Looking for Someone to Calm My Fears - Various Texts
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Copyright December 12, 2021 by Rev Bruce Goettsche
The question we are asking in our Advent sermons is “Who are you looking for?” Today we are going to look at those who are looking for someone who can calm their fears. In the King James Bible, the phrase “fear not” is used 70 times.
However, we live in a “culture of fear.” It seems every day we learn of new variants to the virus that has impacted our lives so drastically. In addition, there is global terrorism, political turmoil, political correctness, riots and looting. Candidate ads routinely use fear as the appeal to voters because attacks catering to our fears are very effective. In our digital world, information and news is distributed so quickly that we feel like we are witnesses to every tragedy and we are aware of every “cause” on the planet.
Author Michael Reeves wrote,
Our private, daily routines are filled with still more sources of anxiety. Take our diet, for example. If you choose the full-fat version on the menu, you’re heading for a heart attack. Yet we’re regularly confronted with the latest discovery that the low-calorie alternative is actually carcinogenic or harmful in some other way. And so a low-grade fear starts with breakfast. Or think of the paranoia surrounding parenting today. The valid but usually overblown fear of the kidnapper lurking online or outside every school has helped fuel the rise of helicopter parenting and children more and more fenced in to keep them safe. Small surprise, then, that universities are now expected to provide previously unheard-of “safe spaces” to protect or quarantine students. Children have grown up so protected that they are not expected to be able to cope with opposing viewpoints or criticism. It is just one indicator that they are considered more fragile than students were a generation ago. (Rejoice and Tremble)
Fear is Not All Bad
We are not going to conclude, as some have, that taking precautions, getting vaccinated, adjusting your diet, or any other response to the fears of life is a lack of faith. Fear is not necessarily bad. It makes us alert and ready! When we are teaching a person to drive we want them to fear the destructive power of a car or truck. When someone is learning how to handle a gun, they need to learn to keep that weapon pointed away from people and fear the danger such weapons can cause. When a person starts taking flying lessons, they must know that their mistakes could cause them to lose their life.
Fear is a heightened awareness that promotes a readiness for action. At times we need this “rush” to do what needs to be done to protect ourselves or get motivated to action. However, when we are at this heightened state of alert and alarm all the time, it is hard on our system and can have damaging and even deadly effects.
Sinful Fear
Fear is sinful when we choose to be afraid rather than trust God. The Bible teaches that our fears increase as our fear of God decreases! The “fear of the Lord” is indeed the beginning of wisdom when it comes to overcoming ungodly fear.
Ungodly fear comes from loving the things of the world too much. The more we love something, the more we fear losing it. As such, the more we begin to cling to the things of this world, the more we fear losing these things. They become our comfort and strength rather than the Lord. That is called idolatry.
Godly Fear
We read all these verses that tell us not to fear and then we are told: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” (Psalm 111:10; Proverbs 9:10 NIV) What does this mean? We are supposed to fear God instead of fearing others and the bad circumstances of life? In a word, YES! This is the key to overcoming the debilitating fear that can paralyze our lives.
The less boundaries there are in life, the more we have to fear. No craziness seems to be restrained so now we must keep our heads on a swivel. Schools must beware of the mental unbalance of a student who owns a gun; Managers in a business must fear that a former employee may come back and get even with everyone and anyone. You don’t know what word will provide a spark to set off an explosion in another person. You are even more scared to drive in bigger cities because of road rage or people shooting at folks from an overpass. When law is eliminated, you are left with anarchy where we must then fear the people in power who can arrest and kill at will.
Oswald Chambers has written, "The remarkable thing about fearing God is that when you fear God, you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God, you fear everything else.
To fear God is to recognize His superior strength, wisdom, and authority. Just as a police officer carries a gun, a baton, and possibly a stun gun to enforce their authority; God has the power to destroy, afflict and to send someone to Hell. Law-abiding people don’t have to fear a police officer (and we know there are some bad ones which we would fear), only the criminals do. Likewise, someone who respects and heeds the authority of God need not be in terror of God. He is a loving God. The Apostle Paul wrote
“Notice how God is both kind and severe. He is severe toward those who disobeyed, but kind to you if you continue to trust in his kindness. But if you stop trusting, you also will be cut off.” (Romans 11:22)
We should rightly fear God when we understand the holiness of God. There are times when policeman may overreact or skirt the law, God never does. He is pure and will not tolerate sin and rebellion. He possesses all power and will punish eternally those who spurn Him. No one can stand against Him and survive. We fear God because we know we are sinful people who cannot save ourselves. We deserve the judgment of God! Bethlehem is a picture of God’s rescue plan! Our fear of God includes our awe for His incredible love.
One of the two Hebrew words that are used for “fear” denotes a physical experience: of being overwhelmed, of weak-kneed trembling, of being staggeringly discomposed. This can take place with a positive or negative experience. We can shake in terror or shake with adoration.
Think about meeting your favorite singer, ballplayer, author, or someone else you admire. You might tremble to meet them and become completely undone. This is what the fear of God does for the believer. We see Him in His power, excellence, justice, and also in His grace, mercy, and love. That combination is the fear of the Lord for the Christian. When we have seen God in His staggering greatness, the fears we face daily begin to seem puny by comparison. As Paul said in Romans 8,
31 What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? 32 Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? 33 Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. 34 Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.
So once again we discover that the key to overcoming our fear is to understand and embrace the reason Jesus came to earth in Bethlehem. He came to live a life free of sin, to die for our sin, and rise for us to know we are forgiven. He came to teach us and show us how to live the life that is now ours because of Christ.
Dealing with Fear in Life
So far, we have been dealing with the theological distinctives about fear. Let’s get practical. How do we keep from being afraid . . .
· When life suddenly takes a seemingly bad turn
· When the Doctor delivers a bad report
· When you feel you are beginning to “slip” in your cognitive abilities
· When the company is downsizing, or your income is being threatened
· When children are rebellious and making bad choices
· When you are in new and seemingly dangerous surroundings
· When you have been arrested
· When you face a public failure
In times such as these we will need strategies to help us address the very real fear that haunts our lives.
Step one: Pray. It sounds so simple, and yet so few of us do it. We will do all kinds of things on our own to try to solve a problem before we will pray. (The Bible tells us the Devil works hard to attack us when we are on our knees. However, those demons have no power over us unless we give them permission to have such power). We are filled with the Holy Spirit. Greater is the One who is in us rather than the One who is in the world.
· We pray for strength and faith in our circumstances
· We ask God to help us glorify Him wherever we are
· We entrust our circumstances to His wisdom
· We confess any sin and idolatry so there is nothing causing a barrier with God.
Second: Choose What Your Mind Dwells on. We can focus on the negative or the positive. We can focus on the things we could be afraid of, or we can focus on the sufficiency and wisdom of God in every situation. If I asked you to fill in this blank “What if _______________ ? Would you fill that blank with a positive or a negative statement? Do you see yourself as a victim or a victor through Christ? Would you spotlight the many ways God could redeem or refine you in any situation? Or would you look for all the ways things could get worse?
I’m sure you are familiar with the words of Philippians 4:8
8 And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.
Paul also wrote in Romans 12,
2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
We tell ourselves a lot of things that aren’t true.
· Things will never change. (God is in the business of making changes)
· I can’t do this! That may be true in your human strength (think about facing the death of a child) but as a believer you are not left only with human strength. You have the supernatural strength of God on your side.
· “People hate me! I have no value.” God thinks otherwise. He not only created you, He sent His Son to die for you. You not only have value, you are cherished by God.
· “I am a failure.” Generally, people who say such things have drawn a life conclusion based on a small sample size. You may have failed (or appear to have failed), but it is not the end of the story. Depending on how you look at it, for most of their lives, Abraham Lincoln, Moses, Joseph, and even Noah were failures most of their lives. But that was not the end of their story. God used these hard times as a training ground for them to be used greatly. He does the same for us if we will simply trust Him.
· “I have nothing to offer the Lord.” To say such a thing is to basically call God a liar! There are things He has for you to do. It can start with praying for others, giving people a call, or sending a note. They may not seem like big things to you, but on the other end . . . it is powerful.
When you are enveloped in fear remind yourself to change the channel of your mind! You can choose what you are going to dwell on: the blessings or the trials. You can focus on what might happen here on earth or on what is going to happen because of the grace of God through Christ. You can feel like God has abandoned you or you can remember Bethlehem and the fact that Jesus came to surround you with His love and to make you a part of His family.
Practically speaking, this means spending time reading the Bible and cherishing the promises of God. It includes worshipping where the Word of God (rather than the opinions of men) is proclaimed. It means choosing to watch shows that make you feel good rather than shows like the news (or the various pundits), that are designed to increase your fears.
Third, Tell Others. In 2 Corinthians 5 we read,
Because we understand our fearful responsibility to the Lord, we work hard to persuade others. (5:11)
The NIV says: “Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others.” We understand the reality of judgment and our accountability to God. Because we understand this we want others to know the staggering news of God’s grace and mercy and keep them from the wrath that awaits those who do not believe.
Remember the Shepherds at the birth of Jesus? When the angels appeared to them, the Shepherds were terrified. The power and the awesomeness of the heavenly messengers made them fearful (in a good way). They were stunned by the good news, and it staggered them. They could not believe the opportunity that was given to them. They went to see Jesus and were led to worship and honor Him. That short encounter changed the focus and outlook of these shepherds. They could not help but tell everyone about God’s faithfulness in bringing the Messiah to Israel. It was incredibly good news and they had to share it.
Conclusion
Fear is a gift from God to warn us of danger. Exaggerated or paralyzing fear is fear with binoculars. It tends to magnify fears that are a great distance away turning small threats into times of major crisis.
The paradox we see in the Bible is this: the more we fear God, the less we fear men or the circumstances of life. In other words, the more confident we are of God’s power, strength, and wisdom, and the more convinced we are of His love, the less afraid we will be of the things of the world. The threats of others mean little if we know we are loved by the God who is Lord over all there is.
In our new book on Facing Fear (a shameless plug) I tell the story of a boy who was afraid of the monsters that might be lurking. His mom asked if he would be afraid if his parents were with him. He would not be afraid because he knew they would protect him. Mom pointed out that the Lord is with us all the time. He is stronger and more competent than any parent or superhero. If we understand how big and powerful God is, we have nothing to fear.
I love this passage from Psalm 112,
7 They do not fear bad news;
they confidently trust the Lord to care for them.
8 They are confident and fearless
and can face their foes triumphantly. (Psalm 112:7-8)
The person who grasps the greatness of God does not have to fear bad news because God is working everything for our good. Nothing escapes His control. In a real sense, for the child of God, there is no such thing as bad news. There are just building blocks in our faith journey.
In Psalm 118 we are told
6 The Lord is for me, so I will have no fear.
What can mere people do to me?
7 Yes, the Lord is for me; he will help me.
I will look in triumph at those who hate me.
8 It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to trust in people.
9 It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to trust in princes. (Psalm 118:6)
There are many things in the world that could paralyze us with fear but the follower of Jesus should choose trust instead of fear. We know there is nothing to fear because even though the world will bring trouble, He has overcome the world. He sees us; He loves us; He came to rescue us and make us new. He promises that if we trust Him, He will lead us and strengthen us so we too will also overcome the world. And this takes our fear away because when you know who wins the battle, the rest of the war loses most of its terror.