Handling Our Fear Of Change
Glenville 4/7/2013 Judges 6:1-28 Matthew 14:22-33
How many of you are afraid some things, and you don’t even know why? You just know that if you see it you are going to go the other way. Our professionals have identified 322 unique phobias. The word phobia comes from the Greek word for fear and it refers to a panic that is completely out of proportion to the perceived threat behind it. Some of you are willing to stand toe to toe in an argument with somebody bigger than you, but if a mouse comes across the floor, you are ready to run.
The top five phobias in our society are 5 .Claustrophobia Fear of being trapped in small confined spaces. 4.agoraphobia Agoraphobia involves intense fear and avoidance of any place or situation where escape might be difficult or help unavailable 3. Aerophobia Fear of flying. 2. Social Phobia Fear of being evaluated negatively in social situations. 1.Arachnophobia Fear of Spiders. Half of women and 10 per cent of men have, to some degree, a fear of spiders.
I had a secret fear coming out of college. I was graduating when computers were first starting to come out, and I had never had the opportunity to take a course on computers before I graduated back in 1979. I was terrified that I would never learn how to use a computer, and I would get left behind in this new computer world that was going to happen. Little did I know, just how much I would benefit from something I was scared to death of having to one day face.
Sometimes, making a change can be frightening. It was once believed that cars would not be the wave of the future, because if you drove a car more than 30 mph, it would take all the breath out of you and you would suffocate.
It was once believed that using radio and tv signals were of the devil, because the bible makes a reference to Satan in the book of Ephesians as Satan being the ruler of the air. Since the signals went through the air, somehow they came under Satan’s control. Yet we know today that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been preached to millions thanks to tv and radio signals.
There are times when God wants to bring about a change in our situation, but instead of just doing it, God allows us a choice in making it happen. Some of us here are in some pretty bad situations and we want to get out of them, but we are afraid of the price that we might have to pay to move forward.
We are afraid of leaving what’s comfortable and known to risk going through a door, where we are not sure what exactly sure of what is on the other side. That feeling is completely normal, and sometimes it keeps us from making unwise choices. Yet if we do not take risk, we do not experience all that God has for has.
In our Old Testament reading today we ran into a man by the name of Gideon. God’s people are in the midst of a crisis. Their enemies have them terrified. Each year the Midianites would wait until it was time for the crops of God’s people to be harvested, and then they would invade the land with all of their animals and herds to eat up the crops and destroy whatever food was left.
A whole year of farming was going down the tubes. God’s people had rejected God, and so God had left them to their own fate. Sometimes God will listen to us when we tell God, “I don’t want your help and I don’t need you in my life.” Well God will wait until we realize that things are not going the way we had planned they would. We’re not getting what we thought we were going to get. But now we are afraid of change.
Gideon was one of God’s people who was terrified of the Midianities. The Midianites and their allies had an army of 135,000 men armed with swords. It was easy to understand why everbody was afraid of them and willing to risk starvation rather than having an uprising to be free. This past week was the anniversary of Dr. King’s assassination. Think of how many black people were willing to accept things as they were, because of a fear of what trying to change things might mean.
Think of how many white people wanted to keep things as they were, even though they knew it was wrong, out of fear of what a change might mean. The fear of going through an unopened door can be paralyzing.
Gideon is from a former wealthy family because he has more than ten servants at his disposal. He is threshing wheat to get some food. Normally the wheat would be scattered on a floor and rolled over with carriages pulled by oxen. But Gideon does not want to be discovered by the Midianites, so he goes to a place and beats the wheat with a stick, which is only what a poor person would usually do.
He’s doing this over a hole in the ground, to make sure that nobody can tell what he’s doing. He does not want to get caught trying to come up with some food to eat. He really could have used a change in his circumstances. Fear had a rich man reduced to living like a very poor one.
The angel of the Lord comes and sits down under the tree where Gideon is trying to get some wheat. When you see the angel of the Lord in the scriptures, it often refers to God taking on a form that humans can see. Some think it points to when Jesus will come ,and God takes the form of a human in Jesus. Some think it’s an Old Testament appearance of Jesus.
But either way, this Angel of the Lord looks like a man and comes to Gideon who is hiding in fear. The Angel of the Lord addresses Gideon saying, “The Lord is with you, you mighty warrior.” Isn’t it strange that whereas we see a cowardly man at worst or simply a scared man at best, God sees a mighty warrior? Do you realize that who you think you are, and who God sees you as being, may be radically different people?
Nobody was more shocked at this greeting than Gideon was. He had to look around for a moment. He even says, “pardon me.” “Excuse me, are we talking about me and my situation. You obviously have the wrong person. As a matter of fact, I can prove to you that you are wrong.
First of all, look at my circumstances. Do you really think I would be where I am, if God was with us? Do you really think I’d be hiding out her for this little bit of food I’m trying to get if I were a mighty warrior? Haven’t you heard of what kind of things God does when God is with someone? Either you don’t know what’s going on, or you’ve mistaken me for somebody else.”
Some of you have heard of Haddon Robinson, because he was on a program on Moody Radio. He made the statement once, “In any situation, what you ARE, determines what you see; what you See determines what you Do. Gideon didn’t see a mighty warrior with the Lord when looking at himself. So he tried to redirect the Angel of The Lord to go and find somebody else. He did not consider the possibility that maybe it might be a time to trade in his fear, for freedom to something greater.
What do you see , when you see you? Are you going through life as mighty warrior who has the Lord on your side, or are you a victim who really does not have that much power to change anything? Do you realize, there are people right now, who have far less than you do in life, that in five years, they are going to have you wishing you had been willing to make the sacrifices they made to obtain what they got.
I can remember, when the free nursing program was announced here at church, I told some of you young people to consider it. But you didn’t want to leave your job. You didn’t want to go to school right now. You were thinking about doing something else. Well, the job you didn’t want to leave is gone. You’re still planning on going to school in the future. Whatever you did do, has not pushed you much further in the process of getting you a better job.
But Asia seized the opportunity. She went through countless headaches at the school with the students and changing of teachers. She was disappointed when she failed the nursing exam the first time. But she didn’t see herself as a victim. She believed the Lord was still with her, and she was going to do it. Well now she’s a lpn, and she has a skill that will give her a decent paying job. Sometimes God drops opportunities in our laps, and the fear of what we might be giving up, keeps us from making a decision that could propel us forward.
Because the angel of the Lord saw Gideon as a mighty warrior, He kept speaking to Gideon as a mighty warrior. He did not go through Gideon’s list of objections as to why he had the wrong man. He continued the conversation right where he left off. He told Gideon, “Go in the strength you have, and save Israel, out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”
The Angel of the Lord wants Gideon to go with the strength he has, not on the strength he wants to have. How often have you said, I would do such and such if only I had______________. We all want assurances that everything is going to turn out fine according to the way we can see it, before we actually go ahead and do I,t when its something God wants us to do. Okay God, before I make this kind of a commitment, I really want to know it is you telling me to do it.
But have you thought of how blindly we enter into commitments of sin without needing any proof that everything is going to be alright in the end. Forget about what God says for a moment about sin, just look at what the world has found out. The world’s professionals have discovered that couples that live together first, are not as happy in their relationships and if they do by chance get married, most of which won’t, they have a greater rate of divorce.
So why are so many of us rejecting the word of God by saying, I’m afraid to get married, so I want to live together first. God has promised to withhold his blessings from you and the world has promised, you’re reducing your chances at a successful relationship. Why not make your relationship honorable in the eyes of God now? The greatest thing you can have is God’s favor upon your life. Shouldn’t we be more afraid of what’s on the other side of the door of sin, than we are might be on the other side of the door of obedience.
We will blindly enter into commitment with our money to the world, without even asking for proof that things will work out. We practically beg people to let us make a commitment to turn our future wages over to them. We will make a five year pledge to pay $300 a month for a car, but tell God I’ll pay a tithe of $30 a week , if I think I might have the money.
What would you banker say if you said in advance,” I pledge to make the payment, if I have the money left over.” Why do we have little fear over a pledge that satisfies our natural desires, but great fear over a pledge for our spiritual lives.
The angel of the Lord lets Gideon know, “you have what it takes, to do the right thing because I am sending you.” When God sends us somewhere, it’s God’s responsibility to meet our needs in that situation. When God sends us, it does not mean its going to be easy. God sent Jesus into this world and sent him to the cross to die for our sins.
Never once does Jesus say, “Since the Father sent me, no problem, this is going to be easy.” No we find Jesus in the Garden saying, “Father if you have another plan to get this done without me going to the cross, I’m willing to work with you on it, but if I must go to the cross, then I’m going not because I want to, but because I want to do your will.” Jesus had a healthy fear of the cross, but he didn’t let his fear paralyze him from going forward with God’s plan.
Even when Gideon was reassured that God was going to be with him, he still tried to get out of it. He said, “how can I save Israel. My background is not too impressive. I’m practically a nobody.” Gideon was simply looking at what he thought he could do on his own. God is looking for people, who are willing to say, I know I can’t do it, but I wonder what God could do through me, if I ever tried. The Angel of the Lord wasn’t going to argue with him over what he could and could not do. He just told him point blank. “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together.”
There is something about the Angel of the Lord that’s getting next to Gideon. I don’t know if it’s the expression on his face, the tone in his voice, or the way he looks, but Gideon is starting to suspect, this is not just an ordinary guy he’s talking to. Just hearing the words strike down all the Midianites raised a sense of hope for change that Gideon wanted to see. But he was still afraid of taking the steps to see what might be on the other side of the door.
Gideon thinks that this whole experience might not be real. So he says, “look just to make sure, I’m really seeing and hearing what I think I’m seeing and hearing, you wait right here for a moment. I’m going to go and get an offering of some meat and broth and bring it back to you. Let’s go from there. So he brings back this meat and bread and broth. The Angel of the Lord has Gideon put the meat and bread on a rock and then poured the broth on it. The angel of the Lord had a staff in his hand. The moment he touched the meat with it, fire came out of the rock, burned up the meat and the bread and the angel of the Lord immediately disappeared.
Gideon realized that he really had seen the angel of the Lord. He cried out, “Oh sovereign Lord, I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.” Gideon is now terrified because he thinks that God is now going to strike him dead. No-one was suppose to see God and live.
The bible does not tell us how, but God speaks to Gideon and says, “Peace, do not be afraid, you are not going to die.” We often times think that if God would just show us a sign, we would not be afraid any more. That’s not how we actually work. God may show us a sign, and then we end up disbelieving it really was a sign.
God calls Gideon to go and make one more change. He told him to go and tear down two false gods, Baal and Asherah and build the proper kind of altar to God Himself that should have been built. He is to take two of his father’s bulls to do it. One bull to tear everything down, and the second bull to offer as a sacrifice.
Now Gideon knows that to be obedient means taking quite a risk. The people in the town worship the Baal and the Asherah pole. How long do you think you would last if you were to go into a Moslem mosque, tear down the cresent symbol on the top and replace with a cross and a sign that says, “Jesus is the way”? Well that’s sort of what God was asking Gideon to do.
Being certain of what God wants us to do, doesn’t necessarily take the fear part of it away. Gideon knew the people were not going to like the changes he was proposing, and not even his own family would be willing to go along with it. So he waited until it got dark, snuck in to town with ten of his servants and did what God told him to do, and then snuck back out of town.
When the people saw what had happened they were furious. They had an investigative team examine the matter and they found it, it was Gideon that had done it. They immediately sentenced him to the death penalty. But God had other plans for Gideon. Of all people, Gideon’s father rose up on his behalf to make sure he got off free. God can make people who are against you, stand up and protect you when you overcome your fear and step out in faith.
This first step of faith that Gideon took is going to seem very small by comparison of what God is going to ask of Gideon the next time around. You see God usually gives us a smaller test before the really big one comes along.
Later Gideon is going to go against an army of 135,000 armed soldiers. But Gideon will only be able to raise an army of 30,000. If you think those odds are bad, Gideon says,” look here if any of you are scared about going into battle against armed veterans, you can go home now.” 20,000 men get up and leave. So now its 135,000 against 10,000. God then says “the odds are still too much in your favor, choose 300 and send the other 9700 back home.” So now its130,000 to 301.
Why does God put us in situations like that? Because God wants us to learn how to put our trust in Him and not in our ability to make everything work out. We are all Gideons in one way or another in our lives. Some of us are denying who we are and won’t leave our circumstances because we don’t want to risk losing the little that we have.
Some of us are only willing to move if we have a sure sign so that we do not have to use our faith. Some of us are willing to take steps of faith, but only small ones because we are afraid of the consequences. Some of us have accepted that we are mighty warriors and the Lord is on our side. We don’t mind going into a situation in which the odds are overwhelmingly against us, but we are going to put ourselves totally into the situation because we believe that God said for us to do it.
As a church, the Lord probably calls us “a mighty warrior.” Glenville has a history of fifty years. When it reached its twenty fifth year, it knew it had to change if it was to have a future in the kingdom of God. It was facing an involuntary closing by the presbytery. But God pulled us together under new leadership and we’re still her 25 years later because we overcame our fear of change.
We now face a new crossroad in our ministry as a church. We have come to a fork in the road in terms of “where do we go from here to be the most effective in the kingdom of God.” Our two year partnership agreement with Calvary is ending. We can journey on a separate pathway from Calvary and go forth on our own by changing how we have down ministry in the past. We will no longer have all of the gifts and talents of all three pastors, which means some of us will have to be willing to give more in terms of time, talent and money. Some of our ministries will initially suffer, but God may raise them up later in a stronger way.
We can choose to journey with Calvary and form a new congregation, that shares the gifts and talents of all three pastors and the absorption of many new people, talents, skills and ministries that can be quickly strengthened. But it does mean changing from one location to another, and being willing to have a new congregation with the best DNA of both churches. It certainly has the potential for being a stronger body than either of the two churches could be separately in the next five years.
As your pastors, we can’t say that God has said, “here is the path that you must take.” We believe that God will be with us on either side of the fork in the road, but the future that will be written will be quite different. We don’t want us to make a decision based on fear, but rather on vision of what the church should be in five years.
We should seek God based on, “Lord how can we most effectively carry out your purposes for our lives and the lives of others in this world.” Glenville does not belong to us, and it does not even belong to the community. Glenville belongs to the kingdom of God and if God speaks through us as a congregation to go, then we should go, but if God speaks through us to stay, then we should stay.
We are not here to simply please ourselves. We are here to serve the cause of Jesus Christ in the most effective manner that we can. Whatever your vote will be, make sure you will support it by being faithful to Jesus Christ in your role in the church.
