Text: Matthew 10:24-33 (Psalm 91)                                                              W 5^th Sunday after Pentecost

Fear Factor

            In the name of him through whom God’s gift of grace overflows, dear friends in Christ:  It was at the first of his four inaugural addresses that President Franklin Roosevelt made his famous statement, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”. Of course, he said it a bit differently. It was more like, “The only thing we have to feah-ah is feah-ah itself.”  But however he said it, the line was what we would call today a “great political sound bite”, one of those catchy little phrases that has a certain ring of truth to it and that’s very repeatable so that others could pick it up and use it to help spread the President’s message.  And to be fair, when FDR used it, there was some truth to it.  It was 1933, in the darkest days of the Great Depression, and what he meant was that the nation had the wherewithal to get itself out of the mess it was in, but that fear could paralyze the population in such a way as to prevent them from doing the very things that needed to be done to return to prosperity.  Ergo, “nothing to fear but fear”.

            But in an absolute sense, the statement was and remains really rather silly.   I mean there are a whole lot more things out there to fear than just “feah-ah” itself. Consider:  even as the President spoke, the imperial armies of Japan were overrunning China and setting the stage for a campaign of conquest that would become the Pacific Theater of the Second World War.  Meanwhile in Europe, the seeds of that biggest and bloodiest conflict in world history had already sprouted, and their tangled vines were beginning to stretch out and take the land into their deadly embrace.  And I think that most people would agree that WWII with all of its horrors was something worthy of being feared – and perhaps if the western leaders had spent more time doing that in the days that led up to it, it might have been possible to prevent it, or at least limit its scope and final death toll.

            So no, fear is not the only thing we have to fear – and I’m sure that all of us recognize that.  And the list of things we could fear continues to grow.  Today we have Weapons of Mass Destruction, Al Quaeda terrorists, global warming, HIV AIDS, school shootings, the general decay of our society’s moral values, ultra violent rays from the sun becoming increasingly worse due to the thinning O-zone layer, a staggering national debt, computer worms and viruses, the skyrocketing cost of medical care, a judicial system that seems to be hopelessly broken, and a social security system soon forecast to be bankrupt.  So many things we could be afraid of – and I’ve just scratched the surface.  Why, there’s one ad I’ve seen on TV in which a man looks into the camera and says very soberly, “I’ve been worried about my cat’s urinary tract health.”  And I think, “Gosh, that’s something I’ve never even thought of.  If I worked hard for ten years doing nothing but thinking of things to be worried about, I wouldn’t have come up with it.  Which only gets me to wondering what else is out there I should be worried about?”  And as if we didn’t have enough things to fear that just come on their own, now there’s a program on television called Fear Factor in which contestants compete with one another for prize money by subjecting themselves to various frightful situations created for them artificially.  In the stunts they are assigned, they confront their fear of heights, being trapped underwater, snakes, spiders, rats, and they have to do things like drink “milkshakes” composed of crawling fly larvae (maggots) that are run through a blender while they watch – or things even less appealing, if you can imagine that.

But we could bring this closer to home and ask:  What is it that you fear?  What worries rob your sleep or just give you that general feeling of uneasiness all the time?  It is death, pain, losing your health or means of income?  How about the loss of love – or never finding it to begin with? Or just being alone?  Are you always worrying about what your kids are up to or what will become of them?  Do you fear failure or making the wrong decisions?  Are you afraid that life is passing you by and that you’re not going to realize your hopes and dreams?  What are your own personal fear factors?

Last week when we met for worship, we heard in the Gospel reading how Jesus sent out his twelve disciples to spread the Good News of the Kingdom of God. Their mission was to prepare the towns and villages of Judea and Galilee for the coming of Jesus.  And in the passages between that reading we heard last week and the one we heard this morning, Jesus goes on to warn the twelve disciples about the dangers they will face as they go out to do the mission he’s assigned them.  Specifically he tells them that while at some places they will be welcomed and received with hospitality, at others they will face rejection and open hostility.  He goes on to tell them that in the spread of the Gospel they can expect to be arrested and to stand trial on criminal charges, that they will be betrayed by their own family members and friends, and that they will be hated by many and suffer violence at the hands of their adversaries.  To illustrate the situation they would soon face, he told them that he was sending them out as lambs among wolves.

And I’ve got to tell you, if you put a lamb in the middle of a pack of wolves, he’d have plenty to fear.  But in today’s reading, which is part of the same continuing discourse, Jesus tells his followers to expect all these things, take them in stride, and not to be afraid of any of them.

            And he then lists a few specifics.  “Let’s consider your reputation and the vicious things they will say about you”, he says.  It’s a good place to start, since none of us likes the prospect of being ridiculed for our faith, much less being smeared with lies and slander.  And the culture in which we live is especially opposed to “you narrow-minded, Bible quoting, prudish, intolerant, hateful, and superstitious Christians who are always trying to impose your backward moral values on the rest of us”.  Sound familiar?  Jesus says, “Look, they’ve called me Beelzebub” – actually, the Greek text says Beelzebul, a deliberately insulting term for the devil that means “the lord of the dung heap” – “But”, Jesus continues, “if they call me, your Lord and Master, that, what do you suppose they’ll say about you?” But contained in his statement is this thought:  and if they do, so what?  Calling the Son of God the devil doesn’t make it true; it only reveals how blind and wrong-headed the world we live in really is.  And when you are insulted for bearing the name of Christ, it only shows that enough of his likeness shines through for the world recognizes you as one of his disciples.  That’s a good thing.

            And how about all the plotting and scheming your enemies will do against you?  Jesus says everything concealed will be disclosed, and all that is hidden will be revealed.  God knows what they’re up to – they can’t hide their plans from him.  And you can be sure that whatever they’re up to that might interfere with the Lord’s plans for you will be made known so that you can step safely away from the snares they lay.  Furthermore, the clear implication is that in his perfect timing, the Lord will visit his justice on those who mean to harm you.

            Well, how about death, then?  What if someone kills me?  Jesus says, “Yes, well how about it?  The worse they can possibly do is to destroy your body.  They cannot kill your soul.”  We who confess the name of Christ and trust in him have already been given life eternal and a guaranteed place in the resurrection of the righteous.  The fact is that if they destroy your body, they can only do it temporarily – and that to a body that had to die anyway. Meanwhile your soul lives on and is received into glory, and will one day receive a body that cannot be destroyed.

            But what about the deprivations I might have to face that are short of death?  Even if they don’t kill me, they can make my life pretty miserable.  In fact, many of us probably fear death less than we do living under the cross.  Jesus responds, “The Lord watches over and keeps even the next to worthless sparrows – and he is so concerned about you that he keeps track of the number of the hairs on your head.”  The Lord cares about you and what happens to you that much.  Since this is true, and we believe that it is, how can we possibly imagine that he would allow anything to happen that could bring us to ultimate harm? 

            No, none of these things, nor anything else in all of creation, I might add, not demons or devils or witches … not all the dark powers of hell combined, are worthy of our fear.  Rather, Jesus tells us, the only thing we have to fear is the One who is beyond all creation; the One who can, according to Jesus, “destroy your body and soul in hell.”  He is the only One you ever need fear.

            And this fear is not a bad thing at all.  Exactly the opposite is true.   The Holy Scriptures tell us that, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of all wisdom.”  And unfortunately, I’ve heard a lot of well intentioned Christian preachers telling their people that the fear mentioned here doesn’t really mean the “quaking in terror” sort of fear; but more of a holy respect and admiration. That certainly flies in the face of what Jesus says.  He says be afraid of the One who can send you to hell.  And friends, if the prospect of spending eternity in hopeless suffering doesn’t frighten you, I don’t know what else will.  The biggest problem with the world we live in, and why we face so much opposition as Christians, is precisely because its population does not tremble before the God who will one day consign them to the everlasting flames.

            We need to be very afraid of the Lord – but again, that’s only the beginning of wisdom. It’s what gets us headed in the right direction.  But the fear of the Lord is not wisdom itself.   No, rather someone who has a healthy fear of God’s wrath and righteous judgment against sin will naturally look for a way – any way – to avoid it.  And if he tries with all of his might to make up for his guilt and somehow earn his way back into God’s favor, he will rightly fear that all of his efforts have fallen far short of the mark.  A true and godly fear of the Lord should push a person past the brink of despair in himself.  And that’s a good thing, because at that point a person is ready to appreciate and receive unto himself the gift that God gives to terrified sinners:  the Lord Jesus Christ, the perfect sacrifice of atonement, who took the wrath and fearful judgments of God upon himself precisely to spare us from them.  That’s the wisdom from God that saves us:  Christ crucified for our sin and raised to life for our justification.  He did this for no other reason than because of his super abounding love for us.  And because he did, we who first fear, love, and most importantly trust in God through our Lord Jesus Christ have nothing else ever to fear.

This same truth is reflected in this morning’s Psalm where it states, “You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the deadly pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday.”  Why not? Because, “If you make the Most High your dwelling—even the Lord who is my refuge—then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent.”  Understand that those who dwell in the Most High are those who properly feared him and fled for refuge to him in the Lord Jesus.  They are now past being harmed in any permanent way.  Now that’s not to say that there won’t be difficulties and challenges to face.  The Psalm goes on to speak of how those who trust in the Gospel will trample the great lion and the serpent – which are figurative ways to refer to Satan.  And that necessarily means that he will be there causing you trouble.  And if you step on a snake, you’re probably going to be bit.  And even a dead snake is dangerous – its venom is still there. But just like your Master who was bit when he crushed the serpent’s head, you too will rise again.  So, if in his wisdom, the Lord uses the plague, or the arrow, or the devil himself, or whatever else to destroy this body, it’s only the method by which he has chosen to bring you to himself in glory – no real harm done.

We have nothing to fear but God – and through the Lord Jesus Christ, even that fear is taken away.  Friends, just think about what that means:  how all of the time and effort we expend in needless anxiety and worry is just that:  so utterly and completely needless.  Just think what might be accomplished for the Kingdom of God if we could take this truth to heart and not allow all these unfounded fears we have to paralyze us.

May God then grant us his grace to trust firmly in this promise:  “He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, and will deliver and honor him.  With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation. In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria!