Time of Grace Ministry Set Me Free: From Fear July 12, 2009 Matthew 10: 23-31 What kind of anxieties do you have? What keeps you up at night? Let me ask you this: What are you afraid of right now? Everybody’s looking for answers and hope. I want to help people find it in God. And his amazing grace. Are we in a recession? What do you think? Some economists think that a recession means that there’s been a decline in economic output for at least two or three quarters, consecutively. If you’ve lost your job, it doesn’t matter how the consecutive quarters have been doing, you’re in your own private recession. Do you think America is going through a recession nationwide right now? There are some undoubted economic strains and some people really are going through hardships. But yet, it seems by comparison to be a small thing compared to what America went through in 1933. The stock market crashed four years earlier in 1929, but each year got worse. It didn’t bottom out right away; it just got worse and worse. And in the spring of 1933, we were on the edge of massive, total nationwide financial breakdown as 42 of 58 federal banks actually refused to open their doors. And in that spring of March 1933, the new president Franklin Roosevelt was inaugurated into office. And in his first inaugural address he had some very historic words. A few people heard them live, but the rest of the nation heard them on the radio. And if you’ll pardon my attempt at his New York accent, he used words that resonated among the fearful hearts of a nation who thought it was collapsing. And he said, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself - irrational, unreasoning fear, fear that paralyzes.” And those words really rang true because it meant that the federal government from the very top was going to get engaged in people’s lives to help them with their fear of financial collapse in America. Do you know that God, your God, is even more in love with you than Roosevelt was and he’s even more determined to be engaged in the lives of the people who have put their trust in him? I want to talk to you today about “Lord, set me free from fear.” “We have nothing to fear but fear itself - irrational, unreasoning fear, fear that paralyzes.” Those words struck deep. And even though nobody knew how the President was going to get the country out of this slump, the fact that he stood up and made a stand was something. Most people didn’t realize how crippled he was. He had something very much like polio. It probably wasn’t polio, but many years earlier, I think when he was in his early 20’s, he had lost the use of his muscles from the waist down. P.O. Box 301 Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53201 T414.562.8463 800.661.3311 [email protected] www.timeofgrace.org 2 He was in a wheelchair and when he’d appear in public, they would prop him up and he would stand either on his crutches or be propped up by some of his aids. But he never walked again after 1921. And that this disabled man would stand up and say, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself,” gave some backbone and courage to the nation. I have come across interviews with children done years ago, showing that children used to be afraid of monsters under their bed, dark places, heights, and loud noises. But that was 35 years ago, back when I was a kid, or a sort of large kid. Do you know what kids are afraid of now? Divorce, nuclear war and a polluted planet that they will inherit. The water and air will be poisoned to the point where it cannot be repaired. That’s what kids dread now. That’s what they worry about now, about being abandoned, about living in a desolate wilderness, that’s what they dread. I’m going to out myself to you and say that I’m afraid of things, too. And I know I’m afraid of things because I’m a teeth clencher and many mornings I wake up and my cheeks hurt. Isn’t that odd? Do any of you do that too? In fact, my dentist makes me wear a mouth guard because I’m chomping on my teeth all night going through such stress. I had a nightmare two nights ago that I was here in our elementary school and for some reason, the roofs had given away and the rainwater was just pouring in. Every room in the building just had water pouring in. And you can get all Freudian with me and say, “Well, Mark, you’re acting out that you’re afraid that everything’s falling apart in your life and you can’t control it and wherever you go, the flood is just coming.” I don’t know, does that make sense? But I do know that I woke up in a cold sweat, dreading the mess that I was going to find when I came to school. And then I had one of those sweet “Aha!” moments, “Oh, it was just a dream.” Every year, I have my “pastor” nightmare several times. Do you ever have nightmares like this? Because I’m a pastor, I have pastor nightmares. You maybe have one in your line of work, whatever that may be. Mine is that I hear the church bells ringing and it’s never when I’m here. And I know you’ll cut me some slack, but I’m somewhere else and the bells are ringing and they’re saying, “Hurry up, Pastor, hurry up. You’re on.” And I’m thinking, “On for what? What am I doing here?” And they’ll say, “Hurry!,” and I’m hurrying and I don’t have my pastor robe and am I speaking? I think I am. They’re singing the first hymn already and I don’t have a text or a message. I don’t have a thought in my head. What am I doing here? And I look down and realize I don’t have any shoes on. And frankly, my pants are missing, too. I’m not ready for this. And there, too, you can get all Freudian with me and say, Well, Mark, see, you’re having guy anxiety that you’re being found out to be the fraud and the faker you really are. You’re just faking your way through life anyway, and now they realize you’re just bluffing your way through life. You’re nobody. You’re really a loser and you’ve just been fooling people, but it’s over. Now they see what a loser you really are. What do you worry about? Do you have nightmares, too? Do you wake up in a cold sweat and then go through the panic of, “Oh, thank God it was just a dream!” Do you know what’s even worse than night fears? Daytime fears, the things that we’re afraid of while we’re awake. P.O. Box 301 Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53201 T414.562.8463 800.661.3311 [email protected] www.timeofgrace.org 3 Sometimes it’s good to be afraid of things, to have a healthy respect for things that bring danger – like teaching your little children to be afraid of traffic in the street so that they hold up and don’t just go running out into the road. When I was a kid, I stuck a fork into an electrical outlet and I learned to fear and respect electricity. And you know what? I never did that again. But some fear goes beyond prudence and caution and goes into paranoia. When President Benjamin Harrison and his wife, who were in the White House in the late 1880s, first had electricity installed and replaced the gas lights with electrical lights, they were not only respectful of electricity, but they were terrified of it. They absolutely would not touch the light switches and if the servants had gone to bed and they were still up, they would end up sleeping with the lights blazing because they were terrified of touching the light switch. That isn’t caution anymore, that’s just paranoia. Maybe you know some people, or maybe you’re a little like this yourself, where you’re so worried about money things that you might just become a hoarder. Do you know anybody like that? I know some people who are hoarders, they keep stacking things up. They are terrified of spending money so they save everything, old newspapers, old magazines, everything, because they are afraid they’re going to run out. They’re afraid that the day is going to come where they’re just going to need absolutely every last scrap of resources because they had so little faith in the future. We had a dog like that when I was a kid, a cute little Schnauzer. That dog loved to be cuddled and scratched and we’d scratch her ears. But if you ever scratched her ears while she was eating her bowl of Kibbles, she would snarl at you because she never knew if that was her last meal. She had no confidence in the future. If you’re a guy, you might worry that you have no job security and everybody thinks you’re just a big dope. If you’re a woman into relationships and finding security, you might be terrified of the phone never ringing and ending up all alone in the dark. God cares about that and the worst fear of all is to be afraid that God has abandoned us, too. And I want to dig into the scripture with you to help you know that your God will never leave you alone. And I think sometimes our fear, our dread, is that God is dead, his throne is empty and that he does not live in our future. We’re on our own. And we’ve got to work every angle and try to scratch every last thing together we can to fortify ourselves for the long march cause we’ve got a long way to go and we’re all alone. And that kind of thinking makes us afraid. And then, behind all of that, maybe the ultimate in fear, is the fear of illness and death, the big “D,” that chases us. We know it’s chasing us. And we pretend it isn’t there, we do all kinds of stuff to try to stave off the aging process and pretend the dying process maybe won’t come for us. And worst of all, just like the people of Israel knew when disaster from Babylon came upon them, it’s our own fault, our own sinful guilt of knowing that God has every right to put his thumb on us and squash us. This makes us feel all the more nervous and afraid. And our sins and the guilt that comes with them makes us feel like we’re on our own and that our meeting with God is probably not going to be a happy one. P.O. Box 301 Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53201 T414.562.8463 800.661.3311 [email protected] www.timeofgrace.org 4 God wants you to live without fear. He never said in his word, “You’re going to live without hardship.” He never said, “You’re going to live without struggle or conflict.” He never said, “Your life will be easy and comfortable.” But he did say this, “Don’t be afraid.” In fact, if you want to boil down the gospel message of God’s rescue into just one little phrase, that might just be it, “Don’t be afraid.” When Adam and Eve first rebelled against God, what’s the first thing they did? When they got that knowledge of evil they so desperately wanted, they knew what it felt like to be an enemy, a rebel against God. So what did they do? They hid. Suddenly their nakedness was not something they had control over and now they were ashamed and they hid. That was the first thing that Adam said to God. God said, “Adam, where are you?” And he said, “I heard your voice in the Garden” and instead of coming, running to Papa, he said, “I was afraid.” That’s one of the most dreadful consequences of sin. It makes us afraid and fear stalks all of us and it lurks in our hearts and it keeps popping back like a cork. A handful of corks, you try to hold under the water and they keep popping back up. And that fear comes back, “We’re going to get punished for what we really have coming.” And just like Adam and Eve, half the time our relationship with God is not confident and joyful. We’re shivering naked in the bushes, afraid of being found out for the foolish rebels that we are. It’s to just such people as you and me at just such a time as this that I would like to share a few encouraging words from God’s word with you, to be set free from fear. I’d like you to come with me to the gospel of St. Matthew. In chapter 10, Jesus is talking to his disciples and giving them some instructions for a little training round of ministry that they were going to do without him, the first time they were going to kind of solo without him. They really had liked tagging along after Jesus and being his medical assistants when he was doing his miracles or his food distribution assistants. They liked that. They liked listening to him talk and he taught them an awful lot of things. But now he says, “You’re going to go by yourselves,” and they were afraid. And they got even more afraid when Jesus predicted the hardships that they would go through. It’s bad enough to feel rejection. Who likes that? Who needs more rejection in life? We all have plenty. But Jesus also said you’re going to receive such hostility it will get physical with you. You will be assaulted, you’ll be thrown out of the synagogues, you will be arrested and you’ll even be killed for my name, while you’re representing me. But his message to them was, “Don’t be afraid. This is going to be okay. I can help you. This is to be anticipated. I can help you overcome these things.” In fact, even though this is just one specific example, what Jesus told his disciples is of great power, for those words are true to you and to me, as well. “Don’t be afraid.” “Don’t be afraid of anything because I am with you.” The New Testament begins with the gospels of St. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and that’s the very first message that comes to us from God. After millennia, after thousands of years of human history, up to this point where the human race is basically crouching in the bushes like P.O. Box 301 Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53201 T414.562.8463 800.661.3311 [email protected] www.timeofgrace.org 5 Adam, afraid and fearful of God, over and over to Zechariah God comes and says, “Don’t be afraid.” To Mary, soon to be the mother to our Lord Jesus, the angel said, “Don’t be afraid, Mary.” To Joseph, he said, “Don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife.” And to the shepherds on Christmas Eve, God said, “Don’t be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy which shall be for all people.” And this is Christ’s message for you today, as well. Don’t be afraid. So, even when the good news comes, God has to sneak up on us a little so we don’t jump right over the moon. “Don’t be afraid, it’s okay, don’t be afraid.” If you want to sum up God’s message to struggling, fearful, guilt-laden people, if you want to just simplify it in terms we can all understand, “Don’t be afraid. I’ve got good news for you.” Matthew 10:23: “When you are persecuted,” in other words, when you are now going out and you’re going to start encountering hardships in your life, do not conclude that I (Jesus) am powerless, do not conclude that I am gone, that my throne is empty, the angels have left, and you’re all basically praying to an empty heaven. Don’t conclude that. Don’t conclude that I’m failing. If you struggle in your life, if you’re getting slapped around or pounded on by life, do not conclude that you are a loser, or that you’re failing in some kind of way. Expect hardship. It’s alright, it’s part of my plan. Expect it. Plan on it. Anticipate it, be ready for it. And he gave three examples of how, “You’re with me. You’ve seen me struggle; you’ve seen the hardships I’ve gone through.” And of course, he’s trying to prepare them for Holy Week, his suffering, his arrest, his conviction, his unjust trial, the physical abuse he suffered and his crucifixion. “This is not a sign of defeat or my plans unraveling, this is how they will be fulfilled, my suffering is the path to glory and yours will be, too. And you’re with me!” Verse 24 - “A student is not above his teacher, nor is a servant above his master.” It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master.” Jesus said, “Think of me as a teacher and you’re my students,” or “Think of me as a business owner and you’re my employees.” Or he said, “Think of me as your daddy and you’re my kids. Your life will be caught up in mine and reflect mine. If they called me ‘Beelzebub, think of what they’ll do to you.” Beelzebub is a Hebrew term that means “Lord of the flies.” It’s a sarcastic, derisive term that was applied to the devil. So Jesus said if they call me a devil, they’ll hate you, too. Anticipate it, expect it, but “don’t be afraid of them. There’s nothing concealed that won’t be disclosed. Nothing is hidden that will not be made known. What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what’s whispered in your ear, proclaim from the housetops.” In other words, this quiet little thing that we’re doing now in Israel is going to explode over the whole world. Don’t hold back, give it all you got. Do not be afraid of hostility because I am bigger than they are. “Don’t be afraid of those who can kill the body, they can’t kill your soul.” But rather, “Be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Let that be your driver. The Lord God is greater than all the demons, greater than Satan himself and he not only P.O. Box 301 Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53201 T414.562.8463 800.661.3311 [email protected] www.timeofgrace.org 6 has power over your body, but over your soul, as well. Let him be your driver and your inspiration. Then Jesus went on to give some of the most extraordinary examples of God’s power and involvement that you could think of. He said, “Aren’t two sparrows sold for a penny?” In other words, they’re some of the smallest animals and they seem to have very little value. And he said, “Not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father.” That God has the capacity to track every one of the billions of birds in the world is astounding and that he cares and is involved enough to insist they can’t fall without his permission is just amazing. “Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.” That God has both the ability to track how many of the 90,000 or so hairs are on your head and that he cares enough to count them, he’s that engaged and involved in your life. What can you say but, “Wow!” Don’t be afraid. Disinterested? No! He’s intensely interested in you. If no bird can fall out of the sky without permission from God, he says, “You are worth so much more than that. So I will not let you fall unless I’m going to make it work into my plans of love for you.” Think about that. Not only is hardship to be anticipated, but God limits it and guides it and steers it in such a way to make it work for you and so he says, “Don’t be afraid.” Don’t interpret the struggles of your life as either failures or that you’re a loser or that you’re going to hell or that all his work on your behalf has crashed and burned. Or that you must therefore be an unbeliever because you’re struggling. If God really loved you, you’d be rich and famous and healthy. Do not assume those things. God’s goal for your life is not to give you as comfortable an earthly existence as possible. In fact, from God’s point of view, I think he gives us as much as he dares. The more money God gives me, the less I think I need him. I really do think that God gives me as much as he dares because the times when I’ve seemed most spiritually indifferent or seemed to be drifting away from God is when I’d think I didn’t need him. The times that I thought that I was really struggling the most, the time I most needed help, was the time I felt closest to the Lord. I prayed more, read his word more eagerly and I just felt so much closer because I knew I needed him. So the Lord, when he lets us struggle, it’s not because he doesn’t care, he thinks that we are worth much more than many sparrows. If he puts that much attention into feeding and taking care of birds, and we’re worth so much more than that to him! I want you to think right now what are you struggling with? What are you afraid of? What are your fears right now? The Lord is allowing you to go through those because his goal for you is not to give you a comfortable stress free life, but what he’s really interested in is helping you to overcome the situations that you find yourself in. What are you worried about? Are you worried about money? God tells you, “You’ve asked me for daily bread. I will feed you. And my righteous people are never going to beg bread. I will take care of you. Come to me over and over and let me take care of you. Don’t be afraid, you’re worth more than many sparrows.” P.O. Box 301 Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53201 T414.562.8463 800.661.3311 [email protected] www.timeofgrace.org 7 Are you worried about your children? Don’t be afraid. They’re worth much more to God than sparrows. If the sparrows can’t fall from the sky without his permission, your children won’t trip and fall unless he’s on top of the situation, too. And he promises that their guardian angels go back and forth between their lives and the very throne of God in heaven. What are you afraid of right now? Dump the bag and just let the Lord know the things and the fears that are on your heart and just know you are so valuable to your God. One of the most beautiful things that Jesus ever told his disciples took place a little bit after he said these things. A few hours before he died, Jesus said this: “In the world you will have many troubles. But don’t be afraid. I have overcome the world.” Are you worried that your own weaknesses and sins are one of these days going to make God so disgusted with you that he’s just going to sweep you right off the table and say, “I’m disgusted, I’m done with you. Get away from me.” Don’t be afraid. It’s for just such sinful fools as you and me that Jesus needed and wanted to come here. Remember that your good relationship with God is not based on your performance. It’s based on his performance and he gives it to you through faith. Let that warm and inspire your heart. Do you do much cooking? You know when you’re putting together a roast, you get your blue graniteware pan, you put the meat in, you put the potatoes and the seasonings in, you load that thing up, preheat the oven to 350 and then you slide it into the oven. But do you then drag a chair over to the stove and sit down and look through that little window into the oven? And do you then watch it for two or three hours? Well, of course not! You go and do other stuff and you ignore what’s in the pan. Does it ever feel like in your life that God has gone away to do other things while you’re in the roaster, while you’re struggling and you feel like you’re getting baked and roasted? Not true. You’re worth so much to God. His eyes are intently on you as though he’s sitting right there, looking through the oven. Can I pray for you right now of what’s going on in your life? Dear Lord, I want to talk to you on behalf of my friends today. Some of them are worrying and are afraid about money. Let them know that you will be there for them each day with the daily bread that they need. Some are worried about their families. Assure them, dear Lord, that your angels are watching over their families when they’re away, taking care of them and making sure that they’re okay. And some are worried about their relationships. Dear Lord, fill their lives with your love and let them be reflectors of your love to others. We pray these things, Jesus, in your name. Amen. I’m Pastor Mark Jeske and I want to remind you that every day, right now, is your time of grace. P.O. Box 301 Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53201 T414.562.8463 800.661.3311 [email protected] www.timeofgrace.org Set Me Free: From Fear Matthew 10: 23-31 When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another….A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master…So do not be afraid of them. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known….Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul…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. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. • • • Because of sin, our lives are full of fears, but the worst fear of all is to be afraid that God has abandoned us. We are to expect struggles, just as Jesus suffered. But we don’t need to be afraid because God will be with us through each and every hardship. If God watches over the seemingly insignificant sparrow, and desires to know and count the number of hairs on our head, surely he will watch and guide our lives for good because we are of great value to him. Valuable enough to die for. Fear is a direct result of our sinful nature. Yet in our struggling, fearful, guilt-laden existence, God tells us not to be afraid because he has good news for us – Jesus died for our sins and we will never be left alone by our God. His goal is to bring us safely to heaven, and sometimes our struggles and fears help us to realize our total dependence on God. If God loved us enough to send Jesus to die for us, thereby demonstrating that great love, he will surely not abandon us. God counts our hairs? That seems bizarre, but what tremendous comfort we can get out of those words. God actually knows the number of hairs on your head, and how many are in the shower drain every morning! If he knows that about you, then he actually cares to know everything else about you too. Our God is personally and intensely involved in every aspect of our lives. What a comforting thought that is! I have a Savior, everything’s going to be ok.
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