Be Not Afraid!
Discipleship Questions for
Sunday June 22, 2008
Scripture Readings:
First Reading: Jeremiah 20:10-13
Psalm Reading: Psalm 69
Second Reading: Romans 5:12-15
Gospel: Matthew 10:26-33
Jer. 20:10
I hear many whispering,
“Terror on every side!
Report him! Let’s report him!”
All my friends
are waiting for me to slip, saying,
“Perhaps he will be deceived;
then we will prevail over him
and take our revenge on him.”
Jer. 20:11
But the LORD is with me like a mighty warrior;
so my persecutors will stumble and not prevail.
They will fail and be thoroughly disgraced;
their dishonor will never be forgotten.
Jer. 20:12
O LORD Almighty, you who examine the righteous
and probe the heart and mind,
let me see your vengeance upon them,
for to you I have committed my cause.
Jer. 20:13
Sing to the LORD!
Give praise to the LORD!
He rescues the life of the needy
from the hands of the wicked.
Psa. 69:0
For the director of music. To [the tune of] “Lilies.” Of David.
Psa. 69:1
Save me, O God,
for the waters have come up to my neck.
2 I sink in the miry depths,
where there is no foothold.
I have come into the deep waters;
the floods engulf me.
3 I am worn out calling for help;
my throat is parched.
My eyes fail,
looking for my God.
4 Those who hate me without reason
outnumber the hairs of my head;
many are my enemies without cause,
those who seek to destroy me.
I am forced to restore
what I did not steal.
Psa. 69:5
You know my folly, O God;
my guilt is not hidden from you.
Psa. 69:6
May those who hope in you
not be disgraced because of me,
O Lord, the LORD Almighty;
may those who seek you
not be put to shame because of me,
O God of Israel.
7 For I endure scorn for your sake,
and shame covers my face.
8 I am a stranger to my brothers,
an alien to my own mother’s sons;
9 for zeal for your house consumes me,
and the insults of those who insult you fall on me.
10 When I weep and fast,
I must endure scorn;
11 when I put on sackcloth,
people make sport of me.
12 Those who sit at the gate mock me,
and I am the song of the drunkards.
Psa. 69:13
But I pray to you, O LORD,
in the time of your favor;
in your great love, O God,
answer me with your sure salvation.
14 Rescue me from the mire,
do not let me sink;
deliver me from those who hate me,
from the deep waters.
15 Do not let the floodwaters engulf me
or the depths swallow me up
or the pit close its mouth over me.
16 Answer me, O LORD, out of the goodness of your love;
in your great mercy turn to me.
17 Do not hide your face from your servant;
answer me quickly, for I am in trouble.
18 Come near and rescue me;
redeem me because of my foes.
Psa. 69:19
You know how I am scorned, disgraced and shamed;
all my enemies are before you.
20 Scorn has broken my heart
and has left me helpless;
I looked for sympathy, but there was none,
for comforters, but I found none.
21 They put gall in my food
and gave me vinegar for my thirst.
Psa. 69:22
May the table set before them become a snare;
may it become retribution and a trap.
23 May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see,
and their backs be bent forever.
24 Pour out your wrath on them;
let your fierce anger overtake them.
25 May their place be deserted;
let there be no one to dwell in their tents.
26 For they persecute those you wound
and talk about the pain of those you hurt.
27 Charge them with crime upon crime;
do not let them share in your salvation.
28 May they be blotted out of the book of life
and not be listed with the righteous.
Psa. 69:29
I am in pain and distress;
may your salvation, O God, protect me.
Psa. 69:30
I will praise God’s name in song
and glorify him with thanksgiving.
31 This will please the LORD more than an ox,
more than a bull with its horns and hoofs.
32 The poor will see and be glad—
you who seek God, may your hearts live!
33 The LORD hears the needy
and does not despise his captive people.
Psa. 69:34
Let heaven and earth praise him,
the seas and all that move in them,
35 for God will save Zion
and rebuild the cities of Judah.
Then people will settle there and possess it;
36 the children of his servants will inherit it,
and those who love his name will dwell there.
Rom. 5:12
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned— 13 for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come.
Rom. 5:15
But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!
Matt. 10:26
“So do not be afraid of them. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known.27What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs.28Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.29Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father.30And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.31So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
Matt. 10:32
“Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven.33But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.
Discipleship Questions:
1. Please read all of the Scripture Readings but focus in on the Gospel reading for today. If you can read the Gospel less from the “Message” paraphrase. Please read the following from my sermon script and discuss: “Hmmmmm . . . “Don’t be intimidated by the bullies of this world who want to silence any word about Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of all!”
We live in a world that desperately needs to hear the call to conversion, but it’s a world that is ultimately captive to its base desires. The seven deadly sins of lust, gluttony, greed, laziness, anger, envy and pride are obviously rampant and dominant. Just take a few moments to examine any advertisement for almost anything and you will discover one of more of these deadly sins being promoted in one form or another.
We’re not even ashamed of them any more! It has become cool to be self promoting! Just watch any of the “reality” shows to become convinced of that! Clearly sexual promiscuity is about “safe sex” not about abstinence.”
2. Please read the following and discuss: “For many of us Christians it’s comfortable to call ourselves Christians but to live our lives as functional pagans. And cynical onlookers are absolutely right to call us hypocrites when they see this dysfunction between our prosaic proclamations and our actual lives.
So the next obvious adaptation is not to say anything out loud but still to go to Church and to live a quiet functionally pagan life!
And that seems to be the place where many of us live today – we’re functional pagans.
Can anybody in this sanctuary relate to what I’m saying here? I confess you to that I can and it makes me very very uncomfortable.
I find myself seeing sins that need confession. I thank God for a weekly liturgy that allows me to confess my many sins and to receive, assuming I’m deeply sorry, God’s gracious forgiveness!
The terrible reason that so many of us are frozen in silence is that we’re more comfortable in a pagan world than we are in a Christian world. You see to live Christianity out loud is to swim upstream and to engender the vicious chagrin of the surrounding pagan world!
No wonder most of us choose the functional atheism option! It’s too scary to really live out our Christian ideals better and much easier to give them lip service but not to actually live them out!”
3. Please read the following and discuss: “The word translated “acknowledge” is oJmologe÷w and it means to make an emphatic declaration, often public, and at times in response to pressure or an accusation — ‘to declare, to assert. It means to express openly one’s allegiance to a proposition or person — ‘to profess, to confess, confession.’
When was the last time you and I emphatically and publically declared our love or even our unabashed commitment to Jesus Christ?
Now I can imagine some of you may be thinking – that’s a bit unfair . . . I don’t think I need to go about getting in the face of everyone about my faith in Jesus! That’s not me – that’s not nice! That looks and sound too much like an obnoxious fundamentalist!
You’re right – it may be obnoxious and it’s very probable that you could proclaim your love and commitment to Jesus Christ in a less offensive way . . . BUT . . . when was the last time you even publically acknowledged your love for and faith in. . . Jesus Christ?
Why are we so frightened by the world in which we live?”
4. Please read the following and discuss: “You know it’s one thing for me to focus in on Jesus’ challenge to go out and fearlessly be who we say we are publically which means bold proclamation witnessed by prayer and healing and deliverance!
But I need to remember that the person making these challenges was Jesus Himself not a fallen person like me.
Each of us hopefully has our own unique relationship with our Lord. Just yesterday morning at our Saturday Morning Men’s Breakfast meeting I asked each of the men to share the “texture of their relationship with Jesus” and they shared eloquently and freely.
It was wonderful to get a glimpse into how each of the men experienced their relationship with Jesus.
Each of them had their own unique relationship – some more formal than others but all very very rich.
I don’t want to spend any more time exploring this but I want each of us to imagine that Jesus Christ has just walked down the isle into our midst. He has heard my remarks up to this point but now He wants to add His UNMITIGATED comments to this homily.
Imagine Jesus standing right here beside me and let’s assume that He wants to add His personal and unique contribution to this encouragement to not be intimidated by the world.
I imagine Him standing right here and looking with penetrating eyes of infinite love into each of our souls. I imagine each of us beginning to feel the wonder of His presence. Feeling His love – His infinite love for us.
I imagine each of us beginning to slide down to a kneeling position before Him and just kneeling in His Presence waiting for Him. This is what He would say:
“My dear dear friends - don’t be intimidated by this world. Eventually everything is going to be out in the open, and everyone will know how things really are. 27 So don’t hesitate to tell people about me right now – today – this afternoon. 28. “Don’t be bluffed into silence by the threats of bullies. There’s nothing they can do to your soul, your core being. Save your fear and reverent awe for God, who holds your entire life—body and soul—in his hands.29 “What’s the price of a pet canary? Some loose change, right? And God cares what happens to that precious little canary even more than you do. 30 He pays even greater attention to you – He really does – I know He does. He pays attention to you right down to the last detail—even numbering the hairs on your head! 31 So don’t be frightened by all the bully talk. You’re worth more than a million canaries to me and to my Father! We love you! We really do! 32 So be brave and “Stand up for me against world opinion and I’ll stand up for you before my Father in heaven. Now I have to end this challenge with a statement of what will happen if you choose fear over my love – if you choose to be intimidated by the bluffs of this world over against telling people about me . . . so here it is -33But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.
Now I imagine Jesus saying that last statement with deep sadness in His eyes knowing full well that some of us will walk out of this sanctuary and go on about our lives as if this challenge were never made. And that last statement was for us and will be the indictment we will have to face when we stand before Him on judgment day.
But I don’t think Jesus would end it all here. I think He would then invite us all to bow our heads and receive His prayer of anointing.”