Do not be afraid

Various texts

What kind of year will 2010 be for you? You may be planning a move and be wondering whether you will find good friends, good schools and a good church. Your parents may be aging and you wonder how they will cope with that. You may have questions about your own health. You may be wondering how you will do in school this year. You may be wondering what you will do after you get your degree, or what university you will go to, or if you will be able to find a good job. You may be wondering if your financial situation will be stable or deteriorate. You may be wondering about the status of a developing relationship. You may be fearing the loss of a good friend who is going to move away.

There is a lot of uncertainty in the future. 2010 could be the easiest year of your life or one of the most difficult. We don’t know.

As the picture on the cover of the bulletin shows, when you step out into the future, you step out into the unknown and that is not easy to do.

If you are anxious about what might or might not happen in 2010, you are not alone. Fear of the unknown and sometimes fear of the known is a common human experience.

I am anxious about raising the support I need to continue as pastor of RIC. I was in the US this fall to raise support and had a great trip, but there is more to be done. I will need to go back again this year and wonder if I will again be successful.

I am unsure of what the Moroccan government is thinking. Twice this year, the authorities went into private homes and arrested Christians who were meeting together. In the press they accused the foreigners of proselytizing, but proselytism, even in the strictest definition, means one person trying to convince another to change his religious affiliation. But when people meet who have already declared their desire to be followers of Jesus, where is there any proselytism taking place? People of faith, Moroccan or foreign, have the right to meet together and pray and encourage one another. I thought the government wanted to move into the modern world with religious liberty but that does not seem to be the case. So what will they do in this next year?

On the international scene, I wonder what will happen with Iran and Israel. Will Israel respond to Iran’s continuing efforts to develop nuclear missiles? If they do, how will that affect us here in Morocco? What will happen in Pakistan, Somalia, North Korea, Afghanistan. There are so many hotspots in the world and it may be that the eyes of the world will be pulled to a new hotspot that develops this year.

With the uncertainty of the future it is not unreasonable to be fearful or anxious.

It is in this light that it is interesting to note that in the Bible, there are about 100 admonitions from God or one of his prophets that we are not to fear, not to be afraid. These come in all kinds of situations: when enemies are approaching, when an angel appears or when in some other way the supernatural world is revealed, when a famine causes a widow to fear she and her son will die, when a mother and her son have been kicked out into the wilderness with no one to care for them, when the patriarch of a family has to consider moving his clan to a foreign nation, when a father receives news his daughter has died, when a boat crew is caught in a terrible storm in the Mediterranean, when opposition arises to a church planter’s ministry. Over and over again the word from God was: “Fear not, Don’t be afraid, Do not fear.”

Why not fear? Let me point out two ways fear hurts us.

The first thing fear does is hold us back. Fear prevents us from going forward, following God and the path he has set out for us.

Think of a horse running through a course for a competition and then balking when he comes to a water obstacle. He lopes through the course, jumping over fence after fence and then when he comes to the water obstacle, he plants his feet or rears up, avoiding this jump over the water. The goal is to go through the entire course and finish but he misses the goal because of his refusal to jump the water obstacle.

In the same way, God has a plan for us and when we give in to fear, we plant our feet and refuse to go any further, missing out on what God has in mind for us.

In the parable Jesus told about the talents, he gave five talents to one man, two to another and one to the third man. When he came back, the man with five talents doubled what was given him and so did the man with two talents. But the third man was afraid of making a mistake, afraid to take a risk, afraid to use what he had been given and so he buried his talent and gave it back, unused.

God gives us abilities, money, possessions and time and expects us to use what we have been given. When we give in to fear, thinking that our abilities are really not that special and if we tried to use them we might embarrass ourselves, or when we hold on to our money fearing we won’t have enough if we give it away, or when we refuse to share our possessions for fear they will become damaged or lost, our fear keeps us away from the goal God has in mind for us.

Sometimes we hold on to our talents, not using them, because we are afraid of what people will say if we did use them. Some of us work in an atmosphere where being serious about faith is viewed as a negative. No one likes a fundamentalist and being serious about faith moves in the direction of fundamentalism. So if you share your faith, people may feel negatively about you.

As a consequence, rather than do what God is leading you to do, you bury your talent.

It may be you are afraid of what will happen to you if you do what God is asking you to do. God led the apostle Paul from city to city and in city after city he preached, met resistance, was beaten and kicked out of the city. So what would you do if you were Paul? Imagine walking along the road and coming into view of the city. Should you go ahead to the synagogue, speak out about Jesus, meet opposition and get kicked out? What would you do?

Paul did not bury his talents. Paul was kicked out of city after city and his body took beating after beating, but he left in his wake a string of churches that grew and grew and took the gospel of Jesus throughout the known world.

Being afraid of doing what God is asking you to do because you might get kicked out of a country means you will be deprived of what God wants to do in your life.

The goal is not to avoid trouble or to get into trouble, the goal is to obey Jesus and his call on your life. To be afraid and balk is to miss out on the best God has in store for you.

Use the gifts God has given you. Do not be afraid of what people will say or do when you use your gifts. God will take care of you.

The second way fear hurts us is that it weighs us down.

Proverbs 18:14 says:

A man’s spirit sustains him in sickness,

but a crushed spirit who can bear?

And in Proverbs 12:25

An anxious heart weighs a man down,

but a kind word cheers him up.

Fear can make us lethargic and apathetic. We become overwhelmed and our legs become weak; we have too little energy to get out of bed or out of our chair; we have no hope. And before you know it, we have settled into a nice depression.

The psalms have many examples of this. In Psalm 38, David wrote:

I am bowed down and brought very low;

all day long I go about mourning.

7 My back is filled with searing pain;

there is no health in my body.

8 I am feeble and utterly crushed;

I groan in anguish of heart.

9 All my longings lie open before you, O Lord;

my sighing is not hidden from you.

10 My heart pounds, my strength fails me;

even the light has gone from my eyes.

11 My friends and companions avoid me because of my wounds;

my neighbors stay far away.

In Psalm 42 & 43 there is the repeated refrain:

Why are you downcast, O my soul?

Why so disturbed within me?

The weight of fear can lead to lethargy and inaction and then the devil has won. We have become completely ineffective as a worker for God to use as he builds his kingdom.

Jesus warned us about the dangers of this. (Luke 21:34-36)

“Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap. 35 For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth. 36 Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.”

Do you see in this teaching how fear causes you to miss out on what God has in store for you? The anxieties of life can prevent us from seeing the path God has set for us to walk through the troubles of the end times and stand safely before Jesus.

You can see the ways fear hurts us illustrated in the story of Jesus walking on the water. (Matthew 14) After a long day of ministry Jesus sent the disciples off on a boat and dismissed the crowds to be by himself.

In the hours just before dawn, as they battled the winds, they were tired and sleepy, when all of a sudden they looked through the predawn darkness of the stormy night and saw Jesus walking on the water.

When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.

But Peter wasn’t going to be overcome by his fear. Jesus said,

“Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

And Peter responded:

“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

I love trying to picture what happened next. It was windy so the sea was not calm. This means the boat was going up and down over the waves of the sea. Did Peter take his sandals off before he put his feet in the water? Did he sit on the side of the boat with both feet in the water? Did he put one foot down and feel some resistance which encouraged him to put a second foot down? Did he hold on to the side of the boat as he stood there? Or did he just jump over and stand there in the water?

However it happened, the most amazing thing was that Peter began walking on water. Jesus walked on water but we know now that he is the Son of God, God in the flesh, so that is not so incredible. But one of us, a human with a biological mother and father, Peter, did what Jesus was doing. He walked on water.

What happened next is a picture for us of how we try to walk out in faith to what Jesus has called us to do.

Jesus said, “Come,” and Peter set out. Peter took the first step or two, maybe three or four or five and then thought to himself, “What am I doing? Look at the wind and the waves,” and he began to fear. His fear weighed him down and he sank into the sea. He was no longer exhilarated. He was no longer looking at Jesus. He was looking at the problems surrounding him and all of a sudden he was lost.

What would have happened if he had not taken his eyes off Jesus to look at the wind and the waves? What incredible adventure would we be reading about in the gospels if Peter had not taken his eyes off Jesus?

That’s exactly what happens with us. We take our eyes off Jesus and focus on the problems and difficulties surrounding us and we become filled with fear and anxiety. The result is that we are weighed down by our anxieties and we lose out on the adventure God had planned for us.

In this story we always focus on Peter, but I wonder about the rest of the disciples in the boat. Why didn’t they also ask Jesus to get out of the boat to walk on water? Can you imagine all the disciples dancing and jumping around Jesus in the storm?

We talk about Peter losing faith and sinking, but at least he got out of the boat. The other disciples were too filled with fear even to consider getting out of the boat.

I think God wants us all to get out of the boat and set out on an adventure with him.

How do we overcome the anxieties and fears that cripple us, that suck the joy out of living, that prevent us from setting out with Jesus on the adventures that await us?

The first thing I want to say will not be what some of you want me to say. But I think it is critically important. The first thing we have to realize is that the worst thing the world can do to us is kill us. The worst thing that can happen to us is that we will die and how bad is that?

I love quoting Augustine. This is taken from a history of the early centuries of Christian faith in North Africa, This Holy Seed.

A Christian need never fear persecution. Even if the persecutor is sharpening his razor, Augustine remarks with some humor, he can only shave off your superfluous hair: ‘So whatever an angry man in power can take from you, count only among your superfluities.’ ‘Let him take your worldly goods, your flocks, your lands! Yes even this life itself, to those whose thoughts are of another life, this present life, I say, may be reckoned among the things superfluous … This powerful enemy, what has he taken away? What great thing has he taken away? That which a thief or a housebreaker can take! In his utmost rage he can but take what a robber would take. Even if he should have license given to him of the slaying of the body, what does he take away but what the robber can take? I did him too much honor when I said “a robber”. For whoever or whatever the robber may be, he is at least a man. He takes from you what a fever, or an adder, or a poisonous mushroom can take. Here lies the whole power of the rage of men, to do what a mushroom can!’

When I go to the barber, he cuts hair on my head and in recent years he has begun cutting the hairs in my ears and nose as well. I don’t need them. They are not important to me.

This is the attitude Augustine said we need to have toward our possessions, toward all the things we own and even our life. He said they are superfluous, unnecessary, unneeded. They can be cut off, fall to the floor, be swept up and thrown into the trash and we are not devastated.

In order to have this point of view, we need to realize that this life is only a practice round. It is like a football match played before the season starts. The score does not count. A win or a loss does not affect your standings in the league. It is like a practice exam that you take in preparation for the real exam that will determine whether or not you passed the course.

This means that your accomplishments in this life are not terribly important. When an ambassador comes to church we pay a lot of attention, but the truth is that God is not impressed with ambassadors. We pay special attention to people who are wealthy, powerful and famous. But God sees us differently. What we do is not so important. What is important is the process we go through in accomplishing what we do. What matters is how we grow in faith because everything else will be left behind. Our long list of admirers will be left behind. Our bank accounts and homes and cars will be left behind. Our books, CDS, DVDS and artwork will be left behind. Our sports accomplishments will be left behind. Our CV will be left behind. All of these earthly things upon which we base success will disappear.

When you realize this, you are a long way toward wisdom and a long way toward overcoming fear. For what reason would you be afraid if you knew there was nothing anyone could take away from you?

Jesus taught (Matthew 10:28)

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. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. 30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

32 “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. 33 But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.

Let the world take what it wants. When I die and lift off from this planet, leaving behind all the things I have accumulated, what I will be looking forward to will be Jesus greeting me and welcoming me into his kingdom. When the devil presents his case for why I am a sinner who does not deserve eternal life, I look forward to Jesus speaking up and claiming me as his.

How can we move toward this view of what really matters? In a book Jack Hayford wrote, Manifest Presence, he presents a way out for those who want to overcome fear.

Hayford took lessons from II Chronicles 20 when King Jehoshaphat of Judah was under threat of attack from an army composed of Moabites, Ammonites and Meunites.

An approaching army that has declared war against you produces a lot of fear and anxiety. So what did Jehoshaphat do? Did he build up the walls? Did he begin producing more spears? The first thing Jehoshaphat did was to proclaim a fast for all Judah.

When you discover that you are anxious or fearful, you need to focus your attention on God and fasting is an excellent way to do this. It is not that you fast so you can get what you want, but you fast so you send a lesson to your flesh, the world and the devil that you are determined to focus on God.

When Peter was walking on water, he took his eyes off Jesus and began to sink. Fasting helps us put our eyes back on Jesus and we regain our confidence. Our fears and anxieties begin to slip away.

Secondly, Jehoshaphat recounted the history of God’s work. He declared to the people that the Lord is God above all, his power is beyond all and that there is nothing that comes upon the people of god that he can’t handle.

Jesus saved us and set us on a solid rock but when we are anxious and fearful, that rock becomes very slippery and we fear we will fall off. Our minds become distracted and we forget who we are and to whom we belong. We need to be reminded of the truths upon which we stand as Christians. Richard Lovelace encouraged us to remember each day these four foundational truths.