Philippians 1:28 (ESV)
and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign
to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God.
As the gospel goes forth the opposition increases. As we
move forward together with the gospel, we need to be aware of this. Verse 28
warns us not to be frightened or intimidated in any way by our enemies. The
word translated frightened or intimidated is actually as word describing a
horse stampeding out of terror in the midst of battle. The Enemy’s greatest
tool is division through deception and fear. Fear has driven our politics. Fear
has driven disunity. A church is criticized for their location, another for its
music, a third for its poor preaching, and yet another because it doesn’t have
a Sunday School or Sunday Evening Service. All of these attacks are driven by
fear rather than by a sense of allowing the Holy Spirit to uniquely direct our
ministries. One pastor is attacked because he is a great preacher but a poor
shepherd. Another because he is a great shepherd but a poor preacher. A third
because he is a good leader but is not gifted in the areas of shepherding and
preaching. A church member resigns from a church because “All they preach is
grace.” Another because “All they preach is social justice.” Yet a third
because “They are too focused on fellowship and don’t challenge people enough.”
While yet another because “All they do is tell people how bad they are.” Each
of those accusations are driven by fear; fear that we don’t care; fear that we
are going to go “liberal;” fear that we might not take the Bible seriously
enough; fear that our church will close. When fear begins to drive our decisions,
we can be assured that we are listening to the Enemy, not to the King. We are
focused on people not the Gospel. Conducting ourselves in a manner worthy of
the Good News, the Gospel means living in unity of mind and spirit around the
central purpose of the Gospel and not around fear. One commentary says of those
unified around the central purpose of the Gospel that “Such people cannot be
intimidated by anyone or anything, since they belong to the future with a kind
of certainty that people whose lives are basically controlled by Fate could
never understand.”[1]
As believers are we living with that certainty, or are we giving in to fear?
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