Sermon: No Fear

No Fear

May 6, 2000

Sermon by Rev. Laurel Bobb

The disciples needed to have as their own the slogan, "No Fear," that is plastered on T-shirts and billboards around the country. They needed the message it gives, because they certainly were afraid. Easter day was almost over and they were still wondering what to make of the reports that Jesus was raised. They were hiding out because of their fear of the Jewish leaders. I imagine we would be frightened and hiding out if our leader had just been killed and we knew there were people who were interested in erasing any trace of his memory from the face of the earth. We aren't in such danger, and yet I know that there are many who are afraid of various things.

Just what are those things we sometimes fear? We fear losses-of jobs, relationships, health, activities, freedom, control, or our comfortable routines. We fear failure, or confrontation, or the unknown, or heights, or crowds, or water, or dogs, or authority, or fire, or any one of a number of conditions or things. We fear being made fun of or having to speak in front of large groups--in fact according to some pollsters that is the number one fear people have; it even tops the fear of dying!

Fears can be irrational or rational. I don't like bridges; I may even be a little afraid of them. Now there is no reason I should be afraid of them, but looking down into what looms before me as an abyss scares me. This is an irrational fear. I've never been on a bridge that has collapsed. I've never even gotten close enough to the edge that I was in danger of falling off a bridge. These would be reasons for rational fear. I have no such reasons. Still I am afraid.

The disciples' fear was very rational and understandable. It was based on experience. They witnessed the very real execution of their leader and they knew that they would be recognized from having traveled around the country with him for 3 years, and if there would be any doubt, their accents would give them away. So they were hiding behind closed doors.

As if it weren't scary enough to be hiding behind locked doors for fear of their lives, something or someone appears in the room! I think I would be startled and terrified as well. Though Jesus had told them ahead of time that he would rise from the dead, they didn't understand this message or believe it. Even with the witnesses of the women and the followers on the road to Emmaus, they still had their doubts. They were afraid.

But Jesus understood their fear and calmed it. The first thing he said to them was "Peace be with you." He questioned their reaction and lack of faith, but he also offered proof that he was who he said he was and that he wasn't a ghost. They weren't losing their minds. Jesus worked with them right where they were. He allayed their fears.

God works with us right where we are as well. God knows our human faults and frailties and loves us anyway. God knows that fear is not good for us. It imprisons us. It makes us sick. It demoralizes us and keeps us from doing the things we need to do. It makes us useless in the Kingdom of God. Fear promotes the lie of the hopelessness of life and tries to keep our focus there and off the banners Pr. John talked about last week. Max Lucado personified fear and how it robs us of the very things God wants for us. He wrote, "[fear's] modus operandi is to manipulate you with the mysterious, to taunt you with the unknown. Fear of death, fear of failure, fear of God, fear of tomorrow--his arsenal is vast. His goal? To create cowardly, joyless souls. He doesn't want you to make the journey to the mountain. He figures if he can rattle you enough, you will take your eyes off the peaks and settle for a dull existence in the flatlands."[Worship Alive 05-07-2000, p.4] Christ came to banish fear.

In contrast to this the world's way of thinking is that fear is good. The fear of punishment keeps some on the strait and narrow. Fear keeps others from doing foolish things. One author wrote, "To repudiate fear is to promote anarchy." [Geoffrey W. Bromileg. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, p. 1273] But the Gospel gives a different motive for our moral and responsible action. This motive is based on love. I John 4:18 says, "Perfect love casts out fear." There is no greater love, Jesus tells his disciples in John 15:13, than to lay down one's life for a friend.

That is exactly what Jesus did for us. There is no need for fear in this relationship so our Lord invites us to put away our unhealthy fears. Christ, through his death on the cross and resurrection has conquered everything that can harm us, therefore we have nothing left to fear. Jesus liberates us from sin and death, so we are free to live life to the fullest. We can live not fearing for our jobs or housing, because we know God will provide for our physical needs to be met. We don't have to fear the unknown for we know God walks with us in all circumstances of life. We can act, not being immobilized by whether or not what we are doing is God's will, for we know God is working in us to accomplish that will, and that even when we stray, God is there offering forgiveness and another chance to get it right. We don't have to be afraid of God abandoning us.

We know that this is true because God is faithful. He does what he says he will do. Jesus promised his disciples he would rise from the grave and he did, so we know that everything else he said was true also. He promises peace.

We don't have to fear anything. Romans 8:15 reminds us that we did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but we have received that spirit of adoption. We are sons and daughters of the living God. Children trust their loving parents. We can trust God and so be liberated from our fears. I Peter 5:7 invites us, "Cast all your cares upon him, for he cares for you." There is nothing in life that can come upon us that God can't handle. Someone once gave me a refrigerator magnet that says, "You and God are an overwhelming majority." I have certainly found that to be true in my own life. There is nothing I can't trust to God.

God will give the grace we need to face what we are facing at the time we are facing it and not before. When I was sick and in the hospital several years ago I had the overwhelming sense of God's presence. I knew that whatever happened, it would be all right. I wasn't feeling that way before I entered the hospital, but as I began to turn it over to God I was assured of this.

In the same way before his death Jesus didn't give his disciples more information than they needed. In his farewell discourse to them he said, "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth;"[John 16:12-13a] Jesus had work for them to do. They were to be his witnesses. He promised in the verses following our text that they would have power to carry out this work.

We are Christ's disciples today, and the same promises apply to us as well. We have the promise of our place in the Kingdom, of his presence, of power, freedom, salvation, and purpose.

So you can be assured that if you face an illness, or the loss of a job or relationship, or if you find yourself in some other difficult situation, God will grant you the grace to take one step at a time to see you through. He may not prevent that undesirable situation from happening, or he may, but what is certain is that he will be with you every step of the way.

Because of this we live in confidence and with power. The writer to the Hebrews reminds us in chapter 13 God said, "'I will never leave you or forsake you.' So we can say with certainty, 'The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?'" The obvious answer is that there is nothing that anyone can do to rob us of the love of God, our place in the Kingdom, our effectiveness in this life, and our joy in our salvation. We, of all people should wear the banner proudly, "No Fear," and mean it, for we have no reason to be afraid. We can be confident because 'We know whom we have believed and we are convinced that he is able to guard what we have entrusted to him for that day.' [II Timothy 1:12cd]

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