"Standing Tall Against Our Fears"
Sermon Transcript for July 6, 2003By Rev. Mike Beck
We begin our summer sermon series this morning and I would begin it by asking this question, “What are you afraid of? What are your fears? What is it that if you are really willing to look inside just frightens you terribly?” In the 27th Psalm are these wonderful words that I want us to read together as we just take a moment this morning to introduce this series. The words are on the screen. Read them with me; it’s a great Psalm!
“The Lord is my light and my salvation, of whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? When evil men advance against me to devour my flesh; when my enemies and my foes attack me; they will stumble and fall. Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear. Though war break out against me, even then will I be confident. One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. To gaze upon the beauty of the Lord, and to seek Him in His temple. For in the day of trouble God will keep me safe in His dwelling. God will hide me in the shelter of His tabernacle and set me high upon a rock. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.”
Fear does affect us all. Every single one of us here has something that we are afraid of or greatly concerned about. Unfortunately, most people handle their fears in inappropriate ways. Some people take those things that they are afraid of and worry excessively almost to the point of the fear paralyzing them. But they take no constructive action other than to worry about things. Another group of people either avoid those things that they are afraid of or they deny that they exist. But neither of those ways is helpful and constructive. What we need to do and what this sermon series over the next eight weeks is about is with God’s help to learn how to stand tall against our fears.
As a way of introducing the themes that we will be looking at, I want to simply revisit the verses we just read. This series will be extremely practical in nature. Friends, there will be no better time this year for you to reach out and invite a family member, an un-churched neighbor or friend or co-worker than these next two months. We will not be talking about building plans. We will not be talking about money. We’re going to be singing some of the joyful old hymns of the faith and we are going to look in to God’s Word at some very practical areas of which people are fearful and afraid.
Verse 1: “The Lord is my light and my salvation, of whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?” Note the personal pronoun is used three times—the pronoun “my”. You hear Dan and I over and over again say to you we are not about doing church, we are not about going through the motions of religion, we are about connecting people in a personal relationship with God that affects their life 24-7. And the Psalmist said, “The Lord is my light…” That word, “light”, when we think about fear so many people are afraid of the darkness. And how comforted we are when light comes on so we can see. And the Psalmist said the Lord has brought light. He says, “The Lord is my salvation.” Salvation means deliverance, wholeness, which is the opposite of living a life paralyzed by fear. And he says, “The Lord is my strength”. When I am afraid, I need to be able to turn to strength more than just my own, but a strength that can come from God alone.
Verse 2: “When evil men advance against me to devour my flesh…” We’re going to stop there. David was a warrior. He was a shepherd out in the fields where wild animals roam. So he says, “When evil men advance against me to devour my flesh, when my enemies and my foes attack me,” he says, “they will stumble and fall.” We may not be afraid of wild animals in the night and we may not be afraid of advancing armies as David was, but one of the messages in this sermon series is our fear of disease and death. And I wonder in our day, when David said, “my enemies advance against me to devour my flesh”, that’s a fear that’s very relevant to us. “Though my foes attack me…” attack comes in more subtle forms but equally deadly. One of the messages in our series will be on our fear of rejection and betrayal by those around us.
Verse 3: “Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear. Though war break out against me, even then will I be confident.” Next week we’ll be discussing a fear that we see on the news every night. War used to be only what happened across the ocean, but it’s a lot closer than that now. We’ll look next week at our fear of “terrorism and war”. Many fear the impending end of the world. If you don’t believe that, just look at the popularity of the book series, Left Behind. We’ll examine that topic in the final sermon of this series entitled, “Gathering Doom”. But isn’t it true that other fears that besiege us, that break out to reek havoc in our lives, are perhaps more subtle but equally damaging in their effect upon our life? So let me let you think ahead. In one of these messages, we’ll be talking about the fear of financial insecurity. That’s a fear over the last few years that a lot of people have dealt with as they’ve watched their financial portfolio in the stock market steadily shrink. We’ll look at the fear of failure and disgrace. We’ll look at the fear of skeletons in the closet. What if somebody found out about this part of my life? What do we do with that? We’ll look at the fear of the paralyzing “What if’s” of life.
Verse 4: “One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek…” And what he seeks, you’ve done this morning. Oh, if we could just get more persons to seek what you’ve taken advantage of today. He says, “that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.” And then note this phrase, “To gaze upon the beauty of the Lord, and to seek Him in His temple.” You’ve heard me use this quote before but it’s so true. The quote just goes like this, “Whatever gets your attention, ultimately gets you.” If the fear gets all of our attention, fear ultimately wins. But David here in the 27 Psalm says what I am going to focus on is to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord, to seek Him in His temple. And then Verse 5 gives us a promise.
Verse 5: “For in the day of trouble…” Let me stop there. That verse along with many verses of Scripture reminds us that trouble will come. If your life is trouble free today you’d better get down on your knees and thank God. But then know that out there around the corner someplace there is trouble. “For in the day of trouble,” David says, “God will keep me safe in His dwelling. God will hide me in the shelter of His tabernacle and set me high upon a rock.” Troubles will come. But note here, as you look at that verse the quiet assurance that faith in God can give. It’s great to see Bill Frosch back in church today. We talk about how hard it is to come back that first Sunday when a loved one is not there to be with you. Troubles have certainly affected the Frosch household in the past year. And we may be inclined to say from an earthly perspective, “Well, Marsha died.” Yes she did. And we greatly grieve not having her joyful presence with us. But I’ve watched Marsha Frosch as she journeyed those two months of her life the most difficult road that anyone could ever have to journey. And she said courageously and in faith with the Apostle Paul, “Oh death, where is thy victory? Oh, grave, where is thy sting?” We watched God in the midst of all of that trouble. He remained strong as He set her upon a high rock. And then the 27th Psalm ends with these words:
Verse 6: “Wait for the Lord…” That’s all he said to me. But the answers of faith aren’t always as spontaneous as we want them to be. But it’s often in the waiting that God grows our faith and reveals Himself to us. We’re told to “be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” And in a sense these closing words of David in Psalm 27 are what we hope will be our words as well and that through this sermon series we’ll know how more fully to reach that point. We’ll do that if we are willing to honestly look at our fears, if we’ll stand up against them and not run from them, and if we’ll rely on God’s strength working in and through us to be as the Apostle Paul said “more than conquerors” through Him who loved us.
Would you quiet your hearts quickly before God in prayer and let’s commit these coming weeks to Him. “Oh God, we put on a good front to the people around us. Many of us have learned how to do that extremely well. We project this air of confidence and strength. Lord, if they can look inside as you do they would see the fears that grip our soul. And I pray in these coming weeks that we would honestly acknowledge our fears, that we would find in your Word the way forward to deal with them, and that we would know the strength that your Holy Spirit lets us stand and rise above them. And, Lord, we acknowledge that we live in a society strapped by fear--our neighbors, our co-workers, our family members. You’ve called us, Lord, to be a light in this community. And so I pray, oh God, that you would give us the boldness, give us an intentionality to invite un-churched neighbors and friends to come and to learn of the God who said over and over again in Scripture, “Do not be afraid, for I am with you.” May your Holy Spirit flow in a bold and free way in these coming weeks as we commit them to you. In all that we say and do, may Jesus Christ be lifted up in glory and praise! It’s in His name that we pray. Amen.”
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