What? So Now You're Telling Me to FEAR?                  Week 6 in series:(Sermon: 2.14.10; Wellspring Church; Rev. J. Moschenrose )

Exodus 20:18-21, Matthew 17:1-8

We've spent the last six weeks studying what the Bible says about the subject of fear, which in Greek means phobia.  We've learned that Jesus taught us to not be driven by fear or held in bondage to fear.  We are not to base our decisions on the emotion of fear; we are not to let fear be in charge of our lives.  At least twenty-six times Jesus says in various ways, "Fear not.  Do not be afraid." The kind of fear Jesus is speaking against is caused by a lack of trust in God, so naturally Jesus does not want our experience of abundant life to be hindered by our lack of trust in God.  So we've prayed that God would help us to trust Him more, and base our decisions on the phobic kind of fear, less.

As a congregation, a faith community, we've heard these sermons and realized that we do in fact at least sometimes base our actions on fear.  We have been encouraged to evaluate our behavior, to discern if our fear is indeed a lack of trust in God or a reasonable course of action that will protect us from certain or near certain harm.  All action involves a calculated risk, and the goal is to face our fear from a core, or foundation, of faith, and let faith dictate our behavior, not the emotion of fear.  For example: You're 90 years old and would like to go to church.  You look outside, see that the walkways are pretty much clear, but it's winter in Michigan and there's lots of snow.  Someone has offered to pick you up at your door and drop you off at the front entrance of church, so you won't have to walk over any ice or snow.  You think, "Should I take the chance? I'm a little afraid.  I'm at greater risk of falling because of my age, and there's a lot of snow outside." And you evaluate: "Is my fear grounded in my trust of God and informed by His gift of wisdom and common sense for safety?  Or is my laziness being tapped? Is a negative force trying to pull me away from God and the abundant life found in community with fellow believers?"   And out of that center of faith and trust in God, you make your decision, and you feel good that irrational emotion or a spirit of laziness is not in charge of your life.

So far we've concentrated our learning on one kind of fear: we've focused on the kind of fear that is an emotion, and means phobia in Greek, which is the language from which the Christian Testament was translated.  But there's another kind of fear, the kind of fear that is often referred to in the Hebrew Testament as the fear people had toward God. In Exodus, the second book of the Bible, after God led His people out of Egypt and into the desert headed for the Promised Land, God gave Moses the Ten Commandments.  God's presence was always very profound and awesome, and this time was no exception.  Just imagine.  As the people watched from the foot of the mountain, they heard thunder and saw lightning, then there's a sound of the trumpet, and the mountain was smoking!  We all can understand why they were afraid and trembled and stood at a distance, and why they said to Moses, "Here's what we will do, Moses.  You speak to us, and we will listen; but whoa  - please, Moses, do not let God speak to us, because if He does, we will die!  We are nothing compared to God!"

And Moses put things in perspective by making a little joke.  He said a Hebrew pun; a play on words, which is often done in Hebrew, though we always miss it in the English translation.  In Exodus verse 21 says, "Do not be afraid; for God has come only to test you and to put the fear of him upon you so that you do not sin." We look at that and say "Do not be afraid" God has put the fear of him upon you! Afraid, fear.  Similar meaning: What's the difference here?  What's Moses trying to say? 

Well, in Hebrew it's clear that Moses is making a pun; although the words for afraid and fear sound similar, the difference would get your attention if you were speaking Hebrew.  Moses said, "Do not be ya-re.. put the yir-ah of him in you."

Fear of the Lord does not mean to be afraid of God.  To put the yir-ah of God in you is to have a reverential trust in God.  And when we trust in God we want to please and obey Him, rather than disrespect Him and sin against Him.  Exodus 20:20 is telling the people to not be afraid of God.  They often had been, and we can understand that. Thunder and lightning, sounds like a trumpet that come from the air, a smoking mountain, would inspire one to be afraid.  Remember that even Moses was afraid to look upon God at the burning bush.  Instead of being afraid of God, though, they were to have a reverent and awe-filled fear toward him.  Yir-ah' This word for fear - is not an emotion but a disposition.  To put the yir-ah of God in us is not a quaking in the shoes because we are afraid but a gentle whisper of the heart because God is so awesome.  Honoring, recognizing God's holiness and power.  We experience 'afraid' as an emotion; we experience 'yir-ah fear' because we are in right relationship.

We live in a culture and in a time in which this kind of honoring, this recognition of holiness, is not common or talked about much.  We might be helped to get in touch with this kind of awe and reverence by looking at the beauty and awesomeness of creation. When we look at creation, we are awed by the majesty of God's creative power.  

Today there are many things that make us afraid.  We may be afraid because of the economy or social problems.  We may be afraid because we worry about our loved ones.  These are genuine human emotions.  But they are not informed by the Presence of God, which calms the human heart and knows when a single sparrow falls to the ground.  As we mature to know ourselves and God more fully, we replace the emotion of "afraidfulness" with yir-ah fear of the Lord; our center and focus becomes to a reverential sense of the awesomeness and completeness and power and majesty of Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer God.  And we are no longer manipulated and held in bondage to phobic fear.  We are free to rest in God's power and care of us, and are filled with trust, hope, and love.

Our Gospel lesson shows another side of the awesomeness of God.  Through Christ God did something new.  Altogether new.  God moved His people forward to a new stage and enabled us to be a new creation through His work in Christ.  Through the event that is called the Transfiguration, God brought together the old and the new, and in the end left only the new.  Follow along as we read this story together, as recorded in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 17, beginning with verse 1:  Six days later, [which is six days after he started to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer, and they too must deny themselves in order to be his followers.

Remember the mountain that was smoking in the story about Moses meeting with God?  Well, Jesus took three of his closest disciples up a high mountain.  That was a clue of what was about to happen.  And Jesus was changed "He was metemorphothe" a physical transformation, that was intended to inform the disciples of his 'preincarnate glory' and a preview of his coming exaltation, revealing his divine nature and glory as God.. Peter's first reaction was to grab hold of the "old Lord";, let's keep things as they are . You, Moses and Elijah; this I understand, it goes along with my current understanding and expectation of religious matters."

But God abruptly put an end to that line of thinking, and corrected Peter by saying "This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!" And when the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear.  The emotional kind of fear; the phobia fear.  They had heard the Lord, and seen the glory of God in Jesus.  They feared for their very lives!  How could they be in God's presence and live!? 

Intermixed in the pure emotional panic fear they felt because they thought they were going to die because they were too close to the presence of God was a reverence and awe for God.  And Jesus called for the afraid part to be let go.  He came and touched them, which is a comforting gesture, and said, "Get up and do not be afraid." He didn't say, "Do not yir-ah God"; he said do not be afraid Ð do not ya-re.

And when they looked up, the old had passed away Ð Moses and Elijah were gone.  What remained was the new Ð the transformed Jesus. 

I wish I could say that from that day forth the disciplesÕ faithfulness, trust and reverential awe of Jesus never wavered.  But thatÕs not true.  When they came down from the mountain, his disciples promised to follow him anywhere and to maintain their trust, faithfulness and reverential awe.  But they didnÕt.  They would soon be afraid and forsake their Lord.  And Jesus would have nowhere to lay his head.  He would die alone, feeling Òforsaken.Ó

Jesus taught us how to live and how to die.  He taught us how to provide community one for another and how to share the good news.  He modeled how to stay true to GodÕs mission every single day of his life.  He exemplified the successful life of love, trust, hope, obedience, faithfulness and incarnation of Creator God.  And yet too often we live as though we donÕt know any of these things.  Like the first disciples, we must daily begin anew.  The next time you fail Ð the next time you act out of phobia fear rather than reverential awesome trust, imagine Jesus coming and touching your shoulder, and saying, Òget up, and do not be afraid.Ó  And then get up, and continue your journey toward spiritual, emotional, and physical wholeness, growing a little . 

Say your name, imagine Jesus putting his hand on your shoulder, and hear Jesus saying, Ò----, do not be afraid.  ------ do not be afraid.Ó  Christ is here, loving you, guiding you, building your trust and love of God and one another.  Thanks be to God.  Join me now in prayer.