Cowardice Unto Death

Fear of man is enmity with God

Apr 13, 2025

*The False Witnesses - by James Tissot [author’s edit]*

The hour has come. Jesus knew that raising Lazarus from the dead, perhaps his most miraculous display of his lordship, would be the final piece to deepen the hatred of the Jewish authorities to a place of no return. He also knew that nothing could thwart God the Father’s ultimate plan for his time on earth. He knew his ultimate purpose would eventually take him to the cross. The hatred from the authorities was also directed at those that followed him. In Friday’s reposting of the Lazarus Effect, we touched on the plot to kill Lazarus; after Christ raised him from the dead.

The Bible doesn’t mention Lazarus again after the plot to kill him. Although briefly stated, just think about this for a moment, “So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.” (John 12:10-11) They hated Jesus so much that they wanted to murder Lazarus because Jesus raised him from the dead. But why did they hate him so much? It wasn’t because he performed miracles. His miracles were objectively good. It wasn’t because he outwitted them regarding matters of the Law and other aspects of God’s word. It was because he threatened their power.

This is always the way it goes with man. The vast majority are cowards. If you are smarter than they are, have more knowledge, more ability, more boldness, or other characteristics that are, again, objectively good, most will grow to despise you because of their own cowardice. It’s rooted in the original sin of pride. Most love the world and the things of the world more than they love what is right, true, and good. Which ultimately leads to their hatred of Christ.

We see this unfold in short order of Lazarus being raised from the dead. The account of Lazarus being raised ends in John 11:44. From there, 11:44 - 12:19, we see how cowardice poisoned many. The chief priests and Pharisees lay their plans to kill both Jesus and Lazarus. They fear that the people will follow Christ and that the Romans will take away their positions of authority and their nation. (11:48) They see the people flocking to Christ and that they are “gaining nothing.” (12:19)

We also see Judas Iscariot’s final turning. This too is rooted in cowardice and pride. A thief is innately a coward. Someone who steals that which belongs to another “especially by stealth and without using force or violence.” Lurking in the shadows and operating in secret is pure cowardice. Fear of being caught. Fear of the truth becoming known. Judas’s cowardice, similarly to the chief priests, was because he was gaining nothing. Theirs was about position, authority, and power. His was about money. He wasn’t gaining money so he was turned over to betray the Christ.

Betrayal. Cowardice often leads to betrayal as well. Judas betrayed Christ for monetary gain. The Pharisees betrayed themselves and their people because of their hate of Christ. All of them did so because of their lust of the flesh, eyes and boastful pride of life.” which John discusses in his first epistle. Instead of seeking and doing God’s will, they sought after their own.

“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” -1 John 2:15–17

My study Bible explains this passage like this: “Although John often repeats the importance of love and that God is love, he also reveals that God hates a certain type of love: love of the world. In this text, John expresses a particular form of the fourth test (i.e. the test of love). Positively, the Christian loves God and fellow Christians. Negatively, an absence of love for the world must habitually characterize the love life of those to be considered genuinely born again. “Love” here signifies affection and devotion. God, not the world, must have the first place in the Christian’s life.”

The world “is not a reference to the physical, material world but the invisible spiritual system of evil dominated by Satan and all that it offers in opposition to God, his word, and his people. Either one is a genuine Christian marked by love and obedience to God, or one is a non-Christian in rebellion against God, i.e., in love with and enslaved by the satanically controlled world system. No middle ground exists for someone claiming to be born again.

“While the world’s philosophies and ideologies and much that it offers may appear attractive and appealing, that is deception. Its true and pervasive nature is evil, harmful, ruinous, and satanic. Its deadly theories are raised up against the knowledge of God and hold the souls of people captive.” Flesh “refers to the sin nature of humans; the rebellious self dominated by sin and in opposition to God. Satan uses the evil world system to incite the flesh. Satan uses the eyes as a strategic avenue to incite wrong desires.” The pride of life “has the idea of arrgance over one’s circumstances, which produced haughtiness or exaggeration, parading what one possessed to impress other people. The world is the enemy of the Christian because it is in rebellion and opposition against God and controlled by Satan. The three openings presented, if allowing access to sin, result in tragedy. Not only must the Christian reject the world for what it is but also for what it does.

“The Christian also must not love the satanic world system because of its temporary nature. It is in the continual process of disintegration, headed for destruction. In contrast to the temporary world, God’s will is permanent and unchangeable. Those who follow God’s will abide as his people forever. While Gid offers eternal life to his children, the present age is doomed.”

Judas, and likewise the Jewish leaders were doomed because of their love of the world and the things of the world. Their love for the world was rooted in their own selfish pride. When confronted with the truth and the thought of forsaking the things of the world they plotted in the shadows to utilize their corrupt system in order to more tightly grasp the things of the world which they loved so much. They firmly grasped their own doom in doing so. They thought they were building their own personal empires. They failed to realize the truth that the only empire that matters is God’s eternal Empire and all they could possibly have on this earth is a pathetic empire of their own dirt.

It’s no different today. Humans continue to claw for their own empire of dirt. Wealth, like Judas, position, authority, and power like the Jewish leaders. Humans want their own empire, and they want it now. We attempt to build it through our jobs, accumulating wealth, experiences, and possessions. We try to build it through politics or placing our faith in some other realm of man. We see it in the churches even. Self proclaimed followers of Christ want their own empire. Many willingly gave up the truth to our modern Caesar so they could keep shoveling dirt on top of the dirt they already had.

They bend the knee to Caesar, just like the Pharisees, so they can grasp at their empire of dirt. Their empire. Not God’s. I’ve talked about examples in the “church” recently here on the Substack. I use the term church loosely since it is abundantly clear that many are not the true church at all. Rather they are some deceptive, pagan, false religion masquerading as “the church.” I also have touched on various examples through COVID where many in the church failed. It is likely that not all are false professors of Christ, but many were and are. Nonetheless, even of many who are of the faith, they still leaned into their cowardice instead of their faith in God. Or they lean into their selfish ambition seeking status in society or in the church.

There were some who didn’t lean into that cowardice. Few who didn’t. In the post titled Solidarity from two weeks ago or so, I mentioned pastor Artur Pawlowski. He was in our area last week and provided a sermon at a nearby church titled “Be Courageous.” Courage is the opposite of cowardice. Courage is lacking in the hearts of humankind. Even those of the faith. It’s no different than it has ever been. When Adam and Eve sinned we are told that God called to Adam, but Adam hid. Why did he hide? His own words give him away and show his cowardice. He said, “I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” (Genesis 3:10)

I was afraid. I was a coward, so I hid. Courage is not having a lack of fear. Courage is the embodiment of fear but persevering anyways. It is literally defined as “the ability to do something that frightens one.” Courage is doing the right thing regardless of your fear. It is doing what is right in spite of your fear. During Pawlowski’s message, I was surprised and humbled when he directed a few words to me. Here’s what he said:

“You had to go against every sense in your body…because I believe I have to do the right thing.” Doing the right thing is rarely easy. It is, however, often simple. 2 Timothy 1:7 says, “For God has not given us a spirit of cowardice, but of power and love and self-discipline.” If you’ve been following along for a while, you may remember my deep adoration for that verse. I’ve written about it before, I’ve talked about it before, and I think and pray it even still. Heck we even have a tee shirt and sticker with it.

Of this verse I previously wrote in part, “If you trust in the Lord, no matter the fear or cowardice that you may have, if you speak the truth even though you are vilified, you will be given the power, love and discipline to be a faithful witness for Christ; and you’ll have no idea how your witness will be used and maybe even spread. I certainly never would have expected the opportunities I have had to share my faith and experiences since being canceled and vilified by the FBI and others.

“In regards to tyrants, or evil rulers, the chapter also said, “And the more evil they are the more loyalty they demand from their subjects. There are two things evil leaders crave: power and worship; even grudging worship on the part of the populace is better than no worship at all.” We have seen an explosion of government worship in the last handful of years. Government over God; government as God.

“When a government declares their preeminence and forces their control in an ungodly fashion, which we have seen in numerous ways from governments all across the world, we have a duty to hold true to God’s word. When a government forsakes its God-ordained authority by “calling evil good and good evil” (Isaiah 5:20) the Christian is duty bound to point to the truth of Christ; no matter the cost.”

In his message, Pawlowski also said cowardly means, “not at all brave and too eager to avoid danger, difficulty, or pain. Is that not what we have experienced?” It is indeed, and what we continue to see and experience for all realms of society. Even the church. By way of definition he also included, “disgracefully timid, afraid in a way that makes you unable, listen, that makes you unable to do what is right or expected of you. Showing a shameful lack of courage; shamefully fearful. Someone that is afraid to tell the truth. Do you remember situations where you knew that you were supposed to tell the truth to the person, and you just didn’t want to offend them, you didn’t want to cause trouble for yourself. You didn’t want to, you know, rock the boat. Not willing to pay the price. Afraid, and full of fear. Someone who is cowardly is easily frightened and so avoid doing dangerous and difficult things.”

The above video poses a question early on. “Have we made up our minds to follow Jesus Christ, no matter the cost?” No matter the cost. Cost. It is going to cost you something. This harkens along the lines of “cheap grace” and “costly grace.” Their will be a cost. It is why Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” It’s why he told the rich young ruler, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”

It’s why Peter wrote, “Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.” It’s why Paul included “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church,” in his letter to the Colossians.

It’s why Luke included, “strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” in Acts. It’s why Paul told Timothy, “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” Or a number of other examples throughout scripture as to the cost of following Christ. Will you do it?

The authorities in Jesus’ day wouldn’t. John 12:42-43 says, “Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.”

The glory that comes from man! WHAT GLORY!!!? Fake, false, deceptive “glory.” Dirt. A scoop of man’s glory is a scoop of dirt for the empire you are building. They were so cowardly, they lacked such courage, that even knowing the truth of Christ, for it says they “believed in him,” they still refused to follow him because they were afraid of the Pharisees. There is no true glory from man. The only glory that matters is God’s.

James 4:4 says, “You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” The authorities sought friendship with the world. They were afraid of being put out by their own people because they wanted the things of the world. They sought the temporal things. They looked at the things that they could see, and not at the unseen, eternal things. James 4 goes on and in verse says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

Palm Sunday, which we observe today, we see the embodiment of Christ’s humility. He rides into Jerusalem on a donkey. A lowly animal for a meek, humble King of kings. In Matthew 5, Jesus says, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” The footnote in my Bible says, “Meekness is the opposite of being out of control. It is not weakness, but supreme self-control empowered by the Spirit.”

Furthermore, Jesus rode the donkey to fulfill Zechariah’s prophecy. John is clear in 12:16 that he and the other disciples not yet understand what was happening and what would happen. That came later, as he says, after “Jesus was glorified,” and once they were in dwelt with the Holy Spirit. A few chapters later, still before Christ’s crucifixion, he tells his disciples, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

Tribulation, persecution, picking up your cross and following after Christ will bring with it fear. Fear of losing earthly things. Fear of the authorities. Fear of tribulation itself. Fear of man. That fear will bring with it the temptation to be a coward. Cowardice, if succumbed to, will bring with it eternal death. Revelation 21:8 says, “But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

Cowardice is listed there intentionally. It is listed there first. The cowardice of the authorities who were afraid of being put out of the synagogue, the cowardice of Judas who feared not attaining material wealth, the fear of the chief priests and Pharisees who feared the loss of their authority. That cowardice is common to all. 1 Corinthians 10:13 tells us that, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man.” That includes the temptation to cling to our cowardice. It goes on saying, “God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”

We can endure the temptation of cowardice, as we can endure the temptation to other sin if we follow Christ and trust in God’s faithfulness that we will not be tempted beyond our ability. For God gave us a spirit not of cowardice. But of power, love, and self-discipline. Christ has already overcome the world. We have nothing to fear.

Have a happy Palm Sunday.