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Take Courage

January 10, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Take Courage
Sycamore Creek Church
January 2, 2011
Tom Arthur
Acts 27:13-26

Take Courage, Friends!

Have you ever noticed that superheroes aren’t always fearless?  Actually, sometimes they experience a lot of fear. What makes them superheroes is that they do the right thing (most of the time) even when they’re afraid.  That’s courage.

Today we continue on in this series on courage.  We began the series by looking first at fear and how Joseph overcame fear in the Christmas story.  Last week we looked at good fear, the fear of God, and we saw how the fear of God meant a lot more than just fear of judgment.  Today we take a look specifically at courage itself.  What is courage and how do we get it?

I’d like to begin with a story from the book of Acts.  The book of Acts tells the history of the early church.  One of the key figures in this story is Paul.  We’ll read from chapter 27 where we enter into the middle of a long saga for Paul.  He has been arrested and is on  his way to Rome where, given that he is a Roman citizen, he desires to appeal to the emperor.  Along the way Paul ends up on a boat in the middle of a storm.  That’s where we pick up the story.

Acts 27:13-26 (NLT)

13 When a light wind began blowing from the south, the sailors thought they could make it. So they pulled up anchor and sailed along close to shore. 14 But the weather changed abruptly, and a wind of typhoon strength (a “northeaster,” they called it) caught the ship and blew it out to sea. 15 They couldn’t turn the ship into the wind, so they gave up and let it run before the gale.

16 We sailed behind a small island named Cauda, where with great difficulty we hoisted aboard the lifeboat that was being towed behind us. 17 Then we banded the ship with ropes to strengthen the hull. The sailors were afraid of being driven across to the sandbars of Syrtis off the African coast, so they lowered the sea anchor and were thus driven before the wind.

18 The next day, as gale-force winds continued to batter the ship, the crew began throwing the cargo overboard. 19 The following day they even threw out the ship’s equipment and anything else they could lay their hands on. 20 The terrible storm raged unabated for many days, blotting out the sun and the stars, until at last all hope was gone.

21 No one had eaten for a long time. Finally, Paul called the crew together and said, “Men, you should have listened to me in the first place and not left Fair Havens. You would have avoided all this injury and loss. 22 But take courage! None of you will lose your lives, even though the ship will go down. 23 For last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me, 24 and he said, ‘Don’t be afraid, Paul, for you will surely stand trial before Caesar! What’s more, God in his goodness has granted safety to everyone sailing with you.’ 25 So take courage! For I believe God. It will be just as he said. 26 But we will be shipwrecked on an island.”

This is God’s story for us today.  Thank you, God!

Sometimes Paul is a little hard for us to wrap our minds around.  He definitely comes across as a sort of faith superhero.  Here he is in the midst of this horrendous life-threatening storm and he stands up and tells the sailors, “So take courage! For I believe God. It will be just as he said” (Acts 27:25, NLT).  Take courage!

Is courage the lack of fear?  I don’t think so.  This series was inspired and informed by a book titled Following Jesus in a Culture of Fear by Scott Bader-Saye.  He defined courage in this way: “Courage is the capacity to do what is right and good in the face of fear” (67).  I like that definition. He goes on to say that “the courageous person feels fear but is not overcome by it” (68).  It’s not that we don’t have fear if we have courage.  We just don’t act on that fear.

I think also that as we act with courage, our experience of fear diminishes.  Have you ever heard of exposure therapy?  If you’ve got a phobia and go to a psychologist for help, one way they might help you is through exposure therapy.  Let’s say you’re afraid of snakes.  Well, first you’ll spend some time with your psychologist just imagining a snake.  If this is particularly hard, then you might spend several sessions just imagining what you fear.  Eventually you move on from imagining to looking at a picture.  Then a movie.  Then a trip to the zoo.  This is a slow process that goes at a pace that is both comfortable for you but also stretches you to be courageous.  Over time, as you encounter the thing you are afraid of, your fear diminishes.

In the story above, I think we’re encountering a Paul who has had a lot of exposure to fear.  Because he has acted courageously in the past, he experiences very little fear at this point in his life.  He believes God.  He trusts God.  He knows how the story ends.  His courage over time has diminished his fear.  So how do we do this?  A first step is through community.

Courage in Community

In the Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man battles against Dr. Octopus.  In one particularly harrowing encounter, Dr. Octopus sets a train full of passengers on a course for destruction.  Spider-Man attempts to stop the train and in doing so, he is pretty beat up.  When the train comes to a halt, he is passing out.  The passengers in the train reach out and grab him before he falls off the train.  They carry him to a safe place and lay him down.  By this point his mask has been burned and taken off.  His identity is revealed to everyone on the train.  When he wakes up and finds his mask off, a young boy steps out and tells him not to worry.  His identity is safe with them.  When Dr. Octopus shows back up, other passengers step in the way to keep Spider-Man safe.  In this way, there is a whole community that is helping Spider-Man do what he needs to do.  They are helping him have the courage to keep keeping on.

Courage is best developed in a community of people who are going to support you through the risks of exposing yourself to the things that you fear.  In Paul’s letter to the Galatians he says, “Share each other’s troubles and problems, and in this way obey the law of Christ” (6:2, NLT).  When we share each other’s troubles and problems we help one another develop courage.

Bader-Saye says, “If I really believed that if I lost my job or my child got sick, I would not have to respond on my own, then I might fear the future less.  If I really believed that the resources of my community were open to me in case of an emergency, then I might fear the emergency less” (73).  I love this.  This is the kind of church community I want to be a part of.  How far along the way are we as a church?  I think we’re making good strides, but we also have far to go.  We can be more courageous together than we ever could be alone.

This of course means that we have to be open and transparent with one another.  We have to share our fears with one another.  We have to be vulnerable and authentic with one another.  If we pose as someone who is fearless and who always has courage at the right time, then we won’t ever grow in courage.  Courage requires that we are honest with others about our fears.

If we are honest about our fears with others, then there also has to be some trust that we’ll receive help from others.  One of the simple ways we are trying to do this is through these “Skills and Stuff” sheets in the bulletin.  This is the last week we’ll be doing this and then what you write down as skills you’re willing to share or stuff you’re willing to loan out to others will be put in our next directory.  If you’ve got some handy-man skills that you’re willing to share and there’s a single mom in our church who needs a handy-man, then there’ll be a simple list that can be used to find a handy-man.  If you’re a babysitter and someone needs a babysitter, then they’ll know a place to look.  You get to share your skills and stuff while others get to receive help in being courageous.

Courage and Prudence

One important virtue that goes alongside of courage is prudence.  Prudence is knowing which risks to take.  Prudence has to do with wisdom.  Not all risks are worth taking, and taking some risks isn’t courage, it’s stupidity.

I took a stupid risk one day.  While I was in college I was driving a group of friends around town.  As we were driving down a road that ran parallel to railroad tracks, a train came up beside us.  I decided that I was going to beat the train to the crossway and so I gunned it.  I did beat the train, but my friends were not so happy.  It was a stupid risk to take.  There was no good that came from taking that risk.  The only thing that came from taking that risk was risking my own life and wellbeing and the life and wellbeing of my friends.  This was not courage.  It was stupidity.  Prudence is the wisdom to discern between the two.

We all know about the Incredible Hulk.  When Bruce Banner gets upset and his blood pressure goes up, he becomes the Incredible Hulk.  The only way to get back to being Bruce is to calm down.  In the movie, Hulk, the hulk is on a rampage destroying everything in sight.  His girlfriend knows that he must be calmed down and as the hulk is surrounded by a company of military, police, and other law enforcement personnel, she steps out to help calm him down.  What all the military forces were unable to do, she was able to do simply by showing herself to him.  Was this risky for her?  Sure.  Maybe he wouldn’t calm down.  Was it prudent of her?  Absolutely.  She knew it had worked in the past.  Lives were at stake.  She was acting for the good of others.  This was a prudent risk to take and it took courage on her part.

One of the best ways to develop prudence is to read the stories of Christians who have come before us.  A friend of mine, Josh Hearne, keeps a website called Telling the Stories that Matter.  Everyday he writes a brief summary of the life of one of the “superhero” Christians who came before us.  He tells us about the risks they took and quite often how it cost them their lives.  These stories help us know what kind of risks are worth taking and help give us the courage of the community that has come before us to act not out of fear but for the good of others and for the spread of the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Courage: Know the Story

Or course there is a big story here that all of these stories are joining.  It’s the story of God’s saving work in the world.  This story has an author that has entered into the story.  It is a story that we join when we are baptized.  When we are baptized we die with Jesus when we go under the water, and when we come up out of the water we join Jesus in his resurrection.  We know the end of the story.  God wins!  Death dies.  Evil is no more.  Do you trust how the story ends?  In the book of Revelation we read about Jesus being the first and last.  He says, “Don’t be afraid! I am the First and the Last” (Revelation 1:17, NLT).  Sometime we say Jesus is the Alpha and Omega, the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet.  In other words, Jesus is the beginning of the story and the end of the story.  Do we trust the author?

I began reading a fantasy series one time called The Binding of the Blade by L.B. Graham.  The series as a whole has five books, and the first one is called Summerland.  Throughout the first book you fall in love with the main character, but at the end of the first book, the main character dies!  How could Graham do this?  I loved that character!  I wasn’t sure that I trusted this author anymore.  He was messing with the lives of the people I had grown to love in his story.  I wasn’t sure I trusted Graham to make it all worth it.  Well, as I continued reading the books, I came to see how his death was necessary.  It wasn’t the end of the story.  I wasn’t sure I trusted the author in the midst of the suffering, but as I continued the story, I realized that I could.

In this life we are in act four of a five-act play.  Act I is creation.  Act II is the fall.  Act III is God’s work in the people of Israel culminating in Jesus Christ.  Act V is the second-coming of Jesus.  We’re not exactly sure how we get from act III to act V, but there’s a kind of courage we can have in the midst of act IV because we know act V is coming.

Courage: Join the Story

Will you join in this story?  Will you have the courage to say, “I need God.  I can’t do it alone. I’m weak and broken, and I need to be saved not just from others but even from myself.”  This is the first step of courage, admitting that you can’t do it yourself.  You need God; you need God’s son, Jesus Christ.  Will you join this story?

So be strong and take courage, all you who put your hope in the LORD!

Psalm 31:24 (NLT)

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Courage: Good Fear

December 27, 2010 by

Courage: Good Fear
Sycamore Creek Church
December 26, 2010
Tom Arthur
Psalm 34:11

Merry Christmas, Friends!

Today we continue this series on courage.  On Christmas Eve we looked at the story of Jesus’ birth from the perspective of Joseph and saw the courage that Joseph had to not act on any fear he might have had.  Rather he responded in a way that always took Mary’s well being into account and even extended the invitation to her to join his family as his wife.  We tend to have a lot of fears in this life, and the problem is that we usually fear the wrong things.  Today we’re going to look at the things that we should fear or “good fear.”

Before we dive into good fear let’s take a moment and reflect on some things that often cause us fear but may not be good things to fear.  Whenever I tell people I love backpacking they almost immediately bring up the fear of bears.  “Aren’t you afraid of bears?” they say.  But the reality is that you’re more likely to die driving to the park than you are by getting mauled by a bear, but we hardly consider the danger of driving to the park.  And once you’re in the park you’re more likely to die of hypothermia, falling off a cliff, or getting struck by lightening.  But these things never come up in conversation.  We fear the wrong things.

Or what about the fear of the loss of money?  We do a lot to make sure we have plenty of money.  We treat it as a kind of security blanket.  Interestingly enough there has been some research done lately on happiness and the amount of money people make.  Once your family reaches a total household income of $75,000, there is not much increase of happiness above that amount.  I know.  Some of you are saying, I could be very happy on $75,000.  You’re right.  But once we get that much, we always want just a little bit more.  How much is enough?  Just a little bit more.

When Sarah and I were in seminary we made less money than we have ever made before.  Yes, there was some stress, but there was also a kind of contentment I had never experienced before.  We had the basics of life met, and we were satisfied.  And that was on a lot less than $75,000 a year!

Or consider our fear of losing control.  I’ve had that experience lately.  I’ve always had a fear of having a child because I feared losing control of my life.  And that’s about what’s happened lately.  The baby runs our life.  But we never fully factor in all the variables.  Something I had not realized was that along with the anxiety of giving up control to a baby has come the joy that the baby brings.  I’m beginning to wonder why I was ever afraid of losing control to begin with.

Or how about fearing our wounded pride?  This is a tough one.  We rarely like to humble ourselves because our pride might get wounded.  There’s a great scene in the first Spiderman movie were Peter Parker has just gotten his Spiderman powers.  He goes and joins a wrestling tournament and wins.  The organizer promised him $3000 but only pays him $100.  Peter Parker objects but the organizer says, “When did this become my problem?”  Peter Parker is pretty upset at this, but leaves the office with his $100.  As he’s leaving a thief runs in and steals all the money from the organizer.  Peter Parker lets him run by and get away.  The organizer confronts him and Peter Parker responds, “When did this become my problem?”  As Peter Parker leaves the building he finds his uncle stabbed and laying on the ground dying.  The thief that Peter Parker let go unhindered, had stabbed his uncle and stolen his car.

In this scene Peter Parker is more afraid of his wounded pride than he is of letting injustice run free.  He thinks it’s not his problem but injustice is everyone’s problem.  I’m reminded of Tolstoy who wrote, “All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.”  Peter Parker feared the wrong thing.

Consider lastly our fear of death.  What is death in the face of the resurrection of Jesus Christ?  The Apostles went through a huge transformation post resurrection.  Before the resurrection they were a fearful bunch.  When Jesus was arrested, they scattered, but after they saw Jesus resurrected, all but one, tradition tells us, went to their death as a martyr.  They no longer feared death.  Psalm 56:4 says, “I trust in God, so why should I be afraid, What can mere mortals do to me?” (NLT).  This doesn’t negate suffering and grief.  Jesus did weep at the death of his friend Lazarus after all (John 11:35) even though he knew that he would soon raise Lazarus.  But somehow death just doesn’t have the same sting anymore.

These are some of the things I think we fear wrongly.  But just because there are some things that we fear wrongly, doesn’t mean that there aren’t some things that we fear rightly.  Perhaps the most right thing to fear is the Lord.  Psalm 34:11 tells us, “Come, my children, and listen to me, and I will teach you to fear the LORD” (NLT).  The “fear of the LORD.”  That sounds pretty fearful to me, but what does “the fear of the LORD” mean?

Generally speaking when we consider fearing the LORD we almost always jump to judgment.  I read a prayer on Christmas that said:

O God, you make us glad by the yearly festival of the birth of your only Son Jesus Christ: Grant that we, who joyfully receive him as our Redeemer, may with sure confidence behold him when he comes to be our Judge…Amen.

Yikes!  Yes, the one who forgives us as our redeemer also will one day be our judge.  That is a fearful thought sometimes.  Psalm 130:3 says, “If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand?” (NRSV).  I’m reminded of the scene in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, where Lucy finds out that Aslan is a lion.  She is fearful of this lion and says to The Beavers who are her host, “He is a tame lion, isn’t he?”  The beavers respond, “Oh no.  He’s not tame. He’ll scare your socks off.  But he is good.”

Certainly judgment is part of what it means to fear the LORD, but it is certainly not all that it means.  If we take some time to do a word study on the fear of the LORD by looking up several other places where this phrase shows up in the Bible, we get a much broader and thicker perspective on what it means to the fear the LORD.

In Nehemiah 5:15 we read, “The former governors who were before me laid heavy burdens on the people, and took food and wine from them, besides forty shekels of silver. Even their servants lorded it over the people. But I did not do so, because of the fear of God” (NRSV).  Here the fear of the LORD has to do with loving justice.  One who fears the LORD doesn’t oppress one group over another.

In Psalm 19:9 we read that “the fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever; the ordinances of the LORD are true and righteous altogether” (NRSV).  Here the fear of the LORD has to do with following God’s commandments.

In Psalm 111:10 the psalmist tells us, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever” (NRSV).  Thus, one who fears the LORD is one who is beginning to understand wisdom.  Perhaps the key word here is “beginning.”  Do we progress on to deeper forms of wisdom?  I was reading St. Augustine the other day and he was describing St. Paul’s conversion.  He points out that God used fear to convert Paul but that eventually Paul had perfect love that cast out all fear!

As we get into the wisdom literature of the Proverbs we find several proverbs that talk about the fear of the LORD.  Proverbs 1:7 says, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction” (NRSV).  One who fears the LORD is teachable.  Proverbs 8:13 says, “The fear of the LORD is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate” (NRSV).  Thus, one who fears the LORD loves the good.  One last proverb, Proverbs 14:27 says, “The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, so that one may avoid the snares of death” (NRSV).  Here the fear of the LORD is equated with a fountain of life.  We usually think of fear as something that causes death but this kind of fear brings life!

Let’s look at one last scripture that speaks of the fear of the LORD.  It’s found in the oracles of the prophet Jeremiah. God says, “I will make an everlasting covenant with [Israel], never to draw back from doing good to them; and I will put the fear of me in their hearts, so that they may not turn from me” (Jeremiah 32:40, NRSV). Here fear of the LORD has to do with a love of God that brings about ultimate good for those who fear the LORD.

If we add all these things together we get a much better picture of the good that it is to fear the LORD.  Fearing the LORD means you love justice, you follow God’s commands, you are wise and understanding, teachable, and love the good.  You have a fountain of life, and you love God.  This is a far cry from fear only meaning judgment.

If you add these things all together and focus it not just on God, but what good fear means for the way we treat others, I think it could be summed up as care, concern, or compassion.  When we are told to not be afraid, this doesn’t mean that we are to seek a total detachment from the things around us.  That’s more an eastern religious idea than it is a Christian idea.  Total detachment, from the Christian perspective would mean the total lack of love.  For the flip side of fear is love that shows concern, care, and compassion.

Superheroes are often faced with situations where their concern for others comes out.  In the original 1968 Batman movie, Batman, played by Adam West, and Robin come across a bomb in a building.  Batman jumps in through a window and grabs the bomb.  He runs back to the window ready to throw it out of the house, but as he looks out the window where he is going to throw it, he sees a marching band coming up the way.  He obviously doesn’t want to blow up the band, so he jumps out of the window and runs down a pier.  One way he runs into a woman with a baby carrier.  The other way he runs into a group of nuns.  He turns to throw the bomb in the water and there’s a couple kissing in a boat.  He runs to the other side of the pier and just as he begins to throw the bomb into the water, he sees a flock of ducks.  Exasperated, he runs all the way down the pier and finally finds a place to dump the bomb where it won’t hurt anyone.

Batman has an appropriate fear of hurting those around him.  This is born out of care, concern, and compassion for others.  We see this over and over again in the Bible in various stories.  Two that come to mind are Moses’ sister, Miriam, who hides him in the reeds for fear of what Pharaoh will do to him.  Or consider Joseph who takes his family, including Jesus, to Egypt because of fear for what Herod is doing in the slaughter of the innocents.  In each of these instances, someone has care, concern, and compassion for another which is a kind of fear that leads them to protect that individual, and God uses that protection to the good of many others later in their lives.

Unfortunately we usually get caught up in fearing the wrong things.  Friends, do not fear the wrong things.  Fear the right things. Fear injustice run free.  Fear the lack of love.  Fear God in awe and reverence.  This is the good and right fear of the LORD.

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Courage: Do Not Be Afraid

December 27, 2010 by

Courage: Do Not Be Afraid
Sycamore Creek Church
Christmas Eve, 2010
Tom Arthur
Matthew 1:18-25

Peace, Friends!

What do you most fear?  During this Christmas season as we contemplate the birth of the son of God, I’ve been contemplating fears a lot more lately because we’ve recently had a new addition to our family.  Sarah and I gave birth to Micah John on November 27th, and while the experience has been filled with joy, it has also brought up a lot of fears in me about being a dad.  Will I be able to give this boy all the love he needs to thrive?  Will I be able to juggle the responsibilities of being a pastor and a dad and a husband?  What will he think of me as he grows up?  What will I think of myself?  Will Sarah and I be able to provide a formative and nurturing place that helps him grasp hold of God’s deep, deep love for him?  These are the fears I’ve been contemplating this season.

We took some time in the last several weeks to survey SCC about their own fears.  We got 41 responses and here are the results ordered with the most number of responses at top:

Fear Survey (41 Response)

1.      Regret and failure

2.      Losing faith

3.      Losing loved ones

4.      Helplessness

5.      Job related

6.      Phobias

7.      Being alone

8.      Others who are different.

I find this list very fascinating.  Particularly the top one.  We fear most of all failure in all kinds of ways and regret of not trying.  And it intrigues me very much that we fear losing faith (both our own and that of our family members) above losing a loved one to death.  And yet all of these fears have a kind of pull on us.  They grip our emotions in a way that is not always rational.  They compel us to act in certain ways.  Fear is a very powerful motivator.  Into these fears steps the Christmas story of Jesus, God with us, in the helpless form of a little infant.

Let’s dive into that story as it is told by Matthew.

Matthew 1:18-25 (NLT)

18 Now this is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant by the Holy Spirit. 19 Joseph, her fiancé, being a just man, decided to break the engagement quietly, so as not to disgrace her publicly.

20 As he considered this, he fell asleep, and an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to go ahead with your marriage to Mary. For the child within her has been conceived by the Holy Spirit. 21 And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All of this happened to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet:

23 “Look! The virgin will conceive a child!

She will give birth to a son,

and he will be called Immanuel

(meaning, God is with us).”

24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord commanded. He brought Mary home to be his wife, 25 but she remained a virgin until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus.

This is God’s story for us.  Thank you, God!

There is a lot of potential and real fear in the story of Christmas.  Particularly as Matthew tells us, we see Joseph’s fear.  Going back to verse twenty we read:

An angel of the Lord appeared to [Joseph] in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to go ahead with your marriage to Mary. For the child within her has been conceived by the Holy Spirit” Matthew 1:20 (NLT).

The angel tells Joseph to not be afraid.  While we are actually never told explicitly whether Joseph is afraid or not and if he is afraid what he afraid of, I think we can trust the angel to have a little bit of inside information about Joseph’s feelings at the time.  So what is he afraid of?  I suspect he’s a little afraid of the angel before him.  I mean, if an angel showed up right now in this room, I’d be at least a little afraid.  I might even feel like running out of the building.

But that fear is a kind of temporary or fleeting fear.  The bigger fear, I think, is the ongoing situation he finds himself in.  His fiancé, Mary, is pregnant but not by him.  Surely he has a broken heart and is afraid of what that will mean for him and his future.  He must be having a lot of self-esteem issues right about now.  He may be wondering how this could happen to him.  He may be fearful for how exactly to break off this engagement.  Joseph has a lot of fear to go around, but the angel says, “Do not be afraid.”

The amazing part is that Joseph follows the angel’s counsel.  We aren’t told what the state of his inward fear is, but we do know his actions on the outside.  If he was afraid of following through on the engagement to Mary, he doesn’t act on it.  He goes ahead and marries Mary.

In this story of Joseph I think we can see two righteous responses to fear.  The first is natural and the second is supernatural.  First the natural…

A “Natural” Righteous Response to Fear

If we go back just a verse we read something very interesting.  Joseph attempts to remove the fear in a way that is kind and gentle to Mary.  That’s the first righteous response to fear: get rid of the fear while thinking of the well being of others.

We read in verse nineteen that “Joseph, her fiancé, being a just man, decided to break the engagement quietly, so as not to disgrace her publicly” (Matthew 1:19, NLT).  Matthew tells us that Joseph is just or some translations say “righteous.”  Because he is just and righteous he isn’t just thinking about himself.  He’s thinking about Mary.

This interest and focus on Mary is an unusual response to fear.  I think that most of us when we are afraid usually think first about ourselves.  It’s hardwired in to us to fight or flight.  We think about fleeing to save ourselves or we think about fighting it out and doing as much damage as possible so as to save ourselves.  In both instances the focus is on ourselves and not the other people involved and how our actions affect them.  The old hiking adage comes to mind.  When confronted with a bear, you don’t have to run faster than the bear.  You only have to run faster than the person you’re hiking with!

During one vacation my family took, we all rented wave runners and went on a guided tour of some lagoons.  My younger brother was too young to drive one himself so he rode on the back of mine.  I don’t think I had ever actually driven a wave runner before myself!  I’m not sure how he ended up on the back of mine!

Being the teenager that I was, I was interested in seeing how fast this thing would go.  I especially enjoyed letting the throttle out.  As we went around a curve I realized that it might be fun to let the throttle out around the curve.  “Yeah!  That’s it!” I thought.  So the next time we went around a big turn, I let the engine roar.  Whoa!  This thing was a little hard to hang on to.  I could feel my heart start pounding and my stomach clinch.  I could feel the fear of the situation taking hold of my body.

Instead of doing the sensible thing and letting go of the throttle, I simply tightened my grip on the handlebars and held on for dear life.  Unfortunately, my little brother didn’t have a nice comfy set of handlebars to hold on to and the g-force of the turn threw him off the back and into the water.  It was only some time after he had been thrown in the water that I even realized he wasn’t on the back anymore!

You see, when I was faced with the fear of falling off the wave runner, I wasn’t thinking about the well being of my brother, I was only thinking of my own well being.  I tightened my grip because that would help me rather than slowing the wave runner which would help both of us.  Thankfully Rick wasn’t hurt, but he still reminds me of this moment from time to time when I forgot about him and threw him off the waver runner into the ocean!

Joseph’s response to fear is different.  He thinks about Mary’s well being and instead of making a public spectacle of her, he plans to end the relationship in as quiet a way as possible so as to care for her.

When faced with fear, one righteous response is to remove the fear in a way that is kind and gentle and caring for others around you.

A Supernatural Response to Fear

The story though takes a turn at this point.  The angel, a supernatural being, shows up and doesn’t rebuke Joseph for his original plan but tells him to go down another route: marry Mary.  Invite the thing that you fear into your family!

We read that “When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord commanded. He brought Mary home to be his wife” (Matthew 1:24, NLT).  Joseph brings the things which must fear him most into his home.  He has Mary as his wife.  Again, we’re not told whether Joseph felt any fear or not.  All we’re told is what Joseph does.  If he is afraid, he doesn’t act upon it.  Instead he extends the gift of family to Mary.

There’s a great scene at the end of the second Spiderman movie where Spiderman is battling Dr. Octopus after Dr. Octopus has built a contraption that is threatening to destroy the world.  They fight it out, but in the end the contraption is still ticking away toward destruction.  Spiderman then does the unthinkable. He takes off his mask and reveals that he is Peter Parker, the friend of Dr. Octavius before Dr. Octavius became Dr. Octopus.  Peter Parker stops trying to beat Dr. Octopus and extends the hand of friendship to Dr. Octavius.  It is in this moment that Dr. Octavius overcomes his Dr. Octopus persona and disarms the ticking time bomb of a contraption.

Going back to the Christmas story, we see something very similar.  Joseph stops looking at Mary as the enemy and rather looks at her as his loved one, his wife.  Joseph extends the gift of family to Mary and in doing so also extends the gift of family to God!

As we continue reading, Matthew tells us that something is very special about this baby Jesus.  He quotes the prophet Isaiah saying, “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and he will be called Immanuel (meaning, God is with us)” (Matthew 1:23, NLT).  Jesus is God with us!  In extending family to Mary, Joseph has ended up inviting God into his family!

Consider for a moment the same set of circumstances from Jesus’ perspective.  Once again there is a great scene in the Superman Returns movie that gives us a glimpse of the kind of “fear” perhaps, that the son of God might have had while contemplating coming to earth in the form of a helpless little baby.  Superman is floating up in space and he can hear all the bad stuff going on on planet Earth.  He hears the sirens, the radio calls, the arguments, the fights, the robberies, everything.  He knows it all, and he seems in a way content to just float up in the heavens undisturbed by it all.  Why get mixed up in all that messiness?  Why not just stay in the comfortable place of heaven and ignore the pain and suffering on Earth?  But Superman cannot ignore it.  He cannot ignore it because he is focused on the well being of others, not just himself.  He cannot ignore it because he has in a sense become part of the human family.  He loves them.

I suspect that the Son of God had a similar view of Earth.  Why not stay in heaven and enjoy all that his divinity had to offer him?  Why become a human?  And why a little baby?  Because the Son of God is not compelled to act out of fear, but is compelled to act in a way that is kind and caring and loving to others, and he takes it a step further and becomes part of the human family.  The Son of God becomes a son of man so that the sons and daughters of humanity might become the sons and daughters of God.  Joseph extends to Mary the gift of family, and Jesus extends to us the gift of family too.

Living in an Age of Fear

If Joseph and Jesus provide us some big patterns for responding to fear, here are some further thoughts about living in an age of fear that might help you follow Joseph and Jesus’ example.

First, is your fear a phobia?  Phobias are a little different than what we’re talking about here.  If you’ve got a fear of snakes or spiders or heights or whatever that is keeping you from being able to act in a way that is kind to others or keeping you from inviting others into friendship or family, then it is probably time to seek some professional help.  There are steps that psychologists can take to help you overcome fears like this so that you can act in loving ways to others.

Lysol AdSecond, is someone selling you fear?  Advertisers use fear all the time to motivate us to buy their stuff.  Consider this Lysol ad.  What is it telling  you?  I think it is playing to a fear that all parents have of hurting or losing their children.  This ad says implicitly, “You’re not a good parent if you don’t buy Lysol and ‘clean’ your telephones.”  But the reality is that we have taken this whole sterilization thing so far that it is causing problems on the other end of things.  We’re making our environments so germ free that our immune systems aren’t being built up to handle the germs we do come in contact with.  Did you know that kids who grow up on farms actually have less allergies than kids who grow up elsewhere?  In some ways it is very good for kids to get dirty.  Don’t be motivated by someone selling fear.  Be motivated by care for others and the invitation to friendship and family.

Third, the number one and two fears in our SCC survey all had examples about family and especially children.  We are a very fearful bunch when it comes to our families.  I’m beginning to learn this fear myself.  The question that I raise in the midst of this fear is, do we parent out of fear or formation?  Fear keeps your kids in a protective bubble.  Formation allows risks that help your child grow to know, love, and serve God.  Consider this simple question: How many times do you tell your child to be safe?  Now compare that to this question: How many times to you tell your child to be good?  What if we were more interested in our children being good than in being safe?  I remember the first time my parents handed me the car keys.  Wow, that must have been a fearful moment for them!  But they realized that they had to give me the opportunity to risk so that I would develop the character trait of responsibility.  They were focused  more on my long-term well being than on their own immediate need to not be afraid.

Fourth, is your fear based in unfamiliarity?  Back in college I took a group of kids from the projects of Chicago camping.  This was kind of like taking them to the campground next to the church offices on Aurelius.  We weren’t really in the wilderness, but they felt like we were.  This was for many of them the first time they had ever been camping.  When it began to get dark, the critters came out, especially the raccoons.  Oh dear.  These kids from the city were so scared of the raccoons.  You would think that a rhino or lion had come into our campground.  They were afraid of the raccoon because they were unfamiliar with it, but by the next morning, they had lost their fear of the raccoon.  It was no longer unfamiliar.  I think this is why the offer of friendship is so powerful.  If we are afraid of someone who is different than we are or something that we are unfamiliar with, we will most likely come to find that what we thought was so scary was not so scary after all.

Courage.  Do not be afraid.  Joseph and Jesus show us the way.  Joseph invited Mary and Jesus into his family.  Jesus invites us to become sons and daughters of God.  That’s an amazing invitation from someone who began his life as a helpless infant in a manger.  Thank you, God!

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Courage: Do Not Be Afraid

December 20, 2010 by

Our upcoming Christmas Eve service will kick off a new series called Courage: Do Not Be Afraid.  We’ll look specifically at Joseph and the courage he had to have to trust God amidst the situation that was unfolding in the life of his fiance/future wife and her/their child, Jesus.

Courage: Do Not Be Afraid

Have you ever noticed that super heroes aren’t always fearless? Sometimes they have quite a bit of fear. They just chose to do what’s right rather than run from the fear (at least most of the time). That’s what makes them super. It’s called courage. Courage isn’t the lack of fear. Courage is doing what is good even in the face of fear. As we grow in faith we grow in courage, courage to live out the life that Jesus calls us to live, courage to do good even when we’re afraid, and courage to be the people we were created to be. As we celebrate Christmas, what could be more courageous than the God of all creation taking on the life of a baby born in a manger? Now that’s super-natural! Join us as we explore courage in a four part series beginning on Christmas Eve.

  • December 24th – Fear Not (5PM & 7PM)
  • December 26th – Good Fear
  • January 2nd – Courage
  • January 9th – Practicing Courage

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