Conquering Fear – 2

Conquering Fear – 2

Subject – Biblical Reasons Not to be Afraid

By Rick Welborne

Isaiah 43:1-5 (NLT2)
¹  But now, O Jacob, listen to the LORD who created you. O Israel, the one who formed you says, “Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine.
²  When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you.
³  For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I gave Egypt as a ransom for your freedom; I gave Ethiopia and Seba in your place.
⁴  Others were given in exchange for you. I traded their lives for yours because you are precious to me. You are honored, and I love you.
⁵  “Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will gather you and your children from east and west. 

Last week we looked at this:

Ortberg - I believe the reason God says “fear not” so often is that fear will sink us faster than anything else.  Fear disrupts faith and becomes the biggest obstacle to trusting and obeying God.

1. What to Do When Fear Knocks.

–So many things make us afraid or cause us anxiety.

–Maybe they are talking about layoffs at work, slowdowns in the economy, flare-ups in the Middle East with terrorism, downturns in the housing market, upswing in global warming.

–Maybe fear of a dictator in Iran getting nuclear weapons or fear of a Pandemic has shaken you to your foundation. The war in Israel.

–We fear being sued, finishing last, going broke, we fear the mole on our back, the new kid in the neighborhood, we fear being alone...we fear death.

–We have a sophisticated financial plan, get elaborate security systems, and we can even wear a button around our necks to cry for help yet we depend more on drugs than any other generation in history.

Max Lucado: Fear, it seems, has taken a hundred-year lease on the building next door and set up shop.  Oversize and rude, fear is unwilling to share the heart with happiness. Happiness complies.  Do you ever see the two together? Can one be happy and afraid at the same time? Clear thinking and afraid? No. Fear is the big bully in the high school hallway: brash, loud, and unproductive.

–For all the noise that fear makes and all the room it takes, fear does little good.

Lucado: Fear never wrote a symphony or poem, negotiated a peace treaty, or cured a disease. Fear never pulled a family out of poverty or a country out of bigotry. Fear never saved a marriage or a business. Courage did that.  Faith did that. People who refused to consult or cower to their timidity did that. But fear itself? Fear herds us into prison and slams the door. 

–Wouldn’t it be great to be able to walk out of the prison that fear makes? Wouldn’t it be great that when fear knocks we refuse to answer the door?

–Imagine your life wholly untouched by fear and anxiety. What if faith, not fear, was your default reactions to threats? Imagine a day absent of the dread of failure, rejection, calamity, and insecurity. 

2. Why Be Afraid. 

Matthew 8:23‑27 (NKJV) 23 Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him. 

24 And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep. 

25 Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, "Lord, save us! We are perishing!" 

26 But He said to them, "Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?" Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. 

27 So the men marveled, saying, "Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?" 

–Jesus asked...Why are you fearful...why are you so afraid? Is He serious...He must be kidding. Teasing obviously. Like one swimmer asking the other one - why are you wet?

–Jesus is not kidding...He is sincere...why are you so afraid? He has forgotten a small detail...And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. 

–Matthew remembers well following Jesus onto the boat and then a great storm hitting so quickly and massive waves coming over the boat.

–The word Matthew uses bypasses your typical words for a storm...a shower, squall, cloudburst, or downpour ...none of these fit this storm.

–The word he used was Seismos - a quake, a trembling eruption of sea and sky. A great Seismos arose on the sea and they were in the middle of it.

–We still use the term today...seismologist study earthquakes, seismograph measures them and Matthew and the crew felt shaken to the core by a wet and wild earthquake.

–Only two other occasions was this word used...Once at Jesus death when Calvary shook and again at Jesus resurrection when the graveyard trembled.

–This occasion was comparatively part of a trilogy of Jesus earth shaking events where he defeats sin on the cross, death at the tomb, and here He silences the sea. Amazing.

–The storm comes suddenly, no preparation time...sudden fear catching you off guard. When you get a board with Jesus that you can get wet and afraid. We can expect rough seas and strong resistant winds.

John 16:33 (NKJV) 33 These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." 

–Believers in Christ are not set apart by a lack of storms...they are set apart by Whom they find in the storm with them. He was sleeping. His sleeping was premeditated...He knew the storm was coming. 

3. Does God Care When We Are Fearful. 

Mark 4:38 (NKJV) 

38 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?" 

–Interesting...they do not ask Jesus about His strength...Can you still the storm? Or His knowledge - Are you aware of the storm? Or His know how - Do you have any experience with storms?

–They raise doubt about Jesus’ character...Do you not care? Fear does this!

–Fear corrodes our confidence in God’s goodness...if God can keep His eyes shut when mine are wide open and He can sleep when I think I am going under...Does He really care? Fear unleashes doubts.

–Fear, at its center, is a perceived loss of control. In the storm we start grabbing for something to hang on to. The more insecure we feel, the meaner we become. We do not like being out of control.

–When Pastor Martin Niemoller was asked about meeting Adolf Hilter and what he had learned, he responded:

Niemoller:  I discovered Herr Hitler is a terribly frightened man.

–Fear releases the tyrant within...frightened and insecure people become mean. The disciples had every reason to believe and know that Jesus cared and was good.

Lucado - Fear creates a form of spiritual amnesia. It dulls our miracle memory. It makes us forget what Jesus has done and how good God is. 

–When fear shapes our lives, safety becomes our god. We take no risk.

–The fear filled person cannot love deeply. Love is risky. They cannot give to the poor because they fear benevolence has no guarantee of return. The fear filled person cannot dream big dreams.

–Out of 125 Christ issued imperatives...21 of them tell us not to be afraid...it is His number one statement...2nd was love God and neighbors.

Matthew 10:31 (NKJV) 31Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. 

Matthew 6:25 (NKJV) 

25 "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? 

Matthew 14:27 (NKJV)                                                                                                                                        27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, "Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid." 

Matthew 10:28 (NKJV) 28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. 

John 14:1‑3 (NKJV) 1 "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 

2 In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 

3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. 

John 14:27 (NKJV) 

27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. 

2 Tim. 1:6‑7 (NKJV) 7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.