Do Not Be Afraid
Tom Shrader works through seven fears that surface repeatedly across diverse groups — death, economic insufficiency, rejection, loneliness, suffering, failure, and insignificance — and argues that Jesus Christ is the antidote to each one. Drawing from Matthew 6, Psalm 139, James 1, and other passages, he contrasts the natural impulse toward fear with the supernatural life available to believers through their relationship with God. The teaching closes with a call to trust God fully, pursue significance through the body of Christ, and invite others to hear the gospel at an upcoming Christmas Eve service.
“Every opportunity to fear has with it a corresponding opportunity to trust God.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: Standalone Teachings
Recorded: 2004 at East Valley Bible Church
Duration: 50 min
Themes: fear, trust, anxiety, courage, hope, death, loneliness, significance, struggling with anxiety, facing death, feeling insignificant, feeling lonely, struggling with failure, new believer, seeker, young adult
Scripture: Matthew 1:20, Luke 1, Matthew 6:19, Matthew 6:24, Matthew 6:29, Matthew 6:32-33, Acts 2:24, Deuteronomy 31:8, Psalm 139:1-12, James 1:2-4, Romans 8:28, 2 Timothy 4:11, 1 Peter 5:7, Proverbs 29:25, Psalm 56:3-4, Job 13:15, John 15:20
Theological Themes: soteriology, salvation, sanctification, becoming holy, providence, imago dei, fear of the lord, gospel invitation
Full Transcript
Do Not Be Afraid
I was reading the Christmas story this week — Matthew's account and Luke's account — trying to decide what to do on Christmas Eve. Maybe this is too honest, but those are tough services for me. It feels like everyone has already figured out the wise men, the manger, all of that, and we tell that story a lot. I had the same challenge at Easter. Yet it is really important for you to understand that on those two days, we really do target the guests who are with us.
As I read through Matthew chapter one and Luke chapter one, I found something I want to address tonight. In both accounts, Joseph and Mary are each visited by an angel, and that angel carries a message to them. To Joseph, in Matthew chapter one, verse 20, the angel said, *"Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for that which has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit."* In Luke chapter one, the angel appears to Mary and says, *"Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God."* In each instance, the angel uses an identical phrase: do not be afraid.
When I read that, I was reminded of a time I was driving across town listening to a pastor teach on the radio. He said that the most frequent prohibition Jesus gives us in the New Testament — the thing He tells us not to do more often than anything else — is do not be afraid. So I thought I'd talk about fear tonight.
Two Kinds of Fear
When we talk about fear, it covers a broad range of emotions that embrace both secular and religious worlds. Religious fear appears as the result of awe and reverence toward a supreme power. Secular fear is the natural feeling of alarm caused by the expectation of imminent danger, pain, or disaster.
Probably fifty weeks a year, we talk about religious fear — that idea of reverence and awe, that Isaiah 6 moment when I understand God and who He is, when I am struck by His holiness, His power, and His majesty. That is not the fear I want to talk about tonight. I want to talk about secular fear: the natural feeling of alarm. It is the most natural thing in the world to be alarmed at the expectation of danger, pain, or disaster. It may be something that is actually going to happen, or simply the expectation of something that may happen — even if it never comes to pass, it still has a profound effect on us and we find ourselves afraid.
What Are You Afraid Of?
I want to ask a question: what causes you to be afraid? That may feel too direct, so let me rephrase it. What causes your friends to be afraid? Your neighbors? Your family members? Take a moment and answer that in your own mind.
I have been through this exercise with literally thousands of people over the last fifteen years as I have thought about fear. The minute I heard that pastor on the radio say that the most frequent prohibition Jesus gives us is do not be afraid, I began to think about it seriously. Why would Jesus say that? Why, as I go through the Old Testament, do I see God the Father saying again and again, do not be afraid? Why is that the message the angels carry as they are sent by God and appear to His servants?
The reason is this: Jesus is the antidote for whatever frightens you. That is why He says do not be afraid. If you are here tonight and you are a Christian — you took communion, you call yourself a follower of Christ — then I can say to you that even though there is a natural impulse toward fear, you do not have to live there. If you are walking down the street and somebody jumps out from behind a bush, you are going to be startled — that is just the way it is. If you have a major test coming and your whole career hinges on it, there will be some apprehension. If the doctor has called you back in for a second appointment because they saw something on the test they do not like, you are going to be afraid.
I am not asking anyone to live like a robot. The natural impulse is real. But as Christians, we do not have to live naturally — we can live supernaturally. That does not mean it does not hurt. It does not mean the danger is not real, or the pain is not real, or the disaster may not be real. It simply means I do not have to be a victim in each and every one of these situations. Why? Because I know Jesus, and He is the antidote for all of these things.
Gathering the Common Fears
I have asked hundreds of people over the years what they are afraid of. I have done it with students, with all-women's groups, all-men's groups, and business people. I have done it on the coast, in the mountains, in Canada. I have done it with athletes — I even did a chapel with the Cardinals and asked them what they were afraid of. They were afraid to win, but I only needed one cheap shot tonight.
When you have these conversations and get past the moment where everyone tries to be funny, something honest begins to emerge.
Fear #1: Death
When we are really honest, there are just six, seven, or eight fears that come up again and again. It has astounded me to be with such diverse groups of people and hear these same things. So what I want to do tonight is go through my list of seven fears, knowing they will have some overlap with your list, but you will have additions. My challenge to you is to take the things you are afraid of and, as a follower of Christ, understand that Jesus is the antidote — to go to the scripture and discover what it says that will help you live not naturally, but supernaturally as you face these fears.
By the way, if you are here and you are not a Christian, I have not one comforting word to say to you. You should be afraid of everything. What I can say is: move to the cross, to Christ and who He is, and these fears can now be dealt with because you can live supernaturally.
Here is the first fear: death. As you poll groups year after year, there are two fears that sit at the top — the fear of speaking in public, and death. It is that idea of the unknown, and it is not even the process we are really afraid of, though there is that. I have no fear of death, and I mean that. By that I mean I am not afraid of what happens after death. The process is potentially terrifying. Woody Allen said, "I'm not afraid to die, I just don't want to be there when it happens." That is something like what I am saying.
In Acts chapter two, Peter is preaching and says this, speaking of Jesus: "whom God raised up having loosened the pains of death because it was not possible that he should be held by it." The New American Standard renders Acts chapter two, verse 24 this way: "God raised him up again, putting an end to the agony of death since it was impossible for him to be held in its power." When Jesus rose from the dead, He put an end to the agony of death.
Now, when we talk about the agony of death, it is clearly not the physical part of that, is it? You and I all know great Christian men and women whom we have watched die physically agonizing deaths. That is not what Peter is talking about. He is not talking about an end to the process of dying. He is talking about the uncertainty on the other side of the grave.
Larry King and the Fear of the Other Side
The icon for me in this whole discussion has been Larry King. Larry King is at best intrigued — and perhaps more accurately obsessed — with the idea of dying. When Billy Graham is on with Larry King, King will ask him two or three times per program, "Are you afraid to die?" And Billy Graham will say, "No, I'm not."
A few years ago, a man named Morton Downey Jr. — whom some of you will remember — was on with King, and twelve hours after the show he was going to undergo a life-threatening lung transplant. Apparently as part of his pre-op, he went on Larry King Live. He had been told he could die in this surgery. So King said to him, as I knew he would, "Are you afraid to die?" King added that he himself had almost died, and then said — and this is a quote — "Death is a big fear. I didn't see any lights. I didn't see this great white light." Morton Downey Jr. said he was nervous about the surgery.
Larry King, by the way, is an agnostic — that is, someone who does not have the courage to declare himself an atheist. He does not believe he knows enough to know whether there is a God. At the end of the interview, King said to Morton Downey Jr., "I want you to know that we'll all be praying for you." I thought, what a great opportunity for someone to ask: who does an agnostic pray to? I do not know who you pray to. Nevertheless, we have this idea of death where we are petrified by what lies on the other side.
What the Bible Says About Death
The Bible does not stutter on this. The Bible is very clear: to be absent from the body is for the believer to be present with the Lord. After this life, there is heaven for the believer and hell for the non-believer. We can scarcely bring ourselves to declare that openly.
Have you ever been to the funeral of a man who was clearly not a believer — no question about it? It is always remarkable to me how quickly the pastor or priest gets that man to heaven. It seems like the worse he was in life, the faster they get him there. "He's in a better place now." Just once, I would love someone to stand up and say, "We all know what Bob was like, and we know where Bob is right now."
I had a woman one time who had a very specific request. She was dying, and her children kept telling her, "Mom, you're going to a better place, and then we'll all be there with you — you'll be with Dad." She said to me that her husband had not been a believer and her children were not believers, and they were not going to a better place. She said, "At my funeral, I want you to tell them that if they don't believe, they are going to hell." I told her she needed to write it in a letter and I would read it to them, but I was not simply going to stand up and say that. Yet that is the reality we are afraid to name.
One third of the American population believes in reincarnation — did you know that? The way we define it at this church is: reincarnation — if at first you don't succeed, die, die again. Here is what the Bible actually teaches: it is appointed to man once to die, and then judgment. Jesus put an end to the agony of death. Death's grip could not hold Him in that grave. When He rose from the dead, it was the sign to you and me that everything He said was true — that if we believe in Jesus Christ and who He is, we will spend eternity with Him.
Do you believe? Do you know? If not, you should be petrified. Naturally, death is a terrifying thing. But we do not live naturally as believers. We live supernaturally.
said, well, what do you need the money for? He said, what do you mean? I said, what do you need the money for? Do you have debt? He said, no. Are you saving? He said, yeah, I've got savings. Do you have everything you need? He said, yeah. So I said, it sounds to me like you're trying to decide between more money and the life that God has already given you and that you're already enjoying. And he kind of looked at me like I'd grown two heads. We have been so conditioned to think that more money is always the right answer that when somebody actually questions that, it sounds bizarre.
Economic Insufficiency and the Problem of Redefined Needs
I have picked these words specifically: economic insufficiency. I doubt that anybody in this room is worried about being homeless. You all know you are going to have a place to live, something to eat, clothes to wear. The issue is not whether you are going to have these things. The issue is whether those things are going to measure up to your standard of what you think they should be.
Open your Bibles to Matthew chapter six. It is the middle of the Sermon on the Mount, and Jesus is teaching here. Matthew chapter six, verse 19. He has been talking about praying, fasting, and giving. He says:
> "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven."
Verse 24:
> "No one can serve two masters. You will either hate one and love the other, or hold to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money" — God and mammon.
Now He applies this. He says, "For this reason I say to you, do not be anxious for your life." What part of life? Do not worry about what you are going to eat or drink, or for your body, what you are going to put on it. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
He then offers illustrations. Look at the birds — they do not sow, they do not reap, they do not store in barns, and yet God takes care of them. Are you not more important than a bird? Then He says, look at the lilies of the field, and how marvelously God has clothed them. Verse 29:
> "Not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these."
So if God is going to clothe the fields with beautiful flowers that are here one day and burned up the next, is He not going to take care of you?
Seek First His Kingdom
Verse 33, Matthew 6:33:
> "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."
Notice that the sentence begins with the word "but," which connects it to what came before. Verse 32 says that all these things — what to wear, what to eat, where to live — are what the Gentiles eagerly seek. Your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. So seek first His kingdom and all these will be added to you.
Here is what Jesus is saying: God is going to meet all your needs. He is not saying do not work, do not get a job, do not save, do not plan. He is simply saying that is not the preeminent thing in your life — it is not number one. Seek first His kingdom. As one author puts it, it is losing ourselves in obedience to Him, raising His kingdom — not our kingdom — as the primary consideration in our life.
The problem lies in the definition of need. He says He is going to meet all your needs, but what really are needs? He says He will give you food to eat, and we think, yes, but do you mean hot dogs when we are thinking steak? He says He will give you clothes to wear, but will it be designer clothes or a hand-me-down? He says He will give you a place to sleep, but will it be a five or six bedroom house or a two-room apartment?
We live in a time when we have been swept away by our definition of what we need. We keep redefining it and redefining it, so that when we say "I need this," what we are calling a need is far beyond what God would identify as a real need. When we make something a need that is not truly a need, we have expanded what God says He will provide, and we become consumed with acquiring and maintaining that lifestyle.
The Difference Between Needs and Wants
When I was a kid, families bought a house, had a bedroom, threw the kids in it, and said figure it out for yourselves. There was none of this sense that every child needs a private room with cable and a computer hookup. When we make that a need, we have inflated the category beyond what it was ever meant to hold.
Take something like a car. For the sake of argument, say transportation is a basic need, and you can get a reliable used car for five or ten thousand dollars. But when someone buys a new vehicle for fifty, sixty, or seventy thousand dollars or more, it is not about transportation anymore, is it? I can tell time with a watch I buy for five or six dollars, but when someone owns one that costs four or five thousand dollars, it is no longer just about knowing where the big hand and the little hand are. I can write with a thirty-nine-cent Bic or a two-hundred-dollar pen — and at that point it is not simply about putting ink on a page.
I want to be clear: I am not putting any of that down, and every time this kind of point is made, people feel guilty. You ought not feel guilty unless, of course, you are guilty. This is not an anti-material message — it is an anti-materialism message. What Jesus is saying is, seek first His kingdom and He will meet your needs.
I was at a breakfast a few weeks ago with five or six couples. One of the ladies began to speak and said, "I need—" and her husband gently interrupted her and said, "I'm sorry to interrupt, but you mean to say you want." There is a real distinction there.
A Question Worth Asking
A few years ago I was meeting with a man who had a job offer he wanted to talk through. He told me it was with the same company, twice the money, but he would have to relocate, take on additional responsibility, and travel — and he was not a big travel person. He told me he did not really want to start over and move again, that he was deeply involved in his church and had a meaningful ministry there. He asked me what I thought he should do.
I asked him, "What do you need the money for?" He said, "What do you mean?" I said, "What do you need the money for? Do you have debt?" He said no. "Are you saving?" He said yes, he had savings. "Do you have everything you need?" He said yes. So I told him it sounded like he was trying to decide between more money and the life God had already given him — a life he was already enjoying.
He looked at me as though I had grown two heads. We have been so conditioned to believe that more money is always the right answer that when someone actually questions that assumption, it sounds bizarre.
Seek First His Kingdom
I was not going to answer that question for him. Instead, I asked him some questions. On a scale of 1 to 10, how would he rank his current job? He said it was a 7 or an 8. I asked about the rest of his life. He said that was a 7 or an 8 as well. What about his ministry? He said it was an 8 or a 9.
Then I asked about the new job. He said it was a 6 or 7. I asked about the quality of life in the new place. He said he didn't know — he would have to start all over, and it wasn't a town that appealed to him, so maybe a 3 or 4. What about ministry there? He said he didn't have any.
So I asked him: what's the decision? Why is this difficult? Why would he take the other job? He said it was to impress his family and friends by landing that kind of position and making that kind of money. And here is what Scripture says: seek first His kingdom. Lose yourself in obedience to Him.
Faith, Family, and Friends
I have spent a great deal of time with people who are at the end of their lives. I will tell you — and I am talking about Christians now — there is something very energizing about being with someone who has been converted three, four, five, or six months. But to me, there is something really special about being with someone who has been a Christian and walked with the Lord for fifty or sixty years. At the end of their life, I guarantee you, they will talk about their faith, their family, and their friends. Every time.
A few years ago, Susan and I were in Canada, staying at the Chateau at Lake Louise. If you ever get a chance to go, go — it is beautiful. We were there for two weekends with 750 couples coming in each weekend, and 3,000 people for the week in between. The first night I was there, I taught this: at the end of your life, all you care about is faith, family, and friends.
The musicians came in the next morning looking exhausted. They said they had been up all night and had written a song titled "Faith, Family, and Friends." They launched the very next day with it. That year, the number one selling Christian Canadian CD was *Faith, Family, and Friends.* And not a penny — not a dime — came my way. They sent me a copy of the CD, but I wanted the royalties. I was the inspiration behind it. Not a penny. I can save you a lot of aggravation: that is the truth of it.
Faith, family, and friends ultimately matter. Seek first His kingdom, and He will take care of everything else.
The Fear of Rejection
Here is the third thing, and it comes up on everyone's list of fears: rejection. It is tough, isn't it? It is that moment when you find yourself outside the group you once belonged to — when you go from being in to being out. That is especially hard if you have been on the inside for a while. And many of the students we work with have had their own parents throw them under the bus.
I was in a restaurant recently and had a terrific server. I got talking to her about her life — she was a college student supporting herself entirely. I asked where her dad was. She said he died when she was very young, and right after that, her mom told her she was on her own. That is hard. Some of you are just starting to experience the world of dating, and there is not much more painful than that very first time someone ends a relationship with you. I can tell you it does get easier. Some of you have been married and had a spouse say, "I don't love you anymore." That is part of being human. You will be rejected. And you will want to fit in.
Years ago, I was invited to speak to some junior high students. Against every instinct I had, I said yes. Several parents heard I was going to be there and called me beforehand, asking me to talk about peer pressure. So when I arrived, I told the students that three of their parents had called and asked me to address peer pressure — and then I told them I wanted to talk about the enormous peer pressure their parents are under. Because we already know the students face it: the right look, the right hair, the right shirt, the right shoes. But peer pressure for adults means the right house, the right car, and everything that goes along with it. It never goes away. There is always pressure to fit in, and the reason is simple: everybody wants to be liked. Unless something is seriously wrong with you, you want to be liked.
For Christians, that pressure is compounded because we will also suffer for our faith. In John 15, verse 20, Jesus says, *"They persecuted Me, they will persecute you. The slave isn't better than the master, is he?"* In this whole human experience, you are going to feel rejection.
On Trust and Friendship
Let me be as honest as I can here. There is no one in this world who knows me better than Susan. By instinct, I do not really trust people. I have fifty-five years of empirical data to support the conclusion that people are not entirely trustworthy. There are probably not five people I know to whom you could say, "Don't tell anyone," and they wouldn't. That just seems to be human nature. But I have decided that Susan is going to be the one person I fully trust.
I have a friend I have been meeting with for twenty years, and a couple of years ago he gave me what I think is the greatest compliment I have ever received. He said that across all that time — thousands and thousands of hours of conversation over two decades — he had never once heard me say a bad thing about Susan. I told him nor would he ever. And I believe if you spent that same amount of time with her, she would not say a bad thing about me either. Not because she has nothing bad to say — which is somewhat between us.
Do Not Be Afraid — Part 5 of 7
There is a God who knows every thought I've had, every word I've spoken. He knows the intent of my heart, and yet He says to those of us who are Christians: "You did not receive a spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption by whom we can cry out, Father." We can call Him Father. We have an intimate, unbreakable relationship with Him.
God knows everything about you — everything you've ever thought, everything you've ever done, the full condition of your heart. You cannot possibly fool Him, and yet He says, "I love you. I sent My Son to die so that you might have eternal life. You're My child." You may have an earthly father who skates on you, abandons you, or rejects you. But you have a heavenly Father who will never, ever reject you. He has adopted you into a permanent, unbreakable relationship, and nothing can happen to sever it. There will never be a moment where He says, "Oh, I didn't know that — if I had known that, you are out." Never.
The Fear of Loneliness
There is another fear closely aligned with rejection, and it is the fourth thing on my list: loneliness. We don't want to be rejected, and we don't want to be alone. And we can feel utterly alone in the midst of hundreds of people.
Deuteronomy 31, verse eight says: "And the Lord, He is the one who goes before you. He will be with you. He will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed." Psalm 139 goes even further. The psalmist writes: "Oh Lord, You have examined my heart. You know everything about me. You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my every thought when far away. You chart the path ahead of me and tell me where to stop and rest. Every moment, You know where I am. You know what I am going to say even before I say it. You both precede and follow me. You place Your hand of blessing on my head. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to know. I can never escape from Your Spirit. I can never get away from Your presence. If I go up to heaven, You are there. If I go down to the place of the dead, You are there. If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there Your hand will guide me and Your strength will support me. I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night, but even in darkness I cannot hide from You. To You the night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are both alike to You."
You will have people who reject you, and there will be times when you feel completely alone. That is natural. But supernaturally, I know that He is with me and He will never leave me.
The Fear of Suffering and Pain
The fifth thing on my list is suffering and pain. James chapter one, verse two says: "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience." The New American Standard renders it: "Count it all joy when you encounter various trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance."
That word "various" means multicolored. These trials come at us in many, many varied forms. What may be a crushing test for you may be nothing for me, and what may be a crushing test for me may be nothing for you. God comes into our lives and He either allows or causes everything — the tests, the temptations, the hard things in life.
Why would God do that? James says we count it all joy because we know something: the testing of our faith produces endurance. Eugene Peterson in his paraphrase, The Message, renders James 1:2–3 this way: "Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything permanently. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way."
Trials as Friends, Not Intruders
In life, you have all of these tests, trials, and hardships — the ordinary wear and tear of living. Garage door openers that don't work, light bulbs that burn out, friends who die. This is the normal process of life. And it is compounded by the fact that as Christians, we also suffer for our faith. Yet here is what James says: count it all joy. Welcome these trials. They are not intruders; they are friends, because God allows them into your life to produce something — to produce maturity.
He causes all things to work together for good. He knows what He is doing. He is not going to bring a trial, a test, or a temptation into your life without a corresponding measure of grace that will allow you not just to survive but to thrive in the midst of it.
So if you are in the middle of a trial right now, let me tell you what God wants from you. It is one thing — obedience. That is what He is looking for. It is that truth that caused Larry Wright to write this sentence: "I would rather suffer obediently than prosper disobediently, because I know my obedient suffering is as temporary as my disobedient prospering." That is really good. Both suffering and prospering in this life are temporary. And what God is looking for from you and me — especially in seasons of suffering — is obedience.
Twenty-Five Reasons Christians Suffer
Wilmington's Book of Lists offers twenty-five reasons Christians suffer. These are going up on the screen, and they are also on the website, so you do not need to try to write them all down. They include reasons such as producing patience, producing maturity, producing joy, teaching us, and helping us examine our lives to see if there is perhaps sin present.
Suffering and What It Reveals
I am not saying for a second that because you suffer, there must be a sin cause behind it. Not at all. I am not saying that your circumstances are necessarily an indicator of your spiritual condition. But suffering does cause me to look at sin. It may chasten me. It may warn me.
Look at clauses 13 through 25 — I particularly like verse 14. Suffering shows what we are really made of. You may think you are really something and you are not, or you may say you do not think you are that strong, and then God brings this suffering, and all of a sudden you discover He did this mighty thing in your life. It gives you something to talk about with other people. It will jumpstart your prayer life.
Job 13:15 — Job said, "Though He slay me, yet I will trust Him." At the end of the book of Job, here is what Job says: before, I had heard a lot about You. I had studied the Bible and memorized verses. I had been to the classroom. But now I have been to the laboratory, and he said, before, I had seen You — now I know You. I have experienced You.
The Fear of Failure
Here is the sixth thing: failure. I know people who are petrified that they may fail. Let me take away all your pressure — you are going to fail. The only way to not fail is to do nothing, which has to be about the greatest failure of all.
I always hesitate to bring in a political figure because it so taints the discussion, since everyone has some view. There is a past president that I have to say I do not have huge admiration for in terms of his political career, but I have great admiration for what he did after he left office, and that is Richard Nixon. If you want to do yourself a favor, go to Borders or Barnes & Noble, or order it online — get the audio book, the audio tapes, of a book titled *In the Arena* that Nixon wrote after he left office. It is primarily about leaving office and how you continue and move on.
You and I are going to have failures. There may be a few people who know about it, or if you have a certain level of visibility, perhaps more people know. When we say everybody, we mean maybe 100 or 200 people. Richard Nixon suffered what has to be one of the greatest humiliations of all time, in front of the whole world, and yet that book is a fascinating study of his life after that.
He quotes Thomas Aquinas in the book. Aquinas said, "If a captain's main concern was the safety of the ship, he would never take it out of the harbor." It is not about playing it close to the vest. It is not about just playing it safe.
Years ago, I did a quarterly newsletter and always included an interview. I had an interview in there with Paul Westphal, who played with the Celtics, and I was talking about his time with Havlicek. I said that Havlicek always wanted the ball at the end of the game because he thought he could make the shot. Westphal corrected me — and this is really good — he said Havlicek wanted the ball at the end of the game because he was not afraid to miss the shot. In a sense, I am telling you to live with a little wild abandonment. Do not be afraid of failing.
Here is the truth: success is not permanent, and failure is not fatal. Some of the people I love to work with the most are those who have had failures, because they have persevered through that. That is part of the deal.
John Mark: A Biblical Example of Failure Redeemed
Here is a biblical example. His name was John Mark — simply Mark. Paul went on his first missionary journey and took Barnabas with him, along with a relative of Barnabas named John Mark. Early in the trip, John Mark left. When the second trip came around and they were ready to go, Paul said let's go, and Barnabas said let's take Mark. Paul said there was no way he was taking Mark with him.
Yet at the end of his life, Paul writes this to Timothy — 2 Timothy 4:11 — "Only Luke is with me. Visit Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for ministry." You see, success is not permanent, and failure is not fatal.
The Fear of Insignificance
Here is the last thing — and as I said, I have done this with hundreds, thousands of people, and no one has ever guessed this, except one time. I was teaching at ASU with probably 200 students in the room, a group of Christian kids — mostly clean-cut. There was one young man who came in looking quite different: dirty, scruffy, tattoos all over, long scraggly hair, with what I can only describe as looking like he had fallen into a tackle box, with hooks and things hanging all over him. He just did not look like he was part of that group. I noticed him when he walked in — I am drawn to a kid like that.
I was talking with him a little, and he went up to the top of the room. When I said I had one thing left and asked if anyone wanted to guess — since nobody had ever gotten it — he called out from the top. I asked him to repeat himself. He said, "Insignificance." I asked what he meant, and he said, "I don't want to live my whole life and have nobody know I was here, man."
That is exactly what it is. My seventh thing is insignificance — just passing through life and not making any difference. Let me net this out, because time is getting away from us. There is one truly significant institution in this world, and that is the body of Christ. If you want to be significant, become a significant player in the body of Christ. That means being engaged primarily in two activities: first, taking the gospel to people who are lost; and second, equipping and encouraging yourself and those around you to understand who Jesus is, so you can live for Him and share that with others.
Here is the key — 1 Peter 5: humble yourself before the Lord, and He will exalt you in your due time. When I was a young man in college in the late 1960s and early 1970s, they were really difficult times, and we were radicals and rebels. The college I went to—
Pursuing Your Dreams
I can't even fathom it today — we walked out and closed the school. It was goofy. The inmates were running the asylum; I don't know where the adults were. But I'll say this: we really were idealists. Then you know what happens? It's something called the real world, and it takes all of that away from you.
Here's what I'm saying to you: go back and pursue those dreams again. What would you do for Jesus Christ if you knew you couldn't fail? What's your dream? You've never said it out loud, and you wouldn't, because it's almost embarrassing — your dream is this big, and right here you're this small, this little puny nothing, and the dream towers over you. So you'd never say it out loud, but what is it? Write it down, and whatever it is, you now have a goal. Go for it.
You may never, ever get there. God may change your heart and your mind. He may start you out over there and zig you over here and zag you over here. But if you want to be significant, it's not going to come from making a boatload of money and all of that. I'm not saying don't do that — I'm not saying don't pursue those things — I'm just saying you aren't going to find real, permanent significance there. At the end of your life, it's going to be faith, family, and friends.
Fear and the Opportunity to Trust God
Remember this: every opportunity to fear has with it a corresponding opportunity to trust God. Naturally, our response to imminent danger and pain and disaster is to coil away — that's natural. What we're saying is you don't have to live naturally anymore. You can live supernaturally.
It's not saying that you don't have fears. It's not saying that there aren't times when it feels like these things are going to overwhelm you. That's natural, and when that comes, I absorb it for a moment — and then, bam, I move to the supernatural.
Proverbs 29:25 says, "Fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord will be safe." Psalm 56, verses 3 and 4: "When I'm afraid, I'll put my trust in thee, in God whose word I praise, in God I've put my trust, I shall not be afraid, what can mere man do to me?" And 1 Peter 5:7: "Let him have all your worries and all your cares, for he's always thinking about you and watching everything that concerns you."
God loves you even more than you love yourself — which is a staggering thought for someone as self-absorbed as you are, isn't it? He loves you even more than you love yourself, with a pure love.
We Know Who Holds the Future
I know this is corny, but it's true: we don't know what the future holds, but we know what holds the future. I know it sounds like a bumper sticker, but it's true. For those of us who are Christians, we don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, we don't know what's going to happen in the next week or month or year, and you don't know what life is going to deal you.
But you do know this: everything that comes into your life is either caused by or allowed by God, and He won't test you or tempt you or try you beyond that which you can endure. So you do not need to be afraid. You don't need to live naturally. As a follower of Christ, you can live supernaturally, because He gives you the power to overcome all those fears. And that power comes through Jesus Christ, in a personal relationship with Him.
Looking Ahead to Christmas Eve
That's what we'll talk about on Christmas Eve. I do encourage you to invite your friends and neighbors — stop and grab as many invitations as you need, and if we run out here, go out to the lobby and grab some more. Let's fill this church and the conference center five times on Friday for that message.
What I'm going to talk about, I think, is something a little bit different. I'm going to talk about Jesus coming and giving us life — but not just eternal life. I want to talk about the life here. We want to talk to people about salvation, and we'll do that, but I want to talk about the difference Jesus makes in our life here and now.
Closing Prayer
Father, thank You that we have these things that are fears in our life, but a relationship with Your Son is the antidote to that fear. Father, thank You that we don't need to be afraid — that to be absent from this body, for us as Christians, is to be present with Your Son. God, we know that You will meet all our needs, and so many of our wants, to be honest.
God, we pray that we would trim back our need list to match Your needs for our life, and that we'd be lost in obedience to You. We'd seek first Your kingdom and Your agenda, not ours. Father, we know that You'll never leave us or forsake us. We pray that You'd bring alongside of us friends and buddies and people that we can hang out with at work or at school. We need each other desperately. Help us love and care for one another.
Father, we thank You for suffering because it produces endurance in our life, and for failure because it's not fatal. God, we have a desire to be significant, and that desire can be fulfilled only through a personal relationship with Your Son, Jesus Christ, and through working in the only truly significant organization on this planet — the body of Christ. God, give us a love for lost people and a desire to see ourselves grow and encourage and be part of what You use to grow the people around us.
We pray for Christmas Eve, God, that You would use it to touch hearts, to bring people here who would hear the gospel and fall in love with You. God, we pray that to You in Jesus' name, amen.
Have a great week. We'll see you Friday.