Facing Fear Series

Facing Fear

Matthew 10:1-31

We continue this morning with our annual church theme, Living a Holy and Wholesome Life, taken from 1 Thessalonians 5:23: May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Our second quarter emphasis is on emotional health. And we are looking at the emotion of fear this morning. The goal is not to become people without fear. We need to respond correctly to legitimate fears. Someone has said, “Show me a person who has no fear, and he’ll be the person who is beaten up a lot.”

John Haggai’s class book, Winning Over Fear, pointed out, “No human being is immune to this most basic emotion. In fact, it is an emotion we share with many members of the animal kingdom. But unlike animals – who seem to fear only definite and immediate threats – we can fear threats that have never been made, even threats that will never come into existence.”

I believe fear is a God-given emotion for our survival. Here’s what else. Fear is a God-given emotion for our restraint. The fear of imprisonment deters many from wrongdoing. So not all fears should be removed.

Some young people are afraid of not finding a spouse. Middle-age could be fearful of losing their job. And the older we get, the more fear we have about health concerns. We need to reduce these fears from our lives. Not to remove them. These fears can motivate us to take positive actions to mitigate undesirable outcomes.

Our text is Matthew 10:1-31. I'll read the passage, and we'll look together at what Jesus says and does about the fears faced by his disciples. (READ)

Jesus sent His disciples to proclaim and demonstrate God’s favor. And Jesus knew that His disciples would face a variety of fears. Many missionaries who share the love of God and the good news of Jesus with others could identify.

And like a wise parent who alleviates a child’s fear, we see Jesus took steps to alleviate His disciples’ fears. We can apply these steps to help someone alleviate their fears or to help alleviate our own fears. Let's look together.

First, Jesus framed their fears. We see this in verses 1, 7-8.

The disciples were about to engage in what would cause them fear. As a wise leader, Jesus began by introducing the fearful activities with the purpose. He tells his disciples the purpose was to demonstrate God’s help and healing. This was the purpose for going to another town and expecting confrontations.

Some of you might be familiar with Dr. Laura Schlessinger. I don’t know if she is still on talk radio. People would call to ask her what is the right thing to do in a particular situation, and how to have the courage to do the right thing.

Sometime ago, Dr. Laura’s son was a deployed paratrooper in Iraq. Some of the callers were family members of deployed military personnel. They asked her how to cope with the fear for their deployed family member.

Dr. Laura’s answer went something like this: “Everyone will die. Some will die of a car accident. Others will die of a heart attack. There is no nobility in their death. If our military men die in order to protect others, they die for a noble purpose.” Dr. Laura framed their fear; she gave purpose to what caused fear.

We all need to do things we fear. It helps for the purpose to be clear. A strong enough purpose can give us motivation and even courage to do what we fear.

How many of us would run into a burning house? What if the purpose was to rescue one of your children? How many of us would give a 30-minute presentation each week in front of 50 to 200 people? What if the purpose was to put food on the table? If the purpose is strong, you'll receive motivation and even courage to do what you fear.

Second, Jesus named their fears. We see this in verses 9-26.

Jesus identified the fears: The fear of insufficient provision, the fear of rejection, the fear of persecution, and the fear of inadequacy. Unless we name our fears, we cannot face our fears.

People who procrastinate have a better chance of taking positive action if they name their fear. Is it the fear of insufficient time? The sooner you start, the less reason to fear. Is it the fear of insufficient knowledge? The sooner you research, the less reason to fear.

Naming our fear reduces the power fear has over us. Naming our fears also helps us overcome our fears to do the right thing. But naming our fear is not that easy.