Fear Not - Matthew 8:26

A Sermon by Dr. Neil Chadwick


In 1933 when Franklin D. Roosevelt gave his first inaugural address, early in his speech he spoke these memorable words:

    "First of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself - - nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory. I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days. In such a spirit on my part and on yours we face our common difficulties."

Obviously, today there are many serious things to be fearful of, especially in our day when there is emerging an entire subculture of powerful weapon bearing, fanatical terrorists. We may like to believe that these terrorists are located far from us in the countries of the Middle East, although we recently learned of a group of six men who were apprehended in the Philadelphia area, men who were plotting to launch a killing spree at New Jersey's Fort Dix Army Base. (One comedian newscaster quipped, "When Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid learned of this terrorist plot, he called for the withdrawal of all troops from Fort Dix.")

Of even greater alarm is the terror of the school shootings, the children in an Amish schoolhouse in Pennsylvania, and more recently the killing of 32 college students and teachers at Virginia Tech.

Now, as though real terror isn't enough, there are those who feel a need to fabricate it.

    A couple of weeks ago 69 sixth-grade students from Scales Elementary School in Murfreesboro, Tennessee were taken on an annual week-long trip to Fall Creek Falls, a state park about 130 miles southeast of Nashville. Thinking they were just playing a prank, the teachers told the students that there was a loose gunman in the area - one teacher even went so far as to dress in a dark hood, and jiggle the door of the cabin where the children were staying.

    Led by an assistant principle, the teachers who staged the phony gun attack repeatedly told the children it was not a drill; they cried and took shelter under tables, holding hands and shaking, some praying, begging for their lives thinking they would never see their families again.

    It came as no surprise that as soon as they found out, the parents were outraged, and the teachers involved were suspended without pay for two weeks.

Certainly, there is no lack of fear in our day.

However, going back to Roosevelt's famous line, "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself," we know that the historical context for these words was America's Great Depression, and that's why the new President concluded dismissively with, "They [the difficulties] concern, thank God, only material things."

    Only a few here can possibly have a memory of those dark days. Businesses and banks closed their doors, people lost their jobs, homes, and savings - a great many people depended on charity to survive. In 1933, at the worst point in the depression, more than 15 million Americans - one-quarter of the nation’s workforce - were unemployed. During that time, there were many opportunities for fear - fear of losing jobs, fear of not being able to provide for basic necessities.

    Actually, what may concern us today is just the opposite, not fear about financial collapse, but fear of abundance. And believe it or not, there is a word for such a fear; it's called "hylephobia," the fear of materialism.

By the way, just how many fears there are? According to one list, there are at least 650 known fears, all having their own hard-to-pronounce name. Here's a sampling, one for nearly every letter of the alphabet - see if any of these are yours:

    The fear of being in a moving automobile is called Ochophobia.

    Fear of becoming bald is Phalacrophobia.

    There's a fear of church (Ecclesiophobia), death (Thanatophobia) and eating (Sitophobia).

    Some may have a fear of feathers or being tickled by feathers (Pteronophobia), or a fear of ghosts (Phasmophobia).

    It's probably good that there's a fear of hell, called Stygiophobia, and injury, called Traumatophobia.

    There are also fears of jealousy (Zelophobia), kissing (I doubt that anyone here has Philematophobia) and loneliness (Eremophobia).

    Lyssophobia is a fear of becoming mad; Epistaxiophobia is a fear of nosebleeds, and Gerontophobia is the fear of growing old.

    If you have Arachibutyrophobia it means you have a fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth, or perhaps the real fear is Katagelophobia, the fear of being ridiculed for having peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth.

    Perhaps there are way too many people afflicted with Didaskaleinophobia (the fear of school) or Phronemophobia, the fear of thinking.

    Finally, there are fears of ugliness (Cacophobia), vegetables (Lachanophobia), work (Ergophobia) and x-rays (Radiophobia).

    And there's even a fear of the color yellow called Xanthophobia.

    However, not only colors, but some numbers also strike fear, for example you're probably aware that the fear of number 13 is "triskadekaphobia" - there's also a name for the fear of number 666 - "hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia."

When we search the Bible on the subject of fear, we find that over 60 times fear is renounced with the words "fear not."

    The idea is found in two of my favorite Psalms:

    "Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident." (Psalms 27:3)

    "God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging." (Psalms 46:1-3)

    God Himself told Abraham not to fear (Genesis 15:1), and Hagar, who gave birth to Abraham's first son was given the same message (Genesis 21:17).

    Abraham's son and grandson, Isaac and Jacob, respectively, also heard this message, "Fear not" (Genesis 26:24; 46:3), as did Moses (Exodus 14:13), Joshua (Joshua 8:1), Gideon (Judges 6:23), and Daniel (10:12).

    The prophets often counseled their listeners, "Do not fear" (Isaiah 7:4; 41:10; 44:2; Jeremiah 46:27; Joel 2:21; Zechariah 8:13).

    In the New Testament there were also many who were given this same message. Around the time of Jesus' birth, Zechariah, father of John the Baptist (Luke 1:13), both Mary (Luke 1:30) and Joseph (Matthew 1:20), and the shepherds (Luke 2:10) were all told, "Fear not."

    Several times the disciples were given this same exhortation (Luke 5:10; 8:50; 12:7; 12:32). And at the close of the Gospel story, the women who discovered the empty tomb were also told, "Fear not." (Matthew 28:5)

    Paul, when faced with death while he was enroute to Rome was also told, "Fear not" (Acts 27:24), and he passed this word on to the Christians and Pastors of his day: "For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship." (Romans 8:15); and "God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." (II Timothy 1:7)

    And John gave us the memorable words, "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us." (I John 4:18, 19)

    At the end of his life, when John recorded the words of the Revelation, he recounted how the Lord Himself spoke to him saying, "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades." (Revelation 1:17, 18)

So, we are repeatedly advised by Scripture, "Fear not." But of course we do fear, and we even understand that in many ways fear can be a good thing.

    Fear can slow us down when we're driving at twilight or in the early hours of the morning and thus avoid hitting a deer.

    Fear of VD and STDs can keep us from getting involved in harmful sexual practices.

    Fear of water can motivate us to take swimming class before diving into the deep end of the pool.

    And certainly, fear of God is absolutely necessary for eternal survival.

But what do we do about the unwelcome kind fear, what Roosevelt called "nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes" - the fear that immobilizes or at least impedes our progress?

Many try to avoid it.

    If they're afraid of roller coasters, they simply don't go on them.

    If they're afraid of flying ("aviophobia"), they travel by car - like one woman said, "I like the tera firma - the more firmer the less terror."

    If they're afraid of the dark, what is called "nyctophobia," they keep the light on all night.

    If they fear heights - "acrophobia," they simply don't climb ladders.

Others say you have to face your fear, and there has developed a specialized therapy to help people face and conquer their fears. For example, if you are frightened of spiders, "arachnophobia," the therapist may begin by insisting you sit in the same room where there is a large spider contained in a glass tank. Slowly you will be moved closer to the tank, then coached to hang your hand over the edge of the tank, then with a glove on your hand allow the spider to climb across your fingers, and finally handle the spider with the glove off. Now you have freed yourself from this fear. (By the way, don't try this with "lilapsophobia," the fear of tornadoes!)

Some try to "whistle in the dark" while walking through a cemetery at night, perhaps trying to distract themselves so as not to think too much about the terrible things that could happen to them.

Please indulge me as I share one of my favorite cemetery stories.

    On the outskirts of town, there was a big old pecan tree by the cemetery fence. One day two boys filled up a bucketful of nuts and sat down by the tree, out of sight, and began dividing the nuts. "One for you, one for me. One for you, one for me," said one boy. Several were dropped and rolled down toward the fence.

    Another boy came riding along the road on his bicycle. As he passed, he thought he heard voices from inside the cemetery. He slowed down to investigate. Sure enough, he heard, "One for you, one for me. One for you, one for me." He just knew what it was. "Oh my," he shuddered, "it's Satan and the Lord dividing the souls at the cemetery." He jumped back on his bike and rode off. Just around the bend he met an old man hobbling along with a cane.

    "Come here quick," said the boy, "you won't believe what I heard. Satan and the Lord are down at the cemetery dividing up the souls. The man said, "Beat it kid, can't you see it's hard for me to walk?" When the boy insisted, though, the man hobbled to the cemetery. Standing by the fence they heard, "One for you, one for me. One for you, one for me."

    The old man whispered, "Boy, you've been tellin' the truth. Let's see if we can see the devil himself."

    Shaking with fear, they peered through the fence, yet were still unable to see anything. The old man and the boy gripped the wrought iron bars of the fence tighter and tighter as they tried to get a glimpse of Satan.

    At last they heard, "One for you, one for me. And one last one for you. That's all. Now let's go get those nuts by the fence, and we'll be done."

    They say the old guy made it back to town five minutes before the boy.

However, better than avoidance, or trying to overcome fear by sheer will power, or distractions, the Bible has a better way to overcome fear - it's called faith.

One of my own favorite Bible stories on this subject is found in Matthew 8:23-26, the story of Jesus and His disciples in the storm over Lake Galilee. The simple Biblical account goes like this,

    "[Jesus] got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, 'Lord, save us! We're going to drown!' He replied, 'You of little faith, why are you so afraid?' Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm."

Notice, Jesus didn't say, "Get over it," He didn't call the disciples "sissies or girlies," nor did He tell them to go see their therapist. Rather, He merely chided them for their underdeveloped faith - Jesus understood that increased faith is the path toward decreased fear.

Remember the quote from President Roosevelt - "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself"?

With all due respect for this great man who, longer than any other President, provided strong leadership for our country during one if it's most trying hours, I think he got it wrong. Fear of fear is not the greatest fear. Instead, we should say, the fear of God is the greatest fear, and after that there should be a fear of a lack of faith.

    When faith is absent, fear abounds.
    As faith decreases, fear increases.
    When faith is lost, fear looms.
    As faith shrinks, fear shoots up.

    No matter how we choose to express it, faith and fear cannot be married - no, they can't even live in the same house. To state it positively,

    The answer to fear is not courage, but faith.
    To diminish terror, one must develop trust.
    To fight fear, one must feed faith, for to magnify faith is to minimize fear.
    We must confront our insecurity through the counsel of inspiration.

    We can only defeat cowardice by deploying the confidence that comes from our sincere belief in an all-wise, all-powerful and loving God, the Creator and Sustainer of all.

In John's words, "perfect love casts out fear," but we must understand that it is not just any kind of love, but love for God, the kind of love that can only survive in the context of faith. Or to say it another way, love relies on trust. I can love the one I can trust.

In all of us there resides both faith and fear - some of each, and at times there's more fear and at other times faith is the larger of the two.

One day faith and fear were together at the park and each climbed onto their end of the seesaw board. When fear was heavier, he could sit at the end of the board and make faith totally incapable of doing anything. But then faith began to put on weight, and one day faith was able to keep all the way to the ground his end of the seesaw board, and at last, fear had no power.

There's an old song, nearly lost in the rush to sing only the new songs. It expresses well our theme:

Faith is the victory! Faith is the victory!
Oh, glorious victory that overcomes the world.

1. Encamped along the hills of light, ye Christian soldiers, rise,
And press the battle ere the night shall veil the glowing skies.
Against the foe in vales below, let all our strength be hurled;
Faith is the victory, we know, that overcomes the world.

2. His banner over us in love, our sword the Word of God;
We tread the road the saints above with shouts of triumph trod.
By faith they, like whirlwind's breath, swept on o'er ev'ry field;
The faith by which they conquered death is still our shining shield.

3. To him who overcomes the foe white raiment shall be giv'n;
Before the angels he shall know His name confessed in heav'n.
Then onward from the hills of light, our hearts with love aflame;
We'll vanquish all the hosts of night, in Jesus' conq'ring name.

(Words by John H. Yates - Melody by Ira D. Sankey)

Discussion Questions
Fear Not

1. What was the historical context for the words "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself"?

2. What are some of the events which have caused more than usual fear in America?

3. Why were parents in Murfreesboro, Tennessee upset after their 6th grade students returned form a weeklong stay in a State Park?

4. What was the end of President Roosevelt's statement? "Thank God, the difficulties only concern _______ ______ ."

5. What have you been told were the causes and results of America's Great Depression of the 1930s?

6. We're told there are at least 650 known fears - name one of yours.

7. The fear of which numbers do these two words represent, "triskadekaphobia" and "hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia."

8. What is the Bible's most frequent exhortation concerning fear, and who are some of the people who received this message?

9. Where was the Apostle Paul when he was told not to fear? (Acts 27:24)

10. What are some of the benefits of fear?

11. What are some of the common ways people try to deal with their fear?

12. How is it that faith can enable the overcoming of fear?

13. If fear of fear is not the greatest fear, what should be our greatest fear?

14. What story in the Gospels underscores the idea that little faith results in large fear, and how can we turn this around?

  • - - Return to Top of this Page
  • - Email a link to this page
  • - Go To Next Sermon by Dr. Neil Chadwick
  • - Back To Sermons Page or to the Sermons Alphabetical List
  • - - Download This Sermon
  • - - Download a Power Point Presentation for This Sermon
  • - - If you have enjoyed joyfulministry.com, you may send a referral letter - Click Here, and enter email addresses of your friends. 
    This Page's Title Is:

                       
    Your Name Is:

                       
    Your Email Address Is:

                        
    Your State and Country:

    Please identify your vocation:

         Senior Pastor.     Associate Pastor.
            Youth Pastor.    Lay Minister.
                  Church Member.

    Which section of this site would you most likely return to?

         Sermons     Articles     Stories   
             Poems     Hymns    Articles for Leaders
               Marriage Articles         A Bit of Humor

    Would you like to receive the free weekly E-mail Circular?

      YES

    If you have a web page, would you like to establish a reciprocal link?

      YES

    Feel free to add a comment or prayer request: