No one wants to be known by his fears.

“Fear hath torment,” says I John 4:18 and it’s exactly right.

We naturally resist our fears. Some dedicate their lives to eradicating all evidences of fear. An apparel company made a fortune from a line of clothing with the logo “No Fear.” The fact is no one but the most foolhardy is without a certain amount of fear, because it can be a good thing. The fear of injury and death motivates most motorists on the interstate to take few risks. The driver with no fear is usually “under the influence,” as we say.

“Do not fear what they fear,” reads the NIV on I Peter 3:14. The NASB, the standard in my preaching (as well as among my teachers) for most of my lifetime, makes that “Do not fear their intimidation.” And yet the footnote says “intimidation” is literally “fear,” which would make it read “Do not fear their fear.”

So, there’s a little interpretation involved in this. Scholars clearly aren’t in agreement whether the Apostle Peter is urging believers to resist the fearmongering tactics of their persecutors or to live by standards different from those around them.

Both are true, of course. Each is a truth of the Kingdom.

But in this context and for our purposes today, I’m opting for the NIV’s approach. “Do not fear what they fear.” (Hey, it’s my blog. I get to decide.)

In our culture, people are far more likely to be known for what they love and enjoy than for what they fear and hate and dislike.

Take the city where I live. New Orleans has devotees around the world, people who love visiting here and miss it intensely when they leave. Ask them what they treasure about this place and you will be inundated by a litany of their loves: the food: certain restaurants or cuisines, po-boys or etoufee or boiled crawfish; the music: this hall or that club, this band or that orchestra or a certain singer; the parks: Woldenberg on the river or City Park or Audubon; the neighborhoods: Uptown or the Garden District or the Quarter; the history: the quaint streets of the Quarter, the treasures of the Cabildo; the museums: the Museum of Art or the World War II Museum; the street cars, the sounds, the accents, the list is endless. And the Saints–how could I leave them out?

It’s all about loves, not fears. All who love a city are usually bonded by what they enjoy most.

And yet, when it comes to matters of faith and eternity, there are two kinds of people in the world today.

Only two kinds of people? Yep.

You will know them by their fears.

The Lord’s people are used to being told by their preachers and teachers not to love things associated with “that other” way of living. “Do not love the world or anything in the world,” reads I John 2:15. The Apostle John goes on to say the things of this world are fleeting and temporary, so we will not be wanting to get too attached to them.

But can you think of another place where Scripture tells us not to fear the things the people of the world fear? I can’t.

Which brings up the question: What do the unsaved, the lost people of the world, fear and what do they not fear?

The list is far shorter than one might think at first.

They do not fear God. They tend either not to fear death, hell, judgment at all or to morbidly fear them. One extreme or the other.

Those who make a point of insisting they do not fear God or the Great Beyond usually underscore that by saying they believe in neither. Somehow, if they do not believe “it,” then they feel that liberates them from having to deal with “it.”

Foolish, foolhardy, tomfoolery. Does skepticism about the law of gravity end its control and erase its reality? Does a nonchalance about cleanliness free one from the dangers of infection?

And yet people really do seem to feel if they don’t believe in God or judgment or hell, then they have successfully dealt with the issue and will never have to face it.

God’s people will want to reverse much of the world’s standards about what to fear and what not to. Here’s a short list….

1) They do not fear God; we do.

About the wicked, “There is no fear of God before his eyes,” reads Psalm 36:1.

Jeremiah 2:19 makes the same point.

Those who know God also know enough about Him to stand in awe. We fear God. The references are too many to list but here are a few: Deuteronomy 10:12; Joshua 24:14; Psalm 33:8 and 89:7; Ecclesiastes 12:13; Isaiah 8:13; and Habakkuk 2:20.

The Savior was equally clear on this subject. “Do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28). The Apostle Peter said, “Honor all men, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king” (I Peter 2:17).

2) They fear death if they are smart. Believers are given great reasons not to do so.

I am not being an original thinker in saying that the crazy driver on the highway, the one putting his and other lives at risk, the one who does not fear death, is either drunk, drugged, or missing a few brain cells. Even apart from the cosmic dimensions of dying (i.e., facing God at the judgment), such a driver ought to dread the possibility of a wreck causing injuries, suffering, and huge expenses.

If I were unsaved, I would dread dying and do all in my power to forestall it.

As a believer, I have been freed from the fear of death and the torment associated with it. By the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, Satan was forever defeated (in all the ways that matter most). Jesus freed “those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death” (Hebrews 2:14-15).

Unbelievers tend to fall into two groups concerning matters of death and dying: discount it all together by choosing not to believe in anything beyond or fear it with an awful dread which makes them refuse to think about it.

The Christian who fears death is denying his Lord and refusing to believe God’s Word. It’s that simple.

“Whoever lives and believes in me shall never die,” Jesus said at the gravesite of Lazarus. Then He did two things. He asked, “Do you believe this?” and, as though to verify such a staggering claim, raised Lazarus, dead for four days, from the grave. (John 11)

“To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord,” the Apostle Paul said in II Corinthians 5:8.

Even the Old Testament has its understated but solid testimonials of the afterlife for the faithful. “I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever,” Psalm 23:6. “As for me, I know that my Redeemer liveth,” said Job in Jb 25. “I shall see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes–I and not another.”

Jesus said the favorite description of God in the Old Testament–“The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob”–was just such a testimonial. “He is not the God of dead people, but of the living” (Matthew 22:32).

Hear the words of the Apostle Paul from his final writings: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day–and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing” (II Timothy 4:7-8).

To the dying thief who had just voiced the feeblest kind of faith, Jesus called, “Today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43).

Far from getting caught up in speculation concerning what precisely lies beyond our final breath here–Purgatory, Hades, Sheol, Abraham’s bosom, New Heavens/New earth and such–we assert: wherever the Lord Jesus Christ is, is good enough for me. That will be all the Heaven I require.

3) They fear the future; believers know Who holds the future.

Nothing here should leave the impression that we do not know that millions of people who call themselves believers do indeed fear the unknown, whether that involves tomorrow’s headlines or eternity’s verities. I suspect as many believers live on tranquilizers as the world’s crowd.

But it should not be so. It was never intended to be thus. Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give you…. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid” (John 14:27).

“Be anxious for nothing. But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension shall guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6).

Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase, The Message, puts that like this. “Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.”

Our Lord rebuked the disciples in the boat on the stormy Galilee: “Why did you fear? Where is your faith?” (Mark 4:40)

The plan, Christian, is for you and me to live with a certain fearlessness in this world.

We are not to fear rejection of people. How they treat us for our faithful service to God is between the Lord and them and we should never take it personally.

We are not to fear the opinions, assessments, putdowns of people nor work for their approval. There is only One whose opinion means everything. “Unto a man’s master a servant stands or falls” (Romans 14:4).

We are not to fear death, either the natural kind or from the persecution of the unrighteous. “This momentary light affliction is working for us an exceeding weight of glory, far beyond all comprehension” (II Corinthians 4:17).

We are not to fear the uncertainties of tomorrow–not the stock market, not the ups and downs of the economy, not the weather, and Lord help us, not the planet being hit by an asteroid or invasion from the little green men from some other planet.

We are not to fear the vicissitudes of governments with their comings and goings. What the Supreme Court of this country decides will matter to some extent, but we will not live in fear of whether this person gets appointed or not, or what a particular ruling will be. Whether Obama or McCain was named president in the last election mattered, but not ultimately.

To my amazement, there are people who call themselves believers who obsess with the identity of the Antichrist. Let a skirmish break out in the Middle East and they are certain Armageddon is upon us.

It’s not belief, it’s unbelief. It’s not faith, it’s fear.

We will end all this with the definitive verse on this subject, one worth memorizing and taking to heart and worthy of being posted in every room in your house:

“God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (II Timothy 1:7).

Not fear of the devil, but power.

Not fear of people, but love.

Not fear of tomorrow with its unknown, but a disciplined, healthy mind.

“Now, Lord, help us to go into our day boldly and not timidly. May your preachers stand confidently and proclaim the way of life with all the energy and assurance in them. May your Bible teachers back down from no doubter, stumble before no questioner, and freeze before no challenger. May we make the message clear and plain. May each of us accept that we are liberated from fear and therefore, of all earth’s residents, most entitled to smile and laugh, to speak to others of eternal life and the hope that is in Jesus Christ, and to sleep deeply when we lie down.”

“Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”