Trepidation Is Not a Dinosaur
2 Timothy 1:6-11
5-year old Johnny was in the kitchen as his mother made supper. She asked him to go into the pantry and get her a can of tomato soup, but he didn’t want to go in alone. "It’s dark in there and I’m scared." She asked again, and he persisted. Finally she said, "It’s OK--Jesus will be in there with you." Johnny walked hesitantly to the door and slowly opened it. He peeked inside, saw it was dark, and started to leave when all at once an idea came, and he said: "Jesus, if you’re in there, would you hand me that can of tomato soup?"
One more…
One summer night during a severe thunderstorm a mother was tucking her small son into bed. She was about to turn the light off when he asked in a trembling voice, "Mommy, will you stay with me all night?" Smiling, the mother gave him a warm, reassuring hug and said tenderly, "I can’t dear. I have to sleep in Daddy’s room." A long silence followed. At last it was broken by a shaky voice saying, "The big sissy!"
Psychologists tell us that we are born with two fears, the fear of falling and the fear of noise; but the older we get the more fears we create. I have often wondered how many different kinds of "phobias" there are. I don’t have a compete list but here are a few that I found interesting:
Peladophobia: fear of baldness and bald people.
Aerophobia: fear of drafts.
Porphyrophobia: fear of the color purple.
Chaetophobia: fear of hairy people.
Levophobia: fear of objects on the left side of the body.
Dextrophobia: fear of objects on the right side of the body.
Calyprophobia: fear of obscure meanings.
Thalassophobia: fear of being seated.
Stabisbasiphobia: fear of standing and walking.
Odontophobia: fear of teeth.
Graphophobia: fear of writing in public.
Phobophobia: fear of being afraid.
- Fraser Kent, Nothing to Fear, , Doubleday & Company, 1977
Truly we live in a time that is frantic with fear. We have door locks, and deadbolts, and alarm systems, and big mean dogs. We drive with our windows up and our doors locked. Now I am not saying that there is no reason to be cautious, but I think that there is a difference between caution and living in fear. Being cautious will allow us to work in God’s Kingdom while living in fear will cause the Kingdom to shut down. Let’s look at some of our fears.
We fear failure
Remember in Matthew 25 the parable of the Talents? A Master goes away and leaves one servant 5 talents, one Servant gets two talents and the last servant gets one. When the Master returns he wants to settle up with his servants. Let’s read verses 24-25
He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’
Fear of failure caused the one talent man to do nothing. This is probably the greatest single reason that we do nothing in the church today. We are afraid to spend the Lord’s money on a project that will not go as planned so we do nothing. We are afraid that we would never be able to reach our goal so we do nothing. And we have forgotten where our Power lies.
The church that I worked with in Atlanta was in a growing part of town in the 1950’s but over time the industry had moved out and the community had become less than desirable. We had many members who were afraid to come to the building at night, and the building was being robbed and vandalized on a monthly basis. So after much discussion and congregational surveys they decided to sell the building and move to a safer place.
Before the building was actually placed on the market a buyer inquired about the property and offered them more than they were going to ask for. Excitement filled the air and they set out to look for new property. But after a week of looking the members began to ask “What if” questions. What if we can’t find the right piece of land? What if we can’t find a building we like? What if we don’t have enough money? What if we can’t agree on colors? What if…?
Fear paralyzed that church, and they quickly overlooked all that God was doing, broke the contract to sell the building and 3 years later they are still in the same location. The community is a little worse, the building still gets broken into, and the older members still won’t come at night.
Fear makes us forget the promise that God leads Paul to write in Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
Fear of failure makes us useless and brings defeat. Think back to Gideon, after he had amassed an army of 32,000 men to fight the Midianites God tells him in Judges 7:3 that Now therefore proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, ‘Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return home and hurry away from Mount Gilead.’” Then 22,000 of the people returned, and 10,000 remained.
I have often used that verse to describe how God can do so much with the little I have to offer, but I also believe that this passage teaches that there is no place in the kingdom of God for the fearful. Everyday we are locked in the heat of battle with Satan. I know that we don’t like to talk about it, maybe we are afraid, but the battle is real; and, in this battle, we will be called upon to stand, fight, endure and conquer. This takes courage, not fear! Because he who fears being conquered is sure of defeat."
But not only do we fear failure we fear the unknown
Fear of the unknown has kept not only many of the Lord’s people from doing God’s will but many churches from growing, expanding, building buildings, adding missionaries, planting churches, and otherwise doing more work for Christ.
There is always the haunting fear that we don’t know what tomorrow may bring so instead of living on the trust that God will provide all of the time, people, money and talent He needs to get his will accomplished, we build up our bank accounts, hoard resources, and save for a rainy day.
Now I am not saying that here at New Hope we need to spend every penny we take in from the contribution, and borrow more money thinking that God will send us pennies from heaven. But I know of a church with in a days drive from here that has a $1 million dollars in the bank just in case something happens. And they have decided, "not to take on any additional work."
The leaders of this church have taken the faith, anticipation, vision and excitement out of the life of that body and the congregation is dying. Contributions get lower every year. They cannot get anyone to take an active role in the church, whether it’s teaching a class or mowing the lawn. The leaders of this church are patting themselves on the back for saving for a rainy day but I believe that it was their fear that brought on the very thing they feared.
Job says in Job 3:25 What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me.
We see in Matthew 14 Jesus walking on the water and Peter asks if he can join Jesus. Then we read in verse 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.”
When Peter saw the wind his fear of sinking brought on his sinking. Football players will tell you that fear of dropping the pass often causes the player to do that very thing. Fear of disease often brings on illness. In fact, we are told that 85% of the emotional and physical ills of men are brought on by fear.
And now that they are in the depths of what they feared they are paralyzed and they don’t know how to get out of it. There is more truth than fiction in the statement, "I was so afraid that I could not move."
I believe that fear in the leadership of any congregation will paralyze an entire congregation of God’s people to where they will virtually become immobile and inactive.
And I believe that we fear growth.
There are churches out there that believe if a church is big then it must be evil or not a true church. And in the case of a church that has experienced revival and is starting to grow instead of being happy for that body so often other churches become alarmed.
But this is goes against what the Bible teaches that was happening to the Jerusalem church. The Church that was started on the day of Pentecost was a growing church. Listen to these numbers:
Acts 2:41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
Acts 4:4 But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand.
Acts 6:7 And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.
It doesn’t sound like the church was involved in some sin and that’s why it was growing. Instead I believe that today the reverse is true. Maybe our churches are wrapped up in the sin of fear, or competition, or envy, or grumbling, or unforgiveness and that’s why they are not growing. We must grow as much as we possibly can and let wisdom dictate the course we will follow from there. Instead of worrying what others will say or think let us attempt great things for God and expect great things from God.
In the church we have spent too much time fearing what other men say and think about us. And this is not a new fear. Look with me in Matthew 26: 69-74 Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. And a servant girl came up to him and said, “You also were with Jesus the Galilean.” But he denied it before them all, saying, “I do not know what you mean.” And when he went out to the entrance, another servant girl saw him, and she said to the bystanders, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.” And again he denied it with an oath: “I do not know the man.” After a little while the bystanders came up and said to Peter, “Certainly you too are one of them, for your accent betrays you.” Then he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know the man.” And immediately the rooster crowed.
How many of us have tried to excuse ourselves from teaching others about Christ by saying, "I’m afraid someone will call me a fanatic; or I’m afraid that I don’t know enough" How many of God’s "Thou Shalt and Thou Shalt Nots" have we violated because we feared ridicule and disdain.
How to overcome fear
I want you to open your Bibles with me today and let’s read out text together. 2 Timothy 1:6-11 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher,
In our text Paul is reminding the young preacher Timothy and I believe every one of us of the source of our power. Go back to verse 7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
If you live with fear I want you to know today that it is not a gift from God, rather a disease of the heart. Paul says that God gave you a spirit of power, and love, and self-control. And if we are truly trying to live a life that is pleasing to God it must be a live that is lived in power, love, and self-control.
I believe that the first way we can do that is by Making Jesus the King of your heart.
In 1 Peter 3: 14, we read Peter’s encouragement that the early disciples do not to fear. But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled,
Then in the very next verse he tells them how to live a life free from fear. but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you;
Have you noticed that this verse is on the front of your bulletin week in and week out? When I think about the New Hope that we have as Christians, this is it. God is in control of every aspect of your life. I don’t believe in luck, I believe in providence. I don’t believe in happenstance I believe in divine intervention. And even when it seems that utter chaos has broken out all around us our King promises us that for those who love God all things work together for good,(Romans 8:28).
When Christ is the King of our hearts we don’t live in fear.
But it is not enough to claim that He is the King of our hearts we must Put our faith and trust in God.
Time and Time again we see God telling us live by faith and to trust Him. I passed by a Church that had this on the Marquee. “Feed your faith and your fear will starve to death.” There is a lot of truth found on some of those signs.
Listen again to what Solomon had to say about trusting the Lord in Proverbs 29:25 The fear of man lays a trap, but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe.
Solomon says that we only have two options; it is either faith or fear! Courage or terror. And we are called to be men and women of courage.
fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10
The Lord is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?" Psalm 118 :6
"If God be for us, who can be against us?" Romans 8:31
I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me? Hebrews 13:5,6
Once our Faith is securely where it needs to be then we can finally Engage in the work of the church.
In 1 Kings 19 we see that the great Prophet Elijah was having a fear problem. He had just defeated the 450 Prophets of Ball and the 400 prophets of Ashreah. You would think that he was sitting on top of the world but Jezebel made a threat on his life and she had a history of separating the heads from the bodies of the prophets of Jehovah.
So in chapter 19 he goes into God’s witness protection program, and gets a new lease on Life. God allows him to rest and be refreshed. God shows Elijah His presence in the peace and then God takes care of his fear. Look at 1 Kings 19: 15-17
And the LORD said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria. And Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint to be king over Israel, and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint to be prophet in your place. And the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael shall Jehu put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha put to death.
God cured Elijah’s fears by giving him a job to do in the kingdom. My Paw used to say “Frogs only croak in stagnant water.” How true that is. When we waste time sitting around and talking about our fears they multiply. If we want to defeat our fears then we must engage in the work of the church and live one day at the time.
Finally we can defeat our fears when we learn to Pray.
We discussed earlier that it was because of fear, Peter denied the Lord. But if you will flip a few pages in your Bible to the 2nd Chapter of Acts you will read one of the most powerful sermons ever preached. The shocking part is that the same man who denied Christ with cursings is the same man who boldly speaks in His name. Do you know what made the difference?
I believe the answer is found in Acts 1:13-14. And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James. All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.
The difference was that he had spent some time in the upper room where prayer was made.
Invitation:
Today we have that same opportunity. What fear has invaded your heart today? Let us pray with you.
