:54] Do we sometimes do that? They call it flattery. Just a small example, I want to show you guys how easy it is. Just the way that we would speak to someone, they would say something, we would say something back that makes them feel just a little bit good about themselves. Why do you do that? Is it because. Is that the way that you truly are loving them? Or do you just want them to like you? [00:17:12] And so there's even the way that we are around people in the small things, in the small conversations we have with people. We are master manipulators in trying to get people to like us. Is it true we know how to get people to like us, the way we say things, the way we operate. And all of it's actually out of a place of self preservation. [00:17:33] That people wouldn't reject me, but that people would accept me. [00:17:36] I want the acceptance of man. And so just for us to realize that it operates often, often in church spaces, the way that you worship the Lord. How many of us haven't wondered what people will think of me if I worship the Lord like this? Sometimes maybe there's something in you. Then you just want to shout for the Lord. And then you think, nah, I'm gonna. It's gonna be a bit weird. [00:17:56] We've succumbed to the fear of man. And it's a daily fight actually for us. Is the motive from which we live self preservation and wanting people to like us? [00:18:05] Or is the motive obeying the Lord and loving people really for their benefit? [00:18:12] It can look a lot the same to love someone and to operate from fear of man. The outworking can look exactly the same, but the motive is different. The one you're doing for your benefit, that they will like you at the end of that conversation. The other one, the one where you really love someone, you don't care what you look like, but the day will be built up. You don't care if your reputation is thrown in the mud. But I pray that you will be encouraged in this moment. [00:18:36] I don't care what I look like. I want to love you in this moment. [00:18:39] That's what actually love looks like. And the other one is so easy for us to fall into. [00:18:44] And the test is this. [00:18:46] If what you said would have upset the person, if what you said would have caused a different reaction, would you still have done it? [00:18:56] Because if we are living life based on people's reactions, we actually a slave to people. [00:19:02] We are slave to the approval of man. [00:19:05] And what it causes us is that we can't actually radically obey the Lord because we're slave to another master and it's the approval of man. [00:19:14] Does it make sense? Do you guys relate to that at all? [00:19:18] Is it something we can all relate with? [00:19:20] Okay, so I want to share just five keys from scripture that can bring us freedom from this fear of rejection or this people pleasing that's inside of us. [00:19:34] I don't usually have five keys to freedom. Sounds like a type of book you can buy on some shelf, but there happens to be five of them. [00:19:42] So it's not a five step manual that if you apply each one perfectly, you'll get freedom. It's actually a combination of all five of these things. And I believe that this morning, for some of you guys, some of these points will be what's going to bring freedom. And some of you guys, some of the points will be less relevant and God will be speaking to other ones. So I'm trusting that God will highlight some of these to you. Not necessarily all of them, but some of them. And even as we pray at the end of this meeting, that God will highlight the necessary ones for you and that God will bring freedom to you, because some of these things are dependent on the person. So for the Lord to free us from fear of man, we firstly need to acknowledge the fear of man as sin. [00:20:23] We need to acknowledge that fear of man is sin. [00:20:27] Oftentimes we don't get victory in our struggles in our life because we don't start the process with repentance, but we see ourselves as the victim. [00:20:37] Oftentimes we don't get freedom or victory and struggles in our lives because we don't start the process with repentance by humbling ourselves and admitting where we've messed up, but we see ourselves as the victim. So how God works is to those who cry out to him, to those that humble himself, he gives grace when you repent. It's probably the biggest key in Scripture to getting breakthrough is repentance, humbling ourselves and saying, lord, I have messed up. I've done this wrong. And then the Lord can operate in grace because you've humbled yourself and you've repented. But as long as you see yourself as, oh, this thing is happening to me, I'm the victim in this situation. God can't free you because you're not repenting. You're not humbling yourself. [00:21:20] Often. Let me give you a few examples that some of us in our marriages, for example, there might be cycles in our marriages, and we're struggling to break free of cycles. And we're crying out to the Lord, lord, why can't we break three of this? God, can't you deliver me? And maybe even this morning you were praying about certain struggles you have in your life. And you're like, lord, will you please deliver me from this? And it's like, you can't get victory. And I want to ask you, have you started by repenting for that which you have done wrong? And you'll see how the Lord will start changing cycles in your life. He'll start delivering us if we can start the process by repentance. [00:21:54] Even in your marriage, if 99% of the problem is the other person, but your reaction to their problem was 1% wrong. Start by humbling yourself, repenting, saying, lord, even my reaction was wrong in that moment. Even though they were completely wrong on what they did, my reaction was not you, Jesus. And as you humble yourself, grace flows and you can can deliver us. And so we need to realize, when we talk about fear of man, we're going to see ourselves as a victim to it. Like, oh, this is such a difficult thing. [00:22:22] The Lord actually can't free us from it. But when we can acknowledge it as the sin that it is and say, lord, I am so sorry for caring more about what people think than about what you think. [00:22:33] And we're going to look at it now. But fear of man is actually idolatry, meaning you are an adulterer. If you fear a man, I'll explain it now. So actually, the way to freedom when it comes to fear of man or fear of rejection or people pleasing, is to say, lord, sorry for my adultery, sorry for my spiritual adultery, sorry for having other lovers that's more primary than you. And then the Lord can actually free us. [00:23:03] So as we're speaking about fear of man being idolatry, some of you guys might be worrying, what do you mean about idols? I thought idols are something in the Old Testament, some little statue that you were worshipping. So scripture writes about idols even in the New Testament. For us as anything that we treasure, trust, or delight in more than God. It's a way to summarize it. It's not my own. It's not my own. I quoted from someone else. Anything we treasure, trust and delight in more than God is an idol in our life. [00:23:32] Anything we treasure higher than God, anything that sits on the throne of our hearts, anything that we trust more than that, we put our trust in, rather than relying on God only. Anything that brings us more joy than God is an idol. [00:23:46] And so it's a high standard, eh? [00:23:48] Anything that brings us more joy that we take more delight in than God is an idol. [00:23:55] And so when it comes to the fear of man, we actually see that the approval of people, the love of people, is sitting on the throne of our heart. And more than God, we delight in. We delight in it. We love it when people praise us. We love it when we accept it. And we fit in more. More than the approval of God, we treasure the approval of people. [00:24:18] And so when you look at it like that, you actually realize this is idolatry. [00:24:22] So God needs to be on the throne of our heart at all times, in all places, and whenever anything else is on the throne of Our heart. Scripture says we are serving idols. We are actually idolatrous and we are adulterers. We have another lover that's not God. And so we need to start the process this morning by saying God, actually, I'm so sorry, but I've got another lover. And it's called the praise of people and God. Actually I want to say, let's be honest, I care more about fitting in than about what you think of me. [00:24:49] Do we see it as that? Do we see how it must actually make God feel? [00:24:55] Do we realize that for God it must actually hurt his heart to create someone? And then this person cares more about the other creatures opinion than the Creator's opinion. [00:25:07] And this creature which is us, is saying God, I don't actually care what you think right now. I'm going to try to keep these people happy. [00:25:14] And when the two are in conflict, when it's people's opinion versus God's opinion, let me rather keep the people happy. It actually hurts the heart of God and we need to see it as sin. [00:25:23] Okay, step two. No, it's not a step. Point two. [00:25:27] What delivers us from the fear of man is the fear of God. [00:25:31] Because the fear of man and the fear of God are in opposites. They cannot operate at the same time. [00:25:37] So when we speak about the fear of man, like we said now, it doesn't mean that you run away when you see a person. That's a bit strange. [00:25:44] What the fear of man does in us is it causes us to want to please them at all costs. [00:25:50] Above all, their approval is what matters. Just like that. It's a good definition of the fear of God doesn't cause us to run away from God. The fear of God causes us to want to please him above all else. And that's the only thing that matters, is I want to please Him. And so the two cannot coexist. If you want freedom from wanting to please people and wanting to fit in and just if you want to be radical for the Lord, you need to actually learn to fear the Lord fully. And what does it mean to fear the Lord? [00:26:18] When it comes to the fear of the Lord, you often hear some interesting definitions. It's not just respect, it's not just reverence. [00:26:26] You'll see in Scripture, often there's verses that would write revere, have reverence, and a fear of the Lord for God. So it can't be the same thing Scripture writes about. When it writes about the fear of the Lord, we do it in trembling. [00:26:41] Fear is actually the right translation. It's a good translation. We actually trembling before the Lord. We realize that God is not our buddy, he's not our playmate. He's God and I'm not. He's holy and he's all consuming fire. [00:27:02] His standards are perfect. He is God and I am not. He is creator and I'm creature and I actually do not want to get on the wrong side of God. [00:27:12] The fear of the Lord is realizing as a believer, I don't want to get on the wrong side of God. Now you might say to me, uncle, but you're a Christian. What do you mean you get on the wrong side of God? [00:27:20] If we think like that, we've fallen into a hyper grace teaching to think that a Christian cannot fall on the wrong side of God. You've started to confuse the love of God with the salvation of God. [00:27:30] The love of God is true for everyone, whether you're a believer or unbeliever. The love of God is for everyone because it's from who he is. It's not based on the object of his love. It's based on the overflow of who God is because it's who he is. He loves. But don't confuse that with the salvation of God, which is dependent on your repentance. It is dependent on your life of humbling yourself and saying, God, I desperately need you. And the moment we drift from that, we actually move out of God's grace. [00:28:00] So yes, as believers, we can. [00:28:03] We need to fear the Lord in that way. Let me give you a scripture for that in 1 Peter 1:17. 1 Peter 1:17 Peter is writing to believers. We'll see that just now that he's writing to believers. And he says, and remember that the Heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites. I will admit I've often thought, oh Lord, I'm a bit different though surely there's some extra grace for me. You know my heart, Lord. Ah, you see my heart. You know we come a long way. [00:28:31] Doesn't work like that. Remember that your Heavenly Father, to whom we pray has no favorites. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. Okay. This is written to believers and he says he will judge or reward you according to what you do. Do we see that judgment is also for believers? [00:28:50] I'll explain that in a moment. Judge or reward you according to what you do. So you cannot say, oh God, but you know my intention. I didn't mean to do that. Oh, but God, did you see the circumstances? That was a bit of a difficult one. [00:29:02] We will be judged or rewarded based on what we do in our body. And it's a theme that runs throughout the New Testament. [00:29:11] So you must live in reverent fear of him. That's God during your time here as temporary residents. So temporary residence there isn't referring to people that's living in another town. He's writing to believers saying, guys, you aren't actually from this earth. Eh? We're citizens of heaven. Remember that we're actually called to live in heaven one day. And so while you're living on this earth, you're actually all foreigners. Do you realize all of that? All of us are foreigners. If you're a believer, you're a foreigner on this earth. You don't actually fit in. You're not made to fit in. It's like you speak a different language to people. [00:29:44] And Paul is saying, sir, you must live in reverent fear of him during your time here as temple. He's saying, while you're on this earth, live in reverent fear of the one who will judge or reward you according to what you do. [00:30:00] So when it comes to salvation, it's not based on works. [00:30:05] If you humble yourself, if you cry out to God and say, lord, I desperately need you for salvation, I cannot save myself. Then you are saved. You are hidden in Christ, and you will make it into heaven. If that is your position in Christ. Nothing to do with works. But still, every believer will stand before the judgment seat of Christ to give account for every single word and action you did in the body. Do we realize that? [00:30:27] I wish I had some more scriptures to show you guys. Go look at 2 Corinthians 5, 10. It writes about the same thing. Every single one of us will stand before the judgment seat of Christ for every word we spoke and for every action we did. The portion about every action we did is also here in 1 Peter 1:17. [00:30:42] So even for us as believers, do we realize that we need to live in reverent fear of the one who. Who is holy? Because we will give account for every action that we do in the body? Do we realize that even as believers, even though I'm saved not by my works, but by faith, there is consequences to every action. [00:31:00] Do you realize that, believers, that there's a consequence to every action? [00:31:05] If you think grace covers your actions, you've fallen into a heresy. [00:31:09] Grace covers your sin, and you will make it into heaven on that day when Christ comes, you are found in Jesus. But there's consequences to every one of our actions, not only on Judgment Day, but the Lord, even on this side of eternity, promises to discipline his children who have. You guys have been disciplined by parents. It's not very nice, eh? Now imagine if God disciplines you. [00:31:33] It's loving. [00:31:35] He does it to his sons and daughters because he loves us, that he's that serious about us, that he will bring us back and he'll do what it takes to bring us back. [00:31:43] There's consequences to our actions, even for believers. And because of that, we live in fear of the one that's God, because we are not God. [00:31:51] He's holy. He's all consuming fire. And oh my word, I do not want to be removed from God. I do not want God to have to discipline me. To realize that's actually a biblical posture to have our closeness with God is influenced by our actions. [00:32:12] There's a lot of scriptures that writes about that one. One would be in Matthew 5, it says, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. And throughout scriptures you see this link. Seeing God is linked to your purity. Seeing God is linked to your holiness. The way that you present yourself holy, the way that you allow the Lord to purify you is directly linked to seeing the lord. [00:32:34] In Hebrews 12, it says, Strive for the holiness without which no one can see God. And he's writing to believers in the middle of Hebrews 12, strive for the holiness without which no one can see God. And so that's actually the fear of the Lord realizing that everything I do actually brings me closer or further away from the Lord for myself. One of the biggest things that brought me freedom in this area of fear of man was realizing every time I compromise, I actually grieve the Lord. I grieve the Holy Spirit. And it's like I can't see the Lord as well because Scripture says, blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. And I realized every time I sin, every time I compromise, I've got a choice. [00:33:16] I can enjoy the momentary satisfaction of sin. Well, I can enjoy seeing God. It's your choice, but you can't have both. [00:33:25] And from a place of desperately not wanting to lose God, from a place of, as a believer wanting to see as much of him as possible. I don't want to go a moment of being separated from him more than I have to. [00:33:34] From that place I actually stopped sinning. [00:33:38] Blessed are the pure in heart, because they shall see God. [00:33:42] I want to see the Lord. And if I have to count the cost, if I have to weigh it up, well, then I'm going to leave all the sin that I can, because I don't want to see less of God. I want to find him at all costs. [00:33:53] I'm actually sharing about the fear of man here. [00:33:56] But the way that we gained freedom from the fear of man is by living only to please the Lord. Realizing that our every action has bearing, our every action has consequence before the Lord. The Lord is holy. And when we weigh that up, well, then people can think what they think. I don't actually care. I want to please my one Master. [00:34:15] And that's why I titled the message like I did. We live for an audience of one. [00:34:21] When we have the fear of the Lord, then we live for an audience of one. [00:34:25] Because even if none of you guys like me, I care about what God thinks because he's the perfect judge. [00:34:32] I want the Lord to be pleased with what I do, not any one of you. And if those two are in conflict, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I'm going to obey the Lord. And the only way we actually reach that place is if we actually have a reverential fear of the Lord, where we actually tremble at the thought of disapproving the Holy One. The all consuming fire. Realizing that every single one of my actions and words have consequences. [00:34:57] Oh my word. I don't care what you think. I'm gonna keep the Creator, the King of heaven and earth. I'm gonna please him. You guys still with me? [00:35:05] Luke 12:4,5 says, Dear friends, don't be afraid of those who want to kill your body, or don't be afraid afraid of those who can reject you on this side of eternity. They cannot do any more to you after that. [00:35:20] But I'll tell you who to fear. Fear God, who has the power to kill you and then to throw you into hell. Yes, he's the one to fear. Crazy scripture, eh? [00:35:30] I mean, what can man do except for reject you and then kill you and then your eternity with God? [00:35:35] Would you rather have their approval for a short period or the approval of God for all eternity? Being rewarded for what you did for him for all eternity? [00:35:44] Okay, point three, just the key to breaking free from the fear of man. Point three is realizing we are called to be rejected. [00:35:53] Once you realize that, oh my word. It's so easy to not care what people think. In a good way, obviously, because we're called to love people. It's very important what people think of us. We're called to live above reproach. [00:36:04] We're called to not make anyone stumble. So there is that thing I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about where we are, Master. We're enslaved to the opinion of man at the cost of obeying the Lord. And once we realize that, we are called to and even expected to be rejected. As a believer, you don't really care what people think. [00:36:23] Do you realize that if everyone likes you, there's something wrong? [00:36:27] If we are to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, we should expect some serious rejection. And if you haven't been experiencing a lot of rejection recently, I'm going to pray for you. Oh my word. [00:36:39] That all of us can cry on each other's shoulders when we're rejected because it's the norm on a Sunday. That when we come together like this is the reality as believers. [00:36:48] It says in Luke 6, 22, 23 Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil on account of the Son of Man. [00:36:59] Rejoice in that day. Leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. [00:37:05] For so their fathers did to the prophets. [00:37:09] For so their fathers did to the prophets. Here, Jesus saying, this has been the example for all the ages. [00:37:17] You will be rejected for my name. Expect nothing less. [00:37:22] It's such a freeing thing when you realize that your calling is rejection. Wow. [00:37:27] Isn't it amazing? [00:37:30] Like, that is the blueprint. Rejection by people, by those that don't know the Lord. I was reading this week. In 2 Corinthians, it says, the gospel that we spread causes us to be a dreadful smell of doom and death to those that aren't being saved. [00:37:45] We smell like stinky to people that don't want to hear the Gospel. [00:37:50] That's the norm. You should expect nothing less. And then when I'm talking to people, when I'm busy in worship, when I'm sharing the gospel, the expectation isn't that I want your approval. In fact, there's something wrong if everyone likes me. Suddenly there's a freedom and we realize the call is not for everyone to like us. [00:38:09] I hope it's freeing for you guys. For me, that was very freeing to realize. [00:38:14] Point 4 How the Lord frees us is knowing his love. [00:38:19] It's knowing his love. [00:38:21] Once the Lord comes and gives us an experience of his love, his approval, suddenly no other person's approval matters anymore. Because you are satisfied in the one whose opinion truly matters, the one that created you, the Creator, the one who knows everything, the perfect judge. If he loves you well, then you're satisfied because he's the one that judges accurately. He's the one that knows you best. He's the one that created you. It's a funny thought for us to look at the opinion of other creatures around us. We're just dust. Imagine one dust particle. Scripture actually in another place causes worms. Let's use that analogy. Imagine one worm looking at another worm and wanting approval and opinion from this worm. And basing his life, not all the other ones think when actually God the Creator has a different opinion. It's like we cannot look at other creatures for approval when the Creator has another opinion about us. In Ephesians 3:18, it says, and may you have the power to understand as all God's people should. That's all of us. How wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. Verse 19. May you experience the love of Christ. [00:39:34] Though it's too great to understand fully. [00:39:37] It's too great to understand fully. Meaning, this is not a head thing he's talking about. He's saying at a heart level, personally, have you had an experience, an encounter with the love of God? That's what this is writing about, not head knowledge. Have you experienced the love of God in your heart? And it says this, Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and the power that comes from God. [00:40:02] There's something we need to be made complete in all the fullness of God and all the power of God. There's something we need for the fullness of life. It's an experience of the love of God. [00:40:14] And the Lord can set us free from granting the approval of man, because that hole has been filled by the one whose opinion actually matters. [00:40:24] And then lastly, understanding the gospel that we are hidden in Christ. It's a theme that came up this morning. [00:40:32] You see the moment that we feel insecure. [00:40:35] This is a way that I can test myself before I preach. I used to get a bit more nervous than I do now. I used to when I spoke in front of people. I'd get so out of breath I'd start sweating. [00:40:45] I think some of you guys might be able to relate in that moment. Now, if that happens to me, the moment I'm out of breath before I come up to speak, the moment I'm like, I'm feeling nervous, like there's butterflies in the stomach. That moment I realize my eyes are on myself. [00:40:59] I'm looking at myself. I'm the focus here. [00:41:02] And it's as simple as saying, God, I don't care what I look like, but to you be the glory. And I shift my focus and I say, lord, my eyes are on you. This is for your glory. The moment you start feeling insecure, you start caring about what others think. You start compromising. Your eyes are on yourself and you've got the wrong focus. [00:41:21] And the Lord wants to shift our focus off of our own self. They call it nasal gazes. [00:41:28] You're looking down at your own belly. [00:41:31] You're walking around like this, just caring about, what's my image? What's my image? What do I look like? And God wants to say, lift your chin and look at the one who's due to receive the glory. I don't care what I look like. [00:41:47] Every time that this fear of man creeps in, I realize, oops, I'm living for my own glory again. Oop. I'm just like Satan, living for self worship. That's what I'll tell myself if I'm struggling with fear of man. Before I speak in front of people, I'm living for my own glory again. Otherwise I wouldn't care what people think. But if I'm living for the glory of God, there's a freedom. [00:42:08] Because, Lord, I want to obey you. I want to please you. [00:42:12] For me, I had to learn to not ask people what they think of my sermon as a worship leader. That's what the Lord taught it to me. Oh, my word. After worship, I wanted people to tell me it was good. [00:42:21] And the Lord asked me, why do you ask them? Ask me what I thought? [00:42:25] And so now you won't find me asking you what you thought of worship. I'll go home and ask the Lord, will you please buy it, Father? [00:42:32] And even if it felt as dry as a door now and none of you guys liked it, if the Lord says, I'm pleased, my son, you obeyed me, then that's what matters. [00:42:42] In Galatians 2:20, the gospel. This is the Gospel. I have been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me in the life I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. I have been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I live. So every time you feel insecure, every time you want to go into self preservation, every time you want to build up your image, what are you building up? You're building up self, self, self, self. Every time that you're trying to make yourself look good, you're building up self. You're trying to improve this image. And Scripture actually says you are dead. That's your Identity, you're dead. Don't try to build up your identity as a believer. What identity? You did. [00:43:30] You were crucified with Christ. And the new you is hidden in Christ. [00:43:36] And for me, this is the scripture. This is the scripture that for me God used to set me free from fear of man. It might not be the same for you. [00:43:44] I realized every time I'm nervous about what people think, I'm caring about self and I'm supposed to be dead. [00:43:53] I actually have died with Christ. So I'm trying to build up a dead man. [00:43:58] Like, why do you care about the dead man? He's dead. Leave him dead. And I'm speaking to you now about your old self. Leave him dead. Let people think what they think. [00:44:05] But the new you is hidden in Christ. [00:44:08] And that means we have received God's righteousness and holiness as a gift. And so now when someone judges me, when someone has an opinion about me, I don't fear that. Because the one who's the perfect judge has declared me righteous and holy gift like it's been given to me because I'm in Christ. God, when he looks at me, sees me as holy and blameless in his eyes. [00:44:31] It's a gift. I don't deserve it. It's amazing to be found in Christ. But then what people think of me, I don't feel that anymore. Because the perfect judge says I'm righteous and holy in his eyes and I'm happy to live for him. [00:44:46] So I'm trusting, just as I've shared this, that some of these things would have. Would have stood out to you. Some of these things would have resonated with you. [00:44:56] And if the Lord doesn't free us from living for the approval of man, from people's opinion and the fear of rejection and wanting to fit in, actually controlling us in everyday life, we will never be able to radically live for the Lord. We'll never be able to obey the Lord. The two cannot operate together. And I believe the Lord is calling us to much more. [00:45:17] The Lord is calling each one of us to step out. He's calling each one of us to build his house this year. He's calling every single one of us to grow. [00:45:25] He calls every single one of us to make disciples, to share the gospel. And none of those things are possible if we're going to live for the approval of man. [00:45:34] So I'm trusting that the Lord will free us and he'll deliver us actually from this. So I want to create a space now where will be praying for anyone that would love to be freed from this to any degree. Now, for me, honestly, this hasn't stopped. It never actually stops for the Lord to free us. [00:45:51] But I do want to ask that if you would love prayer in any one of these areas, and you'd love to be just freed from living for the approval of man, so that you can live for an audience of one, but actually, you'd come to the front and we can pray for you. So can I ask that all of us please stand wherever you are, wherever you're sitting, if all of us can please stand. Amon, would you mind just playing on the keys in the background, please?