The Fear that can Bind Us

Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew near, which is called the Passover.  And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to put him to death, for they feared the people (Luke 22:1-2).

The fear of people results in a life captivated and enslaved by the opinions and actions of others. It results in a kind of blinding, immobilizing insecurity. The religious leaders of Jesus’ day were responsible for seeking and teaching the spiritual truths that are revealed in God’s Word, but here, as one of the most meaningful and prophetic Old Testament feasts approached they were blind to its impending fulfillment in Christ because they feared the people. There are still many false religious leaders in our midst today. False people-fearing preachers and teachers vie for our adulation and affections because they want to fill their pews and build their churches and ministries. There is precious, liberating truth here for serious disciples in every generation about discerning and avoiding the fear that can bind us.

False leaders dread the people more than God. People-fearing, insecure chief priests and scribes gained their personal worth from the affirmation of the people they were called to serve. Pastors and teachers can be particularly vulnerable to this weakness if we lose our personal fellowship and intimacy with Jesus Christ. Evidence of a healthy, growing walk with Jesus is a leader that imitates Christ’s servant leadership… “Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:26-28). Evidence of the fear of man is a gospel that is more concerned about winning acceptance than about prompting repentance in sinful hearts. 

False leaders dismiss the plan of God. The Feast of Unleavened Bread was a seven-day reminder to remove all leaven from the home in anticipation of a hasty exodus from Egypt. In the Old Testament, the Spirit identifies leaven with sin by banning it from altar-burnt offerings… “No grain offering that you bring to the LORD shall be made with leaven, for you shall burn no leaven nor any honey as a food offering to the LORD” (Leviticus 2:11).  In the New Testament, the Spirit reaffirms the connection between leaven and sin… “Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Corinthians 5:8). The Feast of Unleavened Bread reminds us of the impossibility of removing all tiny crumbs of leavened products from our home and all traces of sin from our heart on our own. Fear of man can make us blind to this first step toward salvation, admitting the truth about our helpless, sinful condition and seeking the grace and mercy of God. Evidence of the fear of man is a gospel that does not include confession and repentance.

False leaders distort the purpose of God. By compelling Luke to note that the Feast of Unleavened Bread… is called the Passover, the Spirit emphasized the purpose of the feast was to raise awareness of the need for a sacrificial lamb to protect the home against the terrible deathly consequence of sin… “Go and select lambs for yourselves according to your clans, and kill the Passover lamb. Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin… the LORD will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you” (Exodus 12:21-23).  The Spirit inspired John to reveal Christ as the Lamb of God that delivers us from sin’s deadly consequence… “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). The blind religious leaders believed they could put him to death, but that act belonged to God’s plan of redemption, as later revealed through the apostle Paul’s inspired letter… “Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed” (1 Corinthians 5:7). Fearing people more than God can still make us blind to the important truth that faith in Christ is sufficient to cleanse us from all sin. Evidence of the fear of man is a gospel that adds any self-righteous works to the all-sufficient grace of Jesus Christ.

As we grow up into Christ, we learn to recognize and avoid leaders enslaved by…

The Fear that Can Bind Us.