“Rightly Placed Fear”

Text: Matthew 10:5a, 21-33

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

The Scripture reading to which we direct our attention today is the Gospel reading from the book of Matthew. As if our world was not providing us with enough reasons to believe we should be fearful, Jesus reminds us what will happen to those who follow him and are faithful to the mission to which He calls us. “Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise up against parents and have them put to death, and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake.” All that on top of unrest in the world, constant reminders of tragedy, and all sorts of issues which cause us fear on a daily basis. But even though everything around us, including Scripture, reminds us of the reality of the world we’re being sent into, the Scriptures also give us consolation. Paul reminds us in Romans that this is a world we are not to be conformed to. Jesus tells us in the Gospel of John, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.” There’s much to fear in this world, but as Jesus was preparing His disciples for His ascension, He once again gives consolation to us all. “I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

FEAR IS NATURAL EMOTION, BUT IT NEEDS TO BE RIGHTLY PLACED IN THE ONE WHO WILL HOLD US ACCOUNTABLE IN THE END.

Just last week we heard Jesus calling His disciples to Himself and sending them out, having given them the authority that was given to Him by His Father. Jesus tells the twelve that they will “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, and cast out demons.” What a mission! But what we didn’t hear in that Gospel reading is the verses which bridge the gap between that lesson and this week’s. Chapter 10, verse 16 says this. “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” Jesus placed great responsibility and great trust in His disciples, but He needs them to know that this mission is not going to be a simple one.

There will be people who will be unable and unwilling to hear the message that you’ve been given to deliver. There will be those who are hostile to this message. And at times there will be reason to fear, for you are being sent out as a sheep among the wolves. I don’t know that I’ve ever, as a Christian, felt more like a sheep among the wolves than I do today. The hostility of the world to the Gospel message seems to be as strong as it’s ever been. Even so, God goes before us, and is always with us. As Jesus goes on to prepare His disciples for their mission, He reminds them that even family relationships are not immune to the issues that will arise when His faithful people speak His Truth into the world. You’ve probably experienced it. Most of us have had our faith affect relationships in a negative way. And the fear of losing those closest to us as a result of our faithfulness to the Gospel is sometimes debilitating. I’ve said myself too many times, if I say something now it might make them mad and they’ll walk away. But the truth is, if I don’t say something now, I may never have another chance. And then the thought that I may have made them mad pales in comparison to the regret of never having shared the life-giving message of the Gospel.

Jesus was one never to sugar-coat anything. He just tells it like it is. And His message and mission is so important that those carrying it out need to be fully prepared for what they’re going to encounter. Even so, Jesus doesn’t leave His disciples without consolation, for He says to them immediately after warning them of the perils they’ll face, “But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” He always makes sure to leave us with the assurance that He is with us, and of the joy of the salvation that He won for us.

The message and the mission Jesus sent His disciples on is no different than the one He gives to us. It’s the Great Commission for them, and we have the same calling. “Go and make disciples.”

Jesus has given His charge to the disciples. He’s warned them of the obstacles they’re going to face. And now in the face of everything they know is in front of them, he tells them three times not to fear. This is a message that’s especially important for us today. There’s so much we are being told to be fearful of. So much we could be afraid of. A healthy awareness of danger is a good thing, it’s an instinct given by God for our benefit, but debilitating fear is not of the Lord. We should be cautious to preserve this earthly body and we should be concerned for the welfare of every neighbor, but we can’t allow fear to control our lives and derail us from what God wants us to do. And so, these words are as true for us as they were for the disciples.

Three times Jesus says not to fear. The first time he says to them, “So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.” He’s talking about those who would persecute His disciples. Those who will not receive their message and may even seek to cause them harm. Jesus knows that the natural human reaction to this kind of treatment would be fear. And yet He encourages them to remember that He is always in control. And one day, all the secrets of God’s plan will be revealed. All that once was hidden from their eyes will be made known. And in this assurance, we’re reminded that there’s a design to God’s ways that’s sometimes beyond our understanding, but is always for our good.  As Jesus reminds the disciples of this truth, He reiterates the calling to declare openly what they’ve learned from Him in private. To shout from the mountaintop not only the message of human sin and need, but also God’s provision of forgiveness, life and salvation in Jesus. Jesus doesn’t simply offer empty platitudes by saying, “do not fear.” He gives us a focus to take our minds, hearts and bodies off of that fear and direct ourselves toward Him and what He wants us to tell the world.

While fear is a natural emotion, given by God in some instances for our preservation, it can also be used to become very inwardly focused. When we fear, we very rarely act. Our society has come to praise this kind of thinking. You’ve no doubt heard people say that pursuing your own happiness is the point of life. Well, it’s not. Actually, that’s totally opposite of what we’re to be about. I was sent a post from a social media site this week that speaks to the reality of our culture’s inward focus, and what would really help us to turn it around. The writer says, “Stop thinking about yourself for 5 seconds. Work on loving and serving the people around you. And if you do that, and if you stop thinking about yourself every moment of the day, you’re going to turn back one day and notice that you feel pretty good about yourself. That is the kind of happiness and contentment that only comes as a byproduct of focusing on loving other people. Selfishness never leads to lasting happiness. Only fleeting pleasure.” And I’d add that living in fear of being the one who loves and serves others robs us of the interaction and contentment that comes from following the Lord and His commands.

The second time Jesus says to them, “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.” Even the worst that can be done to us by our persecutors can’t destroy our relationship with God. Our fear has to be rightly placed and that’s not in the ones who can only destroy this body. Whether it be our persecutors, terrible violence and unrest, unexpected tragedy, or even Satan himself, none of these are able to take away anything but this earthly body. God Himself is the one to be feared because He alone is the One “who can destroy both body and soul in hell.” Our rightly placed fear is in the One who, if we reject Him, will become our enemy. It’s far better for us to lose this mortal life while faithfully following the Lord than to turn away from Him and lose everything for all eternity.

Jesus’ third admonition not to fear comes when He says, “Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.” It took me a little bit to figure out how comparing our value to a bird worth 1/32 of a denarius, or approximately 15 minutes of work for the average wage earner of the time, was something to be comforted by. Of course, Jesus does say that you are of more value that many sparrows, but the real consolation here is the fact that even with the concern that God has for the smallest details of His creation, He is concerned with the well-being of each of us. He knows the number of the hairs on our head. What is there to fear when the Lord of all creation knows us and cares for us so graciously? This is the model of Fatherhood that we earthly fathers seek to emulate. There were a couple times this week when I walked past the girls’ bedroom at a time they would normally be in there and for just a moment panicked that they weren’t there, before remembering that they were at camp for the week. Of course, we’ll never measure up to our Heavenly Father, but we seek to be like Him. He knows where we are every moment of the day. He cares what we’re doing. And He desires to be with us, and have us seeking Him out at all times. You are of more value to Him than many sparrows. You are of more value to Him than anything.

Even in this passage which starts out with such a dire warning about the fate of all who carry the Gospel message, Jesus provides great comfort to His people. Notice that Jesus doesn’t attempt to convince the disciples that there won’t be hardship in the mission He is sending them on. There will be. And perhaps most of all for those that follow Him most closely. But in each of His encouragements not to fear, His reasoning is rooted in a promise and a reality that He makes clear to us. And the greatest of those promises is the one that’s repeated time and again to God’s people throughout the Scriptures as He says, “Fear not, for I am with you.”

Helen Keller once said, “Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. The fearful are caught as often as the bold. Faith alone defends.” God calls us not to be fearful of the world around us, but to love deeply the people who are around us so much that we desire for them the same salvation our faith offers to us. But, there is one rightly placed fear. To fear, love, and trust in God above all things is our rightly placed fear. All other fear distracts us from the consolation we have in Christ, who continually says to us, ‘I am with you.’ May we take that message to heart and remember that even in what seem like the darkest of times that we are fearfully and wonderfully made by God who loves and cares for us so deeply that He gave up His one and only Son that we might have eternal life with Him.

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus.