Fear

Rev Dr Mark Porizky

8/10/08

Matthew 14:23 - 33

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’  And they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’  He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’  Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah,^* the Son of the living God.’  And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven.  And I tell you, you are Peter,^* and on this rock^* I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.  I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.’   Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was^* the Messiah.^*

      In the story of creation found in the Book of Genesis, we read where Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, something which had been specifically denied them. Knowing that God is searching for them, they attempt to hide. It is a scene perhaps reminiscent of many of our childhoods when we had done something that we were not supposed to and we literally hid from our searching parents.

      Finally God finds them, as we know that God will, for, after all, where can we go to hide from God? God asks them why they are hiding. Let me remind you again of the response that Adam gave:   "Because, I was afraid."

      I think the story known as “the Fall” reminds us that Fear is so basic to who we are as humans, it goes all the way back to the beginning of time. To be human is to experience Fear.

      There seems to be no limit to our Fears. In a Peanuts cartoon strip Charlie Brown goes to Lucy for a nickels worth of psychiatric help. She proceeds to pinpoint his particular Fear. Perhaps, she says, you have hypengyophobia, which is the Fear of responsibility. Charlie Brown says no. Well, perhaps you have ailurophobia, which is the Fear of cats. No. Well, maybe you have climacophobia, which is the Fear of staircases. No. Exasperated, Lucy says well, maybe you have pantophobia, which is the Fear of everything. Yes, says Charles, that’s it!
 

      Every person, every Christian, must fight their own Fears. Even Paul, the sturdy Christian warrior, had to do so. Early in his ministry, the Apostle Paul had fallen flat on his face in Athens . He did exactly what he intended not to do, and in his own eyes he had failed. In Paul’s second letter to the church in Corinth he writes: "For even when we came into Macedonia , our bodies had no rest, but we were afflicted in every way—disputes without and fears within." Fears within.  Paul was full of Fears, just like you and me.

      But perhaps the most surprising Fear of many people, and one that we do not like to address is the Fear of God. It is the Fear that God is not really on our side. It is the Fear that God will put us out on a limb and leave us. It is the Fear that in the midst of the storm WE will be overcome.

      It is not a new idea. One of the great Fears of the ancient people was that God would fall asleep.  When the prophets of Baal could not get their Gods to rain down fire on the top of Mt. Carmel , Elijah taunted them: Maybe your God is asleep, he said. On the other hand, the Jews took great comfort in the fact that the God of Israel neither slumbered nor slept.

      Over and over again the message of the Bible is “Fear not.”  When the Jews stood at the Red Sea and could see Pharaoh's chariots coming on the horizon, they cried out that they would all be slaughtered. Moses said to them: Stand still, Fear not, and see the salvation of the Lord.

      When the angel of the Lord came to Mary and said that she would bear a child, she trembled with Fear. What would become of her? Said the angel: Fear not Mary, for you have found favor with God.

      So what can I tell you about fear?

            
      First, I would say to you that we must confront our Fears. We pay a price when we don't deal with our Fears. I was raised at the end of a generation that had to live for years with the ultimate Fear: Thermonuclear war. People lived in Fear that there would be a war with Russia . As a child I distinctly remember believing that the world might come to an end. Over 500,000 bomb shelters were built during a three-year period in America .  I even have vague memories of climbing under my desk until somebody must have realized that being under a desk wasn’t exactly going to help.

      What is the result of raising an entire generation of children in Fear? I'll tell you. I am at the end of the generation that started the drug and sexual revolution. And I know that it is a complex issue, but I truly believe that many people took the attitude: Well, what difference does it make we are all going to die anyway?

       Even today fear is out of place with reality.  As a young child I rode my bike everywhere, calling my mom from wherever I was at lunchtime.  One of the reasons we don’t live like that anymore is that we fear people abducting our children, because of a few very media over-exposed instances of exactly that.  And murders too!  The reality is that, today, America is a much safer place than the 1970’s, statistically at least.  Tell that to our fears

      And look at what wins elections—creating fear about the other candidate.  I know more about why I should be afraid of McCain or Obama that I do about why I should vote for one of them.

      Let’s put fear in the context of Scripture now from today’s scripture.
         

      Simon Peter is out in the boat crossing the lake of Galilee after a long day with the crowds. Earlier that day he saw Jesus take a small amount of bread and fish and feed close to 15,000 people. Now he is stepping out of the boat into the storm trying to imitate his Master by walking on the water. Tempestuous Peter, tempting the storm. He's successful for a moment but the situation gets the best of him. Fear rises and his body sinks.

      Over and over again the message of the Bible is clear: Fear not, Fear not. Over seventy times this is mentioned in scriptures, more than any other human emotion.  So if you have your Fears, you are not alone, trust me. Paul, writing to the young disciple Timothy said, God has not given us a spirit of Fear, but of love, power and a sound mind.

      Once we have grasped this most basic understanding, then we can go about dealing with our Fears. That is the first step. Confronting our Fears. Seeing that they are there and putting in their place the Spirit of God who replaces them with a sound mind of love and power. We are not powerless in the midst of the storm. We have the Spirit at our side. I can hear God whispering in the Peter's ear: Quit letting your imagination magnify your Fears. The storm is furious but I am greater still.  

      So first we must confront our Fears, walk out of the boat to Jesus. And second, we must understand that too much doubt can sink us. Charles Kettering, the one time research head of General Motors, said when he wanted a problem solved, he'd place a table outside the meeting room with a sign: Leave slide rules here. If I didn't do that, I'd find someone reaching for his slide rule. Then he'd be on his feet saying, "Boss, you can't do it." I can see the other disciples in Fear of the storm that is torturing the boat, in Fear of the ghost walking on the water, exhausted from a long day feeding the masses.  Peter, you can't do that. We don't know who that is out on the water. It's a hallucination. It's the devil. God knows what it is but Peter you can't do that.

      But Peter does. I don't know for how long but Peter walks on the water toward Jesus. Peter said, “Lord if it is you, you can make me to walk on the water with you. Do you see that? Peter's walk on the lake is not the point. The point is he wants to confirm that this ghost on the water is Jesus. Jesus can make him walk; a ghost will only make him wet.

      Peter knows that the Lord can sustain us. Even in the midst of the storm, when there is nothing but uncertainty. He will take care of you. But I want you to know that faith is a risk taking enterprise. It does not come in a perfect package. I often find myself caught midway between faith and doubt. Peter gets caught between Jesus and the crests of the waves. He doubts his walk. He Fears the storm. And he falls beneath the waves.  

      But here's the good news. If we sink, if we take our gaze off of Jesus, if waves seem destined to engulf us we can call on our savior and his grace will pull us through.

      A great man of the 20^th century died this week.  Alexander Solzhenitsyn was the first author to alert the West to the horrible realities he experienced in Stalin's labor camps. Solzhenitsyn said that only once during his long imprisonment in a labor camp in the Soviet Union did he become so discouraged that he thought about suicide. He was outdoors, on a work detail, and he had reached a point where he no longer cared whether he lived or died. When he had a break, he sat down, and a stranger sat beside him, someone he had never seen before and would never see again. For no apparent reason, this stranger took a stick and drew a cross on the ground.

      Solzhenitsyn sat and stared at that cross for a long while. He later wrote, "Staring at that cross, I realized that therein lies freedom." At that point - in the midst of a storm - he received new courage and the will to live. The storm didn't end that day, but through Jesus, Solzhenitsyn found the strength to ride it out.

      I don't know what storm of life will come your way this week, or what storm you may be enduring at this very moment. But I know this: even as the storm rages around you, if you will listen very carefully with your heart, you will hear a gentle voice calling to you, "Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid." And in time the storm will pass. And Jesus will still be there.

      Finally, we must remember that regardless of what happens, God will be with us.  One Psalm says: When I am afraid I put my trust in you.

      Well, let me ask you. Where else are you going to go? If the Dow drops tomorrow to 7,000, God is still going to be the same. God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. If we go to war with Iran tomorrow God is going to be the same. God does not change. If you get a bad medical report where are you going to go? God is going to be the same. Nothing has truly changed.

      In his Pulitzer Prize winning book The Denial of Death, Ernest Becker says that so many of the Fears that we grapple with, the Fear of rejection, abandonment, failure, separation, loss, are but manifestations of the one ultimate Fear, and that is the Fear of death. Perhaps he is right. How do we overcome that ultimate Fear?  Faith. It is the only anecdote that will exercise the demons of Fear that can haunt us. I think it is telling that when Peter stepped out onto the lake, walked on the water, became terrified and started to sink, Jesus later asked him why he doubted. Why didn't his faith carry him across the water to Jesus' side? It was Fear. Fear crept in and doubt began to rise and Peter began to sink.

      It's the story of our life isn't it? In the boat we are safe but we on occasion are willing to brave the storm and walk on water and do the impossible through our faith. It is then we suddenly realize the wind is in our face and the storm is raging, it causes Fear and doubt creeps. Our faith is fragile isn't it?

      The story is told of old Bishop Warren, Chandler , after whom the school of theology at Emory University was named. As he lay on his deathbed, a friend inquired as to whether or not he was afraid. Please tell me frankly, he said, do you Fear crossing the river of death.

      Why no, replied Chandler , I belong to a father who owns the land on both sides of the river.

      In life, there are storms but God is with us. That is our great salvation and hope. I want you to know that God cares if you are immobilized by some Fear in your life. But there comes a time when, like everything else, you must place your Fear at the Foot of the cross and then lean back into the arms of an ever loving and gracious God. Then we too can echo the words of the old hymn: God will take care of you; he will take care of you.

      Will you pray with me now?

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