Six Things Jesus Calls His Disciples To – Part 3

 
The second element of the disciple of Jesus is that a true disciple fears not the world, for the worst thing that anyone or anything in this world can do to him is to kill him. To those who follow Christ and learn who God really is, it becomes clear that our eternity is of much greater importance than our earthly life. I like to call this the eternal perspective versus the worldly perspective.

Jesus explains this in Matthew 10:26-31
"So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.”

Let us break this scripture reading down a little. First Jesus tells us what not to fear. He says do not fear “them” and in this reading the "them" He speaks of is better understood by looking at verse 28. Here Jesus is explicit, “do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.” That means we should not fear man. Proverbs 29:25 warns us of this and calls it a trap. “The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe.” How true this is. People who are afraid often lived trapped lives afraid to ever step out in faith and try something new. There is a great axiom that says we either fear God or we fear man. Christians so often struggle in this. At the risk of sounding critical here I know so many Christians who are afraid to pray out loud. They will say they don’t pray as well as others. First of all prayer is simply talking to God and scripture in no way suggests we need fancy words to pray and actually Jesus spoke against that in Matthew 23:13 as He scolded the Pharisees for “making long prayers just for show.” (That doesn’t mean we cannot pray long prayers-it means it’s about the heart of the prayers.) So we should not be worried what other people think of our “ability” to pray and not let that stop us from praying.

 1 John 2:15-17 is another way of viewing this matter and we should look at it as we examine our own faith to verify it is real and lines up with what God desires from us. “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” If we truly want to follow Jesus we must stop worrying about the world and not only stop fearing the physical harm it might inflict upon us, but also stop worrying about what the world thinks of us.

Jesus doesn’t just put out this “do not fear the world” thing and then leave us stranded to fend for ourselves. In this reading from Matthew 10 He gives us three reasons to not be afraid. Next blog we will look at those three reasons which are that God will one day vindicate us for what the world does to us. Secondly, we are instructed to replace our fear of the world with a veneration of Him. Lastly, Jesus provides us comfort by telling us how much God values His children and thus like any good father would, He will protect us.

Please pray today for the Holy Spirit to help you find strength and faith to not be afraid. God Bless all of you.