There is a new television show called Fear Factor. Some critics suggest it is a new low on TV. This "reality show" pays people money to face their biggest fears. So, for example, you have a man staked to the ground with 200 rats crawling over him for ten minutes and getting paid $10,000 for doing that. It is a show that capitalizes on the fact that people are afraid of a lot of different things, and that we sometimes find a perverse pleasure in watching others be afraid.
In our culture we have an epidemic of fears and phobias. People are afraid of not only rats, but of snakes, spiders and maybe even army worms. Others lose sleep over everything from global warming to giant asteroids hitting the earth. Surveys say the most common fear people have is speaking in front of a group of people. Lots of folks fear sickness and health problems, and almost everyone is at least a little afraid of dying. Of course, having no fear is not necessarily the same thing as courage. Sometimes fear can be very healthy. There is an old saying, Fools rush in where angels dare not go. In the book Moby Dick, Captain Ahab says, "I don’t want anyone on this boat who is not afraid of whales." Yet, most of us greatly admire people with true courage. For example, when I think about the pilots in Jimmy Doolittle’s squadron who flew the bombing mission over Tokyo in 1942, I think, "Wow, I wonder if I would be willing to do that? Would I have the courage to risk my life for the sake of this country?"
When we open up the Bible, we see lots of courage. I don’t know who you think is the bravest person in the Bible. I have always liked Daniel down there in that lions’ den, but certainly one of the most courageous individuals in Scripture is David. As a young shepherd boy he fought off a bear and a lion which were threatening his flock. Then apparently when he was a teenager he faced and killed the giant Goliath when everyone else in the army of Israel was afraid to fight. When Saul’s army was hunting him and trying to kill him, David still was not afraid. He expresses his courage in Psalm 27:1 where he says, The Lord is my light and my salvation -- whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life -- of whom shall I be afraid? Friends, today we are going to be exploring Psalm 27. As we look at this passage my hope is that we will better understand how David was able to not be afraid, and how we might grow more courage in our life. Let’s pray that will happen.
What is the source of courage? In David’s life we see it is rooted in his relationship with the Lord. One source of courage was his faith in God. Where there is strong faith, fear tends to disintegrate. David had that type of trust because he had frequently seen God work in his life. 27:2,3 When evil men advance against me to devour my flesh, when my enemies and my foes attack me, they will stumble and fall. Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then will I be confident. Psychiatrists say that repeated experience is often the key in overcoming fear. So whether one is afraid of driving over a bridge or of parachuting out of an airplane, the best cure is usually just doing it over and over again. Every time David saw the Lord provide protection from his enemies, his faith and his courage grew. Every time the Lord delivered him from those who were trying to harm him, David became more bold. In the same way, our experience with the Lord can help our faith and courage to grow. That is why it is so important that we take time to reflect on various ways that God has worked in our life. Yes, faith is a gift from God, but it usually comes in installments. James, Chapter 1, tells that our trials, and especially seeing God provide for and protect us in the midst of those trials, develops patience and helps our faith to grow.
Friends, we all need to ask God to open our spiritual eyes so that we can take a better look at some of the ways that He is working in our lives. When that happens, I believe our faith and courage will increase.
The second reason for David’s courage was his love for God. 27:4,5 One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple. For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle and set me high upon a rock. David is not talking here about having a bedroom in the temple. Moving into the church building and sleeping in a church pew at night are not going to increase our love for God. Rather, he is talking about a close relationship, the intimate fellowship which he had with the Lord. It is one thing to "be with God" but it is another thing to "love being with God." These verses show us that David really treasured his fellowship with the Lord because he loved the Lord with at least, if not all, a good chunk of his heart, soul, mind and strength. And when we love someone, we tend to trust him or her. The more you love, the more you tend to trust, and as we said before, that leads to courage. An example of that is what happened when I was about twelve years old. My parents would leave me home alone for the evening sometimes, and almost every time there would be very strange noises in the house, at least I thought they were very strange noises. I am sure it was usually just the wind blowing. Now, being a brave young fellow, I never got really scared, of course, but it was always a great relief, and I always felt a lot braver, when Mom and Dad pulled into the driveway. Why? Because I loved them, which caused me to trust them, and that helped me not be afraid. So, loving God leads to trusting God, or having faith in God, which gives us courage.
Now, maybe you are thinking, "Pastor Dan, I want to love God, but how do I do it? It seems hard to love someone I can’t see." When George MacDonald was asked, "Is it easy to love God?" his reply was, "It is, for those who do." That may not seem like a very helpful answer, but there is a lot of truth there. You see, when we really get to know God, it is very easy to love Him. In fact, it is very unnatural to not love God, when we truly understand who He is and what He is like. The old saying, To know Him is to love Him, is certainly true when it comes to the Lord. Thus, if we want to love God, we need to focus on getting to know Him better. That means we need to make sure we are reading and studying the Bible. It means we need to spend time in prayer. It means we need to worship the Lord, both when we come to church to meet with other Christians and when we are by ourselves. We need to make it our goal to get to know God better. When that happens our love for Him will grow, our faith in Him will be greater, and our courage will increase. David’s faith in the Lord and his love for the Lord enabled him to be a man of courage. If we truly trust and love God, that type of courage will grow in our lives as well.
Now, let’s look at a couple of characteristics of true courage which we see in David’s life. 1) Courage continues even when adversity strikes. You may remember that in The Wizard of Oz the lion proclaimed himself to be very brave until Toto, Dorothy’s little dog, started to bark at him. Then it became clear he was The Cowardly Lion. Maybe you know some people like that. They love to talk about how brave and bold they are, until they actually face a dangerous situation. Then their courage totally evaporates. Not so with David. His courage continued even in the worst situations. Listen again to 27:3 Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then will I be confident. Or how about 27:10 Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me. In other words, David is saying, "No matter what happens, no matter how bad things get, even if there is no one on this earth that I can count on, I will not be afraid." His courage was not just on the surface. It was very deep and very genuine.
Throughout the centuries, God has supplied courage to His people who were facing very difficult situations. The Bible contains numerous examples of this. As I said before, Daniel in the lions’ den is one of my favorite stories, but an even more clear model of courage are his three friends, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. When King Nebuchadnezzar is about to throw them into a burning furnace, because of their refusal to worship a 90-foot golden idol he had made, this is what those three guys said, Daniel 3:17,18 "If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up." That is courage that does not melt even in the face of deadly flames. And the pages of the Bible contain many such examples of courage.
And in the time since the Bible was written, there have been plenty of instances where God has helped His people not to be afraid when adversity strikes. For example, there is Martin Luther at the Diet of Worms. At one time I thought a "diet of worms" meant they punished Luther by making him eat some slimy little creatures, but really it was a council held in the German city of Vorms. It was there that Luther had to defend his loyalty to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. When warned by his friends that he would face as many demons at the council as there were tiles on the housetop, Luther replied, "And though this world with devils filled should threaten to undo us, we shall not fear, for God has willed His truth to triumph through us."
One of my favorite examples of Christian courage is the 19th century preacher, Henry Ward Beecher. After preaching against drunkenness and other sins in Indianapolis, he was confronted by an intoxicated man with a gun who was angry about what Beecher had said that day. Beecher told him, "Shoot away. I don’t believe you can hit the mark as well as I did today." Friends, God can give us courage to face whatever challenge we face. I know here in this room are some very brave people, often called widows, who after being left alone following the death of their spouse, have had the courage to keep going, to keep living, to keep serving the Lord. Friends, I believe even when we have to face our worst fears, God will give us courage to get us through, if we are trusting in Him.
The second aspect of true courage is that it continues even when we start to feel discouraged. That happened in David’s life. In Verse 1 he said, "The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?" Very bold and brave. But later on in this psalm, that courage seems to have turned into concern. 27:9,12 Do not hide your face from me, do not turn your servant away in anger; you have been my helper. Do not reject me or forsake me, O God my Savior. Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes, for false witnesses rise up against me, breathing out violence. Like all of us, David had times in his life when he felt discouraged. But even then he was able to hang in there, able to maintain his confidence in the Lord, despite his concerns. 27:13 I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.Friends, fear has an ability to feed on itself. Maybe you have found that often when you are afraid, the more you think about being afraid, the more afraid you become. Unless we confront our fears, they can sometimes turn into panic. Yet, the courage God gives us is an anchor that keeps our concerns from drifting into fear and panic. Oh, this anchor has a long chain. Sometimes even when our faith is strong, we can become discouraged by difficult circumstances. When you get laid off from your job, when one of your children is going through a messy divorce, when the doctor says the biopsy shows cancer, or when your best friend stabs you in the back, it is no surprise that you feel discouraged, even if you are a strong Christian. But at those times, if we are trusting in the Lord, we can still know that the bottom line is 27:13 I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.Probably some of the most courageous men of my generation were the POWs of the Vietnam War who spent years in Communist prisons. Their stories often reflect how faith in the Lord gave them courage even in the darkest times. One of them, Jeremiah Denton, wrote of how one day while he was being held captive, he started to become very afraid that he was going to be killed by his captors and never see any of his family or friends again. He became very discouraged and felt like simply giving up, but then the words of Jesus in John 11:25 came to his mind: "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies;..." Those words, Denton says, renewed his courage and his desire to honor the Lord with every moment of life he had. Friend, if your anchor is Jesus Christ, He will give you strength, even when your courage begins to slip away.
So, we have seen that David’s courage was rooted in his faith in and his love for God. It was the type of courage that held up under adversity, and was still there when some of his worst nightmares came true. It was a courage that continued to give him strength even as he struggled with discouragement. I don’t know about you, but I would like to have that type of courage. Again, I know some of you in this room are facing some real tough things - medical problems, difficult family situation, financial and employment uncertainty. When those things happen it is very easy to start to worry and become afraid. But, God doesn’t want that to happen. If we are a believer in Jesus Christ we should not be afraid of what the future holds because it is our heavenly Father who holds that future in His hands. As Christians, we can trust Him and not be afraid.
So, what do we do? What lessons are there for us in Psalm 27? There are two things. 1) We need to work on building a relationship with God that produces courage. That simply means we need to learn to trust God more and love Him more because, as we said, courage is a natural result when that happens. We have already mentioned how Bible study, prayer and worship are some of the ways that God uses to draw us closer to Him, and we need to make sure we utilize these "means of grace," as theologians like to call them. I would also suggest that you take time to memorize two very important verses of Scripture. These are two verses that have helped me overcome some fears and I think they may do the same for you. They are Romans 8:31,32. 8:31 What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? The answer, of course, is that lots of folks can be against us, but it doesn’t matter. Whatever or whoever our foes are, they are no match for the living God. Then note the promise the Lord gives in 8:32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all -- how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?Wow! Did you catch what the verse says? The logic is so simple, but so powerful. If God the Father was willing to give the life of His own Son, Jesus Christ, in our behalf, He certainly will give us anything else that we need. If that is true, and there is no reason to believe it is not because God has demonstrated His love for us through Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, then we do not ever have to be afraid. Sometime this week take time to go back and look at these two verses, Romans 8:31,32, and try to memorize them. They are an anchor for our soul. They remind us that because of what Jesus Christ has done for us, there is no reason to be afraid. Friend, if you are not sure why Jesus’ death on the cross is so important, if you do not know Him as Lord and Savior, please talk to me.
The second thing we need to do is ask God to help us overcome the fears we have. I suggest you identify one fear that you have that is hindering you in your walk with the Lord; that is keeping you from being the person God wants you to be. It may be a phobia you have had for a long time, or something that has just started to make you afraid. Identify that fear and then pray that God will help you overcome that. I also would encourage you to ask one other person, someone you trust, to pray that you will overcome that fear. It could be that you are afraid to talk to other people about your faith in Jesus Christ. Or maybe you are not afraid of talking to people in general, but you are afraid of talking to one particular person. It doesn’t bother me at all to stand up here and talk to hundreds of people, but sometimes I am very nervous if I know the Lord wants me to talk to a certain individual about his or her relationship with Christ. I need God’s help in overcoming that fear.
Maybe you are afraid to apologize for something you have done. It can take a lot of guts to do that. Or maybe you are afraid to confront someone, or maybe you are afraid to make some changes in your life that you know should be made. Identify your fear, ask the Lord to help you, ask another person to pray for you about this, and then 27:14 Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.Friends, don’t be afraid to follow the Lord. "No fear" should indeed be the theme for those of us who know that because the Lord God is for us, it doesn’t matter who is against us. We close with a song that expresses our boldness in Jesus Christ - Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus.
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Sermon Outline
"REAL COURAGE"
June 24, 2001
Psalm 27:1-14
Page 546 in the pew Bible
INTRODUCTION
Fears and Phobias
I. THE SOURCE OF COURAGE
1.Faith in God
2.Love for God
II. CHARACTERISTICS OF TRUE COURAGE
A. Continues When Adversity Strikes
B. Continues When We Start to Feel Discouraged
III. LESSONS FOR US:
1. Build a Relationship With God that Produces Courage
2. Ask God to Help Us Overcome the Fears We Have
CONCLUSION Don’t Be Afraid to Follow the Lord!
Pastor Dan Erickson
First Baptist Church, Chisholm, MN
Go to www.life.1stbaptist.org/sermons.htm for Pastor Dan’s sermon site containing full text messages
