Ps 27
John Ortberg in his book- If You Want To Walk On Water You’ve Got To Get Out Of The Boat notes this about fear:
- The single command in Scripture that occurs more often then any other-God’s most frequently repeated instruction-is formulated in two words:
- Fear Not. Do not be afraid. Be strong and courageous. You can trust me. Fear not.
- Why does God command us not to fear? Fear does not seem like the most serious vice in the world. It never made the list of the Seven Deadly Sins. No one ever receives church discipline for being afraid. SO why does God tell human beings to stop being afraid more often than he tells them anything else? My hunch is that the reason God says “Fear Not” so much is not that he wants us to be spared emotional discomfort. In fact, usually he says it to people to do something that is going to lead them into greater fear anyway. I think God says, “fear not” so often because fear is the number one reason human beings are tempted to avoid doing what God asks them to do” (117,118).
- Fear can be defined with a long list of synonyms, such as alarm, care, despondency, dismay, dread, fright, gloom, horror, panic, or terror.
- As children many of us were awakened from sleep by the terror of a nightmare.
- There are adults today who look upon life as a continuous nightmare because fear has captured their soul.
- “Fear Not” 81 x in Scripture
- Starts in Gen 15:1 with Ab
- Ends in Zech 8:15 - to do thee well
- NT begins - Mt. 1:20 - to Joseph
- Ends Rev 1:17 - Jesus the first & Last
Mt. 17:1-9
- The disciples experienced that
mouth-drying, heart-thumping, knee-buckling kind of fear on the mountaintop at the Transfiguration.
- After rejoicing at the presence of Elijah and Moses,
- Now a mysterious voice brought fear
- This mystery was way beyond their understanding
- No wonder they reacted by curling into defensive little fear-balls at Jesus’ feet.
- Current problem for many of us.
- We fear disappointment by others.
- We fear situations we are in that cannot be controlled
- We fear trusting the unknown so we do not make commitments
• Job changing
• Marriage
• Relationship with Christ.
- We fear the possibility of a dreaded disease or an untimely accidental death.
- We fear the possibility of an international catastrophe.
- We fear financial insecurity.
- Some of us fear the approach of death and what is next
- Fear is a thief of happiness.
- Fear-robs us of the possibility of achievements in life.
- Jesus did not explain the meaning behind the Transfiguration
- The sudden death of a loved one
- Or how can death stalk us and life and God still be good?
- Or the recessive economy strikes home and suddenly we have no job, no career, no self identity
- Even positive experiences confuse and confound
- We respond by quitting dropping out and curling up into a shall of our making
- Ps 27 - Note the feelings that grip David
v. 1 - I fear
v. 2 - wicked, enemies, foes – eat up my flesh
v. 3 - host encamped against me, war riseing against me
v. 5 - time of trouble
v. 6 - enemies round about me
v. 7 - I cry
v. 10 - parents forsaking me
v. 11 - enemies
v. 12 will of my enemies, false witnesses, breathing out cruelty
v. 13 - I had fainted
- How can we find a new path for life?
Mt. 17:1-9 Guides us
1. Get Up: Mt. 17:7
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- Jesus’ first directive was simple and clear:
Get up!
- While still overwhelmed and fearful Jesus specifically told the disciples, "do not be afraid," for he knew the unpredictable nature of a fearful heart.
- To lose fear get up
- Mt. 17:8 - Gives the ability to look outside of self
- Jesus IS near.
- Look to the promise of his word.
- Ps 27:1-2
2. Come Down: Mt 17:9
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- Out of the fear position get up (Arise)
- Be not to be afraid,
- He immediately gets them moving.
- They do not stand around contemplating what they have just experienced.
- They are instructed to "come down."
- We all know how to run away from frightening or overwhelming situations
- We’ve all done it.
- Jesus’ counsel not to flee
- Avoidance is not adjustments.
- Don’t lock yourself away with fear and
confusion.
- Ps 27:4-5 - To come down out of fear focus on the Lord
3. Keep Quiet: Mt 17:9
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- Self - help Strategies - Share your feelings
- Jesus different from the councilors
- He counsels them in "keeping quiet."
- This vision is a mystery
- "Mystery" derives from Greek word [muein] - which means "to close the mouth or lips. "
- A mystery means literally something about
which we must keep silent,
- Something of which we cannot speak ."
- Jesus’ counsel takes the pressure off all of us who experience the incomprehensible and inconceivable mystery in our lives.
- Death, disloyalty, the why events are all equally beyond finite understanding.
- When a disaster strikes
- "Disaster teams" / therapists move in
- To "talk about it."
- Jesus prescribed a period of silence.
- Some things do not make sense.
- Some things need time to unravel, not group therapy
- We need not always know the answer to our questions of "what now" or "why me "
- We need time to listen to that voice of God
Ps 27
- Note the future tense through out
(shall) (should) (will)
- Ps 27:14 - Wait on the Lord – 2x
- Ps 46:10 - "be still and know that I am God."
4. Now Yell: Mt.17:9
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- He is not telling us to be in denial
- Shaking us free from fear,
- Now re-enter life
- Only then can you share his work in your life,
- For the disciples it was after the resurrection that they now could understand the transfiguration
- Jesus declared that at that point it was time to shout about it. For his disciples, this moment did not arrive until after Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection.
- Only then could they recall the wonder of the Transfiguration moment and yell to the world that Christ is alive and in the midst of this and every mystery.
- For David in Ps 27
- Confidence in God’s work and stepping into it
- Ps 27:5-6 – Singing about it
- It is a matter of the will
- How I think - v. 3 - I will be confident
v. 4- I will seek
v. 8 - I will seek
- How I act - v.6 — Worship – Praise
- You CHOOSE to overcome fear
- Jesus’ four-step method brings us out of fear and into understanding
- Trusting him is the key
