Courage In The Face of Fear
Part 7: “Courage to be Our True Self”
Hebrews 11:23-28 and Ephesians 1,2
Intro – Moses is one of my favorite Bible characters…for many reasons, but most recently, because he is an example of great courage in the face of fear…
Moses was a courageous man…there are only three instances recorded in the Bible when Moses was afraid:
1. when he killed the Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew slave Ex. 2:14 – became afraid that he’d be found out so he fled from Egypt…
2. at the burning bush where God appeared to Moses Ex. 3:6
-he was afraid to look at God…hid his face…
3. on Mt. Sinai after receiving the two stone tablets with the 10 commandments…coming down finding the Israelites worshipping the golden calf…Dt. 9:19 says that Moses feared the anger and wrath of the Lord for He was angry enough with the Israelites to destroy them for their sin…
Each of those are pretty healthy instances of fear…
…you may think I missed one…what about his reluctance to go and lead the people of God at God’s request…when he repeatedly tried to talk his way out of God’s call to go and confront Pharaoh?
…but if you look at the story, it isn’t necessarily fear that caused him to be a reluctant leader, it was more his sense of unworthiness and brokenness and awareness of his own limitations…
-he just needed a renewed encounter with God and the assurance of God’s call and equipping…and a supernatural sign…which he got from the Lord and then he obeyed and took on one of the most challenging leadership roles in all of history…and did it with courage, faith and humility…
This morning it is my hope and prayer that the life of Moses and his courage will inspire us to be courageous men and women of God…
To that end I want us to look at a summary of Moses’ life found in Heb. 11…that I believe gives us some helpful insights into how Moses found courage…how he became courageous…insights that God wants to use to increase our courage and boldness for Him in the living of these days…
-turn to Heb. 11:22-28…Prayer…Read…
Now the greatest insight we are going to gain today on courage from the life of Moses is this:
Biblical courage is profoundly theological and belief-based before it is behavioral.
-in other words, courage does not come from doing courageous things…its source is not in doing courageous acts…rather, the source of biblical courage comes from a belief system inside a person which results in courageous actions…
Moses’ life makes this abundantly clear.
Please keep in mind the oppressive conditions in which Moses found courage…Israelites are slaves in Egypt, brutally mistreated, all their rights taken away…used as objects to serve the Egyptians and then discarded when their usefulness expired…400 years of this brutality…Moses’ courage certainly did not come from his circumstances…
The circumstances of that time produced fear…hopelessness and defeat…but it didn’t in Moses…it produced the opposite: God-given courage…why? we’re going to find out why…
Remember that God specializes in confounding the world by raising up a bold and courageous people who will not be beaten down by this world’s intimidation and bullying and fear-mongering…who will not let the circumstances of life and this culture control us with fear. Remember the world shouts at us, “Be afraid, be very afraid…”
But God says the opposite: “Do not fear; do not be afraid. I am with you. I will uphold you with My righteous right hand”.
There are Four Secrets to Moses’ Courage …we are going to look at only the first one today:
1. He learned to embrace his true self vs. the false self vv.24-25
-embraced his identity in God instead of his Egyptian royalty… -profoundly theological and biblical…
Moses realized that he was not really the son of Pharaoh’s daughter…even though he was told that his whole life… He realized being the Prince of Egypt was not his true identity. Even though it was the only life he’d known since infancy, this favored life in the palace of Egypt… it wasn’t who he really was.
At some point in his young adult life, no doubt reminded by the Lord of his identity taught to him by his godly parents during his formative years, God showed Moses who he really was: one of God’s people; part of God’s chosen and called ones; a person who belonged to God…
(* speaks to our concern about YA’s these days…households of faith…underscores the importance of children’s and youth ministries…)
…and based on this theological reality of Moses’ true identity, he was given the courage to be who he really was…
…even though that decision cost him all the privileges and pleasures of the good life in Egypt…
When Moses embraced his true self as a child of God, he found courage…the courage to be mistreated along with God’s people in slavery, to be disgraced for the sake of Christ…to renounce his false self and embrace his true self.
…Courage comes when we embrace our true self, who we are in Christ…Moses’ belief in his true, God-given self led him to courageous obedience…the same is true for us.
Our False and True Self
So who are you really? what defines your life? what’s your identity? What is your true self? For many people, many fine Christian people, who we think we are is defined by the many roles and responsibilities and titles and characteristics that we work hard to develop… Our social culture reinforces this identity through marketing, media, and constantly lifting up false images…
• the musician, athlete, smart one, top of the class (bottom of the class), the beautiful one (or the un-beautiful one), whatever our career is: the nurse, doctor, teacher, successful business person, the handyman…
• the funny person, kind and helpful person, the difficult person, the people person, the task-driven person…
• our identity can be less noble: the sick one, the disabled one, the unpopular one, the damaged one, the black sheep…
• can even have a religious identity: the faithful church worker, willing volunteer, the generous giver…
The false self is what you want people to see…it’s an identity constructed by ourselves…often with the help of other people who will confer an identity upon us…
The false self is what defines you, gives you your sense of identity, sense of value and worth…apart from Christ…but is that who you really are?
…please understand that most of these roles and responsibilities and titles and characteristics aren’t wrong in themselves, in fact they’re mostly quite good…but even when good and noble things and accomplishments define us, apart from Christ, we are still in danger of embracing a false self…
…when the false self is working for us…getting the affirmation and value we crave, it feels life-giving…but it’s a false sense of satisfaction because it’s built on a false foundation…it’s self-made instead of God-given…so it won’t last…God won’t bless it…
Brenner’s Chart of False Vs. True Self…
-to help you further understand the difference between the false self and the true self take a look at this chart…from David Brenner in his book The Gift of Being Yourself…
eg. God has been speaking to me recently about my false self vs. my true self…read selections from journal…
Now, the point is: when we try to keep living out of the false self…protect that false self, nurture that false self, we will be susceptible to all kinds of unhealthy emotions, including fear…because we have to work hard to keep up that image…we’ve got a lot to lose if the false self we’ve worked so hard to develop gets exposed or cracks begin to show…
Finding the True Self
So how do we find our true self? how do we come to accept our true self and live as our true self?
I asked this very question of God and here’s what He said… eg journal entry…and here’s where He took me…
Eph 1:4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us.
When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.
Eph. 2:1As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
That is our true self…who God has created us to be…and when we believe it and live out of it as our foundation…then we find the freedom to overcome all kinds of unhealthy attitudes and behaviors, including fear…and then we can go back to our roles and responsibilities and titles and characteristics, but now without the need to use them, hide behind them to give us our value and worth…
…let me give you one more amazing verse of scripture
that connects all the dots… Rm 8:15… The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”
For me, the most effective way to embrace my true self, is to hear God tell me who I am…to say to me, “you are My child and I am your Father”…”this is My son whom I love…”
Conclusion
Do you need to embrace your true self and let go of your false self? Just like Moses, you’re on your way to finding courage when you live as your true self…when you embrace who you really are in Christ…With the help of the HS, will you choose to do that today?…Let me pray for you…(stand)