1. God is Glorious: So we don’t have to fear others
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What is Glory? (CROWD)
- The way something or someone truly is
- The source,
- The ultimate reality
- Jesus is the “glory” of God
- To Give glory to God is to say what’s true & ultimate reality about God
- To live for his glory…
- To manifest the hidden nature of something
In Hebrew Glory = “Weight, heaviness”
We sin because we crave the approval of people or fear their rejection
We see their glory as more glorious than God…
Their opinion weighs more than God’s…
They matter more than God does to us…
(We don’t see ourselves thinking this way, but we do…all the time)
We “Need” the acceptance of others
When we do that, we’re controlled by them…
The Bible’s term for this is ‘fear of man’.
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Proverbs 21:39… the fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.
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Where do we see this fear of man showing up in the Story of God?
- Adam & Eve
- Abraham (wife/sister)
- Moses
- Leah (never got the love of Jacob… so tried to through baring him children… listen to their names: Reuben “Now my husband will love me,” Simeon “Because God has heard I’m hated, he’s given me another,” Levi “THIS Time my husband will become attached to me,” and finally Judah “Now I will praise God.”
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What does the fear of man look like? (CROWD) (What do our actions look like when we need approval or fear rejection?)
- ‘Needing’ something from others
- Make fun of others?
- Working for approval? …or not working…? Lol!
- Hiding weaknesses
- Internalizing conflict
- Won’t or will say things for approval
- Build ministries for approval
- Susceptibility to peer pressure
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What has the “fear of man” produced in your life? Heart?
- Self-hatred
- Self-doubt
- Disingenuous
- Pride
- Bitterness
- Inactivity
- Emotional Fluctuation (how they see me affects me & controls me) but our ID is supposed to be rooted in Christ
- Double-mindedness
- Needing More
- Over-committed
- Fear of exposure
- Embarrassment
- Lies & exaggerations to make self look good
- Comparisons to others
- People make us jealous, anxious, angry… control our emotions
- Resentment
- Withholding
- Avoid confrontation
- Craving approval
- Behave differently around certain people
Who or What do you look to for approval?
They are who’s most glorious in our lives.
- When we need approval, we have to keep feeding it…it’s cyclical
- Regardless of how much we do, we’ll still feel unrest
- Often, If we feel accepted or approved, we’ll move on to someone else to get more approval
- Frustration with relationships because they cannot provide what we “need.”
These are ALL results of not TRULY believing in our hearts that God is Glorious!
-SELF ESTEEM-
So what do we do? What does our culture tell us to do?
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We try to overcome this by building more self-esteem… but we become dependant on people or things to boost our self-esteem…like a drug
Or we use the language of ‘need’.
We elevate good desires (for love, affirmation, respect) to needs without which we think we cannot be whole.
We talk about ‘needing’ the approval or acceptance of other people. But our true need is to glorify God and love other people.
We need to see the Glorious One as the Glorious One
Everything (including healing) starts with God, not us
(Putting yourself in the center…boosting your self-esteem only increases the addiction to our false gods)
We need to get our identity from God, not man!
EXP: We see this right…
The girl who gets her identity from that guy or that relationship… so she does anything (including putting up with abuse/neglect) she can to keep it going… we call this co-dependence in our culture
Or the son desperately seeking his father’s approval
Or the girl who’s emotions are governed by the guy in her life…
The teenager who gives in to peer pressure…
You can even fall into the trap of believing God is not glorious in the name of religion! …
[Anchor Gaslamp “Seeker Sensitive” Example… started with culture instead of the Gospel… Didn’t teach on things like giving – we didn’t want it to be a stumbling block to Christ…”
Imagine if Jesus ministry was shaped like that…shaped by the fear of man
- He Would have never told people to leave their lives and sacrifice all to follow him
- He wouldn’t have gone into the temple kicking over tables
- He wouldn’t have had that pivotal moment when He said “I am the bread of Heaven…” “…Will you leave also…”]
How do we get free from this cycle?
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The answer to the ‘fear of man’ is the Fear of God.
To fear God is to respect, worship, trust and submit to God.
We need to grow our vision & view of God!
(This is why praise is so powerful… It reminds us of how Amazing God is…)
To fear God is to respect, worship, trust and submit to God.
It is the proper response to his glory, holiness, power, love, goodness and wrath.
Fear of God displaces the fear of man
Isa 40:25 - "To whom will you compare me?
Or who is my equal?" says the Holy One.
Ps. 27:1 – The Lord is my light… Who shall I fear?
Whoever/ whatever it is that we fear… imagine them, then next to them imagine the Glorious God… how does that compare? Can they lay down their life, pick it up again & hand it to you? Can they form the universe?
Why do we keep putting others before God? (CROWD?)
- Our belief has slipped
- Not finding our ID in Christ
- Not TRULY believing God is Glorious in our hearts
- We must remember how Glorious our God is!
[[Do you realize how much of an offense that is to God (to stand next to anyone/anything and say “yeah…that’s more glorious than you God”) we need to start by admitting we realize how off we are, and repent… repent by focusing on God’s glory and asking him to give you a vision of Him that’s greater than anything else. It’s a form of idolatry…
- I’m only nice to you for your approval… means I’m using you…it’s sick.
- I don’t need their approval, so I treat others like crap…]]
So we shouldn’t strive in any relationships w/ man or God.
We have our ID through Christ, so we walk in love without need of approval… we don’t work ourselves to death because God has already approved us!
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Do you believe that the most glorious being in the universe is pleased w/ you because of what Christ did???
My joy is not affected by people or circumstances, but it is SECURE in Christ…
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If this is true, (that God is Ultimate Glory), how would that affect your heart?
- Giving
- Hospitality
- Loving freely
- Stable people…not double-minded or tossed about
- Authentic
- Interested in each other
- Easier to give God glory
How would it affect our community?
How would it affect our city?
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