Have No Fear

Introduction:

What are some of the most common fears that people face?

I have a fear of heights and a fear of eyeballs.

Acrophobia is the term that is used to described the fear of heights and I have to say that I disagree a little with the Google machines definition of it.

Google defines acrophobia as the intense (check) and irrational fear of heights. My fear of heights can be intense but it is not at all irrational. I mean, the higher up you go the more intense my fear gets because the more it hurts to fall. I guess there is a height to which you just have a heart attack and die on the way down before you hit the ground, or a height to which you splat no matter what, but I don’t think that is an irrational fear.

Now, my fear of eyeballs might be. I looked up the term that is used to describe this. There are two terms, one is called ommetaphobia, the other is oculophobia. It says that it is an irrational fear that can interfere with daily life and social activities.

Again, I don’t think that my fear is irrational. However, I think they have something off here. Ommetaphobia is a fear of making eye contact or being looked at. I don’t really have this fear unless there is a reason that I should, like if I’m not properly dressed. However, the definition goes on to include the fear of looking at eyes or even thinking about eyes - which leads me to move on to the next topic....

You see......(see what I did there).......I don’t really like to look at people’s eyeballs, but I also cannot stand to have anyone near my eyes. I don’t think it’s irrational. I have trust issues. I don’t want you to stick your finger in my eye. That’s completely rational!

The point I want to make is that we all have fears and for most of us, we would say that our fears are completely rational. We have a reason to be afraid. If you are a Christian and you have just read what Matthew recorded that Jesus said in Matthew 10 about the persecution that the disciples of every generation should expect, you may have a fear of sharing the gospel.

This fear is called evangelophobia and that sounds like a made up word, but if Dr. Seuss can do it, so can we!

People are afraid of sharing their faith because of what might happen, and this morning, that might be you. Maybe you want to share your faith but you are worried about what may happen if you do.

Well, I want to encourage you this morning with Jesus next words in Matthew 10.

Matthew 10:26–33 ESV

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. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? 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.

Pray

1. God will expose the deeds of the wicked in His judgment (v.26)

Matthew 10:26 ESV

26 “So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.

We have this innate sense of justice towards others. It offends us when the bad guys get away and we love the classic plot where the bad guys get caught and get what’s coming to them.

Some of us feel a deep sense of retribution towards the wicked and sometimes we don’t feel that they have been punished enough.

Think about Adolf Hitler. Hitler wreaked havoc on Europe and ordered the murder and genocide of over 6 million Jews and many others. He ended his life in a bunker by committing suicide.

Most of us would look at that and say that he took the easy way out. We would want to see him tortured or starved to death in a concentration camp like he did to so many others.

However, we forget a few things.

God is the judge and not us. The moment that Hitler ended his life, his hell began. He went straight into the judgement of God and God’s judgment is never lacking.

Hitler did what he did because he was lost and probably under the influence of Satan. Lost people act lost because they are lost.

It should grieve us when a lost person dies without Christ.

Ezekiel 18:23 ESV

23 Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?

But can I share one more thing that we don’t like to think about? We tend to want more justice for the wicked than we do for our own sins.

How many of us would want God to give us the mercy we give towards others? Perhaps that is why God tells us that we ought to pray that God would forgive us the way that we have forgiven others.

God also promises that He will expose the wickedness of the wicked. They will not get away with anything.

Did you know that after WWII was over, many of the Nazi leaders escaped. We know of some who went to places like Argentina and a few who were captured and tried before the international courts in Nuremberg, Germany; but did you know that our government actually assimilated some of them into this country and gave them new identities because they wanted to use their knowledge and expertise to fight the cold war that was beginning with Russia?

That is not justice, but these people will get justice one day. Their deeds will be exposed and everything in secret will come out.

But the same is true of us. I can’t fully explain it to you, but Jesus says every idle word we speak will be exposed. Let that sink in the next time we think to gossip about someone.

But also, we can have no fear of this judgment because Christ has already been judged for our sins. He has already taken our punishment on the cross.

Jesus tells us to declare what He has revealed to us in private. Parables vs. Teaching

2. God has authority over life and death (v.28)

Matthew 10:28 ESV

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.

God tells us that we are not to fear those who can only hurt our bodies. This doesn’t mean we aren’t concerned about it. Nobody that doesn’t have a death wish would not be a little concerned, but Jesus tells us that we should not fear death.

Death is the final retirement for the believer from this life of heavy labor to the blissful peace of heaven.

God will give us peace when our work on earth is done, but Jesus says He alone has the authority to not only give and take life, but also to send the lost to hell or the saved to heaven.

God is the one we should fear above anyone else.

3. God values our lives (vv. 29-31)

Matthew 10:29–31 ESV

29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? 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.

We also need to understand that God values our lives.

Birds are so common that we value them little. I mean, when you go to the grocery store, chicken is usually one of the least expensive meats you can buy. That’s because chickens go from hatch to harvest in about 6 weeks!

But Jesus says that God cares about our lives. He values our lives so much that the death sentence was given in the old testament for anyone that killed another man. Even if it was an accident, the other person had to flee to a city of refuge until the death of the high priest.

This morning, how many of you know how many hairs you have on your head? Think about how many you find on your clothes after they have been washed. Them suckers can pierce armor and you will be finding them all day long. If you are a married man, you know how many times you’ve found your wife’s hair somewhere on your clothes and I bet she had no idea she lost it.

You may even be trying to figure out how she has any hair left at all.

Well, Jesus says that not only does God value your life, but He knows your hairs that fall to the ground when even you don’t know. God is intimately concerned with the affairs of our life.

We don’t need to worry about our lives because God has it in His hands. Nothing can happen to you that God does not first preordain and have a purpose for.

4. God will acknowledge us before the Father (vv.32-33)

Matthew 10:32–33 ESV

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.

Jesus promises us that if we will confess Him before man, He will confess us before His father in Heaven.

To confess God before man indicates a public confession of Christ. It is a practical impossibility to be a secret disciple of Jesus. Nicodemus started out that way, but in the end he boldly came with Joseph of Arimathea to request the body of Christ. You cannot remain a secret disciple.

We also see Jesus warning those who would deny him. Have you ever read this and wondered what would happen if in a moment of weakness you denied Jesus?

Well, the Greek tense here is of an ongoing action, not a momentary lapse in weakness. Remember that Peter denied Jesus three times in a moment of weakness, but Judas continuously denied the identity of Jesus.

Conclusion:

For most of us in this country, our fears are more out of the social implications confessing Jesus may have for us. We are afraid of people thinking we are weird.

Let me let you in on a secret. If you are weird before Jesus, you will probably still be weird after getting to know Jesus. Your weirdness might not have anything to do with Jesus, so don’t blame Him for your awkwardness.

On a more serious note, what difference does it make if people think you are strange?

The accolades of heaven’s courts are far greater than the greatest accomplishments and honors we could get for ourselves on this earth.

People will be grateful to you for acting strange to get the gospel to them to save their souls.