Thoughts on fears by Debra Amrein

 
Call to worship:
One: Give thanks to the Lord for he is Good
All: His love endures forever
One:The Lord is with me, I will not be afraid
All: His love endures forever
One: The Lord is with me, He is my Helper
All: His love endures forever
One: the Lord is my strength and my song
All: His love endures forever
One: The Lord is God, and He has made his light shine upon us
All: His love endures forever
One: You are my God, and I will give you thanks; you are my God and I will exalt you. Give
thanks to the Lord for He is good
All: His love endures forever


Scripture readings:
Deuteronomy 10:12-21

New International VersionFear the Lord12 And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?
14 To the Lord your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it. 15 Yet the Lord set his affection on your ancestors and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all the nations—as it is today. 16 Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer. 17 For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. 18 He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. 19 And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt. 20 Fear the Lord your God and serve him. Hold fast to him and take your oaths in his name. 21 He is the one you praise; he is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes.
Romans 8:18-26
New International VersionPresent Suffering and Future Glory18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that[a] the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.
22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.


MESSAGE

"So what are we afraid of?"
We as a society, both local, national and international, are experiencing something unprecedented in our generation. A world-wide disease pandemic that threatens to take many lives, and indeed has taken many lives. So far, the measures taken to save lives and protect the vulnerable, have had massive repercussions on the daily lives of millions of people. Many people live in fear of becoming sick. A lot of the measures that the authorities and individuals have taken are based on that fear.

As I thought about it, it occurred to me that FEAR is the "expectation of loss". The fear of sickness, fear of death etc is actually the expectation of loss of life, of loss of health, loss of relationship with loved ones, loss of normal everyday life, loss of control of our life as we know it.

Even before the current situation erupted in March, I had been thinking about the concept of FEAR. We are used to fear, we deal with fear every day; words like "fear" and "afraid" populate our vocabulary. "I am afraid I can't make it"; "I planned to paint the shed, but I am frightened it is
going to rain" "I am afraid you are too old for the reduced price ticket.." thousand of ways we use the words afraid, frightened, or fear in our everyday speech.

I recently concluded a certification as a Herbalist. A herbalist defines disease or sickness as an "abnormal state" or a condition where the cells and tissues are not functioning as "normal", rather than a state whereby a foreign element has been introduced. In order to treat disease, a herbalist uses plants and natural elements to assist the body in regaining a healthy, or normal, condition. A support mechanism, if you will, rather than an attack on the diseased cells with a substance toxic to the body.

I thought in a way, the state of fear is similar: a condition where we expect loss or lack of what we believe we need or are entitled to. Fear is an abnormal state, a state where we are lacking peace and wholeness, and one that threatens or challenges the condition of our lives, or our very life. Indeed, living in fear can actually affect the state of one's physical and mental health.

At the moment, authorities are warning that one of the consequences of the pandemic, even for those who were not actually sick with the virus, is mental illness, or to look at like it a herbalist would, a state of lack of complete mental health.

The Bible talks a lot about fear. In fact, churches have a not-so-good reputation of capitalizing on fear in order to keep people under control. We have all heard the phrase "put the Fear of God into you". The many empty churches perhaps tell the story that this method did not work in the long run. People are tired and fed up of being controlled by fear. Being told we have to behave or "God with get you" or God will punish you, or take away the things or people we love.

Is this true? Is this what God does? The Bible does tell us to "fear God". Let's look at what it actually says:

Deut. 10:12-21.
Here God actually gives us some definitions of what "fear of God" looks like. Speaking to the tribe of Israel at the time, He said that all He asks of His people is to fear the Lord your God. In fact, if God IS Love, then the command to "fear" Him, is given in our best interest, for our protection.

He goes on to say: love Him, serve with all your heart and soul, observe the Lord's commands. Then we are safe, under HIS umbrella, if you will.
Prov 8:13 to fear the Lord is to hate evil

Ps 11:10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, all who follow His precepts have good understanding

Prov 10:27 the fear of the Lord adds length to life
Prov 14:27 The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, turning a man from the snares of death
Prov 15:33 the fear of the Lord teaches a man wisdom, and humility comes before honour
Prov 19:23 the fear of the Lord leads to life, then one rests content, untouched by trouble
Prov 29:25 Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe

From these verses we see that the Fear of the God isn't quite the shaking in our boots type of fear that we are led to believe it is. It is actually a decision to obey Him, to follow His ways and seek Him. Rather than the former mentioned kind of fear, it is the respect and honour given to a God who is all-powerful, who is the One in charge of life, and who ultimately is the one who gave Himself for us that we may have abundant life.

We read in Ps 27, that the Lord, whom we respect and honour as the all-powerful, the one who holds life in His hands, is our light and salvation, the stronghold of our life. Therefore, whom shall I fear? Of whom shall I be afraid? Certainly not the giver of life.

How do we enter into this condition of peace, of not having fear of circumstances, of experiencing the strength of God, his light and salvation?

I would like to read some verses from Psalm 34 and 37. When you go home today perhaps take some time and read carefully through both Psalms. I think you will find they are almost a checklist of what we can do to claim this protection and the peace it brings. Not only that, we can implement that promise, by speaking our commitment to God.

Psalm 34 has special importance to me, as at one point in my life at a
time of fear and stress, this psalm gave me the strength and hope to believe that God would look after things and all would be well. Which it was.

The Bible tells us that perfect love drives out fear (1John 4:16-19). Jesus has given His life for us, and there is no greater love than this (John 15:13). Perfect love comes from God, who actually says "God is Love". Jesus actually tells his followers "do not be afraid". He calls us to trust Him, that He is our comfort and in the midst of all the troubles of life, He brings us peace.

The kind of peace that doesn't make sense, that no one can really understand. Though things don't always go smoothly, and life is never perfect, there is the peace that comes from knowing that in Jesus, there is really nothing to lose. And that is essentially what we fear. Fear of losing what we have, losing our way of living, our loved ones, our life.

As the Apostle Paul said, "for me to live is Christ, and to die is gain" (Philippians 1:21) Death is no longer something to be afraid of (1Corinthians 15:55 "Where O Death is your victory? Where O death is your sting?").

In Christ I have the promise of true life, assurance of eternity with Him, and I need not fear for anything. The everyday circumstances that challenge us really cannot remove us from that place of peace, knowing that our very lives are in the hands of the One who loves us most. The Lord will not forsake his faithful ones, those who take refuge in Him, they will be protected forever.