“Embracing Fear With Total Confidence” Sermon Delivered
By Rev. Dick Stetler – June 25, 2017 Centenary United
Methodist Church
I John 4:11-18; Matthew 10:24-31
This morning we are going to discuss the role that fear plays in
our lives. Fear is a very
valuable emotion because it often signals
proceed with caution.
However, countless people are tormented by fear to the extent
that their lives are controlled by it. Even though ninety-five percent
of what we fear will never come close to happening, our fear has grown
as a result of choosing it more often than other responses during our
childhood. During our experience among our For my colleague, all was not well.
For him, the spill was not
a small mishap. I
watched his normal cheerful spirit
wilt.
When the meeting was adjourning, he was still seated at the
table. I sat down next to him.
He apologized again.
This was his third time for doing so.
I said, "Come on, Charlie.
What you demonstrated was a lesson for me.
When I set up tables, they need to be the same height." He responded: I need to retire.
The coffee spill is part of a longer sequence of recent events.
Last week, I backed into another car as I was pulling out of a parking
space. Before that, a
colleague ask me if I would return a book that I borrowed months ago and
I can't find it. I also had
forgotten an appointment that I had made two weeks ago. I had not
checked my calendar that morning. Today, I spill my coffee.
This is an avalanche
of signals giving me a message that
the finish line of my career
is within sight. It was clear to me that his fear of aging had gained
a foothold in his life.
No matter how reassuring I was that his spirit was a very
necessary presence for the members of his congregation, he could not let
go of the thought that all these were signs that his life as a priest
was coming to an end. All of
these events could happen to anyone of us but we would not think another
thing about it if we were in our thirties. I told him to spend the rest of his week visiting his people, to
begin work on a sermon based on our first Scripture lesson this morning,
take two aspirin and call me on Monday morning.
He laughed and said, "You sound like my doctor." He must have
done something to reverse his energy flow because when I left
The Garden of Arden several
years later, he was still the Monsignor of Martinsburg's Saint Joseph's
Roman Catholic Church. There is another fear
that is increasing among millions of people. However, this one is worth
feeding. It grows by
educating ourselves about the nutritional value of what we eat. Most of
us want to enjoy our senior years without needing to consume a banquet
of pills every day. Our fear of dying way too soon advises us to
proceed with caution.
While countless people
still look for the shortest checkout-line in our grocery stores, many
shoppers today can be seen standing in the aisles as they read the
contents of what they are about to buy.
More people are choosing to stay away from products containing
high fructose corn syrup, the artificial sweetener
Aspartame, trans fats, high
sodium and sugar levels. They are being more selective in the oils they
use. Parents, looking after the health of their children, are leaving
sugar-coated cereals on the shelf. The only people that are not cheering
about this are the children who love their sugar-laced breakfasts that
may make them a candidate for the onslaught of the symptoms of diabetes
as they age. There can be no question that fear plays a purposeful role in our
lives. However, like all our emotions, we cannot allow any of them to be
in the driver's seat as we
venture into our futures.
In our Gospel lesson this morning, Jesus was teaching his
listeners to replace fear with total confidence.
He said, "Do not be afraid of people who can kill your body."
Jesus knew that people can
destroy the vehicle in which we live but they cannot
hurt the driver.
There is no umbrella
of protection from God that some Christians imagine.
Jesus went on to say, "If you want someone to be afraid of, fear
God who has the power to destroy both your body and spirit in hell."
(Matthew 10:28) This
comment by Jesus is one that people have remembered. However, what Jesus
was teaching meant just the opposite.
God is not some fear-mongering dictator that punishes people for
being human. This is a mythology
perpetuated by uninformed clergy that often use fear in their preaching.
Regardless
of what we have been taught, God would never allow our eternal destiny
to be defined by our faulty decision-making. Anyone that suggests
otherwise needs to expand their understanding of God's love.
Jesus illustrated this by telling his listeners that one penny
will purchase two sparrows. He
went on to say that God's love of each of us is so thorough that
God knows everything we have said and done while still remaining our
cheerleader.
Jesus concluded, "So do not
be afraid; you are worth much more to God than all the birds in the
world." (Matthew 10:31) What Jesus was teaching his listeners is that God is the ultimate
source of confidence when we trust what he was teaching.
With that said, it is up to us
to understand the wisdom that suggests "nothing ventured, nothing
gained." If we stay with the
comfort and the security of our
safe harbors what are we saying to ourselves?
The Apostle Paul taught, "Those who sow sparingly will reap
sparingly." (2nd Corinthians 9:6)
We must take huge risks
sometimes to shatter the fears that try to define the horizons of our
lives. Years ago one of my favorite activities was taking teenagers in
our church family on excursions in the One girl was so horrified by the thought of backing off a
100-foot cliff that she would not budge.
She was roped in and nothing could possibly happen to her. Her
legs had turned to jelly as
adrenalin surged through her body. I said, "You are going to do this
whether you like it or not."
She screamed, "I hate you Dick Stetler! I hate you!"
I responded, "Your feelings about Dick Stetler will not prepare
you for rappelling down this cliff. Get started!" As I rapidly approached her, she stepped off the cliff screaming.
She danced with her feet against the rocks of the cliff as she
had been instructed to do. She
did it! She did not die.
She reached the ground safely. I could not have allowed her to accept failure. She would have
been the only one that did not follow through on facing her fear. She
needed to do this for herself.
Around the campfire that night, she confided to everyone that
rappelling off that cliff was one of the most powerful ground-breaking
moments of her life.
We do not know
what awaits on the other side of a barrier we have created by our fear
until we open the door to a new experience and walk through it.
The decision that people have to make is whether or not to stake their
lives on a truth that Jesus was teaching.
What
lives inside these vehicles is invulnerable! This thought brings us to words found in John's first letter.
He wrote, God is love, and
those who live with a loving spirit are united with God's
spirit. The two become
one. Our potential is
identical to that of Jesus. There is nothing of which we ever need to be
afraid of in this life.
Love, when perfected, enables us to face anything and anyone fearlessly.
(I John 4:16b-18)
This orientation toward life is what gives us the potential to
live with total confidence.
However, choosing this is easier said than done.
There will come a time when the rubber needs to meet the road as
we practice our confidence. We will come face to face with a
circumstance where we either choose to remain terrified or we choose to
smash through the barrier to achieve the confidence of knowing
that we are as invulnerable as Jesus said we were. Confidence grows increasingly stronger the more we embrace our fear and take those early leaps of faith. The more leaps we make, the firmer our foundation becomes. As each fear in our path melts away, we will better understand our divinity. Confidence eventually becomes a learned response rather than remaining a goal we hope one day to achieve. When Jesus embraced his crucifixion, he could not have known that
three years of his ministry was enough time to change the lives of
billions of people all over the world during the twenty centuries that
would pass between his experiences and ours. He could not have known
that in the future, more books would be written about his three years of
ministry than any other chapter
in human history. All
that we need to do each day is to show up confidently, knowing that we
have divinity
inside of us that is stronger than any imaginary illusion we create that
tries to seduce us with fear.
Jesus showed up at his
crucifixion with forgiveness in his spirit and on his lips.
We have come equally equipped to do the same.
Let us stand forth every day and
allow our divinity to become visible. Try it.
You will like the results. CONGREGATIONAL PRAYER Loving and always faithful God, our experiences often teach us that life happens while we are busy making other plans. We have learned that life-reversals can often become stepping-stones to our next adventure. We have learned that a significant loss has often led us through the doorway of a vital discovery. You have called us to look at life as a journey to a promised-land without being afraid. We thank you that life is filled with challenges that can enhance our confidence. Thank you for the eyes of spirit that allow us to perceive your guidance without fear. Amen.
PASTORAL PRAYER
Ever loving and faithful God, how
conscious we are of our need to be reminded of who you created us to be.
It is so good to experience worship, a time when our spirits can become
more finely tuned to resonate more easily with your spirit.
It is then that we become instruments of your music that will
help our world to sing. As you have surrounded us with your love
in countless forms, help us to recognize more easily that part of us
that is always trying to redirect our spirit away from you. It is that
part of us that makes us believe that we are bound by events that
happened years ago. It is that part of us that makes us believe that we
are victims of some experience over which we had no control. It is that
part of us that tells us that some
heartbreak will never heal.
It is that part of us that tries to erode our confidence because of a
mistake we made in our judgment. Help us, O God, to allow such thoughts
and attitudes to dissolve on the sands of your unconditional love.
As we learn to surrender the incorrect images of our identity,
enable us to recognize that you have given us a body of light, one that
radiates the timeless qualities of acceptance, compassion and kindness
that you have instilled in us. Enable us to understand with more clarity
our role in this world by accepting Jesus’ words, "You are the light of
the world."
We pray these
thoughts through the spirit of Jesus, the Christ who taught us to say
when we pray . . . |