Sunday, October 31, 2010

Fear of What's Next

A few weeks ago we heard this famous quote from Benjamin Franklin: there are only two things certain in life, death and taxes, but that is not exactly true because there is one other certainty in life and that is change. No matter how much we may dislike it, the reality is that things change and the pace of change today is greater than at any other point in history. My mom sent me an email this week that contained the following pictures. She said she was amazed because these pictures were taken during her lifetime and she couldn’t believe how much things have changed, from cars to clothes to just the way we live – things have changed. Those pictures were taken 70 years ago, but you don’t have to go back that far to think about how much things have changed. When I was growing up we had 4 TV channels, now my cable has over 400 (and I still can’t find anything good to watch). I remember when we got our first microwave oven, I think I was in high school and it was half the size of our regular oven. The first thing I bought when I went to college was an electric typewriter and it is hard for me to believe that I didn’t even own a computer until my first year of seminary which was in 1990. And I don’t know if you heard the sad news this week, but they are no longer making the Sony walkman. For those of you under 25, a walkman (show picture) was like an ipod only it played AM and FM radio and cassette tapes, and again for those of you under 25, this is a cassette tape.


If there is one thing that is certain in life for all of us it is change, but for most us change is unsettling and change brings fear. There is change and fear that comes when we start school and then when we graduate. There is change and fear that comes with our first job, or when we start a new job, or when we lose a job. There is change and a little bit of fear when we get married and then more change and fear when the first child arrives. I remember when my sister was about 8 months pregnant I was visiting with her and my brother in law and I was thinking to myself how much their lives were going to change when the baby came. It suddenly dawned on me that everything in their life was going to have to change so I said to them, “do you realize that everything in your lives will change when the baby arrives?”

I wish I could describe the look of fear on their faces. They went a little pale, looked a little terrified and they said, Andy we have been thinking about nothing else for 8 months. Everything changes with that first child and then everything changes again when the second child comes – and then again with the third, and thing really change and fear really sets in when the second and third child come at the same time. Things change when children arrive and things change when those same children head off to school, and then things change when those children leave home and we experience that empty nest. Change comes when we retire; change comes when we lose someone we love. Change comes in so many different ways and in every season of our lives and with all this change comes fear. There is fear when we look to the future because the future is uncertain, we don’t always know what is coming next.

For all of us today, the future is uncertain, no matter how careful we have planned, none of us know what tomorrow brings and the same was true for the disciples. For three years the disciples traveled and ministered with Jesus and I’m sure they had been making plans about what their future was going to look like. Jesus had been talking about a kingdom and so the disciples were planning which positions of power and leadership they would have, but then Jesus starts talking about going away, he tells his disciples that things are going to change and this news brings anxiety and fear. What would the disciples do without Jesus? They had left everything to follow him, they had bought into his vision and dream about the kingdom of God coming in this world and they had seen it and experienced it for themselves and now Jesus is going to leave them? Where would they go? How would they survive? And most important of all, what where they supposed to do? This coming change and the uncertain it brings caused the disciples to be afraid which is why Jesus had to say to them, Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. Trust in God, trust also in me. What Jesus tells his disciples here is to Trust more and fear less. When the future is uncertain we need to trust more and fear less.

But how could they fear less when their future now was so unclear? How can we fear less when we don’t know what’s coming next? Jesus tells them and us today that the reason we can fear less is because while he is going to go away, while things do change and the future can be uncertain, Jesus will never leave us. John 14:18. So while Jesus was physically going to go away, he tells his disciples that he will not leave them alone. In fact Jesus goes on to say that God will come to be with them in a new way, John 14:25-27. So Jesus shows us that the reason we don’t need to fear the future and the change that the future brings is because we don’t face the future alone - the Holy Spirit will be with us.

Now the greek word used here for Holy Spirit is the word paraklete which comes from the 2 words: para which means alongside and kletos which means assigned or appointed. So God has appointed his spirit to come along side of us, but the spirit doesn’t dwell outside of us, it dwells within us, look at John 14:19-20. So Jesus is in the Father and we are in Jesus and Jesus is in us, which means that God is in us which in turn means that God is with us always. At all times and in all places God is with us, even when we are looking into an uncertain future God is with us, and if God is with us and if God loves us then we have nothing to fear. In Romans 8:31, if God is for us who can be against us. Now when we say that God is for it’s not like he cheers for us from the sidelines, he is with us to give us the strength and power we need to be victorious in all things, that’s what we see in the rest of Romans 8:32-39.

What we see here is that God doesn’t hold anything back from us. God gives us everything we need to be victorious and then God promises to fight the battle with us and sometimes for us. There is nothing that can separate us from the love of God and if the perfect love of God casts out fear then we know that in all things we can stand strong and fearless. So we overcome our fear of change and the fear of now knowing what is next is by trusting that God has come alongside of us and now dwells within us.

Can we hear that today? God is in us. God’s love and power are alive and at work within us so we can not only face all the uncertainties that the future holds, but we can face it all with confidence and courage. In Phil 4:13 it says I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. So as Jesus said, don’t let your hearts be troubled, do not be afraid, trust more and fear less.

Let’s take a moment to look a little deeper at how the Holy Spirit works in our lives to help us overcome our fear. John 14:26-27. Jesus says that one of the first things the Holy Spirit will do in our lives is teach us and remind us of everything that Jesus taught us. Through his teaching, the Holy Spirit helps guide us in the right direction. Just like the teaching of Jesus helps us see the way God wants us to live, so the Holy Spirit guides us into this way of life. But the spirit does more than teach and instruct, it also provides peace and the peace the spirit brings isn’t a peace that comes and goes, it’s not a peace that is conditional upon what is going on around us, it is a peace that passes our understanding because it sustains us no matter what is going. That’s why we can face the future with confidence and courage, because God gives us a lasting and sustaining peace.

But it’s not just knowledge and peace that the Holy Spirit brings, as we read through the book of Acts we see the Holy Spirit working in the followers of Jesus to do the work that Jesus did. By the power of the Holy Spirit Peter preached to thousands and helped them see the truth of God. By the power of the Holy Spirit Peter and John healed the sick and they stood up with faith and courage in the face of opposition and persecution. The Holy Spirit equipped the disciples to continue the work of Jesus by giving them gifts and then the courage to use those gifts. The Hoy Spirit challenged the disciples and called them to go to new places and do things they never thought possible and the truth is that the Holy Spirit does all of that in us today. The Holy Spirit continues the work of Jesus in us and through us as we allow it to.

When we surrender ourselves to God and ask God to come alongside of us, the power of the Holy Spirit enters our lives and teaches us all we need to know and then guides us in the way that leads to an abundant and eternal life. The Holy Spirit works to forgive us, and then the spirit challenge us to live a more faithful and obedient life following the real Jesus. We can’t be afraid of what comes next in life, we can’t be afraid of the new season we are in or the new calling of God that we hear. Change comes to all of us, new and uncertain paths in life open before all of us and we need to embrace these changes and the future with the strength and power and peace that God gives us through the Holy Spirit.

As we finish up this series on leading a fearless life we need to remember that it really does all come down to a matter of trust. Do we trust God to be with us? Do we trust God’s promise to never leave us? Do you trust that there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord? Do we trust God to have our best interest at heart, to love us unconditionally so we can face the future not just without fear but also with hope and courage and strength? It really does come down to trust – trusting God to come alongside of us with his power and love.

If you are facing an uncertain future today, if you are asking God with some fear and anxiety, what’s next? If God is calling you to a new step of faith, to a deeper level of trust in your job, your marriage, your family or the life and ministry of the church then hear these words of Jesus, I will not leave you orphaned, my father will give you another advocate to be with you forever. So peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled. Do not be afraid. If you are uncertain about what’s next in life, if we are facing a new season, a new beginning, a new calling, a new opportunity, a new adventure then simply trust more and fear less.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Fear of the Real Jesus

People were always trying to put Jesus into a box, not a physical box like this, but they were trying to define him, contain him, and maybe even control him. The disciples tried to keep Jesus in a box by trying to keep all the children away from him. The disciples saw Jesus as an important teacher and a powerful healer who had vital things to do and so he couldn’t be bothered with children. But Jesus said, no, let the children come to me. Jesus broke out of the box the disciples tried to keep him in and he made sure he spent time with children and with all the people who weren’t seen as being very important in the world.


Many of the religious leaders of his day tried to keep Jesus in box. They defined Jesus as a crazy, out of his mind heretic whose teachings were at best foolish and at worst from Satan himself. But when Jesus healed the sick, raised the dead, restored sight to the blind and drove out demons – Jesus destroyed their box. They could no longer contain him or define him as one who wasn’t from God when he was not only doing the work of God, but doing the work of God that no one else could do.

The crowds who followed Jesus also tried to put him in a box. They wanted Jesus to always be their hero and helper. They wanted a Jesus who would feed them when they were hungry, heal them when they were sick and lead them in a revolt against the oppressive Roman government. They wanted someone who would feed them and free them. They wanted someone who would restore the fortunes of Israel and give them all that they waned, but when Jesus told them they needed to turn the other cheek, forgive those who persecuted them, and deny themselves and take up a cross, once again, Jesus was out of the box.

His friends, his enemies, the crowds, everyone tried to put Jesus into a box and so do we. Maybe we want Jesus to be the good teacher who just gives us wisdom and knowledge that we can take it and apply it ourselves to our lives and our agendas and the purposes and plans for our lives. Or maybe we want Jesus to be the ancient miracle worker who did great things long ago that inspire us but who doesn’t do anything miraculous or out of the ordinary in our lives today. Or maybe we want Jesus to be that good luck charm that we take out when we are trouble and need help. We want Jesus to make all our problems go away but then we want Jesus himself to go away when things are going well. Or maybe we want Jesus to just be that great man of faith and history who we visit and worship on Sunday and we celebrate and recognize his great power but again we are happy when he stays right here, kind of like how we visit a lion in the zoo. Amazing to look at, awesome in power, but we want him to remain safe in his box and not walking around in our lives.

There are a lot of boxes in which we try to keep Jesus and we try to keep Jesus in a box because as long as he is in a box - we are safe. As long as Jesus is in a box we don’t have to deal with who he really is and what he really wants from us, but the problems is that there is simply no box that can hold Jesus and that’s what Peter James and John found out on the mountain top.

In the scripture reading we just heard, Jesus took his three closest friends, his top three disciples, Peter, James and John up to the top of a mountain and when they got there Jesus was instantly transformed into dazzling brightness and light. It’s not as if light fell on Jesus, it’s not like the spot light of heaven shone on him, it was like the light of the sun radiated out of him. Jesus’ very being was filled with the power and glory of God and then suddenly Jesus was not alone. Standing along side Jesus and his 3 friends were now Moses and Elijah, the two men who represented all the history and hope of Israel, the law and the prophets. And in the midst of all this light and power and glory Peter says, Jesus it’s good we are here, if you want I will be build a booth here for each of you. Hey Jesus, let’s put you in a box!

Now we aren’t exactly sure what Peter was thinking when he made this offer to build booths for Jesus, Moses and Elijah, but I think ther are 2 ways Peter was trying to put Jesus into a box. By offering to build booths for Jesus, Moses and Elijah we see that Peter wasn’t looking at Jesus as being greater than Moses or Elijah, they were all going to get their own booth. They were all on equal footing. For Peter, Jesus was simply one of the great men of Israel’s history and if that’s true then Peter is trying to define Jesus as just a great man of God. Maybe Peter is trying to keep Jesus in the box labeled prophet and teacher because that is all he can comprehend. As long as Jesus is like Moses and Elijah, as long as he is just a great man – Peter is somewhat safe.

Another way Peter may have been trying to contain Jesus is by memorialize this special moment and keeping Jesus forever in that glorious state where they could worship him but not have to follow him back into the real world. If Peter could institutionalize the power and glory of God on the top of the mountain then they wouldn’t have to leave the mountain top and return to the life Jesus was calling them to live. If they could stay on the mountain they could escape all the doubts and fears and questions they faced as they walked with Jesus. Haven’t we’ve all been tempted to do that at times, leave behind the difficulties of life and live on the mountain top with God. No matter what Peter was thinking, what he’s trying to do is to keep Jesus in a box, either a box labeled: Great Men of Israel’s history or a box were we can escape this world and live with Jesus. Whatever his box was labeled, God would not have it.

In response to Peter’s suggestion of putting Jesus into a box, look who speaks? It’s not Jesus, it’s not Moses and it’s not Elijah – it is God. It says that while Peter was still talking a bright cloud enveloped them, now a cloud on a mountaintop only means one thing – God is there and God is about to speak, and this is what God says, This is my son, whom I love;, with him I am well pleased. Listen to him! So in response to Peter’s thought that Jesus is just a great man of history like Moses or Elijah, God says, No, absolutely not. Jesus is not just a great man of history, he is not equal to Moses or Elijah, he is in fact my one and only son and I love him. God tells us that Jesus is like no one else. Even the transfiguration tells us Jesus is like no one else because what we see in Jesus on the mountain top is all the fullness of God dwelling in him, literally in that moment the glory of God radiated out of Jesus. Jesus can not be put into the box that simply says good teacher, ancient miracle worker or great man of history – the real Jesus is the one and only son of God. The real Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords; look at what we learn about the real Jesus from Colossians 1:15-20.

Jesus is the fullness of God; he is the image of the invisible God. Jesus created all things and in him all things are held together. In Jesus there is authority and power over everything - all dominions, all nations and yes even over the church. Jesus is the head of the church which means he gives us direction, he gives us marching orders – we belong to him not the other way around. Jesus is truly king of kings and lord of all which also means that he is the lord of you and me. Like Peter, James and John, when that message sinks in, when we really understand that Jesus is indeed Lord of our lives, it brings some fear. Notice where the friends of Jesus end up after God speaks; they are facedown on the ground. Did you notice that they don’t fear the glory of God they see in Jesus, the don’t fear standing in the presence of Moses and Elijah, they fear the word of God which tells them that Jesus is God’s only beloved son and Lord of all. They become afraid when God says loud and clear that Jesus is lord over them.

They become afraid when God says loud and clear, listen to Jesus. Now I don’t think what God means here is that we take the teaching of Jesus under advisement, I think what God means is that we listen to Jesus so we can obey. In my Bible after it says, Listen to Him, there is an exclamation point. When Peter, James or John relayed this story they must have emphasized that God was clear that we needed to listen to and act on the words of Jesus. This call to listen to Jesus filled them with fear – they fall face to the ground. When was the last time the word of God sent a chill up our spines because what we heard challenged the very foundation of our lives and the core of our being? So when was the last time the real Jesus, filled you with fear?

You know, before we can become fearless in the presence of the real Jesus, we might first need to feel a little bit fear. In his book Dangerous Wonder, Mike Yaconelli says, If Jesus is the son of god, we should be terrified of what he will do when he gets his hand on our lives; if the Bible is the Word of God, we should be quaking every time we read its soul-piercing words; if the church is the body of Christ, our culture should be threatened by our intimidating presence. But our culture is not threatened by our presence, it’s not terrified of the Jesus who is in our lives; and it’s not quaking at the word of God. And then he asks this question; Why? Why are we not afraid of the real Jesus?

Maybe the reason we are not terrified of Jesus and his soul-piercing word is because we have him safe and secure in a box. As long as Jesus is only the loving Messiah who forgives all my sin and holds my hand when I’m in trouble then I don’t have to deal with the difficult demands he makes on my life as the son of God. And as long as Jesus is only the ancient miracle worker Messiah who we worship on Sunday but then keep caged up through the rest of the week, we don’t have to allow the power and authority of Jesus to penetrate our lives and transform every one of our thoughts, words and actions. But the real Jesus is more than a loving Messiah and he is more than an ancient miracle worker, he is a king and Lord that still makes demanding statements that need to penetrate our lives and change us from the inside out.

Jesus said: Deny yourself, take up a cross and follow me. Anyone who wants to save his life will lose it, but if you lose your life for my sake – you will save it. In fact this is what Jesus said right before they went up on top of the mountain, so when God told Peter, James and John to listen to Jesus maybe what God meant for them to listen to and take seriously was this very call to self denial and sacrifice. The real Jesus calls us to deny ourselves. The real Jesus calls us to stop living for ourselves and what we want and start living for God. The real Jesus calls us to fight injustice and offer mercy and grace to those in need and even those who persecute us. The real Jesus tells us to feed the hungry not by giving what we can but by giving all we have. The real Jesus calls us to live a new life, not just a better life.

So what does it mean for us to deny ourselves? What will it look like for us to stop working for what we want and start working for what God wants? What will it mean for us stop taking care of ourselves and start meeting the physical and spiritual needs of others? What does it mean for us today to take up a cross and follow Jesus? What does this new life look like? I hope you are feeling a little bit afraid right now because when the real Jesus begins to show us how he wants us to live, that life he lays before us not safe – it is a little scary. The real Jesus and the demands he makes should cause us to be unsettled and afraid, but then this fear can’t cause us to run from God it needs to make us run straight to God and to ask God himself for more faith and trust and more strength and courage so that we can follow the real Jesus.

If the Jesus who walks with us in life doesn’t make us feel a little uncomfortable at times and if he doesn’t challenge us in every area of life, then we need to let Jesus out of the box and let his glory and the glory of God drive us to you knees in a holy and healthy fear. But then we need to let the same king of kings and lord of lord lift us up and give us the strength to follow him. That is what the real Jesus wants – he wants followers who are passionate and faithful and willing to give it all for him. May the real Jesus burst through the boxes of our hearts and lives so that we may experience the very fullness and power of life and faith.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Fear of Global Problems

The rescue of the miners in Chile this week was a nice news story to have because what we usually hear these days is not good news. We are fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and dealing with hostile dictators seeking nuclear weapons in North Korea and Iran. We have witnessed unbelievable devastation and the lose of life due to an earthquake in Haiti, flooding in Pakistan and ongoing famine in Africa, and we face deep political divisions creating contentious elections in our own country. Add to this our economic problems and the world is a scary place right now and one of the things we fear is that things might get worse. Well today I have some bad news for us all, it will get worse. It’s not that I’m a pessimist and it’s not that I don’t believe that God can overcome evil and bring about justice, mercy, love and peace because I do, I really do, but I also know that according to Jesus, things are going to get bad and so we need to be prepared. Now when I say we need to be prepared, I’m not talking about stock piling canned food in our basements. I had a friend who wanted to do that when we faced the Y2K scare 10 years ago. He wanted to have enough food for a couple of months in the basement but I told him that if I had the food and there was some kind of global crisis and people were hungry I’d have to give it all away, so it was easier to not stockpile the food and just trust God to work out all the details of the new millennium, and God did.


As we face potential and growing global problems and fears, the way to be prepared and face those fears is to do what? We fear less when we “trust more” and that was the message Jesus was trying to instill in his disciples. It was near the end of Jesus life, maybe even during the last week of his life when Jesus was teaching in the Temple in Jerusalem. Now the disciples had not spent a lot of time in the Temple and so as they walked around they were amazed at the sheer size of the stones. These stones were huge and they appeared as if they would never be able to be moved and this gave people a sense of security. They believe that no matter what came at them, the Temple would stand, and if the Temple stood, if those stones stood, the people would be safe but what Jesus says to the disciples and what he says to us today is that we can’t trust in the stones or the institutions or any of the things around us to give us strength because the things of this world will not last. The stones will not last, the institutions will not last, the political structures will not last and it won’t be long, Jesus says, until things get bad. Implicit in Jesus words here is the message don’t trust in the stones - trust in God. Don’t trust in the things of this world, don’t trust in the leaders and the institutions of this world, don’t trust in the science and logical reasoning of this world – trust in God and start trusting in God now because things are going to get bad, and Jesus talks about just how bad it is going to get. Matthew 24:5-14.

Jesus starts by telling his disciples that there is going to be a coming spiritual crisis. Many will come saying that they are the Messiah but they won’t be and they will lead people away from God and the truth. In 24:11 it says that many false prophets will come and lead people astray. There will be false teaching and false teachers who will come saying that they speak for God and they will say they are speaking in the name of Jesus and their words will sound good, but they will not be filled with the spirit of God and they will lead people away from God and fill their hearts and minds with lies and half truths.

But it is not just a spiritual crisis that is coming; there will also be political upheaval, look at Matthew 24:6-7a. All we can say here is that Jesus was right. There have been wars and rumors of war from that moment on. Civil wars, regional wars, world wars, terrorist attacks and wars against terrorism, just wars, unjust wars, holy wars, unholy wars – from the moment Jesus said this until today there have been wars and rumors of wars and every generation finds new issues to fight about and unfortunately new ways to fight and the wars wage on today.

But the crisis doesn’t end there; Jesus goes on to say there will also be ecological problems and disasters, look at Matthew 24:7b. And we have seen famines and earthquakes but we can add to the list hurricanes, floods, tornados, volcanoes, draught, tsunamis, blizzards and more. You name it and we have seen it and whether we believe it all comes from global warming, climate change or just part of the way God created the earth doesn’t really matter. These problems will continue and there is nothing we can do stop them. We can’t stop an earthquake or a drought or a flood, natural and ecological problems will come.

But the crisis doesn’t end there; Jesus goes on to say that on top of the spiritual, political and ecological problems we face there will be personal problems as well, look at Matthew 24:9. Because of our faith and trust in God we will be misunderstood, hated, persecuted and some will be tortured and killed, and we see this taking place today. There is a growing cynicism toward Christians and the Christian faith, just this week in USA today there was a half page editorial ridiculing Christians for our faith and saying that in some way we have been the cause of all the world’s problems. To be honest, the church throughout history has created some of the problems we have experienced, but we have also worked for answers and justice and mercy. So we have been misunderstood and are still misunderstood today and there are those who are being persecuted. Today there are followers of Jesus who are risking their lives to take a stand. Just this past month in China, India, Pakistan and Iran Christians have been detained and imprisoned for their faith and this persecution leads thousands of believers to live in fear and isolation. Persecution is real in our world today and Jesus said, it will continue and it will get worse.

So as the disciples are looking at the stones and feeling pretty confident and secure in their lives, Jesus opens their eyes with the truth that trouble is coming. The world is going to face spiritual confusion, political crisis and wars, ecological disasters and those who stand firm in him will be persecuted, but then in the middle of saying all of this Jesus says, but don’t be alarmed. Actually the word here is a little stronger than alarmed or even afraid; it’s more like panic or freak out. What Jesus is telling us is that in the face of all these global problems we are not to panic – but I almost want to say to Jesus – too late!

When we look at all that is going on in the world it is alarming and unsettling and it is easy to give in to the panic and fear, but we don’t have to because God gives us an answer to the panic, and he gives us a way out of the fear, but it’s not an easy way. There is no quick fix or simple formula to casting out fear, the answer to trusting more and fearing these global problems less is a life completely committed to God and we find this answer in Psalm 27.


As we look at the first few verses we see that David is facing opposition, persecution and war, Psalm 27:1-3, but he will not be afraid because God is his light and salvation. David is not panicking here and as we keep reading in Psalm 27 we not only find out why he is not afraid but we the see the way out of fear ourselves.

Psalm 27:4-6. When we hear: to dwell in the house of the Lord, to behold the beauty of the Lord, to seek him in his temple, to offer sacrifices of joy and sing and make music to the Lord. The image of that comes to mind is one of worship. When they gathered in the Temple to seek God – that was worship. When we come to offer sacrifices of joy and make music to the Lord – that is worship. In worship we come to give ourselves to God and when we do we find in the presence of God the strength and power to face the problems of the day. If we are living a life of worship then we will be safe and secure in the day of trouble, isn’t that what it says in verse 5? The more we worship God with all our heart and soul and mind and strength – the more power we receive and that power removes fear and provides strength to stand firm in the midst of the problems.

Along with a life of worship comes a life of prayer, look at 27:7. When trouble comes, when we see it on the horizon we need to pray and ask God for his mercy and his strength. Sincere, authentic prayer is effective – it may not always bring the answer we want, but it can give us the strength to face the problems and fears we face. And let me say that the prayer God calls for can’t just be our own personal prayer – we need to be praying with others. Something happens as we pray with others, first of all – the promise God makes with us is that when 2 or more pray together Jesus is there and when Jesus is present there is power to stand firm and love to cast our fear. I hope you will find a prayer partner or seek out someone not to pray for you but to pray with you and then next time someone shares a problem don’t say, I’ll pray for you – pray with them and together you will not only overcome fear but you will find the strength and power to face the problems that come.

Psalm 27 not only tells us that worship and prayer are important but if we to stand strong in the face of all the global problems that are coming then we also need to study – look at Psalm 27:11. Teach me your ways, O Lord, lead me in a straight path because of my oppressors. It is important for us to study God’s word because Jesus said many are going to be coming in his name and will try to lead us astray. He said false prophets and false teachers will come and the only way we will know if they are speaking truth or lies is if we know the truth. In the face of spiritual confusion and questions, we need to know how God call us to live in this world. We need to understand clearly what it means for us to follow Jesus and reflect the love and light of Christ into the world. I don’t know about you, but I don’t always know what following Jesus is going to look like in the face of the global problems that we face, but I do know that if I am going to figure it out, I am going to need to study God’s word and ask people to help me understand it and then live it out.

So the answer to the panic that sets in when we see the global problems today and when we hear about the coming problems of tomorrow is to live a life of worship, prayer and study. These three things will make a difference in our lives and if we give ourselves to this life there will be an added bonus – we will be part of a community that will help us in times of need. Look at Acts 2:42. These early followers of Jesus were going to face strong opposition, ecological problems and a war in a few years, in fact it was about 30 years later that Rome come into Jerusalem and destroyed the Temple, those stones Jesus said would come crashing down came crashing down, but the followers of Jesus remained strong because they were committed to a life of learning (devoted themselves to the apostles teaching), to worship (the breaking of bread) and to prayer. Those three things made all the difference and they can in our lives as well. The day will come when we will need to gather together as God’s people and support one another, care for one another and remind each other of the truth of our faith, if we are living a faithful life together now – it will be easy to fall back on that when things get bad, and remember… Jesus said things are going to get bad, but do not give up because there is one last thing that can help us overcome fear in the midst of all these global problems and that is the knowledge that no matter what happens, God wins in the end! We can never forget that while things might get bad, really bad, we know the end of the story and in the end… God wins, God is victories. Again, we see that in Psalm 27:13-14. Even when everything around us is falling apart and things look bad we need to keep our eyes focused on the final victory. If we are faithful – we will see the goodness of God prevail and that hope can help us to trust more and when we trust more we… fear less.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Fear of Life's Final Moments

Benjamin Franklin said, In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes. Now when it comes to paying taxes, Jesus said, give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, but give to God what belongs to God. So like it or not, we are called to be good law abiding citizens and pay our taxes – although in a free country we can protest the amount of taxes we pay – but we still have to pay, but what about death? What did Jesus say about death? What Jesus said was, do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. Now the reason Jesus tells us to fear not is because one of the greatest fears people face is death. People fear death because like Franklin said, it is certain and it is evitable, which means we can’t control and we can’t avoid it. Death comes to us all and to all who we know and it brings with it a finality that unsettles us and brings an element of fear. The philosopher Aristotle says death is the thing to be feared most because it appears to be the end of everything. Death is final, it is inevitable and it is still the great unknown and so for many people it is the thing most feared.

The people in Jesus day faced these same questions and fears. The Jewish teachings on death fell into two categories. There were the Sadducees on one side who said that after death there was no resurrection. They did not believe in a physical resurrection or a spiritual resurrection. Once you died, that was the end; you went to the place called Sheol which was just the land of the dead where there was nothing. The Pharisees, however, did believe in a resurrection, they would argue at times about whether it was a bodily resurrection or just a spiritual resurrection because they weren’t sure what kind of a resurrection it would be, but they did believe in a life beyond death. So in Jesus day there was the same uncertainty and questions and sense of finality about death that we face today and with that uncertainty came fear so Jesus addressed this fear by both his teaching and his example.

The clearest teaching Jesus gives on death comes from John 14. Jesus had been talking to his disciples about his own death and in fact he told them that it was coming soon. With all the talk about death the disciples become uncertain and afraid so Jesus says… (see John 14:1-3)

These words of Jesus offer us the same hope and comfort today that they offered to the disciples because what Jesus makes clear here is that death is not the end, there is a resurrection. Death is not the end of life; it is just the beginning of a new life with Christ which is lived in a new, heavenly and eternal home. The image that Jesus uses here is a powerful one. Whether we call it a mansion in glory, a home in heaven or a room in God’s house, the promise is that there is a place for us to live with God forever, but the image or analogy that Jesus uses here goes far beyond just a home in heaven, it really is the image of a wedding. In Jesus day, when a man and woman were planning on getting the married the man would first go home, fix a place in his father’s house or on his father’s land for he and his bride to live and once their home was ready the groom would return for his bride and take her home where they would begin a new life together. That is exactly what Jesus says here. Jesus is the groom who has gone to his father’s house to prepare a place for us. Once that room or home or mansion is ready Jesus comes back to take us home where we begin a new life with him.

I have to tell you in all my years of reading this passage and using it at many funerals, I never looked at it in terms of a wedding, but when we do – it changes everything. No longer is the focus of death darkness, pain, uncertainty and fear - it is now joy, love and the anticipation of a new life with God. As difficult as it sounds, we almost need to approach funerals with the same joy and excitement as we would a wedding. Now the reality is we don’t and it’s not because we lack faith and it’s not that we fear death is final and that there is no resurrection, the grief and pain at death often comes from the loss of someone we love and we will look at that more in a moment, but for now, let’s just say that our grieving needs to be tempered with faith and our sadness with joy. It says in Psalm 30:5 that weeping may last for the night but joy comes in the morning. Grieving the loss of someone we love has its place, but it can’t last because Jesus tells us that death is the beginning a new life which is filled with love, joy and peace.

So death is not the end - it is the beginning. Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us and he will come back and take us home. It all sounds good, doesn’t it, but how can we know it is all true? Where does the certainty and assurance come from that Jesus teaching here is true – well, it comes from Jesus himself, it comes from Jesus life, as well as his own death and resurrection. Jesus showed us during his life that he had power over death and on several occasions he brought people back to life. In Mark 5 a father comes to Jesus and begs him to come to his home and heal his daughter who is close to death. When Jesus arrives at the home the people run out and tell the father that his daughter is dead, but Jesus goes in anyway and raises the little girl up. In Luke 7 Jesus and his disciples are travelling into a city when they meet a funeral procession on its way out of the city. A widow is on her way to bury her only son and when Jesus sees this he stops the procession, takes the hand of the son and raises him to back to life.

The actions of Jesus show us that he has power over death and that death does not get the final say, but in both of these situations a skeptic might question whether or not the person was really dead. OK, well even if that were true – there is one story of Jesus raising the dead that we can’t ignore and that is the raising of Lazarus found in John 11. Lazarus was a close friend of Jesus and yet when Jesus got word that Lazarus had died he didn’t immediately go to Bethany to see him or his sisters Mary and Martha. In fact, Jesus actually waited 3 days before he went to Bethany to see his friends, so by the time Jesus arrived Lazarus had dead and buried for 3 days. He had been wrapped up in cloth and laid in a tomb for 3 days and yet when Jesus arrives he says to Mary and Martha, your brother will rise again. When they arrive at the tomb Jesus says, take away the stone, this is from John 11:39-44. Now there is no question about Jesus raising someone from the dead. Lazarus had been dead for 3 days, they could even begin smell him, and yet Jesus shows he has power over death and so he calls Lazarus out of the tomb and restores to him life. As Jesus said, he is the resurrection and life and those who believe in him shall never die. While our lives in this world may end, we will never die because there is a life to come, there is a resurrection for us all.

So Jesus shows his power over death in the raising of Lazarus, but let’s not forget that he also overcome death and the grave himself. That there is not a grave in Israel with Jesus name on it, that there is not a tomb that holds the body of Jesus shows us that Jesus has not just defeated death for himself, he has defeated death itself. But it’s not just the empty grave of Jesus that gives us hope; the risen Jesus also appeared to many of his followers. Look at 1 Corinthians 15:4-8. These post resurrection appearances of Jesus were to proclaim to the world that Jesus is alive and has defeated death. All these eyewitnesses can’t be wrong – they proclaim to us and to the world that Jesus did in fact rise from the dead and if Jesus defeated death for himself then he defeated it for us all. We do not need to fear death because we place our faith and trust in the resurrection of Jesus, this is the witness and teaching of the church.

See:  1 Corinthians 15:54b-57
Romans 8:37-39
2 Corinthians 5:1
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

As we can see, if there is one thing that the early church was clear on it was that through the death and resurrection of Jesus, death itself had been defeated. Death does not hold the final say and even though we may die in this world – there is a heavenly home and an eternal life that waits for us all. It is this promise of new life that allows us to face death with peace and hope and yes, even joy. We have even seen that this week. At the funeral services of Mary Louise Halderman and Roy Williamson we didn’t just celebrate and give thanks for faithful lives lived here but we celebrated the hope of eternal life and while those moments were sad as we said good-bye to ones we loved, we also celebrated the new life we know they experience. Like a parent at a wedding we said good-bye and with joy we sent them off to live a new life and experience a better life.

Jesus doesn’t just give us hope in the face of death; he brings us certainty, but let’s be honest, Jesus doesn’t answer all our questions. The question I am asked most often when it comes to death is, what happens when we die? What actually happens in those moments after we take our final breath? Are we taken up immediately into heaven to dwell in that heavenly home – or is there a period of waiting until the end of all things comes? A good question without a very good answer because the answer is – we don’t know. What happens after we die is still a mystery that Jesus did not clear up for us. In fact, the Bible gives us two different images about this.

This first comes from Jesus on the cross. Moments before his own death Jesus turns to the thief and says, today you will be with me paradise, so there is a sense that the moment we die we are taken to that new home in heaven, but we heard earlier from 1 Thess. 4:16 that the dead in Christ will rise up to eternal life, which leads us to think that maybe they aren’t already in heaven with God, and then we find this teaching in Rev. 6:10-11. Here we have saints who have died, who have been killed for their faith and trust in Christ actually, who are told to rest and wait. They weren’t taken directly up into heaven and so there seems to be an idea that there might be this period of waiting until the final end of all things. So which is it? Do we go directly to our heavenly home, or is this period of waiting? The truth is we don’t know, but here’s what we do know. Both passages assure us that when we place our faith and trust in Christ then when we die we are safe and secure in the presence of the living with God. Jesus said that the thief would be with him in paradise and where are the saints in Revelation? They are under the altar; they are safe in the presence of God, the throne room of heaven, so in both cases death has brought these people to a place of safety where they can rest in the presence of God. They are in a place where God’s love guards and protects them.

And now back to an issue we touched on earlier. For many people of faith, the fear in death isn’t because we question an eternal life with God it’s that we can’t imagine a life here without those we love. Whether it is a parent, spouse, child or friend the fear in death often isn’t for them, it’s for us. How will we be able to carry on with such a hole in our hearts and in our lives? We fear the emptiness, the loneliness and the void that death creates. There is no escaping the reality of this situation and while family and friends can help fill the void, the truth is there is only One who can bring the fullness and healing and love that is needed when we are in so much pain, and that One the Jesus. God is the only one who can wipe away our tears and fill us here and now with a new life. Death has touched all of us in some way and if that loss still brings pain and emptiness that needs to be healed and filled then I want to invite us to ask God to simply come and bring us the comfort and the peace and the love that we need because he alone can fill the emptiness or the loneliness or the void that death has created.

Prayer

While death is still shrouded in mystery, here is what we can say with certainty - when we trust God more we can fear death less. When we trust God more we can fear death less because we know that death is just the beginning of a new life lived in the safety of God’s presence.

When we trust God more we can fear death less because while death is inevitable - it is not final.

When we trust God more we can fear death less because while death still brings questions - God provides assurances and promises that can and will see us through.

So do not let your hearts be trouble and do not be afraid because death has been swallowed up in victory – in the victory and love of Jesus Christ (and because He lives we can fear less).

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Fear of Overwhelming Challenges

Today our focus is going to shift from fears that come when we think about our relationship with God to fears that come from the situations and challenges we experience in life. There are times when we all find ourselves in situations that seem to be beyond our control and whether our problems come from issues related to our health, finances, marriages, families, jobs or a combination of them all, these problems bring real fear because there are times when these problems seem overwhelming. As we turn to God to help us figure out how to face our fear and overcome these challenges, we once again look to the disciples to see how Jesus helped them overcome fears and challenges in their own lives.


We started this fearless series by looking at how Jesus helped the disciples during a storm at sea, and today we are back out on the same sea, probably in the same boat, but the disciples face a different storm and different fears. While the last storm sprang up quickly, this storm seems more steady and constant. As the disciples are making their way across the sea the wind just constantly pushes against them and the waves steadily batter the boat. The disciples aren’t afraid for their lives, but they are working awfully hard and not getting anywhere. Does that sound at all familiar? Sometimes the challenges we face aren’t sudden attacks but the constant pressures of life. We feel the constant resistance of the wind, the constant battering of the waves; we work twice as hard but don’t find ourselves getting ahead. We take one step forward in getting ourselves out debt but then find ourselves 2 steps behind when the next bank statement arrives and we work harder on our marriages but still drift farther apart. The challenge the disciples face here didn’t come up suddenly, it was the constant ongoing battering of the wind and the waves that got them frustrated and discouraged, but then just like in life, the problems go from bad to worse, look at Matthew 14:24-26.

The disciples struggle to move their boat forward when one of them looks out and sees someone or something walking toward them on the water. No longer are the wind and the waves their only problem, or their greatest problem, it’s now the ghost who is coming to get them and they helpless to do anything about it. They can’t row any faster, they can’t run away from the ghost and they are too far from the shore to swim, so they are helpless. They are trapped - trapped in the middle of the sea, trapped in the middle of all their problems, and sometimes this is exactly how we feel as well. Trapped in our financial situations with no way out, trapped in a job we don’t like but we can’t quit because we feel like there is nothing else we can do and no other jobs to be found. We feel trapped in a marriage that isn’t meeting our needs or expectations, trapped with a diagnosis where we are told there is nothing that can be done. I’ve talked to so many people recently who have been feeling trapped in some way and overwhelmed by the obstacles they face, and just like the disciples, we are terrified.

What we need to do in these situations is look a little closer at what is going on, because just like the disciples we are not alone in the midst of the storm. When the disciples look a little closer at this ghost they realize it is not a ghost at all, but Jesus walking toward them. In fact what I love about this story is that as soon as the disciples cry out in fear it says Jesus immediately spoke to them, he reached out to them – he cared. The last time they were in a storm at sea Jesus slept through part of it and the disciples questioned whether or not Jesus cared about them, but here there is no question, Jesus immediately responds to their fear and offers them words of encouragement, but then notice what Jesus does and what he doesn’t do.

What Jesus doesn’t do is instantly calm the storm. Did you notice that? Jesus doesn’t immediately tell the wind and the waves to be calm and the truth is that when we turn to God in the midst of our own storms, when we ask for help as we face overwhelming challenges, God doesn’t always take our problems away and there is a reason for that. God’s desire for us as his children is not to live carefree life, it is to grow in strength and faith and trust so that we can be mature and handle the challenges we face in life and sometime the only way to grow is to face our problems head on. If we never work through our problems – we will never grow. If God took away all our challenges and stilled every storm we would never grow in faith and trust. So while God doesn’t bring the storms into our lives, there are those times he allows the wind to blow so we can learn how to be strong and walk in faith.

I learned this lesson first hand my first year of college. My first couple weeks at MSU were a disaster. I didn’t know anyone at Michigan State, in fact I didn’t know anyone in the state of Michigan and my first few weeks at school did not go well. Not only was I incredibly homesick, but through a series of events I ended up without a roommate and so I had no natural way to begin to meet people and make friends It’s kind of sad when I think back on it now, but when move in day arrived I sat in my dorm room and waited for my roommate to show up and he never did. I’m not sure what happened to him, but no one ever came so while everyone else was getting to know their new friends, and parents were taking their children and roommates to the store to buy last minute supplies and then go off to eat, I sat there alone.

When things didn’t seem to get any better, I called home late one night in tears just begging my parents to let me come home. My Mom answered the phone and as I told her about all my problems and the challenges and the fears I faced, she didn’t take them away by saying, ok we will come and get you. She made me face the storm, she helped me work through the challenges and figure out what I needed to do to overcome the fears and the problems and there are times when God works the same way. God is more interested in helping us become strong and learn how to face the challenges in life so he doesn’t just take our problems away, he didn’t immediately tell the wind and waves to stop, but notice what he does do, he offers words of encouragement to help the disciples overcome their fear and then he gives Peter the strength to walk through the storm, in fact he gives Peter the strength to overcome the storm and walk on the water.

Look at 14:28, what’s interesting to note here is that it is Peter’s idea to walk on the water with Jesus. Even though the storm continues to blow all around him, Peter wants to face his fears and the challenges in life so asks Jesus to help him walk on the water and Jesus says, come. I wonder in the midst of the overwhelming challenges we face in life if God is just waiting for us to ask him for help. I wonder God is just waiting for us to face down our fears and take that first step of faith to overcome our problems. Too often I think we ask God to take the problems away instead of asking him for help in overcoming them and what God really wants from us, what Jesus is waiting for is for us to ask him to help us get out of the boat and walk on the water. As we face overwhelming challenges in life are we asking Jesus to not just walk with us but are we asking for God’s strength and power to help us overcome?

The summer I worked in Yellowstone National Park I was never satisfied with my job. You all know that saying the grass always looks greener on the other side of the fence, well – every other job looked better to me then the one I had, so every time a job opening came up I always asked about it. In the middle of the summer a new position opened up and I took it because I was sure it was going to be much more fun then the job I had, but after about a week I was miserable. While I really didn’t like where I was, I was too afraid to go back to my supervisor and say, look I made a mistake and I want to go back to my old job. For a week I was depressed, frustrated and unhappy and I started asking God to just get me out of that situation. What I wanted God to do was take me out of the storm. Just calm the wind and waves Jesus and take me to the safety and the comfort of the shore, but what I consistently heard God say was, you got yourself into this situation, Andy, and with my help you can get yourself out. What God wanted for me was to learn and grow and face my fears and draw upon his strength to overcome the challenges.

So after lots of prayers where God consistently said to me, you can get yourself out of this situation – my grace is sufficient for you, I finally did face my fears and my supervisor. I owned up to my mistake in thinking this was a better job for me and I asked if I could move back to my old job, and they said yes. God didn’t take the storm away and God didn’t pick me up and place me on the shore, but he did walk with me through the storm and even give me the wisdom and the strength to overcome the challenges and fears I faced to improve my own situation.

When Jesus doesn’t immediately calm the storm on the Sea of Galilee he is saying to us that there will be storms we will face in life. There will be obstacles that will look overwhelming and even impossible and while storms are not an option, fear is. Storms are not an option, but fear is, and fear comes because we fail to see the one who walks with us. If we will walk with God during the storms, and if we will be willing to face our problems head on and ask God for strength and power, we will overcome the challenges we face. From jobs to finances to relationship – we can overcome obstacles and fear by trusting God’s word and following God’s lead.

As we trust God more and draw upon his strength to overcome, Peter shows us one more important lesson to learn, look at 14:30. As long as Peter is looking at Jesus, he has the power to walk on water, but when he shifts his focus away from Jesus and starts looking at the wind and the waves around him, he begins to sink. If we focus on our problems instead of the one who walks with us through the problems, we will fail, the key to overcoming the obstacles and challenges we face is to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, but just what does that mean? How do we not focus on the problems but on the source of strength and power to overcome the problems? I think there are three basic ways to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and the first way is through prayer.

Each and every moment of the day we have the ability to ask God for help and strength. Prayer not only keeps our hearts and minds centered on God, but it also opens the door for God to give us the knowledge and strength to do the right thing. It was through prayer that God spoke to my heart and said, Andy you got yourself into this situation and with my help you can get yourself out. It is through prayer that I still hear God say to me during difficult times, my grace is sufficient for you. Even this past week when my schedule got busy and things seemed overwhelming it was in a moment of prayer when God said again, my grace is sufficient for you, so do not be afraid. We need to remember that prayer is not just our talking to God; it is also taking the time to listen to God. In the midst of the noise created by the wind and the waves and the cries of the disciples it says Jesus spoke to them. Look at 14:27, it doesn’t say that Jesus shouted at them, he simply spoke and they heard it. That’s prayer and that’s what is needed to help us keep our eyes on Jesus.


Another way to keep our eyes on Jesus is by reading and reflecting on God’s word. The more we read God’s word, the more God’s word lives in us and stays with us. The Bible says God’s word is living an active and as we read it, it finds a place with in us so when we need it for wisdom or strength, it is there. The word of assurance that came to me in prayer this week, my grace is sufficient of you, comes from God’s word. In 1 Corinthians 12:9 Paul is asking God to take away some burden or struggled he faced in life, it was his own overwhelming challenge and God’s reply to Paul was, My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness. The more we read God’s word, the more it will help us keep focused on Jesus in times of need and it is that focus that helps us overcome.

The third way we can keep our eyes fixed on Jesus is to stay connected to the people of God. The disciples physically had Jesus to look to for help. When Peter got out of the boat as long as he looked at Jesus he found strength and power to overcome, but we don’t have Jesus standing in front of us, but we do have his people that we can look to in times of need. It is important for us to stay connected to one another because as we face problems in life we need the support and encouragement and at times the physical and practical help that others can provided. While staying connected is important, we also have to be willing to ask for help when we need it. When Peter got into trouble and started to sink he cried out for help and then he allowed Jesus to pull him up. Will we ask for help when we need it? Will we accept the help that people offer? This can be one of the blessings of the church if we will accept it – through the church God can strength us and help us overcome life’s challenges but only if we will accept the help that God’s people offer.

So Peter shows us that we need to focus on Jesus and not our problems and in Hebrews 12:2 it says that to overcome the challenges of life we need to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and we do this through prayer, reading God’s word and accepting the help of God’s people. The truth is that we will face challenges in life, even overwhelming challenges that God will not take away and it’s not because God doesn’t love us, it’s that God wants us to grow in strength and faith and trust, so the next time life seems overwhelming, or if does today, then walk with Jesus and learn how to trust more and fear less.