September
6, 2015
I John
4:7-19
On Tuesday evening of this past week I was in Georgetown, Indiana
for our weekly band rehearsal.
Usually, it’s a late night for me, but I was pleased that we ended
earlier than usual and I could get home at a decent hour, even with the bridge
construction traffic in Louisville.
As I drove down Perry’s long, gravel driveway, something felt wrong with
my car, as though it were sinking into the gravel. When I got to the end of his driveway and onto the pavement
of the road, I knew immediately what it was – a flat tire. Perry’s driveway had not flat space to
be able to change the tire, but thankfully, it was a very short distance to the
next driveway, which was long and flat and had a streetlight at the end. I pulled into that driveway, with a
couple of the other cars pulling in behind me to help, and started changing the
tire. It wasn’t long before the
man who lived in the house at the end of the driveway came out to see what was
going on. By that point, I had the
flat tire removed and was putting it where it belonged, on the back of my rear
door. The man who lived at the end
of the driveway picked up the spare, slid it onto the hub, and began twisting
the bolts on. I thought it was
very kind of him to help, and I began to say a prayer for him – Lord, bless this guy for his kindness. Bless him, please. I told him he didn’t need to help, as
the tire was dirty and it was still very muggy outside. He didn’t need to get dirty and sweaty,
I told him; I was grateful to be able to change my tire in his driveway. He said he didn’t mind at all, and besides, I’m a lot younger than you so I
should be the one changing the tire.
Well, with that comment I edited my prayer a bit. I still asked God to bless him for his
kind help, but maybe not quite as much!
Throughout the week I’ve wondered why his words discouraged me? Probably because they were true, and
sometimes we fear the truth. He
was younger than me, and the truth is that there are more and more people
younger than me and fewer and fewer who are older than me. His words touched on my fears of ageing
– am I as relevant as I once was?
What will happen to me as I get older?
This morning’s message is about fear – specifically about A Faith That Is Stronger Than Fear.
We are all familiar with the words of President Franklin Delano
Roosevelt, that the only thing we have to
fear is fear itself. We have
nothing to fear but fear itself?
Really? Isn’t that a bit naïve? There are plenty of things of which we
might be justifiably afraid, and, in fact, we rightly teach our children to
fear certain things. We tell them
to look both ways before they cross the street and in doing so instill in them
a healthy fear of the dangers of traffic.
Fear is not always something to, well, fear. But the real question is how much we will allow fear to
consume and control our lives.
Our Scripture text for this morning comes from I John 4:7-19,
with one verse in particular shaping this message –
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love
is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
8 The one who does not love does not know
God, for God is love. 9 By
this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten
Son into the world so that we might live through Him.
10 In this is love, not that we loved God,
but that He loved us and sent His Son to
be the propitiation for our sins.
11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also
ought to love one another. 12 No
one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His
love is perfected in us.
13 By this we know that we abide in Him and
He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.
14 We have seen and testify that the Father
has sent the Son to be the
Savior of the world.
15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son
of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
16 We have come to know and have believed
the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love
abides in God, and God abides in him.
17 By this, love is perfected with us, so
that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also
are we in this world.
18 There is no fear in love; but perfect
love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is
not perfected in love.
19 We love, because He first loved us.
I have to admit that there is some amount of irony any time I speak
about overcoming fears. Not that I
want to put myself on the psychological couch this morning, but I have spent a
lot of my life consumed by many fears.
There was even a time, early in my ministry, when I wondered if entering
into ministry was itself a way to force myself to overcome specific fears.
When I speak to new, or younger ministers, I often tell them they
must be on guard against fear.
Ministry, I remind them, can be damaged by our fears and insecurities,
and in many ways will prey upon those fears.
But it’s certainly not just ministers. In some way, fear is driving your life, today, and most
every day. It might be in your
job. Maybe things aren’t going
well. Maybe you go to work and
wonder if you will still have a job at the end of the day. Maybe it’s your marriage. Maybe you wonder if you’ll still have a
spouse at the end of the day.
Maybe it’s your kids or grandkids, fearing for the future, or their
present. Maybe it’s a fear of what
the doctor is going to tell you when the tests results come back. There are so many things in our lives
that make fear an ever-present reality in our lives, and that fear is always
lurking just below the surface, manipulating and controlling us without us even
being aware.
John says that perfect love
casts out fear. Is it possible
to live without fear? Perhaps the
question of whether or not we can live without fear is not the right question. Perhaps the greater question is – can
we live, empowered by the love and power of God, without the tyranny of fear? You’ve most likely heard the saying that
courage is not the absence of fear, but
the ability to overcome it. In
the same way, I believe, we can say that faith is not the absence of fear; it
is the ability to overcome fear.
Let’s consider a few things about fear.
Fear is controlling and destroying our
world.
I was thinking the other morning
about the terrible tragedy of the murder of those nine souls worshipping at Emanuel AME
Church Charleston, South Carolina. Many commented on the hatred that moved
Dylann Roof to commit that heinous crime.
It was not, however, just hatred that moved Dylann Roof to murder. Hate was the outward evidence of the
crime, but there was something deeper than even hate, and it was fear.
Before anyone can hate another
human being, before they can be moved to harm another person, they must first
fear that person. This means that
the oldest weapon in the arsenal of humanity is not the sword, not the bow, not
even the brute, raw force of a fist used as a club. It is fear.
Fear becomes a very effective tool,
and an effective weapon, because one does not have to raise a fist, or a bow,
or a gun; one only has to sow the seeds of fear in another human heart. When that seed has taken root it grows
and crowds out the empathy, compassion, and love that is far healthier not only
for the heart and soul, but for all of humanity.
Fear becomes a powerful weapon when
we are told be afraid of this candidate,
be afraid of this group, be afraid of this person, because they will take
over our neighborhoods, take away our jobs, restrict our rights, or commit some
greater atrocity against us. When
we sow fear we till the ground of the heart for a harvest of hatred and harm.
The seed is fear, but when it has taken root in our soul, it springs through
the soil of our humanity and grows to a terrible harvest.
Fear over people’s reaction to our faith.
I read an article the other day
from the London Telegraph in which
two religious figures claimed that publicly identifying with any religion has
become an “act of courage” in many western countries because believers are now
routinely assumed to be “naive, unsophisticated and narrow minded” (according
to Britain's most senior Jewish and Roman Catholic clerics).
“In many places to be a person of faith can be, in and of
itself, an act of courage,” they explained.
“To confess your belief in God no longer commands universal
respect for a deep commitment to a lofty ideal, self-discipline and moral
conviction.
“In many societies you are more likely to be dismissed as naive,
unsophisticated and narrow minded.
“As such, when a view is expressed which is informed by one’s
faith on issues such as assisted dying, the value of family life or social
responsibility, that view is often treated with scepticism, as though it is
somehow less rational or ill-founded.
“And all of this amid the alarming
increase in the brazen persecution of Christian, Muslim and Jewish minorities
which has become one of the most pressing and shameful issues of our time.
Perhaps that is true in some
places, and if it is, I don’t care.
I couldn’t care less what people think of me because I am religious. When I was a teenager I was often
harassed – and sometimes bullied – because of my faith and didn’t like it, but
it didn’t stop me. We often speak
about the peer pressure that teenagers face, but the reality is that we all feel
the pressure of the opinions of our peers. But we should never be afraid of what anyone thinks of us
because of our faith. And it’s not
just individuals, as churches sometimes often operate out of fear. In our day and age there is a great
deal of fear and anxiety in churches, which keeps them from their mission and
calling.
There is so much fear among people
these days as our world is changing, and they fear the impact it will have on
their faith. Perhaps this is what
is at the root of all the talk about religious liberty these days. I am going to wander into an area this
morning that touches on this subject, but before I do I remind you that we are
a Disciples church, and in a Disciples church we understand it is not necessary
to agree with one another to be able to walk together in faith. Disciples churches believe we can have
different opinions and can disagree – without being disagreeable in the
process. In fact, I sometimes joke
about how we operate as Disciples by paraphrasing a passage of Scripture – where there are two or three Disciples
gathered together, you’ll find five or six opinions (paraphrased from Matthew
18:20 – For where two or three have
gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.) If you disagree with what I am about to
say, that is certainly your right, and feel free to do so, and to let me know,
if you so desire.
Kim Davis, the Rowan County Clerk,
was jailed a few days ago because of her refusal to issue marriage licenses to
same-sex couples. People keep asking
me what I think about this, so I’ll tell you what I think. I admire the determination that would
compel someone to be willing to go to jail for her beliefs, and I hope that I
would have the courage to go to jail for what I believe. And I think there are times it is
important to stand up and be willing to go to jail, as many have done
throughout our history. But no one
has infringed upon Kim Davis’ religious liberty. She is not in jail for what she believes or for how she
practices her faith – she is in jail because of her refusal to act in
accordance with the law, as she is supposed to do as an elected official. If her job clashed with her religious
beliefs, she can resign from her job.
I understand that can bring about a financial hardship, but that, to me,
would be the proper course of action.
This is, to me, more of a spiritual question than a political one, and I
take my views from the manner in which Jesus and the early church did ministry. Jesus asked us to take up our crosses
and to follow him; he did not ask us to place that cross on someone else
(Matthew 16:24-25 – 24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If
anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and
follow Me. 25 For whoever wishes to save his life will
lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it). Likewise, the early church did not use the power of government to accomplish their
purposes, and if we would desire the church to use the power of government to
further our mission and our purpose it will only serve to weaken the church and
to diminish the power of our message.
The fear of God not doing what we want.
I would never minimize the struggles of anyone, but sometimes we
forget how blessed we are. When I
opened my closet to get something to wear today I had ample choices. When I walked into our kitchen to have
breakfast, I opened our pantry and refrigerator and found them fully
stocked. I did not face what so
many in our world face, which is where
will I find food for the day?
Instead, my question was how can I
eat less today in order to maintain good health because overeating is such a
temptation?
Would my faith survive the
loss of blessing? How much of
our faith is tied to our station in life?
If I were to experience just a portion of what Job experienced, would my
faith survive? It’s easy to
believe when life is going well, but what happens when it is not? If I were to lose my health, my job, my
home, my freedom, what would happen to my faith?
It is hard to watch the news reports of the refugees flooding
through Europe. They are people
whose lives have been uprooted in ways that we cannot imagine, and very few
have experienced anything that comes close to such difficulty. Imagine what it would be like to flee
from your home with only what you can carry.
Many of us saw the heart-wrenching picture of 3-year-old Aylan
Kurdi, washed up on a beach near Istanbul, Turkey. He and his family boarded a small rubber raft for the
perilous journey to Greece and then beyond find a better life. When that boat capsized, he and his brother
and mother drowned. Imagine the
grief of the husband and father.
Over 11 million people have now been displaced by the war in Syria. 11 million. Let that number sink in for a moment.
All of us pray that we would never
have to face such difficulties, but we must remember that the purpose of prayer
is not to pry something out of God, but to bring us to the acceptance of his
will. Prayer is not a magical
formula. Many of our prayers are
lists of what we would like God to do.
If we make prayer into a formula for what we want, we set people up to
be disappointed with God. Prayer
“works” when it brings us to an acceptance of God’s will. Remember that the prayer of Jesus in
the Garden of Gethsemane was that God’s will be done (Matthew 26:39 – And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and
prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet
not as I will, but as You will.”)
Fear is a very real presence in our
lives, but it does not have to be the controlling presence in our lives. The good news of the gospel is
that perfect love will conquer fear.
If your future looks uncertain, there is always a future, even after life
on this earth is complete. God always
makes provision, somehow, and God holds the future – and us – in his hands.
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