Living Fearlessly in a Fear Filled World

“Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."

Luke 2

It was a dark night.  Shepherds were out in the fields around Bethlehem.  They were, Luke tells us, “keeping watch over their flocks.”  The stillness was broken only by their conversations.  Who knows maybe one or two were watching the sheep while the others slept.  Suddenly the quiet was shattered.  “An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. Now this word “fear” is no small thing.  This does not mean that they were simply startled by the angel.  This is the word for real deep-seated terror.  A literal translation of the text would read, “they feared a great fear.”

What does that mean?  All you need do is think back to what happened just south of here last May in Santa Fe, Texas.  Do you remember the school shooting?  I am sure that every parent with a son or daughter at Santa Fe High School that day “feared a great fear…” I remember a night when the police called us. Ben had been in an accident.  They were taking him to the hospital. But they couldn’t tell us his condition… couldn’t even tell us if he was alive.  As we raced the 18 miles to the hospital Linda and I feared a great fear.  There are many such moments of fear great and small – knowing they are laying off at work, then finding out that the boss wants to see you… Or having the doctor tell you they found stage 4 cancer… or getting the call you dreaded in the middle of the night… the call that one of your parents is gone… or knowing that you have to tell the truth to someone… confess a wrong you’ve done to someone you really care about… there are many moments when we fear a great fear!

This shouldn’t surprise us. Fear is the natural fruit of being sinners in a sinful world.  The very first mention of fear in the Bible comes immediately after the first sin.  Adam tells the Lord, “I heard the sound of you in the garden and I was afraid…”  Sin, you see, is having the audacity to say no to God… its believing you don’t need Him, that you can handle life on your own.  The trouble is you can’t say no to God and get away with it forever.  Sooner or later it will catch up with you.  That’s why Isaiah was so afraid when he had His vision of God in the temple.  Isaiah literally feared a great fear.  “Woe is me!” He cried out, “For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”     You may think you can handle life on your own, but sooner or later you come up against something that is too big for you, something you can’t handle.

This past week I have had conversations with 2 ladies who have come up against things in life that they can’t handle on their own – Cheryl Webb from Fishers and my sister Lois.  Cheryl’s husband is recovering from a heart transplant.  Instead of bringing Wes home, his health has gone from bad to worse.  My sister has spent the month caring for her husband. He has started chemo – not to save his life but to make it last a little longer.  This has been a very different Christmas for both ladies.    Instead of parties and Christmas cookies and decorations – there have been ups and downs, setbacks, worries and fears.  Yet as I visited with each of them, our conversations have made clear that when everything else got stripped away, the heart of Christmas has remained. The message of the angels has resonated in their hearts.  What they can’t handle… what we can’t handle on our own – God has handled for us.  He has given His own Son to be born of Mary in Bethlehem.  “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.  It is not by coincidence that when the angel offers the shepherds “great joy” it’s the same word used to describe the shepherds “great fear.”  Even as the shepherds feared a great fear God invites them to “joy a great joy.”  In that good news of the birth of Jesus He invited those shepherds… He invites Cheryl and Lois… He invites us to live fearlessly, even joyfully in a fear filled world.

One thing that makes this joy so great is that it’s a gift, not a command. Two Sundays ago, I told you about the mother who kept yelling at her little girls to smile for their Christmas photo. In the end all they could do was cry.   That mother discovered what God already knows. We can’t just rejoice on demand.  We can’t just summon joy on command.  So, He doesn’t demand joy! Fear Not, He gifts it to us.  He gives it to us “wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.”  The joy He gives is a person - His own son Jesus Christ our Lord! God Himself comes into the midst of our fears… into the midst of our worries and sorrows.  He becomes one of us to walk with us through it all.  A couple of weeks ago, before he got so very sick I sat and visited with Cheryl’s husband Wes.  He shared with me the most amazing testimony to faith – “No matter what happens,” he told me, “whether for life or death, I am not afraid.” “How?” I asked.  “Why?”  “Because,” He said, “I know that God is with me.  I know what my savior has done for me.”  That’s the heart of the Christmas message.  That’s what the angels are telling us.  In Jesus God has become our Immanuel… He has become God with us!  That’s the joy of Christmas that drives out fear.

That joy is no fleeting emotion.  It’s not at the mercy of life’s changing winds.  It’s much more than a wish on a Christmas card. The joy God gives is real and lasting.  It’s as real as the flesh and blood of that little baby in the manger.  This child is God Himself taking on our fears.  Taking our flesh and blood… living our lives... carrying our sorrows, our failures, our wounds, our deepest and greatest fears to the cross.  This gift is Jesus rising again triumphant over it all, triumphing over sin and death.   It’s not by chance that the first words of the angels on Easter morning are the same as those of Christmas – “Fear not! For I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen…  Jesus is the joy that has defeated all that we fear. 

After one of these many school shootings, one of my former students described the fear that she and her husband were feeling - the same fear many parents have felt.  They tried to shield their first grader from all the news.  But he went to school and heard all about it.  When the little boy came home he told his father, “Don’t worry daddy. I’ll be okay.”  Choking back tears the father asked him, “How do you know Gideon?”  “Because Daddy, Jesus loves me.”  That little boy at that moment was God’s Christmas angel sent to speak joy into his daddy’s fears. 

We live in world filled with fearful headlines – war in every corner… terrorism… shootings in schools and churches… the list is endless.  Even worse are the personal fears and worries that plague your heart and mine – about struggles at home, about friends who are hurting, about the future, about your job, your kids, your finances – you know what they are.  Well tonight we celebrate the new story that pushes that fear completely off the headlines and out of our lives.  It’s good news… an invitation to live fearlessly in this fear filled world… and invitation to joy a great joy… a joy that defies our fears… a joy that defeats every enemy.  Of all things it’s a birth announcement.  An angel came to certain fearful shepherds.  His wonderful words speak to all of us tonight. “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”  This is the news that defies every enemy and every worry.  This is the good news of great joy that casts out all fear forever.   Jesus the savior is born!  Merry Christmas!  Amen!