What Is the Line Between Courage and Foolishness?
00:00:00.000 | Welcome back to another week on the Ask Pastor John podcast.
00:00:08.000 | David writes in to ask this, "Dear Pastor John, in the wake of recent terrorist attacks
00:00:13.120 | around the globe and the rise of violence targeted more or less directly at Christians
00:00:17.280 | and the daily reality of us Western Christians is changing.
00:00:21.600 | We've been accustomed to relative peace and safety here in Europe, but it seems that times
00:00:26.540 | are quickly shifting.
00:00:28.480 | That which used to be considered reasonably safe is now becoming increasingly risky, like
00:00:33.220 | travel or attending a concert.
00:00:35.780 | This leads us to re-evaluate our behavior.
00:00:38.380 | Should we just trust in God's providence, maybe pray, and act as if nothing was happening,
00:00:43.460 | that is, continue our travel as before, continue to visit our public venues as before, or is
00:00:48.260 | there some reasonable level of caution that we should apply?
00:00:51.820 | And in more general terms, what is the difference between wise biblical caution and a fearfulness
00:00:57.260 | of unbelief, or to put it another way, what marks the difference between courage and foolishness?"
00:01:03.580 | The first principle that I would lay down is the greater the cause, the greater the
00:01:11.900 | risk.
00:01:13.500 | God never calls us to risk our lives for meaningless or silly or merely recreational thrills, but
00:01:23.220 | he has regularly called his children to risk their lives, and often lose their lives, for
00:01:31.380 | the sake of the gospel, or to bring blessing to other people.
00:01:37.980 | So that's the first thing to think about.
00:01:40.900 | When the cause is great, risks are warranted.
00:01:46.560 | Great risks are warranted.
00:01:49.100 | Second thing to ponder is that the Bible presents faithful discipleship as something or sometimes
00:02:00.580 | standing firm in the face of danger and other times fleeing to avoid danger.
00:02:08.180 | John Bunyan wrote a whole book about this called "Counsel to Sufferers," in which he
00:02:13.180 | shared his own struggle about whether to stay in jail for preaching the gospel or get out
00:02:19.060 | of jail and take care of his family, which he could have done and thus minimize the risks
00:02:24.660 | to their lives.
00:02:26.740 | And he pointed out that the Bible allows for sometimes standing and suffering and other
00:02:35.380 | times fleeing and avoiding suffering.
00:02:38.700 | And it seems to me that he's right, that there's no clear biblical rule that has any precision
00:02:46.100 | anyway for when to do the one and when to do the other, except maybe as the Spirit leads.
00:02:53.920 | Sometimes faith stands in the face of threat, like Paul, stoned in Lystra, gets up, goes
00:03:02.260 | right on to preach in Derby, and you want to say, "Paul, you're going to meet the same
00:03:08.100 | mobs a few miles away.
00:03:10.820 | Come on, take a vacation or take a break."
00:03:14.300 | And he doesn't.
00:03:17.020 | Or nevertheless, Paul escaped from Damascus in a basket through the window because he
00:03:23.860 | was not going to face down those enemies at the gate who were ready to kill him.
00:03:30.300 | So why escape through a window one day and walk right into danger another day?
00:03:38.260 | But we might find some guidance if we ponder a few other things.
00:03:44.300 | For example, we should ask, "Is our fleeing or, in general, our caution for the sake of
00:03:55.140 | the gospel, for the sake of advancing the gospel and helping people to see the value
00:04:02.980 | of the gospel and believe the gospel, or is our fleeing or our caution simply an expression
00:04:10.980 | of our instinctive desire for self-preservation?"
00:04:15.420 | I'm not saying that it's always wrong to act for self-preservation.
00:04:21.780 | Clearly it isn't in view of what we just saw from Paul.
00:04:25.180 | I'm asking us to test our hearts as to whether we're being motivated merely by self-preservation
00:04:34.940 | or whether the advancement of the gospel and the glorification of Christ are figuring significantly
00:04:43.380 | in the choices that we're making when we pursue caution.
00:04:47.820 | That's what I'm doing.
00:04:48.820 | I'm pushing to consider seriously those higher goals rather than just self-preservation.
00:04:55.980 | Or another factor, we might ask—and I base this question on 1 Peter 3:15—"Does our
00:05:02.140 | behavior in caution or risk, does our behavior tend to encourage people to ask us about our
00:05:11.900 | hope and why it's in heaven?"
00:05:15.460 | 1 Peter 3:15 says, "Always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you a reason
00:05:20.420 | for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and respect."
00:05:23.940 | Why do people ask about the reason for your hope?
00:05:27.100 | And it's because your behavior, your attitudes, your joy in difficult situations look as though
00:05:34.500 | you have a treasure that's different from theirs.
00:05:36.900 | Theirs is in money and safety and security and health and family, and you seem to act
00:05:41.500 | with such courage and abandon and freedom and joy in the midst of danger.
00:05:47.740 | Where's your hope?
00:05:49.100 | And I'm saying that it wouldn't hurt for us to ask the question whether our lifestyle
00:05:54.140 | and our attitudes are the kind of thing that might cause someone to ask about our hope
00:05:59.540 | in heaven.
00:06:01.500 | And the last thing to say would be that we seriously consider this biblical truth, namely
00:06:10.000 | fearlessness in the face of danger is a great witness to the reality of Christ.
00:06:16.540 | I see that in 1 Peter 3, 5, and 6 where wives are told to be fearless, but I read it recently
00:06:25.280 | in the book, "The Insanity of God," in a story about a 24-year-old widow, Muslim background
00:06:34.340 | convert, Aisha, who was arrested for being so outspoken in her Islamic town and put in
00:06:43.300 | the basement of the police station, unfinished cellar, and at the point where she felt she
00:06:51.540 | could stand it no more and was about to scream, instead, to her surprise, out of her mouth
00:06:58.780 | came a heart song of praise to Christ.
00:07:03.820 | And as she sang in the dark cellar, silence happened upstairs and she could tell they
00:07:10.200 | were listening.
00:07:11.200 | And that night, the police chief came down and said that he was taking her home on one
00:07:17.340 | condition, "You must come to my house in three days."
00:07:21.020 | And then he said, "I don't understand you," this is a direct quote from the book, "I don't
00:07:26.060 | understand.
00:07:27.060 | You're not afraid of anything.
00:07:30.220 | My wife and daughters and all the women I know are afraid of everything.
00:07:36.600 | You are not afraid of anything.
00:07:39.020 | I want you to come to my house so that you can tell everyone why you're not afraid, and
00:07:46.340 | I want you to sing that song."
00:07:50.380 | So even though the Bible doesn't draw a simple, precise line between wise biblical caution,
00:07:59.420 | fearfulness of unbelief, it seems to me it certainly encourages us to lean in the direction
00:08:07.480 | of going about our business joyfully, peacefully, in faith, in God's sovereignty, rather than
00:08:14.980 | acting in fearful ways.
00:08:16.740 | Boy, it sure does.
00:08:18.300 | Pastor John, thank you.
00:08:19.860 | And David, thank you for the excellent question.
00:08:21.380 | For more on this theme of risk, see Pastor John's 50-page book.
00:08:24.900 | It's titled Risk is Right, Better to Lose Your Life Than to Waste It.
00:08:28.920 | You can download it and read it free of charge at DesiringGod.org/books.
00:08:34.660 | We'd love your questions.
00:08:35.660 | If you have a question, like David, we'd love to get those questions from you.
00:08:39.340 | Email me directly at AskPastorJohn@DesiringGod.org, and if you send us a question, we will get
00:08:44.780 | it.
00:08:45.780 | We will read it, but we cannot respond to it.
00:08:47.780 | I'm sorry.
00:08:48.780 | I am your host, Tony Reinke.
00:08:49.780 | We'll see you tomorrow on the Ask Pastor John podcast.
00:08:52.180 | [end]
00:08:52.680 | 1.
00:08:53.680 | Is there a risk that you will lose your life than to waste it?
00:08:54.680 | 2.
00:08:55.680 | Is there a risk that you will lose your life than to waste it?
00:08:56.680 | 3.
00:08:57.680 | Is there a risk that you will lose your life than to waste it?
00:08:58.680 | 4.
00:08:59.680 | Is there a risk that you will lose your life than to waste it?
00:09:00.680 | 5.