Trust and Fear
Scripture References
Jeremiah 20:7-13
Jeremiah Persecuted by Pashhur
7 O Lord, you have deceived me, and I was deceived; you are stronger than I, and you have prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all the day; everyone mocks me. 8 For whenever I speak, I cry out, I shout, “Violence and destruction!” For the word of the Lord has become for me a reproach and derision all day long. 9 If I say, “I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,” there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot. 10 For I hear many whispering. Terror is on every side! “Denounce him! Let us denounce him!” say all my close friends, watching for my fall. “Perhaps he will be deceived; then we can overcome him and take our revenge on him.” 11 But the Lord is with me as a dread warrior; therefore my persecutors will stumble; they will not overcome me. They will be greatly shamed, for they will not succeed. Their eternal dishonor will never be forgotten. 12 O Lord of hosts, who tests the righteous, who sees the heart and the mind,[1] let me see your vengeance upon them, for to you have I committed my cause. 13 Sing to the Lord; praise the Lord! For he has delivered the life of the needy from the hand of evildoers.
Romans 6:12-23
Dead to Sin, Alive to God
12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
Slaves to Righteousness
15 What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves,[3] you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. 19 I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. 20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Matthew 10:21-33
Persecution Will Come
21 Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, 22 and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 23 When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes. 24 “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant[6] above his master. 25 It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign[7] those of his household.
Have No Fear
26 “So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. 27 What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. 28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.[8] 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?[9] And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30 But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. 32 So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, 33 but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.
Sermon Script
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, Oh Lord, my strength and redeemer. Amen.
Trust And Fear
Over the years I have been to meetings and conferences that have featured a motivational speaker somewhere in the agenda. Some of those were notorious like former president George W, one of the first female secret service agents Katheryn Childers, Susan Eisenhower… granddaughter of the 34th president, or race car driver Kyle Petty… but the ones that would send chills up my spine and make me want to do a Rocky dance… were just… great speakers. They had the ability to inspire, motivate, make you ten foot tall and bullet proof so to speak.
Quite often, Scripture will give me the same inspiration. However, when I was doing my research on these readings today, these messages were hard to place in that category. Because of it, today Jesus and Jeremiah didn’t quite make that motivational speaker list… not initially anyway as some things that need to be said… are not what we want to hear. In the Old Testament reading, Jeremiah was complaining about his duties as a prophet. In his lament, he fears that God had just toyed, deceived, and ultimately treated him badly.
The disciples on the other hand in the Gospel of Matthew 10, were warned by Jesus about the persecution they would face and possible riff within families from those that do not believe. These texts today revolve around trust and fear.
Blind Faith
Jeremiah’s lament is twofold, fearing that God’s message through him would somehow be lost amongst unbelievers lurking all around him. And secondly, engaging the trust that no matter what happens, God would always be there. The Disciples are experiencing a similar lament. The fear of resistance and persecution they will face when discipling, and once again, trusting that no matter what happens, Jesus will be by their side. Both are important lessons we can relate. The motivational message thus lies in our struggles of trust in the time of fear. Why is that so hard?
In School of Religion here at Peace, I teach 6th and 7th grade… In connection to the Ten Commandments, I have used an exercise before in class to illustrate trust and fear. One student will stand with arms folded with their eyes closed. I would have another student stand behind them. The objective is to have the student with their eyes closed, fall backwards, and trust the classmate behind him or her would catch them. Obviously, I made it clear that they must be caught. Regardless, they naturally would have a fear about blindly falling… finding it hard to place trust in one of their peers to catch them.
Would you have the same trouble? We like trust… we value it… we hold it high amidst our moral standards. But fear often seems to create a barrier for trust. No matter who you are, fear is present throughout our lives.
For the young ones it might be fear of darkness or being left alone. Not long after that you might remember being afraid of failure in school or making friends. Then as you got older, fears transition into making ends meet, health problems, and raising children in a messed-up world. What fears can you add to the list?
Fear Not
God clearly tells us not to fear. Isaiah writes in chapter 41:10 “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” God speaking through Isaiah is indeed motivational… But it doesn’t seem long before we are right back at fearing one thing or another again. We fear getting involved. Afraid of confronting unbelievers. We fear sharing our faith with others because we might get rejected, especially by unbelieving family members. Being hated as Jesus warns in verse 22, “You will be hated by all for my names sake.” Getting thumped with that proverbial rubber stamp that labels us, “one of those people.”
Not being accepted is one thing to fear, then Jesus adds the possibility of giving our life. However, Jesus wants us to look at this in a Christian way. He says, “All they can do is take your earthly life . . . they cannot touch your true and eternal life.” Jesus assures us we no longer need to fear the end of life on earth because of our confidence in the promise of eternal life that comes through Christ… the most powerful weapon against us is completely disarmed!
Even with this assurance, certain things we will still fear. And it is not wrong, some fears are a good thing.
I will probably always fear heights. Some of you will not get over the fear of spiders and snakes. But the fear that will affect our faith is the trust… or lack of… I was talking about earlier. We must take those fears to God. Trusting that no matter what our “persecution” might be… God is always there by our side. Martin Luther wrote in the explanation of the first Commandment, “We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.” When we learn to fear what we should fear, we will no longer fear what we shouldn’t.
What Are You Afraid Of?
Jesus said, “in the world, you will have tribulation, but take courage, because I have conquered the world.” If we remember this truth, the torment of fear, through faith, will rest in Jesus’ arms.
Scripture tells us repeatedly that God will take care of us… He loves us… if God takes note and cares for one seemingly insignificant sparrow, we can be rest assured He will take even better care for you and I who are created in His image. If God is attentive to the life of a small bird… how much more attentive will He be to those who are considered His children? Because of our value to the Lord, we need not fear.
Because of His love for humanity, Jesus commands His disciples to get off the couch and tell others the good news of salvation. In our sinfulness, we just want to sit back and blend in. To terrified to speak out when there is a conflict or an overwhelming opposition to the truth. We tend to put up our feet and watch the modern idea in society, drifting into the belief that you are free to believe what you want… Instead of stirring a ruckus, it’s easier to turn the volume down and mind our own business.
But as we learned the last couple of weeks, Jesus said this would happen. Biblical fear factor 101. We are indeed “sheep in the midst of wolves.”
God Is With Us
Jeremiah was in the same boat. Prior to the text read today, he was beaten and publicly humiliated by being placed in the stocks for prophesying God’s warning of the coming exile to Babylon. He thus gave his lament to God on which he then later cursed the day on which he was born. Did he fear, love, and trust God above all things? Not then, but God included this text in the Bible for a reason. We get to see the very nature of God revealed in His response to an angry child of God and how He restored him.
He will restore us as well. We must not lose focus on what God tells us comes “after this life.” We read in Romans 6:23, “for the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” In our sinfulness, we sometimes fail to fear, love, and trust in God above all things. Holding fast to Jesus’ promise to us of the free gift of salvation, will change that.
Today, Jesus tells us to expect persecution, to be hated for the sake of His name. The good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection… and what that means for those who believe… is labeled as foolishness in the world. Christians can expect hostile pushback for it, just as Jeremiah did. This is the reason for Jesus’ direct message as this sin corrodes the human heart while the truth is denied… the root of unbelief.
Stand Fast
Some of you might know the story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
I have several books that he has written. He was a German Lutheran pastor who knew what it is like to face fear. From the start of the Nazis’ rise to power in 1933, he had the courage to stand up against Adolf Hitler.
Bonhoeffer believed that Christians have a responsibility not to retreat from the world but to act within it. During the war, he spoke out against the atrocities of the Holocaust and assisted the resistance movement inside Germany. Refusing to back down, Bonhoeffer was imprisoned in 1943 in Berlin. Unfortunately, he was hung just two weeks before the war ended.
He was quoted as saying, “Who stands fast? Only the man whose final standard is not his reason, his principles, his conscience, his freedom, or his virtue, but who is ready to sacrifice all this when he is called to obedient and responsible action in faith and in exclusive allegiance to God—the responsible man, who tries to make his whole life an answer to the question and call of God.”
This is what Jesus was preparing His disciples for. And they answered Jesus’ call. They literally devoted their life to God through obedient discipleship. Praise God for those servants of Christ then and now that fearlessly faced persecution to spread the good news.
Fear Love and Trust in Him
But remember that persecution will come in different ways. Jesus gives us reassurance once again through Matthew 10, “Fear not.” He says not to be fearful of those who throw sticks or stones. “Fear not”, for God is the one in control. He knows every single hair on our head, no matter how much or how little.
We need not fear what anyone says or does, because we are to fear God, the one who has the power over both our earthly body and eternal soul. We therefore can stand in awe, as Jeremiah proclaimed in the midst of his prayer, verse 11, “The Lord is with me as a dread warrior; therefore my persecutors will stumble; they will not overcome me.” Jeremiah was not alone.
Jeremiah did believe in God’s promise. Therefore, he was inspired to proclaim the words of God. This is the same power our Lord will work though you and me. As Jesus said, those “who acknowledge Him before men.”… Jeremiah opened his eyes to his sin and realized where his trust must dwell. In Jesus. Strengthened by this, he was ready to face the world, with the confidence that God was with him.
So, in retrospect, Jesus and Jeremiah were motivating speakers. Jesus especially as He called a spade a spade on what to expect as we go and make disciples of all nations. Jesus told His disciples, “what you hear whispered” they are to “proclaim on the housetops,” because “nothing is covered that will not be revealed or hidden that will not be known.”
Brothers and Sisters in Christ. We don’t have to fear loss of love and rejection because our love is secure in Christ. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can be sure of our salvation in Him. We have nothing to fear, because of the trust in God that we are never alone. Christ dwells in us. God is in control of our life, not because of anything we have done, but because of the redemption and promise of salvation won for us on the cross.
Because of this great sacrifice, we can stand on the rooftop and boldly shout this good news. And the motivational speech to all the world that Jesus is Lord, and God of all… without fear.
And may the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen