Fearless ~ Why are we afraid?

I really did not plan it this way, but it is interesting that we are beginning this series on living a fearless life on September 12 because one of the most fear-filled days we have experienced as a nation at least during my lifetime was September 11 nine years ago. I’m sure you can still remember where you were when you heard about the planes hitting the world trade center or the Pentagon, or what you were doing when you first heard or saw the towers fall. For me, the fear of that day didn’t make me hysterical - it left me empty. The fear was in not knowing what was going on, not knowing what was going to happen next and not knowing how to help in the face of such incredible pain and tragedy. Fear can manifest itself in many different ways. We can become hysterical and emotional or we can withdraw and shut-down. Fear can cause us to question everything, fill us with doubt and lead us to a place of deep despair, a place where we throw up our hands and cry out, “I give up”. Maybe that is where you are today.



There is a lot of fear in the world today. There continues to be the fear of terrorism but now we have added to that the fear of seeing our young men and women in harms way in the war against terrorism. There are economic fears as we see pensions and retirement funds shrink and the value of homes decline. There is the fear of losing our jobs or if you have already lost your job there is the fear of finding a new one., but it’s not just finding a job, it’s the fear of finding a job that will provide for your family and bring a measure of purpose and satisfaction to life as well. There are fears related to our health, like the fear of having to undergo chemotherapy or radiation, or worse yet the fear of seeing someone we love suffer through those same things. There is the fear of strained relationships, fear of seeing our children drift away from family, friends and faith. We fear the decline we see in the values of our nation and the fear of global problems that seem to have no answers like poverty, aids and natural disasters. There is fear all around us and while it would be great to simply erase all the problems that cause us fear, I don’t think that will happen. So what we need to do is learn how to overcome these fears so we can live more of the life that God wants for us.

Over the next several weeks we are going to look at several problems that cause us to be afraid. From the fear of disappointing God to our fear of death and global problems, what we will see is that these problems aren’t going to go away, storms in life will come, there will be times when fear will knock at our door, but as Max Lucado says, we don’t need to invite him in. We don’t have to allow fear to take up residence in our hearts and lives. Fear does not need to control us, it can be overcome and the answer to overcoming each and every fear we face is to trust more and fear less. If there are just 5 words I would want you to memorize and repeat during this series it would be– trust more and fear less. The key to living a fearless life is to simply trust more, trust God more.


Trusting in God is what Jesus is trying to say to his disciples when they face one of the greatest storms of their lives. In Matthew 8 the disciples are facing a great storm – literally a wind storm that has sprung up on the Sea of Galilee. Because of the topography of this region and how the mountains surround the sea, severe storms would often spring up on the sea and experienced fishermen knew how to handle them, but this storm was different, this storm was intense. Matthew tells us that this storm was unlike any other with his choice of words. Look at Matthew 8:24, as bad as this sounds these words don’t do justice to the severity of the situation. The word that we translate as furious storm is really the word seismos, which is where we get the word seismograph and what is that a seismograph records? Earthquakes.


So this wind storm literally moves the earth. The ocean has become an eruption of waves and water that shakes the very foundation of the earth and sea. It’s interesting, Matthew uses this word two other times in his gospel, look at Matthew 27:51-53 and 28:2. There was a seismos, or an earthquake at Jesus death and at his resurrection. These two events literally shook the earth and the heavens, these were earthquakes like no other (the dead came out of their graves!), and this storm at sea has the same power and intensity. This was not just a windstorm, it was a sea shattering event that struck fear into the hearts of hearty seasoned fishermen, and in the midst of this paralyzing storm, where was Jesus? What was Jesus doing? He was sleeping.


While everyone around him was terrified, Jesus was at peace and when the disciples wake him up asking him to save them, Jesus response is, “why are you afraid?” Can’t you just imagine what is going through the disciples minds with that question? Really Jesus, you want to know why we are afraid… LOOK AROUND YOU!! We are in the middle of a storm that is shaking the very foundation of the earth. We’ve never seen wind and waves like this. We are all going to die and you are asking us why we are afraid. Really??


Now the disciples didn’t really say any of this, but you have to know they were thinking it. If they had blurted all that out to Jesus, I think his response would have been, Yes really. Why are you afraid, don’t you remember all that I have done? Don’t you remember this morning when I healed the sick? Don’t you remember all the power I have shown? Do you not know that I love you and care for you? Do you not know who I am? In some way, maybe that is exactly what Jesus is saying here, just without all the words. Jesus says, Why are you afraid, you of little faith? In the midst of the storm the disciples have lost their faith. They failed to remember who Jesus was and what he had done. They had forgotten the power that is his and the love he has shown. So what Jesus says here is that the answer to overcoming fear is to have faith, faith in him.


Let’s put ourselves back in the boat for a moment and think about all that the disciples had just seen in Jesus. It had been a busy day. Jesus healed Peter’s mother in law but before that he healed the servant of a Roman Centurion, a servant who had been paralyzed. The power and authority of Jesus was really seen in that healing because the servant wasn’t even there – Jesus healed this man long distance. But there was more, not long before these healings Jesus had cleansed a man of leprosy. That may not sound so amazing, but think about it, leprosy was a skin disease that didn’t just discolor skin, it destroyed flesh and ate away people’s fingers, arms and legs, and with a word Jesus restored this man’s skin, maybe replaced whole fingers and toes. As amazing as that was, there’s even more. Let’s go back even farther, turn to Matthew 4:23-25.


All in all, Jesus was a pretty powerful person. The disciples had seen his power and authority over everything so why in the middle of this storm were they suddenly afraid? Why had they lost their faith and trust in Jesus? Why do we? Why do we lose our faith and trust in God when storms come along? When we face problems why do we question both God’s power to save and God’s desire to save? That’s what the disciples are really doing here, their fear shows that they question the power of Jesus to save them, but in Mark’s telling of this story we also see they question Jesus desire to save, look at Mark 4:38, Teacher do you not care that we are dying? Don’t you care about us Jesus? Sometimes our fear in the middle of storm isn’t because we don’t think God has the power to save, we just don’t think God wants to. Why do we question God’s love and power? Why do we lose our faith in the midst of the storm?


One reason is because fear causes us to forget. When we are afraid we tend to focus on the problem not the one who provides the solution. We focus on the storm not the one who has the power to calm the storm. We focus on ourselves and not on God. So when problems come we forget that God is powerful and we forget that God is loving and so we begin to ask ourselves if God is able to save us or if God wants to save us. Now the answer to both these questions is Yes. God is able to save us and more than anything God wants to.


God wants us to know that his power and love are with us to help us in times of need so we do not need to be afraid. This message is so important to God that he says it over and over and over again. Some people have said that there are at least 365 fear not passages in the Bible which means there is one for every day of the year. Think about it, every day God wants us to hear this message, do not be afraid. Everyday God says to us, Fear not, but since we live in a world filled with fear we tend to forget this truth so every day we need to read them again. Everyday we need to remember that God is with us to save us. God is with us to love us. To help us hear that message in a way that will shape our hearts and lives, we are inviting everyone to take part in a personal Bible study on some of these fear not passages of the Bible. Each week we have listed 5 fear not passages that we can read and reflect on for our lives. We need to use this as a tool to help us remember that God is with us and that God is powerful enough to save us and God loves us enough to save us. So no matter what fear we face today, no matter what storm shakes the very foundation of our faith here is what we need to remember: God is with us, God is strong and God loves us, so starting today we need to: trust more and fear less.