“What Would it Mean to Live without Fear?”
Romans 8:26-39
This morning we are continuing our Sermon Series on Paul’s Letter to the Romans.
This letter to the early Church in Rome contains some of the Church’s most important theological writings.
At the same time, they can be challenging to understand and preach, so I am trying to make them as accessible as possible.
It is essential to grasp Romans because much of our understanding of salvation by grace through faith alone is contained here.
(pause)
In 1975, Roger Hart studied where children felt safe to play.
He focused on 86 children aged three to twelve in a small town in Vermont.
Hart would follow the kids throughout the day, documenting everywhere they went.
He then took that information and made physical maps that measured the distance each child was allowed to go by themselves and the average for every age group.
Hart discovered that these kids had remarkable freedom.
Even four or five-year-olds traveled unsupervised throughout their neighborhoods, and by the time they were 10, most of the kids had the run of the entire town.
And the kids' parents weren't worried either.
Then several years ago (about 2014), he went back to the same town to document the children of the children that he had initially been tracked in the '70s, and when he asked the new generation of kids to show him where they played alone, and what he found floored him.
Hart said, "They just didn't have far to take me, we were just walking around their property."
In other words, the vast circle of freedom had grown tiny.
Hart added, "There is no free range outdoors.
Even when the kids are older, parents now say, 'I need to know where you are at all times.'"
But what's odd about all of this is that the town is not more dangerous than before.
There's no more crime today than there was 40 years ago.
So why has the invisible leash between parent and child tightened so much?
Hart says it was clear from his interviews.
The reason was fear.
Here's his new study’s conclusion: fear narrows our lives' circle.
Is this something you can relate to?
Do you sometimes feel paralyzed by fear?
Are there things you would like to do but avoid because you are deathly afraid?
Does fear negatively affect your quality of life?
In our Scripture passage from Romans, Paul lists things we humans fear the most, and then he confidently declares that the love of God found in a living relationship with Jesus Christ more than conquers the things we fear.
And Paul can say this from his personal experience.
A few days after Paul’s conversion, God promised him that he would suffer much for His kingdom and that "prison and hardship" awaited him in every city.
And it did.
He underwent brutal treatment, harassment, and strong opposition on a regular basis.
The book of Acts records at least eight murder attempts on Paul's life.
Paul said that he and the first apostles were like sheep going to slaughter; the last in line; public spectacles; dishonored fools; vagrants who were hungry, thirsty, homeless and dressed in rags; and in those memorable words in 1st Corinthians 4:13: "the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world."
Ultimately, Paul was martyred in Rome.
Through all this and more, though, Paul remained insistent: nothing in all creation can separate a believer from God's love.
Paul endured so much for his faith in Christ, yet he was one of the most optimistic and joy-filled people who ever lived.
What was his secret?
It’s not really a secret at all.
It is at the heart of what the Book of Romans is about.
We are saved by grace through faith in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And this faith brings us hope, even in the midst of despair.
It brings us peace, no matter what is going on around us.
It gives us an assurance of our salvation.
And most importantly, it proves God’s love for us.
Although we are sinners, it makes us righteous in the sight of God.
And as Jesus said in John, we become friends of God, children of God.
That is why the writer of Hebrews celebrates that we can now “approach God’s throne of grace with confidence.”
Something that used to be terrifying has become something filled with excitement and anticipation.
Our relationship with the Holy and Almighty God has been repaired through the death of Jesus Christ on the Cross.
The chasm which used to separate us from God, before we were believers has been bridged by Christ.
We now have free access to the Father through Jesus.
And we, as adopted Children of God, can now cry “Abba” to God which means “Daddy.”
Our relationship with God is that intimate; it’s that close.
Christ’s death has removed death’s sting for those who believe.
And therefore, when we die, we don’t really die.
We go from these worn out bodies in this broken world into the presence of our Creator, Redeemer and Friend.
And that is why, with such enthusiasm and excitement, our pleasure in heaven, which we should get a taste of while worshiping on earth, will be falling prostrate before the One Who loves us as we cry out: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and strength and honor and glory and praise!”
“For God loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish by have eternal life.”
This is the kind of God we have.
This is how much God loves us.
As Paul writes in Romans Chapter 5: “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
How Great Thou art!
How Great Thou art!
When you feel alienated, lonely and forgotten, perhaps by others or from your own self, when you feel like everyone and everything is against you, it is easy to forget Paul's declaration that God is undeniably for us, that nothing…
…nothing…
… “neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Do you believe this?
Has it changed your life?
Does it bring you peace, hope, love and confidence?
In 1st John Chapter 4 we are told, “God is love…
…There is no fear in love.
But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.
The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”
Fear narrows our life’s circle.
Jesus, on the other hand, sets us free.
In Romans 8:1 Paul writes: “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.”
In Christ, there is no one to condemn us.
Satan may stand as our accuser, but Jesus is stronger than Satan, and Jesus is our Savior.
For those of us who believe—we have been set free!
We no longer have to live according to the dictates of this world.
We are no longer condemned to following the ruler of this world, the prince of the power of the air, who is coming to nothing.
I remember before I was saved that I didn’t know anything other than sin…
…other than living in my natural carnal state.
There was no escape route, no way out from the bondage of sin.
But when I decided to give my life to Jesus Christ, I finally had a choice.
I didn’t have to sin anymore.
I didn’t have to allow sin to be my master.
Sin no longer has the ultimate power.
“If God is for us, who can be against us?”
My friends, I want to ask you this morning, do you have confidence about the judgement day?
Do you know that God loves you, that Christ died for you and that Jesus is your Lord and Savior?
Do you know that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ?
If so, you are free to dare to live a life free of fear.
If not, you remain enslaved to sin, death, and fear!
But you don’t have to be.
Things don’t have to be this way.
God came to this earth and died to set you free!
God shed His blood on the Cross to purchase your soul.
Jesus Christ is our Great High Priest Who has sacrificed Himself as our sin offering once and for all!
And all we need do is believe it and accept His free gift of salvation by grace through faith.
And when we do this, if we really mean this—we have nothing to fear.
