Fear

Good morning everyone! It is good to have you here and I am excited to dive into scripture with all of you. This morning we are going to have a stand alone sermon and talk a little about fear. As we get ready to read God’s word and discuss it, let’s go to God in prayer and ask him to be our teacher.

Prayer

Engage

This morning, with it being Halloween I thought it would be good to talk a little about fear. Now, I am not one of these people, but some people like to be afraid. Instead of going to fun Halloween events they go to these haunted houses where the entire goal is to have people who are dressed up scare you. Or, they watch scary movies because they like to be scared in that way. None of that sounds fun to me, but all of it really has one thing in common. All of these activities are entered into willingly. That is what doesn’t make sense to me, to willingly want to feel fear sounds absurd to me. It sounds so crazy to me because there are just real things in life that cause us fear and so why would I want more of it? For a silly example, did you know that there is actually a phobia called Arachibutyrophobia? Sounds pretty serious right? Well that is the fear of having peanut butter stick to the roof of your mouth. Another fear that is becoming more and more prevalent is Nomophobia, this is the fear of not having your cell phone with you. Even though these are a little silly, the Bible has many stories about people who were afraid.

Tension

Fear has been a part of humankind since the fall in Genesis 3. After Adam and Eve eat the forbidden fruit they hear God and become afraid. All of us have had moments of fear in our lives. We are all afraid of something. It might be snakes, mice, illness, finances, old age, being left out, the list goes on and on. The Bible shows us that many of the Biblical characters that we look up to had moments of intense fear. Abraham lied about Sarah being his wife out of fear, Jacob displayed fear of Esau, Moses feared Pharaoh, even the disciples had moments of fear. So we know that fear is nothing new to mankind. Fear has been around for a while, but to be genuinely afraid is something that nobody likes and that is exactly what the disciples experienced after a long day of being with Jesus and listening to him teach. After a day of teaching the disciples and Jesus get into a boat and start to cross the Sea of Galilee. It’s at this time that the disciples experience a genuine fear of a storm, something that all of us have probably had as well. While we have heard this story probably many times, let’s read it together.

Mark 4:35-41

Mark 4:35–41 (NIV)

35 That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.”

36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him.

37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped.

38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”

39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.

40 He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

41 They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

Here we find the disciples in a bit of a predicament. As they are going across the Sea of Galilee they find themselves in the midst of a bad storm. Maybe it was something like what we had last Sunday night during Trunk or Treat. But the Sea of Galilee is located right in the middle of some good sized mountains which makes it pretty common for storms to come up. Hot air comes in and meets the cool air over the water which results in some pretty bad storms. There is almost a joke that mid-westerners don’t get afraid of storms, instead they like to go out on their porch to watch them roll in, but this storm was enough to cause the disciples to be afraid. You also have to remember that this is happening on a boat. The disciples and Jesus aren’t in a nice house away from the wind and rain, they are right in the middle of it. It’s also important to note that some of these disciples were pretty used to being on a boat as they were fishermen. But the storm is so bad that even those disciples who have experience out on the boat are afraid. All while this is going on, as the disciples are full of fear, as they are battling against the winds Jesus is fast asleep. So the disciples who are afraid for their lives call out to Jesus, doesn’t he care if they all die? And so Jesus gets up, rebukes the wind and tells the waves to be still. After everything has calmed down Jesus turns to the disciples and gently rebukes them as well. Do they still not understand who he is? Do they still not understand what Jesus can do?

But here is where I think we don’t often pay enough attention to. Do you notice how the disciples respond to Jesus’ actions? They’re in a terrible storm, fearing for their life, afraid of drowning, when all of a sudden Jesus simply speaks and gets everything to stop. You would think the disciples would be relieved. That it would say that they all recieved a measure of peace from what Jesus did and were no longer afraid. But that isn’t the case! Instead of feeling peace, verse 41 tells us that the disciples were terrified! One second they are fearful, the next, terrified! But there is a big difference in the two different fears that the disciples experience. Fearing the storm gave them that same feeling we might feel in a storm or in a bad situation. That emotion of was is going to happen, is this the end, that classic feeling of fear. But the fear they experience after what Jesus does it not that kind of fear. The fear they experience after the storm calms down is the same kind of fear that we were told to have in Ecclesiastes last week. The end of Ecclesiastes told us to fear God and to keep his commandments. The fear the disciples experienced after Jesus calmed the storm is the same kind of fear that we are commanded to have. I know this might sound backwards or weird, Pastor Noah says we shouldn’t be fearful, but instead we should be fearful. But the difference between the first type of fear and the second fear is that the second type of fear means that they were in awe and amazement of what they had just seen Jesus do. This fear came from recognizing that Jesus was not just another great teacher, this was someone far greater than them. So for all of us, our goal, our desire, should be to have that second type of fear, this fear that causes us to stand in amazement at what God has done, what he is doing, and even what he will do in the future. While we might have moments of fear in life, if we have the proper fear of God, those earthly fears are much easier for us to handle. So how do we get to the second type of fear? Instead of simply being afraid of something bad happening in life, how can we have the type of fear that makes us stand in awe of God so that we can look at our fears differently? I think there are three truths that we should remind ourselves of in order to fear God instead of having fear in our circumstances.

Remember who Creates the Storm

Psalm 107:23–32 NIV

23 Some went out on the sea in ships; they were merchants on the mighty waters. 24 They saw the works of the Lord, his wonderful deeds in the deep. 25 For he spoke and stirred up a tempest that lifted high the waves. 26 They mounted up to the heavens and went down to the depths; in their peril their courage melted away. 27 They reeled and staggered like drunkards; they were at their wits’ end. 28 Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he brought them out of their distress. 29 He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed. 30 They were glad when it grew calm, and he guided them to their desired haven. 31 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind. 32 Let them exalt him in the assembly of the people and praise him in the council of the elders.

One of the first things that we need to remember is that God is sovereign, he has the power to create storms and to calm them. This passage from Psalm 107 tells us that God is the one who spoke and stirred up the storms that caused distress on the sailors. As the storm went on around them they called out to God and he brought them out of it. This is a pretty hard truth to understand though. Do we always understand why God might cause a storm to come up in our life? I don’t think so. We may not know why God causes certain trials and hardships to happen in our lives, but it doesn’t mean that there isn’t a purpose for it. For the disciples, this storm came up so that they could see who Jesus was, so that they could experience the power of the son of God in a powerful way. They had seen Jesus do amazing things already, but it was this instance that caused them to have the appropriate fear of Jesus. (Not that emotion feeling of fear, but the feeling of awe and amazement) There are times that God causes storms to come up in life so that we can learn more about him. How can we know the power of God, how could we know what God could do, if we never found ourselves in a situation where we needed to see God’s power? The other thing to point out is that the storm did not bother Jesus. If we could learn to see the storms in life like how Jesus sees them, perhaps we could go through them differently.

2. Remember who Controls the Storm

The second truth that allows us to have the proper fear of God is that we should remember who controls the storm. Jesus is the one who said they should get in the boats and head to the other side of the sea of Galilee. The disciples had Jesus’ assurance that they were going to go to the other side, yet that still didn’t stop them from being frightened. For us, we need to remember the promises of God even in the midst of the storms that we face. Yes, we may not know how situations will work out in life, but we can hold to the promises that God loves and cares for us and that by following Jesus we will ultimately have the greatest promise fulfilled in eternity with him.

This storm had no power over Jesus. All Jesus had to do was simply tell it to stop and it obeyed. It obeyed because the earth is the Lord’s and everything in it. It must listen to the one who created it. Since it’s Halloween I’ll use the story of Frankenstein as an example. In the story, Frankenstein is the one who created the monster, not the monster’s name. But anyways, Frankenstein creates this monster but has absolutely no control over it and it ends up causing him grief until he dies. Very uplifting story. But everything that God has created has to listen to him. The situations in life that we face are serious and cause us distress and fear, but they do not threaten God. The things in this life that cause us to be utterly hopeless do not change God or his attitude towards us.

3. Remember who Calms the Storm

The third truth that we need to remember is that Jesus is the one who calms the storm. In life, we like to be in control. Perhaps even more so when we are going through times of fear and uncertainty. Anything we can do to have some kind of control over the situation might bring some kind of comfort. But the disciples had tried to do everything in their control. They had rowed and strained against these winds as best as they could yet despite as hard as they tried, they could not control it. The only way they were going to get through that storm is if they called upon Jesus. Instead of striving with everything we have, there are times where we have to give the trial, the storm, whatever is causing us fear to God, and trust that he will take care of it. He might rebuke it just as he rebuked this storm, or he might simply remind you of his presence with you. But in these situations, we have to remember Jesus is the one who calmed the storm, not the disciples, and not us.

In this passage of scripture we are given two different types of fear. Fear of the storm, and fear of God. One leads to anxiety, worry, and stress while the other one leads to awe and amazement. Isn’t that the type of fear you would rather have and experience in life? That is the lesson that these storms and fears can teach us in our life. It’s in these fears that we grow to trust and depend on God and not on ourselves. This applies to all of the fears we have in life. Fears about health, relationships, money, life, even being away from your phone. When we can move beyond those fears and into the fear of the Lord, we are able to stand in awe of who Jesus is, his power, and his plan for our lives.