There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out fear,
because fear involves punishment. So the one who fears has not reached
perfection in love. 1 John 4:18
One of my
favorite movies of all time has a quote about the topic that we are looking at,
“Fear will keep the local systems in line.” This was spoken in Star Wars: A New Hope by
Grand Moff Tarkin. Within the empire he was most likely the third most powerful
man. This statement is one that has been quoted most commonly as “Fear will
keep them in line.”
These words
are words of control. How are they going to keep control with Fear. Why does
this work? Charles Stanley says it this way:
“Fear stifles our
thinking and actions. It creates indecisiveness that results in stagnation.”
Fear has
been with us longer than nearly any other emotion that we have today. We look
back to when Adam and Eve first sinned; they hid themselves because they were
scared. As we have gone along humanity has learned how to use this as a tool
for oppression and tyranny. If people are afraid then they need someone
stronger than them to protect them.
Fear comes
from many places, ignorance being one of the strongest of these places. Today
we are crippled as a society in fear. We can look at the news and become
terrified at how horrible our world has become. People live in gated communities
to help them feel safe. People are so afraid of people that we will not extend
a helping hand.
We are too
afraid to answer the pleas of a woman that is escaping her rapist. We are too
afraid to answer the door to a dying man and furthermore call the police and
state that someone is trying to break in and hurt you. We do not answer to help
anymore. We do not answer the calls of people in panic. Forget the parable of
the Good Samaritan; we are so much worse than that now. We are afraid that the man lying in the ditch
is going to hurt us.
Do any of us
remember what FDR was talking about when he said the quote, “The only thing wehave to fear is fear itself.”? It was 1933 we were at the end of the Great
Depression. Unemployment was at 33% and things were looking very grim for the
United States. Fear is what was keeping
us from coming out of it, or so FDR stated.
Fear is
crippling to the spirit. It is only as strong as we allow it to be though. Perfect love casts out fear. All through the
Psalms we hear about how we have nothing to fear, well except God’s wrath if we
anger him. The news has made their mark on the modern culture by scaring us
into accepting what ever laws will protect us.
There is a
long history of media being used by the leaders of countries to convey propaganda.
It’s been happening for as long as media has been in existence. Fear has led to
man-kinds greatest follies in my opinion. The Holy Inquisition, slaughters
around the world. We fear our neighbors so we make war with them. You can see
these themes in movies, books and in history. Well we were scared so we attacked
or ran.
So I would
like to focus on a couple of non-political things with this message and you can
take it where you wish from there. In Charlotte there was a man who had ahorrible car accident, he was lucky to survive it. He goes to the nearest house
that he could see pleading for help. The people in the house called the police
and told the police that there was someone trying to break into their house.
Police arrive on scene and the nearly dead man runs to them for help. The
police officer panics and shoots the guy 10 out of 12 times.
Second, a rape victim escapes a car where she had been raped for a while. She runs nearly
naked to a house to get help. As she pleads to the couple inside to help her
saying that she had just been raped, they call 911 refusing to let her in
because of fear. A representative of the police department had this to say, “unfortunately
fear dictates the response anymore not knowing if you’re being set up for other
criminal activity.”
The man in
the first story lost his life. The woman in the second story was saved. But in
both instances we were too afraid to help someone. Now let us look to God and
ask if this is what he intended for us. It is not. We were supposed to be freed
from the chains brought upon us by sin. Fear was introduced first with sin and
with freedom of sin also comes freedom of fear.
So what else
does Fear prevent us from doing? Jesus gave us two commandments which were
rewrites of the original 10. Love God with all that we have and Love others as
we love ourselves. If we are afraid of our neighbors we cannot love them, thus
we cannot uphold the Lord’s commandments. Fear is keeping us right were Satan
wants us. We are crippled in fear. Fear is an embodiment of darkness. Love is
am amplification of light.
Darkness
cannot exist where there is light. Fear cannot exists in a heart of pure love.
We are still imperfect beings in bodies of sin, so we must tell our bodies no
and stand against fear. We cannot become the people God wants us to be so long
as we allow fear to dominate our lives, minds and cultures. We cannot destroy terror
by weapons. Only through love will we conquer fear and terror. War is not the
answer, it never has been. We cannot stand as one nation under god so long as
we fight those that are different from us.
God is for
Jew and Gentile alike. The love of God is for us all and we are given command
to go into the world and spread the good news, not the bad news. Go into the
world and love these neighbors near or far as you would love yourself. Today,
if you do nothing else, say something positive or help someone just because.
Love someone even if you have to start with yourself. Only then can you start
shaking off fear.
If you are
Christian, talk to someone that is not of your faith. Ask a Muslim to tell you
of their faith ask them why they chose to walk that life. Who knows this may
open a door for God to use to build a bridge in your life. If nothing else it
will help you affirm your belief in God and show love to someone else who might
need it. Or even more it may start changing a perception that Christians are
war mongering hate machines. Funny, how many Christians would be taken back if
they knew that’s what others see us as.
The thing
that you fear the most, learn something about it. Do not let the voice of hell
shape your worldview by creating misconceptions of what people really are. Just
get up and get out… shake off the bondage of fear. So many of us are crippled
and just as Jesus told many crippled and dead, “Get Up, Stand.” That’s all you have
to do, stand and take a few steps for God. For all that God has done for you,
how can you deny him the one thing. Spread his message and love someone. It’s
not as hard as you think.
“Every
adventure begins with the first step.” JRR Tolkien, the Hobbit.
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