Overcoming Fear
Matthew 10:26-36
There’s the story of 5 year-old Johnny who was in the kitchen as his mother made supper. She asked him to go into the pantry and get her a can of soup but he didn't want to go in alone. “It’s dark in there and I am scared.” She asked again and he persisted. Finally she said, “It’s OK. Jesus will be in there with you.” Johnny walked hesitantly to the door and slowly opened it. He peeked inside, saw it was dark and started to leave when all of sudden he had an idea. He leaned in and said, “Jesus, if you’re in there, would you hand me a can of soup?”
Fear. It’s something which strikes not only our lives but our faith journey as well. Fear seems to be a part of our human experience. You don't get far into the story of God’s Word until you see fear raising it’s ugly head, 66 verses to be exact. Adam and Eve have sinned and God comes in the cool of the evening for his afternoon walk with them and he couldn’t find them. When he does, he asks, “Where were you?” Adam’s response was, “I was afraid!” There is a relationship between the fall of humanity and the fear of humanity.
There is a relationship between the fear which often grips our lives and sin. The crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus was enmeshed in fear. The religious leaders had been growing in their concern about Jesus that his popularity among the masses was too great and that they would lose their position of power authority and influence. But then Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, one of the signs the Jews considered as evidence of the Messiah. This created such a stir among the people some 6 weeks before the Passover Festival that the religious leaders gathered to meet to decide what to do: “Here is this man performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation… it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.” A few weeks later, 200,000 pilgrims would descend upon the holy city of Jerusalem. The fear was always that something would set the people off and lead them into a revolt. As Jesus’ power increased the fears of the religious leaders increased as well that they would lose their power.
The disciples after seeing Jesus crucified were hiding in fear of their lives that they would be the next to be crucified. On Easter morning, there was fear as well. The guards were so frightened by the angel that these hardened men of war literally froze in place and fell to the ground. Mary Magdalene and Mary are frightened when they see the open tomb for they fear that someone had stolen the body of Jesus. And even when Jesus appeared to the disciples, they were afraid so such so that Jesus had to say to them, “Peace be with you” just to calm them down. Everywhere you look on that first Easter in all of the uncertainty, the unknown and all of the questions of about what lies ahead, there is fear. The same is often true in our lives, especially in these times of uncertainty. Fear is a key issue in our everyday lives. “What will the doctor find in this test? Will I be okay after surgery? Will I have enough money to get to the end of the month? Will I be able to retire?” There are many fears and we call them by many names: worry, tension, anxiety, or stress. One study looked at 500 different people and found that among them they had 1800 different fears. And it doesn’t help that we live a culture of fear. We fear the zinca virus, terrorism, crime, cancer and the list just goes on and one.
Fear is “the oldest and strongest emotion of mankind.” It can bx us in and hold us captive. Last week, I got into the office a little before 7 am. My first item of business was to load my car up with boxes of books that I had packed up the day before. I loaded them on the cart, pushed it into the elevator and then hit the button. The elevator started to move and then stopped. I pushed the button again and again and nothing. I was stuck. I pushed every other button and still nothing. Here I was, the only person in the church and the next person not arrived for more than an hour. I started to break into a sweat. I then saw the emergency call box, picked the phone up and then told the operator where I was and that I was stuck. She then hung up. 30 minutes later I heard voices in the building and started calling out. They responded and asked, “Where are you?” “The third floor.” I heard the footsteps and several men enter the third floor and then begin working on the elevator. They finally got it open and revealed 6 firemen and an elevator that had dropped almost two feet. I reached up for a hand and one of the firemen in the back of the group gave me his hand. As I grabbed it, the one holding the door said, “You better make this quick!” Not the most reassuring thing to hear! Images of my body crushed by the elevator flowed through my mind as I got out. And that’s often the impact that fear can have on us: it can trap us and keep us from doing the work of God.
And it can have a devastating impact. First, fear can control our lives, and influence our decisions, our words and our actions. Just look at the impact of fear on the religious leaders of Jesus’ day. These were the men that were supposedly the most holy and righteous, the one’s who prayed and worshipped every day, who committed their entire lives to the work of God and who hoped, prayer and looked for the coming of the Messiah. But when he eventually did come in the person of Jesus Christ, they could not see him because they were blinded by the fear of change in their lives and losing their power, position and influence. And these passionate, committed followers of God conspired to kill Jesus and even when he had come for them. Second, fear can paralyze us. During his time as Premier of the Soviet Union, Nikita Krushchev denounced many of the policies and atrocities of Joseph Stalin. Once, as he censured Stalin in a public meeting, Krushchevwas interrupted by a shout from a heckler in the audience. “You were one of Stalin’s colleagues. Why didn’t YOU stop him?” Krushchev roared back: “Who said that?” An agonizing silence followed as nobody in the room dared move a muscle. Then Krushchev replied quietly, “Now you know why.” Fear can literally freeze us and keep usn from changing the way things are. There are some people who are literally prisoners to their fears.
Third, fear can hold us captive. Shohoiya Yokowai spent 28 years of his life imprisoned by his fear. At the end of WWII, the Japanese government faced a problem with thousands of soldiers on islands and how to get the word to them to surrender because the war was over. Yokowai was on the Island of Guam. And when the American forces landed, he fled into the jungle and found a cave in which he hid for 28 years because he was afraid of being captured and tortured by the Americans. He finally learned the war was over by reading one of the thousands of pamphlets dropped into the jungle. Be he was afraid. So for 28 years, he lived in a cave, coming out only at night to look for roaches, rats, frogs and mangoes to feast on. Finally, some natives found him and convinced him that it would be alright for him to come out of the his jungle prison. What a waste! Imagine spending 28 years living as a prisoner of fear and missing out on the life God intended for you
But what if we could live fearless? What if we could face our fears, confront them and overcome them? This is God’s desire for us. Throughout the resurrection story, we hear the words “Don’t be afraid!” In fact, there are 1500 verses dealing with fear in the Bible and 365 say, “Fear not!” Somehow, I don't think that’s a coincidence! The fact is God doesn’t want you to be afraid. That’s the message of Easter, “Don’t be afraid.” Through the power of the resurrection, you can overcome. When we trust Jesus is who He says He is, when we believe that His resurrection is real, when we place our lives in His hands . . . He promises us that He will not fail us, He will not forsake us, He will not abandon us. He will be with us, stay with us, strengthen us, guide us, and direct us because even though life may become difficult and it seems as if the world is against you, the power of the resurrection, the power to overcome even death itself, is available to you. So, Jesus comes to you and says, “DO NOT BE AFRAID!” Because Jesus lives, you can live unafraid.
How do you do that? In our Scripture passage today, Jesus continues the training of the disciples for His mission by sending them out to two by two to teach, preach, heal and minister in his name. Jesus warns them of what to be aware and what they can expect. He certainly doesn’t help things when he speaks of the disciples being flogged, arrested, persecuted, betrayed and hated. But then he says, “So do not be afraid of them.” Jesus gives the disciples and us four keys. First, expect difficulties in life. Verses 34-35 Sara Gaines told the story of a group of women going out for an impromptu lunch after the Healing Service. In the middle of lunch one of the women fell over and had a heart attack right before them. She didn’t die but she has a long road to recovery. But that experience raised an all too familiar question, “How can God allow something like to happen to a good Christian woman who is a faithful servant of Jesus Christ?” They are not alone in asking that question. One the false expectations we often have is that God will prevent bad things from happening to you. But this life is filled with pain, suffering, difficulties, disappointments and tragedy. What makes us think we’ll be exempt from such things? If we are following Jesus, we can expect difficulties in following him. So Jesus lays out clearly what the disciples should expect in this life. But know this, he will always give you the power, strength and faith to sustain you and carry you through everything
Second, remember who God is. Verse 28 Jesus tells the disciples not to fear what they may be facing. “Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell…” In other words, fear God. What does Jesus mean here? When we come to worship God, one of the things we are doing is witnessing to the greatness of God and the fact that He created us with a purpose. One of the responses to focusing on God is that we see ourselves for who we really are. And we begin to have tremendous reverence and respect for who God is. When we are gripped by fear, we need to be reminded that the God we worship both created this world and defeated even death itself. A lot of our fears are the result of focusing on ourselves. He has the power to help you overcome and bear through anything and that power of the resurrection is available to you to overcome whatever fear you might be facing.
Bob Garfield tells the story of a business trip to Seoul, South Korea. After a big dinner of dog stew and a pub crawl with half a dozen South Korean advertising executives, he retired to his hotel room. But as he prepared for bed, he was stricken with crushing chest pains, radiating down his arm and into his back. He was either having a heart attack or a gas attack from dinner. “How are you supposed to know they difference?” He thought of calling for help but then considered the communication problems, the chaos and the potential for embarrassment – to say nothing of the uncertainties of South Korean cardiac care. So he decided to take his chances. He sat down and managed to write a brief, tender letter to his loved ones and then laid down at peace and said to himself, “Go to sleep Bob, maybe you’ll wake up in the morning.” And the next morning he did wake up and he was overjoyed, not that he had lived through the night, but that he had not been afraid to die. He realized that he was at peace, even in the fear of death and that was a priceless revelation. And then he writes, “That peace can only come when we remember who Go is and turn ourselves over to the hand of God.”
Third, remember you are a child of God. vs. 20-31 “And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” God loves you as one of his own. Never let your circumstances, challenges or fears cause you to ever doubt that. The Apostle Paul writes, “If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?...No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:31-35, 37-38
Fourth, Confess your faith and do God’s will. vs. 31“Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven.” Jesus says that there are two keys to overcoming our fears. First, we must profess our faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. And second, by being about the work of the kingdom, we keep our eyes focused on Jesus and His work rather than the problems we’re facing. Fear can lead to worry and worry is just repeating the same worries and thoughts over and over again in our minds until we are gripped and frozen by that fear. In such times, we need to confess our faith and then step out in faith and do God’s will.
Bill and Gloria Gaither have written many wonderful Christian songs. One that Gloria wrote came while she was expecting a child. The couple was going through some terrible problems. Bill had been seriously sick and their music had been attacked as not being spiritual. On New Year’s Eve, Gloria sat in a darkened room experiencing a time of torment and fear. “I sat alone in the darkness thinking about the rebellious world and all of our problems – about our baby yet unborn. Who in their right mind would bring a child into a world like thus?” She was at the height of her fear and then somethng happened. She said, “I can’t quite explain what happened in that next moment but suddenly I felt released from it all. The panic that had begun to build inside was gently dispelled by a reassuring presence and a soft voice kept saying, “Don’t forget the empty tomb, don’t forget the empty tomb.” She then began to confess her faith in Jesus Christ and knew that she could indeed have a baby and face the future with optimism and trust for she had been reminded that it was all worth it ‘Just Because He Lives.” And from that experience she began to write these words, “How sweet to hold a newborn baby and feel the pride and joy he gives; but greater still the calm assurance, this child can face uncertain days because He lives. Because he lives, I can face tomorrow. Because he lives, all far is gone, because I know He holds the future. And life is worth the living just because He lives.” Amen and Amen
