[Message shared with the people of Friendship Lutheran Church, Amelia, Ohio, for Holy Trinity Sunday, June 11, 2006.]
Romans 8:12-17
Fear, it seems, is a common element of life these days. And to be honest, there’s a lot to be afraid of: Terrorism; the war that continues to go on in Iraq; the increasing costs of health care that threaten family savings; a culture that seems to have lost its way when it comes to moral values and common sense.
It often seems that today, people are ruled by their fears. Recent polls show that most American’s don’t believe that their children will have better lives than they do. That’s never been evident in American history. We Americans have always believed in a better future. But fear seems to have taken hold of us.
This is sad because fear is such a destructive thing. It’s even possible to be frightened to death. Back on January 17, 1994, the famous Northridge/Los Angeles earthquake hit. More than one-hundred people literally died of fright that day, according to a cardiologist, Robert Kloner, of the Good Samaritan Hospital in L.A. According to his research, “excessive fear can cause sudden cardiac death. In many cases the terrorized brain triggers the release of a mix of chemicals so potent it causes the heart to contract so fiercely it never relaxes again.”
Most of our fears are irrational, of course. But some may be founded in fact. My colleague Jim Dinkel used to tell his father, also a pastor who at the time was facing many harsh critics in his congregation: “Just because everybody’s after you, Dad, doesn’t mean you’re paranoid. Sometimes people really are after you!”
But to yield to fear, to allow it to control our lives, is more than psychologically and physically destructive. Fear is the opposite of faith. In today’s Bible lesson, taken from what I consider to be the greatest chapter in one of the greatest books in the Bible, the apostle Paul writes about the very human tendency to fall into fear even after we’ve come to faith in the God we know through Jesus Christ. He writes:
“So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— for if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ...”
Now, when Paul speaks here about “flesh,” he’s talking about the world’s ways of doing things. It describes all that we do in order to build up our self-esteem, gain acceptance from others, and even, to placate God. We can be enslaved to the fear that that system breeds, Paul warns us.
I heard a radio report about the World Cup yesterday. The reporter said that beyond the competition on the field, this is a big-stakes game between two major world powers: Adidas, the traditional soccer sponsor, and Nike, the up-and-comer in the futbol world. Each company is spending about $1.5-billion on World Soccer Cup-related sponsorships. And how will they try to make good on their investments? Through commercials that make billions of young people the world over afraid that if they’re not wearing three stripes or a swoosh, they won’t be cool. If they pick the wrong brand of tennies, they’ll be second-class citizens on their high school campuses.
Adults are prone to such fears, too. I’ll never forget the true story of the guy who lived here in the West Clermont School District. He was at an orientation meeting for parents of second grade boys about to embark on their peewee football careers. There was a Q-and-A period and this guy asked, “What percentage of the children who go through this program end up in the NFL?” There was no pressure on that guy’s kid, was there? All because his father feared that if his peewee didn’t eventually make it the NFL, his poor little life would be a bust!
The world’s fear system also drives a lot of people when it comes to religion. Their faith isn’t a joyous response to God’s goodness and love, an appropriate use of the gifts God has given them to love God and love neighbor. Instead, they see God as a cosmic commander who must be placated by the doing of certain grim duties: making it to worship often enough, apologizing when they’re wrong, obeying the law. God certainly loves it when we regularly worship, take responsibility for our wrongs, and act as good citizens. But these things don’t constitute faith.
So, two simple definitions:
Fear is something that we do, something we do to ourselves. And it’s ultimately destructive.
Faith is a gift from God, something God gives to those who open their hearts, minds, and wills to Him. And it gives life.
Fear is a roiling emotion that causes us to act defensively or in panic.
Faith is the calm assurance that we are accepted by God as we are.
Faith is the certainty that God accepts and transforms sinners into His friends.
Faith is the belief that no matter what, God is bigger than our problems, bigger even than death, and that when we belong to God, all ultimately will be well.
Faith is the God-given certainty that the Lord we know in Jesus Christ, Who has conquered sin and death, will stand by our sides in all circumstances, granting us peace today and life forever with God tomorrow!
I know all about fear. It still haunts me at times. But I have learned that faith in God overcomes fear.
Many of you know that I long suffered from stage fright, for example, something that could be deadly for a pastor. And I’ve known other fears in my life: In years past, I’ve often been afraid that Friendship wouldn’t make it. I was afraid of being a lousy father. I felt fear when my kids first learned how to drive and they hit the streets by themselves for the first times. Back when I was a teenager, I remember waking up in the middle of the night many times, terrified that I would never find a wife with whom to share my life.
But I have also learned how faith can displace fear. It’s a simple formula actually based on today’s Bible lesson: I cry out to the Father, in the Name of the Son, and receive the power of the Holy Spirit.
Repeat those three fear-destroying truths after me now:
- I cry out to the Father
- in the Name of the Son
- and receive the power of the Spirit.
I remember when I was a boy of about eight, I asked my pastor, Reverend Blackburn to explain the Trinity. He said something like, "Well, you know, Mark, if you look at an egg, it has three parts--the shell, the yoke, and the white. And yet all three parts are one egg."
I sort of grunted in acknowledgement, but he could tell that his answer hadn't really helped me to get it. So, he tried again. "Think," he told me, "of water. Water can come in three forms: liquid, ice, and steam. But it's still water. God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But they're all of the one God. Does that help?" It did...sort of.
Years later, I'm thirty and I'm about to be ordained and Reverend Blackburn is one of the clergy there to participate in the service. Just before it started, I turned to him and said that back when I was eight, I'd asked him about the Trnity. What, I wondered, would he say to explain it to me today? "Well, you know, Mark," he began, "if you look at an egg..."
I don't fully understand God. I suppose that if I did, I would be God...and I know that I'm most definitely not! Instead, my call and your call is trust this God, to have faith in this God, Who has been made known to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
In fact, when you cut to the chase, you learn that faith is trust in God. It’s not something that you and I can manufacture or generate. We can generate fear. We can very easily find reasons to be afraid. But faith is something we can only receive and it only comes from the Father, in the Name of the Son, Who sends the Holy Spirit to us.
When that happens, we have the capacity to cope and hope and live and know that God is with us always!
Fear is the belief that we must face life and eternity alone; faith is the certainty that in Jesus Christ, we have been adopted as God’s children forever.
I remember one of the key moments of my life when the truth about faith in God began to sink deep into my soul. I was a young pastor, visiting a retired farmer and his wife in my first parish. “Pastor,” the farmer told me, “you could hardly be a farmer if you didn’t have faith. You have to trust that God will send the right amount of rain every year. You have to trust that He’ll send the right amount of sunshine. And you have to trust that, in those years, when the sun and the rain don’t come in the right proportions, God will take care of you until next year. And even after all the years of good and bad crops here, He promises to meet you in eternity.” That man taught me that when you’re in the hands of an eternal God, there is always another good tomorrow!
Paul says in our lesson today that, “When we cry, “Abba! [a word that means daddy] Father!” it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.”
We need never live in fear! The God we meet in the risen and ascended Jesus Christ is just a prayer away. We have the assurance that as we
- Cry out to the Father
- In the Name of the Son
- and receive the power of the Spirit
[The motif of fear v. faith is well modeled in a wonderful message on this text by Pastor Mike Foss of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, Burnsville, Minnesota.]
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