Do Not Fear What They Fear

Brunswick Baptist Church

146^th Anniversary

25^th May 2008

I Peter 3:8-22

Many of you know that I am regular visitor to the Karen refugee camps along the Thai Burma border where more than 150,000 people have been forced to live because of the cruelty meted out upon them by the military government of Burma.

We have been bluntly reminded in the past couple of weeks that the despicable cruelty continues today.

In 1997 Burmese soldiers crossed the Moie River into Thailand and wreaked terror on the beleaguered refugee community by burning down homes in the camps, rendering more than 20,000 people homeless and forcing tens of thousands more to take refuge in the jungle. Many died.

Hardly a word of protest was heard.

In response to this a delegation of Baptist world leaders visited the camps to bring a message of support and solidarity.

It was about that same time that someone had given a video recorder to the Bible school in the camp and the highlights of the visit were recorded. A couple of months later when I rocked up they wanted me to see what had happened when the Baptist World Alliance visited them.

They kickstarted the diesel generator and we all sat down to watch the church service that took place.

It was Advent or Sweet December as the Karens call it and a leading Baptist dignitary preached the sermon on the angels message to the shepherds, “Be not Afraid”. This was the refrain of the message.

The angel said to Mary -“Be not afraid!”

And the angels say to you – “Be not afraid!”

I felt a little uncomfortable that a person who was about to leave the camp that day to stay in a four or five star hotel before flying back home to the USA could have the temerity to say this while that smell of burning houses was still in their nostrils, but I said nothing.

I was sitting next to Simon the principal of the Bible school and as the refrain “Be not afraid !” echoed for about the 15^th time he leaned over and said to me “I hope he is not offended but sometimes I am very afraid”.

For many good people in the world there is a lot to be afraid of.

In Columbia in June of last year the offices of the Mennonite peace and justice ministry were broken into, and two computers holding information about their peace and justice work, as well as a database with names, addresses and personal information on churches and individuals actively working on human rights issues were stolen.

They took those two particular computers, leaving nine others behind. Since then the Mennonite churches and others there, have had to deal with harassment, attacks, kidnappings, and even killings. I think they have reason to be concerned.

The letter of Peter, whether written by Peter, or not was written to people who had lots of reasons to be afraid. We don’t know precisely who they were or when it was written, or the situation that prompted this letter, but based on what we read, we know the recipients were under great duress.

The purpose of the letter was to encourage and to help them to live purposefully in a hostile and unbelieving context.

This is no self help course on how to avoid trouble or have a successful ministry without pain. It does not prescribe or provide sixteen easy steps to successful church ministry.

Its encouragement is not about a missionary strategy (what works) but is about authentic Christ-like living.

There is a quotation from Psalm 34:

“Those who desire life and to see good days

Let them keep their tongues from evil and their lips from speaking deceit;

Let them turn away from evil and do good;

And let them seek peace and pursue it.

For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous,

And his ears are open to their prayer.

But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

It says that a good life does not exempt them from suffering. In fact if they do cop it rough because they do the right thing they should consider themselves blessed.

However what stood out for me when I read it a few weeks ago was the next bit.

It does not say “Don’t be afraid of your enemies,” but rather, “Don’t be afraid of what they’re afraid of.”

Don’t fear what the bullies fear

Don’t be intimidated

Set the place for Christ as Lord in your hearts.

There is something good about a healthy realistic respectful fear.

At Easter time this year I noticed how most of the people who witnessed the risen Jesus were not immediately filled with comfort or confidence. The writers tell us that it was a scary experience for those who met him.

The women at the tomb were terrified when they found the stone had been moved. Even after they had been reassured that Jesus had risen and that there was no need to be afraid they ran from the tomb in terror and amazement. Everybody else he visited were more than a little unsettled by the experience.

I think I would be afraid too. To be standing so close to this kind of power would make me feel ill at ease. Three days ago they had seen him die and now he stands in front of them – not as a ghost or spirit – but as the fatally wounded Jesus.

It is OK to be a little terrified, or even uncertain even when the news is good. When the news is bad it is even more OK.

There is a great deal of comfort in knowing and following Jesus but we must also be aware that when we align ourselves with this person we are opening ourselves to anything. Following Jesus is full of surprises – some of them a little scary because we are opening our lives to a power greater than anything else in the world.

We are opening ourselves to a love that is beyond our comprehension – a love that graciously and unconditionally accepts us.

That can be scary.

Andrew Woff told the BUV staff recently about an incident in “The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe”. Someone was about to meet Aslan, the lion who represents Jesus in the story. The person was a little afraid and asked the children, “Is he safe?”

The children replied, “He is not safe but he is good.”

That is true of Jesus. He is not safe but he is good.

When we meet Jesus for the first time of 101^st time he will not want to make our life comfortable or easy. He will be inviting us to explore parts of ourselves we may not wish to explore. He will want to see our wounds as well as show us his own. He will want to bring healing to our life.

He will invite us to share our lives with people we may not otherwise want to be with.  We will become a part of his great enterprise to love the whole world.

There is a daunting aspect to following Jesus but it is a fear that centres us, that grounds us, that aligns us with God’s purposes for our lives.

And it’s a fear that allows us to stand strong and serene, in the midst of a fearful and frantic world.

However not everyone is able to accept the invitation. In fact, there are some powerful people in the world for whom all of the values espoused by Jesus are anathema. There is not a universal welcome mat put out for him.

There is a story in the gospels of a deranged man who terrorized every towns in the region in which he lived. Good citizens had tried to restrain him with chains even but it seemed that nothing could contain him. Jesus came to the region and in an encounter with Jesus the man was released from the torment that had beleaguered him. In the playing out of this miraculous event many of the local farmers had lost their pigs over a cliff.

The news quickly spread through the region and the respectable citizens came out to see what had happened. What news?

The madman has been cured? You have lost all your pigs?

Luke tells us that when they saw the deranged man seated and clothed in his right mind rather than rejoice and welcome the man into their midst the citizens begged Jesus to go away because they were afraid. It seemed that the presence of Jesus was too unsettling.

Love seems to stir hatred in those who refuse to love.

Peace is always a threat to those who profit from war.

Justice is dangerous for those who pull the strings.

Equity is costly for those who have everything.

Do not fear what they fear.

When I think about people who inflict suffering on others, I don’t immediately think to describe them as being “afraid” or “fearful.”

Cruel, fierce and frightening, maybe. But afraid?

But if I think about what drives powerful people and powerful institutions to abuse their power, and wield it as a weapon against others. Fear is one of the drivers and the fear that grips this world and its powers, is an ugly fear.

Fear causes us humans to do heinous things to each other. to other nations, and to creation. When fear for my own self and my agenda and my position and my wealth and my possessions, gets hold of me, I can do ugly things.

When empires act out of fear and self-preservation, they do ugly things in the world.

So the word to the church is this: Do not let the fear that grips your oppressors get a strangle hold on you, too.

Do not fear what they fear!

Two weeks ago I was worshipping in the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham. Alabama. It was from this church that hundreds of young people marched into the paths of water cannons and to be savaged by vicious guard dogs of the state troopers. Hundreds of them were jailed simply  because they felt the time had come for them and others like them to be treated with dignity and respect.

The activities of these young people so enraged a group of white citizens (many of them fellow Baptists) that the church was bombed one Sunday morning while Sunday school was in session and four young girls were killed.

What were these bombers afraid of? Their world view was being challenged. Black people were claiming their rights to be regarded as human beings just like them and for some reason that scared them.

It enraged them to the point of murder.

This kind of fear demonizes and demeans other people who threaten our world. It denies the dignity of every person and denies truth and when we feel pressured by these forces we are tempted to retaliate with like force.

“Those who desire life and to see good days

Let them keep their tongues from evil and their lips from speaking deceit;

Let them turn away from evil and do good;

And let them seek peace and pursue it…..”

Don’t fear what the bullies fear

Don’t be intimidated

Set the place for Christ as Lord in your hearts

Governments are not the only institution to quake with fear when challenged by Jesus. The church has often maintained its power by the use of fearful control of peoples’ lives as well. We have not always welcomed people who act or think differently from us.

If we take seriously our core Christian conviction— that is, Jesus Christ is Lord, and none other— then we are a threat to every other power active in the world around us, every day.

The power that wealth and material possessions have over us, is undermined by that Christian claim.

The power of our individualistic pleasure-seeking culture, and its worship of the free and independent, self-reliant and self-determined individual, is threatened when we lay down our lives for the sake of God’s kingdom.

The spiritual powers of evil that are at work in the lives of individuals, and systems, are brought up short, and found weak and wanting, when we confess Christ as Lord.

That core Christian confession, “Jesus Christ is Lord,” has major personal ramifications, and spiritual ramifications, and relational ramifications, and physical ramifications, and political ramifications.

If we mean what we say, it altogether, completely, and utterly reorders our lives.

When we do as Peter urges us in 1 Peter 3:14: “Do not fear what they fear, and do not be intimidated, but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord,” then we need to realize that we have taken a stand that puts us at odds with most of the rest of the world.

And there might be suffering.

Maybe not the kidnapping and killing kind, suffered by some of our brothers and sisters in Christ, but maybe losing a job because we take a stand against a boss’ unethical behaviour, or reducing income by getting rid of stock in a company whose business practices we can’t support, or losing a friend whose racist or sexist jokes we finally choose to confront, or any number of other losses or injuries that might happen.

See, the powers of evil we choose to resist have a way of pushing back...hard. We are never promised a life free of suffering. We are promised God’s presence.

We do not need to be gripped by the fear that grips this world. The world around us is guided by an intense fear of losing control. They are consumed by a fearful and feverish grasp for power, and for self-determination. We are not to fear what they fear. 

But be careful; or as Jesus put it be as cunning as a serpent but harmless as a dove.