The two passages we read today both begin the same way, "Do not be afraid". Someone a lot more industrious than me has counted how many times in the Bible it says, "do not fear" and it added up to 365 times and the common response to that is - that means there is a "do not fear" for each day in the year. It's important for us to understand why Jesus and the prophets are continually telling us to not be afraid.
Abram was consumed with the need to have an heir to pass along his legacy. He wanted a child that could show the love and care for the things he had built and he wanted a child to continue his family line. God wanted Abram to have a child because through that son a whole nation of people would be born. People that were born to help bring about the salvation of the whole world through Jesus Christ.
It is because Abram stopped being afraid that the Bible exists. It would have been a short book without his faithful following of God into places most of us do not want to go. Abram had a great life and a lot of treasures he had accumulated in his long life with his wife Sarah. He listened to a voice talking to him and he heard the promises this voice made and he responded to them. He decided to stop fearing the future, and instead he believed in the promises that seemed impossible and improbable.
Through the faith and persistence of Abraham and Sarah, and their long years of traveling, trouble, and toil they were given the gift they had waited 90 years to experience. They gave birth to a son, Isaac. From Isaac was born Jacob who gave birth to the 12 sons that make up the tribes of Israel. From the birth of the tribes of Israel came Moses who listened to God and they were delivered from Egypt and found refuge in a new land, the land we call Israel today. And down through the line of sometimes sinful and sometimes faithful people, eventually there was born a young male child to a virgin and her carpenter husband. The birth of Jesus Christ was only possible because of thousands of faithful people who went through mental, emotional, and physical hell at times to make it possible.
These people and their faithful response to God's voice is why this church exists. They heard and understood what God was saying to them when a voice cried out, "Do not be afraid! I have a plan!"
Every church in the world experiences fear at some time or another. We all worry about our future and the life of the church. Sometimes the fear is tangible, we can practically taste the tension in the air. There are other times when it is not a fear so much as a worry in the back of our minds. These two passages are given to us today because we need to stop fearing and start praying.
We are here today because we believe in the promises Jesus has made to us. We believe that God loves us. We believe that God gave us Jesus to bring us back into righteousness. We believe that Jesus sent us the Holy Spirit so we would never be alone in the world. Always, we have a mediator that will help us through life. We are here because we are told that it's not just enough to believe in the promises, but we must respond to them. We are here because the promises are so wonderful that we are compelled to worship God, we want to give thanks for our life! We also are here to work together to help others share in what we have been given.
Some would consider God selfish. God is selfish because Jesus is not content with just us coming to heaven when we die. Jesus wants every single person in the world to be in heaven with us. God wants us all, and that is our mission - to help make sure everyone receives the promise of eternal life. I guess we can call it a possessive love. Jesus loves all of us and therefore he wants to spend eternity with every single one of us which is why the very last command he gives to the disciples (and therefore to us) is to spread the Gospel to every corner of the earth.
We don't always like hearing that though. We don't love everyone the way God loves everyone. There are people we truly dislike and the idea of spending eternity anywhere near them makes us cringe. How do we as individuals get past such thinking to be caring toward even those we do not like? How as a church can we get past our dislike for other denominations, and other religions to see the people the way God sees them?
We may not always like it, but we are called to put aside our fear and distrust of these people we've taken a dislike to and to help them to get to heaven with us. There are things God is calling us each to do and calling our church to do that we are not going to like. We need to get over it. We need to stop doubting our abilities. We have been called to share God's love. It's time to get organized and do it
. Abram could have talked about being faithful until he was blue in the face. Talking only gets a person so far. Abram had to accept that what God said was true and then he acted. He RESPONDED to God's promises and he gave up his own comfort to help make our salvation possible. He had no idea that's what he was doing. All he knew is that if he listened to God that something great was going to happen.
Isn't that the same promise that Jesus offers us today? Jesus promises good things to those that follow him. He can and will make us fishers of people. First, we must believe it is possible. Stop being afraid. Stop doubting. Stop worrying. These fears only destroy our possibilities of making a difference. Begin to believe. Have the audacity to be bold in your faith! Jesus is here with us and willing to help us become so much more than we ever were before!
What are we being called to do? What is Jesus whispering to you in your heart? Do not let your fears drown out God's voice! It doesn't matter your age, it doesn't matter your gender, it doesn't matter what you have done in the past or didn't do - Jesus IS talking to you. Jesus IS calling this church to new and better things.
It's up to you. You can listen and become the church that changes our community for the better or you can ignore Jesus and watch our church become nothing more than a pretty building people walk by. I know many of you feel it - that this church has great possibilities. We have the ability to be something great and life changing for those that have never heard of Jesus Christ. But it will only happen if we work together and stop fearing the 'what-ifs' and instead embrace the promises of God. It's time for us to believe and respond faithfully. Just as we depended upon Abraham and Sarah's faithful response to God; someone out there is depending upon us.
Amen.
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