A. Years ago, fear began to take hold of the people of Moline (Mo-lean), Illinois.
1. First came the stories of a wild cougar on the loose.
a. The news sent women and children into hiding, and even made brave men tremble.
2. Next came a similar story about a huge beaver, estimated to be 80 pounds and 5 feet tall.
a. The monster beaver had been spotted tearing up trees on the city’s parkway.
b. “It’s as big as a Volkswagen!” one man said.
3. Then finally the “giant” beaver was caught.
a. When the trap was pulled from the drainage ditch on the parkway, there was a very unhappy beaver in it.
b. The beaver that had created such fear was just 40 pounds and not even 3 feet tall.
4. It’s so easy for fearful people to see giants where they don’t exist – that’s what fear does.
B. For many years I have been impacted by the story about a man named Shoikoi Yokoi who spent twenty-eight years in a prison.
1. But it wasn’t a prison of walls, rather it was a prison of fear.
2. As World War II was nearing the end, Shoikoi was a Japanese soldier on the island of Guam.
3. Fearing capture by American forces, he ran into the jungle and hid in a cave.
4. He later learned the war was over by reading one of the thousands of leaflets that were dropped into the jungle by American planes.
5. Nevertheless, he still was afraid of being taken as prisoner, so he remained in his cave.
6. For over a quarter of a century he came out only at night.
7. It was only when some hunters discovered him 28 years later that he was convinced that it was safe to leave the jungle.
C. We could all say, “How could a man be so blind?” “What a waste of a life.” “What a pity that a human would be so imprisoned by fear that he would cease to live!”
1. And yet fears of all kinds have filled a thousand prisons.
2. You can’t see the walls. You can’t see the warden. You can’t see the locks or the bars, but you can see the prisoners.
3. You can see them as they sit on their bunks and bemoan their fate - they want to live, but they can’t because they are too afraid.
4. And, oh how restrictive is the ball and chain of fear.
a. You try to run away from it - but you can't.
b. You try to run with it - but it is too heavy.
c. You try to ignore it, and it yanks you into reality.
D. With today’s sermon, we return to our new sermon series called “Embracing and Employing Our Emotions.”
1. In our series, we have been learning that emotions are a gift from God.
a. God wants us to understand that He has given us the capacity to feel in order that our lives might be enriched.
b. But if we are not careful, our emotions can control us and our emotions can be used by the enemy to destroy us.
c. We have been learning that God’s primary means of bringing about our emotional health and wellbeing is through our relationship with God.
2. In our most recent sermon from this series we talked about the feelings of guilt and shame.
a. We learned that God has created us with the ability to learn about right and wrong so that we can feel guilt and shame when we have done what is wrong.
b. We learned that when godly grief encourages us to turn away from our sin and causes us to run to Jesus – who is the only one who can forgive us and remove our guilt and shame – then the emotions of guilt and shame have served us well.
c. And for all who have given their lives to Jesus already, guilt and shame need never to have power over us ever again – Because Jesus is our defender and Savior and has already paid our debt in full.
E. Today, we want to talk about the emotion of fear.
1. What is fear? Wikipedia says: Fear is an emotion induced by perceived danger or threat, which causes physiological changes and ultimately behavioral changes.
2. Fear in human beings may occur in response to a certain stimulus occurring in the present, or in anticipation or expectation of a future threat perceived as a risk to oneself.
3. The fear response arises from the perception of danger and leads either to confrontation with or escape from the threat (also known as the fight-or-flight response), which in extreme cases of fear can be a freeze response or paralysis.
4. In humans and animals, fear is modulated by the process of cognition and learning.
5. Fear is closely related to the emotion anxiety, which occurs as the result of threats that are perceived to be uncontrollable or unavoidable.
F. Some scientists and psychologists categorize fear into three types.
1. The first type of fear is: Rational Fear
a. Rational fears occur where there is a real, imminent threat.
b. If someone is brandishing a knife at you, the fear of being stabbed is a rational fear.
c. On a less extreme note, losing a child in a very crowded venue is a rational fear.
2. The second type of fear is: Primal Fear
a. Primal fear is defined as an innate fear that is programmed into our brains.
b. For our survival and wellbeing, God has programmed us with healthy fear for our safety.
3. The third type of fear is: Irrational Fear
a. Irrational fears are the ones that don’t make logical sense and can vary greatly from person to person.
b. Irrational fear makes no sense to the onlooker and usually doesn’t make sense to the one who is afraid, either and yet they are afraid nonetheless.
G. Ultimately, fear is something that all of us experience and have to learn to deal with.
1. Someone has said that all fear can be boiled down to two fears: #1 - the fear of dying, and #2 - the fear of living – truly, life is full of things that can make us afraid.
2. But before we go any further, let me remind us that some people deal with such crippling fear that they might need to see a counselor and they might benefit from medication because their problem may have organic or physiological issues involved.
3. Much more could be said about the types of fears or the things we might be afraid of, but I want us to turn our focus to how to embrace and employ the emotion of fear for our good.
H. So, what can we do when fear envelops us?
1. Let’s begin answering that question by reminding ourselves that God created us with the capacity to have the emotional response of fear.
2. God built that emotional response within us just as surely as He gave us the ability to feel love.
3. Fear is part of God’s loving provision for us.
4. When properly embraced and employed, fear can protect us from harm and it can motivate us to positive action, and help us reach out for the help we need.
5. But uncontrolled fear, however, can put us into a personal prison and stunt our personal life and spiritual growth.
I. So, how does a proper response to fear help us? For one thing, it keeps us away from danger.
1. A proper response to rational fear keeps us from doing things that we shouldn’t be doing – like driving at 200 mph, jumping off a building, or playing with rattle snakes.
a. That kind of fear is our protection against unnecessary harm.
2. But most importantly, the ability to fear, is important in our relationship with God.
a. Ecclesiastes 12:13b says, “Fear God and keep his commandments because this is the whole duty of humanity.”
b. Proverbs 1:7 says, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge...”
c. Jesus said, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Matthew 10:28)
3. So from these few examples, we see that the people and things we should fear in an appropriate way, can be very helpful to us.
4. We should appropriately fear certain dangers, and we should have a holy respect and awe for God, our maker.
J. But there is also a kind of fear in life that can become overwhelming.
1. And when you think about it, we do live in a scary world.
2. Think about the number of tragedies, catastrophes and crisis’s occurring around us.
3. We live in a world where there are terrorist attacks and violent crime.
4. We also have to live in a world where there is corruption and pollution, disease and death.
5. So how can we keep fears about these things or about anything else from overwhelming us?
K. I want to offer three ways of thinking that I believe will help us embrace and employ our fear.
1. First of all, when we are feeling afraid, I want to encourage us to think: “I am afraid, and it’s okay and it’s normal to experience the emotion of fear.”
a. When we find ourselves experiencing fear, our first thought shouldn’t be: “Oh no, I’m afraid, this is bad, something is wrong.”
b. I want to encourage us to not be afraid of being afraid – fear grows out of control when we become increasingly afraid of being afraid – like when we hyperventilate.
c. We might think that having a life without any fear would be best, but that would not be good for us, just like a life without pain would not be good for us either.
2. In Leon Uris’ book called Redemption, he writes about fear.
a. He writes about a conversation between two men, Rory and Chester, who are soldiers.
b. Rory had been so afraid in battle that day that he had “lost it.”
c. Rory asked Chester, “You’ve known the kind of fear I felt today, haven’t you?” “Yes” answered Chester.
d. “What can you do about it, Chester?” asked Rory.
e. Chester replied, “Recognize that from this day on, the monster is sitting on your shoulder all the time. It can strike a hundred times, never twice the same way. It’s worse when you pretend it’s not there. Recognize it. Know it the instant that flush of terror paralyzes you and, at the same instant, say, ‘Hello friend, it’s you again…you sure scare me, but you can’t stop me from thinking and moving.’ You’ll get plenty of practice.”
3. I think this cognitive step is so important with all emotions – when the emotion comes, which ever emotion it is, including fear, our first response needs to be “hello, it’s you again.”
a. Denying or avoiding powerful emotions like fear only lead us into greater problems.
b. But when we face fears squarely by recognizing them it drains them of significant power.
c. Faith and courage are not the absence of fear, but the management and control of fear.
d. But it starts with acknowledging that experiencing fear is nothing new – I’ve experienced it before, and will experience it again. “Hello fear, it’s you again.”
L. Second, when we feeling afraid, I want to encourage us to think: “This is scary, but God is with me.”
1. In Hebrews 13, the author of Hebrews reminds us of God’s promise to be with us and to help us, “God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’ So we say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?’” (Heb. 13:5-6)
2. Look at our Scripture reading for today: 3 When I am afraid, I will trust in you. 4 In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?... 9 This I know: God is for me. 10 In God, whose word I praise, in the Lord, whose word I praise, 11 in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mere humans do to me? (Ps. 56:3-4, 9b-11)
4. Ultimately, fear is helpful when it leads us to depend on God – faith helps us manage fear.
M. I want to point our attention to two boats, two storms and one Savior.
1. These two stories are very familiar to us and I think they hold important keys for our ability to embrace and employ our fear.
2. The first story is about a boat trip that Jesus and His disciples took one day on the large lake called “The Sea of Galilee.”
a. This story is told in three of the four Gospels, it is only absent in the Gospel of John.
3. So you know the story: One day Jesus and His disciples got in a boat to cross the lake.
4. As they sailed along, Jesus fell asleep in the stern of the boat.
5. As was often the case on the Sea of Galilee a sudden, furious storm came up on the lake.
6. The waves were breaking over the front of the boat and they were in great danger of sinking.
7. But since Jesus continued to sleep through the storm, the disciples woke Him up saying, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” (Mk. 4:38)
a. Isn’t that a great question to ask God when we find ourselves in a storm and are afraid?
8. Jesus rebuked the wind and waves saying, “Quiet! Be still!” And it became completely calm.
9. Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” (Mk. 4:40)
N. The second story is about a boat trip on the Sea of Galilee that the disciples took by themselves, that is until Jesus joined them later.
1. This story is also told in three of the Gospels – in this case it is absent from Luke’s Gospel.
2. After feeding the crowd of 5000, Jesus made His disciples get into a boat to go on ahead of Him to the other side of the lake.
3. Jesus then dismissed the crowd and went up on the mountain by Himself to pray.
4. Mark tells us that in the evening Jesus could see His disciples straining at the oars because the wind was against them and they were being buffeted by the waves.
5. But it wasn’t until the fourth watch of the night (about 3 AM) that Jesus went out to them walking on the water.
6. When the disciples saw Him they cried out in fear because didn’t recognize that it was Jesus and were terrified because they thought He was a ghost
a. What might you have thought if you saw a figure in the night walking on water?
7. Jesus immediately said to them, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
8. Matthew’s Gospel is the only one that tells us Peter, at that point asked to walk to Jesus on the water.
9. As you know, Jesus told Peter to come and Peter got out of the boat and came toward Jesus.
10. Matthew says, “But when Peter saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”
11. Immediately, Jesus reached out His hand and caught him, saying, “You of little faith, why did you doubt.”
12. Then Jesus and Peter climbed into the boat and the lake was immediately calm.
O. What keys to managing our fears can we learn from these two stories?
1. First, we learn that we must acknowledge that storms are scary and result in feelings of fear.
a. At least 4 of the 12 apostles were seasoned fisherman and had been in many storms on the Sea of Galilee, but that doesn’t mean storms aren’t dangerous and scary.
b. Danger, disease and death are serious and scary.
c. Strong emotions of fear in the face of those things are normal and natural.
d. We can begin by accepting the obvious – “Hello fear, you are expected at a time like this.”
2. Second, we learn that God is always near and with us in the storm.
a. In the first story, Jesus was literally present with them in the boat (asleep, but present).
b. In the second story, Jesus was not literally present, and yet could clearly see them and was praying for them, and then came to rescue them at the appropriate time.
c. The fact that we can’t see God doesn’t mean that God can’t see us.
d. God may feel distant from us, but He is near and present more than we know.
3. Third, we learn that faith in God can provide what we need when we are afraid.
a. God is bigger and stronger than the storms we go through.
b. And by faith in God, we can walk on the water, and when we sink God can rescue us.
c. A lot of us are like Peter, we alternate between faith and fear, but God is with us in both and God is ready to help us with both.
P. Third and finally, when we feeling afraid, I want to encourage us to think: “This is scary, but God is always faithful.”
1. If we will just stop and review how God has been with us in the past, and remember all the times God helped us overcome our fearful situations in the past, then we would experience the peace that comes from faith in God.
2. One of our daughters was especially prone to fear.
a. Every Monday when she got her new spelling words for the week, she would come home and fall apart saying, “I’ll never be able to learn these.”
b. Diana would listen to her, and then help her remember last week’s experience.
c. Do you remember how you started the week afraid of learning the list of words? Yes.
d. How did you do last Friday on the test? I got them all right.
e. And what happened the week before that and the week before that?
3. Don’t you think it should have helped the Israelites to remember God’s track record?
a. When they came up against an enemy or a difficult situation and were afraid, all they had to do was remember God’s faithfulness.
b. What happened when we were up against the walls of Jericho? (God made the walls fall)
c. What happened when we needed to cross the Jordon River and the Red Sea? (God held back the water and they passed on dry ground – Max Lucado says, “God made the Red Sea a red carpet.”)
d. What happened when we didn’t have anything to eat or drink? (God brought water from a rock and provided manna and quail daily).
e. God was faithful to provide everything that was needed along the way – God is faithful!
Q. As we experience the emotion of fear, let’s allow God to direct our thinking.
1. Let’s begin by remembering that experiencing fear is normal and potentially helpful.
2. Then let’s remember that God is with us and that God is faithful.
3. How comforting to know that even when the raging storms may rock our boat, that Jesus is with us in the boat already, or if not, then He is on His way to help us?
4. How helpful it is to know that Jesus has to power to calm the sea and to give us His peace.
5. How helpful it is to cling to God as our refuge and strength!
6. King David reached out to the Lord received that kind of help from God: “I sought the Lord, and he answered me and rescued me from all my fears.” (Ps. 34:4)
7. This promise from Psalm 46:1-3 can become our song: 1 God is our refuge and strength, a helper who is always found in times of trouble. 2 Therefore we will not be afraid, though the earth trembles and the mountains topple into the depths of the seas, 3 though its water roars and foams and the mountains quake with its turmoil.
8. God is a refuge and strength for those who trust in Him with all their hearts.
Resources:
Managing Your Emotions, Erwin Lutzer, Christian Herald Books, 1981
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear
