Psalm 147:1-11

I John 4:13-19

BE NOT AFRAID

Everybody is afraid of something.

Everyone has fears - of one kind or another.

My daughter Maria is afraid of spiders.

My next-door neighbor growing up, who is now an eminent pediatrician, was deathly – and I mean deathly - afraid of the little green lizards we have here in south Alabama.

When I was young, I was afraid of heights – that fear was cured by working construction – high above the ground. I tried not to pass on my early fear of heights to my son. When he was about 2½ years old, he went with me and a friend of mine to Crawford Park, just around the corner from our home. While my friend and I played tennis, my son played in the large sandbox just outside the tennis courts. I would visually check on him between points in the tennis match. In the sandbox were a variety of stationary items upon which kids could play, including some small slides, about three feet high. Outside the sandbox were two larger slides for bigger kids, one about 12 feet tall and another easily twice that size or more.

My friend and I became involved in a very long point and I was on the side of the court with my back toward my son. When the point was finally over, I turned to check on him and he was at the top of the largest slide. There was a bar set overhead at the top of this slide so the larger kids could generate more momentum as they slid down the slide. My son was hanging from that bar with his feet about 24 inches above the sloping slide.

I tried to contain my sudden burst of fear for him, so as not to make him more afraid than he might already be. I began to more swiftly toward him – and called out “Are you OK?” His response was “Nope!” “Do you need some help?” I asked. “Yep!” he replied. I climbed as quickly as I could to the top of the slide and gathered him into my arms. I asked him if he wanted to go down the slide with me. “Yep,” he replied, and down we went. At the bottom, I asked him if he wanted to go down the slide again, “Yep!” “Do you want me to go with you,” I inquired. He simply but firmly said, “Nope!” And up and down he went for the better part of the tennis match.

I accomplished what I set out to do. My son has never had any fear of heights. But sometimes our best made plans have unexpected consequences.

Now my son is a rock climber – scaling heights which I suspect would rekindle my fear of heights all over again if I was to try that – and his love of rock climbing has caused me more than a little fear for his well-being.

There are more phobias or fears than you and I even know exist. We human beings can be afraid of almost anything – and sometimes it seems of things no one should be afraid – unless of course it happens to be our particular phobia.

We all have some fears – what are your fears – of what are you afraid?

Throughout the Bible, God speaks to us about that which causes us to be afraid. From Genesis to Revelation the words of God echo – “Be not afraid!” “Do not be afraid,” God says, “I know the circumstances of your life – I love you - and nothing can snatch your out of my hands.”

Hurricanes have grabbed our attention over the last few years – and for some of us – for much longer than that. Fear, like all of our emotions, is neither good nor bad – it just is. Some fears are tied directly to the reality of the threat that causes the fear to well up within us. Sometimes fear causes us to take actions that are in our best interests. But fear can also be debilitating and incapacitating.

Some years back there was another hurricane that hit the Gulf Coast – its name was Frederick.

We were living in our home over on Texas Street, just around the corner from Crawford Park. My son Graham was six months old, my daughter Maria was 3½ years old. I gathered my wife Carol, our children and Paz the wonder dog into the central hallway of our home, where we were had no exterior walls. I had purchased this house because even though it was old, having been built during the 1890’s, it had been well built.

It was built upon brick piers about 3½ feet above the ground. The house was one story, but it had the typical 12 foot ceilings of its age and if you stood on the ceiling joists in the attic, the peak of the roof was about 20 feet above. This high peaked roof acted like a sail in the storm.

As the wind began to increase out of the Northwest, the house began to shudder and move – slightly at first, but as the wind increased, it began to move and the house began to shake. Just before the storm, I had discovered that the house was not as well built as I had first understood. There was something wrong with eh mortar between the bricks of the piers. You could gently with your finger scrape out all of the mortar, which had turned to powder.

In the height of the storm, as the house moved under the influence of the wind, the chimneys began to fall, one by one. I began to fear that the power of the wind could blow the house off of the piers, and I was afraid that when it struck the ground, it could collapse on top of us and we would be killed. As the wind roared around us and the house moved more and more, I began to berate myself for getting us into the house to begin with and for not leaving and riding out the storm elsewhere.

Then above the sound, I heard a voice. No one else heard this voice – not even Paz our dog with his keen sense of hearing. The voice asked, “Who is in charge here?” And before I could even muster a response, that voice, or perhaps even another voice said “Not you!!”

I will tell you now, that was the very best thing I could have heard that night. It was the absolute truth, I was not in charge of anything – and the voice, merely by asking the question, helped me to understand that God was in charge – and that was good news. I did not interpret this to mean that everything was going to be OK. I did not assume that the house would not be blown off its foundations – or that we would not be killed. What I knew that moment, in my heart of hearts, was that God was in charge come what may – and that was and is all I ever need to know.

That is the point God is trying to make with us over and over again in Scripture. Do not be afraid – I am God –

you are not God –

no one else is God –

nothing else in all creation is God.

I am the Lord your God – and I have sovereignty over your life and over this world –  I love you – I hold you in the hollow of my hand – and nothing and no one can ever snatch you out of my hand – not even the power of death. Therefore – Do not be afraid!

Let’s take a look at the Book of Revelation – FIRST let me give you an important key to understanding this book that seems so confusing. In any Book where Jesus speaks, the first words on Jesus’ lips are extremely important - if you really want to understand that Book of the Bible. It is surely true in the Gospel according to Luke. In the 4^th Chapter, Jesus comes into the Synagogue in Nazareth and picks up the scroll and reads to the people from the Book of Isaiah the Prophet – Chapter 61 – “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me ....”

This text from Isaiah is the outline for Luke’s account of the Good News of Jesus Christ. It informs us what Jesus is going to do and how he does it. The Book of the Acts of the Apostles, also written by Luke is also predicated upon this text from Isaiah – “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me ...” – Read through Acts – and if you have eyes to see and ears to hear, - you might come to the same conclusion that many scholars have – the name of the Book really should be “The Acts of the Holy Spirit.”

You know as well as I do that the Book of Revelation has been used by many people to frighten folks. That is blasphemy! Why do I say this, because of Jesus’ first and last words in the Book of Revelation.

Read:

Chapter 1:12-18, Christ’s first words to a terrified John – “Do not be afraid.”

Chapter 21:3-5a – Christ’s last words – also resonate with the divine refrain – Be not afraid – I make all things new”

These are bookends around the entire Book of Revelation.

Do not be afraid – It is God’s word to Abraham, to Moses – to Joseph’s brothers who are afraid that they will finally be repaid in kind for all they did to hurt their brother Joseph.

It is God’s word the people and the prophets – to a frightened Mary, the Mother of Jesus – to frightened disciples – and in revelation to churches being persecuted by Rome.

Do Not Be Afraid – it is God’s consistent word to all of God’s children in all times – and in all places – and in all circumstances AND it is God’s word to us.

Well, if that is true – and I believe it is true – and I believe that God can be trusted – What in the world is all this stuff about the FEAR of the Lord? You heard it in our reading from the Psalm this morning – you remember what Proverbs has to say, “The FEAR of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”

If God’s word throughout all of the history of God with God’s people is “Do not be afraid” - then what in the world does the Fear of the Lord mean?

Is the fear of the Lord meant to replace all other fears? Is God, in the words of the title to a recent film – “The Sum of All Fears”? Is God to be the One feared more than any other person or thing that might cause us to fear?

We have had many explanations over the years – that fear really means AWE – so that literal fear is not what is spoken of in these Biblical texts, but rather incredible respect and awe. As far as it goes, I suppose that it is OK – but the problem is that it does not go nearly far enough in helping us to really understand what the fear of the Lord might be.

The very best understanding that I have ever heard comes from a man by the name of John Cassian. Cassian lived in the late fourth century – he was a contemporary of Augustine – and somewhere around 390 – 400 AD he spent several years in the deserts of Egypt among what were known as the Desert Fathers and Mothers.

These holy folk had gone into the desert to devote themselves more fully to their relationship with God. They sought, if even for a short time, to leave the hustle and bustle of daily life with others – and retreat into the desert for the solitude and the opportunity for drawing closer to God.

There among these committed Christians, John Cassian learned spiritual disciplines and ways to be more available to God.

There are two things that He learned that I would like to share with you this morning. The first is a very brief prayer that was used by these holy people that Cassian offered to the people of his day – and to us. It comes from various places in the Psalms – and I suggest that you write it down for your own use:

“O God make speed to save me,

O Lord make haste to help me.”

When there are things that tempt us to do things we know in our heart of hearts that God would prefer we not do – or when there are things that we know God would want us to do, yet those things are very difficult – this is a wonderful prayer to pray over and over again until our will is bent to God’s will. If there are ever things that make you afraid, pray this prayer and let God take your fear away with the power of God’s promise that nothing can snatch you out of God’s hands.

Cassian also learned something about the Fear of the Lord from those in the desert. They told him of the Ladder to Perfection – the Ladder to a perfect relationship with God.

They acknowledged that the first rung of the ladder had to do with a fear that God who was so great could do great harm to mere mortals like us. This understanding of the Fear of the Lord perhaps is like that referred to in Proverbs – the beginning of wisdom - but not to be confused with complete wisdom. It is something like learning that 2 + 2 = 4 -- this is the beginning of understanding math – but it is a far cry from truly UNDERSTANDING math.

They told Cassian that the next rung on the ladder was an understanding that God would be displeased with them if they did not do the will of God – and in that displeasure might GET ‘EM. It is one rung up from some basic fear of the Lord, but a long way from the top of the ladder.

Cassian learned that the top rung of the ladder to perfection was this:

When a person was afraid that an action or a failure to act would cause hurt to the Lord whom that person so dearly loved. Do you see the movement, from ultimate concern about self - to ultimate concern about the other.

Do you also see the parallels in all of life? If, for example, the only reason that I am afraid to commit adultery was that I might be caught – and that I might suffer the consequences – and that would be bad for ME – then I am not much of a husband. If on the other hand, the fear has to do with the hurt I would cause my wife and the other people I love – that makes for a far better relationship.

Indeed, love, as we read in I John – casts out fear – and we no longer live out of fear – but out of love.

Again, Jesus commanded us not to fear God – but to love God with everything we had within us – as Jesus did – and to love our neighbors as we loved ourselves.

The perfect love of God casts out all our fears – listen to the Gospel according to Paul from the 8^th Chapter of Romans:

“For I am absolutely convinced …

As we love this God who loves us with all of God’s being – then our only fear - is the fear of causing hurt to this all loving - all gracious - God - who loves us so perfectly.

The admonition of the God over and over again is BE NOT AFRAID. That is God’s word to you and to me.

In light of that word from God – there are two questions for us this morning:

How does what we do – or fail to do – affect the heart of God – how do our actions or inactions cause God’s heart to fill with pain?

AND the second is like unto it –

How does what we choose to do – or choose not to do – cause the heart of God to fill with joy?

Hear God’s word to you and me today and every day – BE NOT AFRAID!

Hear – and believe God’s word – AND THEREFORE

Go forth from this place and do those things that bring joy to the heart of God. Amen

Hear This Sermon