Fear Not 1981

We're reading half the Bible this morning, got a long lesson on the bulletin, and there's a passage that I'd like to tie the message to from the first chapter, the last part of the first chapter of Ezekiel, and the first part of the second chapter. And as you remember, Ezekiel has this vision, and he sees the wheels within wheels, and this awesome glory, and these creatures that are really described again in the book of Revelation, and we see much here that we also see in Revelation. But it's important that we see that the call of God that comes to him is tied to that vision.

And the same thing happens with us. We have to have some vision of who this is who's calling us in order that the call is going to make some sense. So I'm going to start reading from verse 26 of Ezekiel 1, and above the firmament over their heads there was the likeness of a throne, an appearance like sapphire, and seated above the likeness of a throne was a likeness, as it were, of a human form.

And upward from what had the appearance of his loins I saw, as it were, gleaming bronze like the appearance of fire, enclosed round about. And downward from what was the appearance of his loins I saw, as it were, the appearance of fire. And there was brightness round about him, like the appearance of the rainbow that is in the cloud on the day of rain.

So is the appearance of the brightness round about him. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard the voice of one speaking.

And he said to me, Son of man, stand upon your feet, and I will speak with you. And when he spoke to me, the Spirit entered into me, and set me upon my feet, and I heard him speaking to me. And he said to me, Son of man, I send you to the people of Israel, to a nation of rebels who have rebelled against me.

They and their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day. The people also are impudent and stubborn. I send you to them, and you shall say to them, thus says the Lord God.

And whether they hear or refuse to hear, for they are a rebellious house, they will know that there has been a prophet among them. And you, Son of man, be not afraid of them, nor be afraid of their words, though briars and thorns are with you, and you sit upon scorpions. Be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house, and you shall speak my words to them, whether they hear or refuse to hear.

Most of us who've been following Jesus for any length of time at all can look back on a day when we were a lot more daring than we are now. In those early days when we first met Jesus in reality and power, we entrusted ourselves to him with joyful abandon, and there were very, very few things of which we were afraid. We weren't afraid to take risks.

We spoke up even when we knew it would cause the ridicule of our friends and the scorn of our enemies. We still said what had to be said. We did without things.

We sacrificed. We gave to people in need. We spent ourselves.

We poured ourselves out. We went without sleep, and we never wondered whether we would die of exhaustion or go bankrupt. But as the years passed, and perhaps after a few unpleasant experiences, sometimes because some of these risks we took were nutty, we've toned down.

We're more cautious. We don't take the risks we once took. In fact, we've gone to the other extreme, and that joyful childlike boldness that we once had has been replaced by a caution which is playing it much, much too safe.

We're so safe we're dead. And when Satan took Jesus up on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, If you're the Son of God, cast yourself down. For it's written, His angels will bear you up in their hands, lest you dash your foot against the stone.

Jesus refused. It's also written, You should not tempt the Lord your God. He wouldn't do it.

But when the Father spoke to him in the Spirit and said, Now it's time for you to go up to Jerusalem and lay down your life, Jesus went. Now what's happened with most of us is that Satan managed somewhere along the line to get us to jump down from a few small pinnacles to prove our faith, tricked us into it. And after breaking our legs, skinning our knees, wounding our egos, we're a little more timid.

And so now when the Lord calls us to go out and proclaim that gospel and live it in the world, when He calls us to crawl out of our bunkers and follow Him to a cross, we hesitate. And so now to the call to follow Him is now added a command we're going to hear the rest of our lives. Fear not.

Don't be afraid. When God first called Abraham, He didn't have to say, Fear not, Abraham. It's going to be all right.

All He had to say was, Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to a land that I will show you. And He would. But after a few years, after Abraham messed himself up a couple of times in fear, he goes down into Egypt, fear of famine.

Then he goes telling everybody that Sarah is his sister for fear that if they find out that she's his wife, they'll kill him to get her. Now he needs to be told not only go, but he has to also be told, Fear not. Fear not, Abraham.

I'm your shield. Joshua was a man of faith for years and years. He was the one who encouraged the other people who were faint hearted after they came back from spying out the land and they told those giants and they were scared to death.

Come on, we can do it in the name of the Lord. Let's go. But now when it's time for this Joshua to take over the leadership from Moses, he too needs to hear, Fear not.

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage. Be not frightened, neither be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. And then we come to Ezekiel, and you can see this all the way down to the scripture.

Ezekiel was happy to serve as a priest to the exiled Jews in battle. But when the time comes for this priest, Ezekiel, to be sent to these people with a hard, strong message of a prophet, he also has to be told, Don't be afraid. Fear not.

And he said to me, Son of man, stand upon your feet and I will speak to you. When he spoke to me, the spirit entered into me and set me upon my feet. And I heard him speaking to me and he said, Son of man, I send you to the people of Israel to a nation of rebels who have rebelled against me, they and their fathers.

They've transgressed against me to this very day. This people are impudent and stubborn. I send you to them and you shall say to them, Thus says the Lord God.

And whether they hear or refuse to hear, for they are a rebellious house, they will know that there has been a prophet among them. And you, son of man, be not afraid of them, nor be afraid of their words. Though briars and thorns be with you and you sit upon scorpions.

That'd be fun. Be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they're a rebellious house. And you shall speak my words to them, whether they hear or refuse to hear.

Don't be afraid. Fear not. These are not simply words of polite reassurance.

These are a command. These words are a command which is given to every prophet of God and every follower of Jesus down to this day. Stop being scared and get out there and live my gospel and proclaim my gospel.

Do what I'm sending you to do. What a change will come over our lives when we begin in fact to heed that command, be not afraid. How different the future will look to us and how different people around us will appear and how different our lives will be when we take this command seriously and start pushing fear out of our hearts in obedience to his command.

Today, it's the Lord himself who says to us, don't be afraid. Fear not. And when you push that fear out of your heart in obedience to me, my fire will fall upon you and you will be consumed with zeal.

When Jesus tells us to fear not, he's commanding us to put away the fear of change. Most of us, young and old, are scared to death of change and scared of any change that would in any way upset our warm, comfortable routine. And that fear of change paralyzes our wills and blinds our eyes so that there are all kinds of possibilities we never see and things which God is trying to get through to us we never hear.

Did you ever consider what it was that caused Peter to be so scared that day when Jesus says, all right now Peter, launch out into the deep. Let down your net for a catch. And Peter does it out of respect.

He doesn't expect anything to happen. And then suddenly the net is so full of fish it starts tearing. Now Peter's scared because Peter knows that this is a sign from God.

God is invading Peter's life and he knows that when God invades your life, your life changes. Now what's going to happen to me? If this kind of thing keeps going, where will I be? Depart from me for I am a sinful man, oh Lord. I can't handle this kind of thing.

Don't be afraid. From now on, you will be catching men. And when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook everything and followed him.

And that forsaking of everything to follow Jesus was a change which lasted the rest of their lives. It went on. Do we really think that all the major changes that we're ever going to have to live through in this life are already behind us? Not if we're following Jesus.

There are big changes right up ahead. Don't be afraid. From now on, you're going to be catching men.

When Jesus tells us, fear not. He's commanding us to put away the fear of loss. What if I lose everything I have on this adventure with Jesus? What if you do? You just might.

If you have the kingdom, you have everything. And if you have the whole world and don't have the kingdom, you have nothing. Let your loins be girded and your lance burning.

And be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the marriage feast. Fear not, little flock. It is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

Sell your possessions and give on. Provide yourselves with purses that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

So we have houses to live in, clothing on our backs, food to eat. Some of us have cars to drive. And some of us have money saved up for that new washing machine or a better furnace.

But these things aren't our life. God deliver us from being bound to these things or the lust for them or the anxiety about them. God help us to put away the fear of losing them.

If we lose them, and we might well lose them, then we lose them. When Jesus tells us to put away fear, when he says, fear not, he's commanding us to put away the fear of rejection. If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.

If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you.

A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you. If they kept my word, they will keep yours also.

But all this they will do to you on my account because they do not know him who said it. Okay. Who wants to be hated? Who enjoys being persecuted? Who likes to be shoved out of the group and silently ignored and despised and rejected and all that by the people around us? And yet, if the fear of rejection causes us to conceal the fact that the number one priority, the first love of our lives, the number one loyalty is Jesus, then we're being destroyed by that fear.

Better that we should be rejected flat out, right away, and then go around as rejects and outcasts continuing to do the will of God outside of the group, whatever the group, even if it's the Christian group. Then we should spend the rest of our days constantly being hindered and hampered by the fear of rejection To follow Jesus in this world is to be a speckled bird. The other birds don't like the speckled birds.

They pick on them. Fear not, says Jesus. I'm a speckled bird too.

So just keep walking with me. When Jesus commands us, fear not, he's calling us to put away the fear of death. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone.

But if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it. And he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

If anyone serves me, he must follow me. And where I am, there shall my servant be also. If my servant is really going to be where I am, and I go down into a grave and come up and bear much fruit, then my servant's going to do the same thing.

If I go to a cross, then my servant follows me to a cross. The goal of our life as believers in this world, for every one of us, is a redemptive death, a death for the name of Jesus. And every single day we live, we're moving closer to that death.

And every day we're getting practice at that death. We're learning how to lay down our lives, how to deny ourselves for those around us. And you, son of man, be not afraid.

Be not afraid of their words, though briars and thorns are with you and you sit upon scorpions. Nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house. And you shall speak my words to them, whether they hear or refuse to hear, to proclaim and live the gospel of Jesus Christ in this world is going to involve more and more change, loss, rejection, and sooner or later, death.

And there's not one of us who particularly looks forward to those things, not one of us, if we're honest, who isn't scared of these things. And so the Lord not only commands us to get out there and proclaim his gospel, he also commands us to put away our fear. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage.

Be not afraid, neither be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Let's just take some time and think about that silence. I'll break the silence in prayer.

Lord God, you alone know the areas where fear has really distorted our understanding of your will and twisted and warped our perception of your voice. You know how vain we are, how strong we think we are in this area and such babies in that area. And we pray that today you'd help us to face reality as you show it to us about ourselves and help us to move out of our protective cover, whatever illusion or dream or thing or person it is, and expose ourselves, Lord God, to the road that you're calling us to walk.

Help us, Lord Jesus, to trust you. Help us to tear out of our hearts and thrust aside and cast from us everything that is hindering our obedience. Set us free from the things that drag us back and hold us down.

We ask it in Jesus' name, Father.