Faith in a Fearful World
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Introduction
Introduction
We live in scary times. We see scary images and stories on our TV screens, computers, and phones 24/7. In the past two decades we have had new words added to our daily vocabulary like Terrorism, war on terror, pandemic, and more. While fear is not a new thing in the late 1920s it was stock market crash, in the 1930s Depression, bankruptcy, Nazism, fascism. In the 1940s it was War, Holocaust, atomic bomb. In the 1950-1980s we had Communism, Cold War, MAD (Mutual Assured Destruction), duck and cover, nuclear war. The 1990s brought fear of Y2K, scandals, globalism, acid rain, global warning, and the ozone. Fear, it has always been around from newspapers, radio, TV, and now the internet. Yet, in the midst of all this fear and scary times, one thing remains steadfast…Faith in God.
FEAR/Worry
FEAR/Worry
Have you been fearful in the past year and a half? Times of worry? Will I get COVID? Will someone I love get COVID? Should I get the vaccine? Will I lose my job? What if I can’t retire? What about the kids in school? This world has much to be concerned about. There is so much unknown. If I were to ask you what you fear or what worries you right now you would be able to list out a few things.
The Bible tells us when Fear entered the world. It happened at the same time sin entered the world. Sin is anything we think, say, or do that God has told us not to do. God gave one command in the beginning to the first humans, Adam and Eve. They were commanded not eat fruit from one tree, but they were tempted to eat of it and fell into that temptation and sin entered the world and so did fear.
Genesis 3:8–10 (NKJV)
And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”
So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was AFRAID because I was naked; and I hid myself.”
Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—
Note: Temptation is not sin.
Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.
If we chose to give into the temptation that is when it is sin.
Yet, when sin entered the world so did fear. Adam and Eve feared (were afraid of) God and hid themselves from Him.
Now fear and worry was in the world.
Throughout the Bible there are countless examples of people being afraid / fearful from the people of Israel under Moses, Joshua and people like Gideon during the time of the Judges. To King Saul when Goliath when threatening the land. Throughout the New Testament we see many moments in the Gospels with the disciples being afraid at various times.
Yet, in many of these situations there is a statement to Fear not or don’t worry, because God’s Got this!
FEAR NOT/Worry Not
FEAR NOT/Worry Not
We worry about so much, but Jesus Christ, who is God in the flesh told us not to worry. In His sermon on the mount we read these words.
“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
“So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Does that mean we should not be good stewards of what we are given? No, we should wise and plan, but not be so concerned to the point of getting ill. God’s got this. Be good stewards of what God has entrusted to you and maybe you will be the one being used by God to bless someone else you needs clothing or food to eat.
We live in a fearful and worrisome world, be the person who concerned about the here and now, because we have no guarantee of tomorrow.
In the Gospel of Mark we are given an account of the disciples out on the Sea of Galilee with Jesus asleep on the boat and a storm comes up.
On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side.” Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”
Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!”
A storm arose on the sea or lake. After being in Israel and seeing the lake and the size of the boats they sailed in I cannot imagine the fear, but Jesus was in the boat with them. The God of the universe was in the boat with them. Is Jesus in your boat today? Is Jesus Christ in your life today?
In his final letter, the Apostle Paul writes to Timothy (who appears had an issue with worry) these words:
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
The spirit of fear is not from God.
The Psalmists wrote about the safety and security in God.
God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear,
Even though the earth be removed,
And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
Though its waters roar and be troubled,
Though the mountains shake with its swelling.
Selah
Safety of Abiding in the Presence of God
He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God, in Him I will trust.”
Do you have that assurance in your life? Do you have refuge in God?
CHRIST IS THE ANSWER
CHRIST IS THE ANSWER
This world has not been easy and I cannot guarantee smooth sailing (in fact it will most likely get worse), but in the midst of all the craziness I can be firm and secure in Jesus Christ.
This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast
This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil,
You see when fear entered the world and sin entered the world at the beginning that was only part of the problem. Sin has consequences and not just having fear, but being separated from God for eternity.
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I have sinned, you have sinned. Every person has sinned, except One, Jesus Christ.
Because of my sin and because of my sin the payment is death (not just physical death, which we will all face, but eternal death. Eternal separation from the God who loves you.
God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
God proved His love for each and everyone of us not just with words, but with actions.
Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.
But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
CALL TO ACTION/CONCLUSION
CALL TO ACTION/CONCLUSION
Friend, I don’t know all your stories or what you might be facing today, but whatever you are facing don’t face it alone without Jesus Christ.
None of us are guaranteed tomorrow. We are not even guaranteed the rest of today.
James 4:13-15
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.”
Come to Jesus Christ to save you from your sins and to give hope for today and tomorrow (if He give each of us another day). Every day is a gift from Him.
Plan of Salvation
Prayer